Mindful Therapy Academy

8 week group program

Taming your anxious mind

“From worry and fear to greater confidence and capability"

Week 2—A more skillful relationship with self

The 4 phases of greeting meditation

Welcoming and Settling

Begin by welcoming yourselves into the practice. Adopt an attitude to gentleness and enthusiasm. Bring our attention to the breath as your main object for your practice. Recognise that the settling of your busy mind takes time, and that there is no rush with this. Enjoy the victory of getting to the cushion or class; its a wonderful achievement worth celebrating.

Sending and Receiving (Time-In)

Meditation is where we practice being kinder and more deliberate with ourselves. It’s here we cultivate the discipline of proper self-talk. Continue to notice the quality of your presence and the tone of voice with which your inner messages are being sent. In Phase 2 of the practice, you are also learning to observe and describe your moods and feelings to yourself without ruminating about what you notice.

Transitioning into Being Mode

Set your mind at ease. Enter into a mode of non-doing. Into a mode of Being. See for yourself how thoughts are transitory. Like clouds in the sky. Like the morning dew. You are the witness of your mental life. Consciousness is the ever-present backdrop for all of your ups and downs. Rest yourself inside of that. Even your most tumultuous thoughts are empty. They arise and linger; Leaving not a trace.

Training the Puppy (The Gymnasium of the Mind)

Meditation is a sort of gymnasium for the mind. It where we train the ‘puppy of our attention’. The puppy runs into the past and the future. It is constantly preoccupied with one thing or another. In meditation we fix our focus to the movements of the breath with a sense of relaxation and vigilance. We maintain the continuity of our awareness as long as we can. We return the distracted mind over and over again and again. This is how the puppy gets trained.

Greeting meditation

Technique: Follow along with the guided meditation as best you can. Notice how in one moment you are the person sending the greeting and in another moment you are the one being greeted. Be curious about how this leaves you feeling and also what it tells you about the quality of your internal relationship with yourself at this time.