Starting tomorrow, September 20, 2022, I will be leading a new, weekly, online mindfulness meditation group for onelove.yoga every Tuesday at noon Central. You can register here.
This guided meditation uses imagery to relax the body. Your mind is represented as blue sky illuminated by rays of light. This practice is intended to bring about feelings of nourishment, protection, and relaxation.
To leave a comment about this episode, visit matthewtift.com/prettygood/70. The theme music is "Maxixe" performed by Edson Lopes under CC BY 3.0.
I'm not sure what to call it. Biking meditation. Bike yoga. Meditation in motion. Meditative biking. Maybe just mindfulness meditation while biking.
But I know something happens on my bike. Riding by myself, unplugged, no earbuds, outside in nature feels good. It relaxes me. It helps me let go of concerns about the future or past. If I have a problem I've been trying to solve, I often arrive home from a ride with a solution. Especially if I was not trying to solve the problem.
Psychologists use the phrase "decentering" to denote the difference between our thoughts and reality. It's a practice the removes you from the center of your thinking. In this meditation we practice a variety of decentering techniques designed to help shift from a self-centered perspective to a nature-centered perspective.
To leave a comment about this episode, visit matthewtift.com/prettygood/69. The theme music is "Maxixe" performed by Edson Lopes under CC BY 3.0.
In this meditation, we examine the body as four elements: the earth element, the water element, the fire element, and the air element. This practice provides a method to go into the body based on material conditions. Not the stories the mind tells about the body. Not judgments. The reality of this moment. This practice can help us learn to let go of attachments and judgements about ourselves and other people
To leave a comment about this episode, visit matthewtift.com/prettygood/68. The theme music is "Maxixe" performed by Edson Lopes under CC BY 3.0.
Sometimes loving-kindness meditations focus on categories of people, starting with you, and then moving to someone who is easy to love, then family, friends, acquaintances, people that you do not like, people you've never met, etc. Other times, loving-kindness meditations take a more geographical approach, such as starting with you, the people you live with, neighbors, people that live in the same city, state, nation, or world, etc. In this meditation, we drop most of those categories and focus on the feeling of loving-kindness.
To leave a comment about this episode, visit matthewtift.com/prettygood/67. The theme music is "Maxixe" performed by Edson Lopes under CC BY 3.0.
Last weekend I attended a 4-day retreat put on by a nonprofit organization called onelove.yoga. The title of the retreat was: "Moments of Silence Yoga and Meditation Retreat to Grand Marais." As is often the case for me with meditation retreats, I left feeling nourished. Even better, I had a breakthrough. I realized why this weekend led to feelings of relaxation, renewal, and joy.
Most of the time, our minds are not satisfied, and instead are on the lookout for danger, scattered, or just board. In this meditation we use a mantra to help train the mind to appreciate the present moment: "This moment is perfect, whole, and complete."
To leave a comment about this episode, visit matthewtift.com/prettygood/66. The theme music is "Maxixe" performed by Edson Lopes under CC BY 3.0.
We can't make much progress in meditation if we do not see the world for what it is. In this practice, we pay attention to how the mind draws us away from what is real. We pause, with the intention of letting go of those stories and seeing the world as it actually is.
To leave a comment about this episode, visit matthewtift.com/prettygood/65. The theme music is "Maxixe" performed by Edson Lopes under CC BY 3.0.
During meditation it is common to hear a sound or experience a feeling that sends the mind off, carried away and caught up in the future or the past. In this meditation we investigate the nature of the distractions, practice letting them go, and re-establish connection to the present.
The theme music is "Maxixe" performed by Edson Lopes under CC BY 3.0. Subscribe to my newsletter at matthewtift.com/newsletter.
