WIRED FOR PANIC…AND THAT’S NOT YOUR FAULT:
We’re wired for panic; deep within our genetics lies the physiological basis for us to respond to a threat to our well-being (think a saber-toothed tiger) with panic.
When Meditating, Don’t Give in To Distraction – 10 Tips On How to Stay Focused…
Distraction Isn't Your Enemy! Considering that the main objective of meditation is to arrive at a state of non-distraction without altering our mind, how do we deal with the fact that distraction seems to be the one thing that prevents us from meditating? Is there some easy way to deal with our tendency to get distracted? After all, we'd probably all be excellent at meditation if it weren't for the fact that we get so distracted during our meditation. And, it's this distraction that can become the most frustrating and cause us to abandon our meditation practice in favor of [...]
How to Meditate? Ten Essentials to a Great Meditation Practice
Wow, I hope that this title doesn't seem out of place here. I mean, after all, I've been posting on meditation, on its benefits, and on research into meditation now for almost a year. So, why would I post something as "basic" as how to meditate? (and what does a picture of 1000 meditating monks have to do with anything?!?) The basics of meditation, while simple, aren't always obvious when we read about how to meditate. Nor are they obvious in how we engage in our practice of meditation. We've discussed a lot of the "how tos" of meditation in [...]
Using Meditation to Retrain Our Attention – A Great Video Presentation!
Daniel Goleman - Part 1 from WhatMeditationReallyIs on Vimeo. I just finished watching this video-presentation by Daniel Goleman and what strikes me most is the simplicity of the phrase that he uses, "attentional retraining." In these two words, we are reminded of what is is that we're working with during meditation - our attention - and what we're doing - retraining it. Sometimes, when we're working with our mind and practicing meditation, something as simple as remembering the phrase, "attentional retraining" is all that it takes to bring us back to our practice. Suppose that I sit down to meditate, [...]
Don’t Do Doubt! Four Steps to Work with Doubt When Meditating
Recently I participated in a bicycle ride, the Colorado Triple Bypass, which is a 120-mile ride with 10,000 feet of elevation gain, over three mountain-passes…all in one day! I've already posted on some of the experiences that I had in working with my mind while preparing for this endeavor. One challenge I didn’t share was my experience of doubt while training. When encountering my doubt, I came to realize that it was such a great lesson for me that it may be of some use to readers of this blog. There are many reasons that people meditate. Some meditate to [...]
Resting (in Meditation) in Whatever Arises
Can Meditation Practice Affect How We View Our World? A Series of Articles Part Five – Resting in Whatever Arises In the last post, I wrote that, "Meditation is about getting used to not being distracted. Or, inversely, meditation is about being in the state of non-distraction and getting used to that state." That is, meditation is a process of getting used to meditating. And getting used to it means getting used to practicing even as thoughts and emotions arise. And, in this series of posts, we’ve touched on how to use our breath as an anchor [...]