How can you incorporate mindfulness into the MI process?

In my experience helping clients identify their reason, their why, they want to change is important. For example, maybe they want to be healthier so they can play with their grand children. Or maybe they want to be able to hike up a hill. Talking with them about their why and helping them identify a plan to achieve it is the important.

MI can really help coaches and mentors open their clients up to thinking on a deeper level, so they can guide themselves towards massive change. And in such a way that the motivation becomes ever more intrinsic, in a growing nature and confidently more expressive. Moreover, learning what MI is all about will help every relationship you and you clients have outside of the coaching and business world. It's fantastic with helping young children understand themselves for example.

The quiet moments of mindfulness can allow the client to explore their reasons for change and express them without pressure. The key is I have to slow down!

One thing I have found helpful is using mindfulness as an awareness technique to help clients be aware of and regulate emotions which arise which create sustain talk. Allowing this to be a compassionate guide to towards and through the defenses presenting.

Incorporating mindfulness into the Motivational Interviewing (MI) process enhances focus and presence. Practitioners can start sessions with brief mindfulness exercises, like deep breathing or body scanning, to create a calm, centered environment. Encourage mentees to observe their thoughts and feelings non-judgmentally during conversations. This mindful approach aids in recognizing underlying motivations and resisting impulses, fostering deeper self-awareness and openness to change. By staying present, both practitioner and mentee can engage more effectively in the reflective process of MI.

Instead of just telling people "Do this, it's right for you", MI requires mindfulness in the coach, to tune into what drives the client's intrinsic desire to thrive. This safe space sets up a virtuous cycle evoking mindfulness in the client, who can then design solutions that will work for their reality.

Implementing mindfulness in parallel with MI can be an effective way to introduce mindfulness skills or, if skills were already introduced, enhance the MI process. In my experience, the latter can occur in two ways: 1) When a client's dialogue becomes dominated by 'sustain talk' that is likely fueled by negative thought patterns, mindfulness can be used to break the pattern. Mindfulness skills help bring the client back to the present moment, which is often times where their motivation to change lies. 2) Mindfulness can also be used to reinforce 'change talk' that is particularly meaningful. When a client makes a powerful statement for change, a mindful reflection is a great way to boost the positive feedback and motivation.

Mindfulness is the practice of being aware of your body, mind, and feelings/emotions in the present moment. Helping clients become aware of what their body is communicating, both to the world and to themselves in the moment is very valuable. Especially when their mind is talking about specific hot topics, for instance. As the discrepancy may highlight clashes with their deeper intrinsic values and the reasons WHY they currently believe they want to change. If the WHY is the wrong WHY, change will be much harder. Sometime trauma can hinder mindfulness in this way and so mindfulness does matter.

Incorporating mindfulness into MI requires practice and intentionality. Therapists need to engage in mindfulness practice to effectively bring these elements into their clinical work. Integrating mindfulness enhances MI's empathetic, client-centered approach, potentially leading to more effective and meaningful therapeutic outcomes.

Many people are able to be compassionate and non-judgmental with others, but struggle to extend the same empathy to themselves. Mindfulness can be employed as part of MI to help people consider their own attitudes, beliefs, and behavior patterns through the same compassionate and non-judgmental lens they might apply to others. When people can stop judging themselves, it may be easier to consider making changes that will ultimately benefit them.

For me, seated meditation is difficult, but moving meditation works well. Walking in nature, swimming, or practices like Tai Chi and Qigong can be excellent forms of moving meditation. Focusing attention on the breath, on sensations, or on the rhythm and form of movement helps to clear the mind of distractions.

I have a support group. I have mentors. I utilize deep breathing, prayer and meditation. I continuously focus on self-care. If you do not take care of yourself as a clinician, it will be very hard to stay the course.

I think one way is to use small daily actions with your clients, or with yourself if you're new to Mindfulness. Keep the actions simple: "On a scale of 1-10 how confident are you that you can do this action everyday?" is a good question. If it's less than a 9/10, guide them to finding another, even simpler action. Break the bigger parts of Mindfulness into smaller defined and organized segments. What's very important is to practice the segments in the correct order. If it's unorganized and random, success is much less likely. This may sound slow, but I prefer to call it strategic. Strategic focus will make a difficult process become easier and faster in the long run. As a coach you can support all this with MI style mentorship.

Here's something quick and easy that most clients will be open to. One very simple way of doing this is to inhale one deep breath slowly. And exhale a even slower. Do this with your client before asking your next (MI) question. And then again one deep breath in with your client before they reflect, for at least 5 seconds on an answer. Then they can verbalize their answer. This simple act of creating, thinking and answering has innumerable effects on both the atmosphere of the coaching environment and the physiology of both the coach and the client alike. In fact the next time you see an interview with someone you consider influential, intellectual or insightful watch how they do this very thing. They are using mindfulness, probably.

Mindfulness is a very deep topic and there are so many angles you can approach learning more about it. I find that going as close to the original idea, the source of anything is a great way to truly learn about any topic. So the following list is not for the faint of heart. Practically any modern book written on mindfulness will be pulling from texts like these as a foundation. Here are just 3 of my personal recommendations: 1. Tao Te Ching-Lao Tzu 2. The Foundation of Buddhist Practice - Dalai Lama 3. The Bhagavad Gita - Eknath Easwaran Don't be put of by the religiousness of these books (if you happen to be in that mind-space currently) as they can be read from many perspectives.