Having experienced the positive effect it has had, I would love to see more of this and others doing similar. So here is a way, step by step, to start your meditation group:

Enlist Support

Before starting, as an optional first step, if you have a friend or know someone who is interested, enlist their help. Getting started with something like this is always easier with someone else. I had a good support friend at the beginning and eventually got comfortable doing it alone. This step is optional and you can of course do it alone.

1. Find A Place

You can do it at your place, a friend’s apartment, a park… ideally a place where there is not much outside noise coming in and you won’t be disturbed by other people.

2. Set a Time and Date

Pick a day, maybe two weeks ahead. Consider whether you’d like to have regular meetups and whether this day will suit you going forward. You could also change the day every week, depending on your needs, but a consistent day helps establish a routine and helps people plan around it.

3. Spread The Word

Tell any friends who might be interested in joining about your event. Share it online. You could do this via Meetup or facebook, or, as I did, on Couchsurfing. In your post, include info such as: basic information about yourself and why you’d like to hold a meditation meetup, who it is suitable for, when it is and how long it will last, and what type of meditation and exercises it will include. You can use a simple name, we held ours on Wednesdays so called it Midweek Meditation Group.

If you have limited space, I’d suggest not including the address. Instead, put a contact number or email so people can contact you to tell you if they are coming. That way it will be easier to manage numbers. You can also add info like if it’s free or if you’ll accept donations. You can also ask people to bring tea or candles, snacks, and things that you’ll use for future meetups.

Now that you’ve organised it and have a date, you need to prepare!

4. Get Ready

Get anything you may need, such as candles, cushions, tea, and maybe some snacks for after. All you will absolutely need are enough cushions for the amount of people attending. If you are short you can also ask people to bring their own cushion, like I did when first starting out. Then, the day of, go a bit early to prepare the space and make it nice and cosy. Clear away clutter and have some nice low lighting, either with lamps or some candles.

5. Hold the Circle

Ask people to arrive on time to prevent latecomers disturbing the sit. When people arrive, give them a warm welcome and take them through to a place where they can sit down and talk to others. Ask people to turn off their phones. You could even have a box where people can drop them for the time of the meet.

Once everyone has arrived, you can say hello and remind them of the basic plan for the session. A nice way to begin is a short sharing round. Before that, it might be useful to offer some sharing guidelines. In the first session, I think a nice thing to do is ask people why they came and are interested in meditation. In future and consecutive meetups, I think it’s nice to have a round where each person just takes a moment to check in with themselves and share how they’re feeling with the group. When you have a consistent group, each person can share a little more with what has been going on with them since last time.

You can guide the meditation yourself if you feel comfortable doing that. Otherwise, you can prepare a guided meditation and play it. You can also just decide a set time and do a silent meditation.

Then, you have successfully held your first meditation meetup. Here’s some further tips:

Be Open to Evolve and Mix It Up

It can be nice to offer a few different types of mindfulness activities to keep the practice fresh, and as different things will work for different people, it’s nice to expose people to different tools.

Some activities that we’ve done include:

• Pranayama (breathing exercise)
• Mindful eating
• Sound Meditation
• Body Scan
• Mindfulness of Breath
• Open Awareness
• Eye Gazing
• Loving Kindness Meditation

As you have more experience holding the circles and getting to know the group you will feel more comfortable mixing it up and can also include other things like authentic relating exercises.

Don’t Be Afraid to Start Small

Don’t worry about how many people show up. Keep going! More and more people will reach out and you will find your community. For my first one, which a friend and I hosted, we had one person show up. The next week we had 2, and the following week we were at capacity of 10 and had to turn people away. Over time a regular group settled and I stopped posting about the event online.

Keep It Regular

I think keeping some kind of regularity is great to help build connections between people and offer some consistency to people’s support and practice. If once a week is too much, consider every two weeks.

That’s it. I have seen how initiatives like this can really help people so if this idea calls to you I encourage you to take the first steps to hold your first circle today!

The post How to Start a Meditation Circle appeared first on Maps of the Mind.

Here it is:

Waiting Is Meditating

Or, waiting is mindfulness.

That’s it. You remove waiting from your life, and replace it with awareness.

Anytime you find yourself in a state of ‘waiting’ for something, use this as a reminder to be present and practice mindfulness. Take 3 long deep breaths, relaxing yourself, then bringing your attention to your body. (Or, whatever other mindfulness practice you like).

Sounds easy, and in principle it is, but it takes some practice and mental reprogramming to get there consistently. I won’t pretend I practice this everywhere, but I do it often and find it to be a great tool to have in the mindful kit, and certainly most worthy of a share.

How To Practice

An example to demonstrate….

You enter the supermarket to do some grocery shopping. You’re in a hurry and just want to buy your stuff and get on with your day. You whip round and with your basket full you join the queue for the checkout. It’s a little longer than you’d like.

Now, instead of entering a state of ‘waiting’ and whatever that might normally bring up, (maybe a feeling of hurried restlessness and/or a compulsive urge to get your phone out and check some feed), you check yourself. You stop for a moment.

You take 3 deep breaths.
You bring your attention to the sensations in your body.
You observe them patiently until you reach the front of the line.

When you reach the cashier you’re more relaxed and focused, and go on with your day, happy to have taken the opportunity for a mindful moment.

Opportunity Is Everywhere

If you consider how many times you find yourself waiting, you’ll see how many opportunities there are for mindfulness:

• Any queue or line: shops, airports, banks, post offices etc.
• Stopping at a red light
• Something is downloading, buffering, loading, converting
• Coffee is brewing/tea steeping/water boiling
• Bus stop/tram station/train station platform

I’m sure you can think of many more.

Try to think of one now. What is something you often have to wait for? Think of how it would affect you if you slowed down every time.

Mental Reprogramming

To frequently and effectively use this in your life, it helps to mentally program yourself to associate waiting with this practice, so you catch those opportunities rather than missing them in a blur of hurried and unconscious thoughts (hey, we all do it).

To do this, first find a short phrase that is catchy for you. Some examples:
‘Waiting is breathing’
‘Waiting is slowing down’
‘Waiting is mindfulness’

Then once you have your phrase, drill it in. As if you were learning a new word or other behaviour; repetition repetition repetition.

