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Mindful Training Workbook By: Carley Hauck, MA

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Mindful Training Workbook By: Carley Hauck, MA

Welcome to the Mindful Training workbook to support you to thrive in weight loss and in life.

Congratulations! on your decision to dive deeper into mindful well-being. You have taken

the first step to raise your awareness to practices that will increase your awareness for real

and lasting change.

I have been specializing in mindfulness as it relates to health, our relationship to food, and

happiness for over a decade. I have been involved in several research studies observing

the long-term benefits of mindfulness as it relates to eating, stress reduction, weight loss, and

the prevention of disease. I teach on the topics of Happiness, Mindful Nourishment, Food

as Medicine, Becoming a Better You, and Positive Psychology at Stanford University. I have

enjoyed supporting corporate worksites such as LinkedIn, Pixar, and many more with greater

mindfulness, well being, and compassion at work.

The practice of mindfulness has great implications for our happiness, resilience to stress,

and our health. Mindful training is a well researched and evidence-based tool to help us to

change our behaviors by learning how to train and re-wire or mind.

We all know what to eat right? However, what we haven’t quite learned is how to cope

with all the ups and downs in life. The constant in life is change and this often creates some

discomfort and perceived stress. We can have the most well thought out food and exercise

plan for the day, but when stress is here it can derail our best efforts. Stress is a fact of life.

We can’t reduce the stress in our life, but we can learn how to be more resilient when stress

is here.

How does mindful training help increase our resiliency to stress? With paying attention to

each moment, we can learn how to observe stress and not always react to it. We can train

our brain to observe our thoughts, feel our feelings, and then respond with healthy choices

vs. reacting in habitual ways that don’t always serve us. Sounds great right? Ready to start

learning!

Welcome to the mindful training Workbook

Mindful Training Workbook • © 2014 carley hauck page 1

WhaT you Will receive:

- 6 Mindful Practices to thrive in weight loss and in daily life

- Mindful Eating Questionnaire

The first step to thrive in weight loss and in our life is to create a foundation of healthy prac-

tices so that when stress comes up we have a buffer against it. We have a variety of choices

we can be making every day and when you choose one of these practices, you are choos-

ing health and happiness.

This workbook is written to help you develop 1 new practice into your life a week over the

next 6 weks. You might want to set aside time each day for these practices and also to keep

a journal about your insights and what feels most relevant to you in your journey.

Additionally, take your time to answer the questions below in the mindful eating question-

naire. They will help you to understand your patterns around food, stress, and from aware-

ness you can choose differently.

These practices will help you to focus on what is most important to you, create more time in

the day, promote spaciousness and stillness, be kind to yourself, see the good, and tune into

your inner wisdom so you can choose what you really need vs. acting out of habitual pat-

terns.

1. Take a deep breath

2. Look for the good

3. Surf the waves

4. What are you hungry for?

5. Be kind

6. Feel the abundance

the mindful training Workbook

Mindful Training Workbook • © 2014 carley hauck page 2

I feel the most important skill for real change to occur is self awareness. With the ability to

see ourselves clearly, our patterns, and what is or is not serving us, we can grow.

Mindful training is the key to developing self-awareness. From this place of clear seeing, you

can identify what really nourishes you, align with what matters, and from here you can live

an abundant, inspired, and empowered life.

If you would like more support on your path in mindful awareness, weight loss, health, and

happiness in your life, I am happy to set up a FREE 30 minute phone consultation with you.

You can email me at [email protected]

As a coach, I integrate my deep understanding of the mind with accessible practices to

inspire growth and transformation with my clients.

May you be happy and flourish.

With Love,

Carley

the mindful training Workbook

Mindful Training Workbook • © 2014 carley hauck page 3

rate each statement as:

Never-1 Sometimes-2 often-3 usually/always-4

1. I eat so quickly that I don’t taste what I am eating.

2. At a party, when there is a lot of good food, I notice when it makes me want to eat

more food than I should.

