By Molly Longman — 2019
When I first talked to Biet Simkin, I was a spiritual skeptic. By the middle of our conversation, she had me attempting to meditate by contemplating a door knob.
Read on www.refinery29.com
CLEAR ALL
The greatest gift we can give our world is our presence, awake and attentive. What can help us do that? Here, drawn from ancient religions and wisdom traditions, are a handful of practices Joanna Macy has learned to count on.
1
Consider doing something nice for your poor, flustered brain. Don't know how to meditate? Neither did we! So we asked Andy Puddicombe, the cofounder of Headspace and the voice on its app, to write this basic script. Have a friend read it to you slowly, setting a timer for 10 minutes.
Training the mind, meditating, being mindful, or whatever else we choose to call it only works if we actively engage with it. More than that, it only works if we practice it regularly, preferably on a daily basis with a considered, gentle discipline.
We hold our grief hard in the belly. We store fear and disappointment, anger and guilt in our gut. Softening the Belly… of Sorrow Our belly has become fossilized with a long resistance to life and to loss.
A powerful practice of self-inquiry created by Byron Katie, The Work consists of four questions that can help you examine and dissolve the stress associated with your thoughts. She explains how in this interview.
Moving your body is one of the most beneficial things you can do for your mind.
Science proves meditating restructures your brain and trains it to concentrate, feel greater compassion, cope with stress, and more.
Forgiveness is an interesting phenomenon. As you learn to forgive and to say, “Of course you’re human,” or, “We all do that,” you open up your heart to embrace the person or the situation back into you.
Everything you ever wanted to know about meditating, but didn't have a teacher to ask.
A few weeks ago, a Baptist minister in Texas started a rumble, or at least a small brouhaha, when he declared that yoga is not suitable for Christians. His point was that using the body for spiritual practice contradicts basic Christian principles.