Sit down for 5 minutes and meditate on it, repeating it like a mantra. Saying, over and over again, ‘waiting is breathing, waiting is breathing, waiting is breathing…’.

You can also write your phrase down and leave it somewhere you’ll see it a lot, like your desk or mirror (post its work!), whilst you train yourself to associate waiting with your practice.

Implement this in to your life and over time you’ll naturally become more patient in times when you’ve found yourself mentally (or loudly) saying ‘hurry up!’ Or ‘come oooon’. You know what I’m talking about

As with anything, it takes practice, so keep it up!

The post An Incredibly Simple & Effective Way To Practice Mindfulness Anywhere appeared first on Maps of the Mind.

There is dispute in the Buddhist community about the value of psychedelics ‘on the path’ and if you’re interested in the intersection of Buddhism and psychedelics, I highly recommend the book Zig Zag Zen. There are plenty of other articles on this topic, but today I’m just gonna share a bit of my story and how these two things have weaved their way into my life.

Discovering LSD

I first tried LSD as a curious guy keen for new experiences. As someone who enjoyed being creative, I was especially interested in new ways of thinking. I also wanted to have fun. I had little idea what I was in for when I put that little piece of paper in my mouth, but looking back, I now see those first experiences as pivotal in my life. Though they’ve affected me in many ways, one that stands out is how they lead me to meditation. At the time I had never tried meditating, nor had any real idea what it was, but if I had never tried LSD, I honestly doubt I’d have started meditating.

How Psychedelic Experience Lead Me To Meditation

On the tail end of my first LSD trips, I didn’t have any ‘comedown’. The post-trip chapter I experienced would more accurately be described as a serene, contemplative afterglow. After the ecstasy and madness of the peak, I descended to a more peaceful state which was in its own way, my favourite part of the whole experience. Though at the time I didn’t have any clear idea of what ‘meditation’ meant, I described the afterglow state to friends as meditative; my mind was sharp and clear and I was deeply reflective. I also noticed that my breathing naturally became long and slow. This tuning into the flow of my breath was a naturally induced meditation session.

When my friends and I didn’t naively first time candy flip on a Sunday and have to go to work the next day without getting a wink of sleep (see: my first time on acid – I started a new job that Monday – another story, another time), an ideal recovery day would be spent chilling with my fellow travellers. We’d order pizza, smoke joints and get comfortable on the sofas for a run of movies. After a long session, we were always physically exhausted, yet my mind was always energised. With this mental energy I’d wander philosophically through themes and ideas that came up in the films, conversation, music or anything else. As we watched movies I’d interpret them in all kinds of novel ways, see metaphors the writers and directors had put in, and understand concepts that I hadn’t considered before. I’d make notes in my journal about interesting ideas that came to mind and, of course, just generally enjoy hanging out. Relaxed but attentive, naturally contemplative, it was a taster for meditation.

In the wake of these experiences, my mind was clearer. I had a greater awareness and detachment of my thoughts. I felt wiser. I was looking at things from a greater perspective more often and more naturally, like that mental trick you do when something bad happens and you ask yourself “how much will this matter in 5, 10 or 20 years?”, or you zoom out on google maps to try and coerce the overview effect. I was thinking more creatively and seeing metaphors in almost everything, and my behaviour became less guided by fear and petty concerns. The effect was sudden and obvious, and lasted some months before beginning to fade and older mental habits and ways of being began to return.

I missed my newly found but now fading clarity and wisdom, but I’d experienced another way of being that I wouldn’t forget in a hurry. Following a wikipedia trail, I was lead from psychedelic drugs to non-ordinary forms of consciousness to meditation; a method of changing awareness, without substances. Though my access to psychedelic substances was gone, my newly whetted appetite for discovery remained, and I moved to Asia with a job teaching English.

From the UK to China

In my new home city of Shanghai, I started going to classes on meditation and reading books on the topic. Reading books about Buddhism felt like I was reading books about psychedelic experience, and in retrospect, they were some kind of integration texts. I began a daily meditation practice, and soon after went on my first silent retreat in 2012.

Temple stay in Korea

In the 6 years that have passed since, meditation practice has become a key foundation in my life. I’ve been back on other retreats and temple stays, was part of a Zen sangha in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh in Spain, and last year started a weekly meditation group in Berlin. Meditation is what a friend of mine would call a fundamental – others include exercise, diet, community and creative projects – and mindfulness is a skill I find applicable in so many situations of life. 

Like many others, my practice started with psychedelics. And while my first psychedelic journeys lead me to meditation, meditation has boomeranged back around and played its role in my psychedelic sessions. Today I’ll share one example.

How Meditation Helped On A Deep Journey

On a grey Saturday a couple years ago, alone in a friend’s house whilst he was away for the weekend, I took 250 micrograms of LSD. In the months before, I’d been reading various psychedelic-therapeutic protocols and had prepared accordingly for the session. I managed the anxiety of a turbulent come up by relaxing myself many times as I noticed myself getting anxious and tightening up, and directing my attention to my breathing. Around an hour in, as the lysergic waves really began to come on strong, I was lying down, looking up at the ceiling.

In one moment, a monster appeared above me. It was hovering over me, looking down at me from the ceiling. I was looking directly at its face, and it was looking right back at me, right into my eyes.

I was instinctively gripped by fear. My shoulders and rest of my body tightened up instantly as I stared in shock. The beast was of course not physically there, it was a manifestation of my fears, a representation of what scares me and had been avoided.

I held the monster’s gaze, took a deep breath in, and with a long exhale, relaxed my body, letting tension go. As I did this, the monster dissolved into harmless patterns right before my eyes. The visual information was in fact the same – the rich ceiling patterns that made up the monsters face were still there – but they no longer appeared scary or even as a being to me. What changed wasn’t the sensory information I was receiving, it was my perception of it. What made up the ‘monster’ was still there, I just saw it differently. I had a new perspective.

