Those who want to learn more about mindfulness meditation have a place to begin or continue their practice. On Wednesday night, The Reid Thompson Library hosted the first drop-in Mindfulness Meditation session. Around a dozen people showed up to experience the calm and relaxation the practice brings.
Facilitator Tamara Mann has been practicing a variety of meditation and breathing styles for the past number of years. She was actually introduced to meditative breathing in a school health class as an exercise in self-regulation. Years later, she has advanced her training and is hoping to establish a practice in Humboldt to help others discover the soothing effects and its power over mood regulation.
“Based on the feedback I got tonight, people are just looking to relax,” said Mann following the session. “I think we need help regulating. It’s something that has coming to mind teaching my son how to regulate and I found that I don’t know how to do it myself.”
Man says that she has practiced for the last fourteen years with varying degrees of intensity, but in the last two years, she has formed a more dedicated practice that has born results.
During the session, Tamara demonstrated and had participants follow along with a technique called box breathing. It requires a controlled intake and exhalation of air to a specific count – in this case a count of four. The exercise allows the participant to get ahold of their breathing patterns, be aware of them, and invites a focus or concentration on something other than the mind’s habitual and racing meanderings.
During a guided visualization, a relaxing walk along a wooden path and down to a sunset beach, participants focused on the sensory experience and quietly dismissed invading thoughts.
“If you have a thought that’s outside of your meditation, you acknowledge it and bring yourself back to the practice,” Mann explained. “How I do that is if I get thinking about my laundry list of things I have to do the next day, I just tell myself, ‘that’s for tomorrow; we’ll get to that later – right now, it’s about me and taking time for myself.’”
It’s a gentle redirection that keeps the focus of the meditation going.
The end result was a feeling of relaxation, of lightness, of a definable escape from the everyday frenzy of the world’s intrusions and our responses to them.
Reid Thompson Library will host sessions with Tamara Mann from 6:00 – 6:45 pm on Wednesdays – Sept. 25, October 9, and October 23. For more information, contact the Reid Thompson Library.