How To Take Your Mindfulness Meditation To The Next Level?

Do you already have experience with mindfulness meditation? Yet, sometimes you feel stuck? This article is for you if you want to grow your practice.

How To Take Your Mindfulness Meditation To The Next Level?

How To Take Your Mindfulness Meditation To The Next Level?


1. Commit to mastering single-pointed attention.

In the modern mindfulness trainings it is a common practice to introduce the participants to various meditation techniques. This often means offering something akin to a “tasting menu,” where you can try a little bit of everything. Focusing on the breath, mindful yoga, mindfulness in relationships, breathing exercises and more.


2. Use positive reinforcement to train your mind.

It took me a while to discover the power of this one — because my teachers didn’t happen to highlight it as an essential part of the meditation practiceIn Buddhism, however, experiencing “positive impressions in the mind” is known to facilitate meditation progress. Modern psychology and neuroscience confirm: the more your mind learns to associate certain activities with rewarding feelings, the more likely it is to resort to those activities by default.


3. Deconstruct the experience of your breath.

When your intention is to focus on the breath, it often helps to make it clearer what this means. Following the physical sensations of the breath is very different from thinking about it. It is usually the former that you are trying to achieve during your mindfulness practice.


4. Pay more attention to your posture.

Traditionally, meditation can be performed in three different posture variations: standing, sitting or laying down. All of these are valid ways to meditate — and it is up to you to choose the right one for your practice.


5. Check-in to examine your expectations.

Before you sit down to meditate, it is useful to bring your intention to awareness — but you may already know that. Another thing that’s worth checking-in with are your expectations for the practice.

 

Larry Carter