Meditation 2.0
Oh let me count the ways a meditation practice has saved the day. Over the past 20 months, the levels of stress have reached new heights for me and well, everyone. At times the chatter in my mind has taken over and seemingly run the show. Doubts, attempts to understand and control my outside world have been fueled by the fears of my inside world.
Mindfulness Through the Holidays: My Essential Guide
Oh let me count the ways a meditation practice has saved the day. Over the past 20 months, the levels of stress have reached new heights for me and well, everyone. At times the chatter in my mind has taken over and seemingly run the show. Doubts, attempts to understand and control my outside world have been fueled by the fears of my inside world. Meditation in some form or another has been a part of my life as early as I can remember. My mother would alternate nights, meditating at the foot of me and my brothers’ beds in our shared room. As a child, I participated in group meditation sittings at the Green Gulch Zen Center in Northern California. Later in my twenties I was part of a yoga community where meditation and chanting mantras were a regular part of the practice there.
But never has meditation been more needed or taken as seriously in my life as in the time of this never ending pandemic. My practice has cultivated calm, presence, surrender, acceptance and knowingness. But it is a practice, a practice necessary for me to do daily. It is not a luxury. Rather an opportunity to connect with myself and possibly a different sense of inner knowing. A trust. Even my kids have participated in children meditations at bed time and often my husband too. It has been incredibly sweet connecting and bonding with my family through guided meditations. Meditation for me is a time to cultivate present awareness, to connect to my breath and to something greater than myself, greater than my mind.
Meditation as I now have come to understand it is not about stopping thinking or shutting up my mind. It is an opportunity to observe my thoughts and focus on my breath. For years, I thought I was a failure at meditating because I could not stop my thinking, resulting in abandoning my practice, many, I repeat MANY times. It felt very frustrating, daunting and unachievable.
After years of in-person classes, workshops and online courses, I came to understand that practice was not about NOT thinking or lassoing my thoughts, it was about observing my thinking, allowing my thinking to run it’s course and bearing witness to my mind’s patterns. Focusing on the breath as an anchor point can be helpful in staying present. Can I be here now?
Meditation can be incredibly helpful for stress reduction and we can all agree, stress can run high during the holidays.
Attempt to take 5-10 minutes a day and sit with yourself, undistracted, this is time for you with you. Just you. Lay down your distractions (come on you can do it), rest your hands on your heart, by your sides or on your belly and slow down your breath. Let your mind do its thing and simply notice, without judgement, without interpretation, the thoughts passing through like clouds in the sky. Do it without expectations of achieving some kind of end result. We do this with the rest of our lives. Sit and notice what arises.This is mindful meditation. In just under two years I have cultivated a meditation practice with the support of mindfulness teachers, programs, books and apps which have helped me nurture and deepen a regular practice. Doing it daily serves me best but sometimes life is busy and I fit it in whenever I can. I do what I can, when I can. And not judge myself.
The holidays can be joyful but also a tricky time when it comes to family expectations and pressures, entertaining, drinking and eating too much and falling out of balance with one’s own inner rhythm and boundaries. Below is my list of resources, which I hope will assist you in connecting with your awakening mind, introduce you to a compassionate act of self loving and self awareness.
Here they are:
I came across Rick Hanson, during the initial lock down last year, when so much was so uncertain. I am on the InsightLA Meditation’s (another wonderful meditation resource) newsletter and they were offering a 4 hour live workshop with him. What struck me about him is his approach to meditation, it is through the lens of neuroscience and how meditation can actually rewire the brain. Rick is a neuroscientist and psychologist, as well as a New York Times best selling author and meditation teacher. His website is excellent, offering workshops as well as free meditations and insightful content. Every Wednesday evening , PST , he offers a free meditation and talk. His meditations are generally about 30 minutes but he does have shorter ones on his site. I don’t know what it is about him, whether it is his mellow voice or the fact he is a neuroscientist and so knows how to get the practitioner very relaxed. I have to say, Rick’s style transports me every time.
