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Happiness, 6.10 (V) Week 6, Video 10 - The 7th Happiness Exercise - The “Presence Practice”

6.10 (V) Week 6, Video 10 - The 7th Happiness Exercise - The “Presence Practice”

[MUSIC] Hi there and welcome back. As you can see, I'm wearing Indian clothes for this video. There is a reason. The reason is because I have a guest speaker for this video who's also wearing Indian clothes, as you'll soon see. And I thought I would mimic him to make him like me better. Well, jokes apart, the guest speaker's name is Vijay Bhat. He runs a consulting firm here in India called Roots and Wings. He's a really fascinating guy. A cancer thriver, as opposed to a cancer survivor, is what he calls himself. You can learn more about him by looking up his profile on the about us page on the course website. Before I let Vijay come on stage I need to first mention that although this video is a little bit longer than the average video, all you need to do to be done with the sixth and the last happiness exercise is to finish watching this video and follow all the instructions in it. You don't have to click on any link or turn in any report. You automatically get credit for the sixth happiness exercise by simply watching this video and following all the instructions. Now, the sixth happiness exercise is something that Vijay calls Presence Practice, which is a kind of a mindfulness practice. As I discussed in some earlier videos, mindfulness involves observing what's going on without judging it. I had mentioned the idea of trying to be a fly in the wall of your head. That is, of observing what's going on in your head. Thoughts, your feelings, your goals, etcetera. This is one way of being mindful. Now it turns out, that observing what's going on in your mind is very difficult for most people. Most people find it easier to observe a bodily sensation rather than what's going on in their mind. In particular, it seems that observing the breath is one of the best things to do to practice mindfulness. Now there are many reasons why breath is a good thing to observe. It is constantly changing, you're always breathing in or breathing out or holding your breath. So it's a little more interesting to observe than say the sensations on your hands. At the same time, though, the breath is not something that's going through so much flux like your thoughts that it's difficult to pin down and observe. Now, breath is also something that's gross enough to observe, unlike say, your heartbeat, which is usually much more subtle. But, at the same time, your breath is also something that can become very subtle, when you observe it. The breath is also something that is right on the edge of being voluntary, and under your control and involuntary, and out of your control which allows you to practice this idea of letting go of control. If you choose to observe your breath as a mindfulness practice, you would simply become aware of the sensations that you feel on a particular part of your body as you breath. So for example, you could focus on the sensations on the walls of your nostrils as you breathe in and breathe out. As you do this you may notice that both breathing in and breathing out puts some pressure on the walls of your nostrils. Or you may start to notice that the incoming breath is just a little bit cooler than the outgoing one. Or that the breathing happens mainly through one, either the left or the right nostril, for a period of time before it switches to the other nostril. If you continue to pay attention to the sensations that breathing causes in and around your nostrils you may start to notice even more subtle things like the follicles inside your nasal passage moving with your inhalations and exhalations. Or that your inhalations cool not just your nasal passage, but the inside of your mouth, your palate. In this process of becoming aware of all this, your breath is likely to become calmer, and quieter. More subtle, and also more long, drawn out. Of course, all of these things would happen only if you aren't distracted by your thoughts. That's where your ability to merely observe your thoughts and let them pass, as if you were a fly on the wall, comes in. And being a fly on the wall, it's best not to judge yourself for negative thoughts like, man I can't even focus on my breath for five seconds at a stretch. Just forget what happened in the past, and come back to becoming aware of the sensations caused by the act of breathing. This is what you will do if you're mindfulness practice involved observing your breath. Now although, as I mentioned just a little while back, observing your breath is easier than observing the mind, even that isn't easy for most of us. This is where the presence practice come in. It's a technique that Vijay Bhat developed specifically for busy people. People who have too much on their plate and don't already have a mindfulness practice going. Now you may be different of course. You may already have a mindfulness practice that you're happy with. If so, you can simply participate in the presence practice with open minded curiosity. I'm sure that you will enjoy it. But if you don't have a mindfulness practice, and you find the presence practice to be useful, it makes you experience some of the benefits that we have discussed in the previous videos of being mindful, you can use it for as long as you want. This video's gonna remain on Coursera for a long time. The main objective of