Showing posts with label mindfulness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mindfulness. Show all posts

Monday, 17 August 2015

4 Tips for Staying Committed to Your Mindfulness Meditation Practice


By Charles A. Francis
These days there is much talk about mindfulness meditation. You often hear about how the practice will transform your life, and how you’ll achieve a multitude of health benefits.
While there are indeed many benefits of mindfulness meditation, for many people, these benefit seem elusive because they’re having trouble getting started and staying committed to their practice.
Which of these statements best describes your experience with meditation?
  • “I’m having trouble getting started, and staying committed to my practice.”
  • “I’ve tried different ways of meditating, but I still don’t see much progress.”
  • “I’m not sure of what to do when I’m meditating.”
  • “My mind is racing, and I have trouble sitting still.”
If you answered “yes” to any of these statements, then you’re not alone. I had all these problems when I started, and so have most of the people I’ve talked to. The good news is that there is a simple approach to overcoming these problems.
There are 3 main reasons why most people have trouble getting started with their mindfulness meditation practice:
  • Lack of clear goals.
  • Not using proper mindfulness meditation techniques.
  • Lack of support from peers.
In this article, I’ll share with you some tips on how to get your mindfulness meditation practice off to a good start, and help you stay committed to a regular routine. They will ensure that you see immediate results, and help you stay committed to your practice.

Tip 1: Set goals for your mindfulness meditation practice.
Most successful people set goals for themselves. Whether they’re personal or career goals, they help them follow through with their commitments. In the case of your mindfulness meditation practice, set some modest goals for learning how to meditate and committing yourself to a routine, and write them down.
They don’t have to be elaborate or grandiose. In fact, simple goals will be much easier to accomplish. If your goals are too ambitious, then you’ll never stick to them. I suggest perhaps practicing for 20 minutes daily, for the next month.
It’s important to write them down, because the writing process will help solidify your commitment in your subconscious, which is exactly what you want. We’ll return to this shortly.
To make things easy for you, I’ve developed a meditation goal exercise, which will guide through the process. It even includes a sample goal statement you can use. Click here to download the exercise.

Tip 2: Begin practicing writing meditation.
If you’re not yet familiar with writing meditation, it’s an exercise we’ve developed that will transform the way you relate to other people. It will reprogram your subconscious to be more loving, understanding, compassionate, and forgiving without any conscious effort.
The best part about the writing meditation is that it takes just 10 minutes a day. What you do is simply copy the affirmations of the loving-kindness meditation in a notebook. That’s all.
Now, to increase the impact of the writing meditation, include your goals as part of the exercise. In other words, each time you do the writing meditation, begin by copying your goal statement, and then proceed with the loving-kindness affirmations. This will reinforce your goals in the most powerful way possible.
You can download a printable copy of the writing meditation here. It includes instructions and the loving-kindness meditation.

Tip 3: Begin practicing sitting meditation.
The basics of mindfulness meditation are simple. Our goal is to develop our skills of observation, concentration and mindfulness, so that we can see the world and our relationships with greater clarity. 
Don’t worry about trying to be perfect with these meditation techniques. Remember, you’re still learning, and you’ll certainly improve with practice. Also, don’t worry about minor lapses in your goals. If you miss a day, just continue practicing the next day.

Tip 4: Get involved in a mindfulness meditation group.
A mindfulness meditation group is vital to your continued spiritual growth. While meditating alone is an important element of our practice, so is meditating with others. The group will provide you with the support and spiritual nourishment you need to grow, and help you stay committed to your practice.
If there are no mindfulness meditation groups near you, consider starting one. It’s really easy, and immensely rewarding. I’ve prepared a group starter kit that provides you with a sample format, a preamble to help you stay focused, and some literature about the practice. You can download it here.
Bonus Tip: Try the mindfulness meditation practice for 1 week.
If you’re not yet convinced that this approach will transform your life, then try it for just one week. I guarantee you’ll see immediate results. Here’ your 1-week challenge:
  • Write down your mindfulness meditation goals.
  • Do the writing meditation, including your goal statement, for about 10-15 minutes daily.
  • Practice sitting meditation for at least 20 minutes daily, using the concentration and mindfulness techniques described on our meditation techniques page.
The mindfulness meditation group may take a little more time to find, but I strongly recommend looking for one immediately.
If you follow these tips, you’ll soon see for yourself that mindfulness meditation can transform your life and relationships in many ways. You will also be more peaceful and serene. And you’ve probably already heard about the many health benefits such as lower stress, lower blood pressure, and overcoming depression. It’s even being used for weight loss.
The bottom line is that through mindfulness meditation you will become much happier and healthier.
Best wishes for a productive mindfulness meditation practice!

