much for being invited my name is Toby
youvery I am a meditation and
mindfulness coach I really want to try
to put across to you this afternoon some
of the perennial values of a life of
meditation and mindfulness that I have
derived from my initial training in in
Buddhist mindfulness practice which then
diversified to a more general
exploration of the existential value of
mindfulness in general its practical
value to everybody and anybody
regardless of culture background beliefs
and so forth okay so when I talk about I
can see on this slide here the the value
of Buddhist ideology really what I’m
talking about there is the ideas that
have value to anybody and everybody
regardless of whether you’re
particularly interested in Buddhism or
not all right and particularly well
what’s it got to offer for us in the
Information Age so I wanna touch on that
as well so really I’m just gonna walk
you through a couple of principles that
come from meditation and mindfulness and
see how they might be of practical use
to you and you’ll get a chance as we go
along to kind of experiment with them
too so first one your experience of
reality is determined by the way in
which you pay attention to it so you’ll
note your experience of reality so your
reality is not your reality per se is
not determined by the way in which you
pay attention to it so if I just pay
attention very hard to having a million
dollars he won’t get me a million
dollars or if I think very hard about
something I don’t want that I want to go
away it won’t just go away by itself
okay so
my experience of reality however is
determined by what I’m paying attention
to so let me give you a very simple
example so if I’m a knife I’m giving my
TED talk now there are different aspects
of my awareness that I can be paying
attention to in this moment that will
give me very different experiences so
for example I can listen to the dialogue
in my mind that is excited that is
enthusiastic about the talk that is that
feels great about being in front of an
audience and I can if I focus on that
conversation that’s going on with my
mind
I’ll started to feel excited
enthusiastic positive right I could also
listen to the conversation in my mind
which is going on about all the things
that might go wrong the way in which
what I’m saying is perceived all the
problems that might come up with the
technology there is that conversation
that I can be focusing on that that is
also within my field of awareness and if
I focus upon that dimension of my
experience I’m going to start to have a
different experience of what’s going on
right so I’ll give you a third option if
I now as I’m standing in front of you
I’ve become aware of the rising and
falling of my belly as much as I breathe
so this is a non conceptual aspect of my
awareness so what I’ll notice is that if
I take my attention away from the
activity of my mind and down into my
body to the somatic experience of my
body even though I’m sitting in front of
quite a large bunch of people and this
is a TED talk there’s a natural calmness
a natural presence of that experience so
I can actually be standing here focusing
on my breathing awesome I’m feeling
pretty damn calm know what I mean right
so this is what I mean when I say your
experience of reality is determined by
what you pay attention to so I’ve just
given you three examples of me in this
moment there is a conversation at what
about what might go wrong there is a
conversation about what I’m feeling good
about and excited about there is the
presence of the breathing in my belly so
I have these three options so if I want
to practice mindfulness I could say okay
well there is value in focusing on what
might go wrong just enough to make sure
that it doesn’t go wrong right so that
that conversation going on with might
within my mind that part of my awareness
has
you so I want to focus not just enough
to try to mitigate any problems that
might come up so it has value and I need
to pay enough attention to it so that I
can mitigate any potential risks it’s
also fun to focus on what I’m feeling
enthusiastic about what I am enjoying
about the experience enjoying
interacting with the audience and so
forth that’s kind of fun but I don’t
want to get too excited about that
because I’m after all I’m giving a talk
and I need to pay attention you know
have a certain amount of tension eaters
that needs to be going on to you know
how much time have I got and so on and
so forth so I might place the center of
my attention the center of my experience
on my body
and my breathing is a play a stable
place where I can come back to in this
moment whenever I feel oh my god what
we’re gonna say come back to the
breathing Here I am okay so what’s next
I calm down enough to just think okay
well this is next so this is what I mean
it’s your experience of reality is
determined by what you’re paying
attention to this so this is going on
moment by moment for everybody everybody
in every moment right what you’re
focusing upon in this moment is
determine your experience I was
available to you in your reality right
now all right all right so so what comes
from this is if your reality is
determined by the way in which you’re
paying attention then it’s a very very
good skill to develop to be aware of
what you’re paying attention to and to
be directing it consciously
so this skillful conscious directing of
your awareness in the moment is what I’m
going to call mindfulness right so there
are formal dimensions of mindfulness
where you are training yourself to to
sit down and formally train yourself in
the art of attention but there are also
in there are also informal dimensions of
it where basically you could think right
now what is it that I need to prepare to
pay attention to in this moment to be
most effective and to be most happy so
whether or not you’ve done any formal
mindfulness practice before if you ask
yourself that question right now
something will come back
do something probably quite useful we’ll
come back to you so mindfulness isn’t
something that you know I don’t practice
mindful so I do practice mindful is
actually something in mindfulness is
something we come back to in any moment
that will be that is of practical
existential use to us right now okay all
right so I want to give a little bit
more of an extensive working definition
of mindfulness just to give them give
some more context so mindfulness
involves specific forms of attentional
and awareness practices that are
designed to release our natural
intelligence and our potential for
experiential learning in the moment so
slightly longer but all all of these
points are very important so in specific
forms of attentional and awareness
practice so back to what I said before
the skill of placing your attention in
an optimal direction in any given moment
so the function of mindfulness is to
