“Awakened Wellness”, where self-discovery meets purposeful, lasting change.

Awakened Wellness: Mindfulness Practice and You

• Marie knoetig • Season 2 • Episode 18

Share episode

Send us a text

Mindfulness isn't just a buzzword—it's a practice that can revolutionize every facet of our lives. In this episode, we discuss how being present and attuned to your thoughts can enhance decision-making, improve relationships, and even aid in overcoming physical challenges.

We discuss the transformative potential in embracing positivity and nurturing compassion by accepting others as they are. This practice is both challenging and rewarding, encouraging personal growth and a more compassionate worldview. Join us on this journey as we introduce Awakened Wellness Life, a treasure trove of resources designed to guide you in nurturing a mindful and peaceful self, all by listening to your inner voice.

For More Information join our community by visiting www.awakenedwellness.life or marieknoetig.com

Speaker 1:

Good afternoon and welcome to Awakened Wellness. Marie and myself, jocelyn, are so glad that you could join us. As always, marie's got a lot of feedback that she gets from people watching the shows and clients and people that go on the website awakenedwellnesslife. You can watch past shows. You can submit questions. There's some different articles, recipes.

Speaker 2:

There's recipes. Bodyworking ideas, there's challenges, there's all kinds of things on there.

Speaker 1:

So lots of stuff on the website to help you maneuver your way and then watch the shows and have some more questions and give Marie some feedback, because we love to have that. So today's show is going to be mindful practice and you. But before we get to that, I think you have some feedback on previous shows.

Speaker 2:

I do my grandson again because he makes me smile. Good yeah, he's going to be 17 now. Wow, he's been working really hard physically on his body and everything else and his scar is ever present and the stronger he's gotten, it's really pulled his shoulder out of whack and things like that. So he called me up and asked me if he could come over and as soon as I started working on him he worked with me, which was really cool and he's never done that before. He just kind of took it over and I just kind of followed his cue and we were able to get him into a better place. But the funny part about that is the more he goes inward and works on himself that way, the more he's understanding life too. He's understanding people's perspectives. He's seeing things from a much broader perspective. He's not in the narrow focus most teenagers are in. It's really kind of cool.

Speaker 1:

So the conversations we have are really cool. I like it. It kind of reminded me of another show we just did previously, where everything's connected. Yeah, it is when all the everything started awakening. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:

That's pretty cool, that's really exciting. Yeah, he said he was doing a report and he had to pick a topic and it was on winning and I said, oh, are you writing about, like sports, winning? He goes, no, grammy, what's a personal win? I go, really I go, and you're going to talk about personal wins, what would be your personal wins? And then he went into detail about how he's overcome obstacles with his health and things.

Speaker 1:

And it was really kind of cool that he looks at winning that way, because he is an athlete and his whole family is all about winning sports Right, so that would seem to be the go-to.

Speaker 2:

It caught me for a loop because he used to be all about winning the sports, so I thought that was really cool.

Speaker 1:

But again without health and balance, you can't win a sport Right.

Speaker 2:

But the funny part is it's going to be a show on winning. I think that was a really cool topic. Good, because I had to look in the mirror and say well, what have I won? Personally, what would that be that you would look to win?

Speaker 1:

for. So now that I know that's going to be a future show, that means I have to do some math. Thank you, yeah, do some homework.

Speaker 2:

That'll be the next one. Okay, another woman. She was struggling with her body but she was doing the chiropractic, the personal training, the physical therapy she was doing me and it just wasn't getting any better and things were so out of whack and finally I said you know, you need to take a step back. And then someone else told her to take a step back and she finally did so. She stopped everything and she's been doing a lot of self stuff. She's getting a lot better and she's been now directing what she wants done, versus just letting everybody have a different piece of the pie.

Speaker 1:

Realizing that yeah, so this this.

Speaker 2:

So she's essentially planning whether she's going to take care of herself. Today I need, yeah, yeah, versus, I'm going to this one, this one, this one, because I hurt and they have to fix me. Yeah, wow, that's, that's a huge step. That was a huge step for her.

Speaker 1:

So I was really proud of her, really proud of her Because it's easy to say fix me, you feel better, for five minutes or five hours, nobody can fix us.

Speaker 2:

We're the only ones that can fix us. They can aid in it and help facilitate it, but they are not the fixers. Okay, I had another woman that had done tons of spiritual training and all kinds of modalities and everything else and she wasn't getting any better. And then she started working with me and to get her out of that mindset was really difficult and every time she would achieve some goals it would really mess with her head because it wasn't what that said should happen. Well, she finally let go all of that and the healing she is doing is so profound, physically even, like her body is changing, because she's not controlling it anymore. She's just being more mindful, she's in it, she's surrendering, she's letting go can you give an example of?

