0:00

Hi there , welcome to Conversations where we

0:02

seek to advance your leader in team excellence

0:04

by discussing relevant topics that

0:07

impact today's organizations

0:09

. Welcome to the show . Today

0:12

we have Samantha Amit , the creator

0:14

of the Mindful Leadership Online Program

0:17

and Conscious Leadership Digital

0:19

Program , growing resonant , resilient

0:21

, adaptive , high-performing leaders

0:24

, teams and companies . Samantha

0:26

is based in Israel , coaching and training

0:29

leaders from tech and finance

0:31

in 30 countries and 6

0:33

continents to act , achieve

0:35

, collaborate and thrive , which we're going

0:37

to talk about today . Sam is

0:39

co-author of Mindfulness at Work

0:41

, the practice and science of mindfulness

0:43

for leaders , coaches and facilitators

0:46

, together with Professor Jonathan

0:48

Passmore . Sam is an

0:50

MBSR , mindfulness-based

0:53

stress reduction practitioner , studied

0:55

at Bangor University in Wales and

0:58

Reifman University in Israel

1:00

. Welcome to the show

1:02

, samantha . How are you today

1:04

?

1:05

Thank you so much , Katie . I'm really excited

1:07

to be here together with you , especially because

1:09

we also know each other from the past .

1:12

Yes , we do as we

1:14

learn and grow , and team

1:16

coaching . Right , right we're

1:20

in the world that are coming to us from

1:22

today .

1:24

So my accent is South African

1:27

, which you may notice , and today I'm

1:29

in Israel . On

1:31

any one day , I may not be

1:33

actually overseas

1:36

, but in one day I can

1:38

be in six or seven different countries , virtually

1:41

Virtually .

1:42

It's amazing that the virtual

1:45

world has opened up for

1:47

people doing . Like doing our kind of work

1:49

and other work . Although

1:52

I do still love to step into

1:55

a room . I love

1:57

virtual because it's easy

1:59

, but I still have energy

2:01

that I can gain from being

2:03

face to face , right In a

2:05

room .

2:06

Absolutely , absolutely

2:08

. So I work with leaders in companies

2:10

which they can't always meet , and

2:12

the teams or cross teams in , let's

2:15

say , india , switzerland

2:18

, us , some other places

2:20

in Europe , and so they get together

2:22

, but not

2:24

often enough , right ? Yeah

2:26

, well , that sounds like fan-span-span-span

2:29

. Yeah , yeah , yeah .

2:32

Well , today we're going to talk about something that you're pretty passionate

2:35

about and a topic

2:37

that I believe that everybody

2:40

should not

2:42

just know about , but maybe learn a few

2:44

easy techniques that

2:46

we can take away not only for ourselves

2:48

as leaders , but also as

2:51

we work with our clients

2:53

and whatnot . So we're going to talk

2:55

about mindfulness , and

2:57

so when we think about mindfulness

3:00

it's a word that I know that I hear

3:02

a lot , but I don't necessarily

3:04

know what mindfulness

3:06

is in the broad

3:09

sense . So is that something that maybe you can

3:11

bring to light for us ?

3:13

today . Yeah , yeah , thanks for asking

3:15

. It's interesting

3:17

because you know I've

3:19

been working with mindfulness for so long

3:21

now and because it's become so popular

3:23

. I actually think that everybody knows what

3:25

it is and it's

3:27

true , people have heard about it but they don't really

3:30

know what it is . So , in

3:32

simple terms , you know there

3:36

is let's just take a picture of

3:38

the iceberg right , if we use that a lot

3:40

in leadership , so like

3:42

the Titanic , with the Titanic , okay

3:45

, they didn't see what was underneath

3:48

the water , and

3:50

so as human beings , we

3:53

have such

3:55

a vast inner experience

3:59

and what goes on with inner ? So

4:01

mindfulness is a lot around actually

4:03

learning about

4:06

our inner experience , being

4:08

present to our inner experience , so

4:10

whether that's our thoughts , our feelings

4:13

, our sensations in

4:15

our body . So the practices all help

4:17

us to connect with ourselves , because

4:20

whenever we stress out , it's often because

4:22

we separated right , we

4:25

separate from ourselves , and then that

4:27

leads to stress . So it's about our inner

4:29

experience , but then it also expands

4:31

out and zooms out to

4:34

the outer experience and what's going

4:36

on around me , and so

4:38

it's actually so fascinating .

