5 Ways to Start Your Mindfulness Practice and Gain More Peace, joy, and Fulfillment
Episode 23
Mindfulness is a powerful practice that can bring immense positive change to our lives. Mindfulness allows us to fully engage with our experiences and find inner peace by cultivating a present-moment awareness and a non-judgmental attitude. Here is an outline of how to practice mindfulness, inspiring you to embark on this transformative journey:
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Set aside time: Find a quiet and comfortable space to dedicate a few minutes to mindfulness practice. It could be a peaceful corner of your home or a serene natural spot.
Focus on the breath: Take a few deep breaths, inhaling slowly and exhaling fully. Shift your attention to the sensations of your breath, feeling the inhalation's coolness and the exhalation's warmth. Let the breath anchor you in the present moment.
Non-judgmental awareness: As you breathe, gently observe your thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations without judgment. Allow them to arise and pass, acknowledging them with curiosity and kindness. Remember that there is no right or wrong way to experience mindfulness.
Engage the senses: Bring your awareness to the present moment by engaging your senses. Notice the sounds around you, the feeling of your body against the chair or the ground, the scents in the air, and the taste in your mouth. Fully immerse yourself in the richness of the present moment.
Cultivate gratitude: Shift your focus to gratitude by reflecting on the things you appreciate in your life. Express gratitude for the simple joys, the supportive relationships, and the opportunities that have come your way. Let gratitude fill your heart and uplift your spirit.
Kindness and compassion: Extend loving-kindness and compassion to yourself and others. Offer yourself words of encouragement, forgiveness, and acceptance. Extend well-wishes and compassion to those around you, envisioning a world of kindness and understanding.
Everyday mindfulness: As you integrate mindfulness into your daily life, bring this awareness to your routine activities. Whether eating, walking, working, or conversing, be fully present in the task. Notice the details, savor the flavors and truly listen to others.
Remember, mindfulness is a lifelong journey, and each moment is an opportunity for growth and self-discovery. Embrace it with an open heart, knowing it can transform your life remarkably. May your mindfulness practice guide you toward greater peace, joy, and fulfillment.
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RUNSHEET
Joseph Murphy calls out, and encourages us to reflect on the power of our subconscious mind
Whatever You Give Attention To The Subconscious Magnifies_PN (3m47)
David Goggins says that when you know you can run on broken legs, you’ve got your unfair advantage against others; that’s the power of your mind
Don’t give up_PN (2m58)
Ryan Holiday demonstrates to us why we have a need for mindfulness now more than ever, and introduces us to the need for stillness
You must slow your mind down to find the key_PN (3m04)
Wim Hof tells us how we is able to use suppress feeling stress, anxiety, fear - just with the mind
Take Control_PN (1m 31)
Dr Pearce from Headspace gives us the facts on the importance of our breathing and how it affects everything we do and think
The Science of Breathing (4m)
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TRANSCRIPT
Mike Parsons: [00:00:00] Hello, and welcome to the Moonshot's Master Series. It's episode 23. I'm your co-host, Mike Parsons, and as always, I'm joined by Mark Pearson Freeland. Good morning, mark.
Mark Pearson Freeland: Good morning, Mike. Good morning, Moonshot's, family members, listeners, and everyone around the world who's dialing in. Thank you for joining us on the Moonshots Master Series, and boy, Mike, do we have, I know I say this every time, but this is a genuine action packed.
Master Series episode today,
Mike Parsons: one might say, mark, we are gonna go
Mark Pearson Freeland: deep. We're gonna go deep. We're gonna go into the realms of our minds, the realms of our breathing, and the science behind all of this good stuff that orientates itself around. Mindfulness. Mindfulness. Obviously, Mike, a huge topic that a lot of us probably started looking into more over the past few years.
It's undeniable that it's been around for a lot longer than that, but I think what we are going to be able to start illustrating and most likely breathing in today is a real [00:01:00] case for all of us. Taking a little bit more time and a little bit more practice or consideration with regards to this idea of mindfulness, but also what the hell does it mean, understanding all of
Mike Parsons: that.
I know it is such a big topic, isn't it? I think we could have done five master series mark if on mindfulness, if we wanted to cover all bases, don't you? Yeah. It's such a huge and space and it's a bit amorphous, like it does. You're absolutely right. It's like what exactly do we mean by mindfulness?
And hopefully you and I can answer that question together and share that with all of our members and our listeners, and. For me, mark I wanna share with you that mindfulness is really no different than working out at the gym or going for a run. It's something you've gotta work on continuously, and you need so many different tools to get it done right, but at the heart of it, it's the opportunity to go beyond all of the crazy thoughts that we have every day.
I think that's what we're gonna do together in this show. [00:02:00] You are not your thoughts. There is some deeper being behind that. There is a moment of great peacefulness, of great calm, of stillness that is behind all those thoughts. And if you can find that stillness, if you can rest your mind, your body, your heart, and just be, that's where we can get in tune.
Really with our essence, the best version of ourselves, and if that feels a little too hokey pokey. At least you are relaxing and letting go and feeling more rested. So depends how you want to take mindfulness. We're gonna go in many different directions on this master series, but mark, for me, this is an essential practice if you are trying to do something challenging.
