Meditation

Meditation is the practice of withdrawing your focus from the external world and focusing your attention inward to your breath and inner landscape of thoughts, feelings, somatic sensations, and intuitions. This can be done while sitting, laying down, walking, riding the subway or bus, or doing any sort of simple task (i.e., washing the dishes). It is a mindfulness practice that is both ancient and modern, with many uses and applications. Through regular practice, meditation can cultivate a deeper awareness and comfort with the inner world. It can promote mindfulness and equanimity in daily life, as well as a sense of calm and peace even in challenging situations.

Proven benefits of meditation include:

• Improved attention span

• Improved emotional and self-regulation

• Decreased reactivity and increased response flexibility

• Decreased stress and anxiety

• Reduced feelings of mental fatigue

• Enhanced social connections and relationships

• Increased immune functioning

• Enhanced self-insight, morality, and intuition

• Enhanced compassion and empathy for yourself and others

Meditation improves the wellbeing of the mind, and by doing so, improves what we bring into all situations of life. Meditation brings you closer to yourself, and helps you access the clarity and peace that is already there beneath the layers of illusion, confusion and misconception.

Training and Background

For many years, I struggled with my meditation practice. I tried and failed many times to meditate regularly, and the benefits I experienced from my inconsistent practice were also inconsistent. Through many trials, books read, courses taken, apps followed, and retreats attended, I have deepened my practice and have learned some important things about myself and meditation instruction. I am not an expert or a monk, I am just someone who’s tried and failed and tried again and has learned from that.

I completed a meditation instructor certification in 2020 with Susan Piver at the Open Heart Project. I studied Samatha Vipassana meditation, which means mindful awareness insight. It comes from one of the mystical traditions of Buddhism based on the understanding that through the regular practice of mindful awareness, insight and therefore healing transformation will result. My personal practice has taken many shapes over the course of many years, being part of my yoga and Reiki practice, walking meditation, and daily sits on a cushion. I believe there are many ways to practice meditation, each of which are valid and useful for different people and different times. Anyway that you choose to practice, you will receive benefits. Having flexibility with the practice has helped me be able to continue to deepen my practice and relationship with myself.

Meditation in Practice

Meditation can be an excellent way to start or end the day, a tool to help you get to sleep, and a resource when things become stressful or difficult. You might already know the benefits of meditation, but have no idea where to begin. Or maybe you have tried, but found it impossible or uncomfortable. Trust me, I can relate. I struggled for many years with my meditation practice before I learned to adapt my practice to my life and my needs rather than try to force the practice into my life.

Classes and Workshops

I teach meditation classes and workshops online and in-person. To stay in the loop about these offerings, sign up to receive the email updates.