Mindfulness - Your Present Moment

Johan Bergstad is a licensed psychologist in Sweden, mindfulness teacher, writer/poet and photographer. The movie he recently released: This Will Also Pass” is a wonderful interview he did with, retired surgeon and Mindfulness teacher, Andries J Kroese.

For those interested in learning more about Mindfulness a good starting place is Mindful.org, that is hosted by Shambhala Sun Foundation.

Shambhala Sun or their website truly is a starting point for all things Mindful.

I have been influenced in the practice of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh since the mid-80’s and by Karen Sothers and Steve Alper since the mid-90s with their work at the Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine under the leadership of Dr Mimi Guarneri. With my 25 years as a Vistage Chair I have been blessed to be exposed to the many aspects of leadership from the perspective of what does it mean to be a leader who practices Mindfulness.

I would like to share some insights from a dear friend and an alumna Vistage Chair, Mary Lore, author of Managing Thought. Some good thought to reflect on as we begin our new year awake and aware.

Living and Leading with Intention

Do you have a written vision statement or intention for:

Your organization or your family?
Your role in your organization or family?
Your life? Your career? Yourself?
Your relationship with your children? Your direct reports?
Your relationships with your customers, suppliers, investors, employees, colleagues, manager, or boss?
Your marriage, education, livelihood, well-being, success?
Your vacation, the home or car you hope to buy, a conversation, an activity, a sales call, an acquisition, or a meeting?

We can set vision statements and choose our intentions and purpose for any aspect of our being. You can intend:

Good health.
Helping your employees fulfill their dreams.
Being of highest and best service to your customers, employees, investors, suppliers, children, parents, and humanity.
Being a loving partner to your spouse.
Being a guide and mentor to your children or your direct reports.
Being open, receptive, and kind in a conversation and using the interaction as a source of learning about yourself and others.

And then, before you say or do anything, ask yourself, “What can I say or do in this moment to BE my intention?” Before you make a phone call or respond to a comment, before you join a meeting or have a conversation, or before you open the door when you come home from work, exhale and inhale deeply. Remind yourself of your intention and ask what you can say or do to move another step toward making your intention a reality.

With practice, taking the breath becomes natural for you. With practice, reminding yourself of your intention and asking yourself how you can think and behave in a manner consistent with your intention also becomes natural for you. With practice, you are able to think these powerful thoughts just as quickly and naturally as your old thoughts.

When we choose our intentions and are mindful, we achieve clarity of purpose. We are clear on what matters most to us, on what we value. We stop “re-acting” to colleagues, customers, family members, employees, and situations and start creating what we wish to create. Our thoughts, strategies, goals, plans, actions, and reactions are focused on what is truly significant. We become inspired. We achieve significant results. We transform our relationships, our families, and our organizations.

How could you live with intention? How could you lead with intention?

For more on information on conscious, meaningful living and leading with purpose:

Watch video: Powerful resolutions, intentions, and affirmations to create a life well-lived.
Watch, listen, or read: How to Make Goals and Resolutions You Can Keep
Listen or Read: Focus on What You Want, Not What You Don’t Want
Read: What’s Your “I Have a Dream” Speech?
Take this free Self-Assessment for a Life Well-Lived.

For daily inspiration on this topic, follow Managing Thought on Twitter or like it on Facebook.

__________________________

Mary J. Lore is a mentor to corporate leaders, multiple award winning author, keynote speaker, and founder of Managing Thought, LLC. Hailed by business leaders around the world, her multiple award-winning book Managing Thought: How Do Your Thoughts Rule Your World? You not only change the way you think about success—you change the way you think, period. Mary helps individuals and organizations turn counter-productive thinking into inspired action and significant results. In her career, she has served as a CPA, a crisis management and business turnaround expert, and an entrepreneur. Mary serves as an expert resource for Vistage, served as a Chair from 2002 – 2010, and was a member during the 1990s. Visit Mary at www.managingthought.com and www.maryjlore.com. If you’d like to help Mary teach millions of people how to change their thoughts and their lives, go to www.managingthought.com/PBSPledgeSpecial.

Present moment, beautiful moment. It is all we have.

And in the present moment it is amazing what can be created when one looks back at a compilation of present moments.

