Mindful Life – Bruce Langford
SUMMARY
In this episode with Bruce Langford, the host of the Mindfulness Mode podcast, he is going to talk about the mindfulness and the common misconceptions about it.
One of the most powerful ways to practice mindfulness is meditation, but people tend to shut themselves down and think they can’t do it. Truth is, there’s no right or wrong way to do it, and anyone on this planet has a chance to achieve it.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Mindfulness is focusing on now; not worrying so much about the past or the future.Mindfulness is not judging others and their personal choices.
We self-sabotage ourselves often because we do judging all the time and mindfulness means letting go of that.
Breathing helps you become mindful.
Our breath carries energy and movement and takes us into deeper levels of relaxation.
There are chemicals in our body that are enacted when we are stress which constricts our airways.
Pain is often an illusion. Pain is what we create.
We are creating a story, and whether it’s about pain, joy, happiness, that story can become our living reality.
Meditation is a compelling way to practice mindfulness. There’s no right or wrong way to practice meditation.
Coaches learn much from their coaching clients as their coaching clients learn from them.
Mindfulness is such a powerful state of being to deepen intuition, for greater success, for stronger emotional intelligence.
TRANSCRIPTION: MINDFUL LIFE – BRUCE LANGFORD
Kamala Chambers
On this episode, we’re going to be talking about how to be more mindful and live a mindful life.
Today, we’re here with someone who we’ve had the pleasure to have as a client, and then who has become a good friend. He is the host of the Mindfulness Mode podcast. He is a speaker, and a fantastic human being, Bruce Langford.
Luis Congdon
Hey there Thriving Launchers. Today, I’m excited to bring you someone that has become a friend, a client, and a great resource when it comes to living a mindful life.
Without further ado, Bruce Langford, are you ready to launch?
Bruce Langford
I am ready to launch. I’m excited to be here, Luis. This is excellent.
Luis Congdon
Yeah, of course. Thank you so much.
One of the things that are a hot word right now and it’s been for maybe the last ten years or so is mindfulness.
I’m curious. What does that word even mean? Are we getting up to a point where that word has been used so much that we’ve lost track of what it means? I want to hear it from you Bruce because you’re somebody that studies this subject matter.
What Living A Mindful Life Means
Luis Congdon
What is mindfulness and are there some misconceptions about what it is and what it isn’t?
Bruce Langford
That’s a big part of living a mindful life; not judging situations.
I think we bring ourselves down. We self-sabotage ourselves often because we do so much judging all the time, and mindfulness means letting go of that.
Spread The Word On How We Can Benefit From Living A Mindful Life
Bruce Langford
An answer to your question, “Is this getting oversaturated?” You know what? I think it’s important to spread the word about mindfulness and what it means, and how we can all benefit from practicing mindfulness.
Kamala Chambers
Yeah, it’s a compelling practice just even to notice what’s happening around us and what’s going on at the moment.
I’d love to hear from you. Since you have a whole podcast on mindfulness, the Mindfulness Mode show, I’d love to hear, what are some things everybody always says? What is something that is common that helps people become mindful?
Bruce Langford
One of the things is about breathing.
Breathing Helps To Live A Mindful Life
Bruce Langford
We always talk about breathing because this is a central focus. I’d like to speak about opening your airways because it’s visual; just thinking about opening, relaxing, and breathing in such a way that you’re at your highest level of productive creativity. Your body is maxed if you’re relaxing.
The funny thing is, sometimes, it’s almost impossible to relax and breathe deeply because there are chemicals in our body that are enacted when we become stressed, and we get tensed, and sometimes, it just constricts our airways.
Stress And Anxiety Stops You From Living A Mindful Life
Bruce Langford
It’s not just a matter of only thinking about deep breathing and doing it, although that’s part of it. It’s also a matter of making sure that you’re not stressed out and not filled with anxiety, and there are ways to do that.
We talk with guests all the time. Like Pompe Strater-Vidal was a guest I had on my show. She’s zen sensei. She is amazing when we talk about breathing because she studied this for years. She’s on episode 222. I think she’s just a joy to speak with.
Kamala Chambers
That’s beautiful. Breath is such a huge part of it.
How Our Breath Leads Us To A Mindful Life
Kamala Chambers
If we are constricting our breath, how can we relax our bodies? Our breath carries energy. It brings the movement, and it can take us to those deeper levels of relaxation.
I’d love to hear, what is something you don’t hear very often about mindfulness? Something that is kind of out there a little bit or that isn’t widely known, but you’ve found fascinating that you want to share with us.
Bruce Langford
Something we don’t talk a lot about is how to deal with death. In the society, that’s just something we’d rather not talk about.
