MYOFASCIAL TECHNIQUES
Practice: Micro-Mindfulness
Though mindfulness is often practiced during seated
meditation, this simple exercise can be done nearly anywhere,
including while doing massage or bodywork.
1. Note a body sensation you're currently having: tension,
pressure, proprioception, warmth, etc.
2. Feel this sensation. Relax and breathe.
3. See if you can notice the moment when your attention goes
to something else: a thought, another sensation, etc.
4. Gently bring yourself back to the original sensation; return
to just feeling it.
5. Count the number of times you bring your attention back;
go for three cycles of feeling and returning.
6. The sensation may stay the same, or it might shift subtly as
you pay attention to it, or it might completely disappear, in
which case you can pick another sensation to feel.
What's the purpose or goal of this exercise? It's simply to
practice sensing our own bodies and to provide a short respite
of gentle focus in the midst of our usual habits of distraction,
multitasking, and activity.
How Mindful Are You?
You can take a mindfulness quiz based on the
psychometrically validated Philadelphia Mindfulness Scale
(developed by researchers at La Salle University and Drexel
University) at www.goo.gl/uAhCPQ.
Notes
1. TIME, "The Mindful Revolution," February 3, 2014.
2. C. Fernandez, The Daily Mail, "'Mindfulness' Meditation Fad Popular with
Celebrities," September 9, 2015, accessed May 2017, www.dailymail.
co.uk/news/article-3228473/Mindfulness-meditation-fad-popular-
celebrities-including-Emma-Watson-make-dream-false-memories.
html#ixzz4gP0A5RGS; Ivanka Trump, "7 Tips for Becoming More Mindful,
Tip #1," 2017, accessed May 2017, www.ivankatrump.com/tag/mindfulness.
3. J. D. Creswell, "Mindfulness Interventions," Annual Review of Psychology 68
(January 3, 2017): 491–516.
4. M. D. Mrazek et al., "Mindfulness Training Improves Working Memory
Capacity and GRE Performance While Reducing Mind Wandering,"
Psychological Science 24, no. 5 (May 2013): 776–81.
5. Til Luchau, Facebook poll, "Do you think mindfulness can be useful to
bodyworkers?" April 17, 2017, overall response rate: 8.7 percent, www.
facebook.com/groups/AT.distance.learners/permalink/1395598047177793.
6. N. Farb et al., "Interoception, Contemplative Practice, and Health," Frontiers in
Psychology 6 (June 2015): 763.
7. Wikipedia, "Mindfulness," Accessed May 2017, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Mindfulness.
8. R. Schleip et al., "Fascia as an Organ of Communication" in Fascia,
The Tensional Network of the Human Body (Elsevier, 2012): 78.
9. M. Hogan, "Mindfulness for Chronic Pain," Psychology Today,
February 20, 2015, accessed May 2017, www.psychologytoday.
com/blog/in-one-lifespan/201502/mindfulness-chronic-pain.
10. J. D. Creswell, "Mindfulness Interventions."
11. F. McGlone, J. Wessberg, and H. Olausson, "Discriminative and Affective
Touch: Sensing and Feeling," Neuron 82, no. 4 (May 21, 2014): 737–55.
Til Luchau is a Certified Advanced Rolfer, the author of Advanced
Myofascial Techniques (Handspring Publishing, 2016) and a member
of the Advanced-Trainings.com faculty, which offers distance
learning and in-person seminars throughout the United States and
abroad. He welcomes questions or comments via info@advanced-
trainings.com and Advanced-Trainings.com's Facebook page.
Watch Til Luchau's technique videos and read his past
articles in Massage & Bodywork's digital edition, available at
www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com, www.abmp.com,
and on Advanced-Trainings.com's Facebook page.
"Core Point
Technique"
