Tag: meditation

Mindfulness meditation day for therapists

by Craniosacral Therapy/Paediatric craniosacral therapy/Nutrition/NAET/ NLP Health Coach/Mindfulness meditation, posted in Blog

Some of the benefits of mindfulness documented in research, with the Heart-Math meditation and healing and cleansing meditation are that you are more present in your body and life, as well as more relaxed, in life decisions and more.

This is a day though for therapists, and hence we will do more than being present and relax, we get to a place of stillness, centering at out heart for more peace and calmness, as well as cleansing your cup of dirty water, and replenish it with clean full nourishing water for yourself and others.

What do I mean with that?

As therapists we do hold to some things or another, even if we try not to, and sometimes the residue of other people issues, might still linger within you, so have a day all for yourself, to be present, grounded and filled with more light to give!

The principles of mindfulness meditation are the following for the day, and the Heart-Math meditation from the heart will be included during the day, as well as grounding meditations and clearing meditations:

The day will follow the following principles:

Non-Judgment: impartial witnessing, observing your evaluations and categorizations. Noticing the automatic habit of labelling our experience as good, bad or neutral. Habit of judging locks us into an automatic reaction without being aware of them, where they do not have any objective basis. Once we are aware of out judging, then we can choose actions and behaviours more consciously, rather than automatically reacting to the situations in our environment. This principle is useful as we start to engage in a new mindfulness practice that our mind may judge as boring or a waste of time.

2) Patience: allowing things to unfold in their time, bringing patience to ourselves and others.  This is an understanding that sometimes things must unfold in their own time. This principle reminds us to be patient with ourselves as our mind is stretched in new ways. Patience is a helpful quality to invoke when the mind is agitated. To be patient, is to be open to each moment as it unfolds knowing that like the butterfly, that some things can only unfold in their own time. So, when starting out your mindfulness practice or anything else please stick through whatever takes place trusting that some things will make more sense after you have practiced them for a while.

3) Beginner’s Mind: Willing to see things as if for the first time.  We let our beliefs about a situation prevent us from seeing things as they really are. No moment is the same as any other. Beginner’s mind allows us to be receptive to new possibilities and prevents us from getting stuck in our mind, which often thinks it knows more than it actually does. Try to cultivate your own beginner’s mind as an experiment. The next time you see someone familiar, notice if you are seeing the person with fresh eyes or through the lens of your beliefs about that person. When you are out walking, see if you are noticing things, you might have overlooked before. Developing beginner’s mind opens you to possibilities in life you may be missing out on, because you are viewing everything through the lens shaped by past experiences, that is not aware of what else there is to learn and explore.

4) Trust: Developing trust in your feelings and yourself is an integral part of the mindfulness practice. The act of trusting yourself and your basic wisdom, is an important aspect of the mindfulness training.  If you are feeling strongly about something, it is important to attend to that, rather than ignore it because an outside authority is telling you to do so. Mindfulness is an objective process of inquiry and accepting what people of ‘authority’ tell you without questioning the validity of it for yourself is against the basic premise of mindfulness. It is important to stay open and learn from other sources but ultimately you have to live your life and make your choices that feel right to you. It is almost easier to trust external authorities to tell us how to live our lives. Mindfulness involves practicing trusting your own feelings and that doesn’t mean you react based upon all your feelings but that you explore any feelings that show up fully to see what they are telling you about a situation and then you trust yourself to come up with the right action.

5) Non-striving: non-goal oriented, remaining unattached to outcome or achievement. Even though everyone undertaking mindfulness practice has some goals intentions while they are taking their training, at the time of mindfulness practice itself, simply do the practice without any expectations. When you set expectations, such as feeling more relaxed, you are introducing conditions that don’t allow you to be fully present with what is, because you are trying to change the present to be something else. If you are trying to change the present then you are not being with what is, which is what the mindfulness training is. Remember to allow anything and everything that you experience from moment to moment to be there, because it already is. If you are tensed, just pay attention to the tension. If you are criticizing yourself, just observe the activity of the judging mind. Non-striving may be the most difficult of all the principles because in our culture we are taught to be goal-oriented and to be constantly doing something in order to reach our goals. In mindfulness you will reach your goals by not trying to change the present but by being present to whatever arises, and in that way, you will find that the goals are ultimately reached. This is perhaps something you will need to experience for yourself to really understand.

