1 00:00:01,910 --> 00:00:04,760 Allison Barton: Hi my name is Alison Barton and I'm the health 2 00:00:04,760 --> 00:00:07,190 educator at the Moorpark College Student Health 3 00:00:07,190 --> 00:00:10,970 Center. Today's five minute mindfulness training 4 00:00:10,970 --> 00:00:15,380 lesson will be on the STOP technique. By the 5 00:00:15,380 --> 00:00:17,570 end of this training you'll be able to define 6 00:00:17,570 --> 00:00:20,090 mindfulness and mindfulness training. You'll learn 7 00:00:20,090 --> 00:00:22,520 how to do the STOP technique, and then you'll be 8 00:00:22,520 --> 00:00:25,190 able to identify times and places when you might 9 00:00:25,190 --> 00:00:27,590 want to use the STOP technique that might be 10 00:00:27,590 --> 00:00:32,140 helpful to you. What is mindfulness training 11 00:00:32,150 --> 00:00:36,220 anyway? or What is mindfulness anyway? It's feeling 12 00:00:36,220 --> 00:00:39,400 like you're here now, that you're able to focus, 13 00:00:39,430 --> 00:00:42,430 that you have present moment 14 00:00:42,430 --> 00:00:44,470 awareness, and that you have an overall sense of 15 00:00:44,470 --> 00:00:44,920 calm. 16 00:00:47,090 --> 00:00:49,700 So then what is mindfulness training? Mindfulness 17 00:00:49,700 --> 00:00:52,430 Training is being able to practice to pay 18 00:00:52,430 --> 00:00:55,580 attention to one thing so that you can pay 19 00:00:55,580 --> 00:00:59,930 attention to anything. Maybe you're in class 20 00:00:59,930 --> 00:01:02,270 and you notice that your mind wanders a lot. 21 00:01:02,330 --> 00:01:04,730 Mindfulness Training practiced over time will be 22 00:01:04,730 --> 00:01:07,490 able will allow you to be able to pay attention to 23 00:01:07,490 --> 00:01:09,770 that and pull your thoughts back to where you are 24 00:01:09,770 --> 00:01:14,270 now. It also helps you build new neuropathways so 25 00:01:14,270 --> 00:01:18,470 it can help you, any time you practice a technique 26 00:01:18,470 --> 00:01:21,860 it helps you build neural pathways. 27 00:01:21,870 --> 00:01:26,210 Anything you practice does that but it also can 28 00:01:26,210 --> 00:01:29,030 help you with your reactions to things. So if you 29 00:01:29,030 --> 00:01:31,190 practice mindfulness training and it helps you 30 00:01:31,190 --> 00:01:33,860 feel less anxious that will become your default 31 00:01:33,860 --> 00:01:38,140 response for potentially any difficult situation. 32 00:01:40,210 --> 00:01:42,870 The goals of mindfulness training then are calm 33 00:01:42,870 --> 00:01:47,700 awareness, less anxiety, improved academic 34 00:01:47,700 --> 00:01:53,550 performance, or test anxiety improvement, and then 35 00:01:53,550 --> 00:01:56,160 better general health. So those are some of the 36 00:01:56,160 --> 00:01:59,970 goals of mindfulness training. And there are lots 37 00:01:59,970 --> 00:02:02,340 of ways to practice mindfulness training. You see 38 00:02:02,340 --> 00:02:04,640 many different ones here on the screen. There's 39 00:02:04,650 --> 00:02:08,850 breathing, walking, coloring, eating--lots of ways to 40 00:02:09,750 --> 00:02:13,440 learn how to pay attention to here, now. So if one 41 00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:18,290 doesn't work for you another one probably will. 42 00:02:18,290 --> 00:02:20,660 The STOP technique is very quick and you could 43 00:02:20,660 --> 00:02:23,420 practice it multiple times a day if you want to. 44 00:02:23,960 --> 00:02:28,340 But the"STOP" part of this is an acronym: S for 45 00:02:28,350 --> 00:02:33,230 "stop", T for "take a slow deep breath," O for "Observe how 46 00:02:33,230 --> 00:02:36,190 you feel," and then P for "Proceed." So we're going to 47 00:02:36,200 --> 00:02:39,170 try this technique right now. If you're sitting 48 00:02:39,170 --> 00:02:41,960 down make sure that your legs are uncrossed and 49 00:02:41,960 --> 00:02:45,260 that your feet are flat on the floor. It's nice to 50 00:02:45,260 --> 00:02:47,480 have your knees a little lower than hips. If you 51 00:02:47,480 --> 00:02:51,810 can do that. That helps your spine grow tall, 52 00:02:51,950 --> 00:02:56,090 which kind of gives us a dignified seated position, 53 00:02:56,090 --> 00:02:59,510 and it actually gives us confidence to sit 54 00:02:59,510 --> 00:03:02,780 up nice and tall like that. If you're standing 55 00:03:03,140 --> 00:03:05,840 it's helpful to stand with weight equally 56 00:03:05,840 --> 00:03:08,810 distributed side to side and front to back of your 57 00:03:08,810 --> 00:03:12,050 feet. And then everybody let's do just a nice 58 00:03:12,050 --> 00:03:15,380 shoulder roll. Inhale your shoulders forward and 59 00:03:15,380 --> 00:03:18,710 up to your years and then exhale and draw your 60 00:03:18,710 --> 00:03:21,470 shoulder blades toward one another and down the 61 00:03:21,470 --> 00:03:24,770 back. That helps your chest be open and that 62 00:03:24,770 --> 00:03:28,940 contributes to that tall dignified position. So 63 00:03:28,970 --> 00:03:31,250 when you're taking your slow deep breath you want 64 00:03:31,250 --> 00:03:33,110 to make sure that you breathe in and out through 65 00:03:33,110 --> 00:03:36,560 the nose if you can. Sometimes we have 66 00:03:36,560 --> 00:03:39,020 allergies or things like that makes it difficult 67 00:03:39,020 --> 00:03:42,020 to breathe through your nose. But if you can 68 00:03:42,020 --> 00:03:44,360 that's best because it'll slow your breath down. 69 00:03:44,900 --> 00:03:48,650 You want to count to three slowly as you're 70 00:03:48,650 --> 00:03:51,320 inhaling and then maybe four or five or six as 71 00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:54,950 you're exhaling. All right? So let's do that. 72 00:03:54,950 --> 00:03:57,200 We're going to stop what we're doing now. We're going 73 00:03:57,200 --> 00:04:00,380 to take a slow deep breath in through the nose. 74 00:04:02,850 --> 00:04:06,280 And then exhales even more slowly out through the 75 00:04:06,280 --> 00:04:06,730 nose. 76 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:13,930 And then observe how you feel from your ankles to 77 00:04:13,930 --> 00:04:20,320 your knees, your hips, your belly, your chest, your 78 00:04:20,320 --> 00:04:25,870 shoulders and neck, your head eyes just no notice 79 00:04:25,870 --> 00:04:30,330 how you feel without judging. And then proceed. Go 80 00:04:30,330 --> 00:04:34,080 onto what you were doing before. You 81 00:04:34,080 --> 00:04:36,360 could see how if you were taking a test and you 82 00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:39,600 got to a question that you didn't understand or 83 00:04:39,600 --> 00:04:43,350 didn't remember that when you feel that anxiety 84 00:04:43,380 --> 00:04:45,960 there that this technique can actually help you 85 00:04:45,960 --> 00:04:49,500 move through that one and move on to the next. You 86 00:04:49,500 --> 00:04:51,870 can personalize it. Some people like to take a 87 00:04:51,870 --> 00:04:54,930 breath before and after observing how they feel. 88 00:04:55,290 --> 00:04:57,630 Once you practice this a few times you can 89 00:04:57,630 --> 00:05:01,560 learn ways that help you in the future with your 90 00:05:01,560 --> 00:05:06,770 own practice. So again we talked about using it 91 00:05:06,770 --> 00:05:09,320 for test anxiety, but it's also great for 92 00:05:09,320 --> 00:05:12,350 difficult situations, difficult interactions, and 93 00:05:12,350 --> 00:05:16,220 it's great for just really befriending your body; 94 00:05:16,400 --> 00:05:20,120 understanding how your body reacts to stress and 95 00:05:20,120 --> 00:05:24,050 how it reacts to good times as well. You can find 96 00:05:24,050 --> 00:05:28,250 free mindfulness training on campus when we're 97 00:05:28,250 --> 00:05:32,930 open. But also you can find it online 24/7 so you 98 00:05:32,930 --> 00:05:36,980 can go to the Web address on the screen. You can 99 00:05:36,980 --> 00:05:39,650 also Google "Mindfulness Moorpark College." You 100 00:05:39,650 --> 00:05:42,110 could also go to the Moorpark College Student 101 00:05:42,110 --> 00:05:47,180 Health Center Web page and follow the link there 102 00:05:47,180 --> 00:05:50,350 right to it. Thank you for giving the STOP 103 00:05:50,360 --> 00:05:53,330 technique at try today, and keep practicing!