Part Two – Challenges (and Solutions) With Learning to Meditate

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 [...]

2015-12-21T22:48:13-07:00By |Meditation|8 Comments
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Challenges (and Solutions) With Learning to Meditate

Challenges in Meditation? I think that it's fair to say that 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 thoughts, feelings and/or sensations. We need to know that there's nothing wrong with us if we find ourselves wanting to get up from our meditation practice and run away, get a cup of coffee, watch the TV...basically, do anything but meditate. What are the biggest challenges in learning to meditate and what are solutions to these challenges? In this four-part series, we’ll address [...]

2015-12-21T22:16:38-07:00By |Meditation|10 Comments
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Simple Meditation Methods to Help with Insomnia

According to an article (download here) by Thomas Roth, PhD in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine titled, Insomnia: Definition, Prevalence, Etiology, and Consequences, up to 30% of the adult population in the United States suffer from some form of insomnia or sleep disturbance. That's 90-million people just in our country who don't sleep well! A common question that I'm asked is whether meditation can cure insomnia. As an avid practitioner of meditation – and insomnia! – I can attest to the fact that meditation and mindfulness practices can help to alleviate insomnia. I'm not sure about cure, since underlying factors [...]

2011-05-19T21:29:17-06:00By |Meditation|15 Comments
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When Do You Allow Thinking During 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 [...]

2011-07-19T12:27:36-06:00By |Meditation|0 Comments
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(In Meditation) Where Are Our Thoughts Anyway?

Can Meditation Practice Affect How We View Our World? A Series of Articles Part Six – Where Are Our Thoughts Anyway? In this series, we've covered using the breath as an anchor for our attention and meditation practice. We've also discussed how to get some distance from the immediacy of thoughts, viewing them "from a distance" instead of getting caught up in their incessant murmur. Additionally, we've discussed how to return to our present state of mind when we're swept away by thoughts and how to remain in a state of present awareness regardless of whatever arises within our mind. [...]

2014-09-08T10:53:00-06:00By |Meditation|1 Comment
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Resting (in Meditation) in Whatever Arises

  Can Meditation Practice Affect How We View Our World? A Series of Articles   Part Five – Resting in Whatever Arises   In the last post, I wrote that, "Meditation is about getting used to not being distracted. Or, inversely, meditation is about being in the state of non-distraction and getting used to that state." That is, meditation is a process of getting used to meditating. And getting used to it means getting used to practicing even as thoughts and emotions arise. And, in this series of posts, we’ve touched on how to use our breath as an anchor [...]

2015-04-14T15:04:04-06:00By |Meditation, Mindfulness|4 Comments
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Getting Swept Away (from meditation) and Coming Back Again

Can Meditation Practice Affect How We View Our World? A Series of Articles Part Four – Getting Swept Away and Coming Back Again Meditation is about getting used to not being distracted. Or, to put it another way, meditation is about being in the state of non-distraction and getting used to that state. When we begin the practice of meditation, we can become pretty disheartened to learn that our mind is everywhere else but on the object of our meditation. Even after years of working with these methods, there are times when instead of meditating, I find myself caught up [...]

2015-01-20T15:10:48-07:00By |Meditation|4 Comments
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How to Meditate: Viewing Your Thoughts from a Distance

Can Meditation Practice Affect How We View Our World? A Series of Articles Part Three – Viewing Your Thoughts from a Distance In this series, “Can Meditation Practice Affect How We View Our World?” we've discussed how emotions may not be due to what "causes" our reaction. What this means is that when an emotion or thought to arise within our mind, for example a desire for something or an angry thought about something that is said, we catch ourselves and realize that whatever triggered the arising is not its cause. Viewed this way, we can begin to change our [...]

2014-09-08T10:55:02-06:00By |Meditation|3 Comments
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