There were a few other moments leading up to this confrontation where I noticed myself getting anxious and tightening up, and I consciously relaxed my body. I see these as like smaller hurdles that once passed, allowed me to get to the point of this confrontation. The dissolution was like a jumping off point, and after this I dropped deep into ineffable experience.

The journey was deep and had many chapters: there were visions of a past life, alternate realities, and repressed emotions burst up and were released though uncontrollable bouts of sobbing. In the most profound chapter, it was a transpersonal experience; ‘I’ disappeared, along with time, and experience just happened.

I’ll share this story in more detail another time but for now I think its enough to say it was a significant experience that shifted something deep inside of me. The next day I felt lighter and clearer. I had more understanding and compassion. And my meditation practice was revived with a spark. I hadn’t been this affected since those very first journeys – the ones that spurred me on to meditation. I didn’t become a holy and all-understanding being overnight, but I inched in that direction. 

Reflecting on the session afterwards, I saw how techniques that I’d learnt in meditation helped me to relax, to let my guard down and open to the experience with lessened resistance. And this is why I recommend meditation to anyone considering a first psychedelic experience. Including you.

Thanks for reading.

The post Psychedelics and Meditation – How They’ve Informed Each Other On My Path appeared first on Maps of the Mind.

Transforming Existing Habits

If you’ve read a bit about habit forming, you’ll already be familiar with the strategy of attaching new habits to existing ones. This is the basic idea here, but rather than attaching mindfulness to our habits, we’re actually going to be transforming the habits into mindfulness practices. This is an idea I came across a few years ago after reading Thich That Hanh (who seems like the most chill man alive), and has been hugely helpful in bringing present moment awareness from my meditation session to the rest of my day.

Creating Mindful Checkpoints & Triggers for Awareness

What we want to use are everyday habits that are spread throughout the day. This is to create a series of mindful checkpoints to keep us on course and develop consistency and continuity of practice. It’s easy to get swept up in the momentum of the day, becoming rushed and going from one task to the next without truly being present. Later, we come round when the day has come and gone, and realise we’ve only been “half-there”. We’ve been absently gliding through on autopilot, and we’ve missed much of the day without being sure where we’ve really been.

“Life moves pretty fast, if you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
Ferris Bueller

Mr. Bueller, a wise man

By transforming existing habits into mini-meditations, we can sprinkle mindful moments throughout the day, using our checkpoints as triggers for awareness, calling us back to the present moment, and giving us a chance to choose where we put our attention.

The Basic Method To Turning Any Action Into A Practice

Totally focus your attention on what you are doing in the present moment. When your mind wanders or you realise that you’ve begun thinking, just bring your attention back to what you are doing. Focus on the sensations you feel in your body, what you can see, what you can hear. Keep your attention tuned in to your activity as best you can.

5 Habits To Turn Into Mindfulness Practices

Here are 5 everyday habits turned mindfulness practices, complete with cheesy alliterated titles to help you remember them.

1. Awakening Ablution: The Sensual Shower

Listen to the sound of the splashing water. Notice how the water landing on your skin feels; the temperature and pressure. Take in the smell of your shower gel. As you dry yourself, feel the rub and the texture of the towel against each part of your body as you dry it, scanning your body for sensation.

Bonus: Cognizant Cold Shower
If you find that in the shower your mind easily wanders off elsewhere, flip it to cold and see how quickly you are back in the room! As your natural inclination to tighten up kicks in, relax your shoulders, and breathe deep. Surrender to the cold! As well as being effective at bringing you into the present moment, cold showers have numerous other benefits and are a good way to build discipline and practice embracing discomfort.

2. Conscious Coffee: The First Sip Of The Day

Wrap your hands round the mug and feel the warmth of the coffee permeating out against your fingers. Get your nose in there and yes, smell the coffee. Take that first sip like you’re on death row and chose coffee as your last drink – its the last sip of coffee you’re ever gonna take. Taste that goodness.

Alternative: The Taoist Tea
Not a coffee person? Do it with a tea, or whatever your morning drink is.

3. Savor The Flavor: Mindful Mouthful

Choose one meal or snack in your day and make the first bite a mindful mouthful. Before you start eating, stop to think about where all the ingredients have come from and their journey to your plate. Look at the colours of the food and take on how it smells. Then, chew the first mouthful at least 10 times, taking the time to pay attention to the texture and flavour of the food. Enjoy.

Bonus: Mindful Meal
If you’re feeling ambitious, make it a full mindful meal. This will work best with a meal that you eat alone. Before you start, put your phone on airplane mode and put it face down. This will help stop your flickering mind from finding a distraction from your food. And don’t worry, the world will go on just fine without you for the course of a meal. Then, repeat as above, but making each and every bite a mindful mouthful.

4. Tuned In Toothbrushing

Just before you’re about to put the toothbrush in your mouth, stop. Take a deep breath and relax your shoulders. Now switch hands and brush your teeth with your left hand (or if you’re a leftie, your right hand). This will feel a little weird but the awkwardness will help to coerce you into being present with the act and make a normally unconscious act conscious. Focus on the task of brushing.

Extra: Using your opposite hand can be applied to many everyday tasks and can apparently help increase creativity and grow your brain. Give it a go, try stirring drinks and putting your key in the door with the opposite hand.

5. Receptive Rest

This is for when you’re ready to get your sleep.

Lie on your back and feel the weight of your body on the bed. Rest your hands on your stomach and feel them rise as you inhale, and fall as you exhale. Now you’re breathing from your diaphragm, begin to make the exhale longer than your inhale.

• Breathe in for a count of 2
• Hold for 1
• Breathe out for a count of 4
• Hold for a count of 1

Continue this for a few minutes.

Adjust the 4-1-6-1 ratio as you like, the only rule is that your exhale should be longer than your inhale.

The tummy rise and fall is to make sure you’re breathing from your diaphragm (a relaxed form of breathing that occurs in mammals during a state of relaxation), and making your exhale longer than your inhale has a physiological effect that calms your body – your heart rate drops, blood vessels relax – perfect for bed.

