selfcompassion

Free Weekly Mindfulness

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Last Creative Mindfulness class this term is Tuesday!

Register for next term by emailing me on monique@easynowmindfulness.com!!

We are also colouring again on Sunday, 10-12, at the Tawa Community Centre.

positive thinking

Good morning!!
Last week in the Creative Mindfulness Class ( you are welcome to our last meeting tomorrow in Tawa by the way) we did a mindfulness of thinking practice.
This is something you can easily try at home too.
The goal is to learn to notice the thoughts popping up in your mind (which is normal and happens all the time).
So no analysing, no judging, no liking, no disliking, just noticing every thought as it pops up in your mind, and disappears again.
 
When you become more aware of what is going on in your mind, you will get more control over your mind, and will be more able to decide what thoughts are helpful for you, and what thoughts are unhelpful. It will be easier to let those unhelpful thoughts pass by, by just noticing them and not giving them any more attention.
 
So this week, take a moment to find a nice quiet spot to sit, close your eyes, focus on your breathing for 10 breaths and than bring all your attention to your thinking. A couple of minutes to start with will be great!
 
Have an awesome week,
M
Healthy Mind, Happy Heart
🌷
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Free Weekly Mindfulness Workout

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  • Creative Mindfulness Tuesday evenings in Tawa.
  • Tawa All Good Colourers every last Sunday of the month.
  • Learn to crochet, 4 weeks, starts 1 November on the Wednesday evening.

My Wednesday evening “learn to crochet for calmness” class finished last Wednesday and I’m super proud of my students!! I’m also super grateful for the awesome feedback they gave me on the course 💜 Thank you!!!

We had a great morning full of colouring and zendoodle yesterday in the Tawa Community Centre and lots of people came to chill and chat!!

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FREE WORKOUT STARTS HERE:

If you want to start practicing mindfulness, so you feel better, are more relaxed and worry less, you have to make it easy for yourself. And the easiest way is to take an activity that you are doing already, and make that a mindfulness exercise. So doing what you are doing anyway, just now doing it mindfully.

This can be brushing your teeth, rinsing your shampoo, emptying the dishwasher, having your morning cuppa, walking home from the station, or hanging the laundry outside. The last one is my favorite!!

Make it mindful by bringing your full attention to your senses in the here and now. What can you see, feel, hear, touch, smell right here, right now while you are doing what you are doing. Doestn’t have to take more than a few minutes!!

You will notice you get easily distracted by anything that pops up in your mind, and that doesn’t matter at all. Actually, that is super normal to happen!

Just notice you get distracted, and kindly bring your attention back to the activity you were doing mindfully.

Go on, try it this week!

Have a great week!

M

Healthy Mind, Happy Heart

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Free Weekly Mindfulness Workout and upcoming classes.

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Tuesday is Creative Mindfulness, come if you can, learn mindfulness AND work on your creative projects. We have crocheters (of course), knitters, colourers etc.

Thursday we are making jingle balls for Little Sprouts, come if you can crochet and bring your hook and any materials you might have. I can send you a pattern if you like too!

Sunday we are colouring again at the Tawa community centre, 10-12!!

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Wow Monday again! Are you here for the weekly workout? Let me know and hit the like button!
 
Learn to crochet is already in the last week, and I loved every lesson so much!! Lucky to be teaching this again in November!! Sign up at tawacomed website, it was fully booked very quickly last time.
 
Creative Mindfulness is Tuesday evening, all welcome to attend!
 
>>>>>>workout starts here<<<<<<
 
If you practice being mindful, you will also become more aware of what is going on in your mind. As your mind will distract you from being mindful all the time! (Which is totally normal!)
 
This week try to notice your thoughts and see if there are any negative thoughts. And here’s the workout: try to reframe them into a more positive thought. For example: I can never do this. You could change that into I cannot do it yet.
This can help in being more realistic and feel better!
 
Have a great week,
M
🌷Healthy Mind, Happy Heart

Free Weekly Mindfulness and upcoming classes.

easynowmindfulnessLeave a comment
stress
Good morning and welcome to another week, and another little mindfulness workout!
Tomorrow CREATIVE MINDFULNESS starts, 7.30-9pm in Tawa, let me know if you want to join to learn and practice mindfulness AND work on your creative projects in a friendly and down to earth class.
Crocheters, knitters, colourers etc all welcome!!
 
>>>workout starts here<<<
 
Mindfulness is training your attention to be in the here and now, with an open and curious attitude, non judging of what is here.
Often we get stressed, by situations, by ourselves, by others. Mindfulness will not make stress never happen again, but it can help in managing stress, by doing just that: notice you get stressed!!
We can rage for some time, before we even notice what is actually going on with us. So that first step is the most important: notice that you are stressing out, looking at yourself.
Than be mindful of where in your body you feel stress, and just observe that. I find you are all clever people and usually once you learn to recognise the moment you are stressing out, and bringing your attention to your body, your feelings and what is going on in your mind, will give you a lightbulb moment as to what is going to be your next step. You can do this!
 
