Join us for our online mindfulness group // Tues 31st March, 7-8pm AEDT // Guest facilitator: Smiling Mind

What a lovely reflection @Former-Member , thanks for sharing!

Alright wonderful people, some of you will still be meditating, and some of you wrapping up!

@Former-Member @CheerBear @DrZoidberg @Windflowers @nanjandup and others reading along. Wow I am always amazed how my body likes to try and distract me through those meditations! But first, let's get into discussion point 1 @SmilingMind and the rest of the community please feel free to answer by hitting "Reply" ...

How did you feel before the meditation, and how do you feel in this moment after doing it?

Thanks @Former-Member! I'm looking forward to hearing how you all found that meditation.

When reflecting on this question, consider how you felt, and now feel, mentally (e.g. my mind feels busy/calmer), emotionally (e.g. I’m feeling anxious/a little calmer/grounded/agitated) and physically (e.g. my body feels heavy/tired/warm/tense).

Do you best to observe your inner experience without judging it. See if you can be really curious and open to your experience whatever it may be. I totally understand that this may not be easy!

Notice if you had particular expectations of how you wanted to feel at the end of the meditation. Whether you are feeling this way or not see if you can simply allow whatever is there to be there. The point of mindfulness is that we develop the ability to notice and be with whatever is here, in each moment – the pleasant and the not so pleasant! It doesn’t mean we have to like or want what isn’t pleasant. We get better at being able to sit with it rather than resisting or pushing it away which usually creates more of what we don’t want.

I was very distracted by my dog but when he calmed too on my lap the breaths helped to stop my annoyance and just go with it!

Hi @Former-Member @SmilingMind

My mind was very busy, when doing it I noticed I was breathing really quickly. My mind is still busy but it gave me a few minutes of peace.

Well done @Windflowers, nice to have your dog with you (even if he was a bit distracting at first!). Thanks for sharing.

Oh @Windflowers I love this integration of dog-meditation Thank you for sharing. A good point though, sometimes distractions that are external will work their way into our meditations, much like in life. A good exercise for you there @Windflowers in practicing mindfulness as your pooch tried to engage your attention 🙂 Thank you for sharing this.

I was very distracted tooo @Windflowers , @Former-Member , @SmilingMind by my husband and TV , once i put them out of sight i was ok

@Snowie thanks so much for sharing this - I must admit, I find meditations pretty tricky for the same reason. The brain is too chatty, but the components of breathwork really helped, focusing on the hands too. Did you find the length of time was quite challenging or just long enough?

Thanks so much for sharing your experience @Snowie. I'm glad you found a few moments of peace in there. It's not always easy to be with our inner experience but with practice mindfulness helps us be with what is there. Well done!