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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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In this meditation, we'll practice re-grounding amid the stressful life as a parent.
Hey, welcome to this meditation
to help you reduce stress.
As a parent, you deal with a
lot of stressors throughout the
day, and it can be overwhelming.
But the good news is mindfulness
practices can help us reduce
stress, even if we can't change
the complexity of the situation.
To understand how, let's look at
one of the definitions of stress.
When our perceived demands
are greater than our perceived
resources to meet those demands.
The key word there is perceived.
Often, what we perceive to be demanding
is very different than what is
actually demanding in this moment.
How often are you finding
yourself in a frenzy?
Not because of what's happening right
now, but because of all the things that
have to happen the rest of today, the
next week, the next several months.
When we bring all of that into
this moment, our perceived
demands become massive.
But when we drop into what is actually
happening right now, there may still
be a lot, but it's not as much as our
mind can make it out to be when it's
caught up in everything that will happen.
So one way to navigate the stress of
parenting is to chunk it down into
what is actually here right now.
What can I control?
What's in front of me.
Not in five hours, but
right here, right now.
And in this meditation we'll train
our capacity to pay attention in that
way, with the simplicity of presence.
So if you haven't yet done so, you
can find a comfortable posture.
If you'd like, you can close your eyes.
And let's start by taking
a deep breath together.
In through the nose.
Slowly out through the mouth.
Inviting the jaw to soften.
The teeth don't need to be clenched.
Letting the shoulders be at ease.
And relaxing the belly.
You can let your breath settle
into its natural rhythm.
And in this meditation, we're going
to work with a very simple phrase.
And that phrase is, what's here now.
What's here now.
So you can drop that into your
mind's awareness in this moment
and just see what arises.
What's here now.
There are a lot of things
that the mind can attend to.
Maybe the breath, maybe the felt sense
of the feet on the floor, the sound
of my voice, the sound of silence.
The point is to bring the mind
closer to the reality of this
moment, not the thoughts about the
future or the past, but just here.
So drop that phrase into
your mind's awareness again.
What's here now.
If you need to anchor your
attention on any one thing, like
the breath or a sound, you can.
Or you can just let the mind attune to
the different elements of what's here.
And when you notice the mind caught up
in the stories about, well, this needs
to happen, that needs to happen, you
just recognize these are just thoughts.
The reality of these things
may be true at some point, but
they're not here right now.
And then you drop into
what is here right now.
What's here now.
I'll give you a minute
in silence to practice.
As we come to the end of this meditation,
let's take one more deep breath together.
In through the nose.
And out through the mouth.
And when you're ready, you
can let your eyes open again.
All right.
So this is a very simple phrase you
can bring with you throughout the day.
Anytime you find yourself caught up
in the perceived demands of your life,
all the things that might have to get
done but aren't here right now, just
drop into what is here right now.
What's here now.
And I'm not saying that it is going
to make the moment perfectly peaceful,
but at the very least, it should
help you see that this moment is a
little less of a catastrophe than
the mind can make it out to be.
And that alone can be the difference
between feeling like there's a
lot going on and burning out.
So I hope you get to use this.
I know that there's so much
that comes with being a parent.
So I'm glad you're
taking care of yourself.
There's a lot to be said for that.
Try this out.
Hope it helps on your journey.
Thank you for your practice
and I'll talk to you soon.
Until next time, take care.
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