Month: March 2018

Last week, I introduced concentrative meditation through guided imagery. Today, I’ll introduce mindfulness meditation with this TEDx Talk by Dr. Shauna Shapiro. Before you click, I want to preface that this video is 13 minutes and 45 seconds, and I want you to practice mindfulness while you watch it. In other words, I want you to practice being present with and being attentive of the video and Dr. Shapiro’s message.

Did you find, like Dr. Shapiro herself said in the video, that your mind wandered while listening and watching? That’s okay. What did you think to yourself when your attention faltered? As I posited last week, I hope you said something nonjudgmental to yourself, like, “Oh. I thought of [blank]. That’s interesting,” and brought yourself back to the present moment of watching and listening. If your message to yourself was indeed judgmental, that’s okay as well; non-judgment is as much a practice as meditation itself. But with practice, you’ll get better at it (or stronger, in Dr. Shapiro’s words). Try a nonjudgmental thought next time you practice mindfulness.

If you’ve been following along with this series, you’ve actually incorporating mindfulness in everything we’ve discussed so far. When breathing, the exercise demanded mindfulness of you, even though it was not stated in these terms. When learning to progressively relaxing the muscles groups of the body, you had to concentrate fiercely on each cycle. Even during guided imagery, which is more concentrative meditation, you had to be mindful of the vocal prompts. Eventually, you’ll be able to be mindful in any situation and environment, a comparable end goal to that of applied relaxation.

Before I entered university, I played the piano and violin intensively. Perhaps that is not best description. It is more accurate to say that I was supposed to practice my instruments intensively, but in actuality, I would struggle with paying attention. I would tell myself, just do this for an hour, a good hour, and then you can go do something else. Despite this, I would pause here and there, if just to fidget. However, it is not about the time. It is more about the quality of the attention within the time. Though I made note of the timespan of the video in my third sentence of this post, that was to bring awareness that attention spans really are short. I’ve learned now that that’s okay. As long as your attention was sharp and keen for however long, you’ve practiced mindfulness.

This week, pick an activity, anything really, and do it mindfully. Tell me how it goes in the comments, or at your next appointment.

The third technique highlighted in this article is guided imagery, a specific form of meditation. So, in order to explain the former, I’ll first expound on the latter.

 

Meditation is the practice of concentration. It is an ancient technique that was associated with spirituality and religion, but in the modern context, does not have to be either spiritual or religious. But, why concentrate? Why focus on just one thing, concrete or abstract? It appears that by focusing intensely on one idea, the clutter of the mind stills. In stillness, there is clarity, and through the clarity, one can find relaxation.

 

There are two broad categories of meditation: concentration meditation and mindfulness meditation. Concentrative meditation is meditating on the breath, on an image, or on a sound. Indeed, if you’ve been following only with this series, you’ve already done concentrative meditation when we discussed breathing. The point of focus is slightly more concrete than that of mindfulness meditation. In mindfulness meditation, one experiences the environment without attachment, judgment, or application of conscious thought. It is the experience of one’s surroundings as a witness, rather than as a participant. For now, we will focus on concentrative meditation and explore mindfulness in a later post.

 

In order to start meditation, it is helpful to follow these steps:

 

1. Find a quiet place.
2. Maintain a comfortable but proper posture. This is especially important when using meditation to reduce pain. However, it is not recommended to lie down, as sleep comes quite easily in this position during meditation. If you have trouble finding a posture that you can maintain for ten minutes, ask me at your next appointment.
3. Choose something to focus on. Be creative.
4. Be passive. Perhaps this is the most counterintuitive step. How can one possibly be passive when concentrating fiercely? What this means is to not judge yourself harshly when you find that focusing on one thing is difficult. Your thoughts will certainly drift. Rather than feeling frustrated, recognize that you’ve thought of something else, and think, “Oh. That’s interesting,” and then return to your subject of focus.

 

I think guided imagery is a fantastic introduction to meditation. Rather than self-driven meditation, guided imagery involves someone telling you what to visualize. You create the images in your mind, based on what you hear. You can attend an in-person class or listen to a recording. Here is an example.

 

How did that go? Let me know in the comments, and feel free to share other resources. I’ve found that because guided imagery involves listening to someone’s voice, people may prefer certain inflections over others. Listen to recordings that work best for you.

I’m going to take a pause from our regularly scheduled programming to offer some insights about sleep, with help from my friends at Tuck.

 

Around this time of year, every year, I hear people noting how much the one hour difference negatively affects their sleep. It made me think of all the others things that make sleep difficult. I’d like to direct you to three articles that are insightful and comprehensive.

 

1. Does pain affect sleep?
2. Is a soft pillow causing your neck pain?
3. How to pick the best mattress for back pain.

 

I hope you enjoyed these resources. And if you do suffer from neck or back pain related to sleep, pillows, and/or mattresses, let me know at your next visit or make an appointment.