This fall I am offering a group yoga and meditation class on Tuesdays from 6-7pm at RestoreFx. Each class is $15. I accept cash only payments.

This class will focus on using basic yoga postures to learn to calm yourself and understand your body. We end each class with deep relaxation and mindfulness meditation. This is an ideal class for those new to yoga and meditation who are wanting help learning to relax and self-soothe.

Bring a yoga mat and a blanket or thick towel.

We start promptly at 6pm. Please do not arrive late.

RestoreFX 4534 Westgate Blvd Ste 112 Austin, TX 78745
Directions: Our building is in a tan, two story building that also houses Castle Dental and the Bird and Animal Hospital. Enter RestoreFX at suite 112 and turn to the left to find stairs or an elevator. Proceed to the 2nd floor. Our yoga class is in the room facing the exercise equipment.

In the midst of the hot Austin summer it can be hard to remember that fall is around the corner. As the school year begins and vacations end, families begin to ramp up to get ready for a new year and new semester. When every urge enters your body to speed up and “get it done” the most important thing can be to slow down.

The stress of trying to get school supplies, schedules set, and clothing bought can be more than one would think. When you are standing in the middle of the mall with a tween who is pouting because you won’t buy $100 jeans, it might be a time to breath.

Start by just taking two physical steps away from the situation. Feel your toes in your shoes. Wiggle them and notice the sensation of your socks, or the air, or the floor — whatever is there. Rock forward and backward, toe to heel, noticing the weight of your body as it meets the ground. Notice, too, that you are supported. Breath in deeply, expanding your belly. Imagine the breath flowing in through your nose and seeming down into your toes. Exhale slowly. Imagine the air carry the tension from your body from your toes. See the air in your mind’s eye as it sweeps the tension out, exiting through the crown of your head. Take ten slow deep breaths just like this.

If you find that you cannot keep up with the pace of August, and that by the time you take deep breaths it is too late, set your phone to chime on the hour or half hour. Several apps are set up to do this as a reminder. When you hear this special chime (make sure it is a chime only for breathing reminders!) take three slow deep breaths and notice where in your body you feel tension. Take these moments to let your tension in your body release before it builds to a blow-up or a headache.

By far, the concept that my clients struggle with the most when I am teaching meditation is that meditation is not relaxation.

“Is my mind supposed to go blank?”
“I’m supposed to push my thoughts away, right?”
“Why can’t I relax when I’m meditating! I hate it!”

There are some forms of meditation (concentration meditations, we call them) that are intended to help you relax. In these forms of meditation, you concentrate on something, usually an image or sentence. Maybe you imagine yourself at the beach. Or you repeat a mantra over and over in your head or aloud. The goal of these is to relax.

Mindfulness meditation is a form of insight meditation. In this tradition, we are focused on whatever is happening in the moment. Our goal is not to change what we find, but to experience ourselves and our lives in a new, kinder, more accepting, way.

A simple practice is to just sit down and notice your breath. The breath serves as our “home base” or “anchor” in the meditation. A place we can rest at. As we notice our breath, our busy busy minds drift. Perhaps you start instead noticing thoughts, or sounds around you. Very quickly we move away from our breath to other, more stimulating things. When we notice that we’ve drifted away from our breath we merely again return our attention to our breath. We use the breath as a resting place until we are again swept away.

You can see how this may not be relaxing. If there are thoughts or feelings that are troubling or that you normally avoid, this can be downright maddening. It might be intolerable. (If it is intolerable, discontinue the meditation. While some discomfort is normal, if you find yourself becoming overly agitated it may be time to take a break and talk to someone about how to change the practice.) This is when the work of the meditation begins. Our work is learning about ourselves. Learning more about the thoughts and feelings we avoid and why we avoid them. Learning to accept those parts of ourselves that we normally escape. Learning to find peace in the pain.

Meditation is work.

It’s hard. It can be difficult, frustrating, scary, boring, and annoying. It can also be rewarding, rejuvenating, peaceful, and releasing. It is a “practice” because it is difficult and takes repeating to build this skill. It is “practice” because it leads us to a place of growth and mastery.

Take a moment.

Take a moment now and just notice your breath. Is it shallow or deep? Slow or fast? Do you exhale or inhale for longer? Take a moment to just study your breath as though you had never heard of breathing before. Allow yourself to wonder at this complex array of movements that you do everyday, continuously, without thinking about it, that gives you life. Take a moment now to just notice before you read on.

