Power of meditation w/ Claire Morton

Episode 39 - Power of meditation

Transcript

:: 00:04

Welcome to mental wealth, the podcast to invest in your mind. Here I will help you make sense of your mind and behaviours, giving you the tools to have your best life. There is so much to share, so let's get into this episode and explore another great topic. Welcome to episode.

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39 and in this episode, we're going to take a deeper dive into.

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Meditation and mindfulness and justice. Taking that time out, so important for us to talk about it and.

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I have brought.

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A very special guest in to help me with this episode, and I'd like to welcome Claire Morton to the show.

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Hello, how are you?

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I'm good. It's brilliant to have you here.

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Thanks for having me.

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Claire, tell everyone a little bit about you and what you are.

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As expert at.

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OK. Oh, a great question. So my name is Claire Morton. I am a life and business strategist. That title changes every week, but I basically help people with their life, their life purpose, their well-being to.

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Then be able.

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To help them in their business and career and.

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And obviously, what part of that is helping them to really connect to who they are and part of how I I do that and how I teach is through yoga and meditation.

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Because I've I've been doing this work for.

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21 years.

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When I discovered personal development in when work was working in the corporate world and I love teaching the concept, so you know the emotional intelligence and self-awareness and great leadership. And I'm always fascinated.

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By the differences of.

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People. And then I did a qualification as a Myers Briggs practitioner many years ago about 18.

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Years ago and.

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That for me really, really opened my eyes up to say wow. I'm so there's so many of us were so different and people think differently, feel differently. So I.

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Was like wow.

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That that really gave me an insight into me.

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And then ten about 10 years ago, I went through some personal trouble and a friend asked me to go to a yoga class. So I went to the show the class and did some meditation, did some yoga postures and stretches. And I just kept crying.

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Through the through the class.

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I'm not doing this again.

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I keep crying and she was like you need to cry. Stop trying to be say that everything's OK. I'll allow your body to just release and from then on, I fell in love.

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Meditation and yoga, because we live in such a busy world of what we always do and one thing, then we move on to the next. There's always something to be done or someone to serve or look after, and it really helped me to slow down and reconnect to me.

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rs after. That's. Yeah. So in: 2017

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Then meditation and yoga became part of my journey and to be able to teach that with all the other modalities has been amazing. So I I absolutely love talking about meditation and the science of meditation, of how it actually physically helps the body. So I was made up when you asked me to come out and talk about it.

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Brilliant. Yeah. Let's talk about that.

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Because I think.

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This, you know, we all know that.

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It's a thing.

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We all know that it's available to.

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Do, but I think some people I often hear say they don't really know what it is and they think it's about emptying their head and having no thoughts, which we know. And I'm sure you're going to put some more information on that. It's not possible. That's not.

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The goal? Yeah, and I.

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Think to me it is just breaking down almost.

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The myths or the the missed messages that are out there so that people can start to think, OK, well, maybe it is right for me.

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And I think that's something that we can definitely do in this episode.

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Yeah. And again, I I use the term, we don't get, we don't meditate to get good at meditation. You meditate to get good at life. So if you and I know that it's not for everyone. I know my husband is like, I don't need to find this out, I don't need.

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I'm just gonna do this and I don't need to find myself there. I already know who I am, but I know for him he's a very calm person anyway and he is quite he's quite pleasant and his meditation is just sitting and having a cup of.

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Tea watching the football.

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Or going for walking the dogs. And that's what my.

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My aim is is for.

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Us too, and that goes into the life on this piece of if you have a daily meditation fact.

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That's and there's so.

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Many different types of meditation that you can do.

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And I have my.

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Own technique that I teach and.

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And there are loads of.

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Apps out there with like, you know, like you can lie down, sit up. You can do it while you walking and so.

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For me, I'll.

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Just go back to basics and say OK meditation.

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You don't need to do.

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Any more than 15 minutes a day.

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And if you there's a the meditation that I teach just like.

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If you do it in the morning.

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It then puts your body into rest and digest. It takes you into that, that beautiful place of stillness. It takes the body and its chemical makeup into, and that it it brings on the dopamine it brings on all of those endorphins and then lovely chemicals instead of the body being imported on adrenaline.

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All the time because so first of all, if you start the day off within 60 seconds, if you're doing some breathing to go in, the body's gone into that nice piece of balance.

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OK.

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And then we'll be doing mantra meditation where we literally take the mind and we focus on a mantra for 10 minutes of that meditation. And then we finish with gratitude that type of meditation gives you focus and energy for the rest of the day. And if you did that meditation each morning, it also helps you sleep at night.