this video is to let you glimpse into a particular type of mindfulness practice, and then leave it up to you to decide if you want to continue with it or not. All right! So with that introduction let me know turn to Vijay and ask him to guide us through the presence practice. He's gonna first give us a little bit of background about himself and then give us the instructions for the practice. Listen. » Hello, everyone. My name is Vijay Bhat and I run a leadership consulting firm called Roots and Wings in Mumbai in India. I've been working with leaders from different organizations and from different countries. And one of the things that they say to me is that modern life is extremely busy, extremely stressful, and extremely turbulent. Most leaders are jumping from one crisis to another, one conference call to another meeting. And they really don't have the time to gather themselves and to prepare themselves for what is going to come. So from my own experience and from a lot of reading and research that we have done, I have created a short 10 minute, or 12 minute presence practice. And I'm going to walk you through that presence practice now. And I invite you to follow me. As I give you the instructions. Over time you will find that this practice becomes second nature to you, and that really you don't need my guidance anymore. You'll be able to do it on your own. But for now, I invite you to join me and follow me in this practice. Let's begin in a few seconds. Let's begin the presence practice. The foundation of presence is a relaxed body. I invite you to sit comfortably in your chair, both feet are firmly planted on the ground, the small of your back touching the back of the chair, and your palms can be facing up or down as you feel comfortable. I would like you to pay particular attention to your back. Your spine should be erect. And I invite you to close your eyes if you need to. So that you're focused internally. I invite you to bring your attention to the top of your head. And from there, step by step, body part by body part, I invite you to work your way down the body, starting with your head, your scalp, your face, your neck. Pay particular attention to your shoulders, where many of us carry any tension. And as you scan the body, if you come across any tightness, stiffness, soreness, tension, just let it go so that the body is totally and completely relaxed. Work your way slowly down body part by body part from the top of the head down to the tips of the toes. And slowly work your way back up again from the tips of the toes up to the top of the head. I invite you to do this once or twice, until you can feel that every part of your body is totally and completely relaxed. When your body is completely relaxed, you will notice that your attention automatically goes to your breath. Even breath is the first signal of presence. I invite you to just notice your breath as it comes in, as you inhale. You will feel your abdomen rise, and as you exhale, you will feel your abdomen fall. You don't have to do anything, you don't have to speed up your breath, you don't have to slow it down. All you need to do is to simply observe your breath. So please close your eyes, and along with me just notice your breath as it comes in and as it goes out. As you breathe in and out, notice how your state is changing inside. Your body is completely relaxed, and your breath is even and rhythmic. The second signal of presence is a clear, calm, and quiet mind. I invite you to bring your attention to the screen of your mind and notice, what are the thoughts? What are the scripts? What are the programs? What are the applications that are open at this moment? Perhaps you're thinking about the meeting that you have just finished. Perhaps you're thinking about a presentation that you have to make. Perhaps you're thinking about your plans over the weekend. Simply notice what's going on in your mind. And then, just like you would do on your computer screen, you know you can go to the top right hand corner and you could shut down those programs by clicking on that little white cross in that red circle. I invite you to do the same thing. Shut down those programs that are running on the screen of your mind, one by one. Do it kindly. Do it gently. Do it firmly. So that you can restore your mind to a clear, calm, and quiet state. So once again, close your eyes, go inwards, and shut down those programs, and bring your mind to a clear, calm, and quiet state. The third signal of presence is an open heart. I invite you to bring your attention down into your chest area. And to begin with, focus on your physical heart. Just notice if you can feel the warmth of this physical heart, as it beats away, as it pumps away in your chest. This amazing organ that's been beating continuously from the time before you were born and will continue to beat until the time comes for all of us, for each one of us, to pass on. And once you have contacted that physical heart, I'm now going to invite you to connect with your emotional heart. The place from which we relate with people, we engage people, we connect with people. And once you are in touch with that emotional heart I invite you to open that emotional heart just a crack. Open it to receive the emotions and feelings of others, and equally open it to reveal your true feelings and emotions to others. As you open your emotional heart, you will experience a different kind of a connect, a heart to heart connect. I'm gonna give