Use of the Guided Mindfulness Meditation Audio Programs
Series 1 – Which are used in the 8 Week MBSR Course
Track 1: Body Scan Meditation
Track 2: Mindful Yoga 1
Track 3: Sitting Meditation
Track 4: Mindful Yoga 2
Dr Jon Kabat Zinn suggests the following:
I suggest you start by doing the body scan meditation (track # 1) for two weeks straight before going on to alternate with the guided mindful yoga 1 (track # 2) for another two weeks, one program per day. If the yoga is too strenuous for you (it is quite gentle actually, and you are encouraged to do it to your own capacity and visualize yourself doing whatever parts of it you are not yet ready to try), you can just alternate between the body scan and the guided sitting meditation (track # 3). The postures for both yoga tracks are outlined in Full Catastrophe Living.
The volume of my voice on the yoga tracks drops in certain places because I am speaking as I am doing the postures myself. This is not a defect in the program. Just follow along as best you can. The volume comes back up as the posture releases.
After four weeks with tracks 1 and 2, you can introduce the guided sitting meditation practice (track # 3) and alternate it for the next two weeks with mindful yoga 2 (track # 4), or with the body scan or mindful yoga 1, depending on your inclination. In week seven, you are encouraged to try to keep up the practice for a week without the tracks, using whatever combination of practices you care to.
In week eight, you are encouraged to return to the tracks, and use whichever ones make the most sense to you as you develop your own unique meditation practice, hopefully for the rest of your life. Of course, you can always combine the various practices in any way that you care to, at any time.
After practicing these guided meditations, you are likely to find that you are more mindful in your life at other times as well. This is a natural benefit of mindfulness practice. You can deepen this process by intentionally bringing awareness of your breathing and of your body as a whole into as many moments as you can in your everyday life. Practicing in this way can help you to see stressful situations with greater clarity
Book by John Kabat-Zinn related to Series 1 of JKZ series is: Kabat-Zinn, J. (2013). Full catastrophe living- Using the wisdom of your body and mind to face stress. Bantam Books: New York
Click here for Link for Book on Amazon
Series 2
Tracks 1, 2, 3 Sitting Meditations
Tracks 4, 5, 6 Lying Down Meditations
Track 7 Mountain Meditation
Track 8 Lake Meditation
Track 9 Silence with bells at set times: 5, 10, 20, and 30 minutes
Track 10 Silence with bells at random times
Dr Jon Kabat Zinn describes the Series 2 set of mediations:
The first three guided sitting meditations introduce you to the basic elements of formal mindfulness meditation practice, including both the inner and outer attitude reflected in your posture and in the quality of your attention. You can work up progressively from the ten-minute version to the twenty-minute one to the thirty-minute one as your concentration and awareness deepen over time.
The guided meditations on track 4-6 are aimed at cultivating mindfulness while lying down, preferably on your back. This may require that you learn how to “fall awake,” which is, after all, what mindfulness is about, instead of falling asleep, which is easy to do when lying down and becoming more and more relaxed.
The mountain meditation and the lake meditation evoke two powerful images that may help you to deepen your concentration, broaden the field of your awareness, and expand your feeling for the inward gesture involved in mindfulness practice. Ideally, the mountain meditation should be done sitting, and the lake meditation lying on your back.
Silence with bells provides an opportunity to practice on your own, without my guidance, once you have the feel for it from the other programs. This involves just hearing whatever is here to be heard in any moment, whether it is silence or sound.
Book by John Kabat-Zinn related to Series 2 of JKZ series is: Kabat-Zinn, J. (2005). Wherever you go, there you are: Mindfulness Meditation in every day life. Tenth Anniversary Edition. Hyperion Books: New York
Click here for Link for book on Amazon
