I am often told, “I know meditation is good for me, but I just can’t sit still!” Well, here is some good news for all of you twitchy would-be meditators: sitting still is not the only way to meditate. In fact, mindfulness meditation, which focuses greatly on the body, pairs extremely well with movement. When [...]
Category: Practice Hints
5 Essentials to Help Your Mindfulness Practice
At the start of our Mindfulness Based Symptom Management (MBSM) program, I ask the participants what they think mindfulness is. They usually say some version of "Being in the Now" or "The Present Moment". I ask again at the end of the eight weeks and typically they say, "It's being aware" or "It's knowing that everything [...]
Are you weaponizing your mindfulness skills?
Allan faithfully attended each class of the Mindfulness-based Stress Management program we offer at the Ottawa Mindfulness Clinic. He shared openly about his anxiety and insecurity as a father to three children and a son caring for ill parents. The heart of his distress though was in his relationship with Debra, his partner of 15 [...]
I am not this body: Mindfulness for Pain Management
Pain is unavoidable. We inhabit a system that is engineered to become wonky, cranky, and otherwise uncooperative over time. We know this conceptually but not when and how it matters. Why me? What now? tend to be our responses when the body fails us - as it inevitably does. In case you think this is only a [...]
Self-Compassion Practices for Emotional Distress: It’s not just about being kind
Self-Compassion practices and programs are gaining momentum in psychological treatments and look like they might well become the next wave of transforming our painful feelings. Mindful Self-Compassion (1), developed by Drs. Christopher Germer and Kristen Neff, is an approach that can be both an adjunct to conventional therapies as well as a stand-alone treatment model. The interesting [...]
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