How to Meditate: Short Guided Meditations
This week we started a Virtual TRUE Beginners Meditation class and I could not have been more thrilled to connect with this new group of amazing people so that we can learn and practice together during this time when we have to be physically apart. I miss the studio - the soft lighting, the cushions and blankets, the atmosphere that gives you a warm, gentle hug. At the same time, I think we are making the virtual experience great in and of itself - no need to leave your home, bring a soothing hot beverage to sip on, feel comfortable on your couch. The list goes on but for those of you who were not able to join us on this iteration of the course below is a list of (as promised a few weeks ago) easy guided meditations to help you kick-start your meditation practice.
1 minute Arriving in Mindful Presence with Tara Brach
Can’t beat one minute! Just 60 seconds to feel a bit more relaxed and in your body. Sometimes we can tell that our jaw is tight, or our stomach is feeling queasy with anxiety, or that the skin of our forehead is all scrunched up from intense concentration or frustration. But sometimes we can’t and it takes an intentional moment of mindfulness to notice the places we are holding tension and to breathe into those spots and let it go a bit. What a difference intentionally relaxing a part of your body that is braced can make in how we feel. Of course, it doesn’t mean we will immediately be smiling, dancing around happy and carefree. But it could mean that we have more tolerance and space for whatever is happening right now. And while you’re on that website, check out Tara Brach’s meditations for the pandemic.
5 Minute Self-Compassion Meditation with Dr. Kristin Neff
It wasn’t long ago at all that the phrase “spare the rod, spoil the child” was not only acceptable but seen as the right approach to creating productive and hard-working adults. This mentality is still very much present in our society, even if corporal punishment has lessened in some cases. The idea that we need to be harsh and judgemental in order to push ourselves to greatness still lives on. And the idea that compassion and empathy, particularly towards ourselves, makes us lazy, unmotivated and give up trying. Quite a few of us, including myself, have internalized this mentality even if we don’t agree with it at a gut or conscious level. What we’ve learned through research is that it’s the opposite - compassion motivates us, it encourages us to try again, it builds the resilience required to succeed. Of course it can be tough to offer yourself compassion and you might not even know how to do that. Follow this five minute meditation to learn the three phrases that help bring forward compassion for yourself and others. As one of our brilliant clinicians, Kyle Pryce, noted: Love begins with love within. I feel the same can be said about compassion. Another thing you might want to try as you do this meditation is a supportive touch.
6 Minute Sound meditation
Pro tip: listen with headphones to get the full effect of this particular soundscape.
Sound meditations, in my experience, can really be anything that is sound related which I can rest my attention on as long as the sound does not prompt my brain to create stories. For example, I wouldn’t listen to my favorite song by Brandi Carlile because the minute I hear it, I think of the memories associated with it or the ups and down in the melody and what it means and the feelings they bring on. That’s great for the time that I want to hear something to match the emotions I am feeling but not for when I want to rest my attention. For sound meditations, I choose things that don’t tell a story. The sound of waves crashing on the shore, tropical birds singing in the forest, singing bowls, chanting. Or simply set your phone timer to five minutes, close your eyes and simply listen to the sounds around you. You don’t need to do anything, no need to identify the sounds, judge if you like the sounds or not, understand what the sound is or what it’s doing. There is nothing to do in that moment but simply let the sounds be.
5 Minute Meditation for Gratitude
Ever had a moment when you don’t feel grateful for something that you “should” feel grateful for? Your great job, a good home, food to eat. And yet you can’t seem to connect with gratitude for those things right now. It’s just not happening. And the more you try to force yourself to appreciate those things, and continue to fail to experience gratitude, the more disconnected and frustrated you end up feeling. Well, what I’ve learned during my gratitude meditations is to not focus on things I “should” be grateful for, but things I am actually grateful for. Perhaps you appreciate that your new makeup set arrived, or that you had a chance to watch the show you like. Or that your homemade muffins turned out tasty. Whatever it is you truly feel appreciation for is what I recommend focusing on during the meditation.
2 minute Secular Prayer
Being at home 24/7, I have started to eat around the clock and being totally mindless about my meals. So something new that I’ve started doing to slow down and savor my food is start every meal (ahem, it’s more like I start eating and then remember to do this practice a third way through my meal... hence the need for this practice!) with an appreciation prayer. I created my own little secular prayer:
Thank you to the earth for growing this food (pause to see which food was grown, what the plants look like, and imagine and feel and appreciate the energy it took from the soil and sun to produce this food).
For the cows who made the milk (pause to see which cheese or butter I’m eating and imagine and feel and appreciate the energy it took the animal to make it for me; same thing if you eat meat.)
For the people who harvested, cooked, delivered and sold (pause to think about the farmers, the people who work in the factory, the truck drivers and the store associates and imagine and feel and appreciate their hard work).
I am grateful that I can eat this food and for how it nourishes my mind, body and soul (smell my food, and then take one more look at the colors on the plate, feeling how my body, mind and spirit benefit from eating this food.)
Begin eating, tasting the first bite.
Then I proceed eating normally and what I’ve found is that after doing this practice, I am more aware of what it is I am eating and I naturally eat slower because I’ve slowed myself down with this little prayer meditation. You can create your own secular prayer meditation for anything that you’d like to be able to slow down and savor.
7 Minute Working with Difficulties
This is a difficult time in our history, both in our outer world and, perhaps for some of us, in our inner worlds. This meditation is a great way to build safety in your body and to help cope with both physical and emotional pain. It asks you to locate a place in your body - your hands, your feet, etc - some part that feels either good or neutral. And then move between the area that feels pain (emotional pain typically manifests itself in the body. For example, a tight chest, a feeling like there’s a hole in your stomach, etc.) and the area that feels neutral with the aim of cutting down the intensity of the pain.
The Alexander Technique
Instead of sharing a movement meditation, I wanted to share something that many people might not know about - the Alexander Technique. This technique was developed by Frederick Matthias Alexander in the late 1890s. He was a Shakespearean actor who found himself losing his voice when performing. He decided to watch himself in the mirror and found that his posture changed when he was performing. He developed this technique that focuses on undoing the unhelpful habitual posture and body positioning (rather than doing something) and there is a strong connection between the mind and body. I really like the way the UofM video put it: "Thoughts influence muscles and muscles influence thoughts." Instead of an instrument that was used in the video, I used the computer because the minute I sit down and reach for the mouse, I can feel my body tensing up. Since we are all likely spending a lot of time in front of the screen for work these days, I hope you can use the tips in this video in your day to day.
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