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Guest Irene Kraegel, PsyD
102 Plays2 years ago
Special Guest - Irene Kraegel, PsyD, is a licensed psychologist who writes, teaches, and speaks on a variety of topics related to mental wellness, including that of mindfulness practice within the framework of Christian faith. Other areas of interest include institutional self-care in the college/university context and stress management. She writes at www.themindfulchristian.com, as well as on social media @mindfulxian.
Dr. Kraegel graduated from Wheaton College with a BA in Sociology and from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology with a PsyD in Clinical Psychology. She serves as Director of the Center for Counseling and Wellness at Calvin University and lives with her husband and son in Grand Rapids, MI.
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Transcript
Introduction to Mindfully Refresh
00:00:06
Speaker
Welcome to the Mindfully Refresh podcast, where we explore different types of mindfulness, talk with experts, and bring you the help to discover the joy in your journey. Mindfulness is used to help heal stress, anxiety, depression, help us to better regulate, enhance our relationships with ourselves and others, and to experience more happiness.
00:00:31
Speaker
In each episode, we will look at the benefits, challenges, and offer tools and an actual practice from myself and other experts to help you find more joy in your journey and to refresh your mind. I am Tracy Lynn Pearson, mindfulness coach, restorative yoga teacher, and psychotherapist, but really just a girl working to find the joy in her own journey. Welcome to the Mindfully Refreshed podcast.
00:01:03
Speaker
Welcome back to Mindfully refreshed podcast. This is a meditation podcast that's put together as a opportunity to experience meditation in all the different aspects of life.
Mindfulness in Christianity
00:01:18
Speaker
And I am so delighted today that I have
00:01:21
Speaker
I'm kind of a shero here, Dr. Irene Kregel, who has written the book, The Mindful Christian. In this book, if you have ever had questions about mindfulness and meditation and the Christian practice, this book is for you. It really
00:01:39
Speaker
kind of lays it out in a very simple form that helps us to understand why this is so important. Dr. Irene Craigl is a licensed psychologist who has worked as a counselor within the community of mental health, private practice, and higher education settings. She is currently the director of the Center of Counseling and Wellness at Calvin University and
00:02:03
Speaker
And she facilitates mindfulness groups there for students. She writes about faith, the intersection of faith and mindfulness on her website, The Mindful Christian. Welcome, Irene. Thank you for joining us. Thank you. I'm so happy to be here. We're so happy to have you. So just tell me a little bit about what, what prompted you to write this book?
00:02:26
Speaker
I wrote this book because I couldn't find anything like it. And so as I was starting to explore mindfulness myself, this would have been back in 2013 or so, I knew I needed to understand it as a professional psychologist and also as a human being that was trying to find some new tools for managing mental wellness. And so mindfulness was popping up all over the place as a recommended tool. And at the time I wasn't totally clear if it could fit with Christian faith.
00:02:56
Speaker
And my own faith is very central in my own life. I really value making sure that the things that I do and learn and explore are consistent with my faith in Christ. And so I needed to know that they fit together. And as I started to look into that, I realized we really were just lacking resources in that area of integration when it came to mindfulness and Christian faith.
00:03:20
Speaker
So as I started my own mindfulness training, it very quickly became clear to me that these two things fit well together. In my own mindfulness practice, I was very quickly experiencing God in some new ways that I found to be really revitalizing for my own faith journey. And so I wanted to make sure that other Christians had access to this tool, both as a mental health resource, but also as a
00:03:49
Speaker
spiritual discipline. And when I went online, a lot of what I was finding was alarmist, so people who are concerned about silence and meditation as potentially opening us up to the devil or creating some kind of affiliation with maybe other religious traditions or faiths. And I really felt like Christians, faithful Christians, could incorporate mindfulness.
00:04:15
Speaker
and in fact really benefit from it. So because of that I started the website that you referenced earlier and then out of that came the work on the book that came out a couple years ago. Interesting. My journey has been pretty similar to that as well. Tell me about how mindfulness began to enhance your own. You mentioned that it enhanced your own practice and I really feel like once
00:04:43
Speaker
as therapists when we feel something and we integrate it, it is a great tool then to share with others because we know the obstacles that can come up as well as we can really speak on the benefits, not just from a research standpoint, but from, no, I am experiencing more calm. Tell me a little bit about your experience.
Connection and Awareness through Mindfulness
00:05:07
Speaker
Yeah, so I found that mindfulness opened up a whole new awareness of ways that my thought life, my cognitive life was interfering with my connection with God. And I think that's where that rich intersection began was that as I was practicing mindfulness, I was learning to create a little bit of distance from my thoughts to be more aware of my thoughts.
00:05:33
Speaker
and to realize how many thoughts I was having that were sort of cluttering up the rest of my experience, including my experience of God. And I tend in general probably to be a fairly cognitive person. And so that was certainly impacting my faith life in that I knew how to think about God and I had, you know, spent my whole life as a Christian sort of understanding God. But that was a lot different than just being with God.