6) Acceptance: open to seeing and acknowledging things as they are. It does not mean approval or resignation. Acceptance is the willingness to see things as they really are. Acceptance does not mean that you have to be satisfied with the way things are or that you don’t do anything to change what you don’t like. When you have the ability to see things as they are you free up energy to take the appropriate actions, instead of working with a mind that is clouded by denial, prejudices, fears, and self-judgments.

7. Letting go: non-attachment and the ability to put aside the tendency to elevate some aspects of our experience and to reject others. Letting go is a way of letting things be, of accepting things as they are. When you observe your mind grasping or pushing away, you can remind yourself to let go of the impulse to grasp or push away and see what happens.

8. Gratitude: being thankful for the little things in life, can be very rewarding. Not taking our body for granted is also very rewarding for ourselves. Being thankful for what works in our body and mind is rewarding. Give thanks to our own body, inside and outside, e.g., gives thanks to our legs, our heart, our liver, our spleen, etc. Being thankful for the people who we have in our lives, that supports us, being thankful for our food, the earth that supply our food, and more.

9. Generosity: give to others, your time, or things that they need. Give attention to others, not for a reward but for the only reason that you would like to help others, that you would like to give to others, to make them feel better.

Contact Maria Esposito BSc (Hons) on esposito_m@yahoo.co.uk or call her on 07956662954

Reduces anxiety and panic attack are two of the many benefits:

● Stress reduction

● Clarity and focus

● Greater resilience

● Enhanced creativity

● Improved relationships

● Improved concentration

● Rapport and communication

● Improved health and wellbeing

● Greater confidence and self-esteem

● Ability to have better quality sleep

● Reduced anxiety and depression

● Improved work-life balance

● Greater work satisfaction

● Memory enhancement

● Intuitive ability

● Pain reduction

Resilience of the heart – productivity and creativity – emotional
intelligence – stress reduction and wellbeing.

Online workshop for therapists is £ 80 pounds to be paid via bank transfer on booking, your place is booked when paid.

Bank transfer to Maria Esposito TSB  code 308472 account 24603860 

Craniosacral therapy healing sessions

by Craniosacral Therapy/Paediatric craniosacral therapy/Nutrition/NAET/ NLP Health Coach/Mindfulness meditation, posted in Blog

Craniosacral therapy

Craniosacral therapy is a subtle and profound healing form. See your life transmuting into a bliss, healing from inside out!

In a typical craniosacral session, you will usually lie fully-clothed on a treatment couch. The therapist will make contact by placing their hands usually lightly on your body and tuning in. The first thing you will probably notice is a sense of deep relaxation, which will generally last throughout the session. This release of tension often extends into everyday life.

Often traumas from childhood are stored in our body or even cells, and those unconscious traumas, can be triggered at any time in the life of the adults. Quite often with a body injury or illness. Craniosacral therapy allows the body system to feel safe enough to show the trauma, big or small, at the time that the person is ready to deal with, usually when they feel safe enough to share or deal with whatever emotion is attached to that trauma. With mindfulness meditation and heart meditation, the person has a tool to be able to connect with their heart and deal with whatever comes up in a loving space. My work is to connect to my heart and the person heart to reach a stillness where anything is possible, and any healing is allowed to happen in a loving experience. Craniosacral therapy, does not force any trauma out without the person being ready. That is the magical part of this wonderful therapy.

Sometimes the benefits are not immediately noticeable but become obvious on returning to a familiar environment. The work is often deeply moving and exhilarating.

The benefit can also be noticed after few days in some people. The experience is different from each baby, child or adult according to their own need of balance and adjustments.

Quite often the body will start unwinding, this is the fascial unwinding, which often happens in people with high stress, old and new chronic injuries to free the body, and in babies and children.

Our body system can get tight and rigid due to tension from the head to the toe, and often it leads to chronic pain, sleepless nights, and vagal nerve being trapped and hard to function well, leading to possible palpitation, anxiety and much more. Below is a sample of fascial unwinding.

