Meditation and Mindfulness

debtfreewannabe321

Deleted_User wrote: »

Hi DFW,

Welcome! May I ask where abouts your mindfulness course is? I have never heard of a one-on-one course before and would be very interested in this. Is it an 8 week course? I usually put my earplugs on or noise-cancelling headphones as I get quite stressed when there is background noise (dogs barking, children screaming intermittently: not good for my anxiety). Reiki also sounds interesting, I hope you'll stick around and update us on the course! xx

Morning I will pm you her website, It is advertised as a meditation course but from my first session she told me I need to see it as being mindful of everything and we had discussions on mindfullness & meditation. She has taught me diferent ways of meditating. I.e guided, mantra, learning to listen to your higher self....i only go once every 2 weeks so probably not as intense as your ones, but i get to practice every day the meditation from last time so i can see how it works, then when i go back we have a great chat about it all and she really helps when i have problems with certain ones. I'd love to do a full time course but with 2 little ones to look after and a hubby that works away a lot this was all i could fit in! so glad i did though and didn't wait it's really helped with my depression & i've already reduced my anti d's after only 2 months there :T

[Deleted User]

Hi everyone,

I had my mindfulness retreat today. I enjoyed it and experienced some moments of deep peace and serenity. As I have allowed myself to become quite stressed recently and not been able to control my thoughts, I feel like it will take a lot more than one day to experience consistent peace but I will definitely be keeping up the mindfulness this time. I went shopping after the course and my mind went straight back into panic mode because of the business and the noise of children screaming (which I find very difficult to tolerate). I felt very sad when the effects of my mindfulness practise 'wear off' and my egoic or thinking mind take over, but I am hoping that my impartial observer will be a more frequent guest.

Joyfull, I agree with you completely. I was on anti-depressants and beta-blockers before I even knew what mindfulness was. My doctor put me on loads of medications without even attempting to get to the root of my difficulties, which is probably quite normal unfortunately. Needless to say, nothing ever worked for me until mindfulness. I can understand why people go down the alcohol or medication/ drugs route but I think they need to know that it's not a long-term solution. A lot of people are so desperate to get out of the all-encompassing suffering that you describe that alcohol or drugs seem like a good option. Everyone suffers in their life but I think mindfulness limits the suffering we cause ourselves. I also agree that feeling bad for not doing the practise is pointless. I am going to set myself a time each day to do it.

DFW: Your mindfulness sessions sound wonderful! I haven't heard of mantra meditation before or listening to your higher self; do you mind telling us a bit more about these? It sounds great and I would definitely consider going to a one-to-one session. That's fantastic it's having such a great effect on you, long may it continue!

Armchair23

I think in a way the tricky thing is that Mindfulness crosses so many boundaries. It can sit as part of a Buddhist tradition, part of a MBCT or MBSR course or be there to be enjoyed for no particular reason at all ( Yay !).

So it can cross religious/spiritual paths, treatment/therapy considerations and is often introduced or sits side by side with other treatments,therapies or concepts.

I think the sad thing in this is that it's easy to lose track of the fact that this is something that can benefit you at any age and stage of your life and doesn't just need to be an answer to a problem.

To those of you currently enjoying or starting mindfulness practices I'm so happy for you, it's a great place to get to know yourself.

[Deleted User]

Armchair23 wrote: »

I think the sad thing in this is that it's easy to lose track of the fact that this is something that can benefit you at any age and stage of your life and doesn't just need to be an answer to a problem.

So true. I think mindfulness is something that needs to be a way of life as opposed to a solution to a temporary problem. My mindfulness teacher said 'life can be a meditation' and I would ultimately like to live my life that way; without reacting, without taking everything as a personal affront and instead, savouring each moment and focusing only on now, not on some imagined future or upsetting past.

Racheldevon

Sorry for the delayed response. I use the body scans from the various Jon Kabat Zinn CDs I own: 1) Guided Mindfulness Meditation - approx 45 mins long; 2) a 20 minute one from his Mindfulness for pain relief CD; and 3) the 30 minute one from Jon Kabat Zinn's Introduction to Mindfulness CD.

I've also found it really helpful to listen to the non guided meditation part of the CDs, so for example, the Mindfulness meditation for optimum health by Jon Kabat Zinn & Dr Andrew Weil -- disc 1 has a number of short (10 minutes for example) audio tracks on a wide range of things, as do a number of his other CDs, and I quite often listen to these whilst driving to or from work. Obviously I don't listen to the actually mindfulness guided sessions, that would be dangerous, but I find the others help me to tune in to that way of thinking, whatever the day may have thrown my way.