Mindful Life And Death
Bruce Langford
I did spend quite a bit of time talking with Cherie Aimée, and I know you interviewed her as well. She is mindful and has such a healthy attitude about death because she describes herself as a person who died for I think it was two hours, and then came back to life through medicine. It was a miracle.
It was unbelievable to talk with her about mindfulness and death, and how she worked through that. So much of it is about letting go. Letting go is something we spoke with many of our guests, but it’s also something that in North American culture, we’re sometimes not very good at.
Letting Go And Living A Mindful Life
Bruce Langford
Cherie was a fascinating guest to talk about letting go. She said that when she was lying there almost not sure if she was going make it or not. She just wanted the image of water. She would just ask for a pan of water, put her hand into that water and imagine she was sitting by a lake. She said when she created that image, it changed the way she felt entirely, and she had no more pain as a result of that picture.
Luis Congdon
Kamala, this reminds me of our interview with the chiropractor and doctor who came on our show who talked about back pain and people who had all sorts of ailments.
Kamala Chambers
Luis Congdon
Yeah, Steve Ozanich.
One of the things he talked about Bruce was how a lot of people have certain pains that are almost like phantom pains. When they put their attention elsewhere and focus on things that soothe and calm them, and make them feel happy, the pain went away.
Live A Mindful Life To Stop Pain
Luis Congdon
He started to wonder how much of it was mental, and how much pain we can resolve through our attention, and through putting our attention elsewhere.
Bruce Langford
It is incredible how much we can change our perception of pain because we think pain is real.
Of course, we do. We feel it. We are just brought down by it, but in fact, pain is often an illusion. Pain is what we create.
Be Aware Of Stories You Create To Live A Mindful Life
Bruce Langford
That’s certainly true for pain, Luis.
Kamala Chambers
That’s nice.
Different Practices For A Mindful Life
Kamala Chambers
I know there are many practices for having a mindful life. I have an extensive history of going through various mindfulness practices in energy medicine school, then going to a 10-day meditation with Vipassana, which is about paying attention to the different areas of the body, and then mindfulness practices with tantra.
There are many different ways to tap into the moment and to be alive in our bodies right now.
Is there a practice you just absolutely love you find can work pretty much for anyone?
Meditate For A Mindful Life
Bruce Langford
I love the practice just simply a meditation.
I think in our culture, people shy away from that idea because some feel that, “That’s not for me. That’s a little bit too woo-woo,” and just simply understanding you can take a moment.
If you’re waiting in line somewhere, you can take a moment, and take yourself to another place through meditation. It doesn’t mean you have to be sitting cross-legged on a cushion. You can simply be standing there in a lineup waiting for something, and you can only go to another place in your mind.
No Right Or Wrong Way To Living A Mindful Life
Bruce Langford
You can focus on your breath, and it can become a relaxing break in your day instead of a stressful, tensed time that you’re waiting for something to happen that you just can hardly stand that wait.
I encourage everybody to try meditation but don’t judge yourself because many people shut themselves down. They’ll say, “Oh, I can’t do that.” “That didn’t work for me.” When in fact, there’s no right or wrong way. No person on the planet can’t do this. They only sometimes think they can’t do it.
Powerful Way To Live A Mindful Life
Bruce Langford
Meditation is powerful way to practice mindfulness and get to a place where you can benefit by not being tense and anxious that many of us have those feelings.
Luis Congdon
Bruce, I’m curious from you. I know you host a podcast. We had the opportunity to work with you on your podcast, and now, you’ve done a lot of interviews. You’ve been doing this for a while. You give talks, and you help a lot of people with living a mindful life.
Through the process of hosting your show, writing some articles, and the process that you’ve been through, how has your mindfulness practice or insights changed over the last few years?
Learning How To Live A Mindful Life
Bruce Langford
Well, mine has changed.
Bruce Langford
I feel like sometimes, I learn even more.
Sometimes, it’s a matter of reflecting back. You can feel the tension in your clients, and you hear their desperation and frustration. Then suddenly, you can stop and think, “Oh, I’ve been there. I understand. I empathize with that.”
Coaching Others Can Lead To A Mindful Life
Bruce Langford
I think the thing is I’ve learned a lot. I’ve moved forward a long way in my mindfulness, my meditation, my practice just because I’ve spent so much time sharing with other people as I coach them, work with people, do talks, speeches, and workshops.
Kamala Chambers
This has been fantastic being here talking with Bruce Langford about living a mindful life.
If anything I’m taking away is the reminder to breathe a little deeper today.
We all need these reminders to look around, pay more attention, and to feel what’s happening in the moment.
Living A Mindful Life For Greater Success
Kamala Chambers
I encourage you to go out today and look for ways to be more mindful and live a mindful life.
Keep thriving everyone.