you just a few seconds to once again close your eyes, go inwards and experience that heart to heart connect. Remember that an open heart is the third signal of presence. The fourth signal of presence is what we call a sensitive sonar. I invite you to sharpen your senses. I invite you to send those sharp senses out and I invite you to pick up all the signals that are currently going on around you, wherever you are at the moment. Pick up the faintest sounds, maybe the air conditioning is running. Pick up the sensation of the ground beneath your feet. Pick up maybe there's an aroma in the air maybe of coffee, I want you to pick it up. And in this way I want you to become completely and acutely context aware. Become fully aware of everything that is going on around you and take it in with those sharp senses of yours. You can either do this with your eyes open, or you can do this with your eyes closed. Once again, I'll give you just a few seconds. To send out those sharp senses, and pick up all the signals that are currently going on around you. And finally, the fifth signal of presence is something we that we call energetic induction. I invite you to become aware that each one of us has a unique field of energy, something that we call an aura that extends maybe six to nine inches from our bodies. I invite you to become aware of your unique energy field. And I invite you to slowly expand that energy field, so that if you're sitting in a group, you can include the person sitting on your left. And you can allow yourself to be included in that person's field. You can include the person on your right, and allow yourself to be included in that person's energy field. Or if you are sitting alone, you can simply expand that energy field so that it becomes a ball of warm and inclusive energy. Something that you can warmly embrace everybody who comes in contact with it. As you do that, you may feel that you're like a tuning fork. That, as you vibrate, everything else around you is vibrating to the same frequency. Energetic induction is the fifth signal of presence. I'll give you a few seconds to explore and experience that as long as you need to. Now with your eyes closed, [COUGH] let me walk you through the five signals of presence again. The foundation is a relaxed body. Check that your body is relaxed. The first signal is an even breath. Check. The second signal is a clear, calm mind. Check. The third signal is an open heart. Check. The fourth signal is sensitive sonar, check. And the fifth signal is energetic induction, check. As you drop into the state of presence, just notice how your internal state is different from the way it was when we started this little activity. I'm now gonna call out some affirmations. And I'm going to invite you to repeat those affirmations aloud after me. I will call them out first. And then I will give you some time so that you can call them out too. Here we go. [SOUND] The reality of this moment is that I have nothing to defend. The reality of this moment is that I have nothing to promote. The reality of this moment, Is that I have nothing to fear. The only reality of this moment is that I am here now. The only reality of this moment, Is that, I am here now. I invite you to experience the truth of those affirmations. Nothing to defend. Allow your gut to relax. Nothing to promote. Allow your heart to relax. Nothing to fear. Allow your mind to relax. I am here now. Drop into the state of presence. And once again, notice for yourself how your internal state is different. What are you feeling right now inside of you? What does presence feel like? And once you can make that state of presence clear to yourself, make it as vivid as possible. Make it as accessible as possible. And make a deep commitment to yourself. That you will try and hold this state of presence for as long as you can, whenever you need it. Remember, presence is always there within all of us. All we need to do is to get our egos out of the way. With that commitment in mind, with a sense of eager anticipation and enthusiasm for whatever lies ahead, holding that state of presence, I invite you to bring your attention back to the room. And whenever you're ready open your eyes and welcome back. I hope you enjoyed that little activity, and I hope that you will practice it and benefit from it just like I have. Thank you. » Thank you, Vijay. So much for doing that, I really enjoyed it and I hope you did to. As you probably noticed, Vijay touched on a lot of characteristics associated with being mindful. Including a sense of connection with others, being more aware of certain sensations, and, of course, being present. In addition, he also introduces some of what he calls affirmations which are statements that make you connect with the source of happiness that's within us. The sense of calmness, lack of defensiveness, lack of neediness to promote yourself and so on. If you've been practicing mindfulness for long, you will realize that you don't have to be explicitly reminded or instructed to pay attention to all of these things. They will happen quite naturally. But as I also mentioned some time back, this practice, this presence practice is tailored mainly for those who aren't conversant with mindfulness. It's for people who lead such busy lives that they haven't had time to nurture this practice. Alright! So I once again hope that you found this to be useful and let me bid goodbye to you for now. And in the very next video, I will be summarizing everything that we covered this week. [FOREIGN] [MUSIC] [SOUND]


