Mindfulness Meditation: Practice the Present Moment

What is Mindfulness Meditation?

Mindfulness meditation is a simple technique of consciously placing the mind on sensation of our ordinary breath.  

This practice is about the mind, we use our breath as a tool because it is both portable and present. As long as you are doing the technique and coming back to the practice, you are doing it. So anybody can do it!

Your Practice will Take Practice.

Mindfulness meditation is a practice of awakening, not zoning out.  

We practice being fully awake while we meditate, being aware of everything that arises in the present moment. Within our practice we simply notice what comes up without attaching ourselves to these thoughts, we allow them to surface and we allow them to pass. 

Mindfulness meditation is practice for life.  When things get difficult, your practice is always there for you. We can always return to the breath in complicated times. 

Though simple, it is not always easy. 

When we begin to practice, it does not feel natural to sit quietly and only focus on one thing. The practice requires both your focused attention and also a commitment to yourself. Yet, it is so simple that when your thoughts do happen to drift away (as happens to everyone for we are all human), all you have to do is invite yourself back to your focus on the breath. It is a kindhearted practice that provides a safe place to land, again and again. Even better, by engaging with the breath in this way, you are giving yourself a gift that will continue to grant benefits. 

Your Life Will Change.

The benefits of a consistent meditation practice include more stability, clarity and strength. 

Meditation helps us in multiple ways we may not realize at first, but as we move through our days: 

• We are less reactive.
• More thoughtful
• More patient
• More aligned

This becomes evident when we encounter difficult or challenging times. Our practice helps us root ourselves to the present moment so that we can navigate difficult terrain with more ease.  Meditation is like a gathering together; this is why it is the perfect anecdote to our daily life where we feel often scattered because we try to do so many things. 

As many wise teachers before me have said, “we don’t meditate to become good at meditating, we meditate to become good at life.”

Essentially, meditation helps to widen the gap between stimulus and response so we have fewer knee jerk reactions. I’ve found that as a parent, a wife, as a human being...this is a game changer. 

It’s being able to be aware enough that you can “catch yourself” and choose your response mindfully not reactively. This has made a big difference for me when I am tuned in. 

In the space where we pause, we create more possibilities to choose how we want to be, how we want to show up for ourselves and for the people in our life, and even how we want to show up in the world

Much like we might lift weights or exercise to strengthen our bodies, we practice mindfulness meditation to strengthen our minds.

We get familiar with not only our mind but also our whole body. The breath is our home base and the connection between the mind and body.

Set up the practice with a sense of clarity & purpose, then it will become a refuge. (not an escape) It’s making friends with yourself, an invite to live fully in each moment 

Learn the Technique.

Don’t get caught up in the experience of the practice, just do the technique, and the results come after. 

Take your seat, get settled, and grounded. 

Remember to find a seat that is “workable” for you. By this I mean comfortable to hold for a few moments of time and that will allow you to focus on your breath not any discomfort. 

Place your attention on the sensation of breath moving through the edges of your nostrils.

The steps of the technique:

1. Placement (focus your mind on the sensation of breath)
2. Recognition (an awakening to drifting thought- “Oops. I’m thinking my ‘to-do’ list!”)
3. Replacement (return to your focus, come back to the breath)

To begin a daily or weekly practice, it is helpful to establish a motivation (like journaling before your practice.) Take 3 minutes, write without stopping, and remember there are no right or wrong answers just your thoughts. As an initial prompt, I suggest considering why you want to establish a meditation practice in your life. What is your motivation?  

Allow your answers to serve as your reminder. Naming your motivation and how you’d like to expand and awaken to your own daily life is just the thing to bring you back to your practice.

Let’s practice!

I’ve recorded a guided, short 5 minute practice which provides a brief overview and invites you to meditate along with me. 

Could you use more awaking to the present moment in your life? We could all use a little more grounding!

I invite you to learn about my Online Yoga and Meditation Membership if you enjoy learning about this practice. 

Contact me to learn more.

What is Wind Down Yoga?

Before I launched my Online Yoga and Meditation Membership over the pandemic, I spent time considering my program structure. I knew my own daily life experience of “sheltering in place” was isolating, stressful, and similar to many others.

As part of my membership, I wanted to include a physical modality to help students navigate the internal tension building in their bodies as the days passed.

Everything was happening at home, and so much of it was online. Isolating while sick, working, “attending” school, shopping, visiting with extended family, animal caretaking, and childrearing were all coming together in a big overwhelming heap! Beyond this, those who contracted the illness and first responders found themselves facing even more unknowns.

To counteract this stress, I decided to offer two weekly yoga classes in my membership. One to invigorate and strengthen and another that offers restorative modalities.

I created my Wind Down Yoga class to provide this restorative practice. It offers an escape into calm…  A practice to help shift us out of high-stress mode and into a deeply restful state.

My midweek offering, a late evening class occurs at the tail end of a stressful time in many homes. Most of my students found themselves at their limit by this time of day and were ready to call it quits.

I developed an overall softer practice to help us slough off the remnants of our day and consciously transition into stillness. My Wind Down Yoga classes can be utilized any time of day, but it is intended to be a practice that prepares you to sleep.

Sometimes I include gentle stretching, In other classes, we practice Yin Yoga sequences, and once in a while, I lead a Restorative Yoga class, a practice spelled with a capital R. It’s often a blend of all three yoga modalities.

When planning, I tend to “go with the flow,” and take into account the season, consider what’s going on in the world, check my mood, and then choose a practice to embrace and balance that energy.

The Wind Down Yoga class falls in the category of what yoga teachers call restorative “with a lowercase r.”

Since not all of you are familiar with these restorative (with a lowercase r) yoga terms, and they are a touch confusing, I will clarify how I define restorative modalities. 

• Restorative Yoga (with a capital R): A mostly still practice where we utilize supports and props like bolsters, blankets, pillows, blocks, and straps to rest our body. This is not about stretching. It’s about arranging the body in a way that feels super supportive and cozy so that you can completely release the weight of your body and fully rest.
• Yin Yoga: A series of long held, passive postures that are often centered around a physical part of the body or energy line. Yin Yoga postures are held for several minutes to create a slow, steady load to gently stretch connective tissue in the body.
• Yoga Nidra: Often called “yogic sleep,” Yoga Nidra is simply guided relaxation. It requires no movement at all, you create a comfortable, supported place to rest and journey inward. Some find this guided practice more restful than taking a nap!

I invite you to find out what it is all about. Take a peek at a class and join in.

I’ve created this special, recorded Wind Down Yoga class to demonstrate my weekly practice. 

It’ll help ground you in the “now” and find some quiet.

Find the details about my Online Yoga and Meditation Membership and connect with me if you have questions.

If this already sounds like a community you are ready to join, you can register here.

We’d love to practice with you!