If you are trying to be the best version of yourself, it's all about energy and go forth, but it is equal. Equally about the calmness, the reflection, the recharging. And I think we're gonna serve that today, aren't we? Mark, [00:03:00] we've got some absolute big hitters of mindfulness, of tapping into your subconsciousness.
We're gonna do. Some inspiration, some deep science, some simple practices that you can take home for me, mark. I really hope that together we can unpack this for all of our members and that they walk away with this feeling a little bit more peaceful.
Mark Pearson Freeland: I like that. Build a lot, Mike, as it's not necessarily all about meditation necessarily.
For those listeners and members who maybe have experienced meditation try to get into it. It's not only about that's not the case we're making here. I think you are right. There's a much broader benefit that a lot of us can have. Whether it just comes down to that rest and recovery. Sometimes when I've got an individual, including myself, who gets a bit stressed, you almost just wanna help them understand, get back into the moment.
I think that's what we're gonna try and make the case for here, Mike. And along the way, like you say, we're gonna experience some pretty interesting folks. So the question, Mike, is, [00:04:00] are we ready to get started?
Mike Parsons: Oh yeah. And I, I would just say, To all of our members. Strap in Get ready, because Mark is about to drop one serious heavyweight clip.
I
Mark Pearson Freeland: have to kick us off to get us inspired and to help us understand the benefits as well as the power of understanding. And utilizing our mind correctly is Mr. Joseph Murphy, the author of The Power of Your Subconscious Mind, who's gonna kick us off by helping us understand that whatever you give attention to the subconscious mind magnifies.
Give
Joseph Murphy: to the world the best you have and the best will come back to you. Give love and love to your heart will flow as strengthened your Ru need. Have faith in a score of hearts will show their faith in your word. Indeed, for life is the mirror of king and the beggar is just what you are and do. Then give to the world the best you have and the best will come back to you to justice.
To fit, adapt, accommodate regularly to put in [00:05:00] working order. In order to adjust to life, it is necessary that you become a channel to which the life principle flows freely, harmoniously, joyously, and lovingly. The solution to all your problems is to get acquainted with and use the divine presence and power in your life.
Quaint now thyself with him and be at peace and good shall come unto the, I suggest that E, each person established a definite method of working. That he practice it regularly and systematically every day. For example, determine for yourself what is the most troublesome problem you have decide to solve this problem.
Now by realizing that infinite intelligence within you knows the way out it's nature, is to respond to you. It knows only the answer and the nature of infinite intelligence is responsiveness. That is your answer is ascertain as the rising of [00:06:00] the moon tonight. One young man in our audience had experienced a poverty complex for many years and had received no answers to his prayers.
He had prayed for prosperity, but the fear of poverty continuously weighed on his mind. Naturally, he attracted more lack and limitation. Your subconscious mind accepts the dominant of two ideas. This is a law. After talking with him, he learned to pray as follows. I know there is only one source, the light principle from which all things flow.
It created the universe and all things are in contain. I'm a focal point of the divine presence. My mind is open and receptive. I am a free flowing channel for harmony, beauty, guidance, wealth, and the riches of the infinite. I know that wealth help, prosperity, [00:07:00] and success are released from within and appear on the without.
I am now in harmony with the infinite supply and just as I would adjust an instrument in my laboratory, I am now mentally adjusting my focused attention on the eternal source of all blessings. I wish for everyone, all the blessings of life. I am open and receptive to God's Richs spiritual, mental, and material, and they flow to me in avalanches of abundance.
This young man changed his attitude of mind and focused on divine riches rather than poverty, and made it a special point not to deny what he affirmed. In a month's time, his whole life was transformed. He affirmed the boat crews morning and evening for about 10 minutes. Knowing that he was actually writing down these truths in his subconscious mind, [00:08:00] causing the ladder to be activated and to release the hidden treasures.
Whatever you impress on your subconscious mind is expressed on the screen of space, and your conscious mind is the pen, p e n, the thinker, and what you think and feel comes to
Mike Parsons: pass. Man. Oh man. Marky Mark. We are hearing from one of the biggest heavyweights of mindfulness, tapping the subconscious or just opening up, the best version of yourself.
Ah, where do we start with this
Mark Pearson Freeland: one? It's a it's a heavyweight clip to kick us off, Mike, and
Mike Parsons: obviously, but that's good, right? Because e exactly. That gets us all in the right head space. Perhaps we should do this little game, Mike. Okay. What we heard there is really The story and one of the highest regarded scientists the real [00:09:00] masters of the subconscious mind and mindfulness telling us and setting a vision for us, and then inspiring us to really manifest, right?
And I think that comes down to this simple turn. You can choose to think, feel, and believe that you will be the best version of yourself. Or not. It's like that is the most fundamental thing. You can choose to be a victim and say Everything is conspiring against me. The weather's bad.
