Focussed Mindfulness Moments: Recent Episodes
Clare Walters
This audio supports you to let go of emotional pain held in your body.
You can listen and follow the guidance to release layers of harboured feelings until you are left free and resting in grace.
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This teaching meditation uses imagery to help you to see that emotions are simply energy and they can come and go, passing through your body harmlessly.
We tend to block so-called negative emotions for fear that they will be too painful to bear. The truth is that it is the resistance that causes pain!
This meditation demonstrates the freedom that you can feel if you just allow all emotions to naturally arise and subside.
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This is one of the most important guided meditations that I have recorded in a long while. It is sharing the latest refinement of The Walters Method.
The Emotional Release allows you to let go of pain that harks back to your original wound - which you probably acquired in early childhood. By expressing this it releases the body from the pain so it no longer drives your present day responses and thoughts. You will feel free, calm, centred and whole and will respond in a very different way to life's daily challenges - big and small.
Try it! And please let me know how you find it.
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You may notice that when you are feeling troubled by an event or a person that it makes you feel uncomfortable. It is causing you emotional pain.
The meditation guides you through a process that will transform this pain and it will change how you respond to the memory of the event or person. it takes you from emotional pain to emotional freedom.
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Subscriber-only episode
Use this exercise to uncover those thoughts that are negative, disempower you and make you angry, sad, envious or fearful.
Then work through the steps that help you see a more empowered, loving and accepting way of thinking and then experience how it feels to live your life freed from them.
Hear from the students on the last day of the Focussed Mindfulness Foundation Course 2022
This short meditation is great for if you have trouble focussing for any length of time. It keeps your attention away from your thoughts so they quieten and give you a moment's rest.
This is a great meditation if you are dragging the past back into your thoughts and it is evoking feelings remorse, anger or in some other way triggering you. Or you are anticipating the future, worrying about something that has not yet happened.
Practice 'Focussing on the here and now' - it will give you some peace.
This is a powerful meditation, one that you might try if you have enjoyed some of my earlier recordings or you have been practicing for a while.
It brings your attention to your being in the present moment and then expands your consciousness to the infinite stillness in which you sit and the lack of boundary between the two.
You are present in stillness and as stillness.
Just be still.
Just be.
Life and thoughts will happen, but they happen in this stillness and this stillness remains unperturbed. As temporary ripples in a vast ocean.
We react to some people more than others and when we are in a reactive state it feels uncomfortable in the body. We may feel, for instance sad, angry, deflated or ashamed and this will be reflected in how we communicate.
Once conscious that we have reacted we can use exercises to address our uncomfortable emotions and re-centre ourselves. This inner calm, compassion and confidence will be conveyed and usually it will lead to a more mutually respectful and constructive interaction.
This is one of a series of exercises that will help you to re-centre. watch out for more as they are published over the coming weeks
The body scan is a well known technique for turning your attention from the busyness of your mental mind to an awareness of your body. the gently, predictable tour around your body is calming and relaxing. At the end of the meditation you can drift off to sleep or return to your day. you will feel calmer and more centred.
This was recorded during a storm. I find the noise of the wind in the background adds to the calming nature of this meditation. use it to reduce anxiety and come to a place of stillness and calm.
This short meditation supports you to let go of all the thoughts and drivers that prevent you from taking time to be still, rest and just be.
Hope you enjoy!
Clare xx
This is a guided visualisation based on "The Journey" by Brandon Bays. It guides you through a process of healing pain - emotional or physical - that you are harbouring in your body.
When we experience something that overwhelms us - and this often happens in childhood, we are unable to immediately process what is happening. in order to continue functioning, we stuff the experience away. It can remain held for many years - unconscious but still affecting our health and how we react to life.
This guided visualisation accesses and processes such harboured emotions, leaving us emotionally open and our body free to heal.
This meditation is based on 'The Journey' by Brandon Bays. I trained to be a Journey practitioner way back in 2007 and my work ever since has been deeply influenced by it. The training certainly healed a lot of my pain and Focussed Mindfulness grew out of the experience.
This meditation is useful for healing pain you are harbouring. this may be physical pain or emotional baggage or trauma that you have yet to resolve and let go of.
it is more powerful when you receive the guidance in a one to one session so the practitioner can taylor the timing and responses according to your personal journey, but this is a good introduction and may well hit the spot.
