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Take a minute to reflect on all the emotional energy and effort you put into everything that you do in your life – your work, family, friendships, community, travel, health, etc.
Our lives are very busy and clearly over-scheduled – sometimes we forget how restorative and renewing it can be to take any time away from our daily routine to recharge the batteries and connect deeply with ourselves and others in nature.  When was the last time you took a full day for yourself and disconnected from your smartphone, your laptop, your Saturday routine and just recharged?

Why would you want to do that?

Well, I have five great reasons to join us on our day long mini-retreat, Saturday, July 26th – from 9 to 5 at The Center At Westwoods.

Continue reading “5 Reasons to attend our Move & Meditate day long Workshop”

What a great vibe in class last night!  As I was practicing, I was thinking that there’s another great way to cultivate the path of bodhicitta – the practice of Tonglen.

The Buddhist term bodhicitta in Sanskrit means the awakened heart and mind. “Citta” is translated as consciousness of heart and mind; “bodhi” means awaken.

Sometimes we can mistake our meditation practice as a tool to fix our self.  What we’re really doing in is learning to accept what is – and fully FEEL – what is true.

Running The Boston Marathon? Come and gain a mental training advantage on us!  Take Move & Meditate at Stil Studio for FREE on Monday 4/14 OR Thursday evening 4/17!

It has been an exhausting year and a very cold training season.  As a runner myself, I can really relate to the strong emotions the runners will feel this year as they make their way to the starting line.  I understand the lifestyle, the passion for the sport, and the anxiety (which many will deny having) – from tapering struggles, to obsessive race day weather watching, to wondering if one will actually sleep the night before – these distractions can derail all the hard work a runner has put in this winter.  I do understand a little something about The Boston Marathon, having completed three myself (2001, 2008, 2011) – I know how hard it is to sit and do nothing that week before… waiting, while all your friends and family are in town wanting to see you and tour this great city.

I’ve also seen enough media coverage this year to know that there must be a balance on how much a runner takes in – so you don’t expend all your emotional energy well before the race begins.

 

That’s why this week Stil Studio and The Boston Buddha will be dedicating our MOVE & MEDITATE class to anyone running The Boston Marathon – FREE.  Stop by on Monday night 6:30 to 7:30 PM or Thursday evening from 7:00 to 8:00 PM.  We will settle in with some light stretching to help calm your nerves and overcome any doubts you may have.

The theme and meditation for next week will be on letting go of difficult emotions.

MOVE & MEDITATE is a weekly class at Stil Studio (Legacy Place in Dedham) that combines the balance of a gentle flow with a healthy amount of relaxation and meditation, to help students recharge and melt away stress from every part of their body.
On Mondays (Betty Riaz & Andy Kelley) and Thursdays (Jen Howell & Andy Kelley) the class consists of a 30-minute simple slow flow Vinyasa series in a dimly lit room followed by a 25-minute guided meditation, based on themes ranging from willpower to releasing anger.

This class can fill up quick so register in advance here: http://stilstudio.com/schedule/
or call the studio 781.407.9642

www.stilstudio.com

Negative experiences are an essential part of life.  As the Buddha said, ” Life is suffering”.  It’s the First Nobel Truth.  This week in our Move & Meditate class we will learn different techniques to help us learn from our suffering and cultivate the positive in our life.

The first way to deal with a negative experience is to BE with it.  The first question I asked myself when I notice that I’m stressed or suffering is, ” What need is not being met right now?”.  So often we are motivated to escape that negative experience as soon as we are in it, that we can’t find the root of the problem.  If we can embrace and be with the negative experience, that helps us look for strategies to address that need that is not being met.   So, we want to be with the experience, feel the experience, observe the experience.
Continue reading “Three Steps To Cultivating Optimism”

The brain shifts between two modes of operation – a reflective mode and a reactive mode.

The Reflective Mind – that ideal self, the authentic you, the you that is aware that you are making thoughtful decisions.

The Reactive Mind – the protector, instinct, quick decision making, reacts to the stimulus.  It runs on a reward system and wants to feel better now.

When we operate from the reactive mode we tend to focus on the short-term.  We’re desperate to avoid any pain and conflict – operating from fear, instinct, and stress.