I forgot my umbrella. Oh my gosh, poor me, right? Yep. Or, some of the much more heavier duty things we tend to do. The other option is you can say, here's what I am, here's what I will do. And you can manifest, visualize, and practice what it looks, feels like to be the best version of yourself. For example, we talk a lot about running on the show. [00:10:00] If you wanna run a marathon, you could start every day by priming your subconscious with affirmations. I am a runner. Yep. I will run hard today. Those are things that you can do before. The act, and after you've done it, you can praise yourself for doing such a thing.
And this becomes a very practical way to step from Hey, I'd really like to be successful. I'd really like to be the best version of myself or the best runner I can be. And this is how we shift into actually getting it done, is using things like affirmations, visualizations, writing it down. For example, something we've talked about a lot is don't dream just of you crossing the finish line, but the highest form of tapping your subconscious is this is when you say I'm running the marathon and I will [00:11:00] encounter.
Real hardship and I am gonna push through it. I'm going to accept that it's hard and push through. I believe this is where the champions are really made. This is where people who become the very best, who manifest it is when they're not only dreaming of the destination, but they're manifesting and visualizing and affirming to themselves that when life happens, right?
When things don't go aw, they are prepared to keep going. Because I think many of us who don't tap our subconscious minds at the first sign of hardship we run for the hills.
Mark Pearson Freeland: I think you're totally right. The, and this is really the core message that we discovered within our Joseph Murphy show, wasn't it?
It's which was show number 210 for listeners and members who wanna dig in a little bit deeper into Joseph Murphy. But Mike you're totally right. That synopsis there is I think one of the key. Pieces that impresses itself upon me re-listening and being reintroduced back into that world of [00:12:00] Joseph Murphy.
The resilience, I suppose you could call it in one way, but more importantly, is the discipline you have within yourself to not be too bogged down or distracted by those moments that become very. Challenging. When you can feel that discomfort. Maybe it's not as substantial as physical discomfort.
Maybe it's just something like you say, training for a marathon. You don't necessarily wanna have to get up and run in the cold, in the rain, small. They can be as small as that or as substantial as a life moment. But you are right. Whatever. As Joseph Murphy was calling out there, whatever you choose to impress upon yourself, you then express back onto the world.
And I think that as a. Takeaway for me is so substantial. Yes. Because it reminds me that if I'm, and we've used this analogy before, this metaphor before, if we're like a coffee percolator and we're living in kind of negative thoughts, we are, we're, we are. Those negative thoughts are only getting stronger like a cup of coffee.
Yeah. And it's hard. To then not expel some of that maybe [00:13:00] negativity once we're out and about, suddenly the guy who's crossed the road in front of me, is the worst person in the world when really, like you were saying, if you've got that discipline to A, stick at it, B, enjoy the journey, and c have that patience and resilience to carry on through practices like we're gonna experience today, then you can express a much more positive, peaceful, and pleasant.
Version of yourself to everybody else around
Mike Parsons: you, can't you? Yeah, you certainly can. And the choice to go about life that way is probably one of the biggest victories you can have when it comes to being mindful, is that you're not gonna be a victim to the thoughts. The monkey mind, but you are gonna take control of things and realize that you are so much greater than your self-doubt.
You are so much greater than your fears and know that it's natural to have those, because what we've learned, mark, is the greatest. The greatest [00:14:00] people on this planet, whether it's Oprah Winfrey or David Goggins, they all experience the same doubts. The difference is they don't give into those thoughts, they rise above them.
And that is a form of mindfulness, knowing that you are a greater thing than the self-doubt that you experience. So with that being said, mark, I think we need to go to the master himself. Let's go to David Goggins and hear what he's gotta say about mental toughness and finding the mindfulness. Behind it all.
People hear my story
David Goggins: and think this guy is sadistic. I realize how the brain works. I figured out how the brain works. I'm a scared kid and that's what gives me so much power. I had no foundation and I built this off of just researching the mind. The feeling you get is basically invincibility.
You realize that. You can't do it all the time when you need to do [00:15:00] it. I know I can go to a place that I can live in and when you know that you can run on broken legs and you can do certain things that a lot of people can do, but they're not willing to do this power, this sympathetic nervous system of fight or flight, and you're fighting.
It gives you this charge of energy of when you're sitting there at 3 30, 4 o'clock in the morning and you're duct taping your feet up because they're broken and you're doing it by yourself and you're going through arguably one of the hardest training in the world. And these guys, most of 'em are healthy and you're going through it broken and you already at a disadvantage, but you're still there.
You can feed into that and tap into that for a lot of power. But if you look at it I'm broken, man, like I'm not gonna make it. But if you look at it as, man, I'm broken and I'm still here and I'm fighting and I'm [00:16:00] gonna find a way to get through this cuz I have no other place to go. It gives you a lot of power.
When things start to suck really bad. My brain in a lot of people's brain, don't they? They don't go to your dad beating you up. Your brain says, we ain't get to outta here. This is miserable. So anger goes away a lot of times when you're suffering because your brain just says, we gotta run. We gotta go.
So that anger is not popping up saying, oh, I'm gonna show them. I'm gonna show those people. No, there has to be a much deeper, if I say deeper, it has to be down to mineral soil. It has to be down to that nice mineral soil where nothing can burn. You can't burn dirt, so it has to be down that low.
