Mindfulness and Compassion Workshop

Dr Tony FernandoPsychiatrist, Sleep SpecialistSenior Lecturer in Psychological MedicineUniversity of Auckland

Ajahn Brahm Ajahn Amaro

Circuitries for happiness

CalmContentment

ExcitementDrive

ConnectionCompassion

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 minds and emotions

2 arrow metaphor of suffering

• 1st arrow- source of suffering

• 2nd arrow-relationship with the 1st arrow

• Self-induced suffering because of our own thinking patterns

“crazy mind”• Chattering• Planning• Remembering• Fantasising• Calculating

• Papanca

Committee members of the mind

• 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 minutes• 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 own mind and body; just notice, accept calmly, gently go back to the breath

How was 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 minutes• 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 was that?

What do you do when you notice that you are: • Distracted

• Lost in thought• Judgmental • Falling asleep• Scattered

Mindfulness allows us to see our suffering and crazy minds

Mindfulness as a microscope

Diagnosis?

We are all “crazy”

What Mindfulness is not

Quieting the mind

Plain concentration

Focusing on the breath

Changing your situation e.g. pain, anger, anxiety

Informal mindfulness training

• Walking meditation– Instead of paying attention to the breath, meditation

object 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 we relate to experience

• Distractions are not the problem, but it’s how we relate to distractions (our crazy mind)

Compassion Training

Compassion not “switch”

Compassion is conditional

family/ likeability/ similarity

deserving vs blameworthy

external environment, bystander effect

stress/ pressure/SAFETY

Barriers to Compassion in Medicine

(Fernando, Consedine PGMJ 2014)

• Burnout/ Fatigue

• Difficult Patient/ Family

• External Distraction

• Clinical Complexity

Enhancing compassion

• 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 Compassion

• Metta bhavana

• May you be safe, free from suffering, be happy and be at peace

• http://ggia.berkeley.edu/practice/compassion_meditation

• http://www.calm.auckland.ac.nz/20.html

Compassion 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 of self-critisicing and negativity and treat them and myself with kindness and observe as they evanesce.

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

Contact me for copy of the talka.fernando@auckland.ac.nz