Meditations
Prefer to meditate with friends? Join the author as she guides you through the meditations in the book.
Chapter 1: Chocolate Meditation #1
If you love chocolate and wish you loved meditation more than you do, this meditation is for you. Based on classic mindfulness and positive psychology principles as described in Diane Gehart's Mindfulness for Chocolate Lovers, this is a REAL meditation with chocolate that will help you not only relax and enjoy but also gain meaningful insights into how you make sense of all your life experiences. Plus, if you are on a diet, there is no better way to maximize a 90-calorie indulgence. You have nothing to lose (besides a few pounds) and everything to gain.
Chapter 4: Chocolate Meditation #2 - White, Milk, and Dark
Chocolate Meditation No. 2 is a fun way to experience how you form the opinions and judgments that shape every aspect of your life: your identity, relationships, career, spirituality, and--most importantly--your problems. The insights you gain from this delightful meditation will immediately offer insights on how to bring more compassion and sanity any area of your life. This exercise is based on classic mindfulness and positive psychology principles as described in Diane Gehart's book Mindfulness for Chocolate Lovers.
Chapter 4: Befriending Meditation
As described in the book Mindfulness for Chocolate Lovers, Befriending Meditation is an excellent meditation for any type of problem that you are struggling with: relationship, work, parenting, health, mental health, etc. This exercise will help you shift your relationship to the problem to allow you to immediately identify new and better ways to resolve, manage, and--in some cases--totally dissolve your problem. The meditation is based on mindfulness, positive psychology, and evidence-informed psychotherapy techniques.
chapter 5: mindful breath meditation
Follow along as Diane Gehart guides you in classic breath meditation, the most universal and frequently practiced form of mindfulness. Just remember that your mind will frequently wander—that is the point!! Your task is to accept that the mind loves to chatter and kindly refocus on your breath each time it does. This pattern of focus-lose focus-refocus is meditation, and it is the refocusing that helps rewire your brain for less stress and greater mental clarity and freedom. If you mind keeps wandering and you keep refocusing, you are doing it correctly
Chapter 5: body scan meditation
The best meditation for physical relaxation, insomnia, and pain, mindful body scan invites you to scan your body without trying to change, relax, or fix anything. Just notice. It is a great lesson at any point in life.
Chapter 7: Compassion Meditation #1 - Loving Kindness
Although mindfulness meditation makes the most headlines, compassion meditation has numerous well-documented benefits, such as reduced stress, increased emotional intelligence, and relationship benefits. Additionally, most find that it lifts your mood more reliably than mindfulness breath meditation, and it is the meditation used mindfulness programs for couples and families. This 5-Minute version is based on Diane Gehart's Mindfulness for Chocolate Lovers.
Chapter 7: COmpassion meditation - Day-in-a-Life
This meditation invites you to develop compassion by imagining the joys and sorrows of another. You will need either a partner or the picture of another. If you are using a picture, find one of a stranger or someone you don’t know too well. If using a partner, sit facing each other and gazing at the other. You will both need to look away at times to avoid making it uncomfortable. Either way, it can be an emotionally intense exercise.
Chapter 7: Compassion Meditation #3 - Stranger, Friend, Enemy
As described in Diane Gehart's Mindfulness for Chocolate Lovers, this advanced version of compassion meditation involves transforming suffering to generate compassion. It is a profound and deeply moving meditation based on traditional Tibetan Buddhist practices.
Bonus Video: Puppy Meditation
Puppy Meditation
Watch Apollo, a 9-week old white German shepherd puppy, demonstrate how to practice mindfulness using the "sit-stay" command. Apollo is learning these commands for the first time, and he tends to wander off his stays, in the same way that the mind wanders during meditation. Apollo perfectly demonstrates how the mind behaves during meditation and reminds us of how important it is to refocus the mind with gentleness and compassion.