00:06:02
Speaker
And so mindfulness practice allowed me just to be with God. And first of all, to be with myself and to be with my experience in the moment and finding in the midst of that, that God was there. And so I'm not having to search for God or find God or figure God out, but just to let down some of the defenses that I had without even realizing it.
00:06:27
Speaker
to kind of shift away from the clutter in my head of all the thinking so that I could have an experience of God in the moment. And at the same time, that involved being able to experience my own emotions, being able to experience my own body, being able to be present to what God had created for me in that moment, and then
00:06:48
Speaker
being present to what God had created in that moment opened up my eyes to this different way of connecting with the creator of that moment. So that's been very powerful for me.
00:06:58
Speaker
And I think that God really cares about our mental wellness and our physical wellness and he's provided all kinds of tools like mindfulness that allow us to care for ourselves because he loves us and also because it helps us to relate in healthier ways to God. That is so amazing.
00:07:23
Speaker
Thank you for sharing that because that is true that we, once you start to practice mindfulness, that's where we get to the place of being able to really feel God in every moment. And it's not just those times that we feel Him really strongly, like during a worship service or a church service. And then when you go home, you have that empty feeling of, okay, where is God? Or in the middle of the work day, when we really need Him, we begin to feel more and more distant
00:07:53
Speaker
And there's a passage in when Adam and Eve first ate of the fruit and God was looking for them and he said, where are you? And that's kind of been like a cue that I've said, like I can hear like, okay, well, where am I right now? How far am I from being aware of what's going on in my own body? And would you mention about those thoughts that
00:08:17
Speaker
I had a lot of anxious thoughts that I wasn't really aware of. If someone had said you were kind of a worrier, I would be like, yeah, I'm kind of a worrier. But I really felt like, you know, no, I have this under control. And once I started practicing mindfulness, I was shocked by how many of these thoughts were
00:08:37
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fear-based as opposed to being faith-based. Yeah. And it puts us in a place to be consistent with him. I think one of the chapters that you have is about like from the verse, pray without ceasing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Will you talk a little bit about that? Let's see if I can pull it up here. The unceasing grateful prayer in chapter six.
00:09:03
Speaker
Yeah, gratitude has always been a little bit of a challenge for me, I think partially because of that overthinking nature that I have. So talking myself into being grateful was never very successful for me. And so I've known, of course, from the faith perspective, but also from the psychological research perspective, that gratitude is important, that it's good for us, it's good for the world, it's good to be grateful.
00:09:31
Speaker
But I think my approach to gratitude was just sort of like, come on, Irene, be more grateful. And it was very easy for me to get in a battle in my own head about, well, if I'm grateful for this, let me name all the 10 other things that are horrible right now.
00:09:49
Speaker
the reason that this thing I'm supposed to be grateful for isn't really feeling like enough right now. So all that to say, when I started to practice mindfulness, I learned, well, kind of stumbled upon a different pathway to gratitude. And along with that came this pathway to prayer, which is what you're referencing there. I really found that rather than thinking about the things to be grateful for, I had more success in just being present
00:10:18
Speaker
to the things to be grateful for. And I started to think about it as relating to someone who's giving us gifts. This is kind of the framework that's developed for me. And so if someone gives me a gift and I just think about it and judge it, whether it's positive or negative and make plans about it, that's all fine and good, but that's a whole different experience than just being present to the gift. If I receive a gift and really pay attention to it,
00:10:47
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chances are I'm going to absorb the emotion of receiving that gift in a whole different way than if I analyze it or think about it. And also when I receive a gift, if I'm really present to that gift, then it helps me feel more connected to the giver, the person who gave it to me. And so that for me has become a new way to find gratitude. Instead of analyzing the world and trying to think gratefully about it, I'm learning to
00:11:15
Speaker
tune into my experience in each moment in a way that allows me to feel the experience of the gift. And as a Christian, that gives me the opportunity to acknowledge the giver, to feel more connected to God who gave me that experience in the moment. And for me, that inspires prayer. So when we talk about praying without ceasing, I think there's an aspect of mindfulness because it's
00:11:42
Speaker
drawing us back into the present moment over and over and over, we have access to it all the time. So certainly there are formal mindfulness meditation practices, and I think we'll do one of those later, but there's also this 24-7 informal ability to just pay attention to whatever's happening right now in this moment. And for me, that tends to inspire a sense of connectedness to the world, to God,
00:12:09
Speaker
Um, and also oftentimes a sense of awe, just sort of like, Oh, wow. Look, look what's actually here. Even if it's something as simple as paying attention to the chair that I'm sitting in right now, just noticing I am being supported by this chair that was created by people that I don't even know that was designed by people that I will never know who they were.
00:12:33
Speaker
And here I am with this kind of support in this moment. What a gift, right? So it doesn't even have to, I mean, sure, also the sunsets and the forests and there are all kinds of other awe-inspiring things. I was quite impressed by the sunset here in Michigan this morning, and that inspired awe. But I find the sense of awe can bubble up anywhere at any time when I practice mindfulness just by tuning into what's present. And that, for me, when I think about scripture exhorting us to pray without ceasing,
00:13:03
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I'm not going to be someone who can engage in this cognitive discipline of prayer all day long, but I certainly can practice paying attention to what God is up to in each moment.