Below are some of the issues that I have seen with fascial unwinding and craniosacral therapy with adults:

  • Digestive system and IBS problems, including bloating
  • Chronic pain from past injuries
  • Chronic pelvic area and back pain
  • Whiplash, old and new
  • Headaches and Migraines
  • Anxiety
  • Post-traumatic Stress disorder
  • Post operations and injuries
  • Post-partum
  • Pregnancy physical and emotional issues
  • and much more

I use CST by itself or with Nutritional advice and NAET treatments to integrate the entire body mind system at a deeper level. I notice that the body respond much more to the NAET treatments and the person feels more complete and healthier in body and mind, each time by releasing old patterns and old issue stored in the body.

http://www.nutritionhealth.net

The Knights of St. Johns order and healing connections with more

by Craniosacral Therapy/Paediatric craniosacral therapy/Nutrition/NAET/ NLP Health Coach/Mindfulness meditation, posted in Blog
When you work with mind, body and mind, and soul, you come across humans who are meant to be healers, protectors and more. In order for them to go up in frequency, the human body needs to go through a certain healing and process, to be able to work higher. There is a cleansing of past issues in life, and often you need to go a cleansing and forgiveness time, for yourself and others, letting go of anger, and fear and more deep emotions that are keeping you stuck and in pain. When you work with some of the most gifted and spiritual people, I feel that very honoured, as I am supporting now their journey. A journey that I have gone through for the past 16 years, and maybe longer. The first part is quite hard, but the more you heal, the more you let go of the hurt, the pain, the anger and whatever you need to let go, the more clearly you see, the more peace and love gets into your cells, and more healing and Light you can see or feel or sense.

I would add the spiritual part of the Knight now, which it feels like they are pretty much connected to the masculine healing of humans (female, male and all gender). The feeling that I had with working spiritually with them, it was about protection, flexibility, honour, truth, integrity, peace, and compassion with kindness. The heart needs to be of a higher frequency, of a higher frequency.

I came across the St Johns Knights order about 10 years ago in Malta, understanding a bit of their establishment, and what they did. There are various theory of the and some facts in various sources on the internet about where it started, it seems a Merchant of Amalfi was the originator, who wanted to protect the merchants but also heal the merchants at the same time. The order went from Amalfi to Jerusalem, where it started, and then to Greece, specifically to Rhodes and Cyprus and than established in Malta. The Order of knights of St. Johns, in Jerusalem, they are called the Knights Hospitaller. They would treat any humans, no matter their religion or creed.

Spiritually, I felt that they were also connected to the Great White Light Brotherhood, which are White Light of God that helps humanity in achieving their higher frequency, and healing, protecting and helping humanity achieve their greatest frequency, you can read more about them in the spiritual blogs.

I felt that Both the White Light Brotherhood and the Knights of St. Johns, have been working together for at least a 1000 years and more. And who ever enters their order, will have ascended into their order in some way or another and will eventually find them both physically and spiritually.

It is funny that according to my DNA, I am almost half Greek, from possible Rhodes, my ancestors come from maybe merchants and landed in and around the area where my grand-parents grew up.

I feel honoured and curious about life and what is more than life. Right now, we are all been drawn to raise our voice, raise our frequency and connect to our higher self, in order to heal ourselves, heal our children and eventually heal our world!

The Knights of St. Johns order and healing connections with more

by Craniosacral Therapy/Paediatric craniosacral therapy/Nutrition/NAET/ NLP Health Coach/Mindfulness meditation, posted in Blog

When you work with mind, body and mind, and soul, you come across humans who are meant to be healers, protectors and more. In order for them to go up in frequency, the human body needs to go through a certain healing and process, to be able to work higher. There is a cleansing of past issues in life, and often you need to go a cleansing and forgiveness time, for yourself and others, letting go of anger, and fear and more deep emotions that are keeping you stuck and in pain. When you work with some of the most gifted and spiritual people, I feel that very honoured, as I am supporting now their journey. A journey that I have gone through for the past 16 years, and maybe longer. The first part is quite hard, but the more you heal, the more you let go of the hurt, the pain, the anger and whatever you need to let go, the more clearly you see, the more peace and love gets into your cells, and more healing and Light you can see or feel or sense.