And… a bonus 6th one, as it doesn’t strictly qualify as transforming a habit – it’s a classic habit-attach. Still, too good for me not to include…

6. Desk Downtime

Visit this website when you arrive at your desk (or before you get up from it). A surprisingly effective way to give yourself a 2 minute breather and tune back into the present. Try setting it as your homepage so its the first thing you see when you switch on.

Create Your Own

These are just examples, but you get the idea. Be creative and make your own checkpoints by transforming other daily habits into opportunities for awareness.

Implement The Practices. One by One.

Daily habits can potentially act as cornerstones to bring you back to presence throughout the days that make up your life, so it’s worth taking the time to implement them as mindfulness practices. It’d be easy to try and take them all on at once, fail, and then give up altogether. Instead, I’d recommend installing them one at a time.

Choose one, for example showering, and really target this window of your day to make it as mindful as possible. Have ‘sensual shower’ on your to-do list every day. Leave a note on the shower nozzle to remind you. Fully dedicate the shower to mindfulness. After a few weeks, it should become second nature and you won’t need to have it on your to-do list to remember doing it. Congratulations, you’ve successfully installed a trigger for a mindful habit (though you will still need to practice the mindfulness during the activity).

Whilst continuing with your sensual showers, choose the next habit to install. Let’s go for conscious coffee. Now go about it with the same amount of effort: Have it on your to-do list, leave a post-it on your coffee mug etc. Stack your mindfulness practices this way and in a few months you will have a series of mindful checkpoints throughout your day.

Monthly Challenges

To make a game of it, choose a calendar month and make a mindfulness challenge. For example, March is going to be sensual shower month: “Every single shower I take in March, I will pay attention to my senses.” By April, you’ll be ready for conscious coffee month: “I will take that moment to make the first sip of the day a conscious one.”

That’s it. Good luck. I wish you many more mindful moments!

The post Transforming Everyday Habits Into Mindfulness Practices (+ 5 Habits To Transform) appeared first on Maps of the Mind.

Meditation is on the rise. As it grows, so do the number of meditation apps and there are now so many available that I wouldn’t be surprised if you felt overwhelmed at the choice. Not an ideal way to start a journey to calm your mind. So on my quest to help anyone who wants to try, start or keep up meditation, I’ve tried out a selection of apps and compiled this list of the best ones (yes, I’ve been meditating a lot in the process).

Find One That Works For You

Some are simple timers, some have profiles and progress trackers, most have guided meditations. There are many different types and they will suit different needs. I suggest looking through to find one that appeals to you and then try it for a week or two. I’ve put a summary below each app so you can skim through. If you’re new to meditation I’d recommend starting with one that has an introductory course – info on these with the summary.

N.B. All of the apps in this list have at least some free material, whilst others are entirely free. I can’t comment on the paid versions or features of any of these apps, the info here is on the free versions.

Without further ado:

Insight Timer

The most popular completely free meditation app, insight is comprehensive and has a tonne of features. There are loads of guided meditations available, with and without music, even in numerous languages. You can of course use as many or as few features as you like (I typically only use the timer).  However, if you like extra features and think that tracking your progress or storing presets for different timed meditations would be useful, this one might suit. There are really too many features for me to include here, far more than I’ve ever used, the best way is to just download it and have a look round for yourself. You can create a user profile, add friends and send messages to other meditators. It is almost a bridge between a meditation app and a social networking site. I like that whenever you finish a meditation you are told how many people around the world meditated at the same time as you, and have an easy option to tell them ‘thanks for meditating with me’. Nice touch.

Summary:
– Totally free
– Comprehensive app
– Thousands of guided meditations with and without music, ambient music tracks.
– Customizable timer with options for reminder bells throughout.
– Personal profile; Track progress over sessions per day, and as well as logging your sessions, add friends & send messages.

Download: here

Headspace

When you start on Headspace you will be led through ‘Take 10’; an excellent free ten-day course for beginners with a ten minute guided meditation each day. Take 10 is perfect for beginners as it introduces the practice of meditation in a very accessible way and has a few short animations on some days which help to illustrate and explain some of the ideas and concepts behind meditation. The meditations are guided by British founder Andy Puddicombe and I found them to be very relaxing. After the 10 days are up you will be invited to subscribe. If you are new to meditation I would recommend doing the 10 days to learn the basics, and then decide if you want to pay subscription or go on to one of the other free apps to continue your practice.

Intro course: Take 10 – a ten-day course for beginners with a ten minute guided meditation each day.

Summary: Best free introductory 10-day course out there. Sadly nothing else in the free version.

Download: here

Calm

Slick app with a nice layout. When you start you will be led through ‘7 Days of Calm’, a week long course for beginners in which you can learn the basics of mindfulness meditation through a ten minute guided session each day. The course introduces ideas like awareness and working with thoughts, and teaches mindful breathing techniques, concentration, and how to recognize distraction. The free version is much more extensive than Headspace and after the intro course there are loads more meditations which come under headings of; body scan, loving kindness, calm light, and forgiveness. You can choose the length of the meditation with options between 3 and 30 minutes so you can find a meditation that’s suited for you. There is also a free sample collection of 10 minute sessions from the daily calm program that are based on themes like choice, resilience, gratitude, impermanence, and letting go. All the meditations are guided by an American female.

Intro course: 7 Days Of Calm – teaching the basics of mindfulness in a 10 minute guided meditation per day.

Summary: Slick app. Many features on free version. Good introductory 7 day course. Many different types of meditations at different lengths. Other features including profile for tracking stats and streak, daily meditation reminder, and simple timer for a timed or open-ended unguided meditation.

Download: here

Zazen Meditation Timer

Super basic meditation timer that I like because of its simplicity. When you open the app you all you need to do is press ‘Start Meditation’ and you will get a 5 second countdown before a bell rings to start a 10 minute meditation. Another bell will signify the end. That’s it! Perfect for a no-fuss way to have 10 minutes in silence.

If you want more or less than 10 minutes, you can enter the settings and change the length of the practice.

Summary: No-thrills timer for a silent meditation. Default is 10 minutes but time of meditation changeable.

