Meditation Archives - Page 22 of 22

July 18, 2014 By Admin

Mindful Approaches for Enhanced Emotion Regulation

Practice Approaches to for Mindful and Enhanced Emotion Regulation

Brought to us by way of The Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation in Monkton, Vermont

Mindful Approaches for Enhanced Emotion Regulation; here are some approaches to practice.

1)In some ways you could understand the progression from auto-pilot mind to greater stability and equanimity of mind by observing your own path in the sequence noted below. Your progress is 100% dependent upon the regularity and duration of your meditation practice, and your own preferences regarding which practices produce less resistance and more motivation in daily practice. Therefore, sitting or walking mediation, yoga, tai chi, and qi gong are all worthwhile practices in mind training.

Intention leads to:

Practicing Attention on an object – breath,etc
Reorienting Attention Back to the Object as the Mind Moves Away Over and Over Again
(Dogen’s comments – this itself is realization
Eventually Settling Down so You Can Better Focus YOUR Attention
Concentration Skills Improve as You Do/Become Daily Regular Practice
Eventually Single-Pointed Concentration Develops
Now Mindfulness Comes Out of Your Regular Practice
Mindfulness Practice Improves Your Awareness – First in Practice, Then in Daily Life
Dramatically Improved Awareness is Now Your Norm in Both Formal Practice and Informal Practice
You Have Arrived at the First Building Blocks of Practice, perhaps of Enlightenment

2) Some formats for practice attention:
• Counting breaths on the exhalation up to ten – start over if necessary
• Imagine images of the numbers as you count them 1 to 10
• When you count be sure to continue the internal speech all the way to the end of the exhalation – prevents other thoughts from distracting your attention
• With or without counting (whichever works best for you), focus your attention as your breath passes in/out of the nostrils
• Then move your attention to your chest as it moves with the breath
• Then move your attention to the lower abdomen as it moves with the breath
• Simply be with the sensation of the moving breath
• Select one location and practice with that for a while

Each step above adds aspects of the attentional training to your practice.

3) Once you have discovered which approach works best for YOU, practice that one method for a few weeks. You may also experiment with other practices/skills as you move through the skills training process.

4) As you continue your practice, be gentle but sure to extend the time duration – AND be sure to do some practice every day. no self-criticism!!

By Anthony R. Quintiliani, Ph.D., LADC

Author of Mindful Happiness

CLICK HERE to Order!

July 2, 2014 By Admin

Breathing Meditation Practices

From The Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation, Monkton, Vermont

– Five Breathing and Meditation Practices –

Attention and concentration on the breath are common practices to attune meditation capacity. We use the breath as an object of attention in our mind training. The better your quality of attention and concentration, the better your meditation flow. In an earlier post, I provided instructions on using breath as an object of attention in pacifying the mind.
Today I will provide brief practice instructions for four other breath meditations. These brief instructions are meant only as introductory formats.

Caution: Although it is rare, some people may become anxious when trying to do breath practices. The anxiety may have many sources: vagus nerve issues, inattention due to digital addictions, a serious anxiety disorder, unresolved traumatic experience involving breaths of submission (in limbic hippocampus memory), etc. If at any time in practicing these breathing techniques you experience strong discomfort, please STOP the practice. Be aware that even though breath re-training can be highly effective in calming a dysregulated nervous system, it is not a substitute for prescribed medical or psychological treatment you may be receiving. However, breath training may be highly compatible with such treatment. Collaborate with your healthcare provider for advice here.

1) Mindful Awareness of Your Breath As It Is

Sit in a comfortable position, either lotus style or in a straight back chair, or use a stool to sit on with your knees on a meditation mat. Keep your back and head straight, ears level with shoulders, eyes slightly open and downward in direction, and the tip of the nose lined up with your navel (Dogen’s way). Just allow your awareness to be set on the in and out movement of your breath. Do not in any way control how your are breathing. Simply allow your breath to breathe you – paying mindful attention to its flow. When your attention moves off the breath, gently return your attention back to your breath. If possible continue for at least 10-20 minutes. If your attention moves off the breath, use self-compassion to carry it back the breath. Be kind.

2) Counting the Breaths

Since mental activity (thoughts in the past or future – or even in the present) is often a common distraction in meditation practice, it may be helpful to count to ten for ten breaths. Sit comfortably in a meditative posture. On the first breath say “one” to yourself on the exhalation; this is subvocal self-talk. Make the sound of “one” in your mind last all the way to the end of the out-breath. Then begin with the next breath – saying “two” on the exhalation and holding the thought all the way to the end of the out-breath. Do this all the way up to ten for ten breaths. When you reach “ten” simply begin again with “one.” If your mind wonders off the breath before you reach ten, or you catch yourself beyond the count of ten, begin again with “one.” You may want to make an mage of the number you are saying to yourself. In this way both cognitive/verbal and visual parts of the brain are active – helping you to meditate. If your mind continues to wonder off, say the number, make an image of the number, and FEEL the flow of the breath on exhalation. If possible continue for at least 10-20 minutes. If you have difficulty, be kind and considerate to yourself – and continue!

