When I started meditating in 1984, most of the people I talked about stared blankly at me, then quickly changed the subject or shook my head. Today, discussions about meditation and mindfulness can be seen everywhere, from business and medical journals, addiction and trauma recovery teams to educational conferences. In this article, you'll learn why so many people are turning to these technologies and how to avoid common misunderstandings, dangers, and potential pitfalls.

According to recent reports, you may think that meditation and mindfulness are all "magic bullets" [heal all] because everything that bothers you. Pain management in hospitals, prisoner reforms in prisons, and military, police and emergency response environments are booming to help deal with tensions and recover from post-traumatic stress disorder.

These techniques are used as support for psychotherapy – for addiction and trauma recovery, to resolve self-destructiveness, to improve self-awareness and to tame self-criticism. In response to the pressures of living in our fast-paced, threat-sensitive world, they are increasingly sought after. To meet this need, countless applications promise the benefits of these practices at the push of a button.

However, with the popularity of mindfulness and meditation, I began to see some contrarian headlines, such as "new research shows that meditation will not make you happier and more creative", "meditation is not a panacea" or "Christian" should be vigilant meditation. "

As a meditation teacher, I heard what the beginner said:

• “Meditation should be relaxing – but it makes me feel annoyed.”

• “Meditation should feel good, but it makes me more nervous.”

• “I thought meditation would help me fall asleep, but it gave me a nightmare.”

• “I think meditation should help me accept myself, but it makes me more self-critical.”

• “I know my impulses more than ever. How does this help me?”

What happened here?

[Hint: Meditation doesn't "make these things happen." It reveals them. Meditation and mindfulness make you more aware of what is happening in the subconscious.]

Let us uncover the mystery of meditation and mindfulness by clearly defining them so that you can assess their function and effectiveness, understand misunderstandings, avoid dangers and potential pitfalls.

Meditation and mindfulness definition

By meditation, I mean "focusing on a particular focus object for a while." This is about training your mind and consciously focusing your attention. This is straightforward.

The focal point in meditation can be the feeling of breathing, the spell or focus phrase, the flow of thoughts and emotions, the presence of God, a blank wall or a candle flame. Focusing on selected focus objects can increase your concentration, presence and ability to fully interact with what you are doing.

“Definitively” in the definition means that you use “mindfulness” in meditation. Mindfulness means “in the present, without attention, in the present, purposeful attention”. In other words, you adopt the attitude of a curious observer, just to notice what is happening and not to judge it as "good or bad." A non-judgmental attitude allows you to see more clearly, rather than reacting to fear, prejudice or prejudice – which distort insight.

All in all, "meditation" is a kind of attention training technique, and "mindfulness" is an effective attitude to practice this technique. You can also say that meditation is an opportunity to practice mindfulness. Through meditation and mindfulness, you can gain a deeper understanding of your way of thinking.

The following is its performance in practice:

When you meditate on a particular focus object, you will notice the moment when your thoughts deviate from other things – such as your yesterday's argument, your childhood memories, your speech later today, or what might happen at lunch. Mindfulness enables you to recognize when and where your thinking is embarrassing, accepting that this is a busy thinking, and gently shifting your attention to the focus object of your choice.

During meditation, you will have a range of different ideas and feelings. Some people may feel good: some people may scare you. Mindfulness treats them all as information. With mindfulness, you gradually realize that all your thoughts and feelings come and go. They provide information, but they are no more important than this. When you approach them cautiously, they have nothing to fear. This insight can save you from being anxious about what's going on inside.

Meditation 3Rs

I call 3Rs to manage your thinking process in meditation: recognition, release and return. When you focus on the focus, you will realize that you are paying attention to the "distraction" and then returning to the object of your choice. It's that simple.

However, like any learned skill, it can be challenging at first. You may find that most of the time is embarrassing. You may find yourself in negative thoughts and feelings. You may find yourself irritated, self-critical, bored, or wondering if you are doing the right thing – or are you doing anything!

It's ok. Realize that all this is part of meditation. Meditation can raise awareness. You do this by focusing on your attention, recognizing and accepting what your mind is doing, releasing distractions, and returning to your chosen focus again and again.

When you repeat this process, you can feel relaxed by managing your own thoughts and feelings, and you are free to choose what you care about and what you post. By practicing mindfulness in meditation, you can enhance your ability to relate to the moments in your life, and thus gain greater freedom and ease.

Further benefits of practice

When you have been meditating for a while [such as 10-20 minutes], your mind will be quiet, your emotions will be calm, and your body will relax. You decompress, give up over-thinking, and release the accumulated pressure. When you release stress, energy is released and your body and mind are used to restore, repair, integrate and heal.

You start to feel yourself again. You realize that "who are you" is not just the "snapless" in your heart, nor the emotion that can "take you over." You are a deeper witness to the existence of "having" thoughts, feelings and experiences, but without their definition. This may be the discovery of changing lives!

These benefits don't happen because you are trying to clear your mind, they happen because of practicing 3R. As you practice, you develop the skills to identify your mind, publish things that don't serve you or others, and return to the most important things.

These are invaluable skills that can provide you with anything you want to do, overcome or accomplish. I will even say that they are the basic skills you need to live a good life. So why didn't you teach these basic skills when you were young? Whatever the reason, at any age, you can learn about them with some simple instructions on how they work and how they work together.

Personally, I like to practice the first thing in the morning. For most of my life, I woke up with anxiety about what I had to do the day before. However, now, no matter when I wake up, I feel relaxed and concentrated after practicing in the morning. I have a calm reference point, and I can return when I feel irritable or stressed, fall into negative emotions, or feel overwhelmed by what is happening in the world around me.

Why meditation and mindfulness are especially important these days

Today we have unlimited demands on our time, energy and attention – they call us 24/7 – let us feel as if we always need to do something productive. We had to respond immediately on social media and collect a steady stream of enticing information to let us know and have fun. Even entertainment has become a “must do” because we feel it is necessary to revel in order to “enjoy” as much enjoyment as possible in our “free time”.

But always "on the go" is not healthy.

Our bodies and brains don't run at constant speed. Our goal is to participate in activities, then rest and recover from what we do. During our downtime, our bodies repaired themselves, integrated everything we experienced, and healed the cellular damage we suffered.

If we don't respect this balance, our system will become confused. We are exhausted, our body is getting more and more nervous, and we are constantly anxious or depressed. In this "overcooking" state, we have invited many chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease and epidemic autoimmune diseases.

Meditation is a structural timeout for all of these activities, so you can concentrate, rest and recover. At first, it may feel "doing nothing", but as we have seen, this process is a gentle but positive training. It allows you to take a step back from the rhythm of avid life, consciously relax, and observe what is happening inside.

Meditation and mindfulness reveal your inner workings. They reveal subconscious biases that lead to controversy, poor judgment, and making wrong decisions. They can illuminate habits and have unintended consequences in life. They can help you observe what you are doing more objectively, so you can consciously choose healthy habits and give up unhealthy habits.

Perhaps for our super-driven consumer culture, the most important thing is that they encourage us to slow down, take a deep breath, pay attention to the relationships, gifts and opportunities we already have, instead of always trying to do it, owning and Do more.

Conclusion: Is meditation and mindfulness dangerous?

Is meditation and righteousness dangerous? Yes. They threaten to make you more conscious and conscious. They are dangerous to your negative thoughts, feelings, behaviors and beliefs. They unleashed the suffocating control of fear, prejudice and prejudice. They shine for things that need to change.

By practicing mindfulness in meditation, you learn to evaluate any aspect…

Is meditation and mindfulness dangerous? was originally published on Spring