I came across the St Johns Knights order about 10 years ago in Malta, understanding a bit of their establishment, and what they did. There are various theory of the and some facts in various sources on the internet about where it started, it seems a Merchant of Amalfi was the originator, who wanted to protect the merchants but also heal the merchants at the same time. The order went from Amalfi to Jerusalem, where it started, and then to Greece, specifically to Rhodes and Cyprus and than established in Malta. The Order of knights of St. Johns, in Jerusalem, they are called the Knights Hospitaller. They would treat any humans, no matter their religion or creed.

I would add the spiritual part of the Knight now, which it feels like they are pretty much connected to the masculine healing of humans (female, male and all gender). The feeling that I had with working spiritually with them, it was about protection, flexibility, honour, truth, integrity, peace, and compassion with kindness. The heart needs to be of a higher frequency, of a higher frequency.

Spiritually, I felt that they were also connected to the Great White Light Brotherhood, which are White Light of God that helps humanity in achieving their higher frequency, and healing, protecting and helping humanity achieve their greatest frequency, you can read more about them in the spiritual blogs.

I felt that Both the White Light Brotherhood and the Knights of St. Johns, have been working together for at least a 1000 years and more. And who ever enters their order, will have ascended into their order in some way or another and will eventually find them both physically and spiritually.

It is funny that according to my DNA, I am almost half Greek, from possible Rhodes, my ancestors come from maybe merchants and landed in and around the area where my grand-parents grew up.

I feel honoured and curious about life and what is more than life. Right now, we are all been drawn to raise our voice, raise our frequency and connect to our higher self, in order to heal ourselves, heal our children and eventually heal our world!

Function of the left and right Amygdala from birth

by Craniosacral Therapy/Paediatric craniosacral therapy/Nutrition/NAET/ NLP Health Coach/Mindfulness meditation, posted in Blog

The importance of self-regulation, emotions and attachments since birth

  • The central nucleus of the amygdala has direct correlations to the hypothalamus and brainstem – areas directly related to fear and anxiety.
  • Many projection areas of the amygdala are critically involved in specific signs that are used to measure fear and anxiety.
  • There is a direct relationship between the activation of the amygdala and the level of anxiety the subject feels.
  • Feelings of anxiety start with a catalyst – an environmental stimulus that provokes stress. This can include various smells, sights, and internal feelings that result in anxiety.
  • Fear responses can include dizziness, faint, giving up, pleasing others, freeze, startle, high heart rate, etc. (stress cascade response). This can be felt through craniosacral treatment all over their system.
  • Moderate fear level causes a startle reflex, while a bigger fear does not. The amygdala is thought to be involved in enhancing the startle reflex in the moderate fear reaction (Walker).
  • Facial expression of fear or acknowledged fear is connected with the right amygdala. 
  • The right amygdala seems to be more connected and activated with the conditional fear, while the left is more connected with the non-conditional fears.
  • The amygdala in males, is bigger than the female one as the amygdala has got more androgen receptors and therefore testosterone stimulates the amygdala to grow more.
  • There is also difference in the left and right amygdala for both female and male.
  • The left full growth is about 1.5 to 2 years before the right full growth.
  • Right amygdala is connected to the face recognition. 
  • It is thought that the early left amygdala development, is due to giving infants the ability to detect danger (possible connection to primitive brain, the occipital brain). 
  • In childhood, the amygdala is found to react differently to same-sex versus opposite-sex individuals.
  • This reactivity decreases until a person enters adolescence, where it increases dramatically at puberty.
  • So, the amygdala is very important during the most difficult times in teenagers! If you have some now, brace yourself and blame it on the amygdala!
  • Difference in emotional stimulation in men and women have also been found.
  • A recollection of a horror film in women, would activate more the left amygdala, while same thing for men would activate more the right amygdala.
  • The right amygdala has been linked to taking action and to negative emotions. This is one of the reasons that men might fight when scared.
  • This is why men and women also respond differently to stressful stimuli, as the left amygdala allows for the recall of details, but it also results in more thought rather than action.
  • Amygdala can be affected by meditation, possibly resulting in more compassion and connection towards others, according to a study with Buddha Monks.
  • Left amygdala has been connected to anxiety in children.
  • Low activity of the gland in general though, results in more anxiety and depression.
  • The use of serotonin drugs increases the size of the amygdala (as we have mentioned above because of the receptors 5HT for serotonin).
  • Some studies also have connected autism to small left amygdala.

