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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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In this meditation, we'll explore how to appreciate the parenting journey even when it's hard.
Hey, welcome. In this meditation, we're going to explore cultivating gratitude in the context of parenting. And this can be a particularly powerful meditation if you're in a space of resentment, frustration and feeling overwhelmed. So thanks for being here and let's get settled in. You can start by finding a comfortable posture.
This could be seated, lying down or standing. If it feels okay to do so, you can close your eyes. And let's drink in one breath together. In through the nose. Slowly out through the mouth.
Inviting the jaw to soften. The shoulders. And the belly. And tuning into a sense of feeling rooted into the ground supporting you. Perhaps your feet on the surface beneath you or your seat against the chair or cushion.
We're just dropping out of some of the noisiness of our life and into a grounded-ness in this moment. When we're overwhelmed, it can be hard to sense what is good, the things we do appreciate, that we are grateful for. So as you consider the journey of being a parent, and you consider it through the lens of it being a gift, what first comes to mind as something that you value about this experience, this opportunity, even if it's small. And just notice how it feels to orient toward this, toward an appreciation of this opportunity of a lifetime that you have. What's one of the most precious moments you've had so far in your parenting journey? And it's okay if multiple come to mind, you can let yourself be flooded with this.
And really, really let your heart open. So you're just relaxing into the gratitude and the appreciation, and maybe even the joy that's arising. If you have any images in your mind, perhaps of your child or children, making those as vivid as possible. Noticing the expression on their face. How you feel in those moments.
How has the parenting journey expanded your life? How has it deepened who you are and added richness to your life and yeah, complexity? But how has that maybe equipped you to navigate your life in a totally new way that maybe you didn't realize you had the capacity for? Take a moment to reflect on that. Just the ways that you've grown and changed. How have you been able to offer something to your child or children? What have you been able to gift to them of yourself? Of course, there are endless things. But what feels unique about what you're able to offer and have offered? And in the last moments of this meditation, just recognizing that parenting is a big, big journey, and it may be stretching you in ways that you never imagined it could. And so we hold all of those realities.
But just let yourself for a moment appreciate, in its simplicity, the gift that it has been in your life, in whatever way it has been a gift. Let yourself really feel that and let the goodness of it saturate your being. We'll take one more deep breath. In through the nose. Slowly out through the mouth.
And when you're ready, you can let your eyes open. Thanks for meditating with me. It's always important for me to acknowledge that just because we're tuning into what we're grateful for and what we appreciate about anything. Doesn't mean we dismiss the stress that it can also bring and the potential pain and hardship that we're going through. We can hold, validate, normalize all of that, and still tune into the seeds of goodness that are there.
Thank you for your practice. I'll talk to you soon. And until next time, take care.
Gratitude for the Journey
In this meditation, we'll explore how to appreciate the parenting journey even when it's hard.
Duration
Your default time is based on your progress and is changed automatically as you practice.
Hey, welcome. In this meditation, we're going to explore cultivating gratitude in the context of parenting. And this can be a particularly powerful meditation if you're in a space of resentment, frustration and feeling overwhelmed. So thanks for being here and let's get settled in. You can start by finding a comfortable posture.
This could be seated, lying down or standing. If it feels okay to do so, you can close your eyes. And let's drink in one breath together. In through the nose. Slowly out through the mouth.
Inviting the jaw to soften. The shoulders. And the belly. And tuning into a sense of feeling rooted into the ground supporting you. Perhaps your feet on the surface beneath you or your seat against the chair or cushion.
We're just dropping out of some of the noisiness of our life and into a grounded-ness in this moment. When we're overwhelmed, it can be hard to sense what is good, the things we do appreciate, that we are grateful for. So as you consider the journey of being a parent, and you consider it through the lens of it being a gift, what first comes to mind as something that you value about this experience, this opportunity, even if it's small. And just notice how it feels to orient toward this, toward an appreciation of this opportunity of a lifetime that you have. What's one of the most precious moments you've had so far in your parenting journey? And it's okay if multiple come to mind, you can let yourself be flooded with this.
And really, really let your heart open. So you're just relaxing into the gratitude and the appreciation, and maybe even the joy that's arising. If you have any images in your mind, perhaps of your child or children, making those as vivid as possible. Noticing the expression on their face. How you feel in those moments.
How has the parenting journey expanded your life? How has it deepened who you are and added richness to your life and yeah, complexity? But how has that maybe equipped you to navigate your life in a totally new way that maybe you didn't realize you had the capacity for? Take a moment to reflect on that. Just the ways that you've grown and changed. How have you been able to offer something to your child or children? What have you been able to gift to them of yourself? Of course, there are endless things. But what feels unique about what you're able to offer and have offered? And in the last moments of this meditation, just recognizing that parenting is a big, big journey, and it may be stretching you in ways that you never imagined it could. And so we hold all of those realities.
But just let yourself for a moment appreciate, in its simplicity, the gift that it has been in your life, in whatever way it has been a gift. Let yourself really feel that and let the goodness of it saturate your being. We'll take one more deep breath. In through the nose. Slowly out through the mouth.
And when you're ready, you can let your eyes open. Thanks for meditating with me. It's always important for me to acknowledge that just because we're tuning into what we're grateful for and what we appreciate about anything. Doesn't mean we dismiss the stress that it can also bring and the potential pain and hardship that we're going through. We can hold, validate, normalize all of that, and still tune into the seeds of goodness that are there.
Thank you for your practice. I'll talk to you soon. And until next time, take care.
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Melli has a beautiful way of guiding and reminding us of the stillness within.
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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.
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Truly life changing. This isn't solely meditation and mindfulness...this is about striving to be the best the versions of ourselves.
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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.
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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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