Download: here

Aware

Aware has a 21-day course which will build you from 10 minutes a day to 20. The first week is free and each is 10 minutes. The sessions are similar to headspace but without animations and led by an Indian rather than a British male. What I like about Aware is the ‘energizers’ – short 3-5 minute meditations that you can slip into your day. I’ve been setting an alarm around 1pm everyday to do one of these and it always seems to catch me when I’m starting to feel rushed. After the short meditation I always feel calmer and more relaxed. The benefit of these shorter ones are that they’re too short to say no. If it was a 10 minute meditation I’d be tempted to skip it but I can always find 3 minutes. Even though its short it halts the momentum of my thinking mind long enough for me to feel a difference to my mood.

Intro course: Free first 7 days of introductory course. 10 minutes per day. Similar to headspace.

Summary: Good ‘energizers’ which are 3-5 minute meditations. Good for slipping into busy schedules.

Download: here

Stop, Breathe & Think

OK so this is number 6 – I’ve added this on as an update to the article because I’ve been using it recently and think it deserves a mention.

When you open Stop, Breath & Think you’ll be prompted to close your eyes for 10 seconds and check in with how you’re feeling mentally and physically, and then input what you’re feeling and your emotions. Based on this, you’ll be given suggestions of two or three different types of meditations, and after choosing one, you can then choose the length. Alternatively, if you know what type of meditation you’re after, you can just choose it straight off the bat. Nice variety and another good option.

Summary: Sleek app. Many different types of meditation at different lengths. Nice check-in feature before you start a meditation.

Download: here

Good Luck!

Hope you find one that can help you build a regular meditation habit, as I genuinely believe it is one of the best things you can do for yourself. Good luck!

Did I miss any great apps? Let me know and leave a comment below.

The post 5 Best Meditation Apps for Android appeared first on Maps of the Mind.

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The other day I stumbled upon this short video which begins with an interviewer saying to Bill Murray:

“Tell me what it is that you want that you don’t have.”

His answer is surprising and meaningful. I’ve long been a huge fan of Murray as a comedy actor (who isn’t?) and I was pleasantly surprised to hear him talking about the power of mindfulness and being present. I won’t speak for him so I’ll say no more on his intriguing answer, you can see for yourself.

– If you can’t watch the video I’ve posted some quotes below.

• N.B. The volume is low on this video so you’ll probably want to crank it up a little.

Without using the word mindfulness, Bill is clearly aware of the benefits of raising your consciousness and being more aware and present, and I hope someone recommends him to start meditating. If anyone knows Bill please send him over to my page – Why You Should Start Meditating Today

Quotes

‘Are you here? And most of the time you’re not’

‘That’s not me there, that’s what I’m doing now, but that’s not necessarily me’

‘I’d like to just be more here all the time and I’d like to see what I could get done, what I could really do, if I were able to not get distracted, to not change channels in my mind and body – so I’m my own channel, really here, and always with you. You could look at me and go ‘OK he’s there, there’s someone there…”

‘This is not a dress rehearsal, this is your life’

‘You kill a man, you kill every opportunity he ever had’

‘It resonated, it rang a bell inside of me, a bell that rings a lot that says “Remember Bill, come back, remember, remember. This is your life, this is the only one you’ve got”‘

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – 

Do you know of any other famous people speaking about meditation or mindfulness? We’d love to share it too, send us a message or leave a comment!

The post Bill Murray Talks Deeply On The Power Of Mindfulness appeared first on Maps of the Mind.

Guided meditations are one of the best ways to get started. Just like a class, an experienced meditator will walk you through it and tell you what you should be doing. Before you know it you’ll remember the instructions and will be able to meditate without a guide. If you’ve already tried meditation but found it didn’t quite click with you, I’d suggest trying different styles or techniques – I’ve tried to include a variety in this list. If you’re not using guided meditations and are finding it hard to maintain focus during your sit, they’ll help in gathering your attention.

So, I’ve scoured the web and tried a host of different meditations from different resources, made this list of the best ones, free of course. For beginners and ease of trial I’ve put a direct link in green to a short meditation from each resource so that you can dive right in.

• A few useful links:
  • 7 Best Youtube Guided Meditations – Mindful Muscle
  • Five of the Best Meditation Apps – The Guardian (paid apps)
  • 10 Ways To Develop Your Meditation Practice

UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Centre

A great place for beginners to start, the site has a few different meditations ranging from 3-20 minutes, all of them straightforward and easy to follow. You can stream the tracks direct from the site or download them for later use. All of them are by the same woman so if you’d prefer a male voice or a different accent, perhaps try one of the others (if you’d like a British accent – scroll down to Mental Health Foundation).

Stream/download: Yes/Yes
Podcast in iTunes store

Recommended meditations for beginners:
Body scan meditation [3 mins]
Breathing meditation [5 mins]

The Free Mindfulness Project

The Free Mindfulness Project has a wider variety than UCLA in a selection of different types of meditation ranging between 3 and 45 minutes, they have meditations with a few different teachers, so you should be able to find someone with a style that you like. The only downside is that you can’t stream the tracks directly from the site, they need to be downloaded first and then played.

Stream/download: Yes/No

Recommended meditation for beginners:
Breathing w/ Peter Morgan [3 mins] – Direct download link

Tara Brach

Tara Brach has a massive selection of meditations. She adds a new meditation each week and for ease of use you can subscribe to her podcast channel and access them that way. She also has a page on her site specifically for those new to meditation where you can find shorter basic meditations – a fantastic place to start – as well as some talks and a lovely letter welcoming you to the practice of meditation!

Stream/download: Yes/Yes
Podcast in iTunes store

Recommended meditation for beginners:
Ten-Minute Basic Meditation Practice (10 mins)
A short introductory meditation with a body scan, bringing focus to the breath, sounds, then resting in awareness. Click here for direct download.

Mental Health Foundation

As well as meditation and mindfulness, this UK-based organisation also has materials on topics such as relationships, nutrition, and exercise. If you’re only after meditations and mindfulness, you’ll find most of the stuff on this part of their soundcloud page, but you’ll have to poke around their podcasts page to find everything. If you like a British accent, give them a go.

