Integrating Mindfulness Into Everyday Life – Elisha Goldstein
How To Integrate Mindfulness Into Everyday Life With Elisha Goldstein
Elisha Goldstein, Ph.D is co-founder of The Center for Mindful Living in West Los Angeles. He is also the author of Uncovering Happiness: Overcoming Depression with Mindfulness and Self-Compassion, The Now Effect: How this Moment Can Change the Rest of Your Life, Mindfulness Meditations for the Anxious Traveler and co-author of A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook. He has also designed the bestselling program Basics in Mindfulness Meditation: A 28 Day Program.
In this interview with Elisha you’ll discover…
A wonderfully simple definition of mindfulness.
- Practical tips on bringing mindfulness into daily life.
- How to use ‘pairing’ and a powerful way to infuse mindfulness into your life.
- The power of doing short informal practices sprinkled throughout the day.
- How mindfulness helped Elisha overcome insomnia.
- The R.A.I.N method and the S.A.F.E method for using mindfulness in difficult times.
Our sincere apologies for the scratchy sound in this video. Melli’s mic was rubbing on her clothes. We’ve edited out all sound on her end as Elisha talks.
Show Notes
Join The Mindfulness Summit Journey here
Come and join the community discussions at any time on our Facebook page
You can find Elisha’s website here where you can also find his books and sign up for his blog.
Would you like to try the mindful check in? Check it out here
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Purchase a full access pass to unlock downloads for the full interview transcripts, audio, video and separate audio meditation tracks.
Buy full access pass
Purchase a full access pass to unlock downloads for the full interview transcripts, audio, video and separate audio meditation tracks.
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Somewhat different approach with Elisha to what others may recognize as a mudita and tong lin practice in a longer format. I look forward to each day to see what the new mindfulness will be. Thanks again!
Insightful, educative and creative. Jon kabat-zinn says that mindfulness arises in living. Sometimes I put pressure on myself to do the formal meditation and I became mindful of that feeling, of that body sensation and I recognize that that is the practice. BEiING PRESENT NOW. THANK YOU MELLI
Such a wonderful event. I have enjoyed all the sessions and look forward to more. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experiences.
Thanks Elisha, I love the way you break it down and the acronyms you shared and tips for informal practice and shower example. I work with supporting moms in creating community and in being present in parenting — simple ways to bring more mindfulness into their lives is a godsend! (-: Your 500 year plan statement made me laugh outloud – I realized how I have been having a sense of urgency around the changes I would like to see – I feel lighter and a sense of great ease and possibility. Thank you and thanks Melli – you’re a fantastic interviewer and wow – what have you created here! (-: Blessings.
I am enjoying all the speakers so for. Inspiring information and guidance.
Great interview! Loved Elisha’s enthusiasm – boy did he chatter away! But I could follow him ok and enjoyed his enthusiasm.
Love that he was pro informal practice – and that he said sometimes it can lead to a regular formal practice, sometimes it’s all you ever do and that’s ok too.
And really appreciated the break down of the acronyms.
Thanks a million from New Zealand. xxx
Rumi: Yesterday I was clever. I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, I want to change myself.
What a fantastic quote!
Thank you Eugene for sharing the quote. So true, and by doing so (changing ourselves) and being a beacon of light and set an example we contribute to the world’s change one by one. So many wise and brilliant people; teachers etc. have come before us and age after age in attempt to teach us…
This mindfulness summit is a wonderful reminder no matter what level and path we may be on…
Nice! One step at a time.
Love the quote
I have learned so much from all the speakers and is helping me tremendously align my teaching and learning path
Namaste
Much appreciation for the summit in general and this talk has indeed helped to bring the sense of mindfulness application to everyday life. I also really liked the SAFE experiential. Peace and Gratitude
I have never been so profoundly moved by an event before. I am forever grateful to Melli and all of the speakers. My life will never be the same. Peace and love to all of my mindfulness family <3
Eryn,
I love your feeling of belonging to the mindfulness family. Very touching statement! A testament to your sense of worthiness for love and belonging (from Brene Brown’s teachings)!
Marie
I have really enjoyed all the speakers and have loved learning about mindfulness. I happened upon this summit quite by accident. Or was it? It has really inspired me and I want to begin putting all of this into daily practice. I hope we will stay connected bc I believe in this and want to attend a weekend retreat.
Thank you Mellie and Elisha! Such a great interview. I am a fan of Elisha Goldstein’s work and have used some of his semi-formal practices when working with clients. Oftentimes clients want tangible concrete tools that they can take away from a session, something that does not require a significant block of time and something they can do with ease. I also use semi-formal practices throughout the day and experience renewed presence and connection every time. Loved this talk! Thank you Mellie to you and your incredible team for the Mindfulness Summit.