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You don't have to do a sleep meditation before you go to bed. It really gets you into that practise. And the one thing I'll say to people as well is what you said it you cannot clear your mind.

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That, and that's why, if you're a perfectionist.

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Or if you.

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You've meditated maybe once or twice before, and the first time that you meditate. Typically people go Oh my God, that was amazing. I want that again. I want that that feeling. I sort of went somewhere for a little bit and then I and then I came back and that's called blissfield. That's what I call it. And people tried to get that.

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And like that might.

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Because you're trying to get something again.

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g, but also know that in that: 1015

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Into thought and you might think about what's for tea tonight, or you might think that.

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You go check your phone.

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You'll just sit with it, come back to that mantra, come back to the breath, stay at the present moment, focus, and then you can come out and go about your day. And then if you have that practise each day, then you'll be more mindful in the day.

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So that's when the meditation works. Because you are so present with the people that you're with, you literally with them. You're in the conversation. You know where else?

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But you're with.

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Them or you're present with yourself or you're present.

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You know, on a walk and you.

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Notice in the sky and the floor and the leaves and.

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The flowers, you know, we all have it.

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Just very few and far between, and that's when we just connect to the heart and we come out the head and into the body.

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And a lot.

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Of people are living in their heads, we're worrying about one thing. You know, getting to work, dropping the kids off, creating the report, being in traffic jams, going to the gym. What's for tea tonight? Worrying about parents.

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So we're constantly in that narrow focus of just getting through the day, whereas if you have that practise, it just allows you to flow through the day and be present and actually stop and ask yourself, does that need to be done today, that thing that's on my list, does it really, I'm feeling that today. No, let me do that.

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Tomorrow. Or, let me do that next week when I feel the energy coming to do that thing, because if we just force stuff all the time.

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It's like trudging through water and

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It it doesn't work, it doesn't help anyone.

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No, I love that.

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Yeah, we come to the conversation or the OR the party.

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Or the the gathering with the wrong energy.

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And people feel that.

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So you feel more mindful of the things that you're choosing to do, even like being more mindful of you. You know, if you open the fridge again because we're just, we come in. I used to come in, open the fridge, bottle of wine, pour a glass while making dinner.

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Where it is now it's like, I'm going to the fridge. Do I actually want this glass of wine? No I don't. It's just a habit to just get you to be more mindful of your habits and to make better choices as well.

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Choices. Yeah. I mean, I think choices is such a powerful.

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Word that we almost it is a superpower almost and we don't use it as we should to actually choosing to not do something, choosing to do something. But I think something that I hear people saying and you've touched on it so, so beautifully Claire.

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Is that people do have a go at meditation.

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Find it hard to do because their minds keep going off and then they think they can't do it.

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So then they say, oh, it's not for me.

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Yeah. Or people think it's all woo woo and it's very spiritual. Well, the fact that we are human beings in the body with.

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A spirit inside or a soul.

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We are. That's that's what we are. And the sooner we we learn this the better because this body is taken. We need to look after the body but we also need to look after the soul and connect to the heart. And that's exactly what I teach is around.

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Everyone's meditation practise is different. We've all got our own things going on in our head, but the more that's why it's called a practise so that you could, you could wake up one morning and have a practise and they thought that was really good. Today I stayed focused and.

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Feel nice and chilled and I can go about my day and I.

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Can serve and I can.

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Be present for everyone, other days.

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You've got other.

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Stuff going on in your life your head's busier. It can take you a long.

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Time to.

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To to slow down and get.

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Into that but.

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Just by you doing having that time, that practise will still allow the body to pump out a fight or flight.

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And into rest, even though you might think ohh that was a busy my head was too busy. You still took that time out and I would say to stop trying and stop. Don't try to meditate cause.

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The more you like you go.

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The more you'll get a headache. So it's like you just sit with your thoughts. You sit with that mantra or the breath or the guide.

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That you're listening to.

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And every time you float off into thought and then you realise, then just gently come back.

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And then you'll just, you'll just keep and then the more that you practise, the more that you find focus will come because in Sanskrit.

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And the it's.

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A limb of yoga, it's called ajana, and that means one flow of perception. So you're training the mind to just focus on.

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That is all that means and and the more that you practise that the the more it will become a little bit easier and it because it brings the two hemispheres of the brain together. And This is why I love the science part of it. You've got your left and right hemispheres of the brain and they and then you've got the corpus close and in the middle of the brain.

