Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction - Final Home Practice Guidelines

1. Choose one or a combination of the formal meditation practices to focus on in the upcoming weeks: body scan, mindful movement, walking meditation, or seated meditation. Whichever ones you decide to practice, remember to notice each time your attention wanders, and without criticism or judgement, bring it back to the present moment, using your breath as an anchor. It does not matter which practices you decide to do, what matters is practicing kindness towards yourself and noticing what is present in each moment of your experience. Choose an amount of time that you can realistically do every day and preferably at the same time of day.

2. Choose an “informal” mindfulness practice to focus on in the upcoming weeks. You could bring mindfulness to a daily task, driving, showering, brushing your teeth, doing dishes, or anything you normally do on auto pilot. Continue to practice kindness when your thoughts wander away from the activity, and each time, gently bring your attention back to the present, using your breath as an anchor.

3. Notice the breath and sensations in the body at different times throughout the day as a way to re-connect to your intention to be present to yourself and the unfolding nature of your life. 3 Breaths is enough. Maybe bring awareness to the breath and body sensations before getting out of bed in the morning, and again when getting into bed at night. Sometimes it is helpful to set an alarm on your phone for various times of the day, or put a sticky note reminder in places you will see throughout the day.

4. Make Mindfulness a “way to BE.” As often as possible, bring awareness to what you are seeing, to what is being said when listening, to the food you are eating, to the sensations in your feet as you walk, to how you body feels during pleasant and unpleasant events, and to the stories you tell yourself that unconsciously drive your behavior. The more awareness you can cultivate in your daily life the more space there is between stimulus and response, and the more you will be able to choose responses that are in line with who you want to be.

5. Choose one stressor in your life that you can change. Commit to a behavior change you can make over time to address it and maybe eliminate it. Notice what is getting in the way. Commit to the self-care/resourcing you need in order to follow through.

6. All stress is an opportunity to practice Mindfulness. “Pause, Breathe, Allow.” Choose one stressor in your life that you cannot change. Commit to a Mindfulness practice you can do to try and manage the stressor when you are in the midst of it. What is your “alarm” warning you to pause. Again, notice what gets in the way and commit to the self-care/resourcing you need to be able to catch yourself in a stressful moment.

7. Please fill out the course evaluation to help me improve the experience for future classes.

8. MindfulMaus.com is a great resource for books and Apps to learn more.