This is a guest post by Stacy Bryant, who is a passionate advocate for mental health and holistic well-being. She adds significant value by crafting insightful articles and compelling content for McDowell Counseling & Associates, a specialist provider of expert counseling services. Everyone is talking about mindfulness these days, right? Read more…
Mindfulness and meditation, these days, the two words are used interchangeably. And in the framework of an 8-week mindfulness course, it is ok to do so. However, in this article, I will disentangle them for you. TLDR: Mindfulness is a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present Read more…
In modern approaches to (western) meditation, several important factors have not been incorporated into the practice. One such example is the importance given to ethics in every meditation tradition. Mentioning this in a mindfulness class is sure to embarrass the teacher. The other important factor that is overlooked is the Read more…
Meditation has been proven to have many benefits, including sharpening focus, controlling stress response, and enhancing cognitive performance. It is also a proven way to change the brain, specifically the brain’s size and structure. Meditation is a practice that has been around for thousands of years and is now being Read more…
This is a guest post by Vytautas Vaitkevicius from Minful Souls. During the Covid-19 pandemic, meditation and mindful practices have become a part of more people’s lives than usual. According to data collected by FitBit, meditation times have increased by 2,900% globally over the first seven months of the pandemic Read more…
I occasionally see meditation students start crying. It’s always a tough moment for me as it somehow makes me unsure whether I should continue the meditation or offer some advice on how to deal with it. Usually, I just continue and come back to the participant after the meditation has Read more…
Most people associate meditation with a monk sitting with a straight back and with his eyes closed. In the most popular form of meditation in the west, MBSR, they ask you to close your eyes. Even I, meditate most of the time with my eyes closed. Meditation with eyes open Read more…
People often wonder whether it is best to use guided meditation or rather go the unguided route. Both types of meditations have their own strengths. Unguided mediations are used mainly by beginners or to learn a new skill. it can also be used to bring structure in your mediations. However, Read more…
When you do a little research on what advice people give to someone asking ‘Why don’t I see progress in my meditation’, you will almost always find a number of people saying: ‘meditation is not about progress, do not track your progress, it is about being, not striving’. This is Read more…
So, you have read about the many benefits of meditation and want to try it yourself. A simple google search will reveal thousands of options. Now, where do you begin? The truth is that there is no single best option for learning meditation. Sure, having access to a skilled teacher Read more…
When you see all the images of monks and buddhas and gurus, one thing stands out, and that is that most of them are sitting cross-legged. So one might wonder if this is the only way to do meditation. In this post, I want to talk about an alternative: lying Read more…
You are sitting in your meditation posture and the end of your dedicated meditation session nears. The sound of the gong marks the end of the session and then … yes, what then? The best thing to do after the end of a meditation session is to try to consolidate Read more…
Recently, I have started to fast regularly. And I wondered how it would affect my meditation practice. Turns out that there are a lot of variables (surprise 😉 ) that affect meditation more than fasting. It is best to wait 2 to 3 hours after having eaten a meal to Read more…
Mindfulness and meditative practices are becoming more mainstream across the world as people are recognizing the vast mental and physical health benefits associated with these exercises. In fact, mindfulness has been shown to help improve cardiovascular health, reduce cognitive decline, improve the immune system, and reduce psychological pain. These are Read more…
Flow, just like mindfulness has become a buzzword. Unfortunately, this also means that a lot of people have misconceptions about what the words exactly mean. Flow is a pleasant state of mind when you are completely absorbed in a task where you tend to forget time and yourself. Mindfulness, however, Read more…