Emotional and Physical Benefits of Mindfulness
00:13:14
Speaker
And that for me becomes an avenue to pray without ceasing. Yes, it does. I love that. And as I was reading and I was thinking about all the little things that it really does enhance that ability to pray without ceasing and to stay in connection with God all day, even if you're just
00:13:33
Speaker
you know, observing for the moment, like, you know, right now I have joy. I don't have even the absence of things that we did. Like, you know, I don't, I'm not experiencing anxiety right now. I don't have pain in my body right now. And to be appreciative and to go ahead and say that as opposed to other times when you might go through the whole day, not really knowing how you felt until we get in bed. And then those moments of, you know, okay, gosh, I just, I thank you, Lord, for this day.
00:14:04
Speaker
versus thinking him and being aware of those little gifts. I love the way that you described this. Yeah, and it is those unpleasant experiences that catch our attention more. We're just less likely to notice the positive. And when we notice it, we're less likely to really stick with it or to experience it.
00:14:25
Speaker
I always joke that, you know, when was the last time you stayed awake at night because you couldn't stop thinking about something good? Like that just doesn't happen. Right? Not as adults. Yeah, so maybe the kid on Christmas Eve. Right. But yeah, we seem to lose that ability.
00:14:41
Speaker
And so I think mindfulness is waking up to what's good, noticing it. You know, I sort of chuckle at myself sometimes that I can go through a day just sort of longing for rest, you know, like kind of feeling like, oh, I can't wait till this day is over. I can't wait to rest. I can't wait to go to bed tonight.
00:14:59
Speaker
But then if I get to bed, do I actually notice how delightful it is to lay in my bed, right? And I think that's kind of what mindfulness provides. So that moment where we are experiencing something good, are we noticing it? Are we actually reaping the emotional benefits? So I love your example of noticing a moment that I'm not feeling anxious.
00:15:22
Speaker
it's easier to notice the moment of anxiety. What if we paid just as much attention to that moment of a more neutral feeling or maybe even a pleasant emotion to really experience that. And there's interesting science around that too, that if we notice each day, if we just notice one positive thing and let ourselves stay with it even for 30 to 60 seconds, which doesn't sound like that long,
00:15:50
Speaker
But it is. If we can let ourselves stay with the positive and actually experience the emotion with it, just for, you know, a minute every day, then that actually does rewire our brains to be able to experience happiness on a more regular basis. So that, to me, makes mindfulness totally worth it, right? It does. It's like that opportunity to feel better. Now, the challenge, of course, is that
00:16:16
Speaker
mind, we don't get to choose what we pay attention. Well, I won't, I wouldn't say that we do choose what we pay attention to. But when we're practicing mindfulness, we are opening ourselves up to an awareness of all the emotions that might come up. And so it's not just the pleasant things that we're learning to lean into, we're also learning to be present to the things that feel more difficult. And so that's part of what makes it challenging. You know, we we do it because it's worth it. And it does transform our experience, even of those
00:16:44
Speaker
unpleasant emotions or unpleasant physical sensations. It does give us, teach us more options of working with those unpleasant moments. But it's just like physical therapy or surgery or some of these other metaphors where we get to the benefit through the pain and experience that discomfort along the way as part of the healing.
00:17:08
Speaker
And that's been my experience that maybe when I'm avoiding my experience in any given moment, usually I'm avoiding something unpleasant that I'd rather not feel, but oftentimes turning towards that experience, being curious about it, taking away the negative judgments around it.
00:17:27
Speaker
approaching myself with some kindness and care in that moment, that all transforms the experience. So maybe initially I feel that unpleasantness a little bit more, and then it gives me an opportunity for it to resolve in a much different, more helpful way going along. And even before it gets too elevated, one of the things that I've noticed, and I have a history of migraines, but
00:17:55
Speaker
Since practicing mindfulness, I've had fewer headaches and migraines because I'm aware now of when I'm getting tense and when things are starting to bother me. And I am able to pray about them and take action on them earlier than when you start to feel the headache and you go for the aspirin bottle. It's like, well, by then it's a little too late. So catching those things early on. I also love how
00:18:23
Speaker
when we're mindful like this, it helps us to be able to ask God for help earlier on, especially with those uncomfortable emotions that you're talking about that, you know, we don't have to, we don't spend as much time angry. And, you know, you don't spend as much time worried because you kind of have a plan because you're having that conversation with God, you're being present in terms of what's happening, and you're talking to Him about
00:18:53
Speaker
those moments. It really does enhance our connection with him. Absolutely. I think so often humans tend to approach ourselves with harshness and with this judgment, especially during moments of suffering or pain. And we talk to ourselves during times of struggle in ways that we would never talk to anybody else, you know, but we don't necessarily notice that that is happening.
