Mindfulness and Com passion W orkshop Dr Tony Fernando - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Mindfulness and Com passion W orkshop

Dr Tony Fernando Psychiatrist, Sleep Specialist Senior Lecturer in Psychological Medicine University of Auckland

Ajahn Brahm Ajahn Amaro

Circuitries for happiness

Calm Contentment Excitement Drive Connection Compassion

Exercise

For 1 minute, close your eyes, notice what your mind does What did you notice? What did you think about? Emotions? Judgments? This is 1 minute, in a contained environment, with not much stressors going on

Out of control m inds and em otions

2 arrow m etaphor of suffering

• 1st arrow- source of

suffering

• 2nd arrow-

relationship with the 1st arrow

• Self-induced suffering

because of our own thinking patterns

“crazy m ind”

• Chattering
• Planning
• Remembering
• Fantasising
• Calculating
• Papanca

Com m ittee m em bers

• f the

m ind

• Self Critic
• Checklist
• Control Freak
• Angry
• Irritable
• Judgmental
• Greedy
• Kind
• Submissive
• Pleaser
• Lustful
• Caring
• Compassionate
• Know who’s

chairing, speaking the loudest

• Acknowledge

and accept that it’s part of you, neither good or bad

• We are all NUTS
• Evolved to protect us, propagate the species

Exercise for 5 m inutes

• Relaxed but alert posture
• Close your eyes
• SMILE
• INTENTION- may I put in a good effort in my mindfulness

practice, to benefit not just myself, but other beings as well

• Notice the breath- coming in and coming out
• Notice kindly; not too intense
• Let the breath do its thing; don’t control it
• You will have distractions; from your surroundings; from your
• wn mind and body; just notice, accept calmly, gently go back

to the breath

How w as that?

• Positive experiences?
• Difficulties?
• Expectations?

• Not about focusing on the breath but how we

relate to the breath

• “distractions” are not distractions; they are

stimuli that your mind judges as distractions;

• instead, view them as mindfulness aids;

relate to them kindly as they are your reality!

Expectation

• One of the biggest sources of suffering
• Suffering or Stress = Expectation/ Reality
• S= E/ R
• Mindfulness teaches us to accept reality as it

is; aligns expectation with reality  less suffering

Exercise for 5 m inutes

• Relaxed but alert posture
• Close your eyes
• SMILE
• INTENTION- may I put in a good effort in my mindfulness

practice, to benefit not just myself, but other beings as well

• Notice the breath- coming in and coming out
• Notice kindly; not too intensely
• Let the breath do its thing; don’t control it
• Be kind to your experiences- both external and internal

(thoughts, feelings, sensations) then gently go back to the breath

How w as that?

W hat do you do w hen you notice that you are:

• Distracted
• Lost in thought
• Judgmental
• Falling asleep
• Scattered

Mindfulness allow s us to see our suffering and crazy m inds

Mindfulness as a m icroscope

Diagnosis? We are all “crazy”

W hat Mindfulness is not

Quieting the mind Plain concentration Focusing on the breath Changing your situation e.g. pain, anger, anxiety

I nform al m indfulness training

• Walking meditation

– Instead of paying attention to the breath, meditation

• bject is the sensation of walking

– Transition to mindfulness in everyday life

• Eating meditation
• Shower meditation, bathtub meditation,

driving meditation, dishwasher meditation, meditation with the patient…

Key Skill

• Accepting reality (thoughts, feelings,

experiences) as it is… now

– Different from resignation

• Being at peace with what “is”…

now

• Kind to oneself

• We are practicing mindfulness not just to

achieve a certain experience (problematic)

• BUT to learn how w e relate to experience
• Distractions are not the problem, but it’s how

w e relate to distractions (our crazy mind)

Com passion Training

Com passion not “sw itch”

Com passion is conditional family/ likeability/ similarity deserving vs blameworthy external environment, bystander effect stress/ pressure/ SAFETY

Barriers to Com passion in Medicine (Fernando, Consedine PGMJ 2014)

• Burnout/

Fatigue

• Difficult

Patient/ Family

• External

Distraction

• Clinical

Complexity

Enhancing com passion

• Address burnout and fatigue
• Motivation: May I be of benefit

2BOB “Be of Benefit”

• Perspective: See everyone as

exactly like you- we all have dramas and baggages; we all want to be happy

• TOUCH
• Compassion meditation training
• Mindfulness training

– James Donald Meta Analysis on mindfulness and prosocial behavior – Fernando, Skinner, Consedine – Condon, Desbordes, Miller, Desteno

Meditation Training on Com passion

• Metta bhavana
• May you be safe, free from

suffering, be happy and be at peace

• http: / / ggia.berkeley.edu/ practi

ce/ compassion_meditation

• http: / / www.calm.auckland.ac.n

z/ 20.html

Com passion not just for others but also for ourselves

Why are we practicing mindfulness? Who suffers a lot? We do, mainly from our crazy minds

I have been practicing compassion through mindfulness and I have found it incredibly liberating. I am able to overcome habitual patterns

• f self-critisicing and negativity and treat

them and myself with kindness and

• bserve as they evanesce.

By being compassionate with myself, I can be compassionate to friends and whanau.

Contact me for copy of the talk

a.fernando@auckland.ac.nz