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How to Meditate: Meditation 101 for Beginners
10 Science-Backed Benefits of Meditation
What is Meditation?
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How to Meditate: Meditation 101 for Beginners
10 Science-Backed Benefits of Meditation
What is Meditation?
Benefits of Mindfulness: Mindful Living Can Change Your Life
Mindfulness 101: A Beginner's Guide
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Hi, welcome back to your Daily Mindfulness. In today's session, I want to talk about thoughts and alignment. So many people who get into meditation, mindfulness, or even therapy or anything to do with personal development are often frustrated by thoughts. There's a feeling of my mind's all over the place. I can't calm it down.
It's creating all of this extra stress for me. And what we ended up doing is pathologizing the thinking mind, pathologizing our brain for being all over the place. You often hear things like I can't focus, or my mind constantly thinks about this and this and this, or I can't settle it down. Like I need something like meditation to calm my mind. I needed to train my mind.
That's the one I hear a lot of. I need to really train my mind or tame my mind. There's merit to it. I'm a meditation teacher. Certainly meditation does help calm the mind, train our focus and there's huge utility to that.
However, I do want to also say that a mind that is bouncing from one thing to another, or is agitated isn't just an indication or isn't always an indication that you just can't focus. It might instead be an indication that something is out of alignment with your life. I mean, think about maybe a difficult conversation you had once and it just, it lingered in you the rest of the day. Maybe you said something you wish you didn't say and the person, you know, there was just a, there's just a look on their face. And you were like, oh, I probably shouldn't have said that, but you didn't apologize or anything afterwards.
And you just went to bed that night and your mind was all over the place thinking about it. Right? Is that because you can't focus or because something felt out of alignment? You felt like, Hmm, that probably wasn't the right thing to do and I haven't yet rectified it yet or had a fuller conversation about it. It's still lingering in the system. And that's a minor example. There are so many things that we do across a lifetime.
All these little decisions where we can temporarily abandon ourselves, an inner knowing, and it causes us to get out of alignment. And as humans, we tend to have a very high tolerance for that, which is why we can go months, years, or decades sort of bearing it. Where something doesn't feel quite right, but just like, okay, well I keep going. And then it starts to catch up to us. And the mind's all over the place.
We feel a little agitated. And I have a teacher who says, many times we paint ourselves into a corner and then we do meditation to feel comfortable there. You know? So this is an example of like we're making decisions that are actually out of alignment with the deeper truth within us, but we feel the agitation and the stress that that has created, and then we go, Ooh, I need to meditate to calm down. Maybe. Or maybe we need to actually start taking some responsibility for the decisions that we're making and whether they're taking us into alignment or out of alignment with our life.
So my main invitation to you today is instead of looking at thoughts as simply a symptom of a broken brain or an inability to focus, what if you use that as a compass? What if your mind being all over the place was actually an internal agitation of something being out of alignment? What would that be inviting you to look at, to listen, to, and to get back into alignment, to really deep inquiry? But it's a doorway into actually leading your life in a way that is genuinely fulfilling and genuinely yours. Thank you for your practice. Let's settle in for today's meditation.
Thoughts and Alignment
Personalized support for learning how to integrate mindfulness into your life. Delivered fresh everyday by our world renowned experts. Choose meditation duration:
Duration
Your default time is based on your progress and is changed automatically as you practice.
Hi, welcome back to your Daily Mindfulness. In today's session, I want to talk about thoughts and alignment. So many people who get into meditation, mindfulness, or even therapy or anything to do with personal development are often frustrated by thoughts. There's a feeling of my mind's all over the place. I can't calm it down.
It's creating all of this extra stress for me. And what we ended up doing is pathologizing the thinking mind, pathologizing our brain for being all over the place. You often hear things like I can't focus, or my mind constantly thinks about this and this and this, or I can't settle it down. Like I need something like meditation to calm my mind. I needed to train my mind.
That's the one I hear a lot of. I need to really train my mind or tame my mind. There's merit to it. I'm a meditation teacher. Certainly meditation does help calm the mind, train our focus and there's huge utility to that.
However, I do want to also say that a mind that is bouncing from one thing to another, or is agitated isn't just an indication or isn't always an indication that you just can't focus. It might instead be an indication that something is out of alignment with your life. I mean, think about maybe a difficult conversation you had once and it just, it lingered in you the rest of the day. Maybe you said something you wish you didn't say and the person, you know, there was just a, there's just a look on their face. And you were like, oh, I probably shouldn't have said that, but you didn't apologize or anything afterwards.
And you just went to bed that night and your mind was all over the place thinking about it. Right? Is that because you can't focus or because something felt out of alignment? You felt like, Hmm, that probably wasn't the right thing to do and I haven't yet rectified it yet or had a fuller conversation about it. It's still lingering in the system. And that's a minor example. There are so many things that we do across a lifetime.
All these little decisions where we can temporarily abandon ourselves, an inner knowing, and it causes us to get out of alignment. And as humans, we tend to have a very high tolerance for that, which is why we can go months, years, or decades sort of bearing it. Where something doesn't feel quite right, but just like, okay, well I keep going. And then it starts to catch up to us. And the mind's all over the place.