That literally is sub menu that's at the core of your soul, and but you don't find it unless you [00:17:00] spend a lot of time with what you wanna be in life. You I can't give that to you. You can't give that to somebody when you find your true passion in life. And my passion for me when oh, I wanted to be in, I didn't give Navy Seals, army.
I don't give a shit. I wanna serve my country. I cared about. I want to be someone that I'm proud of.
Mark Pearson Freeland: Mike, that's David Goggins hitting us with some invincibility.
Mike Parsons: Once again, mark, after Joseph and David, I'm like picking myself up the floor. I hope our members are still walking after hearing there's left, right?
Boom. One, two, hit. It is two. Oh my gosh. We should stop this show right now. Yeah we'll have to
Mark Pearson Freeland: call it there, Mike, because you're totally right. I think if you and I are both floored in fact, the only thing we can do is follow David Goggin's advice and kick pick ourselves back up again because what he's calling out there and reminding us of is just how powerful that mind can be.
And as we [00:18:00] know from the shows we've done on David Goins he's gone in to do some unbelievable feats, including outrageous attempts with marathon running, ultra running. The world record of pull-ups, not to mention getting accepted into all three of the forces within the us Yes. So we don't necessarily need to dwell on the successes.
I think he's making the case for us right here that if he can tap into that mineral level and therefore activate his own mind and use it as that invincibility angle that he calls out in that clip, I think. There's undeniable remit for all of us to start looking into it as well. Yes, and I love that idea of the fact that it just takes time.
I think that's the main admission here that is worth us, us reflecting on it. All these things do take time and sometimes, much like with mindfulness, resilience and stuff it's and going back to your marathon reference earlier, it is that conditioning, isn't it? It's that practice, that habital behavior that you've gotta get into.
So what
Mike Parsons: we see [00:19:00] here is two ideas from Joseph and David that really nudge us towards knowing that there is a lot of potential in us as humans, and fear and self-doubt. The conscious mind. Is really the barrier you need to get through to go deeper. In fact, basically the summary of what both David and Joseph said was go deeper and mindfulness in those practices are key to that.
If you are always busy reading news, notifications and scrolling, Instagram, you are. So far from tapping into your subconscious, you are so far from getting into that mineral level that David Goins is really encouraging us to go to, and I think actually facing I, it's such a courageous act to go to your [00:20:00] subconscious to.
Put everything away. Like I even had this experience Mark, where I got into a flotation tank. Okay. And I spent an hour in there, lights out, just floating with mineral salts and that was uncomfortable. I.
Mark Pearson Freeland: Really? Does it expose you to that mineral level as David Goggins?
Mike Parsons: Yeah. Yeah. But the second time I did it, I was like, okay, I'm really gonna get into this.
And then it taught me how much further I've got to go to spend an hour by myself floating in pure darkness. But that's, Where you find the energy, that's where you tap the source and your mindfulness, your wellness, your purposefulness, I believe all comes from this. Putting away all the distractions and really looking at what you were born to do and having the courage to go every day to go out there and.
Get it [00:21:00] done. And I think it's such a positive habit. One might say another positive habit is being a member of the Moonshots podcast and getting access to this master series, which is all of our listeners right now. And I feel, mark, we have got to call out. We've gotta tip the hat, blow the trumpet for all those wonderful members.
Isn't
Mark Pearson Freeland: it amazing that joining Joseph Murphy and David Goggins. In the first half of this show, Mike are our esteemed members. We are holding, you and I are holding some pretty good company on the Moonshots podcast right now. So please without further ado, allow me to reintroduce Bob, John, Terry, Ken Ditmar, Marj, and Connor, Rodrigo, Lisa, Sid, Mr.
Bonjour, and Paul Burke, cowman, David, Joe Crystal, Ivo, Christian, and Sam, all of whom have been with us. For over a year, but soon to be joining that esteemed club is Barbara and Andre, Eric, Chris, Deborah Lase, Steve Craig, Daniel, Andrew, Ravi eVet, Karen Raul, PJ [00:22:00] Niko, Ola, Ingram, Dirk and Emily. Harry, Karthik, Vanatta, Marco, Roger, Steph Gaia, Anna Raw Nilan.
Eric, Diana Wade, Amanda Christoff, Denise Thereza. and our brand new members, Mike, Laura Smitty, Corey, Andre, and Gala. Thank you so much for both our brand new five members as well as all the individuals who've been with us for so long. Keeping that esteemed company at the tiptop
Mike Parsons: shape. Yeah, absolutely.
Tiptop indeed. So thank you to you. And I think it would only be appropriate right now for all of our members to present to them. A new level. We've talked about going deep Mark, and there's somebody who takes the wisdom of the ancients and puts them in a modern context. His name is Ryan Holliday, and we're gonna hear from him how if you want to go fast, you need to go slow.
The
Ryan Holiday: call to stillness comes quietly. The modern world does [00:23:00] not, in addition to the clatter and chatter and intrigue and infighting that would've been familiar to the citizens of the ancient world, we have car horns, stereos, cell phone alarms, social media notifications, jackhammers and airplanes. Our personal and professional problems are equally overwhelming.