release our natural intelligence our
potential for learning in the moment so
this is a this is a mall this is a very
very primal form of intelligence
actually it’s so it I often think about
this is it’s like um you know you have
your caveman or cave woman that sees the
fish in the river and identifies it as a
potentially tasty morsel but then
obviously the fish is still alive and it
moves quite far so how are you gonna
catch the damn fish right so you try
chucking your spear at it and it’s way
too quick and you’re not accurate enough
and you try jumping in the river and
grabbing it with your with your hands
and going way too quick you try making a
net but the naked net is too weak or the
holes are too big it swims through so
you try various different approaches to
catching the fish all trial and error
and you know so this one doesn’t work
this one doesn’t work this one doesn’t
work this one doesn’t work and so let’s
say you’re lying down on the on the side
of the bank thinking ugh I’ve tried all
these things it hasn’t worked as a cave
man and a cave woman here we are and
then the fish because you’re standing
very still or lying down very still
it just swims up to the side of the bank
and you see it right beneath you and
then very slowly you know I try to be
very very slow
put my hand slowly slowly slowly into
the water really slowly really sleek go
underneath it and then flip it out right
so and you discover oh that’s the way
you catch a fish right so it’s this type
of learning that we’re trying to release
through mindfulness you really noticing
what is going on noticing the presenting
problem the presenting challenge that is
right in front of you and using your
natural experiential intelligence in the
moment to work on the optimal solution
all right so in this case your your
mental and conceptual intelligence are
functioning as adjuncts to your primary
intelligence which is working off what’s
in the moment all right so you
conceptual intelligence you’re mentally
chance your your previous experience
your training your academic
qualifications everything you know
conceptually is working as an adjunct a
support to what is actually happening in
the moment okay all right enough of that
so if you get to do this really well
then there are two effects first of all
you’ll become more effective in life
secondly is you become more happy
because you’ll notice in this moment
what is making me happy what is making
me sad how can I focus on this in a way
that makes me happier rather than sad
right so it’s the idea is to release
your potential for experiential learning
in the moment right so then there are
many from Michigan if there’s as many
different types of mindfulness as there
are things to do so there is you know
doing a mindful business meeting there
is mindful playing squash there is
mindful relationships being present to
your girlfriend or your boyfriend or
your child there is mindfulness with
regard to playing computer games
also there is many different types of
markers as there are activities right
all of them in order to function
optimally involve a state of mind that
is focused and relaxed focused and
relaxed I baked it
a mindful state involves be focused but
not so focused at your catatonic you
know it’s like not like that just just
enough focus to get to direct your
intelligence in the right direction and
then you relax into what you’re focusing
upon so your natural intelligence is
able to function optimally upon what
you’re focusing upon if you focus too
hard yo your intelligence your minds it
shuts down a bit cuz you’re too tense so
you want to be focused and relaxed so in
order to be mindful this is the state or
the state of flow that you’re trying to
cultivate relaxed focused focused and
relaxed so it’s it’s kind of like a
balance so I often describe is if you
imagine holding a bar of soap in the
shower right it’s a slippery object if
you try and squeeze it too tight then
the bar soap is going to ping out of
your hand because of the tent the
potential that the tension causes it to
slip out but if you’re not holding it
tightly enough it’s going to slip out
anyway so when you talk about a state of
mind will flow a balance of focusing
relaxing you’re talking about a state of
mind that is has just enough tension
just enough focus to keep yourself
paying attention to where you’re
supposed to be going but other than that
relaxed relaxed so that’s what you’re
looking for okay
where are we now alright so what I want
to do is a very brief exercise I’ve got
five minutes is in three minutes okay
it’s kind of your one-minute exercise I
want you to come back to your breathing
sit down sit comfortably come back to
your breathing right as you breathe and
as you focus as you breathe in I want
you to focus your attention a single
pointedly
on the breathing as you can make it our
tension as you breathe in single pointed
as you breathe out I want you to relax
your body breathing in focusing reading
out relaxing so with every cycle of the
in-breath and the out-breath there is
the element of focus you’re a mature
relaxation so just spend a few breaths
breathing in focusing your mind
breathing out relaxing your body so
bringing together the qualities of focus
all right
so you’re going to notice now your minds
a little bit more relaxed a little more
focused and what I want you to do is
just bring to mind a challenge that
you’re experiencing right now in your
relationships in your professional life
anything like that just bring it to mind
and with that relaxed focused state of
mind allow your natural intelligence to
operate upon that challenge notice what
you’re aware of that’s what comes to
so just notice what focusing with
relaxed intelligence does reveals door
reveals to you about that particular
and then final thing is there anything
actionable that you can take away from
okay so that’s pretty much it’s a very
brief exercise as I’ve been talking a
bit too much already so final point here
is that last part is there and actually
is there something actionable I can take
away is you want to bridge the gap
between the might your mindless is a
contemplative practice something you are
doing to reveal awareness about the
issue that you’re focused upon there
needs to be an action you need to bridge
what you become mindful of with
something actionable so that final part
is what can I do about this
so once you’ve become mindfully aware of
a particular issue in a particular area
like there needs to be something that
you then do about it in order to make it
a complete mindful cycle so that’s
pretty much all I have to say I mean
that’s 15 minutes of of mindful
attention the way in which you’re you
experience your reality depends upon
what you’re paying attention to that’s
basic to my message thank you very much
indeed [Applause]