Group Mindfulness Exercise (aka Mood Boosts) - Starting October 12th at 9 AM Eastern
Many of you know with the new design we significantly updated the new growth path. Feedback so far has been really positive. One of the activities you can do on the growth path that is very powerful is the mindfulness exercise. Mindfulness is now a core part of psychotherapy for many psychological challenges like depression, anxiety, substance abuse, relational challenges, and eating disorders. You can see a list of over 65 of them here.
One of the challenges with mindfulness is it can be a bit hard to do the exercises because it requires you to slow down, breathe, and listen. Like many things, when you have support, it is much easier to do things. So, what I'm proposing is a type of mindfulness/mood boost group. You can almost think of this as a sort of walking/running club. We'll meet every weekday morning at 9 am in the new mindfulness room. I'll open us up with a short affirmation, share the mindfulness exercise, and then we'll all listen to it right at that time. At the end of it, we'll reflect on how we feel. It'll help us all individually take a step forward our growth paths and also strengthen us a community.
I'll plan to start this on Monday 10/12 at 9am eastern. If it works, then we can expand times. Thoughts and feedback welcome on this idea and how we might be able to make it better. Thank you!
Great idea Glen!:)
Im a great beliver in mindfulness and I will be on this team for sure:)
@peacefulSoul8 awesome! Thanks for joining :). Maybe we should call this the mindfulness team?
@GlenMhow do we join
ill try it out
is it a team or are we all just going to something glen is running? i would be interested in either
@peacefulSoul8 how do we join 
I think it is a great idea and I would like to participate if it is possible
@ESTEF you are most welcome to participate!
I would like to participate
I am interested in this project, and think it is a great idea. I do mindful meditation and have recommended it to many member/guests. I have found it to be very helpful. I don't know how often I could make it, as I would sometimes be caught up with work. Also, how long do you think each session will take?
@Probius
I think the idea is fairly short mindfulness exercises-- basically the ones on the growth path, but done together at the same time, for a sense of communal experience and perhaps mutual accountability to keep at it?
This sounds like a great idea! I totally want to join :)
OH YEAH
I'm interested as to what "mindfulness" entails. I've heard about its applications in psychotherapy..and I certainly know that it helps with stress and handling when life throws you curveballs. However, I am an impatient person and struggle with sitting still long enough to engage in these exercises. I keep finding myself thinking stuff like "I feel stupid, this is dumb..I can't..waste time..to just focus on breathing." and I'd really like to get out of that habit. Are there other ways to be mindful perhaps? Not sure..
I post this in hopes that maybe it'll encourage someone else with this kind of thought process, to join us. Or at least..give it a shot. That's what I've decided. Look forward to seeing you guys.
@WickedGrim
There are definitely active forms of mindfulness, like using your senses to be completely and fully Present in a simple activity like washing dishes or driving a car or going for a walk. However, I reckon this group will focus on more stationary forms of mindfulness due to it being online? There are some simple moving ones too though, like moving objects from one side of you to the other in a slow, focused manner. Mindfulness has very diverse applications, so even if you are unable or uninterested in doing stationary exercises that focused around breathing and stillness, there are other forms of mindfulness exercises you could try!
This might be a useful place to read about Mindfulness, but there is so much online that it is only one tiny starting point, hopefully it can better explain mindfulness in general though.
@WickedGrim: It definitely gets tricky. I used to self-reiki more often than I do now, but I get impatient too, and when I'm already in a bad mood I just keep thinking "Nothing's happening, why am I wasting my time?"
But there are some things, like concentrating on a basic/menial task (dull MS Word exercises for my classes worked for me) or a certain sensation (perfume, a really good beat, etc.), that don't necessarily ask you to sit quietly, clear your mind, and listen to yourself breathe. Active stuff, like Erynn said.
@loyalTangerine9738 @Erynn
Thank you both for the input! I was hoping someone might be able to provide a more active rather than passive way to be mindful! I'll check out the link you posted, Erynn. :)
@WickedGrim I know exactly how you feel!! Some days I'll start it and I'm like "no thanks, never mind." I've never been a person that can keep still and my thoughts have never been able to slow down enough or even think of less than 600 things at a time. I've always envied people who can just sit and do absolutely nothing, but yet still be at peace and content. It blows my mind haha. Even on the beach, I've tried to just sit and watch the waves or even just read a book or listen to music....nope. I get about 5 minutes into it and I'm like, "nope! This is for the birds." So I am hoping having all of your support will help me reach my goals and find some inner peace :) and I wish all of y'all good luck and I am here to support all of you, also!
That's awesome. I'm on PST so I couldn't join you guys, but can't wait to get in on those expanded times, if and when those become a possibility.
I would love to be apart of this
Glen, I feel like this is a wonderful thing! I love being in those rooms already and I think it can be very helpful! I feel that a lot of people don't know that they are there, and this would be an amazing way to get them acquainted with them! Good luck to everyone and hope that this experience really helps a lot of people! "\ml/"