All posts tagged: Meditating

I’ve been meditating for over 10 years—if I were starting again, this is what I’d do differently

I’ve been meditating for over 10 years—if I were starting again, this is what I’d do differently

Published by Jenni Sidey

I’ve been meditating for over 10 years, and teaching it to others for almost half that time. Often, when I work with someone at the start of their meditation journey, I see the same misconceptions I had right at the beginning of my practice. It’s made me reflect and realise there are some things I’d do very differently if I were starting over again. When I first tried to meditate, I quickly fell into the “I can’t do it” trap after struggling to sit in silence and stillness for even just a few minutes. What I’ve learned since is there’s no right or wrong way to do it. Often, when it doesn’t feel like it’s working, it’s because of the expectations we’ve set around it. If meditation is something you’ve tried but couldn’t get on with, or you’re simply curious to try it—whether you need help switching off or want to feel more connected to yourself—here are a few tips to get started. Article continues below You may like I’d build it into my daily …

I’m a meditation teacher and I know meditating in the morning makes some people sleepy—here’s a three-minute practice that will help you feel energised instead

I’m a meditation teacher and I know meditating in the morning makes some people sleepy—here’s a three-minute practice that will help you feel energised instead

Published by Jenni Sidey

Meditating first thing can be an unexpectedly risky business because it can make you feel groggy when you’re trying to wake up. It’s something I experienced when I first started meditating, too, and it’s far from ideal when you fall back to sleep and run late the rest of the day. Most guided visualisation meditations encourage relaxation, but a closed-eye practice—focusing on calming the mind and body through nervous system regulation—probably isn’t what you’re looking for in the morning. You may like The good news is, there’s more than one way to meditate. By shifting from a relaxation practice to techniques that promote awareness and attention, we can still begin the day feeling grounded in the present moment, as well as feeling energised and ready to embrace the day. Here’s the one technique I recommend to every client to help them start the day right. When you wake up, instead of putting a guided meditation track on and closing your eyes again, try this instead. My three-minute morning meditation practice This practice isn’t about changing …

Meditating on the connectedness of life could help reunite a divided country – here’s how ‘interbeing’ works

Meditating on the connectedness of life could help reunite a divided country – here’s how ‘interbeing’ works

Published by Sam Flores

(The Conversation) — The late Vietnamese Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh often emphasized the interconnectedness of everything in this world. He explained how meditation can change our perceptions about the things we encounter in our daily lives by revealing this interdependence. Take the example of an apple: Before meditation, an apple is just a piece of fruit. During meditation, the meditator sees how deeply the apple is interconnected with the world – the apple would not exist without the rain, the sunshine, the soil and the farmer who planted the seed. These are just a few of the causes and conditions that allow the apple to exist. The apple is because of all these other things. An apple is not just a piece of fruit. The apple is also part rain, part sunlight, part soil, part farmer. After meditation, an apple goes back to being an apple again. The meditator continues to call it an “apple,” but they understand its true nature. Hanh calls this sense of connection “interbeing.” The apple insight applies to any …