Mindfulness & Meditation
Ready to begin or expand your mindfulness and meditation practices?
Have you been feeling...
- Stressed, overwhelmed and difficulty relaxing?
- Lack of energy or desire to do what you used to enjoy?
- Constant worry about the future?
- Like you can use a booster between therapy sessions?
- Or, it could be that you’re struggling with an inability to orgasm or compulsive masturbation.
- Insufficient time and money for therapy?
- Curiosity about mindfulness and meditation, but don’t know how to begin?
You can have peace and clarity
For many of us, at some point in time, whether triggered by an event or just a sudden awakening, we realize that we are living life in survival mode. We manage to get by and make things look good, often great, from the outside. But then we’re hit by those moments when we feel like everything is caving in on us – work is exhausting, relationships lose passion. We hide it beautifully, but it doesn’t feel good on the inside. Our mindfulness sessions can give you tools and techniques to get off the hamster wheel and get feeling good again. With a little practice, your mind can be clear and life can be filled with joy and satisfaction.
Inviting our thoughts and feeling into awareness allows us to learn from them rather than be driven by them.
— Dan J. Siegel
Mindfulness = Intimacy With Life
Mindfulness is a pathway to intimacy with life. It helps us to see things more clearly – to know ourselves, know what we want, and access joy. In order to successfully change limiting patterns, we must first become conscious of them. We can overcome limiting patterns by turning towards them instead of turning away. We can learn to offer acceptance and compassion to ourselves, our experiences, and all who we meet.
Mindfulness and meditation can be a quick and effective way to step out of unhealthy mental patterns. If you are feeling anxious or worried, depressed or overwhelmed, just a few minutes can help restore inner peace. You can do it anytime, anywhere, and it requires very little skill to get started. Not only does it help you calm your mind and body in the moment, but research shows that 10 minutes of meditation can benefit you throughout the whole day.
We offer 45-minute mindfulness sessions and 60 Mindfulness-based Life Coaching sessions. In these sessions, you will learn mindfulness techniques for mental, emotional, and physical relaxation along with life application. No experience, no problem. If you’ve got more experience you are more than welcome to share any requests at the beginning of our session. We look forward to sharing this time with you!
Mindfulness and meditation come in a variety of flavors
You don’t need to know what you want when you sign up for a session. Each practitioner has a unique way of gently guiding you into a restful place. Below are a few of the styles offered.
Mindfulness – Mindfulness is simply a practice of becoming more aware. We often use an anchor point of the breath, sound or sensation. We gently observe thoughts, feelings and experiences and learn to accept and allow them just as they are. This can be done while seated, lying down, walking, or even while washing dishes. All of our practitioners can offer you a guided mindfulness session, each will have their own style.
Relax. Grow. Move.
Meditation – There are various forms of meditation and each varies in technique as a means to entering into a transcended state. Different styles include Vipassana, Transcendental, Zen, Mantra, Mala and more. To really dig in and experiment with various styles, Paul Pettit is your man.
Breathwork – We can make powerful changes in our mind and body just by learning to breathe differently. If you are new to meditation this is where the focus will be in the beginning. Breathwork is often done prior to other forms of meditation. There are also breathing practices that can be done for anywhere from 3-15 minutes. Your practitioner will offer you a few different patterns of breathing, which you can then practice on your own. All of our practitioners can offer you a breathwork session.
Yoga & Movement – If you like to move your body, Yoga is a lovely form of moving meditation. In a Yoga meditation session you’ll be led through very basic yoga poses while learning to be very attentive and intentional with the breath. You’ll practice attuning to your body, listening and responding to what it needs. This practice is offered by LuAnn.
Yoga Nidra – The translation of Yoga Nidra is “yogic sleep.” In this form of meditation you’ll lie down on a yoga mat or blanket and be guided through physical, mental and emotional relaxation. You’ll be able to learn the skill of engaging the relaxation response to practice on your own. This practice is offered by LuAnn.
Guided Imagery – Guided imagery (sometimes called guided meditation or visualization) is a gentle but powerful technique that focuses the imagination in proactive, positive ways. You’ll be guided into a visualization of a place of peace, creativity or other enlightening frameworks, depending on your intention. All of our practitioners can offer you a guided imagery session.
Book a pressure free mindfulness session today. You will thank yourself!
I am considering a mindfulness or meditation session, but I still have some questions.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MINDFULNESS AND MEDITATION?
While these words are often used interchangeably, there is a difference. Yet though go hand in hand in developing a quality of mind. John Kabat-Zinn, one of the most popular western writers on this topic defines mindfulness as “the awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally” (Kabat-Zinn, 1994). Whereas meditation is “…a practice where an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state” (Walsh and Shapiro, 2006).
I’VE TRIED MEDITATION BEFORE AND I WAS TERRIBLE AT IT.
I’d like to ask, what were you trying to achieve? If you decide to take a 10 minute walk outside and you take a 10 minute walk outside do you come back thinking you didn’t walk right? There is no success or failure in meditation. It’s just a little time with yourself. Yes, time with yourself can get a little uncomfortable, especially at first, but over time it’s really enlivening, de-stressing, and delightful. Please give yourself this chance to be ALIVE!
I’M NOT SURE WITH WHICH PRACTITIONER TO BOOK A MINDFULNESS SESSION.
You can read the practitioner bios to learn more about each practitioner and any specialties are noted in the list of styles of meditation above. Try out a few different practitioners if you’d like. And truthfully, stepping into the unknown can be quite a bit of fun. This is a low pressure, low cost experiment. But if you aren’t sure how to best meet your needs, schedule a free 15 minute phone consultation to ask any questions and learn more about our offerings.
Sources
*The Body Keeps the Score, Bessel Van Der Kolk, M.D. – p. 276
** The Influences of Diet and Exercise on Mental Health Through Hormesis https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3225189/
