Meditative Psychotherapy. In recent years there has been a burgeoning interest in the possible integration of Western psychotherapy and eastern meditative traditions.
Skeptics might think this is advocating a forced marriage . Buddhism was developed 2,500 years ago in India and focuses on attaining enlightenment; psychoanalysis is a theory of human development and a method of treatment that arose in Europe in the late nineteenth century to address psychopathology and mental illness. Buddhism, especially Zen, mistrusts concepts and words and offers a practice that guides individuals as they seek to let go of attachments so as to awaken to a freer sense of self, have a more intimate relationship to the world, and behave with greater ethical wisdom ; psychoanalysis uses a self-reflective relationship to explore how formative unconscious experiences from the past shape our sense of self and hidden conflicts in the present.
But as we delve deeper, commonalities—even points of synergy—emerge. Do You Struggle Trusting Others? Try Meditation. If we live long enough, most of us will have an experience that tests our ability to trust: Someone we love may hurt us, we may have been abandoned, or even someone's sudden death can cause us to feel betrayed.
I could provide countless additional examples that illustrate times when our capacity to trust is called into question. Regardless of the source of our struggles with trust, at the root of our suffering is attachment . In this post, I’ll explain what it is and how we can transcend it. In many ways, life is like a river. Each one of us is floating along its currents and most of the time we enjoy the ride. When our eyes are closed and we’re simply breathing, perhaps following a prayer or mantra, thoughts come and go. But whenever we cling to anything—an object, person, or thought—we either desire more of it or we fear it. Meditation helps us fully engage with the present moment. No doubt that when others behave unkindly towards us, it can be difficult.
Master Your Mind. Can Mindfulness Meditation Make You Smarter? Dan Hurley is writing a book about new research into how people can increase their intelligence.
His latest article for DISCOVER, published in April, was about how the brain forms memories. Shutterstock Can you consciously increase your intelligence? That question was the title of an article I wrote in April for the New York Times Magazine, examining studies showing that people who train their working memory with specially designed games show increases in their fluid intelligence, the ability to solve novel problems and identify patterns. In particular, the article focused on a game called the N-back task, in which a participant is challenged to keep track of spoken words or locations on a grid as they continuously pile up.
While some skeptics doubt that anything as profound as intelligence can be increased in as little as a month by playing a silly game, far stranger methods are also being tested. Another surprising approach to raising intelligences comes from E. Shutterstock. Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at UMass Medical School. Home. Mindfulness and Kindness: Inner Sources of Freedom and Happiness. Mindfulness Exercises - Everyday Mindfulness Exercises For Stress Relief. The practice of mindfulness can bring many benefits to your emotional and physical health, as well as to the relationships in your life.
Mindfulness is an amazing tool for stress management and overall wellness because it can be used at virtually any time and can quickly bring lasting results. The following mindfulness exercises are simple and convenient, and can lead you to a deeper experience of mindfulness in your daily life. Mindfulness Exercise #1: Meditation Meditation brings many benefits in its own right, and has been one of the most popular and traditional ways to achieve mindfulness for centuries, so it tops the list of mindfulness exercises. Meditation becomes easier with practice, but it need not be difficult for beginners. Mindfulness Exercise #2: Deep Breathing That’s right: mindfulness can be as simple as breathing!
Mindfulness Exercise #3: Listening to Music Mindfulness Exercise #4: Cleaning House. Mindfulness with Jon Kabat-Zinn. Raja Yoga Meditation from Shri Ram Chandra Mission (SRCM) Home - Cleveland Shambhala Meditation Group. Learning Meditation Home Page.