Wonderful Doris!!! Stay committed and connected, what wonderful work you are doing. Warmly, Elisha
I am enjoying the valuable contributions of the mindfulness experts so far, and look forward to each session. Thank you, Melli, for organizing this valuable summit as well as Mrs. Mindfulness. I was glad to hear Elisha share that all types of mindfulness (formal, semi-formal and brief mindful checks) provide positive results. After learning about STOP, RAIN and SAFE mindful practices, I feel these techniques will motivate me to meditate more. I am inspired and grateful for this unique opportunity to expand my mindfulness experience. Namaste
I wasn’t sure what to expect from the summit – thought it might be a bit serious! But I am really enjoying it, very interesting. I have a long list of books to read already 🙂
I enjoyed this a lot. All the speakers have shared valuable pieces of wisdom and tools that I am enjoying then sharing with my class. I teach yoga 11 at a high school and my students are also taking part in the summit so thank you for bringing this together for us Meli. In gratitude.
Brei from North Vancouver, Canada
Greatly enjoyed Elisha. He was enthusiastic and very informative. I found myself taking several notes today. This truly makes it easy to incorporate mindfulness in everyday life. Thanks so much. Stockton, California, USA
I really like to spread my happiness after finding out that they are wonderful human beings like you people around. It makes life pretty joyful.
I’m loving these interviews, thank you so much for putting all of this together. I love the way uncomfortable emotions just seem to disappear once you look at them and allow them to be there.
I really enjoyed this talk and muting Melli while he was talking actually made it easier for me to follow what he was saying. No disrespect to Melli! But without all the agreements and ‘mmhmm’s I could really focus on his words. Thank you for a wonderful opportunity to learn more about mindfulness and the different practices!
Thank you Elisabeth for the idea of short informal practices to allow me to extend and develop mindfulness into my day and my evenings which for me are the most challenging times
oops Elisha. Got to love auto correct
Doing a great job Melli! Elisha makes it feel more accessible to everyone…… whatever works for you as a practice works for you!! Many thanks and mindful thoughts to all.
Wonderful Stephen!
Dear Melli,
Please be careful of knits rubbing against the microphone!
I was trying to figure out where the jingle bells were coming from!
Congratulations on a wonderful summit.
I look forward to the end of the day to listen to each speaker.
Dan
So far, the SAFE practice is my favorite. Being able to identify what I’m feeling and needing at a difficult moment, and exercising some compassion, not only towards myself, but also for every other human being throughout the world who happens to be experiencing something similar is so empowering. What a beautiful way to heal myself AND bring me out of self-absorption, to awareness of others, in order to expand that healing to the world!
I liked it too!
Another awesome talk and discussion! Different ways of practicing being mindful so very useful in today modern world which is capable of creating problems such as stress, lack of self esteem, bulling, anger and depression to mention a few. Such a big help from your S.A.F.E meditation. Thank you so much from new Zealand!
Melli should be commended for improving a good deal as an interviewer in the past week. The mindful silence when Elisha was speaking made for a far deeper experience – not easy to change communication styles in a few days and I am very, very impressed.
Am I the only one who sometimes struggles to give a name to the emotion I am feeling in a moment?
Noop. I have the same problem. I can’t seem to differentiate the whole spectrum of feelings. I mostly recognize fear, anger, sadness and joy.
Gurdjieff’s stop exercise is explained in “In Search of the Miraculous” by Peter D. Ouspensky
Francine ) Excellent session from Elisha. The stop exercise came from Ivanovitch Gurdjieff,he died October 1949.
Elisha Goldstein is great! Thank you very much!
These sessions are all terrific and inspirational. As a beginner in mindfulness–and an unenthusiastic and skeptical one at that–I have been experiencing a “when the student is ready the teacher appears” feeling with this summit. So much fascinating material to follow-up on! I am grateful.
Elisha’s has been an extremely helpful talk for me. I used his guided SAFE meditation to help me with a present moment anxiety. In that meditation I realized that what I needed was to connect with others who are facing the same or similar challenge/fear/anxiety. That part of the practice, of making that connection and prayer for others as well as for myself went so deeply into my body that what had felt like a large hard lead ball of grief and fear softened and dissolved as I connected to the people of the world and wished them to feel at ease with this fear, to feel safe and protected as well. My fear shifted into tenderness. Thank you Elisha for your work. And thank you Mellie for the Summit.
