Mindfulness Meditation Resources
Below please find a list of some places you can gather support for mindfulness meditation.
The Centre for Mindfulness Studies (Toronto) www.mindfulnessstudies.com - offers programs, workshops and meditations both online and in person.
www.mindful.org - site offers guided mindfulness practices, education, and research.
Insight Timer www.insighttimer.com app for sleep. Anxiety and stress meditations featuring international teachers.
Headspace www.headspace.com - mood boosting meditations and relaxing sleep exercises.
Tara Brach www.tarabrah.com - US based meditation and spiritual teacher. Dr. Tara Brach is a Clinical Psychologist and author. Offers an online meditation community and free audio meditations and talk.
www.chrisgermer.com - online compassionate meditations, workshops, and programming.
Mosaic Yoga (Toronto) www.mosaicyoga.ca - yoga/movement and meditation studio offering in person and online classes and workshops.
Yoga Therapy Toronto www.yogatherapytoronto.ca - yoga studio offering classes, workshops, and teacher training with some audio and online options. Meditation sangha (community) offered first Wednesday evening every month from 7:30 pm -8:30 pm, from November through April.
Interested in developing a meditation practice?
Here are some basic suggestions to get you started.
Meditation Tips
Try to meditate each day, even if it is for a brief period of time. Early morning is often recommended as it sets the tone for the day and it decreases the likelihood of something getting in the way.
You might start with three minutes and gradually increase your time. Research shows that 12 minutes of meditation a day yields benefits like increased attention, focus, creativity, calm, resilience, and compassion.
It can be helpful to utilize the same place to meditate although you can meditate on public transportation, in parks, at your desk, or in a parked car.
Experiment with different positions to meditate. You can sit in a chair, sit on the floor, on lie down. Find a position that encourages ease, stability, and alertness. If sitting, sit in a way that allows the spine to be long.
It can be helpful to choose an anchor (a focus) to steady the mind. Anchors might include: the breath, physical sensations as they arise in the body (e.g, tingling in the hands), listening to sounds, coordinating moving and breathing, a mantra, an image.
It is natural and common for the mind to drift off into thoughts. When you notice this has occurred, patiently and gently guide your attention back to your anchor. You can always begin again.
You can not meditate wrong. The act of sitting with yourself is a gesture of self love.
If your physical position is uncomfortable and distracting you, you can mindfully shift your position. You don’t have to “tough it out.”
“If you take care of each moment, you will take care of all time.”