What did you find when you tuned in? Did you become anxious? Did you feel more relaxed? Did you judge your breathing as too slow or too fast? Did your critical mind start picking apart how you breath and trying to make it “better”? Did you get lazy and want to sleep? Did you quickly think “okay, that’s enough, this is dumb” or “okay, now what?”? Meditation is as much noticing your body as your reactions to yourself and your circumstances. Beginning to understand your patterns and reactions is an important step in both self-compassion and change.

Make this “check-in” part of your day. Pick a time this week you will check in and set your phone alarm to remind you. See what you’ve noticed when the week is out.

In mindfulness meditation, we are often asked to face a familiar experience with “curiousity.” As adults, we sometimes lose track of common childhood experiences such as play and being curious as we fall into routines and responsibilities. I’ve spoken before of the importance of play, and an attitude of curiousity is a childhood experience that is equally as important to maintain as an adult.

When we cultivate an attitude of curiousity, we open ourselves to experience routine activities as something new and wonder-filled. Take as an example your daily shower. You get in the shower, you rinse off, suds up, all the while plotting and planning your day, perhaps lamenting something you didn’t do the day before, and wondering about what tomorrow holds. Suddenly you are done: drying off and getting dressed.

Perhaps, though, you could use this idea of being curious to help create a moment of noticing and calm. Instead of getting caught in the whirlwind of thoughts, let your attention rest on your senses. Allow yourself to be curious about what a shower smells, feels, sounds, looks, even tastes like, as though you have never showered before. Notice the feeling of the water: the temperature, the pressure, the places it touches. Notice the smell of your shower: your soaps and shampoo. Notice the sound of the shower: perhaps the water hitting the wall, or your partner humming a tune, or your child screaming from the next room. Notice the sight before you: the glistening of water on your skin, the way the light hits the drops as they stream out. Perhaps even taste the water, noticing the feeling on your tongue, the warmth or coolness in your mouth…

We have these moments all day long. Moments of routine action that we think through. Our thinking brain derailing our attention from the moment and wrapping it around a fantasy of past or future that prevents us from being present in reality. We spend so much time in this fantasy that we sometimes begin to believe it to be reality. In turn we mistake our thoughts for truth when they are only interpretations. By re-training ourselves to be present in the moment, we cultivate an ability to observe objectively and to detangle ourselves from that jumbled of all-consuming thought.

If you feel that you don’t have time for a meditation practice then try an informal meditation such as this for your practice. Other ideas might be to meditate while doing dishes, or while eating, or while brewing coffee. Choose one routine activity that you do daily, and make it your time to meditate. You will begin to see changes in the way you experience yourself and the world with this practice.

How do you know who to start with? Are you staring at a google search wondering how to choose? Or faced with the more difficult challenge of choosing from a list of names on your insurance provider list?

Here are some interview questions that you should ask as well as consider for yourself:

What is a session like? How structured are the sessions?
Therapists are trained in all different types of therapy. Some therapists are very structured, others let you lead and decide what is discussed, still others ask a lot of questions to get you going… Think about what will make you feel comfortable and productive. Do you need structure to stay organized? Do you get anxious when you have to do the talking? Sometimes therapists will want you to try out new roles to practice (e.g. doing more talking than you are comfortable) to help you grow, but you want to feel supported and comfortable overall.

Do you give me work to do between sessions?
Some therapists use “homework” to help you to practice skills that you are developing. This may or may not appeal to you and can be helpful in making a decision.

How often do we meet?
Most therapists will want to meet with you weekly, at least as you are starting, but some will want to meet more often and others may be open to meeting less often.

What is the average length of therapy in your practice?
You may only want to meet with someone a few times but end up with a therapist who works with individuals for several years. Asking how long individuals stay with a therapist is a helpful way to find out more about how a therapist works.

How many clients do you have at any given time?
There is a big difference between a therapist seeing nine people in a day, and a therapist seeing four. You want to make sure that your therapist is able to maintain balance in his/her own life so they can provide you the care you deserve.

Are you available after hours or between sessions?
Some therapists expect the relationship you have with them to stay “in the room” and do not talk on the phone or email between sessions. Others offer their cell phone number to you. Know which your therapist is before you jump on board and know what you think you might need.