4:41

Thank you for sharing . Yeah , and

4:44

it sounds like when I , when I heard you say that you

4:46

know you've been , mindfulness

4:49

has been a part of you for a long time

4:51

, you know , and now it's kind of coming to light for a lot

4:53

of people . How did you start

4:55

stepping into mindfulness ? What did that look

4:57

like for you ?

4:58

Yeah , so

5:01

that was about two decades

5:04

ago when I had

5:06

two young kids at home . I was a leader

5:08

in high tech in a software company

5:10

quite a big , global one and

5:13

I was really great at my work

5:15

. I loved it . I

5:17

was like the super woman , super

5:19

leader , and I would go to work

5:22

lots of stress because , you

5:24

know , we were navigating also

5:27

different time zones , working

5:29

with APEC , working with email , working

5:31

with the Americas , and

5:33

I used to come home at night to two

5:35

small kids and I

5:38

didn't have any patients left within

5:40

me , and

5:42

so there was

5:44

such a difference between

5:46

day and night , between how was it work

5:49

and how was it home , and

5:51

I didn't say I hated myself

5:53

, but I was ashamed

5:56

. I was ashamed and

5:58

I suffered a lot within me . Remember , I said

6:00

mindfulness is all about , like , what's

6:02

going on within you . On the outside

6:04

, everybody saw this lovely

6:07

, you know , people think I'm sweet and I'm , you

6:09

know , I'm always smiling , so people

6:11

think I'm calm and relaxed . But within

6:14

I was , you

6:16

know this perfectionist

6:19

, trying to get everything done , and I went home

6:21

and I didn't have patients for my kids . I

6:23

shouted at them , you know

6:25

, bathing and everything

6:27

was just a chore , and so I

6:29

knew something had to change , and

6:32

so when I actually came

6:35

to mindfulness , my

6:38

life really turned around

6:40

, but it took time . It's not like a magic pole

6:42

. It takes time and it takes practice , and I'm going to I'd

6:45

like to show one or two of the practices

6:47

that I do with

6:49

myself , even today , and with my clients . We'll

6:52

share that today , for sure .

6:55

Excellent ? Yeah , because I'm definitely and

6:58

I think everybody is , because when

7:00

we think about mindfulness , it's like , oh

7:02

, do we have to like go through

7:05

? You know a course

7:07

and I know that you have some amazing courses

7:09

. But I believe that when we talk before

7:12

and we'll get to this later that there's

7:14

some things that people can do , like you said

7:16

in the moment . And your

7:18

story about being

7:20

a parent and working and coming

7:22

home , I think that resonates with a

7:25

lot of the listeners . I remember

7:27

when my mom was a elementary

7:30

school teacher . She used to come

7:32

home and we knew she needed and

7:35

she would say this I need just five minutes and

7:37

she would go on the floor , she'd put her feet up

7:39

on the sofa and

7:42

she would . We knew that we needed

7:45

to give her those five minutes

7:47

so she can transition from

7:49

her work to her home , and

7:52

I think that that's important to be

7:54

recognizing that , those positive

7:56

, absolutely .

7:57

Yeah , yeah , so I

8:00

like what you're saying . First , it's lovely

8:02

that your mom had that practice and

8:04

you have the practice of prayer , which you bring

8:06

in , and it's that really easily

8:08

accessible . So

8:10

a lot of us

8:12

actually already have practices

8:14

that we're doing that are mindfulness practices

8:17

, and what I say is that we

8:19

need to up those . We need to actually increase

8:21

even more so because life

8:23

is becoming more and more demanding and

8:26

complex and stressful , so

8:28

it really is helpful to just

8:30

have more things that we

8:32

can add in . That just brings

8:35

us back to present , that just brings down

8:37

the stress just one little notch . Yeah

8:41

, so your mom is brilliant . That was excellent

8:43

, yeah .