Speaker 2:

somebody like say it was a healing technique that you put your hand here and you do this and you run the energy here and you have to go through here. She stopped all of that and she just lays there and lets her body tell her. Okay, because she used to stop it not letting her body talk because it didn't fall into parameters with the other techniques all right yeah I see what you're saying.

Speaker 1:

Interesting, yeah, so I thought that was really cool, wow, which is all wrapped up in your head as well, too but even when I work with her, the energy is so different.

Speaker 2:

because she used to be such an anxiety basket case, because I think she felt like she was failing all the time because those techniques were not working and she was told this is how you achieve this higher level and this is how you achieve this. And it wasn't happening.

Speaker 1:

So she thought she was failing Right. So in the anxiety.

Speaker 2:

You work even harder at it because you don't think you're doing it right. But there is no such thing.

Speaker 1:

The only thing is is what your body can tell you and and your job is to listen, to be quiet and listen, yes, which is very difficult, very, very difficult. So full disclosure. I go outside into the woods edge of the yard and breathe Nice, and if it's a really, really bad day, I hug a tree.

Speaker 2:

Nice, nothing wrong with that.

Speaker 1:

I used to think that was a weird thing, but it's very calming.

Speaker 2:

Because a tree just is. A tree just is. It has no judgment, it has no thought, it reacts to the weather, it reacts to what's happening in its environment. So when you hug a tree, you're just becoming part of the universe, because you're not in this chaotic energy. You're in this energy. That just is. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

I found a few of my friends and myself that I am walking away from the chaos, that if I I'll say, oh, that's something I might like to do, and then I just kind of stand there and go, ooh, that's like really loud and a lot of movement and it's a lot of people and there's a lot of energy in there. Do I want to do it? Right, for the sake of, but everybody else is doing it, yeah, no.

Speaker 2:

I don't do that. It's all good, all right. So mindful practice. Everybody says we need a mindful practice. What does that actually mean and how can it actually help us?

Speaker 1:

I have no clue. I mean, I probably do.

Speaker 2:

But I suppose to quiet our minds yeah.

Speaker 1:

Well, you're supposed to be able to let go of everything that's pulling on you.

Speaker 2:

I see a lot of people trying to do it to reach enlightenment. They feel like there's just nirvana that's going to come through them and then they're going to be this superior being and they're not going to feel and sense things. And yeah, it goes on and on and on. Or people are doing it just to quiet their minds and they sit there and meditate and try to quiet their mind. But why are you quieting your mind? So you can hear yourself talk to you. That's why you're doing it, right. It's not literally quiet your mind, it's just stopping the chatter. And you're training yourself to stop the chatter so you can hear yourself say don't eat that, get up off the couch, don't yell at your kid, your kid, something's wrong. That's why you're quieting your mind, right.

Speaker 1:

That's what I said. It's not literally that you need to be like you said in this beautiful white light, but everybody looks at the word mindfulness and they run because of what yogis project and what other people project.

Speaker 2:

None of that's real. That's all just their own way of like this other woman. You have to do A, b and C in order to.

Speaker 2:

There is own way of like this other woman you have to do A, b and C in order to there is no such thing. So we're going to talk about that. Good. So how does mindfulness help? So think about it. If you're making a decision and it's the past and the future are dictating it, then you're not present, correct. So that means you're only seeing it from a very jaded view, that you want something out of it, or you're afraid of something, or you're trying to not repeat something, or whatever. You're not looking at all sides of that situation to know what's really happening in front of you, to make a present day decision. So mindfulness gets you there, okay. So you're not using your past to stop yourself from seeing it and you're not using your future of what you think everything should be in that time and space.

Speaker 1:

Whether that's a fear of the future or a controlling of the future, which we all do you want to stay literally in the present Right Untainted.

Speaker 2:

So you can see if what I'm saying is upsetting you and then I would pull back versus me, just beating you down with my opinion. Yeah, yeah, because you're not ready to hear what I have to say. Or, like I said, your child could be upset, but you can't see it.

Speaker 1:

Right when there's actually something going on, right, okay.

Speaker 2:

Right, I like that. Well, that's what mindfulness is.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, but again, I think you know words get tossed around, like diets get tossed around and all these things. This is the best for you, blah, blah, blah. Mindfulness could be a little bit, can be, is different for every person, but the the the bottom line is making it so that you are hearing yourself, knowing what yourself is telling you, and there's nothing weird about it. We've just been trained that it's all weird, it's hocus, pocus, it's woo woo and it's not. It's who we are as a person and we don't really respect ourselves, do we Right?