For it is with the heart that one sees rightly
For what is essential is invisible to the eye

And from the viewpoint of someone who watched it happen

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

— from “Leisure,” by W.H. Davies

In an article “Pearls Before Swine” written by Gene Weingarten he relays the story of virtuoso violinist Joshua Bell playing incognito in the the Washington, D.C. Metro station at L’Enfant Plaza on his three million dollar Stradivarius. On Friday, January 12, 2007, Joshua Bell played for 43 minutes. Of the 6 pieces he played he started with Bach’s “Chaconne” one of the most difficult violin pieces to master. In those 43 minutes 1097 people passed by on their way to work. At the end of his playing, he had collected $32.17. Of the 40+ people the Washington Post contacted there was only one who mentioned the violinist immediately.

The full article “Pearls Before Swine” is a good read. How often our busyness and business finds us in a state of mindlessness. How can we embrace our lives from the context of mindfulness?

Leisure
W. H. Davies

WHAT is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?—

No time to stand beneath the boughs,
And stare as long as sheep and cows:

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass:

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night:

No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance:

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began?

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

And as I searched for more videos on Joshua Bell, the present moment presented me with a video that said:

The following content has been identified by
the YouTube community as being potentially
offensive or inappropriate.

Viewer discretion is advised.

I was reminded by the poet Terence: Homo sum: humani nil a me alienum puto

I am a man,
I consider nothing that is human alien to me.

And I watched.

I was saddened and realized what my fellow man endures and so often I have no knowledge of those experiences
.
I was reminded of my previous post. There is both sadness and joy. There is both compassion and brutality. There is both hate and love. We are humans and nothing that is human is alien to us.

Sometimes watching the mindless helps us realize that everything I do is a choice. Will I feed mindfulness or mindlessness with each of my choices. Susan Scott words from her big 3 ideas in Fierce Conversations: My life succeeds or fails one conversation at a time.

Can I quiet myself enough to listen?

Wiseman is a good listener

One of Mary Lore’s practices in her book “Managing Thought“ is to remove the “But” from one’s conversations and replace it with “and.” Begin to listen to yourself and others. Catch yourself and begin to replace your “but” with “and.” It opens the conversation to possibilities as opposed to cutting them off. The gift of a good improv artist is that they leave an ending line as something that a member of their ensemble can build upon. With “and” the possibilities are endless. With “but” the limits become all confining.

A dear friend and Kaizen sensi, Toni Davies, shares from time to time the writings of Tom Lane, a close associate for many years in continuous improvement. Here are some wonderful reflections from Tom’s blog over this holiday and Christmas season:

BOTH/AND OR EITHER/OR

Where do you fall on a spectrum of “both/and” thinking on one side, and “either/or” thinking on the other side. Any initial reactions to that? I find myself almost always on the “both/and” side of that question. And I find that conversations with “either/or” people are not very productive or enjoyable. It seems to be some kind of fundamental difference in how we humans deal with the world.
In the “both/and” world, there is this constant realization that two or more different actions/beliefs/possibilities can exist at the same time. It is totally possible that we are both encoded by nature to certain things and socialized to many other things. It is possible that both evolution and some spiritual intervention both happened in our development. That we humans can be both heartless about some things and very compassionate about other things. The both/and world allows for the enormous complexity of what life seems to be about. It is the world of gray. It is the world of no easy answers. It is the world of “maybe”.
On the other hand, the world of “either/or’, seems to be a world of black and white. (I must confess that I am speculating since I have not lived in this world) It is the world of being with me or against me. It is the world of nice and neat contrasts. I think that the reason I have not spent much time here is that, I have too often seen both sides of the situation. Either/or thinking only sees one side. My side is right and your side is wrong. It is the thinking of people who need lots of control in their living. To allow even the possibility of two seemingly contradicting ideas to hold a position of validity, seems absurd to “either/or” thinkers. It just does not compute.
There is only debate with the “either/or” thinkers and no chance for dialogue. To dialogue is to recognize the complexity and nuance of life and that nothing stands on its own as the ‘TRUTH”. But to the either/or folks, their truth is the only truth and no other can stand with it. To even allow another possibility to stand the same ground, is to put into question the absolute quality and validity of their view of the world. The either/or world is a world of needing lots of control. It seems to live by a ‘might makes right’ mentality.
And, if you are on the both/and world, you can see this process and understand how it has some validity in the world. There are some things that seem absolute (like we die) and there is value in some of that. And you also see how so many things are simply in the grey area. For people who want to know for certain, grey is not a good place. It is hard to find their clarity of “rightness”. Most of life, in my view, is in the grey. But, I can also see how some can define the world totally differently and see it as only black and white. And I can also see how they can not see that. Tlane 12/15/11

The picture above was painted by Joe Flynn, a dear friend, I met at Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine founded back in the mid-90’s by Rauni Prittinen-King and cardiologist Dr Mimi Guaraneri, the 2011 Bravewell Leadership Award recipient. Joe came to group support since the late 90’s when Kaye, his wife, was a patient. Joe is a living example of “both/and.”

