Categories Menu

The Many Benefits of Meditation

Through the study of books one seeks God: by meditation one finds him. Padre Pio  Meditation, which began as a sacred practice thousands of years ago, has become mainstream because of its many benefits. I Googled “meditation benefits” and the first reference to meditation that arose was from the Mayo Clinic. They suggest meditation as a body-mind medicine and cite the following benefits: Gaining a new perspective in stressful situations Building skills to manage your stress Increasing self awareness Focusing on the present Reducing negative emotions I recall Goldie Hawn speaking about the benefit of two minutes of silent breathing meditation on The Oprah Show. Interested in accessing her research, I discovered a curriculum program she created with neuroscientists and positive psychologists for children utilizing mindful meditation. She calls it MindUp™ and is based upon the practice of mindful meditation. The benefits for this practice include: improved focus and concentration; increased academic performance; developed empathy; and increased optimism. Food Matters, an e-magazine, recapped the benefits of meditation based upon...

Read More

The Practice of Living Mindfully

Mindfulness began as a Buddhist, Eastern practice.  It is one of the seven factors of enlightenment known as “right mind or watchful mind.” One practices mindfulness by becoming awake to moment-by-moment awareness of present conditions and events. It is a practice of focus, observation, and acceptance. I learned to practice mindfulness on my emotional states. I had been an emotional stuffer, not allowed to be angry, sad, disappointed, and trained to be happy regardless of situations. Any feeling unlike happiness had to be stuffed. By the time I was in my late 20s I was filled with rage and deeply depressed. I happened upon Jack Kornfield’s book A Path with Heart. In this book, I learned the benefit of interviewing my emotional states. I learned to sit in meditation with the emotion currently within me and observe it. My intention wasn’t to change it, but to simply observe it. One emotion at a time I learned how they operated within my body. I taught myself to be mindful of...

Read More

How to Do a Breathing Meditation

One of the simplest ways to meditate is to follow one’s breath. Since it doesn’t require  external support this can be done anywhere at anytime. To begin, practice sitting down with giving this practice your full attention. Find a comfortable place for you to sit for five minutes. Sitting up is preferred to lying down as most of us have trained ourselves to fall asleep when we are horizontal. Set your phone, alarm, or watch to five minutes. Sit upright, not learning forward or backward and with your head squarely above your shoulders. Plant your feet firmly upon the ground and feel the ground beneath them. Feel your feet upon the ground and the space where the two meet. Turn your attention inward toward your breath. You are going to follow the breath with your attention, riding the breath like a surfer rides atop a wave. Notice where the breath starts.; it may begin in the mouth or the nose. Follow the movement of your breath to your belly....

Read More

Walking Meditation

The combination of body movement and mindfulness … is one I can get excited over. I have always been a big walker and when I practiced solitude and silence for years, walking became an essential part of integrating insights into my body and transmuting old thought energy that no longer fit my new emerging self. Motion was a necessary part of my shedding and opening. This insight brought me to reading what I could about the spiritual practice of walking. The Australian Aborigine are known to take Walkabouts which are ritualized walks within the desert guided by one’s intuition and the voices of one’s ancestors. These walks are a form of spiritual initiation as each step is symbolic of external as well as internal movement. This recognition has allowed me to walk out of my house and realize I am literally walking from an old level of consciousness into a new level of consciousness. Labyrinth walking has resurged in the past twenty or so years. Walking the labyrinth is...

Read More