Scott Webb (Host): The word and concept of mindfulness have become quite popular lately, and in part one of a series on mindfulness, I'm going to speak with Allison Geisking again. She's a Behavioral Health Counselor at Upland Hills Health, Dodgeville, Wisconsin, and today she's going to help us to define mindfulness and give us some suggestions for how and when we can focus on being mindful.

This is the Inspire Health podcast from Upland Hills Health. I'm Scott Webb.

Allison, it's so nice to speak with you again. We're going to talk about mindfulness a lot, both today and in this little series that we're going to do. So just to kind of set the stage for folks today, what is mindfulness? What does that mean? Or what should that mean? Or maybe it's that it means different things to different folks. That's why we have you here.

Allison Geisking, APSW: Thank you so much for having me again, really excited to be here today and this is one of my favorite subjects to really talk about. I'm super passionate about this and these are one of the tools that I actually implement a lot when I speak to my clients on a daily basis for my job. So this is very exciting.

 So what is mindfulness? It's such a good question. It's a hot topic button. Everybody's talking about it. It's this newer thing in the Westernized world, right? Like where's this coming out of? I like to think of mindfulness as a practice of self care, right? We have these ideas of, you know, you go in the doctor and you're like, Oh, you know, I just feel so stressed or overwhelmed.

And everybody's saying, go take a bath or have some self care, go for a walk, get outside, get some fresh air, things like that. But what truly is self care for us, right? We get told that a lot, but we're really not clear on what that entails for us . And so, mindfulness really is a part of that practice that we can implement in our daily life.

So, really to get into the nitty gritty of what mindfulness is and defining it, it's living in the moment and relishing in good, the bad, the ugly, whatever is happening around you, and just non-judgmentally accepting it. And I think that non-judgmentally aspect of mindfulness is key to helping you get through those harder moments in your daily life.

And without mindfulness, really, are we truly living? Right? There's kind of those other questions that we can go deeper in. But yeah, that's essentially what mindfulness is and how you can kind of picture it in your own daily life.

Host: I know for me, when I think of mindfulness, or I try to be mindful of things, for me, it's about sort of making time to maybe think about the things that I've kind of put on a shelf, you know, metaphorically, or things that require a little more RAM in my head. And it's like, okay, I've got a little time here, I'm going to be in the car for a while, let me pull that off the shelf.

And let me think about that thing that I kind of set aside because it was a little heavy or just too much or I needed to really concentrate. And so I know that that helps me. In general, why do you think being mindful and making time for that is helpful for folks?

Allison Geisking, APSW: You know, I have this conversation with my clients a lot as to why it's so beneficial. Let me back up for a second and just say you can never actually master mindfulness because who is mindful every day at any given moment all the time, right?

But if we can try to achieve a level where we are mindful at least 20 percent of our day, we will be able to identify, recognize what our triggers are throughout the day. Ooh, I feel this way when this person talks to me. You can recognize that in that moment and that brings your conversation to be more intentional with that person you're talking to because you can express that.

Hey, when you said this, this is how I felt or Oh my gosh, when I drove by McDonald's I felt pretty triggered because I had a car accident there a few weeks ago and that was really difficult for me and when we don't realize that in those moments, it goes by, and usually when it hits us, it's at night when we're trying to sleep, right?

It's quiet. We're in our mind. We're like, go to sleep, go to sleep. But we have these ruminating thoughts and feelings that we never realized we had throughout the day and it was compartmentalized. So it's really important for us to recognize those things, see those triggers and try to address them in the moment, because it's going to be healthy for our relationships with ourselves, others, and the world at the end of the day.

Host: Yeah. As you say, there's no mastering this, right? It's not a competition. Like, I did it. I scored a million points on mindfulness today. It's not that. It's really more individualized. It's about making time, trying to be mindful, and especially like trying not to necessarily be so mindful right before we're trying to fall asleep because it's just too much and it keeps us up.

 Just wondering, like on a real practical level, a daily level, is this something we can do every day? Is this something we need to do every day? Or is it one of those things where when there's time, when we can make time, then try to be mindful?