8:46

Yeah , yeah , she's like the

8:48

first leader in

8:52

my life Great

8:54

.

8:54

Great , wonderful

8:56

, wonderful .

8:58

Well , let's talk a little bit about you

9:00

. Have the ACT model Chief

9:03

, collaborate and thrive and I'm really interested

9:05

in learning more about

9:07

that and how you use that .

9:10

Yeah , yeah . So the

9:12

ACT model first of all , the acronym

9:14

ACT comes about

9:16

because mindfulness is

9:18

an act . It's anything but passive . So

9:22

some of the listeners may be a

9:24

bit familiar with mindfulness . There are different

9:26

ways to practice it . You can

9:28

practice it through meditation , right

9:30

, so

9:32

you can do vipassana meditation

9:35

, where you sit and you drop into silence

9:37

and you do a silence meditation

9:40

. Yoga is a form of meditation

9:43

, tai Chi is a form of movement meditation

9:45

, and there's lots of meditation

9:47

practices that you can do to

9:49

practice and become more mindful . So

9:51

this increases your ability

9:54

to be more mindful and it's actually a mindfulness

9:56

practice . What I specialize

9:59

in is what

10:02

we call informal practices , like

10:04

, for example , a

10:07

practice that you would do before you go into a meeting

10:09

. So let's see how this fits into

10:11

the ACT model . So the ACT model is

10:15

called ACT because you need to do something

10:17

. It's not passive

10:19

, it's actually well

10:21

, it's not easy , it's quite simple

10:23

, but you need to set aside

10:25

time . And so ACT stands

10:28

for achieve , which is all about

10:30

me and myself . And how can I achieve more

10:32

? Connect , what

10:36

are the things I can do when I'm in my one-on-one

10:38

relationships , and the T is

10:40

for thrive how we can move

10:43

out of our ego , where we get hurt and

10:45

triggered and upset with

10:48

people and move from our me

10:51

mentality to the we mentality

10:53

. So that's a little bit about the ACT

10:55

model and the ACT framework forms part

10:57

of the book that I wrote . It

10:59

forms part of also the

11:02

course , the online course actually

11:04

two online courses that I've created

11:07

.

11:08

Let's talk while we're right there . Let's

11:11

talk a little bit about those courses

11:13

, because there are more .

11:15

Yeah .

11:16

Yeah .

11:17

So maybe , instead of talking

11:19

about the courses , I want to actually

11:21

give examples , if it's okay with

11:23

you , of few different

11:25

clients that are using

11:27

the model and they're

11:30

using the course as well . So

11:32

, and what's changed with them ? And maybe we'll drop

11:34

into already an

11:36

exercise . Yeah , that

11:41

, if we can already practice . So , so

11:45

I'm going to integrate everything together , because

11:47

that's what laughs about . You know , the

11:50

leaders that are coach say to me they don't

11:52

have time and everything you have to make

11:54

the time . So I'm going to show you how

11:56

easy it is . Let's maybe do

11:58

, like , actually start with something really

12:00

simple , that's 30 seconds

12:03

, and then maybe a bit later in the conversation

12:05

will challenge people a little bit more

12:07

, to do a little bit more than 30 seconds . Okay

12:10

, sounds good . So the

12:12

first thing we can do and , of course

12:15

, if any of the listeners are driving you're

12:17

going to , you can be listening , but don't

12:19

close your eyes , right , right

12:21

, okay . So , the

12:23

idea is to pause everything you're doing , except

12:26

for , of course , if you're driving and

12:29

just try and sit up straight , right

12:31

, and we're going to just drop into

12:34

silence and the first thing we're

12:36

going to do I'll have to always close my eyes , because

12:38

then I go into my inner world and then I

12:40

just take three breaths , just

12:43

breathing in life and breathing out tension

12:46

. So

12:50

it's nice to actually give an audible outbreath

12:52

, so breathing in life and

12:55

breathing out any tension , and

12:59

one more and

13:04

just simply ask yourself how am

13:06

I right now ? How

13:11

am I ? And

13:17

that's it . We're going to end this small

13:20

, mind-filling query . So I always like

13:22

to end with a thank you . So thank yourself for

13:24

taking these few seconds to drop

13:26

into silence and ask yourself how

13:28

you am , how you are . It's

13:31

a time for introspection

13:33

and also a time for healing

13:35

, and

13:38

when you really open your eyes and come

13:40

back .

