Overcoming Obstacles That Keep Us From Meditating Essay

<p align=justify>In addition, meditation helps one understand various concepts of Buddhism. For instance, meditating on impermanence, such as decomposing bodies, helps dislodge attachment of worldly pleasures and show how everything is impermanent. The two types, “Vipassana” and “Samatha”, both teach the Buddhist how they should behave and in what state of mind. For example, Samatha teaches the Buddhist to detach from everyday concerns and concentrate on being impermanent. Vipassana teaches that everything is attached and interconnected in the world.

This paper is about my experience with mindfulness based meditation and scientific inquiry of these experiences. Mindfulness based meditation is describes as technique used to cultivate nonreactive, non-judgmental and stable awareness of the present moment (Garland and Gaylord, 2009). The end goal is to sustain this meta-cognitive state for a long period of time. I practiced non-denominational form of mindfulness based meditation for the first time in my psychology class, which was devoted towards intellectual and experiential examination of meditation. The practice was conducted in a group it was instructed by our own professor and it begun at the end of class. There was one sessions per week and each session was structured meaning it was

As I looked to my right and left, I noticed the veterans of meditating could easily be spotted by their perfect posture and quiet, content, stiffness. To see each person in their own position was amusing. Most had their legs in front of themselves, crossed and slightly below their hips. Their gaze was typically a few feet in front of their eyes. Some had their eyes closed and some were simply staring. One woman to my right was sitting with her arms resting on her bent legs, a unique approach. Her old age and heavy weight prevented her from sitting any other way. Another middle aged man was sitting on his heels with a tiny wooden bench under him. Each person, based upon their size and flexibility, found their own position to stay in.

Mindfulness is another way of meditation. Meditation was used to seek to improve one’s psychological or physical health, or spiritual growth. (Brantley, 2007). The history of Mindfulness comes from Buddhism and his search for enlightenment and a foundation of the four noble truths. The Buddha teaching focus on the four noble truths which consist of knowing suffering exists, there is a cause of suffering, there is cessation of suffering and there is a path that leads to the cessation of suffering. (Van Gordon, 2015). The four noble truths were not only there to represent the Buddha’s experiential understanding of suffering, but also to express the truth (Van Gordon, 2015). Studies of Buddhism and the Four Noble Truths teach us that there is always going to be suffering in our life but to find ways to overcome suffering (Tsering, 2005).

Yes I have once brought meditation in my life when I was in high school. I think I need to bring it back to my life now because it has been so stressful and

Recommend Article Article Comments Print Article Share this article on Facebook Share this article on Twitter Share this article on Google+ Share this article on Linkedin Share this article on StumbleUpon Share this article on Delicious Share this article on Digg Share this article on Reddit Share this article on Pinterest

In the initial stages of meditating, if your client or colleague has a very active mind, they can spend a couple of minutes at the outset writing down all the things they want to remember after meditating on the back of the sheet. This is one way to assist an overly active mind to let go of having to stay in control as it knows they will get back to the 'important stuff'

Recommend Article Article Comments Print Article Share this article on Facebook Share this article on Twitter Share this article on Google+ Share this article on Linkedin Share this article on StumbleUpon Share this article on Delicious Share this article on Digg Share this article on Reddit Share this article on Pinterest

Meditation is something that, prior to this semester, I had never experienced. I wanted to incorporate it into my self-care plan because I struggle with stress management and pessimism. Negative thoughts and feelings will sometimes get the best of me; meditation seemed like a good habit to create in order to control and manage my stress and cynicism. Meditation was difficult at first, but the more I practiced it the easier it became. It assisted me in processing my feelings and thoughts, more importantly it led me to insights about myself. It helped me to understand how I function and areas where I need to improve. For example, I never processed my fear surrounding death; meditation assisted me in recognizing that my fear stems not from my facing my own mortality, but rather from the prospect of losing my son or husband. Nothing scares me more than losing them in any form, and death is a form of loss. Meditation also assisted me in recognizing areas where I have improved, but previously did not observe (e.g. my view of alcoholism has drastically changed and for the better). Finally, meditation helped me to process some extremely intense negative emotions unrelated to the course (having learned to meditate could not have happened at a more necessary time). Meditation was by far the most useful self-care activity for me; it is one habit I plan to cultivate and utilize throughout my

She told me she was more aware of the suffering of others .. both human and non-human living beings. And along with this inner feeling, Observing her more it became obvious that she is more generous with mine and her time. Usually what people learn during the study of Buddhism and meditation is breaking a habit. After a 18-year habit of food addiction.. Edita quit cold turkey. When you meditate you are having a conversation with yourself. It opens the experience and you are able to relax and talk with yourself.

“Meditation is a means of transforming the mind” (The Buddhist Centre 2015). Buddhists practice and teach meditation to help enhance the concentration, clarity, positivity, and find a calming sense of the mind (The Buddhist Centre 2015). Buddhists believe that we have full control and power over our minds meaning that we have the power to change how we think and feel during situations through meditation. (ReligionFacts 2015). Buddhist’s believe dedicated meditation can encourage people to have a clearer, more positive, and peaceful world view. Buddhist’s believe people can alter negative perceptions of themselves and turn it into something positive through meditation/ (The Buddhist Centre 2015).

The second stated “long-term meditators would show superior performance to short-term meditators”. And the third stated “concentrative meditators would be more subject to expectancy effects…mindfulness meditators would show superior performance relative to concentrative meditators when the stimulus was unexpected” (Valentine & Sweet, 1999, p. 63). Using the Wilkins’ Counting Test (a measure of sustained focused attention) the control group was placed in a classroom to perform the test while the meditation groups were tested post meditation sessions in a separate room. The test was comprised of a series of tones which each group was asked to count (the meditation groups were told there would be three rather than two sets). The results confirmed the three hypotheses, overall concurring the use of meditation leads to improved concentration with little difference between concentrative and mindfulness meditation (Valentine & Sweets, 1999).

The most important thing to remember is to find what works for your family. Every family is different and sometimes it takes a few tries to break bad habits and welcome new positive ones. The first time you introduce meditation might have your kids jumping from the bunk beds after 45 seconds or if your husband is anything like mine... freaking out when you present him with his first green smoothie, maybe your wife isn’t super keen on the idea of drinking bone broth? That’s all ok because it’s about making it work for you and your family.

In conclusion, while transcendental meditation appears to benefit some practitioners, the presence of conflicting research and data causes me to question the validity of the practice. I believe the presence of negative data has caused the movement to die down in recent years. While transcendental meditation might not be the next endeavor that I pursue on my own spiritual journey, the insight that I have gained during this class gives me hope for other possible spiritual practices in the

Mindfulness meditation consists of skills and methods to unplug from the busy world around you and from the busy 'monkey brain ' so often experienced in today 's life and particularly in ADHD, anxiety and depression. According to Jon Kabat-Zinn, mindfulness meditation trains and reinforces the ability to pay attention to the present moment, on purpose which helps to increase concentration, decrease anxiety, improve sleep, improve mood, decrease the stress response, and improve physical and emotional health. The studies are compelling about the health benefits of mindfulness meditation. In fact, studies show that mindfulness meditation actually changes the brain in positive ways. The cortex of the brain is thicker in certain areas of the brain in those who practice mindfulness meditation. And brainwave patterns are changed in healthy ways as well.