32 results for tag: Benefits of Meditation
Online Lunch Meditation Practice Tuesdays!
I am incredibly excited about offering an online lunch meditation practice on Tuesdays from 12:15 to 12:45 (Eastern Time)! We will practice multiple forms of moving and sitting meditation to discover and meet various mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual needs. This is a drop-in practice; you do not need to register or sign up to participate. It is OK to join after we have started. No previous meditation experience is necessary!
There is no fee for participation. We want you to join us!
We will begin our online lunch meditation practice by saying hello and identifying ourselves, then do some moving meditation like Qi Gong or walking ...
Thich Nhat Hanh Passed To The Next Dimension
There are about two handfuls of people who have shaped the course of my life beyond friends and family. Tich Nhat Hanh was one of them. We can add Martin Luther King Jr., Dalai Lama, Louise Hay, Thomas Merton, Mevlana Julaluddin Rumi, G.I. Gurdjieff, John Lennon , Mikao Usui, Mahatma Gandhi, and my former Teacher and Mentor Rev Betsy Browder. to this list. Today he passed to the next dimension.
He and Louise Hay are where my journey into meditation began in 1990. There were not many books one could find on meditation at the time. Peace Is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh, and You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay are the two that made the most sense to me. I felt like they were key to a door that I somehow knew existed without any rhyme or reason to think there was such a door. I do not think I am being theatrical in saying that they saved my life.
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Learning To Meditate
Learning to meditate is hard. This is my experience with learning to meditate. I was coming up on six months clean and sober. My sponsor's sponsor, which I jokingly used to call my grand sponsor, was coming up on 40 years sober. I used to enjoy talking with old Bill often. He was kind, respectful, direct, and openhearted. These were all qualities that I had desired, but I did not know how to express them myself or know many people who did, for that matter. So I used to like to talk with him whenever possible. He was one of the few people I trusted even a little.
One night after a meeting, Bill came over and sat next to me. He smiled that soft, gentle smile that typically made me feel safe, if only momentary. On that particular Friday night, I was not able to tap into his smile in order to shift the sadness, desperation, and frustration I was experiencing. Bill noticed this immediately. He leaned over and put his right hand on my left elbow, "How are you doing, young man?". Bill was old enough to forget pretty much everyone's name, and we were all either Young Man or Young Woman, regardless of age or any other identifying factors.
I let out a deep sigh and felt my belly clinch, "I'm not doing so good, Bill. I go to meetings, I talk to my sponsor, I hang out with all my recovering friends, I pray every night before I go to bed, and every morning when I wake up, I still feel miserable. I feel like it's never going to get better for me, and there's nothing I can do about it."
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... How Breathing Calms Your Brain
It's about time that science has caught up to what many of us have known for a very long time. Breathing calms your brain, heart, whole body, and mind. Scientists are doing amazing research on how breathing affects the vagus nerve. "The vagal nerve, as a proponent of the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS), is the prime candidate in explaining the effects of contemplative practices on health, mental health, and cognition"(Roderik J. S. Gerritsen and Guido P. H. Band). I trust research conducted by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
My primary interest in posting this article is that simply focused breathing can shift our brain rhythm, heart rate, and sense of well-being in general, just a few simple breaths. I encourage many clients to pause and take three full breaths several times a day: when we get out of bed, before work/school/childcare, after work/school/childcare, and before bed. We can stop at any time in any place and take three full breaths to regulate our brain rhythm and heart rate so we can function normally. Breathing calms your brain.
I invite you to try it right now. Below is a basic technique suggested by the University of Michigan Medicine. If the situation does not support the specifics of this method, just take three full breaths to your below and release fully after each breath. Breathing calms your brain.
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"Belly breathing
Belly breathing is easy to do and very relaxing. Try this basic exercise anytime you need to relax or relieve stress.
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Sit or lie flat in a comfortable position.
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Put one hand on your belly just below your ribs and the other hand on your chest.
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Take a deep breath in through your nose, and let your belly push your hand out. Your chest should not move.
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Breathe out through pursed lips as if you were whistling. Feel the hand on your belly go in, and use it to push all the air out.
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Do this breathing 3 to 10 times. Take your time with each breath.
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Notice how you feel at the end of the exercise."
... We Can Still Be Crazy – Pema Chodron
... You’re Basically Good — The Benefits of Contemplative Psychotherapy
You're basically good. This perspective is often left out of modern Western counseling, therapy, and life coaching. Here in the West, the typical approach focuses on what is wrong with you and what needs to be "fixed". The counselor, therapist, or life coach gets paid as long as you are "sick" or "need" them to function in the world. This is not my approach to working with clients. I assume you're basically good. You have what you need inside you to be successful in life and relationships. You know what you need. You have as much strength, courage, wisdom, and love as necessary to enjoy your work, family, friends, relationships, and the world around you. I see my role as the facilitator in helping you bring these qualities to the surface so you can be a productive member of society and achieve what you came here to do in this life.
Although the practices described in the article below are not exactly what I do, there are many similarities, and the concepts feel like they come from the same place. I hope you enjoy reading this piece. I think it is fascinating and inspiring. How about you?
Children Talk About Mindfulness in “Just Breathe” Short Film – Mindful.org
Children talk about mindfulness in “Just Breathe” short film. For many of us, when we think about mindfulness and image of a middle-aged white male with an intense expression on his face or a twenty something year old young white female with perfect skin and body come to mind. But what about ...
