Meditation

Meditation is a powerful tool which can help us come into a closer and more intimate relationship with our own bodies and our emotions something which is vital in this work.  For complex reasons, many of us are disconnected from  our sensate bodily experience and spend a lot of time in compulsive thinking and/or doing. How often have you got lost in your thoughts and then not even really known what you've been thinking about or how much time has passed? Our mental or cognitive experience usually occupies a disproportionately large part  of our attention/awareness which leads us into overidentifying with our thoughts and believing them to be "true" rather than just one aspect of our experience.   On those rare occasions when we do manage to  tune into our direct felt experience, it can feel uncomfortable and we therefore seek distractions as a way of avoiding ourselves. This tendency is exacerbated by  societal factors including digital technology, social media and the speed and stresses of modern living. 

Meditation can bring us back to  a deeper connection with ourselves but it is also hard, subtle and, like any skill,  requires persistent effort and application. Also, meditation may not be appropriate if we are feeling very stressed, anxious or emotionally dysregulated and/or if our own trauma histories mean that we have a tendency towards dissociative or freeze states . If either of these apply, meditating alone can be counter-productive,  exacerbating our dysregulation and the anxious thinking that accompanies those states. In those  circumstances,   it may be better to do something else instead such as going for a run, getting a hug,  connecting with someone emotionally or taking a bath. 

Nevertheless, learning to meditate and to regulate our nervous system is an important skill which can increase our resilience, self-awareness and tolerance to experience discomfort.  Meditation can provide a space where we can digest and metabolise our experience and when this happens we often feel a deeper sense of  groundedness, of relaxation and of presence. Insights and deeper understandings can emerge from this space.  Learning  to sit with and meet our experience (whatever it is) with kindness, acceptance and warmth has a calming and soothing effect on our nervous system and with practice and support we can expand our capacity to do this a bit like building muscle in the gym. 

If any of this resonates and you want to know more, I lead a FREE 20 minute meditation every Friday morning at 9:00 am UK time (+1 hrs Central European Time, +4 hrs Gulf Standard Time, +5.5 hrs Indian Standard Time, +8 hrs Hong Kong Time, +10/11 hrs  Australian Eastern Standard Time)

Please contact me by email to express your interest and to request the link. The meditation is non-religious and  open to all faiths and none.