Meditation is an ancient practice that aides and supports healing and healthy living in our modern times. In fact, many contemporary Eastern cultures consider meditation to be a form of medicine that is an integral component of health and healing.

Meditation: The Inward Art states: The root 'med-' is the same as in medical, and originally meant to measure (mete), to consider, to reflect. It seems to be related to a Greek root meaning to care for, attend to, study or practice.

Meditation attunes us to an embodied awareness of feelings of peace, balance and well-being. Once we become familiar with this internal awareness we are more capable of sensing influences that disrupt this ease and can then more readily identify factors that create disease.

This practice also supports healthy behavior changes and healing by concentrating our life force energy in a direction that moves us more fully towards wholeness and optimal health. By understanding how the mind works and how to offer it relaxation as well as learning how to guide it to positively benefit the body, we are able to transform it into a facet of ourselves that acts as a dedicated alley for our highest health and benefit.

Sessions focus on practices to promote and support health, healing and behavior change. These may include:

• Breath meditation
• Visualization/guided meditation
• Mindfulness meditation & Mindfulness exercises
• Relaxation response
• Shamatha/Vipassana - meditation of calm abiding and insight
• Sound meditation with singing bowl, tingshaw, and bell
• Healing through the gaze meditation
• Scanning the body
• Exploration of spiritual aspects of meditation and healing

There are many physiological and psychological benefits of meditation:

• Lowering blood pressure & cholesterol
• Weight loss/diet/nutritional
• Stress management
• Transitioning off prescription medication
• Recovery from substances
• PTSD
• Treatment approach & decision making
• Preparation for surgery
• ADD/ADHD
• Grief/depression/anxiety
• Proactive practice to support & maintain health
• Support around death & dying
• Insomnia/interrupted sleep patterns
• Eating disorders
• Alleviate physical discomfort of injury
• Life adjustment/coping challenges around differently-abled bodies