13:42

No relaxing , yeah yeah , and

13:46

for me , I felt . I

13:48

felt in my back . I have an area

13:50

in my back and it was really present during

13:53

that moment . I

13:56

could feel a little bit of the pressure

13:58

.

13:59

Yeah .

14:00

My back , although I was yeah . Yeah , but

14:03

it's something that I probably wouldn't have noticed

14:05

if I wasn't Right .

14:07

Exactly , that's exactly the

14:09

point . So the

14:11

fact of the matter is that we are

14:13

, instead of being human beings

14:16

, we really are human doings . So

14:18

we walk around on automatic pilot

14:20

, we're very busy doing because that's

14:22

a high value , and

14:24

definitely in the United States of

14:27

doing , doing , doing , execution , execution

14:29

. And so we

14:31

don't spend enough time being and

14:33

just dropping into stillness for

14:36

, you know , literally 30 seconds

14:38

you can just check in with yourself and

14:42

you know if a child would fall on

14:44

the streets , even if that child

14:46

isn't yours , you would probably see if somebody

14:48

is looking after that child and , and

14:50

you know , you would go up and be concerned

14:53

and if the mother was there

14:55

, they would , you know , maybe put

14:57

their , put her the mum . The mum would

14:59

put her hand on the child and

15:01

see what they can do . And we don't do

15:03

that to ourselves . So

15:07

when you

15:09

drop into that silence and you notice

15:11

, like I say , something in the body remember I

15:13

said , mindfulness is about noticing your emotions

15:16

, your thoughts , feelings

15:19

in the body and so you notice something

15:21

, even like something that's maybe it

15:23

could be painful , it could be you

15:25

know , something , I don't

15:27

know just go there for a minute and

15:29

be there like befriended , breathing

15:33

to that space and then carry

15:35

on with your last . That's it . So

15:37

simple . That's

15:40

how you can actually heal yourself as well

15:43

.

15:43

Yeah

15:45

, and

15:48

this just came to mind , and I'm not sure

15:50

how like

15:52

when I think of mindfulness and I think of reflection

15:55

, are

15:57

they one in the same or is

15:59

there a difference there ?

16:03

Yeah , that's brilliant . So the mindfulness

16:06

is more the awareness piece . So

16:08

mindfulness is simply being

16:11

aware , but it's being

16:13

aware with a certain quality . That's

16:16

what the Course you asked me to tell you a little bit about

16:18

the Course . So the Course

16:20

goes into those qualities

16:22

of what kind of awareness I'm bringing

16:24

. Like , let's say

16:26

, with the leaders that we're

16:28

working , we want to help them to bring

16:31

out the quality of trust we

16:34

want them to be more curious

16:36

and open on psychological safety

16:38

. So mindfulness helps

16:40

you be intentional by actually

16:44

bringing that into your awareness and

16:46

almost like programming your brain

16:48

. I'm going to go into that meeting now . I'd

16:51

like to bring curiosity into that

16:53

meeting . I want to be open

16:55

, I want to be listening . So

16:58

first of all , being aware

17:00

and then the

17:03

reflection piece sits on top of that

17:05

. So

17:08

, for example , journaling is a mindfulness

17:10

practice . So you journal

17:13

and then the reflection , you

17:15

start learning about yourself and through that

17:17

you can great change .

17:20

I'm going hand in hand with those two . That's

17:25

awesome when you work with

17:27

leaders and teams and

17:29

you're doing this exercise . What

17:32

is the typical response

17:35

if it's something that is foreign

17:38

to them ?