3. I recognize when food advertisements make me want to eat.

4. I often don’t recognize the signals of hunger and fullness.

5. When I feel sad, I eat to feel better.

6. My thoughts tend to wander when I am eating.

7. I notice the subtle flavors and textures of the foods I am eating.

8. If there are leftovers that I like, I take a second helping even if I feel full.

9. When eating a pleasant meal, I notice that it makes me feel relaxed.

10. When I eat a big meal, I notice if it makes me feel heavy or sluggish.

11. I appreciate the way food looks on my plate.

12. When I feel bored, I eat to feel better.

13. Before I eat, I take a moment to appreciate the colors and smells of my food.

14. I recognize when I am eating and don’t feel physically hungry.

15. I notice when I am eating food from a dish of candy just because its there.

16. I notice when food affects my emotional state.

17. When I am feeling stressed at work, I will go find something to eat.

18. I notice when foods and drinks are too sweet.

19. I can tell when I am eating and not hungry.

* These questions are adapted from the Mindful Eating Questionnaire, an effective instrument in

assessing physical and emotional sensations related to eating.

the mindful eating Questionaire

Mindful Training Workbook • © 2014 carley hauck page 4

Scoring

Sum up your scores, divide by how many are in each category and then divide by 4

(4 sections).

awareness

7

9

10

11

13

18

Sum= /6=

Dis-inhibition

1

4

6

8

14

Sum = /5=

emotional

5

12

16

17

Sum= / 4 =

the mindful eating Questionaire scoring

Mindful Training Workbook • © 2014 carley hauck page 5

Scoring continued

external

2

3

15

19

Sum = / 4=

Total Sum = (All categories sum)/ 4 =

Definition of Sections:

awareness- The awareness you have in regards to your food portions, taste, satisfaction,

hunger/fullness, etc.

Dis-inhibition- The amount of presence you bring to your food and your surroundings.

emotional- The degree to which you eat for emotional reasons.

external- The extent that external cues have on your relationship to food.

What was your total score? _______________

This allows you to see if your awareness in your eating patterns is high, low or moderate.

The higher the score, the more mindful you are of eating.

Whatever your score, you can always move toward being more mindful around eating. It

doesn’t matter where you begin; what matters is that you do begin. Once you have had

some time to practice the mindfulness practices, take the questionnaire again. After that,

assessing your mindfulness of eating score every several weeks will help you chart your

progress.

the mindful eating Questionaire scoring

Mindful Training Workbook • © 2014 carley hauck page 6

MiNDfulNeSS 101

Mindfulness if often referred to as a conscious discipline. It is a way of training the mind, heart, and body to be fully present with life. Our mind often likes to linger in the past or the future, but the present moment is the only moment we have any control of.

Mindfulness allows us to bring our whole attention to this moment. If we are acting when our nervous system is revved up, we will never be able to make a calm and skill-ful response because we can only act from (fight, flight, or freeze). The simple act of breathing slows our body and mind down. In a space of calm we can discern what is needed and what might be the most skillful response. The practice of deep belly breathing, can move us into a mind-ful space.

Three core eleMeNTS of MiNDfulNeSS

Mindfulness comprises three core elements: intention, atten-tion and attidude. intention involves knowing why we are doing what we are doing; our ultimate aim, our vision, our aspiration. attention involves attending fully to the present moment and the ability to accept experiences without judging them. attitude or how we pay attention, enables us to stay, open, kind and curious.

The 3 anchors of mindful attention are breath, body sensations and sound.

“Waking up this morning. I smile. Twenty-four brand new hours before me. I vow to live fully in each moment, and to look at all beings with eyes of compassion.”Thich Nhat Hahn

Week one: Take a Deep breaTh

MiNDfulNeSS of breaTh- The fouNDaTioNexperieNTial pracTice Sit in a posture that allows you to be comfortable and rela-tively still, but not so relaxed that you fall asleep. Now, begin to pay attention to your breath.

how do you know that you are breathing?

Where in your body do you feel it most clearly?

You might notice the breath coming into your nostrils and then out again. You might be aware of your whole body sitting and breathing. When habitual thoughts about plans for the day come up, gently and steadily come back to the breath, remembering your intention to be aware and awake in this moment. In addition to the breath, you can be mind-ful of other experiences inside you as they call your atten-tion...various sensations in your body, your moods as they come and go. One moment you might notice a breath, the next you’re aware of an itching in your back or arm, then a sound, then a thought, then the breath again. The key to being mind-ful is remaining aware of any of these experiences as they arise, without getting lost in the story or thoughts connected with any of them.

This week create a daily breathing practice that you do 10-

15 minutes each day. insight timer is a helpful tool

WorkiNg WiTh ThoughTS

We have approximately 82,000 thoughts a day and 70-80% of our thoughts are negative. Wow! This phenomenon is known in neuroscience as the “negativity bias.” Nega-tive thoughts and experiences tend to be like velcro to our brains, while positive experiences and thoughts are repelled like teflon.