Competitors muscle into our industry. Our desks pile high with papers and our inboxes overflow with messages. We are always reachable, which means that arguments and conflict are never far away. The news bombards us with one crisis after another on every screen we own, of which there are many. The grind of work wears us down and never seems to stop.
We are overfed and undernourished, overstimulated, overscheduled, and lonely. Who has the power to stop? Who has the time to think? Is there anyone not affected by the den in dysfunction of our time? While the magnitude and urgency of our struggle is [00:24:00] urgent, it is rooted in a timeless problem. Indeed, history shows us that the ability to cultivate quiet and quell the turmoil inside us to slow the mind down, to understand our emotions, to conquer our bodies has always been extremely difficult.
All of humanity's problems Blaze Pascal said in 1654, stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone. In evolution, distinct species have often evolved similar adaptations in order to survive. The same goes for the philosophical schools separated by vast oceans and distances, they developed unique paths to the same critical destination.
The stillness required to become master of one's own life, to survive and thrive in any and every environment, no matter how loud. We're busy, which is why this idea of stillness is not some soft, new age nonsense or their domain of monks and sages, but in fact desperately necessary to all of us. [00:25:00] Whether we're running a hedge fund or playing in the Super Bowl, pioneering research in a new field or raising a family, it is an attainable path to enlightenment and excellence and greatness and happiness, performance, as well as presence for every kind of person, stillness is what aims the arrow.
It inspires new ideas. It sharpens perspective and illuminates connections. It slows the ball down so that we might hit it. It generates a vision, helps us resist the passions of the mob. Makes space for gratitude and wonder. Stillness allows us to persevere, to succeed. It is the key that unlocks the insights of genius.
And allows us regular folks to understand them. The promise of this book is the location of that key of stillness and a call not only for possessing stillness, but radiating it outwards, like a star like the sun. For a world that needs light more than ever.
Mark Pearson Freeland: [00:26:00] Mike, that is what, as once again, getting some hard truths from Mr. Ron Holiday. I think particularly for me, this connection between what we heard from Joseph Murphy at the beginning specifically around being able to unlock and express. A better version of yourself, let's call it. If you create that environment within your own mindset and quieten that monkey mind, quieten those distractions and so on. And create that environment where you can impress those, that positivity on you. That's very much what I'm hearing from Ron Holiday here. But the key thing for me, that's, a differentiator. Coming from Ryan is the fact that stillness is the way to not only make yourself happier, maybe is a loaded word.
Make yourself more peaceful, would be one way, but also just from an efficiency perspective, you're giving yourself a better chance if you're able to slow things down rather than find distraction around you [00:27:00] all of the time, and therefore only be able to go a little bit of a surface level. Depth on a lot of different things.
Instead, when you've got a moment of peace stillness, if you are able to get into this idea of mindfulness, you can achieve much, much more because you've got more mental capability and capacity Yeah. To then cope with that
Mike Parsons: situation. Yeah. I think, I think about how do we find this stillness like, and before we riff on that I just wanna stress.
With you like the, over the past several years, the benefit that I have personally found from stillness, for example, creating times where you go into total do not disturb, creating times where your phone is nowhere near you, like the. The pride I take in not having the phone next to me [00:28:00] in bed is it's so important to give myself that space.
Another time is like taking the opportunity to slow down and even on a workday, to have an afternoon nap. If you've got lots of calls in the evening, take a nap in the afternoon. Take a 30 minute, 20 minute nap, recharge, and the wellbeing. Don't allow yourself to go in for an hour or two cuz then you start going into some deeper sleep.
But these sorts of things even a great moment I have. With stillness is I go for a run and then I swim at the beach, and then I just sit on the bench for five or 10 minutes and my body is so positively charged from a run and then swim, and I just, no music, no phone. I just sit and allow that. And it like the sense of [00:29:00] when you have those moments, mark, you feel totally reset.
Like it's like a defragmenting of the hard drive.
Mark Pearson Freeland: And I like where you're going with this, Mike, because this is demonstrating the breadth that one has from an experience perspective with this idea of mindfulness. Yeah, I think you're totally right. That situation is very similar to how I myself will experience some mindfulness.
Yeah, I'll get down into some cold water. I'll have a little swim and just that act. Of being able to, it's like another version is just having a cold shower at home, yes. Anything that allows you to come back into yourself, feel each centimeter, every inch of your body come to life with electricity.
Yes. Is in its own way a form of mindfulness, isn't it? Because it's bringing you into
Mike Parsons: the present. Yes. So that's another thing that has. Really struck me in the pursuit of mindfulness and the practice of it is how important the senses are in that. So there's a really interesting thing that [00:30:00] I discovered is that you and I got this from Eckhart Toll.
There is this practice of acknowledging the different how do I say this? The different senses and really asking yourself, what do I see? What do I feel? What do I hear? And so on, on so forth. If you explore sincerely what is happening for you and you focus on the sensation. So Eckhart told, talks about.
You just, when you're touching the table, just truly appreciate the surface texture. And here's the big trick that in order to be still is you slow down and you just focus on those senses, what you're hearing, the birds. The little ambience in the background. Another thing I do is when [00:31:00] I'm walking and I feel the breeze on my arm, I really focus on that sensation.
