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What's So Special About Conscious Health Meditation (and the REST Technique™)?
Forget the meditation stereotypes! Our philosophy about meditation is simple: it should be easy to do and quickly give you life-changing benefits. The technique for Conscious Health Meditation and the REST Technique is the same, with some minor differences to adapt to the learning format. All of courses use an effortless technique that does not require any focus, concentration or clearing of the mind. The technique triggers a physiologic effect in the brain and body.
You're Almost There- Don't Stop Now!
You can finally learn how to confidently speak up against racism, confront biases and privilege, and contribute to the movement for social justice in a way that serves the people that need it most! And you can do so in a safe, productive environment, where you are given the space to do the necessary work to look within and make real change.
The Scariest Thing I Almost Didn't Do
Do you feel overwhelmed by increasing levels of racial tension and anti-immigrant sentiment in our country?
Do you feel discouraged by a sense that our country is more divided than united?
Are you frustrated because you want to do something about it, but don’t know where to start?
That’s how I felt back in 2016, and that feeling, plus my friend’s comment about my privileged blog post, got me started on a journey of self-exploration and accountability for my role in our racist society. I signed up for a retreat for white people to learn about anti-racism. I initially was excited, but as the retreat approached, I got scared. I didn’t want to go.
A Priest and a Meditation Teacher and a Dinner Party
Last fall, I was at a friend’s family dinner party. At the table were several of his family’s old friends, two 8-year-olds, and a priest, who was also an old friend of the family.
Midway through dinner, the (white) priest started to recount a story from his days fighting in the Civil Rights movement. He was marching with a few women of color in a rally, and someone on the sidelines started yelling hateful racial slurs at them. The priest, in recounting this story, used the exact language that was yelled at him and the women of color, including the full N-word.
My Favorite Self-Help Tool: Defensiveness
If you could choose any emotion to feel for the rest of your life, what would it be? Happiness? Peace? Contentedness? Excitement? Compassion? Those are all great. But for me:
I choose defensiveness.
What the…?
I love getting defensive. I’m not kidding. I can’t get enough.
Pain vs. Suffering
Pain vs suffering. What’s the difference? Pain is inevitable. Pain can even be helpful. Our nerves provide sensations, so that we may avoid injury. Suffering occurs when we give our pain a personality, a cause and effect, a narrative. If pain is the physical sensation we feel, suffering is the story we tell ourselves about that pain (and what the pain says about us).