We feel a little agitated. And I have a teacher who says, many times we paint ourselves into a corner and then we do meditation to feel comfortable there. You know? So this is an example of like we're making decisions that are actually out of alignment with the deeper truth within us, but we feel the agitation and the stress that that has created, and then we go, Ooh, I need to meditate to calm down. Maybe. Or maybe we need to actually start taking some responsibility for the decisions that we're making and whether they're taking us into alignment or out of alignment with our life.
So my main invitation to you today is instead of looking at thoughts as simply a symptom of a broken brain or an inability to focus, what if you use that as a compass? What if your mind being all over the place was actually an internal agitation of something being out of alignment? What would that be inviting you to look at, to listen, to, and to get back into alignment, to really deep inquiry? But it's a doorway into actually leading your life in a way that is genuinely fulfilling and genuinely yours. Thank you for your practice. Let's settle in for today's meditation.
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This is the app I turn to when I want to feel calm and loved.
- Abby
Melli has a beautiful way of guiding and reminding us of the stillness within.
- Adrienne James
I have been on a journey of healing and learning self-love. Amidst the work, I have been using the mindfulness app for the gentle reminders, guides to the moment (especially the difficult ones).
Kelly Boys offers a fresh and illuminating take on how to step out of lifelong patterns that keep snagging us.
- Tara Brach, PhD
Truly life changing. This isn't solely meditation and mindfulness...this is about striving to be the best the versions of ourselves.
- Marisa, Plus+ Member
Relaxing and assuring beyond description... thank you, Cory.
- Babs312
This is the app I turn to when I want to feel calm and loved.
- Abby
Melli has a beautiful way of guiding and reminding us of the stillness within.
- Adrienne James
I have been on a journey of healing and learning self-love. Amidst the work, I have been using the mindfulness app for the gentle reminders, guides to the moment (especially the difficult ones).
Kelly Boys offers a fresh and illuminating take on how to step out of lifelong patterns that keep snagging us.
- Tara Brach, PhD
Truly life changing. This isn't solely meditation and mindfulness...this is about striving to be the best the versions of ourselves.
- Marisa, Plus+ Member
Relaxing and assuring beyond description... thank you, Cory.
- Babs312
This is the app I turn to when I want to feel calm and loved.
- Abby
Melli has a beautiful way of guiding and reminding us of the stillness within.
- Adrienne James
I have been on a journey of healing and learning self-love. Amidst the work, I have been using the mindfulness app for the gentle reminders, guides to the moment (especially the difficult ones).
Kelly Boys offers a fresh and illuminating take on how to step out of lifelong patterns that keep snagging us.
- Tara Brach, PhD
Truly life changing. This isn't solely meditation and mindfulness...this is about striving to be the best the versions of ourselves.
- Marisa, Plus+ Member
Relaxing and assuring beyond description... thank you, Cory.
- Babs312
Shamash's guidance is a gift of wisdom to help us in our busy and stressful lives.
- Paul Gilbert, PhD, FBPsS, OBE, Centre for Compassion Research and Training, University of Derby, United Kingdom
Excellent! Cory gently guides you into internal peace.
- Steve Ericson
A necessary tool for those who feel lost.
- Piper
Just want to say a big thankyou to all involved as this has had a positive impact in my daily life 🙏 Valuable teachings that have allowed me to have a better relationship not only with those around me, but with myself. Heal ourselves and we heal the world 💫✨🌍
- Marty
I start every day with Cory or Melli for my daily practice. Including this app into my practice helps me continue to build more mental focus and understanding of my thought processes. What a welcome and powerful gift.
- Oku
Shamash's guidance is a gift of wisdom to help us in our busy and stressful lives.
- Paul Gilbert, PhD, FBPsS, OBE, Centre for Compassion Research and Training, University of Derby, United Kingdom
Excellent! Cory gently guides you into internal peace.
- Steve Ericson
A necessary tool for those who feel lost.
- Piper
Just want to say a big thankyou to all involved as this has had a positive impact in my daily life 🙏 Valuable teachings that have allowed me to have a better relationship not only with those around me, but with myself. Heal ourselves and we heal the world 💫✨🌍
- Marty
I start every day with Cory or Melli for my daily practice. Including this app into my practice helps me continue to build more mental focus and understanding of my thought processes. What a welcome and powerful gift.
- Oku
Shamash's guidance is a gift of wisdom to help us in our busy and stressful lives.
- Paul Gilbert, PhD, FBPsS, OBE, Centre for Compassion Research and Training, University of Derby, United Kingdom
Excellent! Cory gently guides you into internal peace.
- Steve Ericson
A necessary tool for those who feel lost.
- Piper
Just want to say a big thankyou to all involved as this has had a positive impact in my daily life 🙏 Valuable teachings that have allowed me to have a better relationship not only with those around me, but with myself. Heal ourselves and we heal the world 💫✨🌍
- Marty
I start every day with Cory or Melli for my daily practice. Including this app into my practice helps me continue to build more mental focus and understanding of my thought processes. What a welcome and powerful gift.
- Oku
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