As you begin your search for Holiday Gifts, you may want to consider what could be one of the most impactful gifts you have ever given to yourself, your family or to a friend.

DO NOT TAKE MINDFULNESS MEDITATION CLASSES…if you enjoy feelings of stress and anxiety in your day-to-day life.

I often have students come to me, who have relied and limited their meditation experience to recorded GUIDED meditations, yet find little or no long-term satisfaction with the results, especially when they hear about the many benefits of meditation that are touted in all the published research and studies.

Guided meditations can serve us well inasmuch as they provide a temporary escape (and a focus away) from some kinds of emotional turmoil in their lives.

Mindfulness is a HELP-ALL! Research studies suggest that a daily practice of Mindfulness Meditation can help reduce anxiety, stress, depression and pain and, as a result, it can substantially improve one’s quality of life. 

Studies have shown that practicing mindfulness, even for just a few weeks, can bring a variety of physical, psychological, and social benefits. Below are 5 reasons to incorporate mindfulness into your life.

Mindfulness meditation is a practice that involves focusing your attention on the present moment and cultivating a nonjudgmental awareness of your thoughts, sensations, and emotions.

What is Woo-Woo? It is defined as dubiously or outlandishly mystical, supernatural, or unscientific. Unequivocally, Mindfulness is no such thing!

Whether you live in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Tampa, Canada, England or the world over, you can learn about Mindfulness Meditation from your own home.

Although we tend to approach every January 1st as new beginning, we can just as easily approach EVERYDAY as a new beginning.

You walk into an ice cream store. They have more than 20 flavors. Which one do you choose?

You have a physical condition and you are presented with the choice of whether you want to treat the condition with medication or surgery. Which do you choose?

How we REACT to the many obstacles or challenges life brings to our doorstep determines our quality of life. And, our quality of life is determined by how we process and react to these inevitable hurdles.

A Mindfulness Meditation practice creates change; but, not the kind of change one might put into their piggy bank. We’re talking about life-altering change where old restrictive thought patterns turn into a kaleidoscopic pattern of positive and productive changes.

We need to “serve notice” to friends (and others) that through sharing their internal struggles with friends and/or professionals, they can transcend their emotional suffering. Sharing our joys are easy. Sharing our challenges-not so much.

Many of my students struggle with the discipline or desire to practice on a daily basis. Some can practice once a day with regularity, but have difficulty practicing twice daily. Some practice just a few days a week. Beyond that, it becomes a challenging endeavor.

This 2020 holiday season is unlike most we have ever experienced. Gift giving, joy and well wishes usually dominate this season. But this year, we need to summon up and use a particular gift that each of us already possess.

The other day someone told me that” one should never discuss politics with family members” when you know they hold different opinions. I understand their perspective; however, as a practitioner of Mindfulness, I see things differently.

In living a “mindfulness” lifestyle, we adopt new habits of the mind. We learn awareness. We learn not to listen nor react to all the thoughts racing through our minds. We learn to become nonjudgmental of our thoughts, ourselves and others.

We are indeed faced with many new challenges these days. Learning to cope with all of these unsolicited changes in our lives and their domino consequences is of paramount importance to our emotional and physical health.

If you lived in a childhood such as mine, these words were expressed to me quite frequently by a parent, a teacher, or even a stranger. Those words now have such a different meaning. Now I have come full circle as I teach my Mindfulness-Meditation students about the importance of stillness and of silence...to sit still!