Speaker 2:

So think about how you see things and what was your last decision. It could be as simple as every time you ask your boss something, they throw you out of the office. And then, all of a sudden, you walk in there and you get really arrogant when you ask him this time because you think he's going to be. He was actually in a good mood that day and your arrogance got you thrown out of the office.

Speaker 1:

You could have got what you wanted if you were more mindful and you realized this was a good moment.

Speaker 2:

Do you see it?

Speaker 1:

Being present to see what is the situation you're walking into, right, and although a little part of me I'm going to say it the little part of me says that I'm not responsible for his bad mood or good mood, or her good mood or bad mood, we do have to be aware of it, because it does affect us, right?

Speaker 2:

So let's look at exercise from a mindfulness perspective. So I have a client. She had an accident, probably about 30 years ago, and they pinned her hip wrong, which is horrible. So she has one leg shorter than the other, but her hip actually on one side turns up versus the other, so for her, exercise is almost impossible without causing chronic pain somewhere.

Speaker 2:

Okay, so I've given her things to do in the past, but she wants to work with somebody. So she came in the other day and she said to me I'm going to hire a trainer and I'm going to pay so many visits and I'm going to try it once a week and then I'm going to try to do this and this and this. What do you think? And I looked at her and I said you're not going to like my answer. No trainer in the world is going to do it for you, right? You have to do this and you have to become present in your body when you're doing it to see what's happening when you're performing that exercise. Can't they catch it? I go, no, they're not trained to catch it. So we went through a bunch of things and she got more comfortable and more comfortable with it and she realized her situation and she's going to do the best she can to sit in her body and do it.

Speaker 2:

But that's mindfulness, that's reality because everyone else goes and hires them and doesn't succeed because they can't read where you're at. If you've had belly surgeries, if you've had a rotator cuff injury, if you've had knee surgeries, things like that, if the scar tissue is still there and you're tracking wrong, no matter what they teach you, if they can't see those things and mitigate those things, you're never going to succeed at your exercise program Correct.

Speaker 1:

Well, the fact that she asked you what you thought meant there was that little, that little that little floating, exactly, that's a good point.

Speaker 2:

That's a good point.

Speaker 1:

Well, I mean, it's not we don't all. What do you think, marie? Do you really think I should have that sponge cake, Because it's only tomorrow and you're not going to like the answer I give you when people finally ask that question. I think that's a first big step.

Speaker 2:

Oh, she's asked me the question before. She was just in a different mindset this time because her life slowed down and she was ready to start making the choices now that she never would in the past.

Speaker 1:

Well, I think that's a huge step. It's huge.

Speaker 2:

It's huge, huge, but it was breaking my heart to have to say it one more time because it sucks. It sucks to be in that situation, but if you don't own it, it's going to suck even more, and that's the unfortunate part.

Speaker 1:

Because she could be injuring her body further. She would Absolutely.

Speaker 2:

So she has to be mindful about it, because that's the only way she's going to achieve the goals she wants. Can she achieve them? Absolutely. She just has to be in her body to do it, okay, I like that, yeah, it's all about deepening self-awareness.

Speaker 2:

Okay, that's another part of it. So your thoughts, your feelings, so why do you think the things you think? Right Again, you're sitting in a room and your girlfriend's sitting across the table from you and she's driving you crazy. Why? Why, you know there's this thing that I read years ago I think it was a Native American thing. It's called becoming. You become what you're questioning. Oh, so it's like walk a mile in their shoes. So when that person is overtaking the conversation and always has to be the center of attention and you start walking a mile in your shoes, you start to realize why, gotcha, and then you're not so angry at them.

Speaker 1:

So a little bit of that would be quieting yourself enough to observe and not judge Right.

Speaker 2:

So self-awareness of what you're looking at, how you see it, why do you see it? Why?

Speaker 1:

does it annoy you and instead of going that annoys me, be able to quiet enough to sit back and quiet Well to be using triggered in the right word, in the right context, triggered that you got annoyed, but mindful enough that you could take a step back and say why did that annoy me? And then observe and try to figure out from that point of view, instead of just jumping in and assuming oh, we always assume. We try not to.

Speaker 2:

We need to try not to do a lot of things Right. And when you become more self-aware, you start to realize there's more opportunity and more options in front of you. Okay, so something's broken in front of you. I can't do it. I've never done it before. You know you lost your husband. You know how hard that is. Yeah, you have to look at yourself and say why am I saying I can't do this? Correct, it's just a tool. And then you have to go beyond that. So a mindfulness practice helps you see those moments where you can overcome those obstacles, because they're not real obstacles.