Yep. This is a way to, and what we're talking about what's always going is the mind. So we need to slow it down. And if you are really at the height of mindfulness, maybe through breath work and meditation, you can actually pick up, like I visualize picking up the mind and putting it in a parking lot.
And just being right? Yeah, just being. And this stillness, if you read the Great, it's a great book by Ron Ho, holiday Stillness is the key. He talks about all these different examples of through mindfulness and through stillness that people achieved truly great things. And I think get into that book.
We'll have a link in the show notes. But when in doubt, if you are totally occupying your mind seven days a week, too many [00:32:00] hours of the day with news, information, content, And being busy with things outside of you, then naturally you are neglecting inside. Yep. And I think the stillness brings you back into your body, brings you into the moment.
So Ryan Holiday and Eck Toll will be really grateful for that practice. How do you get back into your. Self. How do you slow down
Mark?
Mark Pearson Freeland: Yeah. It's basically what we're all looking for when we go on holiday, isn't it? Not only you changing the scene, but you're just looking for that moment.
Maybe you wanna lie on the beach, on a cabana with a book. Maybe you just wanna take it easy. Whatever it is, you are all, we're all prioritizing this idea of having a bit of space and a bit of stillness, isn't it? I think first of all, the call out here is if you start to practice it daily, suddenly your ability to enjoy things day to day is far higher.
For me, Mike, [00:33:00] one of the key grounding, and I suppose the word is grounding here, calling back to Goggins and getting down to that mineral level. For me is beginning with a bit of journaling. That helps me a lot If I, particularly on moments in my life when I've got a lot of maybe a key decision to have to make maybe more than one key decision when I'm trying to determine what is the knock on effect from maybe going down a certain path.
Journaling will help me quieten that crazy volume of discussion points and ideas in my head. I think exactly as you say, when you've got all sorts of different distractions. First of all, you've gotta turn them off do not disturb mode. Focus mode for me is essential, and I use it every day, whether I'm going to bed or whether I'm recording a podcast or whether I'm just trying to do some work.
Yep. First of all, turn it off. Second of all is writing stuff down, reflecting on any moments of discomfort or decisions that I have to make [00:34:00] because that'll help me. Not so much put on the blinker put on the blockers and therefore not be able to understand or appreciate everything that's outside of my own body.
But it'll help me. Just similar to when you get into the water or cold shower, notice everything about you. How am I responding to, yeah,
Mike Parsons: you are almost like. Letting all the hot air get out of the system.
Mark Pearson Freeland: It is, yeah. It's like getting the hot air. It's like a release
Mike Parsons: valve. Yes. And I think you're absolutely right.
If you are not getting the hot air out of your mind, then you're gonna carry it with you all the time. And then I think there comes this level of awareness in your practice of being more present in the things that you are doing. And you can do that when you've got the hot air out, right?
Otherwise, it's always. Bubbling up, trying to get out. And then lastly I go to these flotation tanks and lay in there for an hour that's getting there on the extreme side of things, but. The sense of clarity and wellbeing and reset that [00:35:00] I find from that tells me how important this stillness is.
So I encourage you, mark, and all of our listeners to find that stillness. Let the hot air out, and then truly just be, it's okay to put the phone away. It's okay. You don't have to watch YouTube, you don't have to answer text messages. They'll be there when you get back. They're not going anywhere. Yeah. And then you can truly appreciate.
That if you want to experience mental wellbeing, mental wellness, calm. Stillness and you just wanna feel ah, if you wanna feel that, you have to really work on the stillness. Yeah. Now the other thing you can do is you can go to some of those practices I mentioned, and you might be thinking flotation tanks, you might be thinking meditation, but it would.
Only be fair for us to visit the Iceman himself, Mr. Vim Hoff. So let's have a listen to how the man who can [00:36:00] totally engineer through the body incredible mental clarity and wellbeing. The man himself, Mr. Vim Hoff, and let's take his thoughts on taking control. The scientist,
Wim Hof: after giving me a endotoxin virus, bacteria, they saw I have no symptoms.
I can control my fever, I can control it all through breathing and believing or the mind, using the mind plus breathing. Suddenly I was able to suppress where other couldn't. In all those controlled studies, all these other test subjects didn't show dose results of bringing down these inflammatory marker.
And showing to be able to go into the endocrine system controlled and raise such a controlled adrenaline shootout through the body, making the body being able to function to the utmost completely under the will, then bacteria has no chance. [00:37:00] Cold has no chance, heat has no chance. Stress in general has no chance.
People who are under stress like anxiety, depression. Fear Trauma, ptsd, T s D, name it, any mental moot disorder or mental disorder is able Now, if we bring
Mike Parsons: this on through
Wim Hof: competitive study to is then able to counteract and not be a victim of the stress or be out of control, brain, bring back the sense of control, make you feel good.
Thus this big demonn. It is. It's just for
Mark Pearson Freeland: removing. It's just removing. And I think the core message is somewhat consistent, like with where we are, obviously leaning to here as well. If you dedicate enough time in your day to work on yourself, and by work I mean in this case, just find a bit of stillness, find a bit of peace, find a moment when you can maybe sit [00:38:00] quietly without all the distractions and just notice yourself.
