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MINDFULNESS MEDITATION
for Emotional and Physical Health

       I teach breathing and mindfulness meditation methods to almost all clients who are open to it.

       Why?

1)    If you are stressed, you will not think clearly.

2)    If stressed, emotional reactions will cause you to behave in ways that don't work, or that make life more difficult.

3)    Our physical health suffers if we are in a constant stressed state without ever coming down. Our fast-paced lives can cause our bodies to be emitting damaging stress hormones without a break. These hormones are implicated in eventual heart attacks and many other health problems.

4)    Even short periods of relaxation during your day give your body and mind a break that has a huge health benefit.

5)    Focused relaxation can rapidly improve sleep, improve mood and reduce anxiety and worry.

6)    You get practice at stepping back from your negative thought patterns and not getting hooked by them.

7)    You begin to experience the world as a flow of interesting events, rather than feeling overwhelmed or depressed by things that you have no control over. You are less likely to have your inner happiness be dependent on what happens in your life.

You can get the health benefits of meditation, no matter what your religious beliefs. You just do the behavioral process, described below, and the pleasant feelings and clear head just happen as a natural result. If you want to, you can add your own spiritual beliefs to your meditation. For example, you can meditate while imagining the presence in your heart of some symbol from your current religious orientation.

MEDITATION INSTRUCTIONS

--The purpose:

TO (Learn to) BE FULLY PRESENT IN THE PRESENT MOMENT.

You can't be depressed or distressed if you are not thinking about what you've lost, or what you've never had. You can't be anxious if you aren't worrying about catastrophes that will never happen. You can't be fully present with, and for, others if you are distracted by mental activity that maintains negative feelings.

If you are home, let others know that you need some time without interruptions; perhaps 20 minutes or so.

Simply Speaking: You sit in a state of relaxed alertness. You notice the activity of your mind from the viewpoint of a neutral observer, and you watch your breath. When you realize that your mind has wandered, you just bring it back to the breath. All of this is done without judgment. Every thought, every experience, is unimportant and temporary; no more important than a cloud floating by in the sky.

-- Your Body: Sit in a comfortable position, legs crossed, or in a chair with feet flat on the floor. Spine should be straight (alert), but not stiff. Hands can be in your lap, or each hand on a thigh. It is OK to adjust your position at any time if you need to.

Sit with spine straight and erect, but not stiff. The posture of you body is one of RELAXED ALERTNESS.

Let you tummy be relaxed so that the diaphragm can work without tension.

--Your Mind: Mentally watch your breath go in and out. Mentally name each current moment by thinking "IN" on the in breath, and "OUT" on the out breath. Connect with your breathing through a feeling as well, such as the rising and falling of the stomach, or the feeling of air going in and out of your nose or mouth.

Whenever you realize that your mind has wandered, you name the moment (in other words, mentally name what your mind has wandered to - such as 'thinking',' feeling', or 'hearing'), and you just gently (and without self-criticism) bring yourself back to the breath. It doesn't matter if you wander and come back a hundred times. Just keep doing it without judgment or tension. When it is time to stop meditating, then you are done.

(End of basic meditation instructions. See the following for more specifics.)

Tips For Understanding

Here is a short example of my mental activity during meditation. Notice that I become aware that I am thinking, feeling, or hearing, and then I name it. Then I return to the breath.

I take a comfortable, relaxed posture, and I'm thinking ...

"In, Out, in, out, in, out, (sound of an airplane) 'hearing', in, out, in, out, in, (stomach rumbling) 'feeling' , ("I'm hungry") 'thinking', (mental picture of the inside of the fridge) 'thinking', in, out, in, out, in, out, in, out, ("hmmm, it's nice and quiet in here") 'thinking', in, out, in, out, in, out, in, out, in, out, in, out, in, out, in, out, in, ("I think I'll check the clock.") 'thinking', (opening my eyes) 'feeling', (sight of the clock) 'seeing', ("time to stop meditating") 'thinking', (stretching) 'feeling' "

and I am no longer meditating. But I notice that I am observing the world around me in a quiet, clear-headed way.

