Loving-Kindness Meditation by Tim Burnett, 2018 Recent research suggests that the mind is “primed” to be more loving, kind, and compassionate but that our educational systems and culture don’t give us many opportunities to develop this. Our culture tends to view...
Mindful Movement with Gentle Yoga Yoga can develop strength, balance, flexibility and body awareness. Our mindful yoga emphasizes awareness and balance. Poses are done carefully and slowly and attention is held inside the body. Please consider the following as you...
Maintaining a daily practice – a few suggestions Question subjective experience in meditation Recognize that the mind desires pleasant experience. Don’t assume that difficult or unpleasant conditions during meditation mean it “isn’t working.” Meet “what...
Awareness of Breathing: Stabilizing the Mind Awareness of Breathing is a go-to mindfulness practice you can do almost anywhere and anytime. Find a stable position for the body (sitting is traditional, but standing or laying down work too), and gather your awareness...
Last month I wrote about the practice of walking meditation and how this daily activity, or something similar, can be woven into one’s regular mindfulness practice. In this month’s article, I’ll expand on my explanation of walking meditation by presenting some...
If you’ve completed a Mindfulness Northwest multi-week course or attended a meditation retreat, you have likely practiced walking meditation. It is a foundational meditation practice, but at first glance, might be viewed as simply a break from sitting....
Photo by Sonia Lynne Sia How comfortable are you with changes to a usual routine? For instance, our childhood caregivers likely taught us to wash our hands before eating or to remove our shoes before entering a house. Maybe at school our teachers encouraged us...
“April showers bring May flowers.” Or, as Thich Nhat Hanh put it, “No mud, no lotus.” Trials, which can be hard to bear, often spur growth. Beautiful blossoming, even. Yet when too much difficult stuff hits us all at once, we can feel swamped, sodden, struggling to...
Soften, Soothe, Allow is a practice for working with difficult emotions arising from life’s challenges. In this practice from our Mindful Self-Compassion program you’ll bring to mind a life challenge and explore the emotions that arise around it and how to use a...
The Body Scan is a mindful tour through your body. This practice deepens awareness of the body, strengthens attention, and supports a more grounded, present-centered feeling for life. The Body Scan can also reveal stresses and emotional issues that you haven't become...
This core meditation for our Mindful Self-Compassion program connects compassion practice with a feeling of equanimity. Loosely based on the Tibetan Buddhist Tonglen meditation, Giving and Receiving Compassion involves inviting the feeling of receiving all that you...