Speaker 1:

Correct.

Speaker 2:

Well, they're in here they are, in here they are.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, I know my Mom, you're using power tools. Yeah, because gum staples and glue is not working, because I didn't think I could do it and that's no kidding. Yeah, yeah, it is really pretty amazing when given an opportunity, because I look at it as an opportunity. You and I have talked quite a bit and done sessions together. I look at it as an opportunity. You and I've talked quite a bit and done sessions together and I realized that saying of there's a silver lining in everything, what that actually meant, and that in your married life, in whatever life you're in, that there's obstacles. But did you put them there or did somebody else put them there and you're accepting them? And so you find out. Wait a minute, who. Do I like peanut butter? Do I like fixing these things? Do I like cause?

Speaker 1:

You don't always ask yourself those questions until you're at a point where you're like I think somebody said to me once one of my girlfriends said to me you want to go out for dinner, let's go to that steak place. And I literally sat there and could not answer her. And she goes what's wrong with you? And I said I don't know if I like steak and I had never thought of that in my whole life, and I had never even entertained that question and it just popped up. Okay, so that's a mindful practice.

Speaker 2:

There you go, all right. So whatever another mindful practice, another thing that mindful practicing helps is make us aware of what we feed, grows, what we feed grows.

Speaker 1:

Oh, I think I got this one. So if you have a fear and you continue, to it grows.

Speaker 2:

are you thinking something else? What just happened? We had Halloween, yeah.

Speaker 1:

So we started feeding.

Speaker 2:

No, we started feeding with the Alfred Hitchcock movies, right? Okay, so then we had the Halloween movies. Now, where are we at $100 billion industry of fright, scare, blood and gore and video games to match? And everything else I have six and seven year olds that play these games that adults shouldn't even be playing, and that's what's training their minds what we feed, grows.

Speaker 1:

Okay, I've got you now.

Speaker 2:

Because everybody thinks it's entertainment. Is that really entertainment? Because if you think about where the person who writes this stuff has to go energetically, yeah, do you want to relate to that?

Speaker 1:

You go down that rabbit hole every time.

Speaker 2:

you love that stuff and then it gets bigger in you and bigger in you and it gets fed all around you. And look at the world we're living in now violence-wise.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, we're doing it all to ourselves. It's interesting. I don't like any of that.

Speaker 2:

Right. I have a lot of people saying to me they can't watch any of the normal TV anymore. I can't. They only watch old reruns because it's so toxic. I'm right in that category, but there's a lot of people that still feed on it.

Speaker 1:

The violence. I've never been able to watch scary movie. I think the scariest movie I ever watched was the Blob.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, but we're feeding it and it grows. And it's the same thing with anger, it's the same thing with judgment, it's the same thing with beliefs.

Speaker 1:

Is that the same? As you know, what you put out there becomes real and can become bigger what you feed.

Speaker 2:

So if you, if you think being thin is beautiful, and every day you wake up and you focus on that, you're feeding it. So it gets bigger and bigger until you're anorexic and you're bulimic and you're. So what you feed grows.

Speaker 1:

Okay, all right, and so so you need to also be mindful of your thoughts. Okay, all right, and so you need to also be mindful of your thoughts and what you put out there.

Speaker 2:

No-transcript their head and how beautiful their home is and why it is to them. They can't see that because they're already feeding, because it happened last year, so they're living in the past.

Speaker 1:

Instead of in the present.

Speaker 2:

Right. They're not even giving themselves an opportunity to wake up and smell the day. They've already decided it's going to be a bad day. Yeah, oh, my yeah. What we feed grows. So we have to be really careful about our thoughts and our actions.

Speaker 1:

I'm seeing another page on your website. It's going to hate me. I'm seeing like a little plant and I'm seeing a little seed of this.

Speaker 2:

Okay, mindfulness helps us to cultivate compassion. Yes, so meaning you see people for why they think the way they think, and then you allow them to just be them. You don't try to change them anymore, you don't try to fix fix everything you don't try to decide.

Speaker 1:

You know what's right for everybody okay which is an extremely hard thing to do.

Speaker 2:

It's a very hard thing to do, but the more mindful you become, you realize you have no control until they're ready to change. You know you watch a lot of medical people have to deal with that because they see people come in and they just don't want to help themselves and they just keep band-aiding them and sending them on their way. And it just gets so exhausting because if you take it personal and you try to save every single one of them versus just allowing them to be them there'll be nothing left of you, yep.

