People who struggle with weight often eat emotions. If regulating our eating were simply a matter of will power and some basic knowledge about good nutrition, we’d all be there now! Unfortunately it doesn’t seem to work like that. Read more
What are Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE), and why should you be aware of them? Simply stated they are traumatic experiences that we have as children. Everyone has some traumatic experience growing up, the loss of a family member, the death of a pet, something. So what? Read more
Again with the idea: what you don’t know can’t hurt you? This seems to be proving itself wrong time and again for those interested in personal growth. I remember my teacher explaining to us that three important things were preventing us from succeeding in our personal and spiritual growth: our karma, our ignorance, and our fear.
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Capacity, Concentration, and Observation
Putting all of the earlier challenges together, we add one final piece: putting your breath on the wheel.
Growth Through Challenge
As you challenge yourself to increase your concentration skill, you are forming stronger neural pathways in your brain. This is one of the ways that meditation benefits us. Your ability to concentrate when meditating will help you concentrate in other areas of life. First, we must put in the practice.
A New Challenge
We continue to transition from simply observing the breath, to modifying the breath. This advances our meditation practice.
You’re Getting Good at This
You’ve been watching your breath now for some time, so let’s challenge you to notice the subtleties of your breathing. Doing so will improve your mindfulness training.
What does our breathing tell us?
Engaging the diaphraghm is a beneficial practice. It may seem like a little thing, but it’s really important. How we breathe has all kinds of impacts on our heart rate, the neurotransmitters in our brain, and the overall state of our body.