{"id":45,"date":"2008-01-02T11:20:00","date_gmt":"2008-01-02T11:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dev.wpdude.com\/test\/?p=45"},"modified":"2008-01-02T11:20:00","modified_gmt":"2008-01-02T11:20:00","slug":"why-meditate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.integrationtraining.co.uk\/blog\/2008\/01\/why-meditate\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Meditate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_8vF1TTyV5ww\/R3eFxZR1NpI\/AAAAAAAAAMA\/gvAqae7_hjA\/s1600-h\/meditate.jpg\"><img id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5149731782567212690\" style=\"FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_8vF1TTyV5ww\/R3eFxZR1NpI\/AAAAAAAAAMA\/gvAqae7_hjA\/s320\/meditate.jpg\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><br \/><strong>I first experienced meditation as a child and got particularly interested after a trip to India and Nepal at age sixteen.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Because I\u2019m ADHD as an E\u2019d-up ferret I found it difficult to sustain a regular sitting practice. This year though I\u2019ve built up steadily to doing twenty minutes each morning. At first even ten minutes was torture but I persevered as I\u2019d had it recommended by so many teachers I respect and I\u2019d also noticed the massively disproportional number of mediators who excel in arts and leadership. Four months into this daily practice I\u2019m now both enjoying it and seeing positive results. Here&#8217;s why I meditate now:<\/p>\n<p>\u2022It relaxes me, which is good for my health and makes me better at everything else I do.<br \/>\u2022It trains my concentration so that learning things is easier.<br \/>\u2022It increases my awareness of my thoughts. As thoughts lead to actions, this provides a window of choice rather than living a knee-jerk life.<br \/>\u2022It is starting to slow me down \u2013 I regularly get feedback from other people that I move and talk quicker than they enjoy. After meditation I can chill and enjoy the space they need to catch up \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<p>The meditation practice I use is a simple \u201cfollowing the breath\u201d form. If you want to try it sit comfortably and upright. Take a few deep abdominal breaths. Then just put your attention on your breathing and allow whatever happens to happens. If thoughts arise, acknowledge them, then leave them alone and return to the breath. Simple &#8211; yes. Easy &#8211; No!!!!<\/p>\n<p>I also practice <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bonnernet.com\/sites\/aoc\/center\/index.php\">Paul Linden\u2019s<\/a> six-directions breathing exercise and his \u201csmiling heart\u201d exercise, that\u2019s very close to the \u201cMeta\u201d practice of the friends of The Western Buddhist Order who I\u2019ve also had some exposure to.<\/p>\n<p>Of course my aikido practice is a kind of moving meditation and I am trying to bring mindfulness into all aspects of my life \u2013 paying attention to tasks as I do them. I\u2019m also attending a yoga class with strong mindfulness components, lead by my friend and ordained Buddhist <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mindfulyoga.co.uk\/\">Taravajra<\/a> (Mr T for short). He also uses meditative practices in his work with anxiety and depression, alongside the NHS.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m currently looking for a community to support my practice. While meditation to me is more like taking a shower than a religious thing, I also know the value of support in any endeavour. Luckily Brighton has about ten Buddhist groups (!!!) so I\u2019m in the fortunate and ridiculous position of Sangha Shopping in the January Sales.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I first experienced meditation as a child and got particularly interested after a trip to India and Nepal at age sixteen. Because I\u2019m ADHD as an E\u2019d-up ferret I found it difficult to sustain a regular sitting practice. This year though I\u2019ve built up steadily to doing twenty minutes each morning. At first even ten minutes was torture but I persevered as I\u2019d had it recommended by so many teachers I respect and I\u2019d also noticed the massively disproportional number of mediators who excel in arts and leadership. Four months into this daily practice I\u2019m now both enjoying it and <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9xvDN-J","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.integrationtraining.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.integrationtraining.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.integrationtraining.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.integrationtraining.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.integrationtraining.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.integrationtraining.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.integrationtraining.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.integrationtraining.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.integrationtraining.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}