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So when you meditate, that grows thicker.

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So then, because that happens, it means that you've got more access to both sides of the brain when you're hitting some problems or challenges in daily life. So rather than you reacting in the moment with anger, or you know that energy, that's not gonna help. You will be more mindful than well, can you go straight into instinct?

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And react you've got that time in the moment to access and go. How am I gonna get through this traffic jam? Or that person has just said something to me and instead of reacting, you'll you've got access to both parts of the brain in the moment and then no, I'm not gonna react.

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Breathe and will respond as opposed to the act, and it honestly people when they start meditating and people who have done my courses. I've I've got voice notes and said I've just been on school and someone just cut me off and I just feel through.

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And and I'm not angry.

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When I got to work.

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It's like yeah, because you've got the choice now to say, you know what, send that person who's just give you.

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The the V sign.

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Some love and compassion because they might be on their way to work and they've they've been stressed out or they've got rushed to the hospital and you just crack on about your day and and you don't need to respond. Don't take on that energy and it's hard to do. It is hard to do that. But if you have a practise where you where you do start to slow down.

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And you can see things more clear and feel them. Do sit then say if you breathe, I'm just gonna crack on. I'm not responding today. Maybe tomorrow or later on. Yeah. It's it's so magical.

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I think that's something that's really interesting, maybe for people who haven't tried it before and have kind of thought, oh, it's not for me. Maybe, you know as.

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You say, a bit woo woo.

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We'll actually if you focus on it being a mechanism or a vehicle to be able to deal with stressful situations better, that might be a different way of focusing on it and making it maybe more important in your day because.

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Again, I often hear people and I'm sure you do. Claire.

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I haven't got time. That's the most ridiculous statement when it when we're looking for something that's actually going to help our bodies, our minds, our spirits, etcetera.

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But I think.

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That might be a great way for a few people listening in who haven't prioritised it yet and and yet they are still.

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Getting angry about things, getting frustrated quite quickly, wouldn't it be brilliant if they could see after a few sessions?

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Literally, after a couple of sessions. You literally see the world differently because you're connecting to.

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Who you really are.

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And a lot of us don't know who we are because we're too busy putting up on our face as the rest of society. And I and again I I know I've been there, I'm still working on myself. Whenever the finished off, as you know and and but I'm really happy with who I am right now because I am truly, being me. And if you don't like.

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Me. That's OK.

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And if you do, then that's also OK, but I want to go through like being who I.

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Was born to be.

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And not being something else for someone else, because that's not. That's when you were attracting wrong.

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Life to yourself because you're not actually putting yourself 1st and then some people think that's that's it.

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That's that's selfish.

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But if you're not.

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Well, and you're busy and you're all getting sick.

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Then you can't serve anyone else that way and.

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There's so many people living in that fight.

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Or flight response.

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70% of doctors visits are down to stress.

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And we don't have to be stressed and and again. As I say, there's there's good stress and there's bad stress. Good stress, obviously is we wanna keep ourselves safe. We wanna make sure that, you know, if we cross on the road and the cars coming, you're obviously gonna run across the road. But you don't wanna get or you know there's there's there is.

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Stress is that good.

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Stress that keeps us going and it keeps.

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Us alive, you.

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Know and sometimes that nervousness of speaking on stage or creating.

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A new training.

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Programme or learning a new skill. We do feel a little bit stressful and we go into the high beta sometimes.

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That that beta brain wave we'll take if we're constantly there. Sure, we, we we can't be we can't perform. We can't be ourselves because we're constantly living in survival and we're living in that energy. The body is literally just trying to keep us alive. So we want to come out of that fight or flight and.

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Into rest and it it massively does it.

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And then you know, the top athletes in the world, top people, most of them meditate because they, they it helps their performance, whether you're an athlete, whether you're a mother or father who's looking out at the kids, which is a huge job, a business owner, a hairdresser, a florist, if you.

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Can do take that 15 minutes out for yourself each day you will perform better in life.

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Just the life becomes easy and you're ready for life challenges because none of us are getting out of life of life without.

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Any heartbreak or challenges?

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But it allows you to ride that.

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Wave a little.

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Bit better and to also sit with the pain. A lot of those are distracted.

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You know, drink out drinking alcohol, drugs, gambling our phones are an addiction. Now there's so many things that we're using to distract ourselves from.

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Really sitting with ourselves and I I I know that because I'm still working through that myself to be able to just sit and be and do absolutely nothing.

