[Note: This sample talk refers to material that will have been taught explicitly in the practicum prior to this lesson.]
Welcome back to Pathways. Today's lesson is Final Review and Rhythm of Practice.
Today we're going to have a wrap-up lesson. And we're going to talk about the rhythm of practice, which we might call your training structure. Now that you've completed this eight-week course, congratulate yourselves!
As we transition, we're going to ask the question: How do you continue to develop your mindfulness practice? We do that by considering the training structure, or the rhythm of practice.
Unified Mindfulness organizes training into four basic pillars: life practice, retreat practice, getting support, and giving support.
Let's start by reviewing the coursework. Everything we've done in this eight-week course can be considered life practice. Just as a reminder, you've learned five techniques.
The See Hear Feel technique showed you how any experience can be an object of focus, as long as you are developing Concentration, Clarity, and Equanimity. It's a great technique for practice in stillness and in daily life. You could choose to anchor your attention to outer See, Hear, Feel as an anchor away strategy when things get intense inside. And you could choose to anchor your attention to inner See, Hear, Feel as a turn toward strategy when you are up against emotional or mental challenges. There’s a lot of adaptability with the See Hear Feel technique, including getting modular with it. For instance, you could focus on Just See, Just Hear, or Just Feel.
You also learned the Feel Rest technique and the Feel Flow technique. These two techniques highlight rewarding states, and that’s a good thing. Rewarding states help you stay motivated and also point you toward deeper experience. You can maximize the opportunity that pleasant, rewarding states present. And you could choose to use the Feel Rest technique or Feel Flow technique as your primary technique. It could be that during a certain window of months or years, restfulness is strongly present for you, or flow is strongly present for you. In such a case, it may just make sense to use one of these techniques as your primary technique. You can also use them in daily life. For example, the Feel Rest technique is a great technique for background practice.
You also learned the Auto Walk technique, which involves narrowing your focus to something very subtle, namely the motor experience of walking. And that technique can
add some fun and spontaneity to your daily life. It's a nice alternative to the See Hear Feel technique, for example, when you're walking around during your day.
The Feel Good technique intentionally trains positivity. It's a great strategy to use when you want to try anchoring away from challenging experience. It's a fun strategy to use in daily life as well. You can even get into the habit of sending positivity to others. Remember that one option is using music to trigger positivity.
You've learned how to practice these techniques while seated (except for Auto Walk, of course) and in daily life.
You've learned to go broad with your focus, as in the See Hear Feel technique, and to go narrow with your focus, as in Auto Walk or Feel Rest.
You've learned how to address opportunities and obstacles through mindfulness. Remember we call these windows and walls. We talked about how to address anxiety by turning your attention away, anchoring out into physical sights and sounds. We also talked about turning toward the experience of anxiety, working with it by breaking down the inner See, Hear, Feel reactions associated with it. A window, or opportunity, we explored is the experience of flow. You can turn toward that and work with it, or you can just allow flow to be in the background.
So, there’s lots of choice, and you can mix and match the techniques. You can explore and get creative. You can make up your own versions. As long as you are strengthening Concentration, Clarity, and Equanimity, it's all good. You can take advantage of the whole buffet of possibilities, or you can choose to keep it simple. You could stick with just one technique and just do formal practice in stillness if that’s what you're up for at this point. I just want to support you in doing whatever you would like to do for yourself. Know that that's enough.
Let's talk a little bit about your practice routine. Try to set aside a minimum of ten minutes a day for your formal practice. You've been practicing for about eight weeks, so hopefully practice has started to become a habit. Just building in a positive habit of practice each day is often the biggest hurdle. Remember to keep your formal practice motivating and interesting. Find ways to make it a priority.
When deciding what technique to use, remember you can choose a technique based on (1) what you're interested in, (2) what opportunities present themselves, or (3) necessity. If obstacles [walls] come up during practice and you need to work with them, you know what to do: apply one or more of the strategies you’ve learned in this course.
I also recommend having one or two “fallback techniques” that you can use if you're feeling indecisive. If you're someone who likes variety but gets overwhelmed by choice, have a
technique that you can fall back on. You might choose the See Hear Feel technique, for example. When in doubt, you just do that technique.
Just to remind you, you have three options for bringing practice into your daily life. There’s formal practice, which is ten minutes or more, and your attention is fully committed to a technique. Some examples of formal practice in daily life are practice during exercise and practice while eating.
Microhits are less than ten minutes and your attention is, once again, fully committed to a technique. You might use microhits in daily life by bookending a stressful conversation or by peppering your day with brief pauses for practice.
Finally, there’s background practice. Background practice can last any length of time, and your attention is only partially on a technique. Most of your attention is on the activity you're doing. You might use background practice during conversation, in a meeting, or while working on the computer. Maybe you keep 10-20% of your attention on relaxing your body, for example, while the rest of your attention is on the activity you're doing.
We also went over the four types of accelerators. We explored Response Challenges through music; we explored Motion Challenge by walking around the room; we brought practice into challenging situations in your day (Situation Challenge); and we talked about Duration Challenges. Duration Challenges involve sitting for longer periods of time and working with the discomfort that comes up.
Those are all the possibilities that we've covered through this eight-week course, all of which constitute your life practice.
What do we mean when we talk about retreat practice? Well, it's any kind of deeper immersion into practice. That could be a half day, a full day, a weekend, a weeklong, a ten day, a month, two months—whatever you're up for and have time for. Any deeper immersion into practice will strengthen your core skills, and the momentum then gives you a window into how powerful practice can be. You've already gotten a taste of that over these eight weeks. On a retreat, you spend time devoted strictly to practice, and it can be extraordinarily powerful.
You could do shorter retreats, such as a daylong or a weekend, once a month. You could also do extended retreats—anything lasting five to ten days, or even longer—once or twice a year. Either of these options would work. It's up to you to decide what your schedule will allow for. Just try to get in whichever option you can manage.
The Unified Mindfulness community has retreats, and I can let you know about those. I also run my own programs, and I'll let you know where to find out more about those. We have phone-based retreats as well as residential retreats. If you want to practice from home, the phone-based retreats are a great way to do that.
In addition to life practice and retreat practice, getting support is another pillar of your overall practice. You could get support on a professional level by taking more classes like this one or by getting coaching. Coaching can be done in person or virtually. You could also get support through peer-to-peer connections. You might have an accountability buddy around your practice, or you might join a sitting group. You could also do online classes, find online groups, or use apps. There are lots of ways to get professional-level support or peer-to-peer support, whether it's virtual or in person.
Lastly, let’s explore giving support. So many of us are drawn to this practice so we can contribute more to the world. In an informal way, this practice may have such a positive effect that you start showing up differently. You may carry yourself differently in the world; you may be more present in your relationships; you might become a better listener; you could be more focused at work; you could manage your emotions better. Those are all ways that you might start giving back just due to the shifts that come from your personal practice.
This practice may also have such a positive effect on you that you want to tell your friends and family about it. Maybe you share about your practice and you get them enthusiastic. Maybe they see the changes in you and they feel inspired to explore this practice for themselves. Those are some informal ways that you can give support.
The formal way to give support is being so inspired by this practice that you learn how to share it with others. Sharing practice with other people helps you to deepen your understanding of how to do it. It gives other people a practice that you've personally found beneficial in your life. If you're interested in doing that, I can share resources for that as well.
So, that's a lot to review. Do you have any questions?
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