By Dr. Ron Passfield
Gloria Kamler recently presented a MARC meditation podcast titled, Body and Breath. Gloria teaches Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction programs as a faculty member of the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center (MARC). She draws on more than 20 years’ experience educating people in mindfulness meditation. In her podcast, Gloria emphasised the benefits of mindfulness for everyday living. … Continue reading “Kindness and Meditation”
Diana Winston provided a meditation podcast on the topic, Listening to Sound, as part of the weekly offering by MARC (Mindful Awareness Research Center, UCLA). Diana’s main theme was that there are times when sound “intrudes” into our meditation practice and we have a choice in how we respond. We can become agitated and irritated … Continue reading “Tuning Into Sound”
2024 – April 2024 – March 2024 – February 2024 – January 2023 – December 2023 – November 2023 – October 2023 – September 2023 – August 2023 – July 2023 – June 2023 – May 2023 – April 2023 – March 2023 – February 2023 – January 2022 – December 2022 – November 2022 … Continue reading “Archive – Grow Mindfulness”
Leo Babauta, creator of the blog Zen Habits, reminds us that we each invariably have one meaningful task, endeavour or initiative that we keep putting off. We find excuses, maintain our busyness, visit the fridge, go out for coffee or adopt any number of tactics to avoid facing up to the challenge of doing the … Continue reading “Doing That Meaningful Work You Have Been Avoiding”
Diana Winston, in her meditation podcasts through the Mindful Awareness Research Center (MARC), often begins by defining mindful awareness as paying attention to present moment experiences with openness, curiosity, and a willingness to be with what is. In this context, openness and curiosity extends to our body as well as our thoughts and feelings. However, … Continue reading “Accessing the Wisdom of the Body”
Diana Winston, in a guided meditation on anxiety provides a way to tap into the well of ease and peace that lies within each of us. Her meditation is titled Leaving Anxiety Street because we often feel at home in our anxiety – we tend to see anxiety as our residence, our natural habitat, and … Continue reading “Finding the Well of Ease in Times of Anxiety”
In some traditions, concentration is seen as separate from but essential to mindfulness. Concentration is described as “one-pointed focus” or bringing our attention to a single focus in a unified way. Concentration is thus viewed as the servant and enabler of mindful awareness – both inner and outer awareness. Jon Kabat-Zinn maintains that “concentration is … Continue reading “Cultivating Concentration through Meditation”
In previous posts I have suggested that to sustain the practice of mindfulness you need to start small. Starting small can even involve as little as one mindful breath at a time. Chade-Meng Tan recommends that you start with less than you imagine is possible – so that you experience a sense of success early. … Continue reading “Sustaining the Practice of Mindfulness”
Daniel Kahneman highlighted the tendency to develop hasty judgements in his book, Thinking, Fast and Slow. Daniel, Nobel prize winner in economics, explains that most often we make hasty, automatic and intuitive judgments that are helpful in crisis times but can rupture relationships. He describes this “fast thinking” as System 1 thinking. In contrast, “slow … Continue reading “Overcoming Hasty Judgments”
Tara Brach in her meditation podcast on Creating a Balanced Mind, reminds us that a key element of mindfulness is accepting what is, being able to remain calm in the face of the ups and downs of life. She argues that meditation enables us to develop a balanced mind, calmness in the face of the … Continue reading “Developing a Balanced Mind”