6.10 (V) Week 6, Video 10 - The 7th Happiness Exercise - The “Presence Practice”

[MUSIC] Hi there and welcome back. As you can see, I'm wearing Indian clothes for this video. There is a reason. The reason is because I have a guest speaker for this video who's also wearing Indian clothes, as you'll soon see. And I thought I would mimic him to make him like me better. Well, jokes apart, the guest speaker's name is Vijay Bhat. He runs a consulting firm here in India called Roots and Wings. He's a really fascinating guy. A cancer thriver, as opposed to a cancer survivor, is what he calls himself. You can learn more about him by looking up his profile on the about us page on the course website. Before I let Vijay come on stage I need to first mention that although this video is a little bit longer than the average video, all you need to do to be done with the sixth and the last happiness exercise is to finish watching this video and follow all the instructions in it. You don't have to click on any link or turn in any report. You automatically get credit for the sixth happiness exercise by simply watching this video and following all the instructions. Now, the sixth happiness exercise is something that Vijay calls Presence Practice, which is a kind of a mindfulness practice. As I discussed in some earlier videos, mindfulness involves observing what's going on without judging it. I had mentioned the idea of trying to be a fly in the wall of your head. That is, of observing what's going on in your head. Thoughts, your feelings, your goals, etcetera. This is one way of being mindful. Now it turns out, that observing what's going on in your mind is very difficult for most people. Most people find it easier to observe a bodily sensation rather than what's going on in their mind. In particular, it seems that observing the breath is one of the best things to do to practice mindfulness. Now there are many reasons why breath is a good thing to observe. It is constantly changing, you're always breathing in or breathing out or holding your breath. So it's a little more interesting to observe than say the sensations on your hands. At the same time, though, the breath is not something that's going through so much flux like your thoughts that it's difficult to pin down and observe. Now, breath is also something that's gross enough to observe, unlike say, your heartbeat, which is usually much more subtle. But, at the same time, your breath is also something that can become very subtle, when you observe it. The breath is also something that is right on the edge of being voluntary, and under your control and involuntary, and out of your control which allows you to practice this idea of letting go of control. If you choose to observe your breath as a mindfulness practice, you would simply become aware of the sensations that you feel on a particular part of your body as you breath. So for example, you could focus on the sensations on the walls of your nostrils as you breathe in and breathe out. As you do this you may notice that both breathing in and breathing out puts some pressure on the walls of your nostrils. Or you may start to notice that the incoming breath is just a little bit cooler than the outgoing one. Or that the breathing happens mainly through one, either the left or the right nostril, for a period of time before it switches to the other nostril. If you continue to pay attention to the sensations that breathing causes in and around your nostrils you may start to notice even more subtle things like the follicles inside your nasal passage moving with your inhalations and exhalations. Or that your inhalations cool not just your nasal passage, but the inside of your mouth, your palate. In this process of becoming aware of all this, your breath is likely to become calmer, and quieter. More subtle, and also more long, drawn out. Of course, all of these things would happen only if you aren't distracted by your thoughts. That's where your ability to merely observe your thoughts and let them pass, as if you were a fly on the wall, comes in. And being a fly on the wall, it's best not to judge yourself for negative thoughts like, man I can't even focus on my breath for five seconds at a stretch. Just forget what happened in the past, and come back to becoming aware of the sensations caused by the act of breathing. This is what you will do if you're mindfulness practice involved observing your breath. Now although, as I mentioned just a little while back, observing your breath is easier than observing the mind, even that isn't easy for most of us. This is where the presence practice come in. It's a technique that Vijay Bhat developed specifically for busy people. People who have too much on their plate and don't already have a mindfulness practice going. Now you may be different of course. You may already have a mindfulness practice that you're happy with. If so, you can simply participate in the presence practice with open minded curiosity. I'm sure that you will enjoy it. But if you don't have a mindfulness practice, and you find the presence practice to be useful, it makes you experience some of the benefits that we have discussed in the previous videos of being mindful, you can use it for as long as you want. This video's gonna remain on Coursera for a long time. The main objective of this video is to let you glimpse into a particular type of mindfulness