Hi, my name is Luke McLean; and welcome to Mindful Foundations.

As a meditation teacher, life coach and father of five; I know how challenging building a meditation and mindfulness practice can be.

Mindful Foundations has been created as an introduction to meditation and mindfulness for people living modern lives. Please download the attached introduction PDF to learn more about the next four weeks ahead.

Peace and Gratitude Luke

The most important thing to remember about mindfulness and meditation is that it's a practice. When running workshops and coaching, I always begin with comparing mindfulness to fitness. You won't get fitter reading fitness magazines, you need to do the work. Mindfulness is similar, information and teachings give us knowledge and cultivate awareness to get started. BUT Awareness is not Action!!!

In many ways, gratitude is like a superpower that shifts us into an expansive positive mindset of thanks. You'll hear more about this in week four (Mindful Attitudes). Until then take on the weekly gratitude challenge, and if you can keep this one up for the entire four weeks. (it's that good)

In a life that sees us in a constant state of rushing and reacting; STOP is a timely reminder. The tool STOP was created by mindfulness teacher John Kabat-Zinn. STOP brings us back into the present moment, through the breath and checks in with where we are at with open awareness. So often we think that we need to go faster and do more when the best thing we can do for our wellbeing, clarity and productivity is to pause for a moment.

Bringing your attention to the breath seems so simple, but mindfulness and meditation can be complex and confusing. The Four A's has been created as a simple and practical way to understand mindfulness and meditation in modern life.

Mindful Foundation has been created to be simple and practical. Week two invites a continuation from week one.

This weeks practice/tool is a great meditation called Box-Breathing. The weekly talk is on mindfulness in modern life and our weekly challenge is intention setting.

Living mindfully is about being present and purposeful. Too often our days begin in a state of busyness; reacting to everything and everyone else.

Intention Setting focuses on starting the morning with purpose and presence. Add intention setting onto your morning meditation practice, giving you a spacious start to the day.

Box Breathing is one of the most used meditation practices amongst teams, corporates and sportspeople. East to follow breathwork helps to ground you quickly; reducing stress and anxiety. Box Breathing can be done as a formal practice or on the go. It's powerful in moments when we become hooked or stressed or to reduce nerves before a big meeting/presentation.

Bring Box Breathing into your day as a way to become grounded and build stillness. There is a guided box breathing meditation linked below to get you started.

This talks about the importance and the need for mindfulness and meditation in modern life. So much of what society has been built on has been designed to disconnect us from the present moment. We are training to be unfocused, distracted and in many ways unconscious.

Over halfway there; keep going, keep committing; remember it's a practice and it takes discipline.

This week there are some great tools and teachings. In our weekly talk, I share my three most profound teachings from the past 10-years.

This weeks mindfulness tool is called RAIN. RAIN is one of the best practices to help you unhook from unhealthy stories and feelings.

Mindful Moments is the weekly challenge. How do we create more mindful moments in our day?

Mindfulness is literally a moment to moment practice. The mindful moment's challenge takes the small and everyday moments and uses them as an opportunity to practice mindfulness.

Developed by Michelle McDonald RAIN can help us to unhook from challenging moments and unhelpful stories. Give RAIN a try in a more controlled and practised environment and as you get to understand it; begin to use it in live moments.

This weeks talk is a collection of three key teachings that I love and use in my coaching and in my life. I explain what they are and how I bring them to life.

Welcome to your final week.

I hope that your morning meditation practice is beginning to feel like a habit? Keep going. This week is about mindful attitudes and self-reflection. Use this week to build your practice as close to what it will look like beyond this week. If you want to develop previous techniques and tools into your mindful living practice, begin this week.

Congratulations on making the final week.

Mindful attitudes have been a game-changer and help to bring mindfulness into action. This mindful attitude challenge is a great way to build your mindfulness muscle. Mindful Attitudes are a chosen response and energy that we bring to the moment. Mindful Attitudes help to self regulate us and allows us to be at our best.

Here are six of my favourite self-reflection questions. I do this exercise with all my clients at least two times each year. This exercise helps to identify people, experiences and practices that connect to the best version of you.

Our final talk is on Mindful Attitudes. I think you will like mindful attitudes and find them super helpful as a part of your mindful living practice.

As always here’s your free resource to help you understand Mindful Attitudes a little more.

Welcome to your final talk and complete collections of mindful foundation teaching, tools and resources. Attached is every tool you Mindful Foundation E-Book used in the past four weeks, this is to help you build your ongoing meditation and mindful living practice.

A huge congratulations on finishing Mindful Foundation. This is JUST the beginning, it's the foundation for you to build and grow your meditation and mindful living practice.

Here are some of my favourite resources that I have discovered along the way.