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Body as Foundation
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In Tricycle’s 2018 Meditation Month series, Mindy Newman, a member of the meditation teaching faculty at the Nalanda Institute for Contemplative Science in New York City, will focus on helping you overcome the biggest obstacles to establishing a consistent practice. Newman’s lessons build on one another, starting from the body and moving to the mind and then past the cushion, considering what ripple effects your practice will have on your life.
In her first talk, Newman invites you to check in with your body. Physical uneasiness is a major hindrance to people who struggle to maintain a regular practice. Here, you’ll learn how to build a comfortable and sturdy posture from the ground up. Week two outlines the importance of one’s intention to develop and maintain a regular practice and guides you through an intention-setting exercise. Self-criticism is the topic of the third week. “I once heard a meditation teacher say something that was very helpful to me: Meditation is courageous. It takes courage to sit down and take a look at your mind.” In the final week, Newman leads us through an exercise that is meant to help bring the effects of meditation off the cushion and into our lives. “In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, they talk about dedicating the merit or the benefit of our meditation to others,” says Newman. “What we’re doing with dedication is opening our minds up to what we want the ripple effects of our meditation practice to be.”
Newman led two live calls during the course of Mediation Month, which are freely available: Live call #1 and #2.
Mindy Newman, MA, MTS, LMHC, is a psychotherapist and hypnotherapist in private practice and a meditation teacher at the Nalanda Institute for Contemplative Science.