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Stress Is Optional, Let It Be
Modern life is full of pressure, frustration, and stress. Worrying about job security, being overworked, driving in rush-hour traffic, dealing with bills, arguing with our spouse — all create stress. But it doesn’t have to be this way. As we engage our meditation practice, moving our focus more intently into the present with each subsequent…
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Living Simply Through The Present
Meditation offers the opportunity to see what it feels like to do just one thing at a time. Every day, our meditation session is like a beacon, a guiding light for the rest of our waking life. Through it, we might see just how distracted we are as we eat dinner: Bite,”how much more is…
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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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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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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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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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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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An Invitation To Slow Down
In order to make room in our busy lives for a daily practice of sitting quietly, we must commit to slowing down. This can be hard to do at first. Throughout our lives we’ve been rewarded for doing things more efficiently, faster is better, right? And thinking about slowing down some can even bring up…
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The Promise Of Meditation
When allowed to inform the rest of our lives, meditation provides a great opportunity. More calm, more clarity, more confidence all result from our daily practice of sitting, breathing and being still. And this stillness is made available to us at all times — there is even a sense that our daily life can become…
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The Stillness
The mind is a thought machine. Literally thousands of thoughts race through our heads on a daily basis. Plans, agendas, hopes, worries, judgments, “good” thoughts, “bad” thoughts, all come as a neverending stream, interrupted only by – you guessed it! – meditation. Through the practice of meditation, we cultivate a stillness of the mind. With…