17:41

Yeah , I'm smiling . I

17:43

saw that yeah

17:46

, so I do pay

17:49

. I put pay everybody I

17:51

work with . So

17:53

I don't work with disease I

17:55

don't know if you use that term in

17:58

the United States . I

18:00

work with people who want to radically

18:03

change , who want to transform , and

18:05

so they're willing to go the extra mile and put

18:07

in the effort . So you do need

18:10

to be courageous and

18:12

you do need to know that it's going to be uncomfortable

18:14

, so

18:16

to push through the discomfort

18:19

. So I do have leaders that forget

18:21

that I tell them this and then they say you know

18:23

that was hard . I said , oh , yes

18:25

, yes , it's hard , it's

18:28

easy and hard at the same time

18:30

, because the results

18:33

don't come immediately . You

18:35

have to be patient that the results come

18:37

when you practice in time . It's

18:39

like if you go to the job and

18:42

you practice anything

18:45

in life , it's how much you put in

18:47

. Usually it's what you get out . So

18:50

we do want that the

18:53

80 , 20 , the Pareto principle

18:55

, where we do want to invest in

18:57

the things that actually work for us , that

18:59

are right for us , that we invest 20%

19:02

and get 80% outcome from it

19:04

.

19:07

And that makes sense . The more that it's

19:09

practice because it is a practice

19:11

the more it's practice

19:14

, the stronger someone will be

19:16

meaning to me that

19:18

it will just be top of mind that this is what I

19:20

do .

19:23

Exactly so that it becomes part of your

19:25

structure , of your day , part of your

19:27

routine . So

19:29

you know , I'm very pro

19:31

having a morning routine , having a night routine

19:33

, having healthy habits

19:36

, mindful habits that you have

19:38

during the day . So there are many things

19:40

you could be doing , yeah .

19:42

Let's hear them .

19:43

Yeah , so so you know the exercise

19:46

that we did before that . We sat

19:48

down , we dropped into silence and

19:50

we asked how I am . So I have a

19:52

lot of clients that have ADHD

19:55

or any way . They're on their ass

19:57

bum excuse my language for too

19:59

many hours . So what they

20:02

need to do is get up and

20:04

go and get a glass of water . They

20:06

get a glass of water every time they get

20:08

up and they go get something to drink or coffee . They

20:10

can ask themselves how am I

20:12

Walk

20:15

a little bit more slowly ? There's something

20:17

called mindful walking . I've got a video

20:20

on that on my YouTube channel . So

20:22

you walk a little bit more

20:24

mindfully . Instead of thinking of your

20:26

next meeting , you focus

20:28

on your body . So

20:31

you get in out of your head , because you know too much

20:33

in our head . So for

20:35

people that are thinking , thinking , thinking

20:37

all the time , we need a break from it . So

20:40

it's you purposely need

20:42

to bring your awareness . So let's say , your awareness

20:45

is there , you want to bring it ? Yeah

20:47

, it's there , I want to bring it

20:49

, yeah , yeah

20:52

, Into the body and just

20:54

walking a little bit more slowly . And you

20:56

know what , in the beginning you feel

20:58

stupid . It does seem stupid

21:00

, like

21:03

you know , like almost like a robot

21:05

walking or whatever , like a model walking , but whatever

21:07

, like what is this , you know , and you laugh at

21:09

yourself and that's also okay . But

21:12

when you do it time and time again

21:14

, it's actually bringing attention to yourself

21:16

and taking your mind

21:19

for those few seconds off

21:21

the thinking brain . That's either worrying

21:23

. Thinking in the future , thinking

21:25

in the past , thinking what I need to do now

21:27

, and you're like

21:30

feeding yourself , like what's going on within

21:32

me right now . Come

21:34

into the present moment .

21:39

What are some of your practices Like

21:42

as a practitioner , what do you

21:44

practice ?

21:46

Yeah .

21:46

Dang . What does that look like ?