Be mindful of what you have. Really notice and be thankful for everything that makes your life the rich, comfortable, abundant gift it is.
this can be a complete mood turner if your head is off somewhere - anxious about what may or may not happen in the future or regretting the past, worrying about all you have to do and what you didn't do, stressing about how other people should be .........
Just stop and notice what you are missing while your head is off somewhere, and be grateful.
Take a moment to simply stop.
Still your body
Notice the gentle breath breathing you
Be still
Rest in your body and notice: in this moment all is well.
In this moment you don’t need anything, you are content.
Here, now you can simply be.
Nothing is required of you.
You can accept and allow the pain in your life.
This isn’t who you are.
This body, this home is a place of safety, of nurture, of contentment.
Rest here.
There is nothing you need right now
There is no wanting, no lack,
You are home.
Notice a thought of the future is pulling you away from here.
Relax and return
You are breathing, you are alive
Notice what is between the breaths
An inner smile
A contentment deepening within you
You are home
Regrets from the past – these are not who you are
In this moment – where are they? They are not here
Right now, right here all is well.
You are safe, you are nurtured, you are home.
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Become mindful of your surroundings and your body, turn your attention away from your busy mind to focus on the stillness at your core. Notice that this stillness is everywhere, there is no place that it is not. As you take your focus away from your busy mind it begins to quieten and you find that even in the heart of the brain there is stillness.
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This meditation will guide you to a deeper state of stillness.
Follow the words as they take you deep within yourself to find a stillness at your core. As you rest ever deeper into this stillness you will find it is bottomless, boundless and both within you and beyond you.
Deepen still further and you will notice that all thoughts, feelings and activities happen within this stillness and the stillness remains untouched, unperturbed.
With practice, you can be aware of this stillness even as you carry on with your day. It will support you to remain mindful and calm. There will be moments when your attention is drawn away from it, but it always remains for you to return to.
Be still.
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Close your eyes and relax into this meditation.
Allow yourself to rest, feel held and supported.
In this moment, there is nothing for you to do. Nothing to strive for or work out or achieve. Be still and notice that you are held in the arms of unconditional love. You are met, seen, understood and accepted just as you are.
In this moment you are safe, you are held, you are connected. Feel this love that surrounds you. Feel loving arms embrace and hold you. Notice that there is no boundary to this love - it is outside and it ignites love within you. There is no boundary. You are connected.
You can rest in this love, as this love. You can open your heart and meet life from this love. How gentle, how kind, how accepting it is to bask in the presence of unconditional love.
To discover more about The Focussed Mindfulness Method TM: workshops, one to one sessions, retreats and practitioner training sign up for the monthly newsletter here
The Mind Reset TM
Use this reflective exercise to gain a mindful perspective on your anxiety, overwhelm, frustration, shame or confusion to bring clarity and greater emotional wellbeing.
You can do this any time, but it is really helpful to do it regularly for a while. Here is how.
Wake yourself up a bit earlier than usual. Get a cup of tea and find a calm, private, comfortable space. Set a timer for 10 or 20 minutes.
Use a large, attractive note-book with pull-out pages kept especially for this purpose and a favourite pen. Turn to a clean page and simply begin to write.
On the page, dump first whatever is uppermost in your mind. Then dump all your concerns, fears, frustrations, anger, sadness, anxieties, grudges, judgements, self-judgements, angsts and dilemmas as they arise. Write fast, without stopping, without censoring and without checking back. Keep writing until you dry up or your time allotted comes to an end, whichever is the first. Don’t worry about spelling, grammar, full sentences or if you can’t read the writing.
If you find yourself pausing, bring your awareness to your body, notice any discomfort here and write about it. Notice any feelings and the cause of them and any connections you make. As you continue to write out all your mental clutter you may notice that you are becoming aware of a more mindful perspective on your thoughts.
After your allotted time, pause.
Now imagine that a wise and kind friend – someone that you trust and respect, who knows you very well and likes you, is sitting opposite you. This can be someone real or imagined, someone alive or who has passed away, a fictional character or some sort of spiritual guide or even your own wise self. They have been listening to your thoughts.
Write out what they would tell you. How they see you, what they think you need and what they think you should do.
Now tear out the pages you have just written, destroy them, and start your day.
This is a practice recommended in many self-help books on mindfulness* because it is such a useful tool for quietening your thoughts and becoming calmer and clearer.