It was interesting to read of people's experiences during the body scan, I had a similiar experience on retreat with one. I suddenly felt like I was floating and not on the ground, a really unusual weightless kind of feeling (which slightly freaked me out to start with!). Anyway, I discussed it with the tutor, and felt reassured afterwards. However, there's a tendency to think 'that's what mindfulness should feel like if i'm doing it right', when actually that's just what I experienced in that particular moment -it's not right or wrong, it's just how it was. The tutor was saying about how that could easily become a barrier to practising, in terms of telling yourself you can't recreate that when not at retreat/not doing it led by X etc etc, and on some levels that's true, I have found it an occassional barrier in that I become frustrated if I don't feel i'm doing it 'properly', the good old internal battle!!

debtfreewannabe321

Deleted_User wrote: »

Hi everyone,

I had my mindfulness retreat today. I enjoyed it and experienced some moments of deep peace and serenity. As I have allowed myself to become quite stressed recently and not been able to control my thoughts, I feel like it will take a lot more than one day to experience consistent peace but I will definitely be keeping up the mindfulness this time. I went shopping after the course and my mind went straight back into panic mode because of the business and the noise of children screaming (which I find very difficult to tolerate). I felt very sad when the effects of my mindfulness practise 'wear off' and my egoic or thinking mind take over, but I am hoping that my impartial observer will be a more frequent guest.

Joyfull, I agree with you completely. I was on anti-depressants and beta-blockers before I even knew what mindfulness was. My doctor put me on loads of medications without even attempting to get to the root of my difficulties, which is probably quite normal unfortunately. Needless to say, nothing ever worked for me until mindfulness. I can understand why people go down the alcohol or medication/ drugs route but I think they need to know that it's not a long-term solution. A lot of people are so desperate to get out of the all-encompassing suffering that you describe that alcohol or drugs seem like a good option. Everyone suffers in their life but I think mindfulness limits the suffering we cause ourselves. I also agree that feeling bad for not doing the practise is pointless. I am going to set myself a time each day to do it.

DFW: Your mindfulness sessions sound wonderful! I haven't heard of mantra meditation before or listening to your higher self; do you mind telling us a bit more about these? It sounds great and I would definitely consider going to a one-to-one session. That's fantastic it's having such a great effect on you, long may it continue!

Matra meditation is where you chant words to help clear your mind and focus. If you google it there are mantra websites that will give you some short ones to practice with. I felt pretty silly doing this to be honest at first. But the more I practised it the more i liked it. Especially after a busy day when my mind would not stop chattering away. Concentrating on the sounds you are making helps to clear the mind really easily (well it helped me anyway lol)

Listening to your higher self, just means your body is in sync with your mind & spirit. I usually start this one by cleaning the chakras with a guided meditation and then there are meditations you can download for these

Glad you enjoyed your retreat it sounds great

[Deleted User]

Hi guys,

Mantra meditation sounds really interesting, I'll have a look for it online. I have a kundalini yoga DVD which uses a lot of chanting and I'm just waiting until I have the house to myself to practise it so my OH doesn't walk in on me chanting 'ommmm'!

My retreat on Saturday seemed to have a delayed effect. I woke up this morning feeling a sense of inner peace and serenity that I haven't experienced for a very long time. That sensation alone is worth the entire day's mindfulness retreat but I have also had a sense of calm underlying my entire day which has been really lovely. My perspective is beginning to change. It's a slow process but a very welcome one. I would urge anyone who has the opportunity to attend a mindfulness retreat to try it out. I'd do one every weekend if I could. The one I went to consisted of:

Body scan
Sitting meditation
Mindful walking
Mindful eating
Mindful movements
Mountain meditation
Loving-kindness meditation.

[Deleted User]

Hi all,

How is the mindfulness practice going? I had a mindfulness workshop in Newcastle today which I enjoyed. I also found a retreat in Leeds that looks very interesting if anyone lives nearby:

http://www.insightforwellbeing.co.uk/12/Mindfulness:-Going-Deeper.html

It's a little too far for me but I'm considering it nonetheless. Hope you're all well xx

candygirl

I have been interested in meditation and yoga, for stress relief for ages now, and find the concept of mindfulness fascinating.I have found the videos of Jon Kabat Zinn v helpful, as well as reading stuff from Mark Williams:D:D
Aslo there is an online course on here, if like me you are struggling to find courses in your local area:)http://www.bemindfulonline.com/the-trainers/:D

candygirl

Deleted_User wrote: »

Hi all,

How is the mindfulness practice going? I had a mindfulness workshop in Newcastle today which I enjoyed. I also found a retreat in Leeds that looks very interesting if anyone lives nearby:

http://www.insightforwellbeing.co.uk/12/Mindfulness:-Going-Deeper.html

It's a little too far for me but I'm considering it nonetheless. Hope you're all well xx

I saw the Leeds one hun, but am away at a gig that weekend:( There isn't much in my area at all yet, but I think it's definitely becoming more popular:):D