Mindfulness & Meditation
There are many definitions of Mindfulness.
Mine is: Being aware of, and fully engaged in, what is happening in your moment-to-moment experience, without judging or trying to change it.
Or…as one grade 5 student in a school mindfulness program put it: “It means not hitting someone in the mouth.”
Mindful is a way of Being in your life. You learn to notice where you are, what you are doing, how you feel about it and ultimately choosing to relate to it with a wise response as opposed to an often unhelpful, knee-jerk reaction.
Practicing mindfulness is about purposely cultivating a balanced relationship with whatever is going on in your life.
Why should you do that? Because when you are constantly overwhelmed by what’s happening in your experience, or burnt out by trying to control it all, it creates a lot of unnecessary stress, which affects your mental and physical health and wellbeing.
Meditation teacher Jon Kabat-Zinn nailed it when he described life as a turbulent ocean where: You can’t stop the waves – but you can learn to surf.
Life is inherently full of incredible joys and frustrating challenges. But with mindfulness you can be with those ups and downs in a kinder, easier, and more accepting way.
Through mindfulness, we can learn a new way to navigate our life: with Wisdom, Compassion and Equanimity.
Meditation is the training ground of mindfulness…the training in Awareness, Self-Knowledge and most importantly Equanimity.
In meditation we carve out time to sit, on a regular basis, to observe how our mind works, and how we tend to handle what’s happening in our experience…and life in general. We start to recognize where our thoughts and behaviours are not really serving us, or others, well.
Mindfulness meditation is also where we learn how to be OK with what is happening in our life. To give up pushing against what already is. Because that, of course, is futile and exhausting, to say the least.
Through formal meditation, we practice the skills and qualities of being mindful “on the cushion” so that we can be more mindful in our daily life.
Even though Mindfulness Meditation is a western adaptation of the Buddhist meditation practice of Vipassana or Insight Meditation, it is important to note that meditation does not have to be esoteric, culturally associated or even spiritual, for that matter.
My approach to meditation is simple, secular-based, with minimal woo-woo…meaning no chanting, incense, candles or beads. Not that there is anything wrong with those tools and rituals…they’re just not me.
Please feel free to check out my beginner’s Present Moment Awareness Meditation.
The practice of Mindfulness Meditation helps increase your “coping capacity” so that you can better handle whatever life serves up.
Not only does meditation help reduce the mental “noise” of our daily lives…research shows that Meditation helps:
- Increase a sense of calmness and stability
- reduce symptoms of stress,
- reduce anxiety and depression symptoms,
- increase emotional regulation
- manage chronic illness and/or pain
- increase concentration and focus
- lower blood pressure,
- promote better sleep.
- increase overall mental and physical well-being
- improve memory
- improve performance at work, sports or other activities
- create positive biological changes in aging and stress related hormones
- strengthen immune system,
- improve self-awareness
- increase sense of self-acceptance
- transform relationships with others
- increase qualities of compassion and resiliency
Just the facts, none of the “woo-woo”.
I’m not going to tell you there’s just “Three Easy Steps to Learn Meditation”!
I’m also not going to take you on a journey to your higher/better/badass self…or nourish your soul. Nor will we use beads, chant, or burn incense (not that there’s anything wrong with those, they’re just not my thing.)
If that’s the approach you need, I am probably not your teacher.
But, I am a certified and registered mindfulness and meditation teacher who will show you in plain language how to live with less stress, more presence, and how to find rest and recuperation from the challenges you may be experiencing. And, most importantly, how to stop making your life more difficult than it needs to be.
I keep meditation simple, secular, and practical. I skip the woo-woo and get straight to science-backed approaches that are proven to improve your mental and physical well-being. If you’d like to learn how to start living your life with more calm and less chaos, then continue reading below to see what workshops and programs I offer.
Do these research results surprise you?
Center for Disease Control (CDC): “90% of all illness and disease is related to stress.”
Harvard University study: “Too much stress for too long creates what is known as ‘chronic stress’ which has been linked to heart disease, stroke, and may also influence cancer and chronic respiratory diseases. And illness is just the tip of the iceberg. Stress affects you emotionally, as well, marring the joy you gain from life and loved ones.”
Science shows that meditation can help you:
Reduce symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression
Improve your concentration, focus, and memory
Increase calmness stability, & resilience
Increase your emotional intelligence
Strengthen your immune system
Sleep better
The best part? You don’t have to clear your mind or sit for hours for meditation to be effective.
You can improve mental clarity, emotional intelligence, and physical well-being with simple moments of mindfulness throughout the day.
Mindfulness & Meditation
with a Certified & Accredited Teacher
Anchored Meditation’s mindfulness & meditation teacher, Karen Vincent, is based seaside on the Atlantic Ocean in the small fishing village of Petty Harbour, near St. John’s, Newfoundland & Labrador. She teaches mindfulness courses and workshops both in-person as the Associate Mindfulness & Meditation Teacher at the AMAL Wellness Centre studio in St. John’s and on-line via Zoom.
Karen is a graduate of the two-year Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program with Jack Kornfield, PhD., and Tara Brach, PhD., at the University of California Berkeley Greater Good Science Center, and is a registered member of The International Mindfulness Teachers Association. She’s completed the Mindfulness Teacher Training Program with Sean Fargo, founder of Mindfulness Exercises; as well as meditation teacher and author (Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics
) Jeff Warren’s How to Guide Meditation Training; she’s also a Certified Mindfulness Meditation Teacher through YogaRenew –a Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Provider.
You can read Karen’s eventful story on becoming a Mindfulness & Meditation teacher here.
Participant Feedback
""Karen is a gifted communicator! She takes complicated ideas and explains them clearly with humour and wonderful examples! This course was absolutely life-changing! I have learned how to face the ups and downs of my experience.""
Christine CLearn to Go With the Ebb & Flow
"The logical and practical approach helped me immediately understand and relate to the material. It helped me further understand the importance of being present and having compassion for yourself."
Craig M.Learn to Go With the Ebb & Flow "Thank you for putting off a great informative session. I learned a lot from it. I have done mediation in the past but never really knew what I was doing. Your workshop helped a lot."
Jackie KMindfulness & Meditiation Demystified "I was experiencing a lot of stress partially from a large life loss as well as some negative self-image issues. Working through the various meditation exercises I started to understand that there are tools that can help me gain an understanding of my stress, and also some ways to work through it. Gradually, I am starting to...find a calmer way forward."
Tony B.Learn to Go With the Ebb & Flow "Great course to learn some techniques to slow your mind down and be present, to help have happier life and provides useful tools to help with managing complex emotions- Definitely a course I would recommend."
Kelly D.Learn to Go With the Ebb & Flow