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Even like, Oh my God.

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Would be so bored.

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And it's like, but just try it and people avoiding stuff while they're numbing themselves that are. And so when you first start meditating, some people are.

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I've said to me.

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Claire I cried. Is that normal? Is like absolutely.

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Just like mine.

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You're sitting with yourself. You're sitting with your thoughts, just sitting with how you feel.

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To make you.

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Feel and it's like it's like a sadness.

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But it's like a ohh.

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Ohh it's it's.

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Actually there I am.

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But you are honouring, aren't you? You're honouring who you are, and if there is sadness trapped in there, there, if there is.

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Something else sit.

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With it and I.

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Love that sort of thought of just.

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Pushing yourself to sit with things? I mean, I'm often saying just sit with that uncomfortable feeling. Something amazing will come out.

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But you're right.

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You you allow it to pass through and the energy can break that energy leaves the body. That stress can lead.

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But it can be quite.

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Wait, I I think we have.

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To say it will be.

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100% But then and then this is like there's there's no, there's no growth. There's still without challenge.

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And and we are here.

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To grow and we changing.

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All of the time.

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But a lot of people and and and especially in our society go let's go out and have a drink. Let's go out. Let's have a but it's associated with doing something or we even, you know, you'll get the same. The clients come to you. And I just wanna keep busy. I wanna keep busy.

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Because if I don't.

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I need to keep yourself distracted and it's like, OK, well, well, what? Are you distracting yourself from?

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Let's look at that and then and then you sit with them and then allow them.

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To give them.

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That time to sit. And that's what meditation.

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Can do that for you for free.

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Or you can go to a meditation class. You can take up yoga because meditation is a living yoga. So when you're practising meditation, you're actually practising yoga. And I think loads of people associate yoga with going to a class and getting hot and sweaty and.

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Stretching and posture.

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What meditation is part of.

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A yoga practise. So you are actually.

:: 19:59

After some yoga and when you meditate and a lot of people as well think, meditate and lying down, that's relaxation. Meditation needs to be done sitting up.

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Because the spine and and the head and the brain wave state that you go into, you're typically going to fall asleep.

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If you lie down.

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So that's why I say for 15 minutes, sit up straight to find. Be comfortable on a chair if you want, or on the floor. Whatever's comfortable for you, but allowing yourself to stay awake because it's the it's the different brain wave state. It'll take you into.

:: 20:32

And then it'll bring you back down.

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And the rest that it gives you body people.

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I just love it when.

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People start getting into meditation and then they.

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Message you to.

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Say ohh everything just feel a little bit lighter.

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Love it, I love.

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It well, hopefully some people listening in today who may not have tried it before or maybe tried it before but didn't quite get it going. Hopefully they feel inspired to get going for themselves and I think something few little tips that you've said along the way hopefully can help people remembering that it is their practise and it doesn't have to be the same as everybody else's.

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They also.

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Has to keep working at the practise. That is the point, and I think that's the biggest takeaway for a lot of people is just to remember all you're doing is keep bringing your attention back, keep bringing it back, keep bringing it back.

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Cause it will.

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Go off into different things in our day.

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We have 60 to 70,000 thoughts a day.

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So you're not going to clear your.

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Minds. Absolutely not. You know, we're not monks sitting.

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In the middle of the.

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Monastery on top.

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Of a mountain. We are people in a busy modern world, but it allows you to just have, like, human experience in a better way. But I I've got a free meditation master class. There I talked about all that. So I can share that in the show notes with you.

:: 21:50

That would be brilliant. Thank you, Claire.

:: 21:51

And that that explains the science and the guided meditation at the end.

:: 21:56

That would be amazing. Thank you for that. Thank you so much for coming and sharing your expertise and your knowledge on this topic.

:: 21:59

:: 22:06

Thank you so much for having me.

:: 22:07

Ah, it's been brilliant and hopefully like I say, there might be some few people out there who just think, do you know what? I'm gonna give that.

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A go, so I hope they do.

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Thank you.

:: 22:20

Listening and sharing in this episode of Mental Wealth. Remember, you can subscribe wherever you get your podcast. My last question to you is what is the one small thing that you can take action on from this episode? Message me.

:: 22:37

On Instagram or through our website with questions you'd like.

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Me to explore.

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You'll find the links in the show.

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Hopes I'll be back with more tools and.

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Tips to make sense of your mind in the next episode.

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In the meantime.

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Be kind to yourself. Bye for now.