21:48

Yes , maybe . What about practice today

21:50

already ? Yeah , yeah

21:52

, so

21:55

I pray in the morning

21:57

I have a short

22:00

prayer where you know

22:02

, it doesn't

22:04

matter whether you believe in Christ or you believe

22:06

in God , or who you believe in , but there

22:08

is , if you believe that there

22:10

is a higher power . So

22:12

just bring , you know , thankfulness

22:15

, bring gratitude . Gratitude , by the way

22:17

, is a mindful attitude , remember , I told

22:19

you that there's these mindful attitudes . That's what the

22:21

course is about the quality . So

22:24

I'm practicing gratitude . I bring gratitude

22:26

in . Then I woke up this morning . You

22:30

know , thank you God for waking up and

22:33

it's a little hymn that I

22:35

sing and thank

22:37

you God , thank you God for you know

22:40

, for this break that I have and that

22:42

I can go through my day . So I start

22:44

off my day with that . So

22:47

that's gratitude and grace , practicing

22:49

that . And then , if I'm in

22:51

meetings , I will

22:53

. If

22:55

I'm in meetings , I will always practice mindfulness

22:58

in my meetings , like , whoever

23:00

works with me gets to practice mindfulness

23:02

. So I get to benefit because I

23:04

practice it with them , right , and

23:07

in a few minutes we can take a break . If you want , we

23:09

can practice something a little bit different but similar

23:11

to what we did before . So

23:16

I've done that a couple of times today as

23:18

well . I had a new client so I didn't

23:20

scare him off the first

23:23

time so I didn't practice with him . But truthfully

23:25

, my clients actually asked me to practice

23:27

mindfulness . Can we do that thing again ? That

23:30

is terrific . Yeah

23:34

. So today I went for a

23:36

walk in the morning and

23:38

then what I like to do is sometimes pause , because

23:41

it's nice to pause when your heart's racing

23:43

and then connect with your body and you feel

23:46

your blood pumping and you feel

23:48

your body . So it's nice just to do that as well . So

23:51

I experiment all the time . I love experimenting

23:53

, so I'll do that when I walk . Sometimes they'll

23:55

sit down

23:58

, I'll look at the view . So

24:00

look at the view and you immerse

24:02

yourself in what's going

24:05

on around you . So , as I said , people , if

24:07

you're listening and you do this already yes

24:10

, you have mini mindfulness

24:12

practices and you can add

24:14

to that . So , for

24:16

example , if I'm walking today , I

24:18

went and sat at a spot where I could see the whole

24:20

view of my village and there's forest all around

24:23

. So what's beautiful about that

24:25

is it invites in awe . You see

24:27

the clouds , you see the greenery

24:29

, you see laughs and

24:32

awe . Actually it's not a mindfulness

24:35

trait , but it's actually one of the

24:37

emotions that bring

24:39

in positive that . Barbara

24:41

Fredrickson , if you know her work , she

24:44

studied positive emotions

24:46

and so awe is one of them . So

24:49

what I like to do , I use mindfulness

24:51

to invite in positive

24:55

emotions . So that's awe , for example

24:58

. Awe is like when you just sit and watch

25:00

the rain or

25:02

something that's much bigger than you inviting

25:05

awe , and so what's nice about that ? It gets

25:07

you out of like the me and

25:09

into the thrive part , the we , and

25:11

being part of being connected with the

25:13

universe . Yeah

25:16

, so I can give you more examples

25:19

of what I do . I'm just going to pause

25:21

a minute go in a roll .

25:24

That is that is for

25:26

me . Prayer is is part

25:29

of my mindfulness and I

25:31

love that you brought that up , but I

25:33

also love the fact that

25:35

there are things that people are already

25:37

doing and maybe not recognizing

25:40

that they're mindful .

25:41

Yeah , yeah . So

25:43

one of my teachers , kelly , is

25:46

John Kabat-San , and

25:48

I really I have goosebumps

25:50

. I can just give thanks to John Kabat-San

25:52

because he's

25:54

he's a mentor . He really believes

25:57

in bringing in these moments of

25:59

mindfulness into your day . Not

26:01

everybody needs to sit on a cushion and meditate

26:04

. Not everybody's ready for that right now , and

26:06

if you're not , then there

26:08

are many ways to practice being mindful

26:10

and the the benefits

26:13

of it . I mean , there's so much science

26:15

today . It's totally

26:17

backed up by science and evidence . So

26:20

I've got ADHD , so I've just

26:22

I've lost track of why I'm telling you

26:24

this . Okay , what

26:27

was your question ?

