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

Meditation - Which Type Is Right for You, part 7 of 7

Type 6: Contemplative Inquiry

This most sophisticated form of meditation is also the simplest. Conceptual meditation, or contemplative inquiry, focuses on one specific topic, only. Just one concept on which to meditate. Known as the “intellectual form of meditation”, the contemplation of one idea is an art practiced by scientists and inventors, as well as advanced meditators.

What is typical of this meditation is that the mind gravitates to a single thought that is simple in nature. Even focusing on your breath actually includes many levels and aspects - you may feel the physical experience of breathing, but also appreciate its enlightenment nature. Simplifying the mind is a main, and maybe most difficult goal, and it requires the appropriate amount of time. When you combine this with an open heart, you achieve the ultimate, as Robert Butera puts it: “… the person who has a sophisticated understanding of life on the one hand but who is able to remain simple, humble, and with warmth in their heart is the ultimate human being.”

And here is an example exercise, as a starting point to contemplative inquiry. See how it appeals to you, and if it does resonate, start researching, and practise consistently.

Exercise: Relaxation on Emptiness

Sit a lie in a relaxed position and unplug from technology for 5-10 minutes. Imagine all the thoughts, pressures, stresses, and distractions leaving your mind slowly and gradually. You feel a sense of peace in a state of emptiness. You may imagine an element of emptiness in your mind or a release in your heart. As soon as a thought enters, go back to the physical feeling of relaxation! Feel surrounded by emptiness, enveloped in emptiness, filled with nothingness. Breathe in space, exhale space. Allow thoughts to pass and notice the tranquility that exists between thoughts. Notice everything drifting away into pure being.

Elena Alexandrova

Your Coach to Success

www.envisionlifedesign.com.au

Source:

Butera, Robert, “Meditation for Your Life”

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

What You Think You Become

Let us remember the quote from Earl Nightingale, "We become what we THINK about most of the time." This may seem outright ridiculous when we are hearing this for the first time; but the impact we have on the physical world with just our minds is very real.

This fact has been proved scientifically. Just look at the many eye-opening studies done in the 1980s by Dr. Masaru Emoto. These experiments actually demonstrate human beings shifting physical structures with their minds! These were not super humans, nor angels, nor magic tricks. These experiments were performed by regular, average people, and the results were incredible. Dr. Emoto scientifically proved that we all have physical powers beyond anything we've ever known. By the way, this power is NOT anything mystical or supernatural. This is the way we were created in the womb. We are all created to have the same potential and power as the richest (or poorest) person in the world. No one is better than anyone else, we were all created the same.

How can we practice this power for ourselves? There are a couple ways, however, do not expect to begin shifting your physical reality after one sitting. In our microwave, fast food, popcorn society, we lose sight of the importance of patience, practice, and relaxation. Enjoy your life. Understand that the first step to realizing our destiny in our own lives is acknowledging that we create our destiny. If you can wrap your mind around that, you have already placed yourself in the top 10% of the population. Many of our loved ones will never learn (or believe) this concept in their entire lifetime.

One of the best practices you can incorporate in your daily activities is a short 15-minute meditation. Do this everyday. Set a timer on your phone, and right before you go to bed, or just as you awake, or even during your lunch break, sit down in the quietest place you can find for just 15 minutes. What should you do during this 15 minutes? Close your eyes, and just breathe. Breathe ALL the way in, FILL your lungs with the oxygen your body has been craving. Breathe as though each air molecule is packed with ageless knowledge and healing vibrations. Then, breathe ALL the way out. Expel the toxicity that the body has been keeping trapped inside. Release the garbage that was being held for much too long, and make space for the new, delicious, vibrant powers that are making their way to you. OUT with the old, IN with the new. Practice this for just 15 minutes each day. Monitor your progress. You may notice a small (subtle) difference after Day 1, however by Day 7, you will begin to feel tremendous improvements.

What will the improvements be? This question is similar to asking how a flower smells, or what ice cream tastes like; the only way to really comprehend this is to try it for yourself, especially if you have never EVER done this before.

Why haven't most of us learned of the power of our mind? Maybe the same reason why 95% of the population is poor and middle income, while only 5% are considered rich or wealthy. This is a major secret that will never be talked about in schools, at work, nor on television. There are plenty of secrets that keep us in the dark each and everyday. Another secret is that the media subconsciously teaches the masses to use their brains in ways that will forever keep them stuck in the same place, struggling to make progress in life. Many people can work decades in a subordinate position they extremely dislike, but consider it absolutely normal; because this is what we are taught from a very young age by almost everyone we respect (especially through media programming).

Think about our loved ones that raised us from birth, how many of these people are actually living their dream life? Usually, we don't know anybody living their dream life. Even if we find one or two loved ones that claim they are living their dream, how many of them actually have the freedom (and energy) to do whatever they wish, whenever they wish, for however long they wish? This is true happiness, the main target that remains elusive to the public.

Nevertheless, since you have now read about this knowledge, you have the power. Start with the exercise outlined above, and begin to notice the very subtle changes in your landscape. If you continue to trust and acknowledge the power you have within, eventually you will begin to walk through this world effortlessly; like a genie. Your wish is truly YOUR command.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8798549