Mindful Moments with Thai Mama

If you do the math, for you to be here today, there had to have been more than 4000 ancestors to stand before you. Enjoy this unique standing meditation designed to bring awareness to your connection to the past, where your ancestors have given you both gifts and burdens to carry.

Are you burdened by the memory of someone who has wronged you in the past, and continue to harbor negative feelings about them and perhaps their impact on your life? Thich Nhat Hanh said if in our heart, we still cling to anything- anger, anxiety, hurt, blame- we cannot be free. Forgiveness, like many other practices, develops its power in us through repetition. By repeating this powerful meditation, we can practice forgiveness many times, with often the same situation, unlocking a different dimension of understanding and acceptance. The understanding that comes with forgiveness is the true meaning of freedom- free to be fully present, without holding onto the past.

When I was first trying to understand what mindfulness was, I thought of it as being “behind my eyes.” When I got pulled into thinking, and not being in the present moment, imagining that I was behind my eyes helped me get back to the raw data and sensations of the moment.

Waiting is an unavoidable fact of life. When we are waiting, in traffic, at the DMV, or for our food to arrive, we often feel impatient and frustrated. Rather than training our bodies and minds to feel dissatisfaction in periods of waiting, try using these moments of waiting as mini-opportunities to practice mindfulness.

This practice comes from my training with trauma therapists and chaplains in hospice and bereavement work. In moments of high, anxiety or panic, the client is often encouraged to bring awareness to their feet. This simple, grounding practice help Cengage, the parasympathetic nervous system, responsible for coming to mind and body.

Moments of clarity and calm are as close as your next breath. Mindfulness of breathing is one of the oldest meditation practices, and because of it simplicity, this type of meditation is referred to as a serenity practice. Help keep your mind on your breath by taking away the worry of how long your practice might be going! The only requirement for this practice is your breath and access to a phone or kitchen timer!

The end of the day is an ideal time to pause, integrate abd reflect. Especially when we’re stressed, after a long day, using this time to come back to ourselves, to allow our bodies to settle, and to integrate the day’s events, positions us to counteract the stress that may have accumulated throughout the day. Tomorrow your mind will be fresh, and you may even have a new perspective.

Nothing compares with the experience of losing a loved one, whether a person or a pet. Here is a meditation to help you find equanimity amid some changes that occur within. The key is to be gently aware of the difficult feelings, or the numbness, rather than self judge, distract, or avoid- all typical reactions that invariably allow the discomfort to remain unresolved and ultimately create more pain.

Past episodes have delved into progressive muscle relaxation, one form of combining breath work with relaxation of body parts. This practice is a short, sweet two minute practice that incorporates the tenets of this type of relaxation into a busy day. Sneak it in between meetings!

A simple technique for catching your breath if you’re anxious and feeling short of breath is to focus on the exhale, and fully empty your lungs. This is mindfulness of the exhale, and helps to counteract that unhealthy shallow breathing that many of us default to when distracted or anxious.

Many of us have no idea how much tension we carry around in our jaw- we’ve become so accustomed to a tense jaw that it feels like our normal baseline. This sweet meditation focuses on our jaw as the anchor of our attention rather the classic technique of focusing on our breath. Give it a try, you might want to come back to this one again and again…

You don’t need anything special or “extra” to cultivate mindfulness throughout the day. In the simple yet powerful practice, all you need are areas of contact between your body and the chair, or the ground, or your bed… or air.

The perfect meditation break can happen when doing something as ordinary as standing in line at the grocery store. When we’d rather be somewhere else, waiting in line can seem very long. If we see a line as an opportunity to practice mindfulness, suddenly a queue of people becomes a perfect opportunity to strengthen your brain.

We are always breathing, yet we are rarely aware of it. In this basic mindfulness practice, you will discover your breath as if you are feeling it for the very first time.

If you have time to breathe, you have time to do this meditation. I call it Three Sighs and it takes only 30 seconds to practice. It’s a natural circuit breaker to the shallow breathing that tends to occur when humans are stressed or anxious.

Many philosophers and modern teachers of mindfulness tell you to “take a deep breath and relax.” This common wisdom is based on a principle called the Hering-Breuer Reflex. When you inhale fully and slowly, stretch receptors in your lungs signal relaxation in your cardiovascular system and up to the brain, triggering a holistic relaxation response. Try it!

While many people think of the breath as the classic “anchor” for our attention, points of contact is another way to be in the present moment. Your body is always in contact with some thing, whether it’s a chair, the ground, the bed, or even the air around you. This practice is a powerful way to tune in to your present moment experience by being mindful of these points of contact any time, in sitting meditation or throughout the day.

Many people who share their feelings of stress or sadness or anxiety with others are often met with pep talks and positive affirmations such as “Try to focus on the good things” or, This too shall pass”. These unhelpful responses send a message that feeling uncomfortable emotions is a sign of weakness and/or should be avoided. Indeed, the best thing to say to people who are struggling, Including ourselves: “it’s ok to feel this way.” This practice helps us notice and label ALL the emotions, all of which are OK to feel.

Memorial Day, born out of America’s bloody Civil War, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in service of the United States. I record this days after the last mass shooting in our country, so I think of those two teachers who died in defense of the students they loved. Here is a practice that strengthens our neural networks of focused attention and gratitude, remembering to be in the present moment.

Many of you have requested I record this practice, and requests quadrupled after the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas. I’m sorry it took this long! Tonglen is an ancient form of meditation from Tibetan Buddhists that is a less common but just as powerful mindfulness tool in times that seem filled with uncertainty, trauma and grief. Tonglen means “sending and receiving” and it is the practice of coordinating one’s breathing with mental intentions of goodwill. I hope this helps, dear ones.