Craniosacral Therapy (CST) Transformational healing, of body, mind and soul

by Craniosacral Therapy/Paediatric craniosacral therapy/Nutrition/NAET/ NLP Health Coach/Mindfulness meditation, posted in Blog

Craniosacral Therapy (CST) Transformational healing, of body, mind and soul

Craniosacral therapy is a subtle and profound healing form. See your life transmuting into a bliss, healing from inside out!

In a typical craniosacral session, you will usually lie fully-clothed on a treatment couch. The therapist will make contact by placing their hands usually lightly on your body and tuning in. The first thing you will probably notice is a sense of deep relaxation, which will generally last throughout the session. This release of tension often extends into everyday life.

Often traumas from childhood are stored in our body or even cells, and those unconscious traumas, can be triggered at any time in the life of the adults. Quite often with a body injury or illness. Craniosacral therapy allows the body system to feel safe enough to show the trauma, big or small, at the time that the person is ready to deal with, usually when they feel safe enough to share or deal with whatever emotion is attached to that trauma. With mindfulness meditation and heart meditation, the person has a tool to be able to connect with their heart and deal with whatever comes up in a loving space. My work is to connect to my heart and the person heart to reach a stillness where anything is possible, and any healing is allowed to happen in a loving experience. Craniosacral therapy, does not force any trauma out without the person being ready. That is the magical part of this wonderful therapy.

Sometimes the benefits are not immediately noticeable but become obvious on returning to a familiar environment. The work is often deeply moving and exhilarating.

The benefit can also be noticed after few days in some people. The experience is different from each baby, child or adult according to their own need of balance and adjustments.

Inner peace and One with everything, how to achieve it?

by Craniosacral Therapy/Paediatric craniosacral therapy/Nutrition/NAET/ NLP Health Coach/Mindfulness meditation, posted in Blog

There is a lot out there that can get you to the inner peace for a bit or connect with all for a little bit. There are billions of people out there as well and we are all different. Some needs mindfulness meditation, some need yoga classes, some spiritual meditation, and so on.

Some, from birth to children to some adults, need to let go and heal trauma within, from this life and others or from intergenerational imprint from their grand parents, from the ancestors.

I found that with the babies starting from birth trauma, to children getting anxious in a world that we need to be on the go all the time, to adults, that did not stop thinking on how they felt, and still they do not know how they feel when they integrate themselves or ground.

I found that with craniosacral therapy, we go to each layer from the recent ones to the core of their system, with each layer of little or big trauma, the person gets to themselves, into their inner core, or heart. The more they heal this life, past lives or ancestor lives, the more they can connect to their inner peace. That inner peace is found in the higher heart, the heart center where there is more freedom, more inner beauty, more love, an infinite amount of love, and more compassion. When we connect with that and stay connect with that, at all times, then we can also connect to nature, other people that have reached that frequency, or even change other people frequency for the higher ones, just being around them.

The frequency of the heart, our biofield, the body and the soul, connects, with the mind, reaching a state of consciousness that will take years to reach.

I have seen, from babies lives being integrated after a birth trauma and parents saying “It is like another baby”, in reality is the baby that was suppose to be as from the beginning, without the trauma.

Children after few sessions, will calm down, feel safer and hence integrate a bit more, they relax more, their vagal nerve calms down enough to produce the Delta and Alpha brain waves for relaxation, play and deep sleep, they will be able to deal with a bit more stress in their lives, and feel safe at the same time.

Adults will start noticing more of themselves, getting back to who they really are, without old beliefs that no longer serve them any good, or restrictions of the mind, from past generation that had no choice but behave in a certain way.

Without the trauma, restrictions, there is a balance in their system, their entire body, mind and soul is in balance with each other, and by being so, it is like flowing like a river, the river of life, in a more balance, connected and present way of being with lots of inner peace and infinite love. There is more connection with the higher heart, and hence the biofield of the person becomes, a wave of bright light and higher frequency, connecting to the higher being of life!

© Maria Esposito BSc (Hons) R-Nutritional Therapist – NAET for allergies – R-Craniosacral Therapist – NLP – Angel Guide Certified – Mindfulness Meditation teacher- Resilient heart for trauma(heart-Math) – Certificate for Trauma – Advanced DBS –

Mindfulness meditation connecting to the heart, HeartMath tools and NLP tools combined together.