If you do find that you are repeating the same old stuff day after day and you cannot find a healthier way to see things then get some support from a skilled practitioner or someone else that you feel happy to talk to and you trust to give you wise counsel.
TM Absolute Specialists 2018
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This is an introduction to the ethos behind the Focussed Mindfulness Method. It is my model for understanding the context of this work and why is is needed so much right now.
it explains the root cause of the problems and suffering of people and the planet right now and point out the lack of balance - the focus on the intellect and the neglect of the self-aware mind and our capacity to achieve true health.
It explains the three aspects to healing: waking up, growing up and cleaning up.
Waking up happens when we develop and mindfulness practice, it is the process of becoming aware of ourselves from beyond ourselves so we can see that we are connected, we are supported and we are enough.
Growing up is the work of meeting and integrating all aspects of ourselves so we can become more accepting, self-supporting and content.
Cleaning up is the process of developing a lifestyle that is congruent and supporting of our growth and increasing self awareness and self acceptance.
We tend to focus on one aspect at a time, but the three are interconnected and mutually supportive.
There are many rewards to committing to a journey towards true health. It is a path that opens you to greater love both for yourself, others and this wonderful universe we inhabit, it is a path to less personal suffering and greater joy and gratitude for the life you have, it is a path towards more respectful and loving relationships and it is a path that guides you to a life of greater fulfilment and purpose.
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This is a meditation for releasing pain. it helps ease physical and emotional pain such as sadness, hurt, shame, anger, fear or despair.
It is natural to resist pain and block it out or suppress it. Unfortunately, when we do this it remains unexpressed and lodged in our bodies. This meditation allows you to gently meet and feel your pain which allows it to flow and transform. You may find that as you turn your attention to your physical pain and are willing to feel it fully you come aware of harboured emotional pain underneath it. You can meet this pain too and let it be felt so it too can flow and transform.
There may be layers of pain, meet each and you will deepen gracefully into a state of calm, peace and acceptance.
Check out your pain levels when you have finished the meditation - nine times out of ten it will have reduced or disappeared.
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Ever since the big bang and probably before even that - the universe has been evolving: from a hydrogen cloud through the birth of Earth, the appearance of the first mammals, the domination of the planet by humans, to now. The direction has been towards ever increasing organisation and complexity: atoms organised into molecules, then single celled organisms, then animals with nervous systems, then socially organised colonies and now self-aware human beings. This may be the first time that, through us, this universe has become conscious of itself.
I would like to acknowledge what we have done: we have put men on the moon, created the internet and developed medicines that can postpone death. Right now, we seem to be experiencing one of many hiccups in this trajectory as we experience the effects of a virus we cannot control and yet, this is stimulating innovation and adaptation and there are already glimpses of a different future marking a large step forward in our evolution.
But As we emerge from this disruptive period we will immediately be faced with the biggest challenges humanity has ever faced: those of climate change and the not unrelated ecological collapse. Our survival as a species is in grave and, in evolutionary terms, is under imminent threat. It is a threat that has been looming since the 1970s but due to fear, greed and ignorance, we have, as a species, been ignoring it until it now towers over us as an unavoidable and horrifying reality. And what is uniquely different about this earth’s 6th extinction event is that we are aware of it, we know without question that it is real and we have the option of trying to avert it. We also know that we can only overcome this threat, if it is possible at all, by pulling together, sharing expertise and innovation and sacrifice and pooling our resources.
So why on earth aren’t we doing it?
If we look back over the course of our evolution as a species we can see an innate human quality in play that runs alongside, and often driving, our creativity, countering progress towards a better world on a personal and global level: our ego. Unchecked, the ego has the power to sabotage, subvert and destroy us: it created the great wars, it prioritises selfish gain over the needs of the many, it causes infighting and petty squabbles within our government rather than work for the common good and it sabotages our personal relationships. Any attempts to address our global challenges are doomed to fail while our individual egos run unchecked.
We have reached a point where we absolutely must collectively pause and rebalance: acknowledge, understand and learn to transcend the driving force of the ego or we are, probably, doomed.
Free from the influence of the ego we are no longer driven by a need to put the self above others, we are conscious of our connectedness to everyone else and the planet and we can allow love to be the driving force for reducing suffering and destruction. Our motivation is no longer compromised by fear and we can focus all our energy on what we know, in our guts, to be right. ..........
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Absolute Specialists are running a coaching course alongside the Focussed Mindfulness training in 2021. The training will lead to a professional qualification as a life or integrative coach.
