Q: Dear Todd, how should we practice stillness? Do we need to sit in silence and hold our breath?How to achieve inner stillness TODD ANSWERS: Ha! Please don’t hold your breath for too long. It is much better to practice watching your breath because your breath is always with you. You don’t have to try to freeze, because your brain will always be receiving information (light, sound, etc…). But what you…
Should I sit up straight on the floor? Can I use a chair? Can I lie in bed? Do I have to be super rigid and strict or is it ok to do it on the couch? These are some of the many questions that come up when starting out in meditation. Here, Todd Perelmuter shares his tips for starting out, the best postures, what not to do, and how…
One person recently asked me, "Why do I get extreme tingling in my face and fingers when meditating?"The fact is, it is not uncommon for a wide variety of sensations and reactions to occur when we meditate. It's not the meditation that caused it. It's the meditation that allowed this buried feeling/trauma/pain to come to the surface and start to heal.No matter what comes up in meditation, allow it to…
Because most people can't sit down and instantly clear their mind, they think they might be doing it wrong. Or worse, they think they just can't meditate and that meditation is not for them. But if I were doing something my entire life – thinking – and suddenly tried to stop, it might not happen as fast as I'd like it to.Luckily, meditation is not about clearing your mind of…
Do these thoughts sound familiar when you've began to try meditation: This is taking forever! How long til I feel something? Am I even doing anything?!?! Our normal, thinking mind will grasp at anything to latch onto, and so most of us will have had thoughts like these. But meditation is a very profound practice and benefits can be gained right away. In this episode, I talk about what can…
Most of us have a voice in our head that constantly searches for something to obsess about. It scavenges and scavenges endlessly. There is just no seeming endpoint for this thought-chaser. No matter what happens, our mind will try to label, judge and analyze it forever and ever. Why won't our minds just do what they're told?!This inner voice disrupts our inner peace and usually creates problems where none existed…
Today, Todd talks about whether or not we can meditate while focusing on nothing. The thing is, being unfocused is just our normal state of mind. We typically go about our days just responding to whatever we perceive and whatever thought pops into our head. We are a slave to our impulses. Learning to focus, by practicing focus, is taking control of our mind. It's using your intentions to guide…
Sometimes, when we first start meditating, sadness and other extreme emotions may feel like they're being stirred up. But, these emotions aren't created by meditation, they are revealed by meditation. Most of our lives are spent distracted. We're always so busy doing, we don't pay any real attention to our inner world.In this episode, Todd goes into why these emotions come up in meditation, how we can process what comes…
With so many apps and gurus out there today, the number of types of meditations have exploded. There are ancient ones and brand new untested ones. So how do we know which ones are the best, which ones are a waste of time, and which ones may even have negative effects?In this episode, I go into depth about the two most common types of meditation, mantra and breath meditation. Breath…
This is the story of Todd's first experience in an ashram in India. Invited by his friend's family who has a house there, they got permission from the guru himself that I could come and stay there – something not usually done for outsiders. What Todd found was beyond his wildest imagination. At this ashram – supposedly the largest one in India – devoted followers, a beloved leader, and an…
If something here helped you feel less alone, would you help me keep it alive?
Even the smallest support matters.
Weekly Writings from the Desk of Todd Perelmuter