00:19:19
Speaker
Like you mentioned before, I had a similar experience as I started to practice mindfulness, just being surprised at my thought life and especially just noticing how many judgments I had, including all of these negative judgments about myself that I really wasn't so aware of. And so I couldn't practice that early intervention you're talking about because I didn't even know what was happening, right? And sort of I didn't realize until I was deep in the suffering that this whole thing had built up like
00:19:47
Speaker
And so when we can practice some kindness towards ourselves along the way, you know, we call this self-compassion in the world of mindfulness. And it's really this concept of treating ourselves as we would a friend or even as we would a child, right? If a child is hurt or experiencing pain or suffering.
00:20:06
Speaker
We're usually not likely to say things like you fool get it together. What's wrong? We're like just push through you'll be fine, you know You know really our best selves will respond to that child like oh, I'm sorry. You're having a hard time. Let's figure this out How can I help you right? Yeah, and that's a much more effective way to support that child or to support another person and certainly even to support ourselves to say Oh, I'm having a hard time
00:20:35
Speaker
Ouch. What can I do to care well for myself in this moment so I can be the best I can be right now, but in the context of my real human limits right now? How can I actually take care of myself as a human being with limits and maybe drop some of this unnecessary harshness or negativity
00:20:57
Speaker
in my tone towards myself. And for whatever reason, that attitude doesn't always feel Christian to Christians. For whatever reason, there's kind of a tradition built up within the Christian faith of harshness sometimes, you know, that we just kind of got to get it together and be strong and push through. And I don't really think that's biblical, right? It's not that there aren't ways that we have grit and resilience and stick with the things that are hard. Like, yes, of course.
00:21:27
Speaker
you know, you and I made it through graduate school. So we know that. There are points, you just say like, I got this goal, and I got to push towards it. And it's also true that, you know, God really cares for us, and that we are human beings with limits, and that we are
00:21:45
Speaker
In God's eyes, we are worthy of love and care. You know, Jesus actually died for us to make sure that's possible, that we are completely covered. And so I kind of get excited about this option we all have to actually treat ourselves with some of that same compassion and kindness and grace that God has for us. To me, I think that's really the Christian way. That's the good news of the gospel is that we are covered by grace.
00:22:15
Speaker
Yes, it is. And it's interesting how we treat ourselves in ways that God doesn't treat us. Like he never responds in a harsh tone like that. But we do say that to ourselves. So I agree with you. That isn't biblical. And without catching that, then if those are our thoughts, then that becomes our feelings about ourselves. And that's where we get into issues of low self-esteem or depression, because we don't feel that we're enough. We don't feel that.
00:22:45
Speaker
you know, God can use us so we live kind of at a low level of life when there's so much more abundance that God has for us. Absolutely. And I think even there are ways that mental health struggles become another area that we add more harshness onto as well. So there can be kind of an over moralizing of mental health issues. Like I shouldn't feel depressed. I should be grateful. I should, you know, know that God has me covered.
00:23:15
Speaker
Or even if you just take out the spiritual component, just people feeling like, what's wrong with me? I should be able to feel better. And I found it really helpful through the practice of mindfulness. Instead, just to notice on how I am feeling in the moment without moralizing it or trying to explain it or understand it, or just saying, this is a moment of suffering. Like I'm suffering right now. And so how would I want to respond to someone else who is suffering?
00:23:44
Speaker
can I care for myself in that same way? Sometimes we forget that depression is a form of suffering. Anxiety is a form of suffering. And we don't choose to be anxious or depressed. Nobody wants to be anxious or depressed. And sometimes when we are kind of perpetuating these cycles inside of ourselves of anxiety and depression,
00:24:09
Speaker
that really just adds to the suffering, right? And it becomes even more painful for us. And so with self-compassion and mindfulness, we can choose instead of trying to attack it as a problem and in doing so attacking ourselves as a problem, we can instead choose to see ourselves as somebody who's hurting and in need of love and compassion.
00:24:31
Speaker
in that moment. And then that, you know, it may or may not take away the initial pain, but it certainly reduces the amount of suffering that we're layering on top, you know, there are pain, there's pain in life that we
Self-Compassion and Acceptance
00:24:44
Speaker
can't avoid. And then there are lots of ways that we create extra pain, we create suffering by the ways that we respond to that pain. So mindfulness practice is kind of stripping away all those extra layers of analysis and judgment and
00:25:00
Speaker
trying to explain it and fix it. And it's instead just allowing us to be where we are, you know, and to treat ourselves with some kindness in that moment based on how we are and what we need right then. Yeah, it's about being vulnerable.
00:25:17
Speaker
And I think that's why it's so hard because we do have a way that we want to see ourselves and we have a way that we want to feel. So when we're not there, we're so hard on ourselves for not being there. But, you know, that is a part of life. And, you know, we were given a heads up from God that we're going to have tribulations and problems.
00:25:40
Speaker
but that we should be a good cheer because he's there. So that just brings us back to that moment of mindfulness all over again. Absolutely. Yeah. Recognizing that life isn't hard because we're doing something wrong. Life is hard because it's hard. And you're right. We had full disclosure on scripture. Yes. That life is hard. God himself came to earth and showed how hard life could be. I mean, Jesus lived a hard life.
00:26:08
Speaker
Yeah, it constantly strikes me that God really does not promise an easy life, right? There is this interesting promise of an easy yoke or like an easy load, right? So Jesus does say that his yoke is easy and his burden is light. And I think how that fits together for me anyway is recognizing that
00:26:32
Speaker
The world is a challenging place to be like as a human being for all different kinds of reasons. It is challenging in so many ways. And so Jesus comes in and says, when you are carrying all of that on your shoulders, there is another option, right? It's not that you shouldn't be having a hard time. It's more that we have this option over and over to turn to Jesus and say,
00:26:56
Speaker
Oh, let me put down this heavy load that I picked up again by accident. Like, let me set that down again, because really, God really does offer ease for us in the midst of that. Yes. But we don't just sort of switch our brain into a feeling at ease all the time, right? It's not coming from us. It's more something we're learning to remember to receive from Jesus over to say, Oh, yeah, Jesus load and yoke are easy and light.
00:27:24
Speaker
Right. It, it, it truly comes from a practice of being more mindful. Um, because I'm thinking about how mindfulness was really difficult for me at the beginning. But then when you say like his yoke is easy, I can agree to that because of my practice now that, you know what, it is easier to just be vulnerable to, to God and to say, you know, this is how I'm feeling. And this is, you know, this is the reality and to even accept that for myself.
00:27:54
Speaker
so that I can care for myself in that way. Yeah, absolutely. I love that time with vulnerability because that is just hard, right? I mean, being vulnerable is powerful and it's also scary. It can be quite terrifying. And mindfulness practice helps us to bring down those defenses against our thoughts and feelings, but our defenses are there because we're trying to protect ourselves. Right.
00:28:24
Speaker
You know, when I initially started practicing mindfulness, I had this sense or like this metaphor that was coming to me, having not too long before that, gone through the loss of somebody I cared about and hospice had been involved in that process. And so much of what hospice does is it helps individuals who are passing on and also their families to accept the reality, right? Like we accept that this person is dying.
00:28:53
Speaker
And somehow with that acceptance, we were all able to let go of our control a little bit or our desire for control. We couldn't control that loss, but we wanted to by denying that it was happening.
00:29:08
Speaker
And so for hospice to come in and say, hey, let's all release our grip a little bit here and accept the reality that this loss is occurring because that allows us to experience the rich gifts of this transitional period, right? And it was such a richer experience to say goodbye to our loved one because we were able to fully enter into that with our defenses lowered.
00:29:33
Speaker
For me, that was very similar to those initial weeks of learning mindfulness. I kept feeling like I'm, I feel like this is a hospice like experience where I'm saying, I no longer need to keep trying to control and change and fix my depressed feelings. Yes. I actually have this opportunity to release my grip, release my need for control, and accept what I'm feeling is what I'm feeling.
00:30:02
Speaker
What is here is already here. And what if I simply allowed myself to be present, which was much more vulnerable. It was much more vulnerable just to be present to what I was experiencing as compared to trying to fix it or change it or control it. And I think as I released my grip on that need to control it, it really transformed my ability to take good care of those emotions that come up.
00:30:30
Speaker
And, as you mentioned earlier, that allows for much earlier intervention too.
00:30:36
Speaker
you know in the past if I had a sad feeling it might spin into analyzing the sad feeling which was likely to then escalate the sad feeling and now I'm a bit more likely to at least have this option now of oh I feel sad let me take good care of myself and lean into what I'm experiencing right now without judgment without having to fix it or control it or change it but simply being open and vulnerable to what's
00:31:03
Speaker
right here. And that again, I think is where a Christian framework fits so well with mindfulness practice. Because I think that when we let down our defenses, what we're doing is acknowledging the sovereignty of God. And we're saying, come Lord Jesus, right? Like be present in this. We're trusting God to heal in that space, right? As we release our grip,
00:31:31
Speaker
Kind of like when you're holding a little kid who's maybe fighting and having a tantrum and is angry and upset. Once they finally relax and give up control, then you actually have a chance to help them and comfort them, right? And that's kind of what mindfulness practice is like. It's kind of like giving up that fight so that we actually can rest in God's arms and God's care and experience that kind of healing that God has for us. Yeah, that's beautiful.
00:31:59
Speaker
And that's what we do with people in mental health therapy all the time. We're helping them to recognize and to even appreciate some of their coping mechanisms, whether they were, even if they weren't, it's healthy. It's something you develop to protect yourself, but you're in a place now where those mechanisms are no longer serving you. They're no longer helpful. And you're learning a new pattern, a new behavior,
00:32:26
Speaker
you know, that's going to help you to get through it in a more healthy fashion. And that is really the key. Yeah, I love that concept in the mental health field of learning to honor our coping skills, to be able to say, some of these have served me better than others, but they were all attempts to cope, right? And in one way, shape or form, they got me to where I am now.
00:32:53
Speaker
And so now what are my options for how to continue coping? Like what are the mechanisms at this point in my life?