However, there is a silver lining, our brains are also plas-tic, hence the word neuroplasticity. This means that even though we have a tendency to focus on the negative we can incline the mind towards the positive.

Bringing mindful presence to positive emotions and experi-ences can serve as markers of flourishing and are therefore worth cultivating (Frederickson, 2001). When we bring attention to positive emotions such as joy, contentment, love, or compassion we are not focused on negative emotions or experiences.

The term “undoing effect” is a term that says enhancing posi-tive emotions might improve one’s psychological well-being, and perhaps also one’s physical health, by cultivating expe-riences of positive emotions at opportune moments to cope with negative emotions (Fredrickson, 2000).

“The longest road you will ever walk is the sacred journey from your head to your heart.” Phil Lane- Native American.

Week Two: look for The gooD

MiNDful of ThoughTS- experieNTial pracTice

It can be helpful to understand what your top tunes are. We are typically living with an incessant stream of thoughts and until we are aware of them, we can’t change them. We often react to our thoughts as if they are true, but most of our thoughts are NoT True.

What are your top 5 tunes?

- What you need to get done- How you look- What is going wrong in your life- How you need to change- Something you really want to happen- What is going well in your life

This week, keep track of your thoughts with a mindful journal. Once you have your list pick 2-3 that you will start to replace with more supportive and positive thoughts.

example: Negative thought: I am not good enough. positive: I am strong, resilient, and I am doing the best I can in this moment.

The laNguage of eMoTioNS Modern neuroscience has discovered “neurons that fire to-gether, wire together.” When we rehearse a looping set of thoughts and emotions, we create deeply grooved pat-terns of emotional reactivity. This means that the more you think and rethink about certain experiences, the stronger the memory and the more easily activated your feelings be-come.

In our culture, we tend to ignore feelings, distract with some other activty, or react to feelings. This is often because we haven’t been taught how to be with our feelings and that they are normal and part of being human. If we allow our-selves to feel our feelings they will pass on their own, but if we resist, they persist.

Our emotions have been shown by research to have the life of 90 seconds. This means that if we can become friends with our emotions and let them be here without trying to push them away or distract they will pass. If we can sit with the discomfort, with the uncomfortable feelings, the neutral, and the happy feelings, we can under-stand ourselves more deeply.

By developing the capacity to stand back and witness emo-tional states such as anxiety, people increase their “degree of freedom”.

“When the mind is quiet, we find peace, and only then can we understand our true nature.” Tara brach, Author of Radical Acceptance.

Week Three: Surf The WaveS

MiNDfulNeSS of feeliNgS- experieNTial pracTice This week see if you can pay attention to your feelings over the course of the day. You may start off tired and as mid-day approaches you feel energized. you can journal about

what you notice about your feelings.

for example: You can start by noticing where the body is holding the most energy or tension. Then pay attention to where this energy or tension takes up space in the body. What quality is the energy? (tired, restless, calm, heavy).

After you feel the physical sensations in your body, you might investigate what am I emotionally feeling? (Is it an-ger, sadness, happiness, anxiety). Whatever shows up is okay, greet it with acceptance and compassion.

After you have been with your feeling, you can ask yourself, What is needed right now to support myself best? See if you can fully receive this gift in your mind, body, and heart.

Here is a helpful acronym to remember the practice. r- recognize your feelinga- accept what is herei- investigate where you feel it in your bodyN- Neutral (Non- attached)S- Support yourself * Practice RAIN this week and see how your feelings pass more easily.

MiNDfulNeSS of eaTiNg Mindful eating is a combination of outer wisdom, such as knowing that eating whole foods and more fruits and veg-gies are good for us, but then also using inner wisdom to listen to which kinds of foods feel good, what amount, and even at what time, feel unique for our body.

The baSicS of MiNDful eaTiNg

listen to your body first and foremost If you aren’t physically hungry let that be your guide. Mind-fulness is all about getting out of our heads and into our bodies. This applies to eating as well. It doesn’t matter if the clock says its lunchtime or if you are looking at your food and thinking this isn’t a lot of food, your body will tell you when enough is enough.

eat slowly. The only way to truly keep that “first bite” experience is to honor eating slowly, with moderate pauses between bites. If I do anything else while I am eating, such as talking, walking, writing, or even thinking, the flavor diminishes or disappears. This week see if you can take 3 mindful bites

at each meal.

be grateful. We are so lucky in our culture to have such an abundance of healthy food. Our grocery stores and farmers markets have options fit for kings and queens. I find that pausing to offer gratitude before and during eating a meal makes eating a more joyful process.

