Category: Mindfulness Challenge for the Week

The mindfulness challenge I have for you this week is simple to do if you think about it.  This particular technique costs nothing.  It is easy to do.  It has potentially powerful impacts on your ability to feel better.

Many people carry around the belief that in order to see a reversal of symptoms, significant interventions are required in the form of lots of medications and lots of therapies and even surgeries.  This technique is

• This technique is simple to do.  
• It is free.
• You can do it yourself.

And – hold on to your seats – I can promise you, you will see an incredible impact: How about a relief from your symptoms?

We know that stress aggravates the symptoms of Parkinson’s.  When you are feeling anxious, perturbed and even fearful for whatever reason; when you are feeling the same worries rattling around your mind day after day what happens for you? Most people find it difficult to shift away from these types of depressing thoughts and moods.

• They get more and more anxious.
• They become more and more fearful.
• They are more and more withdrawn. 

These responses exacerbate the symptoms; it makes them worse. What can you do instead?  Some people know that is what is happening. They attempt to instruct their minds to change channels:

“I’m going to now stop worrying. After all, my worries today are no different than my worries yesterday, last week or last month. Worrying is not helping matters, so I quit.” 

I’m here to tell you, the mind is pretty tricky when it comes to turning off and turning on the worry switch.  There is something devious about the ego that relishes diving into the darkness of worries and fears and anxieties. Think of the challenge to quit worrying to be equivalent to the challenge to stop smoking.

The challenge I have for you this week is:

Acknowledge when anxieties, when worries and when fears are all of a sudden began to percolate around your busy mind. Then – here it is – focus attention on your feet, especially on the bottom of your feet.  Notice whether or not both feet are firmly planted on the floor or on the ground.  People oftentimes realize when they begin to rattle around the thoughts of worry and anxiety that only one foot or neither foot is actually affixed to the floor or the ground.

If you choose to run with my mindfulness challenge this week, place both your feet firmly and solidly on the floor or ground when you become anxious, worried or stressed.   Take in full and complete sensations of how your foot is resting on the floor.

• Is the bottom of each foot touching the floor or the ground? 
• Is the right heel touching the floor?  Is the left heel touching floor? 
• Is the heel on the right foot touching the floor more firmly than the heel on the left?
• How do the bottoms of your feet feel as they nest up against the ground?  
  Does it feel cold to touch?
• Is it warm?
• Is it mushy, soft or wet?

How do the souls of your feet really feel? What about your toes?  Are all of your toes actually touching the ground or the floor, or just one toe or even no toes?

You are invited, then, to pay attention to all of the sensations of each foot as it snuggles up against the floor or the ground.

• Do this whenever you feel anxious. 
• Do this whenever you feel uneasy. 
• Do this whenever you feel depressed. 
• Do this whenever you feel as though you are moving into fear.

I personally find this to be a magical technique.  Focusing attention on your feet allows you to turn the switch of worry and anxiety off.  It focuses your attention on the present moment. It allows you to reduce stress instantly. As a result, you will see a reduction in symptoms that will be much welcomed.

Have fun as you pay attention to your feet this week, which is a very important part of your body.

Robert

© Parkinsons Recovery

The mindfulness challenge this week is to become more aware of your center.  By this I mean your center of gravity. This particular mindfulness practice will yield  immeasurable returns if you are currently struggling with balance or mobility problems. No medicines are required. No visits to healthcare practitioners are necessary. The treatment is free and offers benefits which are immediate.

This is an exercise for everyone even if you are not currently experiencing mobility challenges.  Athletic superstars are intimately connected with the center of their gravity.  Ballerinas, performers and all other individuals who have to be physical in all respects know where the center of their gravity is.

I suspect you are well aware that the center of gravity is not at the tip of your little finger or the tip of your little toe. It is certainly not at the extremities of your body and it is certainly not in our head (which is where many of us prefer to hang out all the time). The center of gravity actually resides for most people a couple of inches below their belly button.  This place has a name called the tan tien.  It is a point in the body that does not have an affiliation or an identity with any specific organ like a heart or a lung; it is an energetic place in everyone’s physical body.

Martial artists are very familiar with this place known as the tan tien for it is where their power resides.  I suspect many of you have seen martial artists swaying a person from one corner of a room to the other by the flip of their finger.  How do they do that?  They don’t do it by the strength of their finger. They accomplish such an amazing feat by marshaling a power that resides from this place of the tan tien. It is the source of all martial art’s magic.

Using your intention locate your tan tien two inches below your belly button. It is is in the middle of your body between the front and the back. Now fire up your tan tien with the color red – as red as it can possibly become. Fire it up.

• Feel the red.
• Experience the heat.
• Connect with the center of your power.

Become aware of its presence and its existence.  When your tan tien is fired up with the frequency that is equivalent to the color red you become centered. You are balanced.  It will be quite challenging to fall or to freeze or to confront any mobility challenges whatsoever.

Become more aware this week of the center of your gravity which resides in your tan tien two inches below your belly button in the middle of your body.

• Know it.
• Feel it.
• Sense it.
• See it
• Experience it.

This same mindfulness practice works for super athletes. You also can access the limitless power that resides in that energetic spot of your body known as the tan tien. Become familiar with your tan tien and you will see miracles happen for yourself this week. Challenge yourself to derive instantaneous benefits. Celebrate the ability to move effortlessly as you fly across the stage of life just like a star ballerina.

You may be thinking – there is no way this can be true. Accept the invitation so you can witness the result. You do not have to confess to anyone that you were wrong! Instead, celebrate the benefits that this mindfulness practice offers.

Robert

© Parkinsons Recovery