If you want to establish mindfulness and deepen your meditation practice then there is no substitute for working with a meditation teacher and guide. Part of my role in my meditation courses, trainings, and retreats is to closely follow my student’s meditation and help them fine-tune, clarify, and stay on track in their practice. For this reason, I am creating a series of recorded meditation interviews showing you the process of how I work with students. Welcome to the Meditation Coaching Demonstration Series.
Meditation Coaching Demonstration #1 – Robin Teater
Background: Robin had a regular meditation practice for several years which was self-directed and consisted of daily setting periods of 10 min. In her work, she ran a leadership development program and meditation was part of the self-mastery curriculum that was prescribed to the students.
A few years ago Robin changed her professional track to political activism, a field which she admits is high stakes has a considerable amount of pressure, and is both personally, and emotionally demanding. The last few years of working in this field have caused her to let go of her daily meditation practice. Robin’s intention is to re-establish her meditation practice so as to detach from the intensity of her career in politics and gain some objectivity when dealing with the political reality of the day.
After assessing Robin’s practice I gave are some suggestions on how to fine-tune her meditation practice, as well as a few ways to better integrate her practice into daily life. Finally, I give Robin an essential practice to help her deal with the intensity of the political landscape we find ourselves in today.
Meditation Coaching Demonstration #2 – Cheryl Whitelaw
Background: Cheryl is an integral coach who additionally practices Aikido, Tai Chi, and Feldenkrais Method (all strong awareness practices). Her meditation practice is mostly self-directed but she does have some formal meditation training with a teacher. Cheryl has a daily 30 min meditation practice for the past 8 years, as well as some yearly retreat practice of 2 to 7 days.
Cheryl’s daily meditation practice consists of mindfulness of the senses to anchor the mind in the present moment. Once established in the present she shifts to more focused attention on the breath. With a gradual deepening, at some point, Cheryl intuitively opens up to a more expanded mental state of choiceless awareness, and “just sitting.”
In this interview, after assessing Cheryl’s practice and give her some suggestions for creating a better foundation for further growth in her practice. All things that she should be able to apply easily according to the report of her practice:
- More closely decern when she is observing a physical object or a mental object
- Notice the cause and effect connections in her practice
- And each time she experiences a shift in consciousness to occasionally reflect back on what exactly was the object of observation immediately prior to the shift experience.
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