Posts tagged with 'relaxation'
Breathing
15th June 2022
"As you breathe in, cherish yourself. As you breathe out, cherish all beings." Dalai Lama "When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive, to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love." Marcus Aurelius I'm a member of a Book Group. We …
Balanced meditation practice: an overview
22nd May 2017
Taking our attention inwards can be done helpfully in so many ways. We can relax; we can be mindfully aware; we can use visualisations; we can deeply savour present time experience; we can process difficulties from our pasts or prepare ourselves for challenges in the future. There are so many …
Mindful self-compassion: affectionate breathing meditation
18th May 2017
I'm just back from a five day Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) retreat in Iceland with Chris Germer & Christine Brahler. MSC teaches a whole host of meditation practices, with three underlined as core meditations. These three are Affectionate Breathing, Loving-Kindness for Ourselves, and Giving & Receiving Compassion. In this post I …
Kidney donation: preoperative preparation & facing challenges generally - aspects of self-compassion
29th January 2017
I've woken early. Lying here I feel an unfamiliar hollow pressure in my gut. What is this? Fear? Anxiety? Tension? "Tense apprehension" seems to fit. I'm lying here in the early hours of the morning, a hollow tense apprehension in my belly. And it isn't surprising. Pretty normal in fact …
Kidney donation: preoperative preparation & facing challenges generally - goals and journey
28th January 2017
I'm due to donate a kidney soon, and I have been writing about what's involved - see "Kidney donation: why it's well worth considering", "Kidney donation: what are the risks?" and "Kidney donation: preoperative preparation & facing challenges generally - values are central". Primarily these posts are for other donors, …
Headache & migraine: new NICE guideline
20th November 2012
In September, the National Institute for Health & Clinical Evidence (NICE) published a guideline offering "evidence-based advice on the diagnosis and management of tension-type headache, migraine (including migraine with aura and menstrual-related migraine), cluster headache and medication overuse headache in young people (aged 12 years and older) and adults." The …
Personal directions in mindfulness teaching: should we really only be training mindfulness for diverse group populations?
6th July 2012
I wrote an initial blog post in May entitled "Personal directions in mindfulness teaching: an overview" where I said that I was "excited, stimulated, happy, frustrated, challenged, and hopeful" about the current surge of interest in mindfulness and introduced the following diagram: (This diagram is downloadable both as a PDF …
Personal directions in mindfulness teaching: an overview
27th May 2012
I have been meditating regularly for over forty years and teaching for over thirty. I think the recent surge of interest and research on mindfulness is hugely exciting. I remember in 1998 hearing John Teasdale give a ground-breaking lecture on "Mindfulness training in treatment and prevention" at the British Association …
Using Williams & Penman's book "Mindfulness: a practical guide" as a self-help resource (6th post) - fourth week's practice
19th January 2012
Last week I wrote about chapter seven of Mark & Danny's book. This post is about chapter eight - the fourth week of actual meditation practice - entitled "Moving beyond the rumour mill" (pp. 134 to 158). In their week-by-week overall summary of the whole programme (pp. 58 to 60), …
Using Williams & Penman's book "Mindfulness: a practical guide" as a self-help resource (5th post) - third week's practice
12th January 2012
I wrote recently on "Using Williams & Penman's book ... as a self-help resource (4th post) - second week's practice". Today's post looks at the third week's practice described in chapter seven "The mouse in the maze". The authors state "Week three builds on the previous sessions with some non-strenuous …