Mindfulness
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Meditation is sitting around trying to think about nothing and letting out the occasional ‘ommmm’. They do lots of it in India and in parts of Islington where they eat granola, too. OK, those are sweeping statements but you catch my drift. I’m open-minded, but if you had asked me a few years ago whether I believed meditation could be an effective treatment for serious mental illness, I would have laughed. However, that is exactly what some of Britain’s mental health experts now believe.
Once dismissed as pretentious but now brain scans prove Eastern philosophies can be effective in treating mental illness | Mail Online
We all have them; they’re the most prevalent thoughts in our heads at times. Sometimes I think if our minds only spoke out loud we may not have any friends and we certainly wouldn’t want to be friends with ourselves. It’s the inner critic that lives in our heads that is constantly judging ourselves and others.
Right Now: Get Your Daily Judgments in Check | Mindfulness and Psychotherapy
Throughout our lives we’ve been interpreting and making meaning out of all kinds of events. Every event by itself is just an event, but the way we see it, the importance we give it, how it weaves into the fabric of our cells makes all the difference. This meaning that we make then goes on to affect how we interpret other things, it informs the choices that we make and the behaviors that we conduct.
The Happiest People Don't Have the Best of Everything | Mindfulness and Psychotherapy
Mindfulness Meditation: Why to Do It and How to Do It | Psychology Today
When I became chronically ill, I had a meditation schedule that I'd set in stone ten years before: twice a day for 45 minutes each time no matter what (even on my children's wedding days!). Instead of accommodating my illness by adjusting my meditation schedule, I just quit meditating altogether. It took me over ten years of illness to finally accept that I needed to be flexible.
Day 11 – fuck mindfulness
I was talking to a friend the other day; she thinks in addition to that monkey mind rattling around in our heads is a lizard brain. This one driven not by incessant thinking and chatter, but by primordial instinct and emotion. This lizard brain doesn’t even pretend at reason; it’s voice is shouting wordless feelings about jealousy, hurt, fear, rage.
Attaining Mental Clarity and Joy through Meditation? | Enlightenment Hub
In my meditation this week, I found myself “thinking” about breath a lot. Thinking: “Breathing out, I am breathing out; Breathing in, I am breathing in.” This is a meditation technique talked about in Thich Nhat Hanh’s “Breathe! You are Alive.” Yesterday, however, I began to think about how my thoughts about breathing, and directing my breath much like I would lead a yoga class, could directly tie into the idea of thinking about moving something having very little relation to the actual movement of the body. I can think “I am breathing deeply” but still breathe a shallow breath; the thought is not a command followed by the body.
I started going to the gym in my late teens. It was sporadic at best and always depended on whether my gym buddy at the time – of which I went through many – still had the motivation to go. My enthusiasm was driven by the thought of pecs and biceps that might elevate me past my lanky slim status. It was the same programming that all boys go through; girls like muscles and bigger is better and makes you look more powerful.
Fitness meditation | Mindfulness Exercises
Awareness: A Key Piece in the Procrastination Puzzle | Psychology Today
It is well known that mindfulness is an important coping resource. Did you know that there are a number of sub-components to mindfulness? One of these is more highly related to reduced procrastination than the others. One of my honours students, Mario Dosa, just completed his thesis.
Online Insomnia Therapy via Skype | Psychology Today
Chronic insomnia is a serious condition that affects millions of Americans. It is estimated that at least 10% of the adult population suffers from chronic insomnia and 30-50% suffer from episodes of insomnia that are clearly related to emotional stress , anxiety and depression . Of course, there are physical factors that can contribute to insomnia and if you suspect that there is an underlying medical condition such as sleep apnea or that you insomnia is related to the medicines that you are taking then you should consult with your doctor. But, for most people insomnia results from overactive thinking and anxiety. The first is stress-induced insomnia and the second is referred to as anxiety-induced insomnia.
Free at last: Is President Obama's prajna finally trumping his shenpa? Jesse Ventura might want to take up meditation (or at least a deep breath) before going public next time things don't go his way. The former Minnesota governor displayed the downside of hair-trigger reactivity last week when, after a court rejected his lawsuit against the TSA, he threatened to both apply for Mexican citizenship and run for the American Presidency. (The wrestling icon/conspiracy theorist also vowed never again to stand up for a national anthem, a move that was sure to have an impact on, uh, him.)
Michael Sigman: Is This the Antidote to Reactivity?
Previous research on mindfulness meditation has shown that it aids in lowering blood pressure, improves immune system and brain function and minimizes pain sensitivity. A new review of past literature on mindfulness now breaks down what exactly it is about the practice that seems to have these beneficial effects. Researchers defined mindfulness as "the nonjudgmental awareness of experiences in the present moment" in the Perspectives on Psychological Science study.
Why Mindfulness Meditation Makes Us Healthier
I've always liked lizards. Growing up in the outskirts of Los Angeles, I played in the foothills near our home. Sometimes I'd catch a lizard and stroke its belly, so it would relax in my hands, seeming to feel at ease. In my early 20s, I found a lizard one chilly morning in the mountains. It was torpid and still in the cold and let me pick it up. Concerned that it might be freezing to death, I placed it on the shoulder of my turtleneck, where it clung and occasionally moved about for the rest of the day.
Rick Hanson, Ph.D.: Simple Ways to Soothe the Anxious Brain
A couple decades ago if you told people you were going to a yoga class, you may have looked into a face of confusion or judgment where the other person was thinking you were part of some new age movement. Now in the most conservative town men and women throw on their respective yoga gear and step into pose. On the same note, just a few years ago if you told most people you were going to go to a meditation class, you would have gotten that same look, perhaps you still might today.