If your meditation is thought-filled and your body struggles against stillness, it’s OK. It’s normal. Say to yourself: “Today I’m learning to be at peace with my non-peace.” Sitting with discomfort trains inner balance.

As your meditation journey progresses you begin to understand people in a new way. You notice that anger and aggression are pain and suffering in disguise. As you become aware of your inner life, you understand the hidden forces that distort the behaviour of others.

When I discovered meditation I was suffering from insomnia and depression. Meditation turned my life around. That's why I'm happy to see these studies being published. It's not a magical overnight cure but each day the argument for the healing power of meditation grows stronger.

manageable. For this, yoga and meditation can be very beneficial. 

Chronic pain often goes hand-in-hand with depression. Meditation and yoga can help restore both a patient's mental and physical health and can be effective alone or in combination with other treatments."

and function of the body which supports the process of healing. 

Healing and curing are inherently different. Curing means eliminating disease, while healing refers to becoming more whole. With chronic pain, healing involves learning to live with a level of pain that is . . .

11% remained neutral. Cynthia Marske, the lead researcher on the project, made the following comment: 

"Many people have lost hope because, in most cases, chronic pain will never fully resolve. However, mindful yoga and meditation can help improve the structure . . .

Researchers looked at their levels of pain, depression and functional capacity before and after the 6 weeks of mindfulness and meditation. 

The results were positive! 89% reported the program to be beneficial in helping them find ways to cope with their pain. While . . .

struggling to find relief for one year or more. 

The study participants received 8 weeks of mindfulness, meditation and yoga instruction. They each attended a 2.5-hour weekly session and practiced meditation on their own for 30 minutes per day, 6 days per week . . .

In 2020, a meditation study was conducted in a small town in Oregon USA. This is a place where addiction and access to care are a common problem. 28 participants (aged 34 - 77 years) who suffer from chronic pain took part. These people had been . . .

shine the light of consciousness into places that don’t feel comfortable. I’ll elaborate on this in future posts, but for now, see if you can spot times in your life where you act like sweet little Milo - growling at ghosts from the past instead of meeting reality as it is.

Luckily, we can break free but there’s no overnight solution or magical technique. It’s a lifelong journey. Practices like meditation, self-inquiry and therapy (etc) are enormously helpful but ultimately we have to want freedom. We have to be willing to . . .

hold back in case we get hurt. We might wish to share our talents and passions but hold back in case we are judged. We might want to speak truthfully but stay quiet in case we display vulnerability. We don’t even realise we’re listening to inner voices that keep our life small.

obscured his view of reality. He deprived himself of affection and play with a friend who only had good intentions. We all do this when we act unconsciously, entangled in thoughts of unworthiness, self-judgment and limiting beliefs. We may want to love others fully but . . .

a bit like Milo. Events from our past haunt our present in ways we don’t even realise. When Milo growled at a confused Luna, he believed he was protecting himself and his owner. He followed a well-worn pattern of behaviour that kept him safe in the past. But this pattern . . .

her dog (named Milo) was a rescue. He’d been bullied by bigger dogs in his original environment. The trauma left emotional scars that meant little Milo would become volatile around any other dog - even non-threatening bundles of cuteness like Luna. Perhaps we’re all . . .

an orange lead means a dog doesn’t mix well with other dogs and needs to be avoided or approached with caution. We gave the woman and her very sweet-looking dog a wide birth as we passed by, but we were close enough to exchange a few words. The woman explain that . . .

The woman quickly stopped when she saw us and put her dog on a lead. “She has an orange lead! Quick! put Luna on the lead!” Said Magdalena. I was a bit confused at why the colour of the lead was relevant, but I did as I was told. It turns out that . . .

The other day, myself and Magdalena (my wife) were walking Luna (our dog) in the countryside. As we walked towards a large hill, we saw a woman coming over the top of it, walking her own dog towards us . . .

Follow @that_meditation_guy for more like this. Check the link in my bio for a free workshop recording called: Insight Meditation - Anywhere, Anytime! In that video I'll teach you how to bring the transformative benefits of mindfulness/meditation into every area of you life

There will be times in life when it feels like all hope is lost - like there are no more moves left to play. When you feel like that, remember this painting and this story (which is based on real events).