“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.”Virginia Woolf

Week four: WhaT are you huNgry for?

MiNDfulNeSS of huNger- experieNTial pracTice Sit in a posture that allows you to be comfortable and still. This meditation is one to do before and during a meal. Al-low your eyes to close and start breathing deeply in and out through your belly for a few minutes. After spending time settling in and breathign, allow your awareness to move towards your awareness of the sensations in your belly.

ask yourself, on a scale of 1-10 how hungry are you?

how do you know that you are physically hungry?

What physical sensations are present that allow you to know

that you are hungry or not hungry? (emptiness, grumbling,

low blood sugar, salivation)

What number is your level of hunger and what information

does this tell you?

how might being aware of your hunger before eating be

beneficial to you in your food choices?

if you are not physically hungry then food isn’t the answer.

is there anohter way you can comfort yourself that is non

food related?

*This week be mindful of when you are physically hungry and when you are emotionally hungry.

coMpaSSioN Compassion is the most precious gift of all gifts. It is what restores us and offers refuge. It is the force of empathy in your own heart that allows you to reach out and touch the broken heart of another.

MiNDfulNeSS vS. coMpaSSioN Mindfulness is about being with whatever is, feeling your full experience of emotions and thoughts.

compassion is wanting to soothe, comfort. Compassion has an action element, combined with the mindfulness element of this is how things are. You can fully accept your experi-ence while wishing it that it wasn’t so and they can be held together.

Kristin Neff, author of Self Compassion has shown in her research that we often think we need to “beat ourselves into shape”, but the opposite is actually true.

The research shows that criticism makes us more anxious, more depressed, and more afraid of failure. Our thoughts impact our feelings and thus our actions. We can actu-ally change our habits if we change how we think about things.

if you are being critical of yourself, you might be getting in

your own way around change.

“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.”Dalai Lama

Week five: be kiND

coMpaSSioN- experieNTial pracTice

Sit in a posture that allows you to be comfortable and still. Bring to mind an experience of difficulty or struggle. It doesn’t need to be the most difficult, but bring something up that is causing some struggle...

Why is this so difficult ?

Who said what? Put your hands on your body that feels comforting, feeling the struggle in your body and your mind....

Now let these words drop into your mind...

This is a moment of suffering and suffering is a part of life.

You are not alone in your suffering

May I be kind to myself in this moment. This is really hard in this moment.

May I give myself the compassion that I need to be with this situation.

This week see if you can be kind to yourself when difficulty

is here. create your own compassionate mantra such as,

“i love and accept myself as i am.”

graTiTuDe In the West we have such an abundance of comforts and gifts that are often taken for granted. We come from a society of more is better, but what I have found is that “mod-eration is the key”. When we can incline the mind towards what we have vs what we don’t have, we will truly feel “we have enough.”

From a place of having enough, we recognize that we don’t need as much as we think we need to be happy. There-fore, if our needs are more simple and we realize we have enough, we can relax more, connect from a place of ap-preciation with the people in our life, eat less, work less, and stress less.

give ThaNkS To reSearch Focusing on the benefits and what we are grateful for cre-ates a sense of well being. The better we feel, the more good we will do.

Dachner Keltner, a researcher at the University of Califor-nia, Berkely and author of Born to be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life, demonstrates that our intrinsic value in this life is to be a good person and to foster that goodness for others in meaningful ways.

He found that the good that occurs in our lives, whether given or received is far more remembered than the mistakes or faulty. .

“Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling.”Henry Van Dyke

Week Six: feel The abuNDaNce

i have eNough- experieNTial pracTice

As you go through your day or before you go to sleep at night contemplate or journal about these questions.

What are you thankful for today?

in what ways do you express your gratitude?

What gets in the way of expressing gratitude for your life

or for others?

Breathing is a practice in releasing, opening, and receiving the blessing of life. We can practice this opening each time we slow down and see that we are breathing, when we put down our forks and check into our hunger, taste satisfaction, etc.

This week make a point to write down 5-10 things that you

are grateful for each day.

you can also bring in 1 minute at the end of your daily

meditation practice where you incline your mind towards

what you are grateful for.

* Now set an intention for your practice and stick to it.