Naming the moment is like saying the name of your friend when he or she comes into the room. If you don't say it, it feels awkward. If you do, there is a real moment of being present and connected. You can feel it.

TRY THIS: Say your own name once out loud. For a moment you are more present. Look at something in the room. Say it's name. For a moment, that object fills your awareness. Can you feel what that is like?

While meditating, you will notice that your mind will wander frequently. A wandering mind is normal. (Did you hear that? Make sure! Otherwise, you will criticize yourself if your mind wanders from your breath. It doesn't matter how many times your mind wanders. If you just relax, bring the mind back without judgment, and watch the breath, you will get the healthful result.)

The Laws of Psychological Paradox:

1) The more you TRY, the less you can just BE. - TRYING to pick up a pencil isn't the same as just picking up the pencil.

Trying to meditate isn't meditating. Meditation is "Non-Trying." It is just being fully present, without trying to get something, without resenting the recent past (that my mind wandered a few moments ago), without reacting to the thought that "I might not be doing this meditation thing correctly....
That's just another thought. Let it go.

2) What you focus on gets bigger or stronger. What you try to NOT focus on also gets stronger. TRYING to stop thinking causes more thinking. (Example: Try NOT to mentally picture an elephant!) Allowing experiences, including thinking - and not getting caught up in those experiences - amazingly reveals a quietness that existed underneath the busy thinking all along.

"Words go by, across an otherwise empty screen. When the words stop, the screen is still there, empty, peaceful, watching".

So, where will your mind go when not watching your breath? It could go to any of your senses or to thoughts. For the most part, you will notice that you are most distracted by thoughts, sounds or feelings.

Be aware of the part of your awareness that is doing the watching. It is like being on a train. All kinds of things go by outside the window. It changes moment to moment. You just relax and watch.

So when the mind wanders, just name what it wandered to when you become aware of the wandering. Then return to "in, out, in, out".....

The Mindset of Meditation

Before you try to meditate, remember the mindset that goes with this practice:

*Thoughts and feelings are passing experiences and you can observe them, like watching a movie, without being a part of them.
When sitting quietly, you notice that the brain automatically releases thoughts and pays attention to sounds, feelings, (and all senses) in a random way. Many of the thoughts that pop up are "garbage thoughts."

If you check this out when you are not meditating, ask yourself if the thought will help or harm you. Will it make you feel good or bad. Is it based on unfounded assumptions? Is it a source of negativity?

If the thought will bring negativity - Disregard it! Toss it out!

*You can observe without judgment - even in daily life.
When sitting quietly, you don't need to think about liking or disliking the ideas or experiences that automatically arise in your awareness.

If you practice not judging, you begin to be less affected by the experiences that go by in "your movie." You can still make decisions to enjoy what is enjoyable. You can also see things more clearly, rather than being swayed by instant reactions.

*It is the nature of the mind to be busy.
So don't criticize yourself if you sit in meditation and feel that your mind is too distracting. The goal is not to quiet the mind. The goal is to fully accept the present moment in all of its aspects. If you do this, than the mind will eventually calm down on its own.

The act of "trying" to calm the mind actually makes the mind busier. You can treat the mind with the same attitude as you would a crawling baby. It is the nature of the baby to crawl away. You don't get angry with the baby. You just lovingly pick it up when it strays too far, and place it closer to you again; with compassion, and without judgment

*There is no wrong way to do this.
Full non-judgmental self-acceptance and full acceptance of each moment IS the practice. Therefore, whatever occurs during the meditation IS the meditation. That could be a noisy mind, noisy neighbors, or the need to return your mind to your breath hundreds of times.

*This meditation is not goal oriented.
You just do the process, and you end up with a healthy state of being.