Joe is home from hospice and has been under the care of his caregiver, Lupe, and Joe’s team of caregivers. Joe is both alive and he is dying. I’ve had the pleasure before Thanksgiving and last Thursday to sit with him in the late afternoon and early evening and talk about life and all things of appreciation and gratitude. At Thanksgiving his 3 sons and their families gathered to celebrate with Joe. When I called the next day, some of the grandchildren were saying good bye and on their way home in other cities. Joe is both living and dying.

Joe would put it: ” We’re all dying. So I’m either alive or dead. As long as I am here, breathing; I am alive!

Joe is both a philosopher and an artist. You become a philosopher when dealing as a negotiator which he did for Kaiser in Oakland for over 30 years. You become a philosopher when you and your best friend with your dates leave the bar at the Coconut Grove on November 28th, 1942 because you’re not being served.You become a philosopher when your bomber is shot down over Romania. You become a philosopher when your best friend is also shot down and doesn’t get home. You become a philosopher when the citizens of the country help you and several hundred other Prisoners of War travel a few hundred miles to escape into Turkey.

You become an artist because it allows you to express yourself. You become an artist because it is something you do for yourself and your philosopher doesn’t care what other people think. Your creativity allows you share your art because each year for over 30 years you create a Christmas painting that becomes the front of your Christmas card “Exclusively for Family and Friends.”

The philosopher allows family into your art studio and has them choose any of your paintings to take with them. The studio is emptied. The philosopher aware than being almost blind doesn’t allow the artist to be so the studio closes. The philosopher knows the artist spirit is alive and hears of a teacher who helps the blind and near blind paint.

What you see above is Joe’s painting as he told me, every stroke by his hand. His teacher mixed the colors according to his directions. She then over many months verbally directed where he needed to paint. Her voice directed Joe’s hand with the pressure and length of the stroke needed.

Matt Crisci has a collection of Joe’s cards. The idea was to tell Joe’s story with each card as a chapter. Matt also had same idea for Mary Clark whose Christmas poems spanned more than 50 years. It looks like both Joe’s and Mary’s books will not be written. The anniversary of Mary’s death will be this coming Monday, December 19th. The San Diego Natural History Museum has a beautiful memorial to Mary, both written, in picture and mainly with the video of her reading one of her poems.

Matt, however, was able to share the life of one of our group in his book: Papa Cado. You can read two chapters.

So I am both honored and blessed to have people like Joe, Mary, Papa Cado, Matt, Tom, Toni and Mary in my life. They remind me both to be mindful and grateful for the gift of life.

It is with the heart one sees rightly

This was shared by Roger Wright Running For My Existence

Roger, thanks for sharing and reminding us that like marathon running: Life is a journey not a destination.

Thanks also to Doug Freese and his continued contributions to Google Group: rec.running.

Lee Thayer Quote

Lee Thayer’s Leadership Virtuosity in his series of books on leadership is a must read for all who want to see what is the cost of becoming a virtuoso leader.

Click here: Leadership Virtuosity if you want to be challenged to become who you ought to be.

Today was added the 13th, 14th and 15th women who have received the Nobel Peace Prize. These women Nobel Prize winners, many who you will not have known until you read about them, embody mindfulness.

The first nine women Peace Prize winners you can read about in this article on the Nobel Prize website in the words of the individuals who presented these women their awards.
Baroness Bertha von Suttner 1905
Jane Addams 1931
Emily Green Balch 1946
Betty Williams 1976
Mariead Corrigan 1976
Mother Teresa 1979
Alva Myrdal 1982
Aung San Suu Kyi 1991
Rogoberta Menchu Tum 1992
Jody Williams 1997
Shrin Ebadi 2003
Wangari Maathai 2004
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf 2011
Leymah Gbowee 2011
Tawakkul Karman 2011

The Nobel Peace Prize 2011 was awarded jointly to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman “for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work”.

