Mindfulness Meditation (in Montreal)
In practicing mindfulness meditation, we are essentially waking up to our lives. Mindfulness is the non- judgmental attention we give to our moment to moment experience. It is an awareness of what is going on in our bodies, our feelings, thoughts, reactions and interactions with the world around us. This attention is very different from our usual way of paying attention. So much of our thoughts are judging, assessing, comparing, criticizing and evaluating, which requires a great deal of energy.
It is essentially not the events, people or occurrences in our lives that are the source of our stress, but rather our perception of them that results in stress reactivity, affecting both our bodies and our minds. In developing our capacity to observe ourselves, we can interrupt this reactivity process, prevent stress induced physical consequences and make a conscious choice to respond effectively in ways that will help promote our health and our well-being.
In developing our capacity to observe ourselves, we can interrupt this reactivity process and make a conscious choice to respond effectively in ways that will help promote our health and our well-being.
Mindfulness meditation helps to train our awareness to be in present time, to compassionately observe our attachment to the future and past, and essentially let go to re-enter the limitless possibilities that each present moment offers us. Every moment, a new beginning.
Recent research findings have indicated that meditation may be associated with structural changes in areas of the brain that are important for sensory, cognitive and emotional processing. Parts of the brain important for attention and sensory processing may also be thicker in meditation practitioners, who have also reported lower stress levels when compared to non-meditators.
In the Mindfulness Based Stress Management Program and in private stress management and meditation sessions, you will be instructed in the actual techniques of sitting and walking meditation, mindful yoga and the body scan. You will be provided with CDs containing guided meditations so that you can receive guidance in initiating your home practice. In learning these techniques, you are cultivating your own inner resources, which will help to support and empower you in your daily life.