Whatever happened to the mindfulness revolution?

and a simple formula for how to practice

I’ve decided to get more serious about posting. First, I’ve committed to regular instagram posts where I give practical tips on practicing mindfulness, working with emotions, thoughts, distractibility, and all the internal challenges that arise in day to day life.

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I’m going to also be posting the same content here. Instead of the longer essays I’ve posted previously, these will be short, actionable posts that get straight to the point.

Thank you to all my supporters and I always appreciate the subscribes, likes, and shares!

Whatever happened to the Mindfulness Revolution?

Some of you may remember a time when you were hearing about meditation and mindfulness everywhere.

2014 Time Magazine Cover

My experience, as someone who’s been teaching this stuff for over 12 years now, is that a lot of people gave it a shot, but never really knew how to practice, and didn’t see much in the way of results. Over time, the mindfulness hype fizzled out…

And yet mindfulness has never been so needed!

I truly believe that mindfulness can be taught in a way that sticks, but traditional methods aren’t ideal for today’s world.

Now, I have ADHD, and I could never get the traditional systems to work for me. But I was deeply interested in this stuff, so I kept learning and experimenting with different methods, and eventually figured out what practices actually did work for me… and yes, they really did transform my life.

So I decided to take up the challenge of teaching mindfulness in a way intended to get more traction by everyday distractible people, by making it more interesting, clear, and enjoyable.

Here’s how:

First: very low time commitment. Short teachings with clear instructions that I’ll give out here. The beauty of mindfulness practice is that you can add it to anything else you’re doing, without losing time or energy.

Second: I want to give you a rich understanding of what mindfulness is and how you can practice it. Often mindfulness is talked about in very vague terms, and this just leads to confusion and lack of direction.

That’s my mission going forward, so if you want to try this out be sure to follow along.

The Power of Mindfulness and the 2 Step Formula

The main technique I used to transform my life and dramatically lower my ADHD symptoms is a simple two step process.

It both smooths out discomforts like restlessness and anxiety, and also deepens feelings of pleasure and ease. Although it’s a simple technique, the impacts are profound. The key to making it work is to be aware of the positive results, even if they are subtle. Over time, they build and build.

So this is the 2 step process:

First: notice what’s happening in your body. What sensations are present when you feel into your experience in this moment?

First you can check in to see what’s most obvious. Is it a pleasant sensation? Is it unpleasant? Or maybe it’s neutral. Where in your body are you feeling this? What is the shape of it? Notice the space it takes up. Is it moving or vibrating or pulsating? Does it feel stable or solid? Is it heavy or light? Does it have a contractive or expansive quality? Does it have a texture? See if you can be genuinely curious about these sensations as if you’re experiencing them for the first time.

So this is the first step. The technical term is sensory clarity. We are bringing more awareness and clarity to the sensations in our body.

The second step is called equanimity. Can we just let these sensations be there? Can we relax around them instead of trying to resist or control them? Our body naturally tightens around uncomfortable feelings in an attempt to resist them. But this actually makes them more stuck. So instead, can we intentionally relax around these feelings, even if they are uncomfortable. We can even actively welcome them, allowing these feelings to dance and move through our body unobstructed.

So this is the magic formula, first noticing what we’re feeling, and bringing more clarity to our feelings. And then welcoming these sensations as fully as we can, even if they are uncomfortable.

This is the starting point, but as you might imagine, there’s a lot more to it. So stay tuned and follow for more bite size mindfulness tips that will help you build out a rich understanding and practice as to how mindfulness can transform your life.

Stay tuned for more, and follow along on instagram if you aren’t already.