So no running away from stress, not beating yourself up about being stressed, just becoming aware of it is the way to move onwards. By practicing this, you will notice when you are being stressed much sooner, or you might even notice you are about to get stressed, and that is just great!!
 
Try it for a week and let me know if this is helpful,
have a great week,
M
🌷Healthy Mind, Happy Heart
ps Crocheting for calmness is so succesful, we are already taking bookings for next term!!
Here’s what people showed the second week at crochet class:
crochet

Free Weekly Mindfulness and Upcoming classes

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Tuesday 15 August: 6 week Creative Mindfulness in Tawa, 7.30-9pm.

Next week Creative Mindfulness starts on Tuesday, join us if you want to practice some mindfulness and want to have time to work on your creative projects!!
“My” crocheters come to this class, we have a mum and daughter, a few knitters, and we welcome colourers etc too!!

Sunday 27 August Tawa All Good Colourers at the Tawa Community Centre.

 Email monique@easynowmindfulness.com to register.

 

Easy Now Mindfulness Zendoodle Challenge
 
This week I have a zendoodle challenge for you. No need to be artistic or have an arts degree, everybody can do this, just follow these 8 steps!
So here we go:
 
1. Grab a pencil, a black sharpie/fineliner, paper and a round or square template. I used a glass to make a circle, you can also use square coaster or whatever you can find.
 
2. Use your pencil to go round your template to make a circle or square.
 
3. With your pencil draw 2 lines right through your template, to create 4 empty spaces. Any 4 spaces are fine!
 
3. Get your black sharpie and fill one space with this pattern:
https://buff.ly/2uv8Au4. Do you notice how I made a mistake here??  I decided not to be bothered by that 🙂
 
4. Fill another space with this pattern:
 
5. Fill another space with this pattern:
6. Fill a space with this pattern:
 
7. If you have any remaining spaces, you can fill this with circles of all different sizes and colour black around them.
 
8. Finished, or you can colour your zendoodle if you like. What ever you do, it will look stunning!!
 
Post your zendoodle to my page or in the comments as I will love to see how yours turned out!!!
 
Have a great week,
M
 
🌷 Healthy Mind, Happy Heart

Free Weekly Mindfulness Workout & upcoming courses.

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Upcoming classes:

Wednesday 2 August, 4 week learn to crochet at Tawa Community Adult Education.

Monday 7 August: 8 week Rewire Your Brain for Happiness MBSR in Churton Park.

Tuesday 15 August: 6 week Creative Mindfulness in Tawa.

 Email monique@easynowmindfulness.com to register.

 

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Holidays are over, all kids are back in school. So back to filling my classes for this term!
>>>The 8 week MBSR course that starts next Monday evening in Churton Park might be just right for you if you have done some mindfulness before, or if you are an absolute beginner, Very suitable for men, and women, and teens!
>>>The 6 week Creative Mindfulness on the Tuesday evening might be the one for you If you enjoy being creative, whether that is crochet, clouring, knitting or anything else AND you want to get into mindfulness.
Email me to register monique@easynowmindfulness.com or use the email now button at the top of this page.
FREE workout starts here:
Mindfulness can help to sleep better. I use mindfulness when I give my mind something to focus on, so it doesn’t go wild with worries!!
For me focussing on sounds works best. I start to pay attention to all that I can hear, just listening, not thinking about the sounds and not looking for sounds. This makes me feel relaxed and I sleep in no time!
So this week practice being mindful of sounds. Just bring your full attention to all you can hear, nearby and far away. Let me know if you get sleepy too!!
It helps in giving your brain a break from thinking and analysing and can be energising too.
Have a great week!
M
🌷Healthy Mind, Happy Heart
ps can you guess what the picture is???

Free Weekly Mindfulness and Upcoming courses

easynowmindfulnessLeave a comment
Upcoming classes:

Wednesday 2 August, 4 week learn to crochet at Tawa Community Adult Education

Monday 7 August: 8 week Rewire Your Brain for Happiness.

Tuesday 15 August: 6 week Creative Mindfulness. 

 Email monique@easynowmindfulness.com to register.

 

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Free Weekly Mindfulness Workout

 
Is it schoolholidays in your home? It is in mine!
 
We often stay at home, as the kids seem to be very happy just hanging around.
Even if you are not going to the sun, or the snow or anywhere els these two weeks, that doesn’t mean you can’t take some moments to yourself to chill! And when everybody is at home for 2 weeks, I really need to do this myself!!
 
So this week, make a list of things that you like to do, that are fun, relaxing, or a treat. Doesn’t have to be expensive!
Commit yourself to doing at least one item of the list every day. Even if it is just for 5 or 10 minutes, take that time for yourself.
 