Featured by Craniosacral Therapy/Paediatric craniosacral therapy/Nutrition/NAET/ NLP Health Coach/Mindfulness meditation, posted in Blog

An introduction to the 8 weeks mindfulness meditation, combined with HeartMath
tools and NLP with each week. You can do just the introduction and if you feel
the benefit you can sign up for the 8 weeks online course. This is a unique
combination! Try it to see the benefit of empowering yourself and taking your
life back to yourself step by step! To book click below to pay via pay-pal.

Introduction to mindfulness meditation, combined with working with the
heart. Special introduction starting from healing the heart meditation.
Combined with the HeartMath method. A unique meditation that will empower you
to be present and heal your heart little by little. A combination of tools from
mindfulness meditation to be present in everyday life, and reducing your worry
and anxiety, combined with the HeartMath tools, gives you an insight of what
you can be when you silence your mind of what does not serve you anymore and connect to your heart!

We finish with anchoring joy and enthusiasm into your heart, so that you can
access it at any time, by just touching
your heart! This is part of NLP tools.

Programme for the 1 hour and half

  • Introduction to mindfulness talk and HeartMath 10 minutes         
  • 1st gentle mindfulness exercise – 5 minutes
  • HeartMath breathing into the heart 5 minutes
  • Talking about the experience of the two meditations, sharing through the chat or writing it down, no obligation in sharing with the group. This is an important part of mindfulness meditation.
  • 2nd gentle mindfulness exercise combined with HeartMath 10 minutes
  • Talking about this experience through the chat or speaking for anyone that would like to share, no obligation on sharing, you can just write it down for yourself.
  • Anchoring Joy or Enthusiasm into our heart to connect to it at any time. This is an NLP tool to empower you to feel joy and enthusiasm about life itself!

Some of the benefits of mindfulness documented in research

There is published scientific evidence that mindfulness can assist with: For
corporates the People at the management level and the people who work with them
will have their work and life positively impacted by just 8 weeks of
Mindfulness meditation in groups, and also individual sessions, to deal with
possible mental and emotional wellbeing with craniosacral therapy, Neuro
linguistic programming and healthy lifestyle. The person wellbeing will make a
huge difference to themselves and the people they work for!

Let’s get back to a normality of life within the big changes that happened
since the pandemic started!

Reduces anxiety and panic attack are two of the many benefits:

● Stress reduction

● Clarity and focus

● Greater resilience

● Enhanced creativity

● Improved relationships

● Improved concentration

● Rapport and communication

● Improved health and wellbeing

● Greater confidence and self-esteem

● Ability to have better quality sleep

● Reduced anxiety and depression

● Improved work-life balance

● Greater work satisfaction

● Memory enhancement

● Intuitive ability

● Pain reduction

Resilience of the heart – productivity and creativity – emotional
intelligence – stress reduction and wellbeing.

One and half hour mindfulness meditation, connecting and healing the heart from

            The meditation will be video recorded, if you do not want your real name or video on please change it accordingly. The link recording will be given only to the participants.

A link will be emailed to you afterwards, please give 48 hours for the link
to be email to your pay-pal email link. If you do not receive the link, please
do email me to esposito_m@yahoo.co.uk
 or text me on 07956-662954 UK. Thank you

The 9 -Attitudes of Mindfulness Meditation – Jon Kabat-Zinn

Non-Judgment:

Impartial witnessing, observing your evaluations and categorizations. Noticing the automatic habit of labelling our experience as good, bad or neutral. Habit of
judging locks us into an automatic reaction without being aware of them, where
they do not have any objective basis. Once we are aware of out judging, then we
can choose actions and behaviours more consciously, rather than automatically
reacting to the situations in our environment. This principle is useful as we
start to engage in a new mindfulness practice that our mind may judge as boring
or a waste of time.