Allison Geisking, APSW: You can be mindful anytime, anywhere. Honestly. Right now, I'm being mindful and intentional with what I'm, you know, saying to you. Or, when you're driving, just being very intentional with, I'm going to be taking the left turn here, I have to make sure I have my blinker on. And just noticing the surroundings in your environment in that moment. You can do it anytime as long as you don't do it right before bed.

Host: Right.

Allison Geisking, APSW: That is, that's a little overstimulating and it's kind of too late at that point because we weren't in those situations to live through those situations and to really process through them.

Host: You know, I'm certainly not a doctor or an expert, and this is purely anecdotal, but I have found in my life anyway, that biorhythmically speaking, that I am better at certain times of the day. I'm just better. I'm sharper. I'm more efficient. So for me, it's usually in the afternoon. So back in the old days when I worked in radio, I felt like I was always better from like three to seven than I was doing like the morning show, right?

I just had 4:30 in the morning, I wasn't ready to entertain people. So right. So just wondering, is there like a best time when we think about practicing mindfulness? Is one time of the day better than others, or does it's really more about the biorhythms for folks, like whenever it's best for you, then that's when you should try to be mindful.

Allison Geisking, APSW: Exactly. Whenever is best for you is when you should do it. And when you miss the opportunity to do it, non-judgementally recognize that for yourself and say, I could have maybe been a little more mindful at that point. But reflecting on that and remembering it moving forward is the key to be able to do it more often.

Host: Yeah. And I think one of the things that I've learned about this and having conversations with you and other folks about mindfulness is that it's just not a one size fits all. That different times a day may work for different people. Mindfulness may mean different things to different folks, but in general, it's about making that time for ourselves to think and reflect.

Some of the time it's to grieve, whatever it might be. So as I mentioned, as we got rolling here today, we're going to do a series of podcasts and today just want to wrap up by asking, how do we set reasonable expectations when we think about, okay, I'm practicing mindfulness, right?

When do we see or feel the benefits? Is that an immediate thing for some folks or is it sort of over time we begin to feel like, hey, this mindfulness thing is really working for me.

Allison Geisking, APSW: One of the most important things to remember is when people talk about mindfulness and, you know, not having this mastery of it; a lot of times when people say mindfulness, they say mindfulness practice, right? So we have to practice it in order to reap in some of those really amazing benefits, such as breathing regulation, heart rate regulation, and clarity of mind that you can achieve with this.

Instantaneously, while you're doing mindfulness, your breathing will start to become more regulated. So that's maybe a little bit more of an instant benefit you can feel in those moments when you're first starting. But when it comes to the clarity of the mind, that's pretty difficult to achieve. And if we were all able to instantly achieve that, we probably wouldn't need therapists to help us weave through that maze that we call our minds, right?

So with mindfulness, it's definitely a practice. There are some benefits you can get instantly, but most times It takes a little practice for sure.

Host: Yeah, it's good that that word is there, practice, right? It's something that we work on, that we practice. We may see, as you say, some immediate benefits, but in general, it's really the long haul, the long journey about reflecting and being good to ourselves and making time for ourselves and our thoughts and our grief and all of that.

So I'm really looking forward to this series that we're going to do together. You know, you had asked me, hey, could we go through some of the mindfulness exercises and things like that. And I'm looking forward to that both to help me be more mindful and be better at practicing mindfulness and also to help listeners. Right?

Allison Geisking, APSW: I'm really looking forward to that as well and I'm looking forward to hearing your review and feedback of how you felt when you did it and how it's benefited you in some ways.

Host: Yeah, and I'm going to try to take your advice as you say this is a no judgment zone, a no judging zone, that we're all just doing our best here, and when we have trouble dealing with things ourselves we have certainly, mental health professionals to turn to. Great stuff today. Look forward to speaking with you again in the future and we'll do that soon.

Allison Geisking, APSW: Wonderful. Thank you so much.

Host: And for more information, go to uplandhillshealth.org. And if you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels. This is the Inspire Health Podcast from Upland Hills Health. I'm Scott Webb. Stay well.