26:29

Well , we were talking about how

26:32

mindfulness practices

26:34

people . They may , they

26:36

are recognizing because they're already doing it

26:38

.

26:38

Yes , that there are yeah , yeah , yeah

26:41

, yeah , yeah , yeah . He

26:46

is so pro also bringing it into

26:48

your day and of course , he meditates

26:50

, so he'll sit . I'll go through

26:52

times where I'll sit and I'll meditate

26:55

. Today I

26:57

did a 10 minute meditation where

26:59

I just lay on my floor

27:02

in my office room , actually behind me right

27:04

here now , because this is this is my real background

27:07

. So I like to

27:09

lie , put a cushion and I like

27:11

to lie down and meditate . I

27:14

always say I don't fall asleep

27:16

, but if you fall asleep , then that's what you

27:18

need . We so hard

27:20

on ourselves and we push ourselves so

27:22

much . So another quality

27:24

of mindfulness is non-straving . What

27:27

does that mean ? It means to give yourself

27:29

a break and you don't have to push , push , push

27:32

all the time . It's mindfulness

27:34

is like an invitation . It's an invitation

27:36

of being in the world , and

27:39

so it's a much . It's

27:42

a much better way , I think , of being in the

27:44

world than you know . Like I'm a perfectionist

27:47

, so my natural default

27:49

is to push myself to

27:52

perfect and

27:54

be doing more and more . So

27:56

what ? Mindfulness has given me that polar

27:59

strength of balancing out this . You

28:02

know this drive within me to

28:04

actually balance me out and say , hey , there

28:07

, it's okay to take a break . It's

28:09

okay to lie down on the floor for 10 minutes

28:12

.

28:12

Yes , and

28:18

it's okay . And when you talked

28:20

about if you

28:22

fall asleep , it's okay . It

28:25

reminds me of

28:27

when I was doing

28:29

yoga , like going to yoga classes

28:32

, and at the end you know

28:34

, laying down , and then I'd hear myself

28:36

all of a sudden a little snort

28:38

like yeah , yeah

28:41

, yeah , yeah , so relaxed

28:43

, yeah , yeah , and that's okay

28:46

.

28:47

Absolutely , and I think that everybody

28:50

must find what works for them . So

28:52

if yoga works for them , then

28:55

go to yoga , because it's we

28:57

all need to move our bodies , so

29:00

there's a lot of ways you can practice mindfulness

29:02

and move your body . What's very

29:04

interesting about yoga ? For example

29:07

I don't know if there's some people that are listening to us

29:09

that have practiced yoga before you

29:11

can be practicing yoga and thinking about

29:13

your to-do list or

29:16

thinking about your next meeting or planning

29:18

right , while you're practicing

29:20

yoga . Now , if you aren't , then brilliant

29:23

. But this is what I could be doing

29:25

, because I'm always like I need to

29:27

be prepared . So the mindfulness

29:29

practice would be coming back

29:31

into the body , coming back into the body

29:33

every time , like feeling those

29:36

movements . So yoga

29:38

is about your focus on the body and

29:41

there , too , there's discomfort because

29:44

you know you push yourself . In yoga , it's

29:48

something also that looks like it could

29:50

be easy , but it's so difficult . The

29:52

moves , yes

29:54

, yeah , for sure

29:56

, but relaxed and strengthening

29:59

. Yeah , yeah , yeah

30:01

, yeah . So

30:04

I actually wanted to

30:06

read the definition of mindfulness

30:09

from the book that I wrote with Jonathan Pascas

30:11

. Oh , please do . Yeah

30:13

, yeah , yeah

30:16

. So what we wrote is that

30:19

mindfulness is a state of mind , and

30:21

this has been proven . People have also

30:23

, like everybody has , we

30:25

all have a mindfulness trait , and

30:27

we want to increase this . We want to become more

30:29

mindfulness . It's also a state of mind

30:31

and a way of being that

30:35

, when cultivated regularly which is what

30:37

we've been talking about the whole way through promotes

30:40

an inclusive , accepting

30:42

and authentic experience

30:44

of the present moment .

30:48

Be tuned for part two and conversations

30:50

with Samantha , amit and mindfulness

30:52

.