RadioMD Presents: Wellness for Life Radio | Original Air Date: May 29, 2015
Host: Susanne Bennett, DC
Guest: Heather Hayward, CHt

It’s time to feel better with help from Dr. Susanne Bennett. Allergies, nutrition, ultimate wellness all discussed right here, right now. It’s Wellness for Life Radio on RadioMD. Here’s your host Dr. Susanne.

DR. SUSANNE: Have you been curious about meditation? You know, it’s that buzz word now and how it really works. Do you think you have to turn on the sounds of the ocean and sit on the floor while humming for 60 minutes and then you say to yourself with frustration, “Who has time for this? I have to go to work. I’ve got too much to do.” Now my next guest that I’m going to introduce to you has the power of meditation. She’s going to teach you the power of it and how you can get the benefits of it easier than you think. She is a personal coach, clinical hypnotherapist, author and speaker. Welcome to the show Heather Hayward.

HEATHER: Hi, Dr. Susanne.

DR. SUSANNE: Hey, let’s get right to business. Now what’s the definition of meditation?

HEATHER: Bottom line it’s the ability to choose where you place your focus. It’s as simple as that.

DR. SUSANNE: That’s pretty easy but that’s not true because so many people will have like their brain is going a million miles an hour and it’s really difficult to focus on anything. So what you suggest?

HEATHER: So, you know, meditation is such the buzz word right and I prefer to think of a meditative state of mind so that you can be in a state of creation rather than reaction in your day to day ability to go about and be involved with your work, with your kids, with your husband, with your colleagues and one of the things is that you don’t have to close your eyes to actually create a meditative state of mind. When I say the ability to choose where you place your focus even as people are listening right now, they can notice how they’re listening. Are they listening through ear buds, are they holding a phone, are they listening on their radio, how’s their jaw, how are their shoulders, how’s their tummy, how are their hips and that creates presence and presence is what I want my clients and friends to be more of is, to have more presence in their day to day rather than as you and I know with all the information coming in it can just be a kaleidoscope where you don’t know actually what to take in, what to take out, what to copy, what to paste, what to print and that creates that anxiety. So, one of the things is to constantly just take a pause stop breathe and enter into just a presence of the moment. Yes, there are, I have a ton of you know audios and stuff to help guide you through the ear that, you know, you listen to a voice but it really is something that you can choose to place your attention right here on my voice coming through the air waves and just noticing where you are at in the moment and just getting a sense of where you’re at and then being able to delegate what you’re going to do with that information whether again to drop your shoulders, open your jaw and I’m basic. I’m that simple because I think if you start with the body, the mind will follow. Some meditation practices go mind, mind, mind and I’m one that came into mediation because of chronic anxiety and worry over 30 years ago and what I’ve found is the body is my sacred temple. The body is always still if I’m sitting. Do you know what I mean? Like right now, it’s still. My mind is racing like I want to tell Dr. Susanne everything I know but that’s not going to happen.

DR. SUSANNE: So, what it sounds to me which I really love your way of teaching meditation is that you don’t have to lay down, you don’t have to be in a place where you’re like in, you know, the beach by the ocean where there’s no one around. You actually can do a type of mediation that your present right there wherever you’re at. So, you don’t need anything, you just need yourself. So, this is what you teach and I know that I’ve used your tapes. I’ve used your audios. I have the holistic meditation audios that you’ve made for me which I cannot tell you how much all of my students--I have a lot of students with all my different programs like Flat Sexy Belly and Ultimate Wellness that is one of the favorite parts of the program is listening to your two morning and evening mediations. Now, you’ve got one that it doesn’t have to be 20 or even 10 minutes you can have a 5 minute meditation. Don’t you?

HEATHER: Yes and you know what? To create by just listening to my own clients and listening to “I don’t have the time” and “I don’t know how”. “I don’t have the time” and “I don’t know how” and it’s as simple as just following the breath in and out with your eyes open because so many of us are now in our cars or, I like to call it the “take five with me in the cubicle” because so many people are at the office and they can slip on their ear buds and act like they’re on a conference call or something. You know, it doesn’t have to be with incense and a candle and going ‘Om’, you know? R I prefer the ‘Ah’ mediation. Just that sense of ‘Ah’ and what you can…Yes? Go ahead.

DR. SUSANNE: Yes, what I want to ask you, though, as you’re talking about that I think about your pause you said that there are steps to go through to reset your body and reset your mind and you go through the pause an acronym for what?

HEATHER: Clients can have these epiphanies or, you know, you can have insight sort of at a workshop or something and then you get out into the world and you get triggered, you know, but someone not doing what you told them to do. So, we have PAUSE with my clients and “P” stands for perspective and you just ask yourself what happened? And you take the inventory from the left lobe, meaning you just state the facts. “My husband was late to dinner.” So, you just state the facts. “P”, perspective, what happened. Then “A” is to acknowledge how I felt. It made me feel frustrated. Acknowledge how you felt, acknowledge your body. My jaw is tight. My shoulders--I’m grabbing my shoulders. And then “U” is for unplug. So, unplugging can be that five minute meditation. If you have time, lay down and do it. If you don’t, walk and do it. You can even unplug for a certain amount of time. “You know what, honey? Let’s revisit this tomorrow morning.” So, unplugging is really unplugging and then after you’ve unplugged and you’ve reset where you feel calmer, “S” is for solution. So, what is this solution rather than keep defining the problem. So, what’s the solution? So, once you identify that, as you go to “E” which is engage and that is take an action even if the action is to delay? So, that’s my PAUSE and that just helps to reset your day as you have a meditative state or you have a good meditation or whatever and then something triggers, you just pause.

DR. SUSANNE: I love that. PAUSE is just for “Hey, let me just take a moment,” but it’s also to go through all of those different aspects so that we can say, “I’m ready to reset and be able to be more loving to myself and loving to whom I’m engaging with.” I absolutely love that. I wish we had more information. Let’s see, is it heatherhayward.com? Is that where we go?

HEATHER: Yes, it is.

DR. SUSANNE: Heatherhayward.com and you have this great mediation and it’s called My Meditation: A Daily Practice for Every Mood and you’ve got a five minute one, a 10 minute, 15 and 20 minute mediations there. It’s just everyone can really use all of this and anything else that you’d like to tell us in the last minute?

HEATHER: No, just thank you so much for having me and I adore you.

DR. SUSANNE: We have such a great time, Heather, and, I mean, I’ve sent you so many clients that really need your coaching skills as well as hypnotherapy and mediation. You’ve got an amazing practice here in the Pacific Palisades. I’m so happy for you. So, we’ve got to all go to heatherhayward.com, heatherhayward.com. Her mediation is called My Meditation: A Daily Practice for Every Mood.

Thank you so much, Heather, for being here and this is Dr. Susanne sharing Natural Strategies for Ultimate Health and Wellness right here on RadioMD. Until next time, stay well, everyone.