This review was written as my final paper for my certification in Brenda Feuerstein’s 52-week Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training. We were to pick one book from the course’s extensive reading lists write a review. Thich Nhat Hanh is one of my favorite teachers, and many of his books line my shelves. I post this paper as a review on my...
This experiment comes from the master of Neroscience Dr. Mark Waldman. Its purpose: help you hear how busy your mind can be as it thinks up the words it wants you to say. Say a single sentence out loud.Say another sentence, but this time leave 2 seconds between each word.With each additional sentence, pause for an additional secondNotice how your inner speech...
What is a Sankalpa? A unique aspect of Yoga Nidra that sets it apart from other stress relief and relaxation training methods is the Sankalpa. This Sanskrit word is often translated as “a resolve” or “resolution” or “intention”. Brenda Feuerstein, co-founder of Traditional Yoga Studies (and my mentor) explains that “kalpa means ‘vow,’ or ‘the rule...
We all say we don’t have time for meditation, especially at work. Well, I call bull$hit. Do you go to meetings? Turn that walk to the board room into a meditation. You will arrive rejuvenated, and ready to get to work. Walking meditation is one of the easiest to do but it still requires a bit of a technique so the goal for the first time go...
Looking for a unique way to improve your relationships? The Heart Chakra (Anahata) is our energy point of love and compassion. Located physically just behind the heart area, this chakra can be incredibly powerful when used as a focus for meditation. By using the heart as a focus, we blossom our awareness to not only personal and physical forms of...
The raisin meditation is a simple and easy way to learn one of the most discussed components of meditation: mindfulness. Think about it? When was the last time you truly tasted your food? Really savoured it? Most days we are running full-steam, gulping down the coffee, stuffing down our sandwich, while running to the next thing. It’s...
Want to reduce stress and have a great day, today and every day? Reducing stress starts with simple plans. It’s easy to set a positive and productive tone if you do (or avoid doing) some key things first thing in the morning. Start off by removing any excuses, and just add 1 of these to your morning routine. For the first week, make your bed...
Waking up in the middle of the night can be frustrating, to say the least. You feel tired, yet your body doesn’t seem to want to get back to sleep. Luckily, there are some ways things you can do to get back to sleep on those restless nights. Here are a few tips to follow when you wake up in the hours of the night… Jot It Down If you wake up in the middle of the...
What is Yoga-Nidra? Yoga Nidra is a relaxation technique. It uses your imagination to help you achieve physical, mental and emotional relaxation. Not imaginative? No worries, the visualisations and exercises used in Yoga Nidra are super easy to follow. During a session, we use several visualisations to bring your mind, and body into a...
We all worry. Sometimes it’s hard to stop. Especially when you are making big changes in your life. But worry can derail your plans, and cause more things to worry about! Looking for a simple technique to stop your brain from going non-stop? Put pen to paper and create a CRAP board. Developed by Neuroscience expert Mark Waldman, CRAP stands for...