Mindfulness Group: Week by Week Update

Part Two (Weeks 4-6)

Week Four

Introduction to Loving-Kindness (LK)

• Mood Set Point is can be changed through LK meditation
• Sometimes it can be easier to practice LK for someone else, as opposed to yourself
• LK phrases are not affirmations!
• The intention of this practice is to develop a friendlier attitude toward all of life 

The Steps:

• Choose a person who you love or like, living or dead, even a pet
• Check in with your body, breath
• I will say some phrases you can direct to that person
  • May you be healthy.
  • May you be safe from inner and outer dangers.
  • May you be well in body and mind.
  • May you be at ease and happy.
• Don’t worry if you can’t feel it, this practice will work anyway.
• Touching your heart can help, or anywhere on body where you can feel the warmth of your hand, especially when practicing loving-kindness for yourself.

Saint Francis and the Sow

BY GALWAY KINNELL

The bud
stands for all things, 
even for those things that don’t flower, 
for everything flowers, from within, of self-blessing;   
though sometimes it is necessary
to reteach a thing its loveliness, 
to put a hand on its brow
of the flower
and retell it in words and in touch
it is lovely
until it flowers again from within, of self-blessing;   
…

Galway Kinnell, “Saint Francis and the Sow” from Three Books. Copyright © 2002 by Galway Kinnell. Reprinted with the permission of Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved, www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com.

Source: Three Books (2002)

The Anchor Phrase

Choose a phrase that speaks to you, and make it your intention to turn to it throughout the day, if you’re struggling. Some examples:

• It’s ok
• This, too, shall pass
• Yes, this hurts. May I be kind to myself, in this moment.
• I'm enough

Week Four

Loving Kindness Practice

Week Five

Intro to Spaciousness

• How would you define spaciousness? (For example: vast, limitless, possible)
• What’s the opposite? (For example: small, constricted, meek)
• Mindfulness opens up chances to play around with opposites, in a safe way, and that in turn opens the way for you to experience everything you are…the sadness and joy.
• The key is vulnerability:

This week's homework: Evaluation Form (in Word, if you want to type it) or PDF (if you want to print it out).

This is the best way to know what's been helpful or not going forward in future sessions. I would be ever-so-grateful if you would take some time with it and fill it out honestly. Thank you!

Jennifer will be there to collect them next Wednesday, or her email is at the bottom of the form.

Week Six

Remember...it's all about intention.

Remember...it's all about compassion and kindness.

Remember...it all starts with YOU!

Practice gratitude

Gratitude, the yoga of the gods,
may sometimes take a little practice.
Each day, select one thing to be grateful for:
a cup of water, a wisp of green,
sun on stone, a friend's memory,
gravity, so we do not float away....

Hold your gratitude like a seashell in your hand,
and rehearse it. Come to it new again
and feel the surprise, like water colder
than you thought, or warmer.

Each day add to the things
you allow yourself to tumble into gratitude for,
until you become grateful for everything,
for the rust on the lock, the sun on the broken glass,
the silence after the bird song,
for the grace hidden in ugliness,
for the Presence waiting in emptiness,
for the blessing enfolded in troubles.

Become universally and equally grateful
for everything, until your gratitude becomes
meaningless, as will your desires and expectations,
until none of that is real: only the seashell
you hold in your hand with unspeakable,
unshakable gratitude.

Steve Garness Holmes