practice, and then leave it up to you to decide if you want to continue with it or not. All right! So with that introduction let me know turn to Vijay and ask him to guide us through the presence practice. He's gonna first give us a little bit of background about himself and then give us the instructions for the practice. Listen. » Hello, everyone. My name is Vijay Bhat and I run a leadership consulting firm called Roots and Wings in Mumbai in India. I've been working with leaders from different organizations and from different countries. And one of the things that they say to me is that modern life is extremely busy, extremely stressful, and extremely turbulent. Most leaders are jumping from one crisis to another, one conference call to another meeting. And they really don't have the time to gather themselves and to prepare themselves for what is going to come. So from my own experience and from a lot of reading and research that we have done, I have created a short 10 minute, or 12 minute presence practice. And I'm going to walk you through that presence practice now. And I invite you to follow me. As I give you the instructions. Over time you will find that this practice becomes second nature to you, and that really you don't need my guidance anymore. You'll be able to do it on your own. But for now, I invite you to join me and follow me in this practice. Let's begin in a few seconds. Let's begin the presence practice. The foundation of presence is a relaxed body. I invite you to sit comfortably in your chair, both feet are firmly planted on the ground, the small of your back touching the back of the chair, and your palms can be facing up or down as you feel comfortable. I would like you to pay particular attention to your back. Your spine should be erect. And I invite you to close your eyes if you need to. So that you're focused internally. I invite you to bring your attention to the top of your head. And from there, step by step, body part by body part, I invite you to work your way down the body, starting with your head, your scalp, your face, your neck. Pay particular attention to your shoulders, where many of us carry any tension. And as you scan the body, if you come across any tightness, stiffness, soreness, tension, just let it go so that the body is totally and completely relaxed. Work your way slowly down body part by body part from the top of the head down to the tips of the toes. And slowly work your way back up again from the tips of the toes up to the top of the head. I invite you to do this once or twice, until you can feel that every part of your body is totally and completely relaxed. When your body is completely relaxed, you will notice that your attention automatically goes to your breath. Even breath is the first signal of presence. I invite you to just notice your breath as it comes in, as you inhale. You will feel your abdomen rise, and as you exhale, you will feel your abdomen fall. You don't have to do anything, you don't have to speed up your breath, you don't have to slow it down. All you need to do is to simply observe your breath. So please close your eyes, and along with me just notice your breath as it comes in and as it goes out. As you breathe in and out, notice how your state is changing inside. Your body is completely relaxed, and your breath is even and rhythmic. The second signal of presence is a clear, calm, and quiet mind. I invite you to bring your attention to the screen of your mind and notice, what are the thoughts? What are the scripts? What are the programs? What are the applications that are open at this moment? Perhaps you're thinking about the meeting that you have just finished. Perhaps you're thinking about a presentation that you have to make. Perhaps you're thinking about your plans over the weekend. Simply notice what's going on in your mind. And then, just like you would do on your computer screen, you know you can go to the top right hand corner and you could shut down those programs by clicking on that little white cross in that red circle. I invite you to do the same thing. Shut down those programs that are running on the screen of your mind, one by one. Do it kindly. Do it gently. Do it firmly. So that you can restore your mind to a clear, calm, and quiet state. So once again, close your eyes, go inwards, and shut down those programs, and bring your mind to a clear, calm, and quiet state. The third signal of presence is an open heart. I invite you to bring your attention down into your chest area. And to begin with, focus on your physical heart. Just notice if you can feel the warmth of this physical heart, as it beats away, as it pumps away in your chest. This amazing organ that's been beating continuously from the time before you were born and will continue to beat until the time comes for all of us, for each one of us, to pass on. And once you have contacted that physical heart, I'm now going to invite you to connect with your emotional heart. The place from which we relate with people, we engage people, we connect with people. And once you are in touch with that emotional heart I invite you to open that emotional heart just a crack. Open it to receive the emotions and feelings of others, and equally open it to reveal your true feelings and emotions to others. As you open your emotional heart, you will experience a different kind of a connect, a heart to heart connect. I'm gonna give you just a few seconds to once again close your eyes, go inwards and