Wirral Life June 2017 | Page 72

W WELLBEING L STEP OUT OF THOUGHT BY JOEL JELEN OF RESET BREATHING “It’s time to step out of thought, be more mindful and live your life” says Joel Jelen, founder of Reset Breathing. How many of us go through life asleep? and between thinking for practical purposes, by bringing attention into your body and slowing your breathing... through the nose and into your tummy if it wasn’t there already. I mean how many moments of your life does your attention spend inside your mind? If you feel each breath as you think, see the difference it makes. I meet lots of people who admit to me once we begin discussing mindfulness as part of resetting their breathing and life, that they live their life on autopilot. They literally run their lives according to the stuff originating in their minds, according to the thoughts and opinions of those around them. As a breathing educator, I can tell you from experience - mine and many others - that as long as your attention is on observing your breath or on feeling your inner body and senses, you are set free. When you encounter a problem through the day, think for a short while, then drop the thinking and merge with the inner body. Think for a few minutes then stop thinking. Adopting this will enable you to experience negative emotions less frequently. The more stillness you bring into your life, the less you react and the quicker you overcome situations. By feeling the inner body, you can sense how active the mind is. When you know the effect that e.g. anger has on your body, with this realisation you don’t reinforce it with continuous thinking. You become instinctively aware how harmful this is. It’s time to step out of thought and live your life. ‘Not feeling angry anymore’ is probably the most empowering feedback people give and receive once they begin to watch their thoughts and emotions on a daily basis. When you begin to observe the interplay between your mind and emotions and how one influences the other, you begin to realise the effect of your thinking. It’s all about bringing your thoughts to the forefront of your mind as opposed to allowing them to carry on unnoticed in the background. This is how you begin to exert more control over your thought processes. It’s like dropping a hot item from your hand... the realisation that your mind determines your happiness becomes total and unquestionable... we call this awareness or mindfulness. Encourage yourself whilst doing anything 72 wirrallife.com If you like, it’s about understanding the insanity of the human mind and not identifying with each thought as if it was real. Understanding and being aware of the effects of the mind and how it causes anger, hatred, tension and turmoil will automatically enable you to activate that most powerful of mindsets... ‘let it go’. And once you do, you are truly on your way to living with mindfulness and all the benefits that come free with it. Reset Breathing is hosting summer workshops incorporating breathing techniques with mindfulness. Further details from www.resetbreathing.com