This is so wonderful to hear Mary, stay committed and connected as you go. Warmly, Elisha
As Elisha spoke about his wish that mindfulness could help heal the “hatred” that others, like people in the Middle East, feel, I couldn’t help but wish that mindfulness would heal the contempt, callousness and disdain we as western society display towards those same people from the Middle East, Africa, Afghanistan and people adhering to the Muslim faith in general…
Thank you Hans, I was uncomfortable with the Middle East stereotype also. My experience with them is personal and they are not different from Westerners in the proportion of them that are hateful or loving, or any dichotomy you consider. My experience with them has been positive, on the whole, same as my experience with Westerners.
That being said, I took so much good from this session with Elisha, and I can hardly believe how valuable this seminar is! It has far surpassed what I imagined it might be or even hoped for!
When you feel bad look at the map of China and ask yourself “Is there anyone there who is feeling like me right now ?” It helps me quite a lot. My sense of being separate from others weakens.
The rubbing sounds were an object of meditation. ????Thank you Mellissa ????: two meditations within the same session. Both were nurturing.
The SAFE practice was powerful and so very nicely conducted. Merci Elisha. Long Life to the Mindfulness Summit!
(NB: The ‘???? ” are indeed big smiles-smileys !
I have heard all of these speakers before but I find that each time I learn new things and relearn old. I meditate about 1 hour/day and read primarily Buddhism 2 hours/day. The Essence of Buddhism by Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche is a great comprehensive review and mentions much about the moral-ethical aspects noted by Rick Hanson.
A goldmine of inspiration! I really appreciate Elisha taking the time to explain and exemplify the various practices, his own and more formal/wellknown practices. Also, I am thankful for the caution about practicing RAIN without being “stable”enough. I have had difficulties with this practice and will wait until I have a more stable mindfulness practice.
Wow, I’ve been struggling with insomnia for most of my life, and I never thought that I would find a suggestion to improve it here. Thank you, Elisha!
I also found your S.A.F.E. methodology to be very helpful, and will strive to incorporate it into my daily life.
Very nice practices. I do however think that one needs to be very careful when talking about others and I quote “…where kids are taught to hate the other side” I think this is irresponsible. I think mindfulness is not about apportioning blame but being responsible for our own words and feelings and this sounded like blame – which could go a long way to perpetuating a difficult situation. I don’t say this to be harsh or to blame but just for people to be aware that noticing and reversing this blame culture that we live in goes a long way to creating a less volatile world.
Thank you Elisha for such an interesting talk. I found the emphasis on self compassion really useful and was amazed to find a feeling in my body I had never perceived or acknowledged before when I followed your meditation.
I certainly will be following your SAFE STOP and RAIN practice’s now as much as possible,as I can see that for me this could be a way into healing past hurt and growing in awareness of what matters now.
what a powerful meditation. It seems i’m not the only one to feel that way. I recall the first time i practiced lovingkindness as well as working with difficult emotions in Jon Kabat-Zinn, Dan Siegal and Mark Williams book A mindful Way through Depression. It feels like a combination of the two. It really impacted me.
I just noticed the $79 required for a full access pass is being called a donation. I have absolutely no problem with a fee being charged and $79 is more than reasonable- it is generous. But the term donation implies a voluntary giving where people set their own amount. I wince at the lack of. . . clarity? and honesty? in the terminology. If we’re going to be mindful, let’s see if we can do it in our choice of words. If it’s a mandatory minimum, call it a fee. If it’s a “donation” leave it open to what people want to contribute. Great program- deeply appreciating all the contributors.
What is included in a full access pass
Thanks again Melli and Elisha. Really love the practical aspects of the informal & semi-formal, especially the S.T.O.P and S.A.F.E-excellent!
Hi Elisha,
Thank you for the mindfulness practice and the acronyms you provided. They are great anchors . You also mentioned a mindfulness community online…Was it Be Mindful? Where you can log in a join anyone who is currently practicing…?
Thank you.
Thank you, I really got a lot out of experiencing the SAFE meditation. V powerful.
What an inspiration! Just loved your explanation of “STOP” and “RAIN” and your meditation on “SAFE”.
Melli and Elisha, I’m so thankful for this wonderful practice today! what a great gift ! Love all the techniques shared, but the most precious moment was realizing, that we must stop…and give ourselves what we need…putting our arms around ourselves even when no one else would is ok…such a powerful practice!
Elisha’s busy mind full of plans really resonated with me.
Love the agronomic SAFE! And also what Elisha said during the practise: ‘if you don’t know what you need (and usually my pitfall here is to start analysing or feel a little unsettled cause I can’t pinpoint what I exactly need)- say you need clarity- or may I feel clear’. Simple and beautiful.
Thank you both again!
Love,
Femke
Elisha’s podcast has been my favorite so far! Thank you so much!
I relistening to this. So useful. Thank you!