Stream/download: Yes/Yes (from soundcloud)

Sample meditation:
Mindfulness Practice Exercise [10 mins]
This relaxation exercise is narrated by mindfulness expert, Professor Mark Williams, and features a series of breathing and visualisation techniques. Direct download link
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F*ck That: An Honest Meditation

[Youtube – 2 mins]

• Tip: When using guided meditations from youtube, turn off autoplay. This’ll stop some other video playing immediately after, leaving you in peace after your meditation.

This meditation may sound like a joke but that doesn’t stop it from being calming as well as damn funny. If you are in need of a smile, go for this one. The creator Jason Headley said that the meditation was created for the realities of today’s world and it’s certainly connected with a lot of people – it’s been massively popular collecting over 8 million youtube views. Many people have reported they find it difficult to meditate to because they are laughing so much – but laughing is healthy and relaxing, and coming out of a meditation with a smile on your face can’t be a bad thing.

• Due to the popularity of the video, Jason created an app for $2 with longer meditations called H*nest Meditation – iTunes app store / Google Play

If you like the ‘F*ck That’ meditation, maybe also try Inner F*cking Peace: A Guided Meditation (youtube – 5 mins). It’s in a similar comical vein and a couple minutes longer.

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I hope that you’ve found something useful here or better yet a teacher with a style that you like and can regularly meditate with. I am always interested in finding more resources, so if you know of any good ones I’ve missed, please leave a comment. All the best and mindful meditating

Still not sure if you should be meditating? Check out this infographic on the science behind how meditation makes you happier.
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Want to meditate in silence without a guide? Check out the How To Meditate: A Beginner’s Guide

In search of some motivation? – Why You Should Start Meditating Today

The post The Best Free Guided Meditation Resources Online appeared first on Maps of the Mind.

1. Make It a Daily Practice

If meditation isn’t yet a daily practice, make it one. I can’t emphasise the importance of consistency enough. Making it a daily habit is the best thing you can do for your practice over the long term. Make a 100% commitment to it and don’t leave it as a choice, make it an obligation. If you struggle to find time, then you should actively schedule time for it.

If a day comes thats just full of obstacles, then shorten the meditation, just don’t skip it. If it’s that desperate just sit for 2 minutes (but really, you can’t spare 10-20 minutes?). This way you will still retain the habit of sitting down and taking the time for yourself. It will become a habit rather than a chore and will become a regular part of your day. When you have to brush your teeth, do you ever think ‘but I don’t have time today’ or ‘I’m too tired’ – no, you just do it because you always do it. Make it so with meditation. The best way to form the habit is commit to a month without skipping a day.

• When you do miss a day… don’t miss the next!
  If you do miss a day – because hey, you’re human – make absolutely sure that you don’t miss the next day. The next day is crucial to make sure you get straight back to it and don’t allow a run of missed days to form. Accept the missed day and just like you’d bring yourself back to your point of focus during a meditation, bring yourself back to your practice: calmly and smilingly.

2. Have a Meditation Buddy

Having a friend that you meditate with is a tremendous way to support your practice. When I first started meditating in China I was lucky enough to have a close friend who was also just starting to learn at that time. We went to classes together, exchanged tips and shared our experiences on the learning curve. We lent each other books on the topic and meditated together after work before going out for noodles. At the time we were both working as teachers at the same school and when we both had a long enough break between classes we’d take an empty classroom and sit for 20 minutes. We turned out to be a great support to each other and both of our practices were strengthened because of our influence on each other.

• Alternatively, your meditation buddy doesn’t have to be someone you physically meditate with, it could be an accountability buddy. You can check in with each other regularly to make sure you are both keeping it up.

3. Create a Dedicated Spot For Meditation

Set up a ‘meditation space’ in your home. It could be anything from a small spot with cushions on the floor to a particular room with an altar. Ideally this space will be used exclusively for meditation and you will not do any other activity there. The physical segregation will create a ‘safe haven’ and this will help your mind to settle down more quickly and allow you to go deeper with each meditation.

4. Read a Book About Meditation Or Mindfulness

Each time I read a book about meditation or a related topic my awareness gets a little boost because I’m getting reminders and calls to awareness whilst reading – and I could be doing this anywhere (commuting, in the park, before bed). I’m generally more aware of the mind and its wanderings and I ‘catch’ and therefore place my mind, far more often. When reading you also learn new techniques and get new insights into the practice of meditation, deepending your understanding and expanding your practice. Thich Nhat Hanh’s books have been hugely influential in extending my mindfulness from my formal meditation to daily life and everyday tasks.

Photo by Amber Metcalfe

Two Books I’d Recommend

• Thich Nhat Hanh – Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life
• Eckhart Tolle – The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

5. Do a Course Or Silent Retreat

Doing a course is a surefire way to boost your practice. You will get the time and mental space you need to do serious meditation. Escaping the distractions and frenzy of the modern world will enable you to develop your level your focus and you will almost certainly learn something new about the technique of meditation as well. Moreover, after an intensive period of meditation it seems much easier to extend the duration of your daily meditations and integrate it further into your life. I have done temple stays and meditation courses and if you are serious about meditation then one course I’d happily recommend is the 10 day vipassana meditation course – I even convinced my Dad to do one. They’re available all over the world and there’s lots of info online. You can read my advice about how to make the most of a 10 day course here.

6. Join a Weekly Group

Like meditating with a friend, meditating with a group can be a superb boost to your practice. It’s a great way to meet other meditators and a place where you can share your experiences and receive support. Having a weekly appointment in a set time and place is a great way to make meditation into a fun and sociable event on your calendar and mixes up your practice helping to keep it fresh.

Meditation groups can be found almost anywhere- I’ve attended meditation groups while I’ve been based in China, Spain and Korea and they’ve helped me in many ways. I’ve often found the quality of my meditation was improved when sitting with a group and others said the same. Groups are great for learning different techniques of meditation and meeting new people in the process. Search online for a group and if you can’t find one, try starting one yourself, all it takes is setting up a facebook group.

7. Meditate For Longer When You Can

Yes, I’ve banged on about the importance of consistency and cementing the habit. Shorter and daily is better than longer and less frequently. But it doesn’t always have to be shorter, meditate for a little longer when you can. If you normally meditate for 5 minutes a day but on Sundays have more time and an easier schedule, then meditate for 20 minutes. You’ll likely notice a difference in the meditation.