The two trainers on the course: Clare Walters - founder of the Focussed Mindfulness method and CEO of the training company: https://www.absolute-specialists.co.uk and Jane Bytheway, an established and highly respected coach https://www.janebytheway.com give an overview of the course, explaining the powerful combination of Focussed Mindfulness and coaching for clearing everything that is psychologically getting in people's way so they can move forward with clarity and a sense of purpose to achieve something worthwhile, fulfilling and life changing.
They discuss the opportunities for changing your direction and embarking on a new career as a result of the pandemic: you can work online from anywhere!
The combined course will run over 14 days throughout 2021 and if you do commit to both the focussed mindfulness training and the coach training this year there will be a massive reduction in the fee.
There is more information about the course here https://www.absolute-specialists.co.uk/change-your-life-in-2021/ or call Clare on 07984115927 for a chat about it.
To discover more about The Focussed Mindfulness Method TM: workshops, one to one sessions, retreats and practitioner training sign up for the monthly newsletter here
I recorded this the day after we were all told that lockdown rules will be tightened over Christmas and feeling the collective sadness. When we are in pain we tend to shut it down and avoid it. It feels that to acknowledge it fully will be too much, so we carry it around and it weighs heavy.
The truth is that emotions are simply waves of energy and if we allow them to be felt they pass through us and as they do they transform, leaving us lighter and freer. Your pain may be real and present and if so there may be many waves, let them arise and pass through, breathe through them and make way for other emotions that will follow in their wake.
Love brings joy and pain, we cannot have one without the other. Meet all these emotions with tenderness. These too will pass.
The body scan is a brief mindfulness meditation that is commonly used to calm the 'mental mind.'
You may have noticed that the more you focus on your thoughts the busier they become. This exercise helps you to do the opposite: it takes your attention from whatever is going on in your head to your body.
As you follow the simple instructions you will find that you are no longer be listening to your thoughts and they will simply drop away. By the time you end the meditation you will be feeling calm in body and mind.
Hear from the graduates of the 2020 course in the Focussed Mindfulness Method. They talk about their experience and how they have changed over the year.
The recording ends with the meditation we shared at the end of our final day. Not that it was the end, more the beginning for this group as they launch into practice under supervision or take their learning into life and, for some, their own work as therapist, coaches or body workers
This work heals lives. It addresses the root causes of all that is the way of you being the best version of yourself. It heals trauma, dispels false beliefs about oneself or life and heals a fearful approach to life, replacing it with an open-hearted, loving and accepting way of being. Our practitioners learn to drop judgement, collusion and rescuing responses, so when they work with their clients they can offer a truly safe and supportive space for their clients, loved ones and the world.
If you find it difficult to sit and be and tend to be triggered when you try this meditation will help you to reground yourself.
It will help if you are holding trauma in your body and go into panic, dissociation or an anxiety attack when you try and be still.
I suggest that you practice this meditation twice a day every day for a week and see how you are. You can then use it whenever you need to.
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The Focussed Mindfulness Method is a gentle but speedy and effective way of supporting people to move through grief and find acceptance, peace and the means to embrace life beyond their loss.
Lynda talks of the pain of losing her life partner and the pain she has endured and felt stuck in for seven years. In just 5 Focussed Mindfulness Sessions she moves through her pain and finds true freedom and energy to re-engage fully with life. We talk about the exercises she used to achieve this healing.
The Method gives you the 'how' to achieve what you are told is possible.
To see what it could do for you call Clare on 07984115927.
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I love this meditation for when I am anxious and feel I simply have too much to do. it is true that if you think that you are too busy to meditate for 10 minutes then you should sit and meditate for 20!
This one is only 10 minutes, but it does the trick for me.
Give it a try and let us know how you find it.
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Some people find it difficult to be still. When they try they get restless, either their mind gets busy or the body wants to move and this can be a distraction often making them give up and think that meditation is not for them. A moving meditation might be easier. Give this one a try and if you like it you can repeat it regularly.
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This short mindfulness meditation is inspired by the 14th century saint Julian of Norwich. It is helpful for calming anxiety.
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This is a simple meditation to calm anxiety and busy thoughts and reduce the adrenaline levels in your body. You can use it whenever you need it but it may be particularly useful before bed so you sleep better, or first thing in the morning to start your day chilled and focussed.
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