Meditation Archives - Page 22 of 22

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.

Helper Self-Care is Important In the most current issue of The National Psychologist (July-August, 2019) an article linked helper effectiveness, risk management, and clinical outcomes to helper self-care. To make a long story shorter, I will simply paraphrase and re-word the suggestions. These recommendations support YOUR emotional survival and successful risk management as a helper as […]

Poem on Nature – Haiku-Like As I sat peacefully by the westward window of my sunroom at my retreat center, I noticed! I noticed the restless, natural movement of a tormented sky trying to calm itself. Here is my poem. “The Sky, the Lake and the Mountains” Sitting at our home, alone – […]

Meditation on the Feeling of Letting Go – Pacification! Pacifying the mind is a desired outcome of regular, stable meditation practice. Pacification may be done via meditating on the breath, general mindfulness awareness, vipassana, and various other forms of meditation. However, the wise mind skill of “letting go” of unhelpful, negative, and harmful thoughts and […]

An Advanced View on Meditations on Emptiness An earlier post on the Dalai Lama’s book, Meditations on the Nature of Mind, ended with suggested meditations (my own personal contemplation’s) about emptiness. I will first review those contemplations. Contemplate deeply on what emptiness means personally to you. Contemplate about a time when you received a glimpse of personal emptiness. […]

Tonglen Meditation or Giving and Taking I have added various posts about many compassion practice. Earlier posts have covered a range of practices – from super-easy to more demanding. Here, I will add a more advanced practice. This Tibetan compassion meditation practice has been taught often in the Vajrayana school of Buddhism. In my opinion […]

Mindfulness and Concentration – Experience Differences In this post I will explain some basic differences between mindfulness and concentration, both of which are required for effective meditation practice. This will be the first of three posts dealing with what mindfulness and concentration are, how to experience them briefly in a body-based activity, and how to […]

Intervention Skills to Calm Your Anxiety It is estimated that approximately 40,000,000 American suffer from an anxiety disorders, especially generalize anxiety and panic disorder. Sometimes general “talk therapy” fails to help improve your condition; you may need cognitive-behavioral therapy with research-based mindfulness skills or dialectical behavior therapy. CBT, MBSR, ACT and DBT are the evidence-based, […]

Meditation Guide to Getting Started Since just sitting in basic (mindfulness or vipassana) meditation is such an important practice on your way to emotional regulation – and possibly and eventually to Enlightenment – I decided to offer a quick review of this skilled practice. Practice every day! 1) Sit comfortably with your back softly errect […]

Relapse Prevention Plans – The Basics T. T. Gorski, Anthony R. Quintiliani, Ph.D., LADC The following information about how to develop effective relapse prevention plans has been paraphrased from the Work of Terrence T. Gorski. It is highly practical and a concrete way to develop your skills in relapse prevention interventions. Intermediate (Marlatt and Gordon) […]

The Reality of Experience What is deep mindfulness? Deep mindfulness is the concentrated awareness of all experiences, preferably without evaluating as pleasant or unpleasant. Deep mindfulness is pure awareness as it becomes part of personal consciousness. We humans, however, are always evaluating our experiences and phenomena as pleasant, neutral, or unpleasant – often getting hooked […]

Using Lectio Divina to Enhance Your Happiness Lectio Divina is an ancient Christian (Benedictine) meditation; it is a form of meditative prayer called “sacred seeing.” We will use a modified version of the process here. Follow the steps noted below. Sit quietly in meditative form, calmly abiding yourself here now. After a […]

Are You Happier Yet? Use Practical Mindfulness Skills Two recent books offer sound advice about YOU becoming a happier person. L. Cypers Kamen (2017) Are You Happy Yet: Eight Keys to Unlocking a Joyful Life. New York: MFJ Books and D. Altman (2016) Cleansing Emotional Clutter… New York: MFJ Books offer practical ways to improve your personal level of happiness. […]

Meditation for Managers and Helpers Let’s Talk – Contact Me – Click Here I am a Licensed Psychologist-Doctorate and a Licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselor with 35 years of clinical experience in community clinics, schools, professional organizations, and universities (OSU, UVM, etc.). I have been the past Clinical Director of Howard Center, and Past President […]

“Ignorance” of Requirements Could End Your Clinical Career Recently various insurance, Medicaid, and Medicare fraud cases have been in the national headlines. Although these fraud cases grab headlines, the truth is that many clinically licensed helpers still do not understand clinical/legal documentation requirements. In Buddhism, “ignorance” gets in our way; we never approach true liberation […]

More on Yoga Nidra Yoga nidra is sometimes called yoga sleep or yoga relaxation. It is a very powerful mindfulness technique that allows one to relax the body and limbic brain area, while holding mental control for deeper relaxation and projective practices without falling asleep. For some it may be like lucid dreaming, but a […]

Polyvagal Interventions for Anxiety S. Porges and his Polyvagal Theory may provide innovative interventions for both anxiety and depression. Many people become trapped in ruminating about the past or worrying about the future; they cannot seem to keep their mind and body in the present moment. Some strong, fear-based, bodily defenses may not respond well to […]

How to be Happier in a Relatively Unhappy World In today’s fast-paced, digitized, unstable world – with it uncertainty, childish tweets from on-high, and general dissatisfaction with things as they are – how may one become a happier person. It is clear that isolation will not work; it is clear that aggressive actions in opposition […]

Showing Deep Love & Respect Loved Ones Lost This is a very brief post about love and respect for “lost loved ones” – those special people who have left their human body and mind behind. Two Rituals 1) Loving Kindness Meditation for Lost Loved Ones After breathing slowly and deeply for a few minutes in silence, […]

Risks and Solutions for Compassion Fatigue Perhaps nothing more than compassion fatigue causes more helpers to prematurely exit their fields. First responders are generally seen as the most at risk for compassion fatigue (and possibly PTSD), followed by emergency room medical staff. A third group, medical and clinical staff working with high risk terminally-prone patients is […]

Using Creativity in Clinical Supervision Effective clinical supervision is a combination of hearable direction about clinical practice, gentle-direct leadership, clinical “Know-How,” evidence-based skills, complex psychodynamics, and the willingness to work with others on their developmental processes. There are risks involved. I have provided clinical supervision and consultation to other clinicians for 43 years without a […]