experience that heart to heart connect. Remember that an open heart is the third signal of presence. The fourth signal of presence is what we call a sensitive sonar. I invite you to sharpen your senses. I invite you to send those sharp senses out and I invite you to pick up all the signals that are currently going on around you, wherever you are at the moment. Pick up the faintest sounds, maybe the air conditioning is running. Pick up the sensation of the ground beneath your feet. Pick up maybe there's an aroma in the air maybe of coffee, I want you to pick it up. And in this way I want you to become completely and acutely context aware. Become fully aware of everything that is going on around you and take it in with those sharp senses of yours. You can either do this with your eyes open, or you can do this with your eyes closed. Once again, I'll give you just a few seconds. To send out those sharp senses, and pick up all the signals that are currently going on around you. And finally, the fifth signal of presence is something we that we call energetic induction. I invite you to become aware that each one of us has a unique field of energy, something that we call an aura that extends maybe six to nine inches from our bodies. I invite you to become aware of your unique energy field. And I invite you to slowly expand that energy field, so that if you're sitting in a group, you can include the person sitting on your left. And you can allow yourself to be included in that person's field. You can include the person on your right, and allow yourself to be included in that person's energy field. Or if you are sitting alone, you can simply expand that energy field so that it becomes a ball of warm and inclusive energy. Something that you can warmly embrace everybody who comes in contact with it. As you do that, you may feel that you're like a tuning fork. That, as you vibrate, everything else around you is vibrating to the same frequency. Energetic induction is the fifth signal of presence. I'll give you a few seconds to explore and experience that as long as you need to. Now with your eyes closed, [COUGH] let me walk you through the five signals of presence again. The foundation is a relaxed body. Check that your body is relaxed. The first signal is an even breath. Check. The second signal is a clear, calm mind. Check. The third signal is an open heart. Check. The fourth signal is sensitive sonar, check. And the fifth signal is energetic induction, check. As you drop into the state of presence, just notice how your internal state is different from the way it was when we started this little activity. I'm now gonna call out some affirmations. And I'm going to invite you to repeat those affirmations aloud after me. I will call them out first. And then I will give you some time so that you can call them out too. Here we go. [SOUND] The reality of this moment is that I have nothing to defend. The reality of this moment is that I have nothing to promote. The reality of this moment, Is that I have nothing to fear. The only reality of this moment is that I am here now. The only reality of this moment, Is that, I am here now. I invite you to experience the truth of those affirmations. Nothing to defend. Allow your gut to relax. Nothing to promote. Allow your heart to relax. Nothing to fear. Allow your mind to relax. I am here now. Drop into the state of presence. And once again, notice for yourself how your internal state is different. What are you feeling right now inside of you? What does presence feel like? And once you can make that state of presence clear to yourself, make it as vivid as possible. Make it as accessible as possible. And make a deep commitment to yourself. That you will try and hold this state of presence for as long as you can, whenever you need it. Remember, presence is always there within all of us. All we need to do is to get our egos out of the way. With that commitment in mind, with a sense of eager anticipation and enthusiasm for whatever lies ahead, holding that state of presence, I invite you to bring your attention back to the room. And whenever you're ready open your eyes and welcome back. I hope you enjoyed that little activity, and I hope that you will practice it and benefit from it just like I have. Thank you. » Thank you, Vijay. So much for doing that, I really enjoyed it and I hope you did to. As you probably noticed, Vijay touched on a lot of characteristics associated with being mindful. Including a sense of connection with others, being more aware of certain sensations, and, of course, being present. In addition, he also introduces some of what he calls affirmations which are statements that make you connect with the source of happiness that's within us. The sense of calmness, lack of defensiveness, lack of neediness to promote yourself and so on. If you've been practicing mindfulness for long, you will realize that you don't have to be explicitly reminded or instructed to pay attention to all of these things. They will happen quite naturally. But as I also mentioned some time back, this practice, this presence practice is tailored mainly for those who aren't conversant with mindfulness. It's for people who lead such busy lives that they haven't had time to nurture this practice. Alright! So I once again hope that you found this to be useful and let me bid goodbye to you for now. And in the very next video, I will be summarizing everything that we covered this week. [FOREIGN] [MUSIC] [SOUND]