Welcome to the start of my blog series with Rewiring Your Wellness!
You can catch my introductory blog post on why to meditate to feel great and how thinking well —> leads to feeling well.
This series will be focusing on my unique meditation sequence that I feature in all of my classes at some capacity —
The 5 R’s to Rewire:
· Recognize – notice the imbalance, trigger, or busy thoughts.
· Reset – use the breath to change and balance your state.
· Refocus – redirect to a mantra or the breath to anchor your thoughts and train the mind muscles to focus.
· Restore – enjoy a meditative state for deep rest in the mind and body.
· Rewire – use positive visualization to elevate and envision feeling great!
“Recognize” Your Superpower
The first step in my sequence, and when it comes to mindfulness and meditation overall, is to recognize or be in a state of curious observation.
This is important because if we don’t notice what we are doing or thinking throughout the day or during our meditation practice, we are essentially asleep to what is going on in the mind, essentially letting the brain run the show.
The trick with that is the brain isn’t always “right.” We can in fact question our thoughts and recognize when they are not conducive to our wellness, or our core beliefs, or to what we know to be true.
Have you ever thought somebody didn’t like you, and then that led to a change in your behavior by being upset or defensive, and then you developed associations or beliefs about yourself that weren’t just negative (“no one likes me”) but in retrospect, untrue? Only to find out later that person was just distracted by something when you were talking to them and they actually like you a lot...
The brain did ALL THAT.
When we notice that the brain is running in circles of misalignment, untruth, discomfort, worry, or negativity — congratulations because you just tapped into your superpower to Recognize!
Awareness is the key that opens the door to the rest of your mind. Deciding not to follow those old patterns makes space for you to make new choices that can make you feel great!
Remaining dormant to old negativity patterns or even letting the mind run wild in fear can lead to stress, burnout, and chronic health issues.
Here are some ways you can put your superpower to recognize to work:
Check in: set a timer every hour to check in on what you’re thinking with the intention to be compassionate and rewire for the better.
Journal: Write your thoughts down and notice any patterns.
MEDITATE: It teaches the mind to notice where it goes, working out its concentration muscles.
Aromatherapy: Use an essential oil that promotes focus during meditation and throughout the day, like Peppermint or Bergamot. Roll it on and focus on recognizing to rewire.
Repeat: It takes repetition so you need to check in or meditate often (like going to the gym for strengthening muscles.)
You can pause to do these just about anytime and anywhere. I’m a big fan or taking time in the middle of your work day to do a check in. Work stress has been linked to occupational burnout, which is now an official WHO medical diagnoses.
These things take practice, so be compassionate in the journey. You can start slow and steady by reminding yourself that it’s ok to pause and ask - “what am I focusing on?”
Once you recognize you’re stuck in a thought (that it’s just that - a thought) you can move on to next steps that help to rewire your brain from those patterns and into new ones.
Recognition is the first step to shifting your focus and choosing to honor the thoughts, beliefs, associations, and patterns that are centering, calming, positive, and in alignment with your truth.
You can choose to focus on what feels great and train the brain to work for you (not the other way around.) The more we shift over to the good stuff the more the brain makes happy neurochemicals like dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin and endorphins — all of which are advantageous to healing, stress relief, and overall wellness in the body.
When it comes to meditation, many express their concern to me about having too many thoughts while practicing. It’s a big reason why people give up. I’m here to let you know that it’s perfectly ok to have a lot of thoughts while meditating — what’s not ok is not recognizing when that’s happening and letting those thoughts pull you away from the entire experience. That’s why I specifically teach all of my classes and clients my unique meditation sequence that begins with recognition.
You might be thinking — what do I do once I recognize that my mind is chatty, looping, or stuck in an old rut?
Next steps are very important action items that help reset the body and nervous system, train the mind muscles, relax the body, and rewire the mind for your greater good. I have all those steps for you in my 5 R’s sequence.
I am excited to go into more detail in my next blog on the next magical R...
Congratulations once again on discovering or honing in on this superpower!
I have an overflowing well of mindful tips and tools to help you meditate to elevate and feel great! I especially look forward to connecting with you right here for the next few months!
For more information on my medITs toon classes and mindfulness tools to rewire - follow me at @meditatewells on Instagram.
I’m currently teaching free, live, virtual at The Mindfulness Center every Wednesday and Friday at 6:30pm ET.
For details on how to attend classes go to the TMC online class site.
To register you need to create a MindBody account, click on my class and choose the community class pass at checkout. Easy-peasy.
You can also email me with questions or for private virtual sessions at meditatewithkelcey@gmail.com
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