NITA SWEENEY
Tricky Body Those of us who live with mental health symptoms may have out-of-proportion thoughts and body sensations. We might be hypervigilant, with not just a tricky mind, but a tricky body, too. When you first begin to meditate and are not used to giving anxiety or depression such full
After reading the January 1 page in A Daily Dose of Now, you might wonder why someone who says they don’t make New Year’s resolutions would host a 100-Day movement challenge like the one I’m currently hosting in the Mind, Mood, and Movement Facebook Group. Here’s the page: “To dream
Untangling emotions The last year my father was alive coincided with my recovery from a major depressive episode during which I had nearly killed myself. He and I spent his final summer playing golf, and he and my mother lived with us in the four months before his death. As
The 5 Conditions During the meditation leader training I took at the Sage Institute for Creativity & Consciousness, they introduced us to “The 5 Conditions,” another way to look at the interaction of thoughts and body sensations. Originally set forth by Zen Master Bernie Glassman as an explanation of what
How to meditate on emotion How do you deal with emotions that come up in mindful movement practice? The real question is, “When emotions arise, how do you infuse that experience with awareness and equanimity?” Emotions can be highly charged, painful, and seductive. How then do you work with them?
Taking the Wrong Medicine Shinzen often talks about the temptation to do what’s easy or comes naturally. He calls it, “taking the wrong medicine.” If for example you prefer guided workouts, a broad focus of attention, or listening to music during movement meditation, nothing is inherently wrong with those things.
Use What Arises Earlier on this blog (and in the book Make Every Move a Meditation) you learned a wider variety of awareness techniques and another splendid thing about meditation becomes clear: you can use what’s handy, whatever aspect of experience occurs. You can use what arises. You may set
Many “quit lit” memoirs loudly recount the author’s drunkalogue, regaling readers with horrific tales of harm done during blackouts, jail stints, and other cringe-worthy escapades. While those books have great merit in showing the reality of such a life and to possibly help other problem drinkers see themselves and get
Advanced meditation techniques: breath and counting Improve your practice with these additional methods: advanced breath and counting techniques. Here is another way to use the breath as the object of meditation: Remember the four parts of the breath: the inhale, the turn, the exhale, and the pause before the next
Mindful microhits meditation Instead of staying with an object of meditation for any sustained period of time, another option is to intensely focus on one sensation for a brief period. Shinzen Young calls these “Mindful Microhits.”* Shinzen specifically calls this type of short-interval meditation practice “Micro Practice.” His instructions state:
