Mindfulness Meditation Coaching

Mindfulness is the awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally to things as they are. Mindfulness is achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations. Meditation is the active training of the brain to concentrate by observing your mind and thoughts. Mindfulness meditation uses the senses of your body to keep you aware and in the present moment. Focusing on our breath is the most common tactic to return our focus to the present moment.

Lessons that can be learned through mindfulness: suspend “doing” and shift to “being”; increase your resilience and self-compassion; patience with yourself to better discern your own intuition; react in difficult situations with greater clarity; learn how to tame your toughest emotions; adopt a new tool to combat stressful times; enhance your relationships; and greatly improve your health and quality of life.

Meditation is not about feeling a certain way. It's about feeling the way you feel. It's about bringing concentration to the process. By being a curious observer of what happens, you will witness how your mind concentrates, how it might wander around, and how you feel physically and emotionally during the process. In discovering a place of quiet and stillness, we uncover how unique we are and can tap into newfound creativity and energy.

 
Think of mindfulness as exercise for your brain. Cultivating your mindfulness is a lifelong journey.

7 Attitudes of Mindfulness Practice:

1. Non-judging. Not getting caught in our stream of likes and dislikes. This is not to say that we will rid ourselves of judgments, but rather we will become aware of our tendency to judge and suspend that habitual pattern, watching whatever thoughts and feelings arise without acting on them in any way.
2. Patience. A form of wisdom in which we allow things to be exactly as they are, unfolding at its own pace. We are not rushing through some moments to get to other 'better' ones.
3. Beginner's Mind. Approach each experience as if for the first time, because in fact, each moment is fresh and new. To have a beginner's mind means freeing ourselves from preconceptions and biases so we may see things in a new light.
4. Trust. Learning to have faith in ourselves and our intuition. Trust in this sense means honoring our own feelings and wisdom. Trust in oneself is finding and following our own path rather than imitating someone else.
5. Non-striving. Meditation has no goal other than being oneself. We are not striving to get relaxed, get enlightened, or become a better person. Striving implies that there is something not okay with things as they are. We are practicing carefully seeing and accepting things as they are, moment by moment.
6. Acceptance. Seeing things as they actually are in the present. This reduces the enormous amount of energy we often waste by denying and resisting what simply is. Accepting does not mean we have to like the way things are, or passively resign ourselves to them. It simply means developing a willingness to see things as they are.
7. Letting Go. Non-attachment to our thoughts, feelings, and experiences. We are choosing to not elevate certain thoughts or feelings and reject others, but allow all moments to be just as they are.

(Adapted from Jon Kabot-Zinn (2013) Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain and Illness)