Speaker 1:

It's absolutely true.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

It's absolutely true, but you also see, but you don't want them to suffer and you walk them and you hold their hand through it, but you can't. You have to be compassionate in order to do that. Yep, and mindfulness practice can help you do that. Interesting, yeah, like I said, mindfulness is big. It helps you to respond instead of react, because if you're not in a mindfulness practice, your mind is always ahead of you. So you're reacting to situations versus taking a step back, taking a breath and seeing it for what it is, not what you think. It is Road rage. Yes, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Kids saying or doing something and mom is yelling at that, so always being reactive, instead of just taking a breath and waiting a minute and trying to see what's actually going on, right, and not what it what it's doing to you per se and what you're going to do about it.

Speaker 2:

You know, I had a person say to me years ago, if nobody's dying, it's not a problem, and I thought it was kind of arrogant at first. It's actually true, but I use it all the time, yeah.

Speaker 1:

So when we do 911, it would be like it's your emergency, not mine, yeah, which again can feel really harsh, Right.

Speaker 2:

But you have to be able to stay objective to help somebody. Yeah, because if you're caught in it, you can't be objective for them.

Speaker 1:

So it's seeing it with compassion and mindfulness can help that. So mindfulness is really huge.

Speaker 2:

It's absolutely helps you in every facet of life. It's not about sitting there and becoming higher in this higher vibration. You know, and, like I said, I deal with a lot of people that are doing that and they miss the point and they can't function in society. Mindfulness is supposed to be able to help you be more grounded, more balanced, more open, more compassionate and more able to function in society, and we've changed it into this once a week crazy, thing, crazy.

Speaker 1:

Thing.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you know transcendental meditation and the chanting and everything else. It can help, but it's not what it's about. It's not what it's about. It's about functioning at a high level that you can be just you and see the world for what it is not, with all the drama and all the dialogue and everything else the world for what it is not, with all the drama and all the dialogue and everything else.

Speaker 1:

And being able to be comfortable literally in your own skin and with who you are also plays into that that you don't always have to be entertained. You don't always have to be the entertainment Right.

Speaker 2:

And the last piece. I just don't want to miss it Connecting to the greater whole, that's what mindfulness does. It makes you realize you're so much more and makes you realize the world is so much more than what you see it as, makes you realize you have more potential than you ever thought to self-heal, to help others, to have compassion for the world around you. When you have a good mindfulness practice and you're able to go inward and you're able to connect to that piece of yourself that's feeding you information all the time, your body within you start to just become more complete, because you're not alone. You're never alone, right, you are connected to something way bigger than yourself. We've made this all there is. This isn't all there is, no.

Speaker 2:

There's so much more, or that 11-year-old, wouldn't be able to walk into my office and start feeling and sensing energy. You know, it just wouldn't happen. I find, I just I love that.

Speaker 1:

I really think that's amazing. I have kids all the time.

Speaker 2:

You should see infants. They're crazy, they can follow it, they can oh, they're crazy Because they've got nothing to no preconceived ideas. Nobody spoiled them yet.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, no one said anything to them to tell them that it's not what they think it is.

Speaker 2:

And then, as soon as mom and dad start talking and telling them, no, you're not, you're fine, you're not whatever, this isn't hurting you, whatever. They start to develop these energy beliefs on how life works. Wow.

Speaker 1:

Whoa Well, this has been quite the day. This has been very, very interesting.

Speaker 2:

Everything's connected to everything and we've segregated ourselves to death and allowed ourselves to be as well. Yeah, so mindfulness is a complete practice of functioning in society in a very comfortable way. It is not the special section. None of it is. You know, our preventative care is not a special section. Mindfulness is not a special section. Nutrition is not the special section. None of it is. You know, our preventative care is not a special section. Mindfulness is not a special section. Nutrition is not a special section. Exercise is not a special section. It's all connected.

Speaker 1:

It's all connected, it's all part of all of us and it's not for one person and not the other.

Speaker 2:

Right.

Speaker 1:

And Awaken Wellness shows you that when you start to wake up and realize that you're so much more and you're part of all of it Every part of you is part of all of it Well then you feel more connected and therefore you're part of a bigger world and you're connected to more of it and not so isolated and in these little individual slots Right, awesome. So again, awakenedenedwellnesslife, and there's a lovely webpage there and there's recipes and videos and questionnaires and articles and you can reach out to Marie and give her feedback or ask some questions, absolutely as always. Thank you very, very much. You're welcome, have a wonderful day and we want to thank you for joining us. Go work on having a mindful, peaceful self. Listen to yourself and see what you hear. You might be surprised.