Mindful Boston

Students who are new to the concept of mindfulness are used to changing or fixing things that are considered negative.  For example, anger is considered a negative emotion in our culture.  When a student encounters an angry thought, her cultural conditioning leads her to repress it, deny it, or actively force a change so that it becomes another feeling that is more socially acceptable to feel. If a person changes a feeling before getting the chance to know what it is, and why it's there, she's missing out on valuable information. "Know thyself" is important wisdom.  It is stress-reducing wisdom. If a person has a one hour meditation practice, for one hour each day she collects self-information without changing, denying, or repressing the truth of it.  And then, for the other 23 hours in each day, she has the opportunity to change, deny, and repress as much as is necessary to live an effective life.  Living in society does require self-censure at times. In ...

 I'll be starting up a new eight week series on Mindfulness Meditation in two weeks.  As part of my preparation for class, I wrote a new FAQ page about meditation for my webpage.  I thought it would be nice to post the article here in the blog too.  Enjoy! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - • What is meditation? Meditation is a way of calming the mind's chatter. There is a phrase "the still small voice inside" that refers to your own inner wisdom. Meditation is one of the ways to listen for your own voice of wisdom. There are many forms of meditation. And different people meditate for different reasons. In the Mindfulness Meditation taught by Gena Bean, the intention is self-healing and stress reduction. • How do I start? Since meditation is hard to describe, I recommend that most people start with a teacher in a class. Though some people are able to read a book or magazine article about meditation and figure it out on their own...

Burnout There is a way of re-assessing burnout that can give a much-needed boost to your self-esteem. If you are experiencing burnout it is an indication of just how deeply you care about the people in your life. It is an indication of a super-human commitment to change things for the better. If you want to better the world— If you want to see the people you love thriving— That *wanting* itself is a mark of your compassion. And then, once you acknowledge that amazing compassion that you feel for others, take a smaller moment to gently admonish yourself. Because, if you are experiencing burnout, you have not been taking proper care of yourself. You have not allowed your compassionate feelings to extend to yourself. And that is a problem that needs to be addressed. Now. You need to make self-care the first thing on your list. And I will tell you why. Imaging that you have a pitcher full of water. When the people around you are thirsty and holding out their cups, ...

I was resistant to getting a Twitter account. Mindfulness is about paying attention and being present.  From everything I'd heard, Twitter seemed like total distraction, maybe even an on-line catalyst for Attention Deficit Disorder.  But I own a business. One of my yoga students in particular was insistent that I needed to tweet for business reasons.  And then even my brother got on board.  He offered to set up an automated account for me. After a few false starts, and a few heated phone calls with Bro, I faced my resistance and learned a new language and a new form of acceptance of the moment.  I tweet now.  And I am coming to appreciate the format of Twitter for reaching people. A primary approach to teaching students how to be very present is to "meet them where they are at."   When the students are lethargic, the teacher starts the lesson slowly from a lying down position.  When the students are manic, the teacher starts class with calisth...

This is an article about Stress Reduction "on the spot" written by Gena Bean , Boston-area Stress Reduction Consultant    Lift your shoulders up to your ears. Yes, right now - not later - squeeze your shoulders up towards your ears. You can hold in your breath during the squeeze if you want. And then let the shoulders drop suddenly - releasing the breath as well. This motion will release some physical tension. Now do it again. Squeeze the shoulders, building tension. And then let it all go at once, dropping the shoulders to either a normal position or perhaps a more relaxed position than normal. If you happen to be in a place where no one will look at you funny, you can let out a sigh sound when you let the shoulders drop. The next step is to take in a full deep breath. And then let it out slowly. Notice how you feel.  Just Breathe If stress is a constant in your life, then you need to make some adjustments in order to include stress reduction in...