Awareness sets a certain standard for when you’re confronted with a situation. Where you might be tempted to do something that is harmful, you’re instead able to bring in your mindfulness training and say, ‘Well, this is unbecoming of me. This is against my values.’   - Thubten Jinpa, founder of Compassion Institute and author of A Fearless Heart
We think that when we are not doing anything we are wasting our time.  That is not true.  Our time is first of all for us to be.  To be, to be what?  To be alive, to be peace, to be joy, to be loving.  And that is what the world needs the most. So we train ourself in order to be.  And if you know the art of being peace, of being solid, then you have the ground for every action… because the ground for action is to be.  And the quality of being determines the quality of doing.  Action must be based on non-action.  - Thich Nhat Hanh
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Why I may suggest meditation practices as an adjunct to therapy

Meditation practices have been used for thousands of years to develop awareness of what your brain is doing and how you respond to the world around you.  Meditation helps you focus your attention, and set motivation for your own personal change.  

With steady meditation practice you should notice these benefits: 
  • Increased calm, contentment, and balance
  • Increased compassion for self and others
  • Feelings, sensations, and thoughts dissolving on their own, because all things come and go
  • More flexible and gentle-minded thought patterns, followed by gentler behavior toward self and others 
  • Ability to cultivate positive, beneficial thoughts and physiological calm
  • Ability to break the habits of fueling negative, non-beneficial thoughts 

How to start a meditation practice

The New York Times published an excellent primer on meditation practice called How to Meditate.  You can also start exploring on Lion Roar's How to Meditate page. 

I highly recommend using guided meditations so you can relax and just follow along.  Continue reading below for some of my favorite guided meditations.  

For deeper insight into how Buddhist psychology can help you understand how the mind handles thoughts and emotions, check out Thubten Chodron's book Open Heart, Clear Mind or Rick Hanson's website The Neuroscience of Lasting Happiness.  

Practice often, even if only for a minute or two

The brain learns by repetition.  Remember when you were a child learning the alphabet and times tables?  You learned by repeating so many times that your brain stored the information and you now recall it without much effort.  This is learning.  Meditation practice is the same.  The more you repeat the practices, the more your brain learns this new habit and the easier it becomes.  

My favorite guided meditations

The classics:  
Free moving meditation on YouTube: 
  • Yoga Zone is great for learning to breathe well while practicing basic yoga postures and flows.  Instructors are mirror images of you which helps you follow along.  
  • Jason Crandell on Yoga Journal To Go helps build awareness of poses and strength. 
  • DoYogaWithMe with David Procyshyn and colleagues offer classes of different styles and skill levels.

Self-compassion means you treat yourself as well as you treat anyone else and no worse.  Here are some modern meditations to cultivate self-compassion: 
Science shows that much of happiness comes from learning and practicing.  Here are some great tools: 

Deepen your practice with analytical meditation 

Listening to podcasts can deepen your meditation practice so it is more effective and meaningful.  Try Sharon Salzberg's Metta Hour, Joseph Goldstein's Insight Hour, or Jack Kornfield's Heart Wisdom podcast.   ​ 

The Meditations on the Lamrim (Gradual Path to Enlightenment) are analytical meditations that can help you deepen self-understanding and cultivate more beneficial actions.  These lamrim meditations are recorded for download, and I recommend cycling through them or focusing on the ones most interesting to you.  Dharma talks on explaining the lamrim teachings are also available on Thubten Chodron's website.  

More audio for calming, soothing, and sleep