building practice
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Working with the Gaps
Our practice of mindfulness, especially our formal meditation practice leads us to eventually work with two gaps. The first is the gap between stimulus and response and the second is the gap between our beliefs and our actions. Committing to a formal mindfulness meditation practice and practicing moments of mindfulness as we go through our Continue reading
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Non-Striving
The practice of mindfulness meditation places us firmly in a paradoxical situation. Engaging in the practice requires setting an intention, as all activity requires intention. And yet, sustaining the practice works when we release that intention. This paradox describes an attitude or state that students of mindfulness meditation are encouraged to adopt – an attitude Continue reading
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Formal and Informal Meditation
Many students talk about not really “sitting” for meditation practice, but rather checking in throughout the day to become mindful or take a breath awareness pause. Many students say, “I am mindful during my day, and I don’t sit for practice.” These students are describing informal mediation practices. Many types of informal practices range from Continue reading
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How Can I Keep My Meditation Going?
I like to think in terms of supporting my practice. There are so many ways we can build a structure around our mediation practices to hold and support the building of the habit. Eventually we would like our practices to become second nature, a lot like brushing our teeth or getting dressed in the morning Continue reading
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Impatience
Impatience is a way of life in our culture. Looking for a quick fix is the default method of approaching most challenges we face. We are always looking for an immediate solution to make the discomfort go away, to get the thing we most desire, or to correct a health issue. Making discomfort disappear is Continue reading
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Distractions
There are two main ways that distractions take hold of us, or we take hold of distractions, in our lives and our meditation practices. In our daily lives, we find that we seek distractions, especially when we are tired, hungry, aroused, frustrated, and experiencing strong emotions. We use distractions to take us away from where we Continue reading
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How do I build a meditation practice?
Building a strong regular meditation practice is like building any other habit. We build all kinds of habits through repetition, attention, and, experiencing some reward. For instance, we build the habit of brushing our teeth starting when we are children. First, because we are told to by our parents, reaping the reward of pleasing them. Continue reading
Being Present 