Mindful.org shares a list of the past awardees and nominees where mindfulness impacted their life and their work as with the 15 women Nobel Peace Prize winners.

You will want to visit Mindful.org for their many offerings to further your study, understanding and practical practice of mindfulness.

Congratulations to 2011’s laureates: Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman of Yemen, who were together recognized for, as the New York Times put it, “their nonviolent role in promoting peace, democracy and gender equality.”

From the Mindful.org archives:
Martin Luther King Jr.

In 1964, Martin Luther King Jr. became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end racial segregation and racial discrimination through civil disobedience and other nonviolent means. By the time of his death in 1968, he had refocused his efforts on ending poverty and stopping the Vietnam War.

Surrendered to Love: Bell Hooks explains how Martin Luther King’s vision of life based on a love ethic could heal our world.
Thich Nhat Hahn

Thich Nhat Hahn is a Buddhist monk, teacher, author, poet and peace activist. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Martin Luther King Jr. in 1967. He remains active in the peace movement, promoting non-violent solutions to conflict.

There is no path to peace. The path is peace.: Thich Nhat Hahn talks to U.S. Congress about changing our society’s foundation of violence.
Mahatma Gandhi

A pivotal figure in India’s history, and one of the most well-known representatives of non-violence in the 20th century, Gandhi was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1937, 1938, 1939, 1947 and 1948, the year he was murdered. The omission has been publicly regretted by later members of the Nobel Committee.

The Global Gandhi: According to Gandhi, inner transformation is the key to social change. Can it be applied to the climate crisis? An exploration by Diana Calthorpe Rose of the Garrison Institute.
Dalai Lama

His Holiness the XIVth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people. The Dalai Lama was named the 1989 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his nonviolent campaign over nearly 40 years to end China’s domination of his homeland.

Studying Mind from the Inside: The true nature of the mind, says the Dalai Lama, is beyond any concept or physical form, and therefore it cannot be studied solely by third-person, scientific methods. Mind must also be studied through a rigorous observation of our own subjective experience.

Great Opportunity to listen to excellent program on Mindfulness for free.

You can stream the video of this marvelous session on Creating A Mindful Society. It can be viewed for free for 30 days starting October 3rd.

Go to: live.soundstrue.com and register (name and email) You can then return when you have time to listen at your convenience to the entire program.

Listed below are the speakers with information about them and then the topic of their presentation.

Welcome and meditation with Saki Santorelli

Keynote address by Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD
The Transformative Power of Mindfulness in America and the World

Jon Kabat-Zinn will articulate the need for and the promise of bringing greater mindfulness and heartfulness into our society on every level—from the individual to the institutional, from the corporate to the governmental, from the national to the international. He will offer a few simple steps to embody greater mindfulness in our own lives and accelerate the cultivation of greater mindfulness in our society. The talk will include a guided meditation.

Closing and meditation with Saki Santorelli

Welcome and meditation with Michael Craft

Keynote address by Richard Davidson, PhD
Change Your Brain by Transforming Your Mind
This talk by one of America’s leading neuroscientists will explore the emerging field of contemplative neuroscience. Richard J. Davidson, founder of the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds, will showcase recent findings that illustrate how training the mind can change the brain in ways that promote mental and physical well-being.

Saki Santorelli, EdD, MA
The Healing Power of Mindfulness
Experience, first hand, a range of mindfulness practices used in the mindfulness-based stress reduction training program at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.
Saki F. Santorelli, EdD, MA, is director of the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center; executive director of the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society; and associate professor of medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Author of Heal Thy Self, Saki F. Santorelli has been active in the emerging fields of mind-body and integrative medicine for more than 20 years, including the development of many experiential, mindfulness-based professional education and development programs. He has more than 30,000 hours of clinical experience in mindfulness-based stress reduction and has trained thousands of people, including physicians, nurses, and teachers. For more than a decade, Santorelli also has taught a program for medical students that explores the role of the mindfulness in medicine and health care.

Keynote address by Janice Marturano
Finding the Space to Lead
The complexities of the global economy and the speed with which our environment is changing requires all of us—leaders and potential leaders—to use our minds’ full capabilities. Right in the midst of speed and complexity, we can cultivate our innate ability to pause and be present, developing greater focus and clarity, and the mental space for creativity and compassion to arise.