I learned about Tara Brach years ago when my father was dying, I was turned on to her book, Radical Acceptance. Tara since then has been a gentle and nurturing voice in my meditation practice. Her website is a treasure trove of free meditations (although there is a donate click through if one is called to it), talks, online courses and resources. She beautifully blends together her Western psychology background with Eastern spiritual practices and has created a relatable framework with which to develop a loving practice. She is well known for her focus on the RAIN meditation which guides one to : Recognize, Allow, Investigate, Nurture. It is a beautiful process to help one move beyond self judgment in difficult situations and connect to a kinder and caring awareness towards oneself and others. It can potentially lead to a greater understanding of oneself. She walks us through multiple tutorials and sessions in RAIN. She is also the author of Radical Compassion: Learning to love Yourself and the World with the Practice of RAIN, Trusting the Gold: Uncover Your Natural Goodness and True Refuge: Finding Peace & Freedom in Your Own Awakened Heart. She is also the founder of the Insight Meditation Community in Washington D.C.
For me, Jack Kornfield compliments Tara Brach and I believe they have collaborated multiple times on mindfulness mediation courses together. Jack is gentle, nurturing and warm. He too is an author of multiple books on meditation, mindful living, Buddhism and Psychology. Having trained as a Buddhist monk in Thailand, India and Burma, Jack has taught Buddhist mindfulness practices all over the world. He too offers free meditations on his site as well as a frequent Monday night talk. His focus in his meditations is on forgiveness, kindness, love, peace, equanimity and compassion. I have many of his books and often turn to his wisdom. He is the founder of Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Northern California. I probably turn to Jack Kornfield most in my practice. His guidance almost always makes me smile and open my heart to profound levels.
Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn
Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn is the founder of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction program at the University of Massachusetts. The MBSR is an evidence based 8-week program which offers an intensive mindfulness training assisting people with depression, anxiety, stress and pain. He has a wonderful app, available in the Apple App Store called JKZ Meditations and for $19.99 a year, he provides a comprehensive mindfulness meditation program. His voice is penetrating but soothing as well. He is the author of one of my most favorite spiritual guides, Wherever You Go There You Are, among others. He also offers a wonderful comprehensive mindfulness course on Masterclass if you happen to have a subscription to that resource.
Sam Harris is a neuroscientist, New York Times best-selling author, philosopher, host of his ubiquitous podcast Making Sense and the creator of the well known meditation app, Waking Up . Sam Harris is also a self-proclaimed atheist, which I find interesting because so many teachers are Buddhist or are linked to other religions. But that is one of the amazing aspects of meditation, one need not have religious inclination and Sam Harris stresses this point. Meditation is about inner awareness not God. Sam Harris’s app is available to try for free and is chock full of insightful content including conversations between him and authors, philosophers, teachers (including Tara Brach), a children’s meditation section as well as Meta Meditation section, where one focuses loving kindness for another and so much more. Sam Harris is witty, dry, intelligent and wise and I use his app regularly. I love his podcast too.
I first learned about Pema Chordon in my mid-twenties when I was going through a break up, trying to figure out my career and who I was. My yoga teacher suggested I read her now seminal book, When Things Fall Apart. In the book Pema recounts her divorce, emotional break down and then finding Buddhism. The book was so impactful for me, I since I have read most of her books, taken online workshops and courses, listened to her talks and practiced her meditations. She focuses so deeply on compassionate living, heart centered awareness, Buddha Nature (basic goodness) and Ego-lessness and does so with a touch of self-deprecation, humor and humility. Before being a Buddhist nun, she was a wife and mom and so for me, she is very relatable. Her meditations are available through Sounds True . On her website, she offers a downloadable free study guide on her teachings entitled, The Essential Pema. One can also find her talks and meditations YouTube.
Insight Timer is my daily go-to for my meditation practice. It has almost 120,000 free meditations from thousands of teachers worldwide. One can find Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach there, they actually recorded a couple of 40 day meditation challenges together featured on Insight Timer. One can also find Rick Hanson there too, as well as so many other amazing teachers. They offer live sessions, so keep checking on their schedule and their kids’ section is phenomenal. My children love their meditations.