00:33:01
Speaker
I'm old enough now to look back on a lot of life and see a lot of different coping mechanisms. And so I have the benefit of knowing a little bit more, which have been really helpful and which ones not so much. And I think it's super cool. We just keep learning our whole lives long. We keep learning about ourselves and our coping strategies. And really, we are all different when it comes to what's the most helpful.
00:33:27
Speaker
for each one of us at different periods of time. And so we can learn from each other, but then we have this freedom to really adapt, to adapt all those coping mechanisms to ourselves as the people that God made each of us to be to. Yes. Yeah. Thank you. Any last thoughts about the book or that you want to share with us?
00:33:52
Speaker
Well, I think ultimately my hope is that the book serves as a helpful translation tool. I often notice that Christians, you know, we have a hard time sometimes separating out our theology from culture. And there is a lot of tradition that's built up around Christian faith, different ways, different parts of the world, different pockets. And sometimes we get a little bit confused about what's really theology connected to scripture.
00:34:21
Speaker
And what's just maybe the ways that we've gotten used to doing things in our own particular pocket of the world. And so one of the things I've hoped to do with the book is just to offer some Christian language for understanding mindfulness in a true authentic way, right? So I'm not someone who ever wants to twist scripture or to kind of go mining through scripture to find support for what I think
00:34:50
Speaker
It's really important to me that it's authentically true to the word of God. And so I'm hoping that the book will be helpful for people that maybe otherwise would be hesitant to hear about mindfulness, maybe because some of the cultural trappings around the way mindfulness sometimes is taught. I'm hoping that it'll open up some more conversation and serve as a bit of a bridge for people that are interested in incorporating it with Christian faith.
00:35:18
Speaker
I do think that it has, mindfulness as a practice has a lot of overlap with existing Christian disciplines. So you think of things like Centering Prayer or Lectio Divina.
00:35:29
Speaker
or Teze worship, there are a few different, even just recently in history, different ways of contemplative worship that have become popularized again. And while mindfulness is separate from those, it's also overlapping in a lot of ways. And so I'm excited by this growth of interest among Christians in spiritual disciplines and in contemplation, because I know for many of us, that really serves as a helpful avenue to God.
Interactive Mindfulness Practices
00:35:59
Speaker
It does. It does. Thank you. So we're going to give away two copies of your book. And it's just to the first two people who send an email saying free book to Tracy T-R-A-C-E-Y at tlpearson.co. And that's .co, not .com. I will respond to everyone that that does email in whether you've won or not. So don't feel like if
00:36:29
Speaker
that you won't hear back. But I mean, it would be great if you would take us through maybe a Christian practice that we could, you know, get a feeling for what we're talking about for people who may not have this experience. Yeah, I would be happy to do that. And maybe just to set it up a little bit first. The practices that I lead often are in the tradition of what we call mindfulness based stress reduction, MBSR for short.
00:36:58
Speaker
And this is a method of teaching mindfulness that is generally secular in nature. It's become pretty widespread here in the US over the last couple of decades. And it came out of the medical school at the University of Massachusetts back in the 70s. And so the practices that have developed through MBSR cover things like a body scan where people are learning to connect in with their physical sensations.
00:37:25
Speaker
a sitting practice, which is generally focused on breathing and on physical sensations and maybe some thoughts and feelings. There are some movement practices that involve some yoga or walking. I have one that's also adapted for people using a wheelchair. And then there is also a practice that's pretty standardized called a loving kindness practice, which has to do with extending warmth towards ourselves and towards other people in the world as well.
00:37:56
Speaker
So when I lead practices, typically I find them even just in their secular form to be helpful because they're solid mental health tools. And at the same time, they are often enriched for me with some scripture woven in and also just with an acknowledgement throughout that we're in God's presence because God's presence is one of the things that we can pay attention to if we choose.
00:38:22
Speaker
So today I'll lead a short sitting practice for us, which is maybe what we the most typically think about when we think of meditation is kind of a practice. What I would want to say, though, before we start that is just that everybody has different responses, first of all, to the postures we choose for meditation, and second of all, to the focus of attention, specifically when it comes to breathing. And we're learning more and more recently
00:38:49
Speaker
that while focusing on breath is really helpful for lots and lots of people, there are some people that's not as helpful for or might even be triggering for. So I will lead this sitting practice focused on breathing, but just to acknowledge that if somebody finds that that either increases anxiety or feels really uncomfortable, it is completely fine to shift attention somewhere else. So we talk about each person having those anchors for their attention,
00:39:17
Speaker
that are helpful. So if it's not the breath, it might be the feelings on the bottom of your feet or the tips of your fingers. Or for some people, it might be sounds in the space around them. For others, it might actually be opening their eyes, taking in colors and shapes, that kind of a thing. So I just want to invite listeners to adapt this as much as is helpful for them. If sitting is in a comfortable posture, it is fine to lay down or stand up or add in some movement.
00:39:47
Speaker
If the breath is not a comfortable anchor, it is fine to choose a different anchor and just make that kind of adaptation throughout the practice. We always say in mindfulness that the goal is to know what you're doing with your mind while you're doing it. So it's not that
00:40:04
Speaker
the instructions I give need to be followed rigidly. It's more that we're all just practicing knowing what we're doing with our minds as we do. So with that, I would invite listeners to find a seated position with a straight back. And you can think here about the back being straight, but not over arched or strained. Can help to have feet flat on the floor.
00:40:34
Speaker
hands resting on the thighs or on the lap. You might imagine that there's a string at the top of your head that's just gently reaching up towards the ceiling so that your head is meeting the sky. So settling into the sitting posture in a way that you feel balanced, relaxed, at ease, allowing the body to become still.
00:41:04
Speaker
And if it's supportive for your practice, you can close your eyes. It's also okay to keep your eyes halfway open, halfway closed, just with a soft gaze in front of you. And you might begin here by taking in a deep breath or two, feeling that rise and fall of the shoulders. And then allowing your breath to return to its
00:41:34
Speaker
normal rate and rhythm. As you check in here with how you're doing, noticing thoughts, feelings, physical sensations that are here for you in this moment. And noticing here that the intention of this mindfulness practice is not to change anything.
00:42:02
Speaker
but instead to accept what you find with openness, curiosity and acceptance. Seeing if you can bring an attitude of compassion and kindness to your attention. Feeling the chair or the surface beneath you, supporting you, perhaps feeling the floor,
00:42:32
Speaker
Feeling gravity holding you. Noticing the places of contact with surfaces, clothing, air. Exploring any and all sensations that are here in the body. As you settle into this position,
00:43:03
Speaker
Receiving these words from Matthew chapter six, Jesus said, so don't be anxious about tomorrow. God will take care of your tomorrow too. Live one day at a time. So settling into this day, this place where God is taking care
00:43:33
Speaker
of you. And bringing attention here to the fact that you are breathing. God is providing this breath for you in this moment. Simply attending to this felt sensation of breath in your body.
00:44:00
Speaker
Noticing where you feel the breath most clearly or most distinctly. This may be at the nostrils, the coolness as you breathe in and the warmth as you breathe out. It may be the rise and the fall of the chest or the belly. Or perhaps there's a feeling of tingling or vibration with the breath.
00:44:29
Speaker
So wherever you find it to be, most natural, most easy, you can allow your mind to rest in that place. Simply feel the breath flowing in and flowing out of the body.
00:44:58
Speaker
It's likely that you'll find your mind wandering as you focus on the breath. You may realize that you've been lost in thought, planning, remembering. Maybe it's been quite some time since you felt your last breath. It's okay. It's not a problem. See if you can gently let go of whatever the distraction has been and simply begin again, gently returning to the feeling of the breath in this moment.
00:45:41
Speaker
The act of beginning again over and over is the essential art of mindfulness meditation practice. Over and over, we begin again with this moment and this breath. We're feeling the breath as it comes and as it goes, taking this practice one inhalation
00:46:10
Speaker
And one exhalation at a time. You might find that your attention is wandering constantly. It doesn't matter. This is the mind's job. Just as it's the heart's job to pump blood throughout the body.
00:46:39
Speaker
It's the mind's job to think. So be gentle with yourself. Just reconnect gently, patiently. Come back to the feeling of the breath in the body, the physical sensations of breathing from moment to moment.
00:47:14
Speaker
And if you find that your attention feels tight or tense, you might go back to simply feeling your body sitting here for a moment, just sitting here in God's presence. And so there's an effortless quality to mindfulness. We don't have to make anything happen, not the sensations, not the breath. We're simply trying to be aware of it, simply receiving what God is providing moment to moment.
00:47:44
Speaker
Just sitting, just breathing, just being.
00:48:12
Speaker
You might discover a pause or a gap between the in breath and the out breath, or between the out breath and the next in breath. And so if you notice a pause like that, you might want to allow the tension to settle in the body right there, simply feeling the body sitting here as you allow the next breath to come naturally. Be with each breath as though it were your first breath.
00:48:40
Speaker
There's nothing to compare it with. In fact, each breath is new given by God for this moment. And so there's an immediacy of attention with mindfulness. We're simply here. This is our life right in this moment, this one breath following the next.
00:49:22
Speaker
There may be many distractions coming up, an endless stream of thoughts and images, aches and pains. It's okay, it doesn't matter. Recognizing that you've lost touch with the breath and simply coming back, starting over, beginning again with this breath.
00:50:01
Speaker
And so broadening your awareness now to the whole body breathing. As if with each in-breath, the whole body is filled with air as it enters through the nose, fills the lungs, and fills the entire body. And then sensing the air as it flows out from the entire body, from the lungs through the nose once again. Sensing the whole body breathing as you follow this inflow and outflow of air.
00:50:41
Speaker
And if you find yourself beginning again and again and again in the course of one sitting, that's the practice. That's what mindfulness meditation is. In fact, that's what life is. That's what God provides for us, this beginning again, one moment at a time.
00:51:28
Speaker
And so once again, feeling the breath, feeling your body, noticing points of contact with surfaces, perhaps expanding your attention a bit to include the space around you. If you choose, opening your eyes, slowly taking in shapes and colors, receiving your sense of sight if that's available to you.
