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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, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness. Today, I'm going to talk about the pith instructions when it comes to training our mind. So Buddhist nun and author Pema Chodron says the pith instruction is stay. Stay, just stay. Learning to stay with ourselves in meditation, she says, is like training a dog.
If we train the dog by beating it, we will end up with a somewhat obedient dog, but a very inflexible and rather terrified one. The dog might obey when we say stay, come, roll over, sit up. But it will also be neurotic and confused. By contrast, training with kindness results in someone who's flexible, confident, and who doesn't become upset when situations are unpredictable and insecure. So when we're training our mind, we want to remember this core instruction of kindness mixed with persistence in the practice.
This essence of gently encouraging ourselves to stay with whatever our present moment experience is. So if we're experiencing a restless mind, we gently encourage ourselves to stay present. If we're experiencing difficult emotions, we gently encourage ourselves to stay present. If we're feeling impatient, if there's pain in our body, if we're bored, if we're aggravated, lustful, doubtful, fearful. If the mind is telling us we're too busy to practice today, if we don't know what we're doing, if our mind is saying to us, this isn't working.
In all of these cases, again, we just gently encourage ourselves to stay present. So by bringing in the attitudes of kindness, patience, and persistence, we gradually cultivate a steadiness and a settledness in the minds that really anchors us to the depths of presence. Even when the waves of emotion and thought and impulse are moving on the surface of our being, the more time we can spend anchored in presence, the more we can familiarize ourselves with that way of being and the more we're able to navigate through life with more wisdom, calm, love, and courage. So we're going to explore these same some more in today's practice. So I invite you to settle in for that.
And as always, thank you for your practice and your presence here with us.
The Pith Instruction
Personalized support for learning how to integrate mindfulness into your life. Delivered fresh everyday by our world renowned experts. Choose meditation duration:
Duration
Your default time is based on your progress and is changed automatically as you practice.
Hi, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness. Today, I'm going to talk about the pith instructions when it comes to training our mind. So Buddhist nun and author Pema Chodron says the pith instruction is stay. Stay, just stay. Learning to stay with ourselves in meditation, she says, is like training a dog.
If we train the dog by beating it, we will end up with a somewhat obedient dog, but a very inflexible and rather terrified one. The dog might obey when we say stay, come, roll over, sit up. But it will also be neurotic and confused. By contrast, training with kindness results in someone who's flexible, confident, and who doesn't become upset when situations are unpredictable and insecure. So when we're training our mind, we want to remember this core instruction of kindness mixed with persistence in the practice.
This essence of gently encouraging ourselves to stay with whatever our present moment experience is. So if we're experiencing a restless mind, we gently encourage ourselves to stay present. If we're experiencing difficult emotions, we gently encourage ourselves to stay present. If we're feeling impatient, if there's pain in our body, if we're bored, if we're aggravated, lustful, doubtful, fearful. If the mind is telling us we're too busy to practice today, if we don't know what we're doing, if our mind is saying to us, this isn't working.
In all of these cases, again, we just gently encourage ourselves to stay present. So by bringing in the attitudes of kindness, patience, and persistence, we gradually cultivate a steadiness and a settledness in the minds that really anchors us to the depths of presence. Even when the waves of emotion and thought and impulse are moving on the surface of our being, the more time we can spend anchored in presence, the more we can familiarize ourselves with that way of being and the more we're able to navigate through life with more wisdom, calm, love, and courage. So we're going to explore these same some more in today's practice. So I invite you to settle in for that.
And as always, thank you for your practice and your presence here with us.
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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.
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You get a lot of useful tips for handling stress and anxiety in 'real life'.
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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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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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