- See more at: http://www.mindfulnessmeditationinstitute.org/2012/12/4-tips-for-jump-starting-your-mindfulness-meditation-practice/#sthash.ZltseSnB.dpuf

Sunday, 1 February 2015

Meditation - Which Type is Right for You, part 6 of 7


Part 6

Mindfulness Meditation

While breathing, mantra, prayer, visualization and contemplative enquiry are types of concentration meditation, the practice of mindfulness is a combination of concentration and awareness. During this practice, we start by observing the breath and noticing its qualities – depth, duration, smoothness. Then we concentrate on the breath in a particular area, for example in the lower abdomen. This way we establish concentration. The next step is to shift into awareness. With our eyes closed, we notice and become aware of the room temperature, the noises, the draft, the ticking of the clock. But also become aware of thoughts and emotions.
In this practice, we start noticing and learn that everything has impermanent nature, and that all things are inter-connected. We learn to observe physical sensations and mental processes, and in this way we expand our awareness of interconnectivity. The purpose is to attend fully to the present moment without the usual filters we apply to everything, such as judgements, expectations or assumptions. With practice, we begin to gain clarity about our experience without our socially conditioned ways of being. We get an insight into the impermanent nature of reality. And what is more, we start seeing the constructed nature of ego. As we practice, our relationship with the ego personality shifts. Mindfulness aims at helping us discover what is inherently within.

Here is an example exercise, to see for yourself how you enjoy mindfulness.

Exercise: Focus on the Breath
Sit comfortably in a meditation posture – chair or on the floor. Set a timer for 15 minutes. You can close your eyes. Begin to notice the qualities of your breath – are your breaths deep or shallow, smooth or choppy? Is inhalation and exhalation long or short? After noticing these qualities, focus your attention on a particular area – on lower abdomen, or your nostrils, or the centre of your chest. Keep your attention focused there, and count your breaths. You may count up to ten, and then back down to zero. Repeat. If the mind wanders, gently return the attention to your breath.

Elena Alexandrova
Your Coach to Success
Source:

Butera, Robert, “Meditation for Your Life”

Monday, 12 January 2015

Mindfulness: A Gentle Approach to Healing


Mindfulness: A Gentle Approach to Healing

By 
Will Donnelly

There’s an interesting story about a woman being chased by a tiger. She is running for her life and comes to the edge of a cliff. Here, she notices a sturdy vine, and climbs down the vine to escape her tormentor, only to realize there is another tiger down at the bottom of the mountain waiting for her.
She then sees two mice scurry out and start gnawing on the vine. At this moment, she notices a luscious, wild strawberry growing from an outcrop inches away. She looks up. She looks down. She looks at the mice.
Then, she eats the strawberry.
Succulent juices burst in her mouth, and she feels the seeds crunch between her teeth. She notices a gentle breeze flow across her skin and through her hair, as she gazes out at the expansive vista.
Stories such at this, as often taught by eastern practitioners, offer anexperience for the listener, not advice. This old and well-know buddhist story surely has several interpretations. But if this story is anything, it is most certainly a story about mindfulness.
Mindfulness is a “moment-to-moment awareness of one's experience without judgment.” Our protagonist in the story pulled her attention from the tiger above (the past?) and from the tiger below (the future?) and from the mice on the vine (time?) and simply gave the strawberry her full, undivided attention.
Mindfulness is a 2,600 year old buddhist concept that is only recently being used in many clinical settings, to many positive outcomes. In spiritual practice, it is said to be the antidote to delusion. It turns out that when we are paying attention to “what is” in this moment and not judging it, we are not obsessing on all the bad things that could happen to us in our current situation (rumination) or worrying about the future potential disasters.
Jon Kabat-Zinn, the pioneer of mindfulness training, introduced a wonderful practice as part of a healing regime. He has students (people suffering from severe stress, cancer, etc) eat one raisin very slowly, very mindfully. Well, if you don’t happen to have a raisin with you right now, then I have the perfect way to start your mindfulness personal program.
Curious about turning the ordinary into the extraordinary? Try this mindfulness focus-builder for the next 30 seconds - assuming you are in some space where you can be relatively undisturbed (but even a coffee house or office can be great for this exercise!):
Plant your feet on the ground, and feel the earth. Sit up straight, hands on your lap. Close your eyes. Begin to inhale and exhale, slowly and deeply, through the nostrils. Pay attention to the feeling this makes at the area around your nostrils and the top of your upper lip. Also notice how if feels at your belly. With each consecutive exhale, soften your muscles, and allow yourself to go deeper and deeper within. (Cliff notes: Breathe. Relax. Pay attention.)
Take at least 5 steady breaths (if you are in a distracting environment) or practice this for 5 minutes as a mindfulness meditation at home. Voila! You have started a mindfulness personal program!
May we all learn to not require more than we have to achieve contentment. The renowned vietnamese buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh has said “When our mindfulness embraces those we love, they bloom like flowers.”
May you become mindful to your own current reality, and may you watch your life bloom like a flower.
Find the full article at:
http://spiritualityhealth.com/blog/will-donnelly/mindfulness-gentle-approach-healing