This mode drives us to make choices that seem like a good idea right now… because we get pleasure and avoid pain.  However, this leads to avoiding things that are not necessarily in our best interest. We will put off something that makes us anxious or indulge in something that seems to help us to calm down at that moment but not helpful in the long term.

It’s not long after making that short term decision that we start to judge our decision.  We get down on our self.

When we meditate we learn to become more aware of that inner critic voice, the inner parent – that voice is always seems disappointed in you. Anything with an attitude of criticism tends to push us back to that reactive mode.

What we need is a “buddy”… we need to befriend ourselves… and that is why I think that one of the most important elements of mindfulness and meditation is cultivating self-compassion.

When mindfulness is practiced in a very reflective way, it significantly increases our self-compassion. It changes our relationship to our self – because we start to let go of the judgment and blame and start to see the situation with more clarity.

I hope this helps!

 

-Andy

From time to time people ask me if I use guided meditations, meditation timers, and other “brain game” apps.  While I don’t use them often, I think they’re super helpful in finding your practice – especially in the beginning.  Guided meditations are great for people (like me) that need to be frequently re-directed back to the object of our attention.  For these people, there’s not enough stimulation coming in to keep them interested enough to want to stay with the practice – so they give up meditating entirely.

Guided meditations help increase the activity by using thought skillfully (instead of letting the thoughts use you).   iTunes has lots of different options available for meditation timers and there are so many free timers.  Here are a few apps that I use the most.

Continue reading “Mindful Apps”

“Realize that this very body, with its aches and it pleasures… is exactly what we need to be fully human, fully awake, fully alive.” – Pema Chodron

I hope you enjoy this free 2o minute guided “body scan” meditation that I created for you to help you improve your body awareness – helping you shift your internal default setting from REACTING all the time – to more of a REFLECTIVE perspective.  Practicing “Feel” on a regular basis helps our mind slow down and become more relaxed in the body – so we can focus easier.  It shifts our attention away from our worries of the day and thoughts about the past and the future.  It dissolves physical stress and emotions that may be trapped within the body. It trains our attention to feel what’s really going on – in this moment – in our body.

 

So… “Don’t Think. Feel.”  – Bruce Lee

I hope this helps!

Peace IN. – Andy

(MP3 download) Right click and “save link as…”  to download it to your computer

On Wednesday, I had the opportunity to play “The Brookline Buddha“.  I spent the day with the 8th graders over at the Lawrence School in Brookline.  As some of you know, I spend a fair amount of time helping students, teachers, and parents deepen their understanding of their own mental processes – their inner landcsape, so they can focus on the moment, relax and really reflect on a situation before they act.

In every class I teach, the curriculum begins with a basic introduction to the science behind mindfulness.  Personally, I was very skeptical about meditation at first, so understanding the science, that proof of how it worked was very important to me.  I also believe that once students become more familiar with key parts of the brain and how they function together, they see that everyone’s brain works in the same way.  This awareness opens up a new ability to understand how they’re feeling in that moment – so they can get real clear in their response – and change their response, IF they need to.

I get excited about new ideas that can help people calm down and focus so that they can concentrate.  In this class I tried a new analogy: Your Brain as Your New England Patriots.

Continue reading “Belichick, Brady, And Your Brain”

“Plans are useless, but planning is invaluable.” –  Winston Churchill

Yes, it’s that time again – so grab your calendar and start planing!  The Holidays are a time of joy, love, family, friends… and stress.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the Holiday season – nothing makes me happier than seeing the look on my kids face when they’re opening their gifts on Christmas.  But… between the physical demands of always being on the go – running from one party to another – and the extra emotional energy needed to catch up with family and friends (not to mention socializing with colleagues), the Holidays can be VERY stressful.  Add in some extra cookies, candy canes, caffeine, some Nog, and Cousin Eddie… you’re bound to get some heightened physical and emotional reactions to your stress.

In order to slow things down so we can really enjoy the Holiday season this year we need to start planning NOW.  Here are five tips that will help you manage your stress levels over the Holiday season.

Continue reading “5 Tips to melt away stress this holiday season”