Is Mindfulness
right for you?
what is mindfulness?
Here’s my view: mindfulness is intentional training our mind to steady and our heart to open and accept our true experience — no matter what!
It’s a stabilizing practice on a path of self/ spiritual discovery and healing”. Through practice we relate to ourselves and our experiences in more wholesome, grounded, and enlivened way.
These pages offer a nice introduction — explore and utilize anything you find helpful. Check out my ‘gallery of meditations’ where you’ll find guided audio-recordings grouped into themes & brief, self-paced retreats.
To know one’s own mind is nothing short of life-changing.
Is This the time to Start a practice?
Well, first of all, you have to decide if the benefits of a practice are worth the effort required to build and sustain it. You decide for yourself.
How will you know? By giving it a try. But take 3-4 weeks, at least, figuring this out. Our minds get pretty agitated at first.
If you practice regularly, many practical benefits arise. My classes and library of resources can help you. And there are many, high quality apps, books, & skilled teachers out there. Keep Scrolling.
You’ll have good days and bad days —that’s normal. But if it’s not your jam, no worries. Look for other ways to take good care of your mind and body.
Meditation is the practice. But, mindfulness is a way of life! It’s not just eyes-closed introspection. We practice so we can bring our steady mind, our acceptance, and our open, kind hearts into every aspect of daily living.
We then bring mindfulness into eating, walking, talking, listening, driving, cleaning, sex… you know? Everything! And pretty soon something magical happens. You feel more enlivened and are better able handle your life — even the tricky parts.
Frequently asked.
What are Benefits
Less Stress: Practicing mindfulness 10-20 minutes a day had average 11% reduction in perceived stress.
More Calm | Easier Relationships: Mindfulness protects against the stressful effects of conflict (Barnes et al., 2007) and leads to better communication (Dekeyser el al., 2008).
Your Brain Will Work Better: Mindfulness increases information processing speed (Moore & Malinowski, 2009), and decreases distracting thoughts (Lutz et al., 2009).
Do i have to sit cross legged?
Let’s talk misconceptions here. You can meditate sitting in a chair, lying down (be careful you don’t nap though), & standing up. It’s good to pick a quiet place & a quiet time of day.
Your mind won’t go quiet. But eventually you’ll start ignoring it. You won’t experience yogic levels of enlightened calm. But you’ll learn to stay present and compassionate EVEN WHILE everything is happening.
What if i don’t like it
Well, if you don’t like it after giving it a good try, pat yourself on the back for learning something important.
You can still practice mindfulness in your daily life — staying present, non-judgmental, & open in all your activities. You can learn to work mindfully with your negative thoughts. You can be more grateful & forgiving. You don’t have to meditate to become more mindful! (It just helps).
Can Anybody Teach Mindfulness?
Lots of people can guide a meditation — quite well. But supporting you to build a sustainable, supportive mindfulness practice? Well that is another matter! A mindfulness practice is a journey — with twists and turns and bumps and blind alleys — and having a trusted, experienced teacher makes it MUCH more likely that your practice will become a place of healing and refuge. There are a lot of misconceptions out there in the world.
It’s a bit like finding a good therapist: you can learn a lot about anxiety or relationships from a book or a Youtube movie, but when you’re in the thick of it all and questions arise, it’s nice to have someone to have honest conversation with. Mindfulness is no different. The human factor & consistent teachings of someone you trust take you further.
“Rather than letting our negativity get the better of us, we could acknowledge that right now we feel like a piece of shit and not be squeamish about taking a good look.” –Pema Chodron
Really Good
Resources.
On LIne
Recordings
Jamie Derrick, Gallery of Meditations
UCLA, Mindful Awareness Research Center
(Spanish too)
Tara Brach, Buddhist Psychologist
Palouse Mindfulness, Complete Free Online MBSR Class
books – Classics
Fully Present
Diana Winston & Susan Smalley
Full Catastrophe Living
Jon Kabat Zinn
Mindfulness in Plain English
Henepola Gurantana
Apps for your
Phone
insight timer (a timer, guided practice, connect to others)
headspace (brief meditations by a former buddhist monk)
10 percent happier (short secular meditations)
UCLA Mindful (English & Spanish)
podcasts
On Being with Krista Tippett
10% happier with Dan Harris
Untangle — Everyday stories
Books-Contemporary
Stay Woke
Justin Michael Williams
The Untethered Mind
Michael Singer
The Inner Work of Racial Justice, Rhonda Magee
The Little Book of Being
Diana Winston
You are the sky. Everything else is the weather.
~Pema Chodron
you