My list so far:
-put my colouring calender back on the dining table, I don’t have to finish a whole colouring page, but I can sit down for 10 minutes and colour.
-sit on my balcony (it’s covered!), have my coffee or tea in peace.
-visit a museum/gallery.
-go for a walk at the beach.
– go for lunch with a friend.
-go for a coffee with a neighbour.
-discover more meditations on my mediation apps.
-browse crochet projects.
-make a zendoodle.
-do my yoga every day.
 
Have a great week!
Aroha nui,
M
 
🌷Healthy Mind, Happy Heart
 
ps. do you like the picture? My dream camper, one day it will happen 🙂

 

Free Weekly Mindfulness Workout and upcoming classes.

easynowmindfulnessLeave a comment
Upcoming classes:

Wednesday 2 August, 4 week learn to crochet at Tawa Community Adult Education

Monday 7 August: 8 week Rewire Your Brain for Happiness.

Tuesday 15 August: 6 week Creative Mindfulness. 

 Email monique@easynowmindfulness.com to register.

 

reflection wellington
 
Free Mindfulness Workout.
Most people will come up with “being in the here and now” or “being present” when they think about what mindfulness is.
And they are right! Mindfulness is bringing your full atttention to the present moment.
However that doesn’t mean that we cannot reflect upon things. It’s actually a healthy thing to do!
It’s good to take time to plan something, have a good think about something, when you decide when you want to do that. (Middle of the night is usually not a good time!)
Reflecting is not the same as overthinking, worrying or ruminating. If thinking makes you feel bad, that’s probably where you go wrong.
 
This week try to take a moment every day, to reflect upon a situation that happened that day or something you just want to have a good think about. You can ask yourself questions. What went well, what made it happen, how could things have worked out better etc etc.
Try to take one thing out of it, that you would like to improve on, and make that your goal for the next day, or the next time. And remember to be kind to yourself!
 
Have a great week,
look after you,
M
🌷Healthy Mind, Happy Heart

Free Weekly Mindfulness and upcoming courses.

easynowmindfulnessLeave a comment
Upcoming classes:

 Sunday 2 July: Tawa All Good Colourers, at the Community Centre 10-12.

Wednesday 2 August, 4 week learn to crochet at Tawa Community Adult Education

Monday 7 August: 8 week Rewire Your Brain for Happiness.

Tuesday 15 August: 6 week Creative Mindfulness. 

 Email monique@easynowmindfulness.com to register.

 

 

yogarock

Good morning from Dunedin!! Feeling grateful to be here and I couldn’t have done this without one of my best friends, looking after our kids!!
 
Mindfulness is easy, it’s paying attention, in the here and now, with curiosity, acceptance and openheartedness, and without judging.
That means, it’s mostly an attention trainer!
 
This week, try to bring your attention to your body, the sensations in your body, just a couple of times a day.
 
Usually when you’re walking, your mind will wander off. Bringing your focus back to your body can help in stopping this wandering. As often the wandering can be ruminating, worrying, stressing, planning etc. Which only fatigues the brain and makes you feel bad.
 
Another way to be more mindful of the body is to start practicing yoga. I use the downdog app and absolutely love it! Great for beginners too! You can use it any time, any where, even at your work 🙂
 
Have a great week!
Don’t forget to register for the upcoming courses, the 8 week MBSR, 6 week creative mindfulness or the just crochet!!!
M
Healthy Mind, Happy Heart
 
🌷the yoga app: https://www.downdogapp.com

Upcoming classes & Free Weekly Mindfulness Workout

easynowmindfulnessLeave a comment
Upcoming classes:
Tuesday 6 June: Creative Mindfulness. 

Saturday 17 June: Mindfulness for Kids workshop

Sunday 24 June: All Good Colourers

Monday 7 August: 8 week Rewire Your Brain for Happiness

motivation paint peel
Free Weekly Mindfulness Workout
 
Queen’s Birthday, and drama’s in London. So much happening in the world always. Makes you appreciate your normal day to day life even more.
 
This picture is my go to motivation for life. I found it once in the States and have carried it with my back to England, to the Netherlands and now it’s here in NZ.
It makes me smile, it motivates me to do stuff, and it makes me feel good.
With mindfulness you train your attention when you give it something to focus on. This can be your breathing, or your senses, or a mantra, a word, a sentence.
 
What is your best motivational quote? What has helped you? What words make you feel good? What always pulls you through??
 
Let me know what quotes have helped you, and I will post them out on the page this week!
 
I have a few things coming up, mindfulness for kids, creative mindfulness classes and the 8 week mindfulness based stress reduction starts after the holidays too. Don’t forget to register!!
 
Have a good week,
M
 
🌷Healthy Mind, Happy Heart