Meditation |
What is meditation? Sitting quietly, praying, listening to sounds in the forest and paying attention to one's breath may all be meditations. What is universal about meditation is intentional cultivation of awareness and presence. In particular, mindfulness meditations cultivate awareness to one's experience in the present moment. Mindfulness meditation attends to one's experience now. What are the benefits of meditation? Reduced stress, for one, is a repeatedly demonstrated benefit. Another excellent reason to meditate is cultivation of compassion for oneself. Through intentional awareness to the now of our lives we can experience compassion and kindness for our human predicaments. When we are compassionate toward ourselves we acknowledge the cycles of pain that are part of the human condition and we intentionally bring kindness to our suffering. Cultivating compassion for our human pain becomes one way toward reduced suffering and increased calm. Psychotherapy, I believe, is a means toward creative adaptation to the full range of human experience. Toward this, meditation can be a valuable partner for increasing self-knowledge and compassionate acceptance. Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have about my practice at 503-252-3739. Thank you. |