You can start to. Improve and build up your ability to combat certain things. Obviously, the easiest thing to imagine is the resilience or the behavior that you might get from experiencing something challenging and being able to work through it is perhaps a little bit more easy to understand than where Vim Hoff is going, where he's able to battle disease with the power of belief and breathing.
But I think it just shows the extent, doesn't it?
Mike Parsons: Exactly. If. We don't have to inject ourselves at Stanford with a disease and let the scientists watch me overcome it. We don't have to go that crazy. But what the point illustrates is mind over matter. And this is all about tapping our subconscious and making a choice.
Do we want to. Believe in our natural state that we can be and that we want to be the best we can be. Or do we want to [00:39:00] sit back and be a victim? That is like the fundamental choice of life. Because Sure. It's not easy to learn. Hey, who said having a growth mindset was gonna be easy? But I think we can tell hard work does pay off.
If you stay the course and do the work, the results will come, and it's often in between there that we all drop out. It's when it's cold in the morning, it's when the snooze button is like, Press me, press snooze, so I think here, like the big point to make around Vim Hth is through breath work and cold exposure, we can actually trigger deeper levels of meditation.
We can even affect our immune system. And I would just encourage anyone to take cold showers for 30 days every morning and just notice the difference that you feel like. I feel in the rare [00:40:00] chance that I don't get to having a cold shower in the morning, like the difference. That I experience when I have not had a cold shower.
It's significant. Do you find the same mark?
Mark Pearson Freeland: Yeah. My, I think to put a name to it, I feel less. I feel less on. Less aware. I think that is now my level of really engaging each inch of my body. So that when I go into, let's say, recording a moonshot's Master series I am primed, my body is ready to give it a go. Whereas when I choose not to do it, it's like I've given myself an excuse. Oh I'm not gonna have a cold chat. Today's a day off. So therefore, the body's naturally not as primed like an engine like it normally would be, that's a key difference for me for sure as well.
Mike Parsons: So I, I think what we are seeing here, that you can have deliberate. Moments where you say, I'm going to be present, [00:41:00] I'm going to be still, but there's another raft of habits and options that you have through cold exposure, breath work, meditation to bring yourself into the moment, to be present, to be more mindful, to calm the engines down, just to slow down and gather yourself.
And don't let the world distract you, but be focused on what you need to do for you and the people that you love, rather than being distracted by the world and being consumed by tit for that. Or don't indulge in feeling like, ha, poor me, or don't indulge in blame or judgment of others. Bring yourself back into yourself.
Yeah. Be at the very core of who you are. Have your feet on the ground really be in that moment. And I think that. As we come to this kind of moment, if there is one thing that we can all do regardless of our physical [00:42:00] abilities, if there's one thing Mark that has the capacity to change the moment, if you are if we, something I've said a lot on the show Mark is we're at war with fear and self-doubt, right?
Oh yeah, if that is happening, if that is the game of life, the competition of life, then the ultimate practice. Is breath. Because no matter what the religion, no matter what the mindful practice it is amazing how important breath becomes. Think about athletes. Think about running long. You have to manage your breath.
It is the engine, right? It's the fuel that drives the engine of the human body. So Mark, I feel like the way we need to bring it home is to go a little deeper
Mark Pearson Freeland: on breathwork, don't you? I think you're right. Calling back again to Ron Holiday where he referenced this idea of stillness being a consistent [00:43:00] thread across the globe.
Industries and cultures that had never necessarily come together. They were sharing specific behaviors amongst themselves, separately, and I think breath is gonna be one of them. So it's very interesting here that we get a chance to actually end this episode on the idea of mindfulness with a real scientific breakdown into the science of breath from Dr.
Pierce from Headspace. He's gonna help us understand how our breath work works and the science of breathing.
Dr Pearce: Breathing is something we all do every day and perhaps take for granted, but consciously paying attention to our breath and practicing deeper controlled breathing, something that is taught in meditation can help us in a variety of ways from helping regulate blood pressure to boosting our mood.
Hi, and welcome to Headspace. I'm Dr. Yu Ande Pierce. I'm a neuroscience researcher who studies the many different functions of the brain. Today we'll be talking about the science of breathing and how it impacts your [00:44:00] brain and body. So what exactly is breathing? It starts with the air around us, which contains nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and oxygen.
Oxygen being the most important one because we need it to survive, to breathe. Air gets sucked through your nose or mouth and then travels through the trachea and into your lungs, which expands. The air then reaches air sacs where oxygen is passed into the bloodstream. So while breathing is the physical process of taking in and expelling air, respiration is the chemical process in which we use oxygen to generate actual energy.
Meanwhile, carbon dioxide is released and goes from the bloodstream and into the air side. Which is then expelled from the body. When you exhale, the average person repeats this entire process between 17,000 to 24,000 times a day. We usually don't even think about breathing because it happens automatically thanks to our body's autonomic nervous system.
