Mindfulness talk at Edenvale Rotary Club
She said the mind and the body are connected and the body does not know the difference between what is real and what is imagined.
Ms Linda Clarke, an Edenvale-based master hypnotist, life coach and NLP practitioner, was the guest speaker at the Edenvale Rotary Club (ERC) on November 14.
Ms Clarke’s topic was Learn Mindfulness and the Effects of Mindlessness.
“Repetitive habitual behaviours and thinking styles become embedded in neural pathways that become stronger with use. These become our default settings when we are not paying attention,” said Ms Clarke.
She said the mind and the body are connected and the body does not know the difference between what is real and what is imagined. Therefore, our thoughts affect how we feel and behave. Our emotions and behaviour affects how we think and what we believe about ourselves and the environment.
“We can then become prisoners of our thoughts and deprive ourselves of fully enjoying life. Mindfulness can be practised formally with meditation and informally with paying attention in a particular way on purpose. Mindfullness meditation has been around for thousands of years and due to modern technology we are able to see how meditation changes the wiring and make-up of our brain,” she said.
“As we train ourselves to do this we are tuning our machine, our mind, to stabilise it and become fully integrated and to know and understand ourselves better. When this happens we become conscious and we can choose what we are paying attention to, challenge those repetitive stories and enjoy life more,” said Ms Clarke.
She said mindfulness enhances our creativity, concentration and memory.
“It is known to reduce stress, anxiety and depression and reduce cravings in people who are overcoming an addiction,” she said.
