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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 how we can start to work more skillfully with some of the more dark or disturbing thoughts that come up in meditation. And of course, this is really useful because how we work with these thoughts in meditation is also how we can work with them in life too. And meditation after all, really is like a mental training ground, a practice ground for the rest of our lives. So when we've been meditating and observing the mind for awhile, we really begin to see how the mind is really abundant in content.
It has lots of different kinds of thoughts and images and impulses and emotions coming and going in our experience. Now, some kinds of thoughts, we probably feel really comfortable with, you know. We see them as an okay part of our psyche, an okay part of ourselves. Thoughts about pleasant, things, pleasant emotions, for example. You know, we might like and accept them, even encourage them sometimes.
Sometimes we indulge in them. Other thoughts, though, can make us feel really uncomfortable. We might be really shocked by the types of thoughts arising in the mind and think that there's something wrong with us for having these kinds of thoughts. But you know, as I often say, what your crazy mind is doing, our crazy minds are all doing as well. So we might be surprised by how, for instance, critical, aggressive, judgemental, insecure the mind is sometimes.
These thoughts might stir up emotions like fear, anger, guilt, or shame, that feeling of unworthiness. And, you know, we may not want to think of these thoughts as part of us, part of our psyche. So we resist them, we reject them, or maybe we start to struggle with them, or perhaps we even start to beat ourselves up for being a bad person or having bad thoughts. But of course, as long as we're judging ourselves, when we're experiencing disturbing thoughts, we're simply actually creating another layer of thinking on top of the thoughts that are already there. So we're getting caught up in those disturbing thoughts, then we're adding more storylines in the mind, more noise and disturbance.
The reality is that, unpleasant as it is, we do all have these kinds of thoughts sometimes. They're just part of the normal conditioning of the human mind. But just like it's normal for the sky to sometimes have very dark clouds passing through it, it doesn't define the clarity, the expansiveness and the stillness of the sky. So your dark thoughts don't touch, affect or define your deeper nature as awareness itself. So instead of judging yourself, struggling with these kinds of thoughts in any way, just see if you can let go of all of that, let go of everything that arises in the mind.
And just knowing that from the perspective of mindfulness, a thought, is just a thought. It doesn't matter what kind of thought it is. Our task is simply to rest in our sky-like awareness and witness whatever arises in the mind. So we let go of any idea of how we think the mind should be or how we think we should be. And we simply witness things as they are.
In this way, we learn to become gradually more and more non-reactive, resilient and grounded in presence andinner peace. So we're going to explore this some more in today's meditation. So I invite you to settle in now for that. And as always, thank you for your practice and your presence here with us.
Working With Dark or Disturbing Thoughts
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 how we can start to work more skillfully with some of the more dark or disturbing thoughts that come up in meditation. And of course, this is really useful because how we work with these thoughts in meditation is also how we can work with them in life too. And meditation after all, really is like a mental training ground, a practice ground for the rest of our lives. So when we've been meditating and observing the mind for awhile, we really begin to see how the mind is really abundant in content.
It has lots of different kinds of thoughts and images and impulses and emotions coming and going in our experience. Now, some kinds of thoughts, we probably feel really comfortable with, you know. We see them as an okay part of our psyche, an okay part of ourselves. Thoughts about pleasant, things, pleasant emotions, for example. You know, we might like and accept them, even encourage them sometimes.
Sometimes we indulge in them. Other thoughts, though, can make us feel really uncomfortable. We might be really shocked by the types of thoughts arising in the mind and think that there's something wrong with us for having these kinds of thoughts. But you know, as I often say, what your crazy mind is doing, our crazy minds are all doing as well. So we might be surprised by how, for instance, critical, aggressive, judgemental, insecure the mind is sometimes.
These thoughts might stir up emotions like fear, anger, guilt, or shame, that feeling of unworthiness. And, you know, we may not want to think of these thoughts as part of us, part of our psyche. So we resist them, we reject them, or maybe we start to struggle with them, or perhaps we even start to beat ourselves up for being a bad person or having bad thoughts. But of course, as long as we're judging ourselves, when we're experiencing disturbing thoughts, we're simply actually creating another layer of thinking on top of the thoughts that are already there. So we're getting caught up in those disturbing thoughts, then we're adding more storylines in the mind, more noise and disturbance.
The reality is that, unpleasant as it is, we do all have these kinds of thoughts sometimes. They're just part of the normal conditioning of the human mind. But just like it's normal for the sky to sometimes have very dark clouds passing through it, it doesn't define the clarity, the expansiveness and the stillness of the sky. So your dark thoughts don't touch, affect or define your deeper nature as awareness itself. So instead of judging yourself, struggling with these kinds of thoughts in any way, just see if you can let go of all of that, let go of everything that arises in the mind.
And just knowing that from the perspective of mindfulness, a thought, is just a thought. It doesn't matter what kind of thought it is. Our task is simply to rest in our sky-like awareness and witness whatever arises in the mind. So we let go of any idea of how we think the mind should be or how we think we should be. And we simply witness things as they are.
In this way, we learn to become gradually more and more non-reactive, resilient and grounded in presence andinner peace. So we're going to explore this some more in today's meditation. So I invite you to settle in now 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.
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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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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
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.
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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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