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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, I want to
talk about thoughts and alignment.
So many people who get into meditation,
mindfulness, or even therapy or
anything to do with personal development
are often frustrated by thoughts.
There's a feeling of my
mind's all over the place.
I can't calm it down.
It's creating all of
this extra stress for me.
And what we ended up doing
is pathologizing the thinking
mind, pathologizing our brain
for being all over the place.
You often hear things like I can't
focus, or my mind constantly
thinks about this and this and
this, or I can't settle it down.
Like I need something like
meditation to calm my mind.
I needed to train my mind.
That's the one I hear a lot of.
I need to really train
my mind or tame my mind.
There's merit to it.
I'm a meditation teacher.
Certainly meditation does help
calm the mind, train our focus
and there's huge utility to that.
However, I do want to also say that a
mind that is bouncing from one thing
to another, or is agitated isn't
just an indication or isn't always an
indication that you just can't focus.
It might instead be an indication
that something is out of
alignment with your life.
I mean, think about maybe a difficult
conversation you had once and it just,
it lingered in you the rest of the day.
Maybe you said something you wish
you didn't say and the person,
you know, there was just a,
there's just a look on their face.
And you were like, oh, I probably
shouldn't have said that, but you
didn't apologize or anything afterwards.
And you just went to bed that
night and your mind was all over
the place thinking about it.
Right?
Is that because you can't focus or
because something felt out of alignment?
You felt like, Hmm, that probably
wasn't the right thing to do and
I haven't yet rectified it yet or
had a fuller conversation about it.
It's still lingering in the system.
And that's a minor example.
There are so many things
that we do across a lifetime.
All these little decisions where we
can temporarily abandon ourselves,
an inner knowing, and it causes
us to get out of alignment.
And as humans, we tend to have a
very high tolerance for that, which
is why we can go months, years,
or decades sort of bearing it.
Where something doesn't feel quite right,
but just like, okay, well I keep going.
And then it starts to catch up to us.
And the mind's all over the place.
We feel a little agitated.
And I have a teacher who says, many
times we paint ourselves into a
corner and then we do meditation
to feel comfortable there.
You know?
So this is an example of like we're
making decisions that are actually out
of alignment with the deeper truth within
us, but we feel the agitation and the
stress that that has created, and then we
go, Ooh, I need to meditate to calm down.
Maybe.
Or maybe we need to actually start
taking some responsibility for the
decisions that we're making and whether
they're taking us into alignment
or out of alignment with our life.
So my main invitation to you today
is instead of looking at thoughts
as simply a symptom of a broken
brain or an inability to focus,
what if you use that as a compass?
What if your mind being all over the
place was actually an internal agitation
of something being out of alignment?
What would that be inviting you to
look at, to listen, to, and to get back
into alignment, to really deep inquiry?
But it's a doorway into actually leading
your life in a way that is genuinely
fulfilling and genuinely yours.
Thank you for your practice.
Let's settle in for today's 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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