May 18, 2017

Meditation: A Mantra

May 18, 2017/ Brenna Kramer

//Mantra: a word or a phrase repeated over and over to aid in staying focused during meditation.

//Meditation: a formal, scientific practice of turning your attention inward, away from external distractions, toward a concentrated focus on a single point of reference, such as the breath. Utilized to increase self-awareness, enhance presence in daily living, promote relaxation, and understand the most basic essence of peace and bliss.

Language is a powerful tool that I am in the process of learning how to wield in my daily living and in my mindfulness practices. It is one gateway between our inner world and our outer world. What we say has a great impact on how we think and act. When I contemplate the correlation between my thoughts, my words, and my actions, I see an open channel with each element flowing through and into the other. We can use language to permeate both our thoughts and our actions. In doing so, we can connect back to and manifest what inspires us and our truth, or sankalpa, in its simplest form.

April 05, 2017

Meditation: The Body Scan

April 05, 2017/ Brenna Kramer

**Last month in our mindful living post, we took a deep dive into meditation and mindfulness. We examined how the two relate, are different, and where to begin. Before starting this month’s mindfulness practice, I suggest returning to the previous article as we will be building off of the concepts mentioned there in today’s post. To review, click here.

//Body Scan: a meditation practice designed to develop awareness of the body through attention to and experience of each individual body part and its sensations.

My body is ever changing. Each day when my eyes awaken to the new light and my ears attune to the sounds around me, I bring my mind to my body. For me, it is a similar sensation to meeting an old, dear friend where so many years have come in between. It is familiar and comfortable in the deepest sense, yet changed. In the friendship, the years magnify the new and create a whole new territory to explore and know. I would suggest that with any relationship, especially the relationship with our body and mind, that these changes are, in a small way, happening on a daily basis. If we let too much time pass, ignoring the change around and within us, instead of attending to and sitting with them, we may one day wake up and hardly recognize ourselves. With a little attention and care, we can tap into and acknowledge both the constants, (the heartbeat, the breath, the thinking of the mind) and the changes that occur in our body, deepening the relationship that we have with ourselves.

March 01, 2017

Meditation: An Introduction through Mindful Breathing

March 01, 2017/ Brenna Kramer

// Mindfulness: the ability to maintain a moment-by-moment sense of acceptance and awareness of thoughts, feelings, sensations, and environment. Letting the past and the future inform the present, but not control it. It is the act of being where you are when you are there.

Spring is nearly upon us, yet it seems to be an eternity away. In this last push out of winter, I am reminded of the importance of this time of year for self-reflection and introspection. Every season and every moment is an opportunity to observe and to gain a greater understanding of who we are. Even so, I find at this time each year, as I ache for a season with more light and warmth, that I am called to return, to return to where I am as I am here.

Ultimately, this gesture of presence is simply showing up for myself; it is being an active participant and partner in my own life. Externally, we work to have functioning and healthy relationships, to understand and support our friends and partners as they move through their journey. This understanding of the other and of the relationship comes from a tremendous amount of work, observation, and a whole lot of time. The success of the relationship is contingent upon us showing up, and being present. As this is of value, it is of equal, if not greater value to spend that same energy and time to understand and have a healthy relationship with ourselves.

Meditation and mindfulness are two ways to begin to engage, nurture, and understand who we are. In meditation, we offer ourselves a dedicated time to practice inward reflection of our thoughts, feelings, and tendencies. It is here that we train our mind to be attentive to the present by focusing on a single point, whether that be our breath, a bodily sensation, or a phrase. As other thoughts, or feelings arise, we attend to them by acknowledging that they are there, then without judgement, return to the task at hand. Now, this acknowledgement and return is crucial; this is where we develop two essential pieces for understanding and nurturing our being. The first is that we are able to see, almost from a bystander's perspective, what emotions, thoughts, and anxieties are affecting us. In that act, we become mindful of our tendencies and bias and can begin attending to them, in a nurturing and constructive way. The second is that in the return back to the single point of focus, we train ourselves to acknowledge but not follow our thoughts and emotions; essentially we take back control of where we go. We no longer are subject to the rollercoaster that can be our monkey mind. As we practice this we are better able to engage in everyday life. As our thoughts stray, we stay anchored to the present and can more rationally make decisions and engage in relationships.

In mindfulness, we offer ourselves the opportunity to engage and be present with the external environment. Instead of multi-tasking and doing a thousand things at once, we choose to be where we are when we are there. If you are eating, you are eating. As you take each bite, allow yourself to fully savor the flavors of the food and the sensation that it builds in your mouth. Observe how the food makes you feel, notice what you are smelling, and fully attend to the experience. Mindfulness can happen in any waking moment, and because of that, it is a powerful tool to finding out who we really are.

February 01, 2017

Self-Compassion

February 01, 2017/ Brenna Kramer

//Self-Compassion: Dr. Kristin Neff, a pioneer in the research of self-compassion, describes it as “being kind and understanding toward oneself in instances of pain or failure, rather than being harshly self-critical; perceiving one’s experiences as part of the larger human experience, rather than seeing them as isolating; and holding painful thoughts and feelings in mindful awareness, rather than over-identifying with them.”

November 23, 2016

Gratitude Practice: Three Good Things

November 23, 2016/ Brenna Kramer

We are thinking creatures. The job of the mind is to formulate thoughts. Although, not all thoughts are held in equal standing. Negative experiences and images are more heavily weighted in our being than positive experiences of the same intensity. This is due to an evolutionary concept called negativity bias. Simply put, our brain has a much greater sensitivity to negative occurrences than positive ones. In certain situations this is a useful tool to avoid and prevent danger. For those times when we are not being chased by a wild beast or being burned by a flame, negativity bias can pose as a danger upon our attitude, emotions, and our relationships, if we allow an untrained mind to rest in that space. We all know the festering feeling that can turn our mental state south, stunt our ability to forgive others, and steal joy.

A practice in gratitude can begin to override negativity bias by outweighing it with more pleasant sentiments. A helpful technique called “Three Good Things” is described below. Before practicing, I would recommend revisiting my post on gratitude from last year. This will give you the proper framework for what true gratitude is and what it is not. As you begin this practice it is important to reside in truth, in the what is, rather than in a false ideal by discrediting pain and suffering. This is a practice about acknowledging the positive that too often gets overruled by the negative.