When you're faced with a difficult challenge, whether psychological [00:45:00] or physical, your sympathetic nervous system, one brunch of the autonomic nervous system gets triggered. The sympathetic nervous system prepares your body for action, that fight or flight response, which makes your heartbeat faster and opens up your airways so you can breathe more easily and take in more oxygen.
However, How we breathe can actually trigger this fight or flight response. For example, when you're feeling nervous or anxious, you tend to tense up and your breathing can start to become more rapid and shallow, known as hyperventilation. You may even hold your breath if we're breathing under stress over long periods of time.
Cells in the brain and the body don't get the oxygen they need and can't work as efficiently. The brain is an organ with one of the highest oxygen and glucose requirements. Therefore, this sort of hypoxic state can cause problems with brain cognition, making it harder to focus, think of freezing up before a presentation.
This is why in stressful situations people are often told to slow down and take a deep breath. [00:46:00] So even though breathing happens automatically without us even having to think about it, we can override that to control our breathing voluntarily. This means that we can control the quality of our breathing.
Changing the air pressure inside the lungs is one of the main ways we can alter breathing and increase oxygen levels. For example, slowing down the breath and taking deep breaths into your diaphragm increases the pressure of oxygen in the air sacs, making it easier for oxygen molecules to move into the blood by the capillaries.
Increasing oxygen levels activates the rest and digest branch of the autonomic nervous system called the parasympathetic nervous system. Activating the parasympathetic nervous system creates a sense of mental calmness and counteract the effects of stress and the stress hormone cortisol. There have been numerous studies on how breathing patterns reflect emotions because emotions and the way that the body responds are very intellect.
So typically, if you're feeling angry or stressed, [00:47:00] your breathing will be more shallow and rapid. On the other hand, if you're feeling content and happy, your breathing will be deeper and slower. However, research has shown that controlled breathing can in turn also impact our emotional state. While emotions are complex and often overlapping, new research has shown some promising evidence for how changing your breathing could actually actively influence brain activity associated with perception, cognition, behavior, and
Mike Parsons: emotion.
Oh, mark breath work. It is the ultimate. We just heard then from Dr. Pierce, the real science of how it affects our bodies and how we feel better. But I think about it like this. If I need to find mindfulness, go for a walk. Now if that doesn't work, I need to. Turn off all my notifications and just rest and be in my body.
And if that doesn't work, [00:48:00] I try meditating. If that doesn't work, breath work. And the ultimate breath work is the 4 7, 8 practice for me. So that's four in hold for seven outright. And the reason is this is the ultimate heavyweight champion of. Slowing down the engine, slowing down the mind, and being peaceful and restful because when you breathe in, your heart rate raises.
When you breathe out, it slows down. So if you're only breathing in for four, but you breathe out for eight, the net effect is your really slowing the system down. 4, 7, 8. Breath work is where I find. The option of last resort when I have to cool my jets. Who would've thought there's so much science behind something we just take for granted, like breathing.
Mark Pearson Freeland: Yeah, it's an amazing differentiation when you start to realize that the feeling that we've discussed on the show, that idea of awareness, that idea of being more focused on things has a scientific backing. [00:49:00] It is proven that your brain can respond to being. Put into situations where it slows down that brain perception and functionality therefore increases.
What a journey we've been on. Mike, holy
Mike Parsons: Smoke. You really plowed us with clips today, mark. So I've gotta ask you like, what's getting your attention here when you look at this? I think
Mark Pearson Freeland: while I believe and really enjoy hearing a lot of the work, particularly from somebody like Rond Holiday with stillness, the value of peace.
I'm hearing Cal Newport and digital minimalism come back through all of that work as well. I'm actually gonna go right back to the start of the show with Joseph Murphy because the inside around, whatever I create in my head, I then amplify Yes, like a speaker I from. So that really hits hard.
For me, actually. What about you? Which one's sticking out today? I
Mike Parsons: love them all, but I do love that one. I think if there was one thing I could do more, it's the breath work, so I have to take my notes from Dr. Pierce. Great. [00:50:00]
Mark Pearson Freeland: Great. A
Mike Parsons: good show if we've got notes. There you go. There you go. Yes. So Mark, I wanna say thank you to you and I wanna say thank you to our members as well.
It has been an absolute pleasure to have you on this Master Series, episode 23, where we went deep into the world of mindfulness, and it started with Joseph Murphy igniting our subconscious, but we also heard from David Goggins. When he said that the only option is not to give up, do that. And there is a whole benefit behind that mindfulness practice.
And if that running a thousand miles or going deep in the subconscious mind is already done, then you can slow down with Ryan Holiday and find that wisdom of the stoics. You can trigger your autonomous nervous system. With the Iceman himself, Mr. Vim Hoff, you can take control through breath work and cold exposure.
And when all is said and done, when you wanna find the [00:51:00] ultimate piece, you can go to the science of breath, do all of these things, and you will truly find mindfulness. You'll find wellness. You will find. The best version of yourself, and that is what we are all about. Here at the Moonshots Master Series.
We're all about helping you to find that very best version of yourself. So that's it for now. That's all the mindfulness that you need to go out and find that zen. All right, that's a wrap.