8. Integrate Mindfulness In To Your Life

The aim of meditation isn’t to become skilled at watching the breath for 20 minutes a day, it’s to become more aware of our minds and lives. Mindfulness is basically meditation in a non-formal setting and is the practice being aware of where your mind is when you aren’t sat down in a quiet spot with your eyes closed. While mindfulness can be practiced anywhere and anytime, it will be much easier in the beginning to practice during activities that are done alone and that can be done slowly: taking a shower, brushing your teeth, taking a walk, eating. Choose one or two of these, and everytime you do that particular activity, make it an exercise in mindfulness, a mini-meditation if you will.

• Read more: Transforming Everyday Habits Into Mindfulness Practices (+ 5 Habits To Transform)

Mindfulness really can be extended to anything. Just like meditation, it is the practice of choosing one thing, your anchor in the present moment, and being totally conscious of it. Simply do as you would do with a sitting meditation, but rather than using your breath or mantra as an anchor you will use the activity you are doing. Focus on the thing that you are doing, taking care to do it calmly and with all your attention. This will keep your attention in the present moment and not swept up in unrelated thoughts. Every time you notice your mind has wandered off, calmly bring it back.

9. Don’t Beat Yourself Up If You Do Miss it

When you’re meditating and realise you’ve drifted off in to ‘thought-land’, it’s important to retain your equanimity and calmy, smilingly bring yourself back to your point of focus. The same is true when you miss a day or fall out of rhythm with your meditation practice; it’s the same teaching on the macro level. When you realise you’ve let your regularity of practice slip or skipped a few days, don’t be annoyed at yourself or feel guilty. Calmly accept the reality and return to your practice, just as you would return to your point of focus.

10. Don’t Keep It a Secret: Come Out As a Meditator

When I first started I was a bit timid about sharing the fact that I was a meditator; I was worried about being judged and seen as a weird hippy. Despite its growth meditation still isn’t the most commonplace practice and for many people conjures images of ascetic monks and brings to mind religious practices of exotic Eastern religions. Whilst there’s no real easy way around this until perceptions change, it’s better just to be honest and open that you’re a meditator (isn’t that the case with most things?). You may be surprised to find that someone you know is interested and may even want to learn – you could even find yourself a meditation buddy.

Housemates, friends and those close to you will understand that you need that quiet time alone and it will be easier to make time to sit without worries of distraction. If your boss knows you could even ask if there’s somewhere at your place of work where you can meditate. By ‘coming out’ you’ll identify yourself as a meditator and this shift in mentality will help you to maintain your continuity of practice.

In this way you can also break the stereotype that meditation is only for buddhists and hippies. A former work colleague of mine was surprised when it came up that I meditated regularly and went to a local meditation group. It turned out that he’d already read a few articles about meditation online and was curious to try it. Upon finding out about my practice he seemed relieved and said ‘well… if normal people do it too’. (!)

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These methods have all helped me along the way and I’m sure will help you too. Do you have any tips for how to improve a meditation practice? Or maybe you can recommend a course? Post a comment below.

The post 10 Ways To Develop Your Meditation Practice appeared first on Maps of the Mind.

What To Expect

You Will Seriously Learn to Meditate

Perhaps you’re aware of all the purported benefits of meditation and are eager to learn but would like some guidance. Maybe you’ve started but aren’t sure you’re doing it right or that you can sense any tangible change in yourself… that’s normal; meditation is a slow burner… the practice is a subtle one and the effects are gradual. Whatever the case, completing one of these 10 days courses will clear up any doubts you may have about meditation. Over the duration of the course you will systematically learn how to meditate, and gain a lot of practice too. There are teachers on hand to give you guidance should you want it: they will answer any questions and respond to any doubts you may have. Everything is arranged and set up for you to be able to focus solely on learning and practising meditation. It really is the ideal environment to learn because as well as the support on hand there are….

No Distractions

All external distractions are removed; you aren’t permitted to talk, touch or even make eye contact with other students. You aren’t allowed to read, write, listen to music, use a phone or use any electronics or other means of communication or entertainment. You are cut off from the outside world and there is complete gender segregation. You are basically living like a monk for 10 days. All meals are taken care of and a bell is rung every morning to wake you up. You have nothing to worry about and can dedicate your time and energies to meditation. And it’s a lot of time too, here’s how the daily schedule shapes up:

4:00 a.m.                           Morning wake-up bell
4:30 – 6:30 a.m.               Meditate in the hall or in your room
6:30 – 8:00 a.m.               Breakfast break
8:00 – 9:00 a.m.              Group meditation in the hall
9:00 – 11:00 a.m.             Meditate in the hall or in your room
11:00 – 12 noon                 Lunch break
12:00 – 1:00 p.m.              Rest, and interviews with the teacher
1:00 – 2:30 p.m.                Meditate in the hall or in your room
2:30 – 3:30 p.m.                Group meditation in the hall
3:30 – 5:00 p.m.                Meditate in the hall or in your room
5:00 – 6:00 p.m.               Tea break
6:00 – 7:00 p.m.               Group meditation in the hall
7:00 – 8:15 p.m.                Teacher’s discourse in the hall
8:15 – 9:00 p.m.                Group meditation in the hall
9:00 – 9:30 p.m.                Question time in the hall
9:30 p.m.                             Retire to your room; lights out

If You Already Meditate: The Course Will Enable You To Go Much Further

If you are already meditating and want to take your practice and focus to the next level, I seriously recommend you find the time to do a course. For the reasons given above, it is an environment most conducive to meditation. When I went into my first course I’d been meditating 20-30 minutes everyday for the 4 months leading up to the course. Subtle though they were, I’d started feeling the benefits of meditation after the first month. Meditation by meditation, I slowly improved my focus and gradually felt change in my day to day life. More often I would find myself aware of where my mind was, able to place it to more beneficial areas of focus and to view things from a more positive perspective. The progress was tangible but if I’m honest; it was slow.

