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Letting Go Of What We Think
Sometimes when we sit down to meditate, all types of things come up. Thoughts, emotions, physical sensations, plans, great ideas, urgent agenda items, and on and on…. The practice of meditation is first about making room for these thoughts and sensations to come up. By watching the breath, we cultivate a steadiness of mind that…
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Meditation Quote 69: “You don’t have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body.” – C.S. Lewis
Not everyone believes or identifies with the idea of a soul. Luckily, in meditation we can experiment and explore for ourselves. How, you say? Let’s have a go… 1) Sit down in a comfortable position, back straight (bot not overly straight), and body relaxed 2) Take a deep breath, and pay attention to how your breath feels Now…
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Cutting Through The Tension
This past week was tough at times. Nearly every day there was at least one opportunity to release the tension creeping up into my shoulders and neck. When this happens, I’ll have a dull headache and even feel a bit of an energy drain. Using the breath, I was able to bring my focus to…
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Meditation For Depression Rivals Medication, Study Finds
Earlier this year Alice G. Walton, contributor at Forbes.com, wrote a great article detailing how meditation has the same grade of effect on depression as antidepressant medication. Alice tells the story of a team of researchers, led by Johns Hopkins’ Madhav Goyal, MD, MPH, and how they went through thousands of earlier studies in the…
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What Does Mindfulness Mean Anyway?
Through the practice of meditation, in its purest sense, we cultivate a standpoint of mindfulness. Mindfulness on the cushion is how we watch each thought, emotion or bodily sensation that comes up, we note what has come up, “Isn’t that interesting,” and we return to the breath, or just the feeling of being in our…
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Top 10 Meditation T-Shirts
T-shirts are a great way to make a statement about meditation, and be fashionable at the same time. But there are literally thousands of meditation t-shirts to choose from out there. Which to choose? If you mix in yoga, zen, buddha, spirituality, new age and religion themed t-shirts – the possibilities are endless. You can get chakra…
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Aligned, Relaxed & Resilient
From Will Johnson’s wonderful book, “The Posture of Meditation,” we find these three fundamental tenants of meditation. And when we allow ourselves to be aligned, relaxed and resilient in our daily lives, we automatically bring more presence to each moment. When our posture is aligned, the body is supported by the Earth’s gravity, and we…
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Meditation Quote 68: “I have lived with many Zen masters, all of them cats.” – Eckhart Tolle
Funny cats, cute cats, jumping cats, scary cats, wet cats… Who doesn’t love cats? Since they’re all so lovable and popular, is there something we can learn from them? Oh yes…! If you’ve ever been around a cat you probably know how wise they can seem with their stoic calm, nonchalant manner, and watchful eyes. And…
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The Practice Of Acceptance
When we practice how to surrender – because that’s what meditation is – and we do it on a regular basis, this becomes our mantra. We surrender to anything that comes up. Traffic has us late for work, we surrender. The boss dumped on us again, we surrender. The kids are sick, you’re sick, and…
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Meditation Quote 67: “In meditation you are not unconscious, you are conscious. More conscious than ever.” – Osho
Looking at an ancient hindu yogi, with a long beard, sitting in a lotus position with feet tucked together and eyes closed – you might begin to wonder if he is still in the conscious world, or if he has drifted off to somewhere else. If you ask the ancient yogi if he is conscious, he might…