'Coming to Our Senses' with Jon Kabat Zinn

This video may seem from the start to be slightly old fashioned music and images, but don't be put off. Once Jon Kabat Zinn starts talking (which takes a few minutes as there is an introduction by someone else) - it is a captivating, succinct and poignant summary of mindfulness and particularly 'coming to our senses'. Well worth a watch if you have any interest in mindfulness.

My favourite point he makes is about being in the shower. Where are you when you are in the shower? Think about your shower today. Where were you? Were you having an argument with a co-worker? Were you in a meeting about something which is taking up a lot of thinking at the moment? Were you planning your day?

This is just a small example to illustrate auto-pilot. What about the sensation of the water as it hits our skin? The sensation of warmth or cold (depending on how you like your showers!). What about just experiencing that for a moment and being where you are - IN THE SHOWER! There are lots of things to enjoy and experience about every moment of our day - including what we might consider small things like having a shower. But if we can't have one for a while, we soon appreciate them. What about appreciating it as we experience it? Imagine how great the day could be if we spent more time experiencing what we was actually happening in each moment and less time in the past or future which doesn't exist anymore/yet.

Learning presentation skills

What make Jon Kabat Zinn such as great speaker? Here are some of the things he does during the presentation to make it engaging: 

• uses poetry and quotes to add 'colour' to the talk
• puts learning point into an everyday context
• engages with the audience and asks people to do things
• asks questions and put your hands up
• speaks clearly, good pace and is calm - as well as very well timed!
• uses humour

Practice makes perfect!