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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 present in our bodies, our emotions, our  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, stuck in the past or fantasizing about the future. 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.

Essentially it is not the events, people or occurrences in our lives that are the source of our experience of stress and difficulty, but rather our perception of them that results in reactivity. It is this unconscious reactivity that aversely affects the balance of our physical and emotional state. In developing our capacity to observe ourselves, we can interrupt this reactivity process, prevent stress induced consequences and make a conscious choice to respond mindfully in ways that will help promote our health and our well-being.

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 mindfulness practices of sitting and walking meditation, gentle yoga and the body scan. You will be provided with CDs containing guided mindfulness meditations so that you can receive guidance and support in initiating your home practice. By engaging in these mindfulness practices,  you will be  cultivating your own inner resources to support and empower you in your daily life.