0:00

Hello and welcome to 12-minute

0:02

meditation, a weekly

0:05

podcast from Mindful and

0:07

mindful.org that offers mindfulness

0:09

meditations backed by neuroscience.

0:12

If you've been practicing, you know that

0:14

12 minutes of meditation a day can

0:17

yield benefits like increased

0:19

attention, focus, creativity,

0:22

calm, resilience, and compassion.

0:25

The latest scientific research supports

0:27

this knowledge. So on this

0:30

podcast, we invite you to do

0:32

your 12-minute practice with

0:34

guided meditations from today's leading

0:36

mindfulness experts. There's

0:38

a new practice each week and a new

0:40

way to experience some of those benefits day

0:43

to day. I'm

0:45

Chelsea Arsenault, Director of Advertising

0:47

at Mindful and mindful.org, and

0:50

we're starting this new year with a mini on

0:53

mindfulness for energy from mindfulness

0:55

teacher, researcher, and author, Shalini

0:58

Baha. This series is

1:00

rooted in the lessons and wisdom from

1:02

Shalini's new book, Return to Mindfulness, Disrupting

1:05

Default Habits for Personal

1:07

Fulfillment, Effective Leadership, and

1:10

Global Impact, launching

1:12

January 18th. Now

1:15

when we say energy, we don't just mean

1:17

the oomph you need to move around and

1:19

get things done. No,

1:21

we mean the vitality, the

1:24

feeling of aliveness and creativity that

1:26

arise when we let go of

1:28

striving, shed resistance, and take care

1:31

of our inner selves. As

1:34

Shalini says, we use a precious

1:37

energy in holding on to our

1:39

attachments, refusing to let go. Yet

1:41

if we manage to let go,

1:44

we might find ourselves pleasantly surprised

1:46

by the lightness and newfound energy

1:48

to pursue the life we want.

1:51

This meditation aims to help us

1:53

take in and process information efficiently

1:56

when we use our senses, touch,

1:58

sight, hearing, taste, So

2:03

here we focus on our senses

2:05

and we relax the mind. Shaonee

2:09

Bahaal is an award-winning researcher,

2:11

certified MBSR and Search Inside

2:14

Yourself teacher, TEDx speaker and

2:16

former town counselor. You

2:19

can subscribe to 12-Minute Meditation while you're

2:21

on mindful.org or wherever you find

2:24

your favorite podcast. And

2:27

if you're moved to leave this review, we'd

2:29

be grateful and so will other listeners. See

2:32

your review helps them to decide whether

2:34

12-Minute Meditation is for them. But

2:37

for now, for you, here's

2:40

Shaonee Bahaal. Hello

2:55

and thank you for your practice

2:57

today. I'm Shaonee Bahaal

2:59

Melon and in today's session,

3:01

we're going to replenish our mental

3:03

energy and that

3:06

is our capacity to

3:08

focus and process

3:11

information effectively. So

3:14

we have limited cognitive resources,

3:18

limited brain resources that we

3:20

use for thinking, planning,

3:23

strategizing, willpower.

3:27

And if you keep drawing

3:29

from that pool of resources without

3:32

replenishing them, we can feel

3:36

depleted in that

3:38

our brain gets sluggish and

3:40

we don't make very good

3:42

decisions then. So

3:45

today we're going to

3:47

replenish our mental energy

3:49

by returning to our senses,

3:52

literally. And what

3:54

I mean by that is that

3:57

when we use our senses like.

4:00

A pouch. Say.

4:03

Ah, hearing. Pasting.

4:07

Around. Listening. In

4:10

those moments, I think

4:12

in mind gets to ask. Hundred

4:16

his practice were gonna go through

4:18

each of i different senses. And

4:21

in that way allow our thinking

4:23

mine to rest. To.

4:25

Less actually. before we begin,

4:27

try this experiment. And

4:30

down. See. If you can,

4:33

Count. Backwards. From

4:35

hundred. And. Listen

4:37

to this sounds an environment at the

4:39

same time. She

4:43

wanted anyone close your eyes for a moment

4:45

to concentrate. In

4:52

very likely that you. Discovered.

4:54

That you can count and

4:57

listen to the sounds of

4:59

the same time wait sale

5:01

by resting on as sensitive.

5:04

Let resting on pensioners senses

5:07

we are giving. Are thinking

5:09

Mind arrest? So. Let's

5:11

start by are coming through

5:13

a comfortable posture and you

5:15

know what is England? Do

5:17

this. Practice walking. Or

5:20

A or you can be sitting. And

5:23

if you have access to a

5:25

quiet. Base outside encourage you

5:27

to take this practice outside.

5:31

And. Whenever you feel ready. Com.

5:34

Flooring. Closing your eyes,

5:38

And that's if you're not walking. For.

5:41

Definitely the eyes open. And.

5:45

Will start with this. Sense.