Closing and meditation with Michael Craft

Welcome and meditation with Melvin McLeod

“Beyond Stress Reduction”?Rhonda Magee, JD
An exploration of how mindful lawyers are changing the world—and how we all can make a difference.
Rhonda Magee, JD, is professor of law at the San Francisco School of Law and a leading voice for bringing the practice of mindfulness into the legal profession. Magee’s scholarly work focuses on race law and policy, humanizing legal education, and the practice of law. Through her work, she aims to help law students and practitioners cope with pressure in order to be more successful and effective. Magee’s coursework shares a common theme of examining how law responds to the vulnerable in society. Rhonda Magee is author of numerous journal articles, including “Legal Education and the Formation of Professional Identity” and “Racial Suffering as Human Suffering: An Existentially Grounded Humanity Consciousness as a Guide to a 14th Amendment Reborn.”

“Mind Over Money: Making Money Matter”?Kristi Nelson
Learn how the core principles inherent to mindfulness offer us critical opportunities to redirect our personal—and ultimately our collective—economies.
Kristi Nelson has worked in nonprofit leadership and development for the past 25 years, helping to raise millions of dollars for organizations committed to progressive social and spiritual change. From 2002 to 2010, Nelson offered values-based fund-raising consulting to organizations such as the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, Buddhist Peace Fellowship, Spirit in Action, Kripalu Yoga Center, and the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society. She also was founding executive director of the Soul of Money Institute. Kristi Nelson is currently the director of resource development and community relations for the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society. She is currently writing a book about mindfulness and money.

“Mindfulness, Mentoring, and Youth”?Ali Smith & Atman Smith with Andres Gonzalez
The founders of Baltimore’s acclaimed Holistic Life Foundation discuss how mindfulness and yoga practices for youth in high-risk environments has helped them become more centered, deal with peer pressure, and manage strong emotions.
Brothers Ali Smith and Atman Smith joined with their University of Maryland classmate Andres Gonzales to return to the inner-city streets of Baltimore and introduce yoga, mindfulness, and wholesome living to schoolchildren. In 2001, they founded the Holistic Life Foundation, which carries out its mission through after-school yoga programs, mentoring, a stress reduction and mindfulness curriculum, an environmental advocacy program, and more.

“Bringing Mindfulness to the Military to Enhance Performance and Build Resilience”?Elizabeth Stanley, PhD, Captain (Retired)
Elizabeth Stanley shares some of her experiences in developing mindfulness-based mind fitness training and teaching it to troops before their deployment to combat.
Elizabeth Stanley, PhD, Captain (Retired), is an associate professor of security studies at Georgetown University and founding president of the Mind Fitness Training Institute, which teaches mindfulness-based mind fitness training to organizations operating in high-stress environments. A retired ninth-generation Army officer from a military family, Stanley served as a military intelligence officer with the United States Army, leaving service with the rank of Captain. She has extensive experience with mind fitness techniques, including long-term intensive practice in the United States and Burma (Myanmar). She completed teacher training in mindfulness-based stress reduction and has co-taught with Jon Kabat-Zinn. She also has training in somatic-based techniques that help individuals re-regulate their autonomic nervous systems after stressful or traumatic experiences. She has served on the United States Army Science Board, the National Security Advisory Panel of the Sandia National Laboratories, and the executive board of Women in International Security. Author of Paths to Peace, Elizabeth Stanley has published widely on a variety of topics related to mind fitness and national security.

“Wired in the Moment: Mindfulness & Mental Focus in the Tech Sector”?Jenny Lykken
A discussion of why and how tech workers design and develop mindfulness-based programs, including successful solutions and important challenges in the delivery of mindfulness-based programs in the workplace.
Jenny Lykken, a graduate of the psychology program at Harvard, is the learning and development specialist at Google. In her current role, Lykken manages and facilitates global personal growth learning programs, including classes on mindfulness, stress management, and emotional intelligence. She also consults with teams to customize learning solutions based on their requests and ideas for personal growth training and development. An avid snowboarder and yoga practitioner, Lykken enjoys daily hikes and meditations on the Pacific coastal trail near her home in San Francisco.

Keynote address by Congressman Tim Ryan
A Mindful Nation
Our nation faces daunting challenges—in education, health care, defense, the environment, and the economy. Everywhere we turn, we face the need to let go of old ways of doing things and enter uncharted territory. Given the scientific evidence of the benefits of various mindfulness and awareness practices, it would be irresponsible for us not to explore whether they can help us find the resilience we need to face our challenges with the can-do spirit for which Americans are famous.

