There are so many methods of meditation, so many techniques and tips. By offering this post, I am offering to you the most significant advice that I've ever received on how to meditate and how to really be able to work with my mind.
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 [...]
Frequently I'm asked what my day looks like and how I practice meditation in a busy life. Since preparing to publish my book, Minding the Bedside: Nursing from the Heart of the Awakened Mind, and starting my own business, the unfortunate fact is that the time for my "formal" practice has suffered. Yet, while I lament and moan about the lack of time to formally practice, it seems like the integration of practice into my daily life, and my ability to take life onto the path, has increased. While there really is no substitute for formal practice in terms of [...]
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, [...]
The topic of bringing our meditation practice into our workplace, whether as a nurse or as a supermarket cashier, requires of us an understanding of what we mean when we use the word, "meditate." For many people, meditation brings up images of monks or solitary souls seated on a cushion, mumbling "om" with incense and candles. Sure, that can be meditation, but more often than not, this isn't the case. And, in the case of how we bring our meditation practice to the bedside, these images don't represent what a meditative presence truly embodies when caring for another. As was [...]
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 [...]
Meditation unravels our inattentiveness to how things really are, and we begin to see that there's plenty of distraction and difficulty in our life.
Meditation Challenge Number Two: Sensations! In the previous post, we looked at how to work with our thoughts when learning to meditate. This topic was identified as one of the four major challenges in learning to meditate. In this post, we'll move the discussion to how to work with the sensations that arise when we meditate. As we discussed previously, many people experience difficulties and challenges when first starting to meditate. Especially if the technique or method that is being used is based on observing the mind and its characteristics. Sensations are....Sensational! Many (or most?!) of our thoughts are based on [...]
How we experience our world, including our perceptions of the internal world, can be dramatically changed, and mediated, through meditation.
When Do You Allow Thinking During Meditation? There are a lot of beliefs about meditation, including that one needs to be a monk or away from society, that one needs to chant a mantra or special phrase, or that one needs to hold one's hands in a particular shape, touching the thumb and middle finger. While these are aspects of particular meditation techniques, they aren’t necessary to meditate and to learn to work with the mind. Meditation, in its basic and most simply profound level, is a state of non-distraction. Distraction can be caused my many things, thoughts, emotions, different [...]