3) Variation on Square Breathing

Sit comfortably in a good meditation posture. Begin with a couple full, deep, cleansing breaths. Then bring full concentration to how your heart and belly feel when you breath slowly and deeply. On the first full in-breath pay attention to the right side (downward) of your torso from just below the heart area down to the hara (deep belly about 2 inches below the navel and about 2 inches in). On the first out-breath pay close attention to how it feels when your attention moves (left) across the hare. On the next in-breath notice how it feels when you pay attention to it moving (upward) from the hare and up the left side of the torso to the heart area, and on the next out-breaths simply pay attention to the moving breath as you pay attention to it moving right just below the heart area. A square has been made. If possible practice for at least 10-20 minutes.

4) Gap Breathing Practice

Sit in meditative posture and take a couple full, deep, slow breaths. Now pay complete attention to the noticed GAP between the in and out breath, and between the out and in breath. Yes, there is a slight gap in time when you are not breathing. Do not worry, this gap is natural. It is simply part of our slower, deeper breathing process. Pay attention ONLY to the gap between the in/out and out/in breaths. If you can do this, go psychologically deeper into the gap. It may be bottomless! If you have problems with attention here, make an image on a gigantic, beautiful, far-away valley and pretend that your gap is in that deep, distant valley. Continue to pay full attention only to the gap between your breaths. If you have difficult, gently and self-compassionately bring your attention back to the gap and nothing else. If possible practice for at least 10-2- minutes.

Practice these four breathing meditation, and if you like one best – do that one for the fifth. Good luck on your journey.

Anthony R. Quintiliani, Ph.D., LADC

Author of Mindful Happiness

CLICK HERE to Order!

June 13, 2014 By Admin

Advanced Meditation On Perception

Mindfulness Training

From The Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation in Monkton,Vermont

The Problem: Many people become stuck in the suffering of their past, and they continue to re-experience an event in the futile hope to better understand it, or to find an escape from it. Many of the same people become fixated fearfully on the future, perhaps expecting similar forms of personal suffering and pain. From Freudian “mastery” to limbic system hard-wired processes, being stuck in the past and apprehensive about the future prevents us from being in the present moment – thus limiting the power that mindfulness may possess to truly help us NOW.

Practice being in the present moment only.

One approach to practice that may be quite helpful is presented by Bhante Gunaratana. His 2014 book Meditation on Perceptions: Ten Healing Practices to Cultivate Mindfulness offers some important help.

From the Four Noble Truths and other sources we learn that the primary sources of suffering and pain are personal cravings for self-centered desires and the fact that everything always changes. Root causes for craving are ignorance and delusion about the “way things are” as well as lack of cognitive understanding about impermanence, selflessness, dependent arising, and emptiness. We humans require a lot of mind training and wisdom about our reality and our happiness.

We will improve our status and may even attain true happiness by recognition of root sensations as the foundations of emotions – mindfulness in body, mind, sensory perception, and objects of mind.

The Girimananda Sutta offers special mind training on samatha concentration (tranquility, calm abiding), contemplation, and vipassana (“special seeing” via insight and awareness of ultimate reality) meditations. The “ten healing practices” include meditation on perceptions of impermanence, selflessness, impurities, change, abandoning, dispassion, cessation, non-delight, pure breath, and bodily feelings (includes perception, thought, and consciousness).

Let’s begin to practice. Select one of the ten healing practices, learn about it, and make it your mind’s object of attention and awareness. The seven instructions below may be used with all ten healing practices – or the perception meditations on them. Practice regularly.

Practice in a quiet place so that you can build up meditation on perceptions without being disturbed or distracted. When your mind wonders simply and gently bring it back to the healing practice you are meditating on.

Adopt a stable and comfortable posture so your body will be relaxed while meditating. You may sit on a meditation cushion, use a bench, a chair, or even do the meditation while standing, walking or lying down.

Bring full attention to the present moment – NOT to the past (it is gone) or to the future (not yet here). Your meditative power is in the present moment only. Use it well. Presence is sacredness.

Fully focus the mind on the coming and going of your breath – just pay attention in complete awareness.

Expand your awareness of your own breath – coming, going, in, out, long, short, at the nose, in the chest, in the hara, etc.

Be gentle with yourself and your practice. Do it on a regular basis – daily is best!

Remain flexible and positive in your meditative presence.

Time to begin for as long as you wish to practice. Select one of the ten healing perceptions and meditate on it with complete awareness for as long as you wish to practice.

Anthony R. Quintiliani, Ph.D. LADC

Author of Mindful Happiness

CLICK HERE to Order!

April 11, 2014 By Admin

Basic Practice for Pacifying Your Mind

-Steps to Mind Training

Anthony R. Quintiliani, Ph.D., LADC

To pacify your mind you need to train your mind. Mind training leads to liberation from brain-mind-heart-body automatic processes and reactions. A well-trained mind allows you to utilize executive functions (attention and concentration) to alter auto-reactions of the brain, body and heart. A trained mind liberates you from unhelpful thoughts, emotions and behaviors via reduced attachment, craving and clinging. A trained mind liberates you! Often this liberation appears as both the dearth of cognition and the expansion of experiential awareness.