5:47

Of touch. The.

5:51

Striding by feeling.

5:55

Any sensation, the patch in your

5:57

face, or com

6:00

In fact, it is making with the floor in returning

6:09

to your direct,

6:11

immediate experience of

6:13

the sensations of touch. If

6:16

you're not thinking about it,

6:18

just feeling what's happening

6:21

in your feet, any

6:23

patterns of pressure,

6:26

weight, blood

6:32

flowing, tingling. Can

6:50

you feel the touch of any

6:53

footwear or if

6:56

you're barefooted, then the touch of

6:59

air, touching

7:02

your skin. What

7:06

else in your body can you feel the

7:09

air touching your skin? Again,

7:16

not trying to find

7:18

anything special, just being

7:21

open to the sensations

7:23

of touch right now. You

7:37

can continue with your

7:39

exploration of the sense of touch

7:42

or shift your attention to

7:44

sounds, the

7:46

sounds in your environment or

7:49

within you. If

7:57

you're listening. No

8:01

need to label or

8:05

get lost in the concept or

8:07

construct of what the sound is,

8:09

where it's coming from. Purely

8:13

listening to the

8:15

sounds arising and dissolving

8:18

in your experience. No

8:35

need to go searching for sounds,

8:38

just allowing the sounds to reach

8:40

your ears or

8:42

just enjoying the sound of silence in

8:45

between. Noting

9:07

how some sounds may feel

9:09

pleasant, some

9:12

are unpleasant or

9:14

neutral. I think

9:16

you can just stay open

9:19

to receiving all the sounds

9:22

coming and going with

9:25

an open, spacious mind and

9:27

body. Every

9:50

now and then you may discover that

9:52

your mind has drifted to thinking that's

9:55

totally natural as soon

9:57

as you notice that with kindness.

10:00

returning back to your sense of

10:04

sound, receiving

10:06

the sound. And

10:14

you can choose to stay with a sense

10:18

of touch or listening

10:22

or shifting your attention now

10:24

to smells. Just

10:30

noticing the smells in

10:33

and around you. Maybe

10:41

there's a smell of coffee or tea.

10:45

Just the smells in

10:47

your room. And if you're

10:49

outdoors, of course, you may

10:51

discover very different smells than what

10:53

you find inside your house or

10:55

office. Again,

11:01

with that spaciousness in your

11:03

mind and body, just receiving

11:05

any smells or even

11:07

absence of smells. And

11:37

if there are no smells

11:39

at all, just staying with

11:44

that sense of smelling and

11:47

noting there is no smell. And

11:50

as we refine our

11:54

ability to smell with patience, just

11:56

staying with that sense of smell,

12:00

here open the septus,

12:03

we may start to

12:05

uncover newer smells

12:08

that we had not noticed

12:10

earlier. We're

12:14

just staying here for a few more moments. And

12:35

of course you can choose to stay

12:37

here with a sense of smell

12:40

or return to your

12:42

sense of

12:44

touch or listening. Or

12:48

opening your eyes and

12:51

just looking at the object in

12:54

front of you with

12:56

fresh eyes. And

12:59

without getting lost in labels,

13:02

whether you like the objects or

13:05

judgments. Just

13:07

piercing as

13:09

if for the first time

13:11

you're looking at this object. Just

13:18

noting the textures, colors,

13:23

lightness, darkness. Just

13:32

receiving the gift of sight. And

13:39

seeing what's in front of you. And

13:52

if for any reason you're not able to

13:54

see, then always

13:57

choose any other sense. Making

14:10

a note of how it feels to

14:13

really give our full attention

14:15

to our senses. And

14:18

at this time, the sense

14:21

of seeing. Returning

14:32

to our senses allows us to

14:34

be present. Because

14:38

all our senses are

14:41

taking an information in this present

14:43

moment that automatically

14:45

brings us to the present

14:48

when we reconnect with our senses. As

14:54

we end the practice today, maybe you

14:57

want to remind

14:59

yourself in between your work

15:01

today to check

15:04

in with your senses and you

15:07

can put little sticky notes as a reminder. And

15:11

that can be

15:13

really helpful to help us replenish

15:17

our energy in the mind. So

15:20

I wanted to end

15:23

our practice together today

15:25

with these words from

15:27

the Irish poet Yeats. And

15:30

he says, we can

15:32

make our minds feel like

15:34

the water that

15:37

beings gather about us. That

15:39

they may see, it may be,

15:42

their own images and

15:45

so live for a moment with

15:47

a clearer and

15:50

perhaps even with a fiercer

15:52

life because of

15:54

our quiet. Thank

15:57

you for your practice today. Thank

16:13

you for listening to this episode

16:15

of 12-minute meditation from Mindful and

16:17

mindful.org. I hope you

16:19

enjoyed practicing with us. We'll

16:21

be back in seven days with another meditation

16:23

for you.