However, on this ten day course the depth of my focus and the ability to retain my attention skyrocketed. I remember at the end of a one hour meditation on day 3, I couldn’t believe that I had maintained my focus on my breath for the entire hour. Yes, the entire hour. There was no moment when I realised I wasn’t meditating and had to bring my attention back to my breath: my attention never left my breath. Prior to that I’d never managed a full 20 minute meditation without losing my attention and having to bring it back a few times. Rather than ‘coming round’- realising I was thinking of something and then bringing my attention back, I was able to sense when my attention was about to drift off before it had actually left, and was able to pull it back to centre before it had gone anywhere. This may sound strange but this is heightened awareness: the meditation was working.

This course is full on. That is the reason why you can make so much progress in such a short amount of time. All you do is meditate all day, everyday. You pack in almost 100 hours of practice into 10 days. By comparison, if you meditated 20 minutes every single day, it would take you 300 days to reach 100 hours of practice, almost 10 months! By this measure you pack in a month’s practice into each day on the course… not bad. Not only that but beause of the environment the quality of meditation is superior and the continuity of practice has a snowball effect on your concentration.

Advice

Keep Plugging – One Meditation at a Time

Don’t expect to feel enlightened or have all the answers to your life after a few hours. Stick at it, maintain your patience and keep going. It will be testing and there will be times you won’t want to do the meditation properly. You´ll be tempted to go out for a walk, take a toilet break, or just ease up on your meditation and let yourself drift into thoughts and daydreams. This urge will be reinforced if you feel like you’re not making much progress. On top of that the 10 days can feel like a lifetime and slacking off for a bit might not seem such a big deal. If the amount of time seems overwhelming or you’re struggling for motivation try to focus on the current meditation and do that one as best you can. You’ll make it to the end, can take a break, and go again for the next meditation. Remember the aphorism: ‘you get out what you put in’. Meditation is a skill and like any other skill, the more you practice the better you become, and the more you stand to gain. Of course at times it may be beneficial to take a break but don’t kid yourself. You are there to meditate so make the most of your time there, at the end of it all you will be glad you did.

Finish The Course

If you sign up to the course, complete it. Every course has people drop out and this doesn’t surprise me. On my first course I wanted to up and leave almost every other day! I questioned what the hell I was doing and wanted to get out of there back to where I was comfortable and life was familiar. But in the end I didn’t and I’m so glad I stuck it out; I even went back for another the following year, and intend to go once every year. The point is it’s not easy (seriously). If you’re imagining a relaxing spa-like retreat, think again. You will be working with your mind everyday, and the days are long. Your body will ache at times (trust me) and there will likely be times when you question what you’re doing, are convinced (or have convinced yourself) ‘it’s not working’ or ‘it’s not worth it’ and want to leave. The mind will play all sorts of games to try and regain familiarity.

Be clear of your intention and why you are there and make a strong commitment to see it out. Remember that you have taken a spot on the course and if you drop out you’ve used a space that someone else could have taken- you will have spurned an opportunity for someone else (as well as yourself) to learn this technique of meditation.

For myself, and from speaking with others, the general feeling on the last day (when the rigorous schedule is eased up and meditators are again allowed to speak to each other) is one of accomplishment, jubilation and joy. If you don’t see it out you’ll also miss out on this, and I have to say the final day is a really wonderful occasion that’s hard to explain to someone who hasn’t been through the process and come out the other end.

Don’t Mind the Philosophy; Do the Meditation

Every evening there is a one hour discourse (like a lecture) from the founder of the course. It is a welcome break from the meditation and often very amusing. He talks about what you may be going through, the technique, tells tales and philosophies. Despite the claim that the course has no religious affiliation, the tales and messages presented are essentially Buddhist. Seemingly ironic, this does actually make sense as the original teachings of the Buddha were essentially non-religious and anti-dogma. Buddhism is, as Alan Watts aptly put it, ‘the religion of no-religion’.

However strong your aversion to religion may be (and in many respects I don’t blame you) I urge you not to be put off. Personally I enjoyed the discourses and most people do but I know of some people that had a problem with them and it disrupted their meditation and hampered what they could’ve potentially got from the course. My advice would be if you don’t agree with what is being said, then don’t worry about it. Just continue the practice and come to your own conclusions. You needn’t agree with everything that is being said to remain on the course or to gain benefit from meditation.

Likewise, there are some hymnlike mantras/chants played during some meditations. To some people it feels cultish or weird. If it bothers you, I would say don’t worry about it. It needn’t affect your meditation or experience negatively, in fact, it’s actually there to help!

Abolish Your Expectations (or at least don’t expect too much)

The course is a very personal experience and what people take from it both during and after can vary greatly. I first heard about vipassana from a Chinese girl who told me that the course had changed her life in a profoundly positive way (this was a major catalyst in my decision to go – I’d signed up for one within a few weeks of her telling me this). Likewise, on my first course I met a younger guy who went in a miserable rut and then left elated with apparently all the answers he wanted (!).

However, the perceived sense of change isn’t as dramatic for everyone. For most, many of the effects are less discernible and more subtle. I spoke to a guy on his second time round who said he didn’t really realise how much his first course had affected him until months later. Indeed, while I felt rejuvenated and generally more level headed immediately after, I too was unaware of a few things that had changed in myself until a long time after. If you are expecting to feel great and have figured out all your life’s problems, you may well be disappointed. Try to abandon your expectations and to treat the course as an experiment. Be like a scientist, follow the procedures and observe the results. Go with an open mind, work at the meditation and take what comes as it is without pre-conceived notions. This way, and with some time and perspective, you will really find out for yourself how this type of meditation affects you.

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That’s it! There are many personal accounts online if you are curious to find out more but I would recommend that if you decide to go, try to avoid reading them so as not to shape your expectations too much. In summary, if you are serious about meditation, I’d absolutely recommend the course. Beginners learn the ropes and experienced meditators go deeper.

If you decide to go, best of luck!

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Have you been on a vipassana meditation course? What advice would you give to a first-timer? Leave your comments below.

The post How To Make The Most Of Your 10-Day Vipassana Meditation Course appeared first on Maps of the Mind.