As you practice mind training, you may notice improved attention and concentration skills. These important skills allow you to have improved personal control over cognition, affect, behavior as well as sensory processing (visual, auditory, kinesthetic, olfactory and gustatory) in the present moment. Prolonged mind training enables you to better deal with such CABS-VAKGO experiences in your past and in your future. So often humans are stuck in the pain or longing from the past as well as fear/anxiety about the future. A very basic way to begin mind training is to practice breath meditation (or meditation on a selected object of mind). Let’s begin with a basic breath meditation – meditating on your breath.

Basic Steps

1) Sit in a dignified meditation posture, loosen your jaw and relax other body muscles, and begin to breathe gently in slower, calmer, deeper fashion. Do not force your breath; simply allow your intention to focus on a relaxed breath to guide you. It is rare that this form of breathing causes anxiety. However, if it does for you, you may need to find another breathing practice to do. Or you may breathe in a way that does not cause anxiety for you.

2) On each exhalation count one via your private speech. Hold your inner speech all the way to the end of the exhalation. This will reduce the possibility of other thoughts distracting you from attending to your breath. Count all the way to ten exhalations, then begin at one again. If you lose count, simply begin at one again. If you find yourself counting beyond ten, simply begin at one again. If you have difficulty doing this, you can visually imagine the number you are saying. Tracking the breath is a very common way to begin basic mind training in meditation.

3) Pay close attention to the nature of your mind. You may notice that you experience “monkey mind,” in which your thoughts just keep on coming into awareness – thus blocking you from improved attention and concentration. You may wish to practice simply observing your thoughts and letting them go. Each time bring your attention back to your breath and your counting. Be very gentle with yourself; this is not so easy to do. Use your mind-intention to remain focused on your exhalations and counting.

4) Each time you become aware of your brain’s autopilot taking over your mind, simply bring attention back to the breath and counting. Be gentle! Simply note and let go of your thoughts and allow your MIND to focus attention on your breath and counting. Becoming aware that you DO have some control over what you think may be an important discovery for some.

5) Continue this basic practice for as long as you can, but do not do it beyond your kind heartedness. If continuing this practice makes you upset or aggressive with yourself, stop and begin again at another time. Remain interested, self-compassionate and kind in this process.

6) You may note some small gratification that you were able to use your mind to counteract auto processes of the brain, heart and body. Try not to become attached to your success. Just practice more.

Anthony R. Quintiliani, Ph.D., LADC

Author of Mindful Happiness

CLICK HERE to Order!

March 18, 2014 By Admin

Mindful Happiness –

Wind Ridge Press NEW Publication!

Author Anthony Quintiliani, a licensed psychologist with more than 35 years professional clinical experience, casts a wide net into the personal, clinical, and societal causes of prolonged human suffering and unhappiness in his book Mindful Happiness. The book’s guided interventions are aimed at helping to relieve depression, anxiety, traumatic reactivity, and addictions – together, these conditions make up the bulk of human suffering due to mental health issues. Mindful Happiness also presents psychological interventions that reduce emotion dysregulation due to chronic and acute medical conditions. Readers that wish for help in overcoming the debilitating psychological effects of these conditions will want to read and follow the prescriptions in this book. The first few chapters are designed for self-care and emotion regulation skill building – skills that may lead readers to happier and more equanimous lives. The last two chapters contain more advanced clinical interventions, all of which are evidence-based, and are best carried out by a healthcare professional with at least a Master’s Degree level of licensure. Overall, skill building is cognitive, behavioral and mindfulness-based – all focused on improving emotion regulation and reducing/ending self-medication as short-term relief from suffering. If you wish to improve your mood, reduce your anxiety or emotional reactivity, and conquer your addictions, you’ll want to read this book soon. Follow and practice its guided interventions and you’ll discover a path to becoming a calmer, more mindful, and happier person.

Anthony R. Quintiliani, Ph.D., LADC, has over 35 years of professional experience in schools, community clinics, and higher education. He is a licensed psychologist, with specialties in clinical health psychology, mindfulness, meditation, clinical training, and supervision. He has taught at The Ohio State University, The University of Vermont, Southern New Hampshire University, and Saint Michael’s College. He has consulted with schools as well as regional and national corporations for more than 25 years.

To order your copy for only $15.95 Please head to Wind Ridge Books by Clicking the link below.

http://windridgebooksofvt.com/product/mindful-happiness/

Our Publisher: Holly Johnson lives in Vermont with her three children, five horses, two dogs, and three cats. Pictured here is her bulldog and Wind Ridge’s mascot, Stella Luna.

Charitable Partnerships: Since 2012, Wind Ridge Books of Vermont has committed 10 percent of its net earnings from the sale of its books to a non-profit organization of the authors’ choosing; in addition, some authors have pledged their royalties from the sale of the book to this charity too. With Wind Ridge Books in hand, the publisher and authors join in a powerful partnership to increase the fundraising potential from the sale of each book, and spread our ability to do a world of good through good reading.