Patience:

Allowing things to unfold in their time, bringing patience to ourselves and others.
This is an understanding that sometimes things must unfold in their own
time. This principle reminds us to be patient with ourselves as our mind is
stretched in new ways. Patience is a helpful quality to invoke when the mind is
agitated. To be patient, is to be open to each moment as it unfolds knowing
that like the butterfly, that some things can only unfold in their own time.
So, when starting out your mindfulness practice or anything else please stick
through whatever takes place trusting that some things will make more sense
after you have practiced them for a while.


Beginner’s Mind: Willing
to see things as if for the first time.  We let our beliefs about a
situation prevent us from seeing things as they really are. No moment is the
same as any other. Beginner’s mind allows us to be receptive to new
possibilities and prevents us from getting stuck in our mind, which often
thinks it knows more than it actually does. Try to cultivate your own
beginner’s mind as an experiment. The next time you see someone familiar,
notice if you are seeing the person with fresh eyes or through the lens of your
beliefs about that person. When you are out walking, see if you are noticing
things, you might have overlooked before. Developing beginner’s mind opens you
to possibilities in life you may be missing out on, because you are viewing
everything through the lens shaped by past experiences, that is not aware of
what else there is to learn and explore.

Trust: Developing trust in your
feelings and yourself is an integral part of the mindfulness practice. The act
of trusting yourself and your basic wisdom, is an important aspect of the
mindfulness training.  If you are feeling strongly about something, it is
important to attend to that, rather than ignore it because an outside authority
is telling you to do so. Mindfulness is an objective process of inquiry and
accepting what people of ‘authority’ tell you without questioning the validity
of it for yourself is against the basic premise of mindfulness. It is important
to stay open and learn from other sources but ultimately you have to live your
life and make your choices that feel right to you. It is almost easier to trust
external authorities to tell us how to live our lives. Mindfulness involves
practicing trusting your own feelings and that doesn’t mean you react based
upon all your feelings but that you explore any feelings that show up fully to
see what they are telling you about a situation and then you trust yourself to
come up with the right action.


Non-striving:
Non-goal oriented, remaining unattached to outcome or achievement. Even though
everyone undertaking mindfulness practice has some goals intentions while they
are taking their training, at the time of mindfulness practice itself, simply
do the practice without any expectations. When you set expectations, such as
feeling more relaxed, you are introducing conditions that don’t allow you to be
fully present with what is, because you are trying to change the present to be
something else. If you are trying to change the present then you are not being
with what is, which is what the mindfulness training is. Remember to allow
anything and everything that you experience from moment to moment to be there,
because it already is. If you are tensed, just pay attention to the tension. If
you are criticizing yourself, just observe the activity of the judging mind.
Non-striving may be the most difficult of all the principles because in our
culture we are taught to be goal-oriented and to be constantly doing something
in order to reach our goals. In mindfulness you will reach your goals by not
trying to change the present but by being present to whatever arises, and in
that way, you will find that the goals are ultimately reached. This is perhaps
something you will need to experience for yourself to really understand.


Acceptance:

Open to seeing and acknowledging things as they are. It does not mean approval or
resignation. Acceptance is the willingness to see things as they really are.
Acceptance does not mean that you have to be satisfied with the way things are
or that you don’t do anything to change what you don’t like. When you have the
ability to see things as they are you free up energy to take the appropriate
actions, instead of working with a mind that is clouded by denial, prejudices,
fears, and self-judgments.


Letting go:
Non-attachment and the ability to put aside the tendency to elevate some
aspects of our experience and to reject others. Letting go is a way of letting
things be, of accepting things as they are. When you observe your mind grasping
or pushing away, you can remind yourself to let go of the impulse to grasp or
push away and see what happens.


Gratitude:

Being thankful for the little things in life, can be very rewarding. Not taking our
body for granted is also very rewarding for ourselves. Being thankful for what
works in our body and mind is rewarding. Give thanks to our own body, inside
and outside, e.g., gives thanks to our legs, our heart, our liver, our spleen,
etc. Being thankful for the people who we have in our lives, that supports us,
being thankful for our food, the earth that supply our food, and more.


Generosity:

Give to others, your time, or things that they need. Give attention to others, not for a reward but for the only reason that you would like to help others, that you
would like to give to others, to make them feel better.

© Maria Esposito BSc (Hons) R-Nutritional Therapist – NAET – R-Craniosacral Therapist –
NLP Practitioner – Certified Angel Guide – Meditation/Mindfulness teacher