Tami Simon hosts the Mindfulness Town Hall where Jon Kabat-Zinn, Richard J. Davidson, Janice Marturano, and US Congressman Tim Ryan discuss the following questions with the audience:
1. How do we engage the broader public in a conversation about the benefits of mindfulness practice? Could millions someday make mindfulness practice a normal part of their lives, and if so, how might that happen?
2. How can we develop, demonstrate, and gain acceptance for specific applications of mindfulness in different aspects of society and the workplace?
3. How do we help create a mindful society, in terms of both civil society and public policy?
4. What is the future of the mindfulness community? Where do we go from here?

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Here is the link to Jackie Linehan’s web page:The Peaceful Runner where she did an interview with me.

The Full Interview: Mindful Running Interview with Ozzie Gontang

The first of Jackie’s ten questions:

Q. Thank you Ozzie for joining us today. I have to say I really enjoy reading the articles on your website. They contain so many positive messages of inspiration as well as practical advice. I like how you have designed your site combining mindfulness with running, leadership and everyday life. Why did you decide to create the website and how did you decide on its concept?

A. I was influenced by the writings of Thich Nhat Hanh back in the 1980’s and was introduced to the writings of Jon Kabat-Zinn. In the mid-90s a number of the people at Integrative Medicine had gone through the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction program. Steve Alper and Karen Sothers were two of our trainers.

Misperceptions, incorrect ideas or notions get us into more trouble. The Will Roger’s comment, It’s not what I know that gets me in trouble, it’s what I know that just ain’t so.” The majority of people in the United States still think that the Yield signs are yellow. They haven’t been yellow since we adopted the International Signage Code back in the late 80’s.

For me, the Kalama Sutra is my guide:

“After thorough observation, investigation, analysis and reflection, when you find that anything agrees with reason and your experience, and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, and of the world at large; accept only that as true, and shape your life in accordance with it; and live up to it.”

Life is about living a practice. Living in appreciation and with gratitude and dealing with whatever life has to offer. It is about living life fully no matter what the circumstances.

We are herd/pack animals and how do I live for the benefit of one and all? So Mindfulness is in the moment. Running mindfully for me became a practice that involved form and style — we can run clumsily or gracefully. Go for the grace! Leadership is first about leading oneself. My thinking influences my being and my being influences what I do and what I won’t do.

We don’t learn from our experiences. We learn from our interpretation of our experiences. So my interpretation of Mindfulness, Running, and Leadership has been influenced by what can I share that might help others to become better walkers, standers, sitters, breathers and running while focused on what is needed to become a world class human. We have some marvelous examples to draw from. Watch Nickelback’s If Everyone Cared video (below) or Bombshel’s Power of One.

Read the full interview with Ozzie. Click HERE

If you watch the way most people walk you will notice that the lower leg snaps forward and the person (and probably you) land on the back of the heel of the shoe first. If you look at the heels of your regular shoes, you will most likely notice that the outer edge of the heel of the shoe is where it wears down the most.

Actually the wear is because the heel hits on that outside edge coming back. If you think marching goose-step you see the heel digging in and not wearing because there is a scrape forward.

Rather than thinking of your lower leg as a pendulum, imagine that you are on an elliptical trainer. As you walk, as soon as your foot touches the ground lift the heel up half an inch and place the foot right back down. This way you land on the front of the heel of the shoe.

If you do this barefoot you will find that you land almost ball/heel and that your walking is smother. By playing with this you are rolling over the ground with that little bit of lifting the heel that half inch as soon as the foot touches the ground.

That image of the elliptical and placing the foot right down allows you to stop overstriding. You overstride if you are hitting on the back of the heel of the shoe. That overstride means that every step you take, you are stopping yourself and jarring your body.

How can I tell if someone is overstriding? As someone walks toward you an overstride is when you can see the bottom of their shoe/foot all the way to the heel. This means their weight is on the back leg and the leg in front is overstriding. Simply, each step is a slight stop. If I CANNOT see the heel of your shoe as you come towards me, then your weight is over the front foot and you are walking gracefully over the ground. Actually you are landing on the surface of the earth and not pounding through it with each step.

Like in running, you can walk gracefully or clumsily (read mindless). Go for the grace.

This is one way for runners to practice their running form while walking. In the Pose Method, the body is gracefully falling forward from the ankle. The heel is pulled up by the hamstring a half inch. The foot comes down under one’s center of gravity as that center continues to move horizontally forward.