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How to Meditate: Meditation 101 for Beginners
10 Science-Backed Benefits of Meditation
What is Meditation?
How to Meditate: Meditation 101 for Beginners
10 Science-Backed Benefits of Meditation
What is Meditation?
Benefits of Mindfulness: Mindful Living Can Change Your Life
Mindfulness 101: A Beginner's Guide
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Hi, welcome back to
your Daily Mindfulness.
In today's session, we're going to talk
about eliminating barriers to meditation.
So a common thing I hear from
people is that I can't meditate.
And it's not that I can't meditate
because I have to take care of my
child or I have too much to do,
it's I can't meditate because I'm
feeling all these different things.
I have too many thoughts to meditate.
I feel too bored when I meditate.
I feel too much stress to meditate.
And it's a really interesting hindrance
in the context of meditation, because
essentially what it's saying is that
there's, there's a certain state that is
arising that would be getting in the way
of me being able to do the practice, when
the practice at its core is making space
for whatever state is actually there.
And so to say, I can't meditate because
my mind is too active, I'm too bored, I'm
too stressed is really to not understand
what the practice is intending to do.
And it's a very common thing that can get
in the way for even advanced meditators,
this idea of like chasing certain states
or that I need to be in a certain state
to get the most out of my meditation.
And I found myself caught in that loop
for years and a very big distinction and
shift in my meditation practice was when
I would feel that arising, that feeling
of like, ah, I'm too bored to meditate
right now, or I don't have the energy to
meditate and I would say, great, that's
what the meditation is going to be.
It's going to be me meeting sleepiness.
It's going to be me meeting boredom.
It's going to be me meeting stress.
So instead of that, being an obstacle,
it became the very thing that, that
the practice was going to be all about.
And the cool thing about doing that
is that we reduce a lot of the that,
a lot of the tension that we often
feel when we create an emotion as
an obstacle to an experience, or
we create boredom as an obstacle.
It's like, oh, in order to meditate,
I'm going to have to like, not be
bored anymore and push that aside.
And it just, it's just
extra tension in the system.
But when we say to the system, it's like,
no, you could just keep experiencing
what you're experiencing right now.
You don't have to do anything different.
We're just going to meet it.
Kind of like a soft hand on
someone's back or someone
putting a soft hand on your back.
Just like, oh yeah, I'm just here
to hold whatever's here right now.
That's meditation.
That's bringing presence and
awareness to what is arising in
this moment, learning to meet it
without resistance, without grasping.
And moving fluidly with the constantly
changing experiences of your life.
You're never going to get to a place
where there's a permanent experience.
So what we are training is learning how
to bend with this moment, moving with
the impermanence of life and meeting and
relaxing into what is here right now.
Of course, you know, there are some
more intense experiences like trauma
where, you know, if we're in a
traumatic experience, we don't want
to be meditating in that moment.
We may want to be inviting ourselves
to relax, but this is, there, I just
want to acknowledge that there are
some times where maybe sitting on
the cushion isn't the best thing.
But when it comes to these normal
experiences that we have on a day-to-day
basis, different emotions we might
experience different thoughts,
these don't have to be barriers.
These can be gateways.
So thank you for your practice.
See if you can take this
into today's meditation.
And let's settle in
for today's meditation.
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The little talks before the meditations are priceless. It's like I've found my peeps. The topics, the quotes, the goals—it all makes so much sense to me, things I want to be thinking and learning about. Most importantly, the meditations are kindness-centered, which I love. It feels like a new way to approach meditation.
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- Gina, Plus+ Member
Vidyamala’s tips on catching anger as it’s happening or about to happen are great - clear, practical, and doable.
- Vicoir
The little talks before the meditations are priceless. It's like I've found my peeps. The topics, the quotes, the goals—it all makes so much sense to me, things I want to be thinking and learning about. Most importantly, the meditations are kindness-centered, which I love. It feels like a new way to approach meditation.
- Lauren
Incredible, easy to navigate app. I would highly recommend this app to anyone who wishes to reduce stress and anxiety or simply as an aid to improve overall mental health.
- Kirtus
I love how the app gives me pointers to new things to explore.
- Lydia
So calm and soothing. I love the new bundle with Kelly Boys, she’s brilliant!
- EJ
Better than Headspace. I've had the paid version of both apps, and I must say I enjoy this one better.
- Gina, Plus+ Member
Vidyamala’s tips on catching anger as it’s happening or about to happen are great - clear, practical, and doable.
- Vicoir
The little talks before the meditations are priceless. It's like I've found my peeps. The topics, the quotes, the goals—it all makes so much sense to me, things I want to be thinking and learning about. Most importantly, the meditations are kindness-centered, which I love. It feels like a new way to approach meditation.
- Lauren
Incredible, easy to navigate app. I would highly recommend this app to anyone who wishes to reduce stress and anxiety or simply as an aid to improve overall mental health.
- Kirtus
I love how the app gives me pointers to new things to explore.
- Lydia
So calm and soothing. I love the new bundle with Kelly Boys, she’s brilliant!
- EJ
Better than Headspace. I've had the paid version of both apps, and I must say I enjoy this one better.
- Gina, Plus+ Member
I am very new to meditation, and am so happy that my first introduction to it has been through this app
The first session was fantastic. I feel safe. And supported. Almost like having someone helping me through my difficult time. I’m very grateful for this app.
- Babi
You get a lot of useful tips for handling stress and anxiety in 'real life'.
- Joy
Highly recommend.
- Humanfrst
Kelly Boys is hands down the best. Everytime I click on one of her guided meditations I get excited for the calmness that lies ahead.
-
I am very new to meditation, and am so happy that my first introduction to it has been through this app
The first session was fantastic. I feel safe. And supported. Almost like having someone helping me through my difficult time. I’m very grateful for this app.
- Babi
You get a lot of useful tips for handling stress and anxiety in 'real life'.
- Joy
Highly recommend.
- Humanfrst
Kelly Boys is hands down the best. Everytime I click on one of her guided meditations I get excited for the calmness that lies ahead.
-
I am very new to meditation, and am so happy that my first introduction to it has been through this app
The first session was fantastic. I feel safe. And supported. Almost like having someone helping me through my difficult time. I’m very grateful for this app.
- Babi
You get a lot of useful tips for handling stress and anxiety in 'real life'.
- Joy
Highly recommend.
- Humanfrst
Kelly Boys is hands down the best. Everytime I click on one of her guided meditations I get excited for the calmness that lies ahead.
-
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