00:51:59
Speaker
Perhaps bringing some movement into your body, taking a deep breath in, wiggling fingers and toes, stretching arms and legs, seeing if you can bring some of this quality of presence with you into the rest of your day. Go in peace. Thank you. That was so beautiful, so peaceful. Thank you for the opportunity.
00:52:28
Speaker
Yeah, I just appreciate you being on our podcast today. And we usually end with just kind of hearing a little bit about what's given you joy in life or anything that you might want to share that you're watching or reading or listening to. Yeah.
Joy and Future Endeavors
00:52:49
Speaker
It's so important to pay attention to these moments of joy, these provisions.
00:52:54
Speaker
I think more and more I am finding that allowing myself to maybe this is partially a pandemic experience, but noticing the joy of being able to settle into home and being able to connect. I think in general, I thought of myself as needing kind of a wide circle of people and places to feed me.
00:53:19
Speaker
And I've been paying attention more lately to the joys of home, just what does it mean to kind of settle in to be a creature in my own house? And that's been bringing me joy, I think in terms of what I've been listening to or reading.
00:53:35
Speaker
I'm not a voracious reader or listener. This is probably a very silly, silly example. But I don't know if you're at all familiar with a strange planet series. Yeah, it's just silly. And it makes me laugh and smile. I found myself lately. I think I'm sure you can relate to this as a professional that we just need, you know, lighthearted things sometimes.
00:54:00
Speaker
Strange Planet is sort of a comic series about, I don't know how else to say it, except they're kind of like aliens who have come to Earth and who are trying to understand how humans do things here. And it's just all these descriptions of modern life in a very funny language from people like who wouldn't have grown up with it that I find it to be a fascinating commentary
00:54:22
Speaker
both on culture and modern life. And it just makes me giggle. And so that's perfect. I would say that that's what's bringing me some joy. I could try to come up with something deeper, but I think the rest of our lives are so full of heaviness. Yes, we did like this, don't we? Yeah. And I would also say, you know, I've just I do really enjoy memoirs and I enjoy reading history.
00:54:47
Speaker
as long as it's written in a way that I can comprehend and understand. I've just recently started reading a book that's about New York City during the time of yellow fever, which was a really big deal for a long time. And so first of all, just reading about New York as a smaller town than it is now, but also to hear how people in that time were dealing with a pandemic. This book was written back in 2013. And
00:55:16
Speaker
I picked it up because we're big Hamilton fans in my house. And this book is about Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr representing a client together in court or you know, I actually shouldn't say that now that I say that I'm not sure if they were against each other together. I haven't gotten to that part of the book. I'll tell you next time. I'm sure one of your listeners can correct me. But regardless, that's the main point of the book. But what I'm fascinated about in the initial stages is just to see people trying to understand this pandemic.
00:55:45
Speaker
this play. Hearing about the numbers of people dying, hearing about people quarantining and finding isolated places, social distancing, getting out of the city. It's such a reflection of what we're going through now. And it's just a reminder that
00:56:03
Speaker
life has always had these challenges, right, that we're not alone in the modern world and struggling with some of these things. And that brings encouragement to me just to see like, oh, generations before, many generations of human beings. There's kind of this great cloud of witnesses as scripture says, all these people who have experienced hardship and who have
00:56:26
Speaker
done their best to get through it and relied on God and relied on each other and then learned over the years. So that's been kind of interesting. That's amazing. Thank you. Thank you for sharing that.
00:56:40
Speaker
Well, I guess we don't have much else for our listeners today, but again, let's give your website in the book. It's The Mindful Christian, and the website is themindfulchristian.com. Yep, that's it. Yeah. Yes. And I should just flag too that there is another book I have coming out next year that's for teenagers that is a book of devotional practices set within mindfulness.
00:57:04
Speaker
If your listeners know of any teenagers that might be open to a devotional resource like that, that includes mindfulness practices, that will be coming out in August of 2022 through Zondervan. Okay, we'll have to have you back to talk about that at that time. I think that would be fantastic. I would love it, yeah. Yes, yes. Well, thank you for joining us today.
00:57:28
Speaker
Thank you so much. It's been a delight. Oh, thank you. I'm so glad. I'm so glad we were able to connect. So our guest today has been Irene Craigl, the author of The Mindful Christian. I hope you enjoyed today's episode. Thank you for joining me. All the show notes and links can be found at mindfullyrefresh.com forward slash podcast.
00:57:53
Speaker
In addition, you can find out more information on our website, www.mindfullyrefreshed.com, or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, at Mindfully Refreshed. It would be awesome if you would subscribe and rate this podcast. It helps us to be found by more listeners.
00:58:14
Speaker
I'd also love to hear your comments on how the show has helped you and have ideas even for future shows. You can send me a text at area code 313-524-2256 or email me at info at mindfullyrefresh.com. You can also complete a form on our podcast page.
00:58:37
Speaker
I hope you join us for another exciting episode of the Mindfully Refresh podcast. Again, I'm your host, Tracy Lynn Pearson, hoping you stay healthy, happy, and refreshed.