Meditation Exercises

http://www.millercounselingserv.com/upl ... rkbook.pdf

(The Dialectical Behavioral Therapy Skills Worksbook: Practial DBT Exercises for Learning Mindfulness, Interpersonal Effectiveness, Emotional Regulation, and Distress Tolerance

Matthew McCay PhD, Jeffrey C. Wood PsyD, Jeffrey Brantley MD)

EXERCISE #1 (CHAPTER 2)

Instructions
To begin, sit in a comfortable chair with your feet flat on the floor and your hands resting comfortably,
either on the arms of the chair or in your lap. Close your eyes. Take a slow, long breath in
through your nose. Feel your belly expand like a balloon as you breathe in. Hold it for five seconds: 1,
2, 3, 4, 5. Then release it slowly through your mouth. Feel your belly collapse like a balloon losing its
air. Again, take a slow, long breath in through your nose and feel your stomach expand. Hold it for five
seconds: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Then exhale slowly through your mouth. One more time: take a slow, long breath
in through your nose and feel your stomach expand. Hold it for five seconds: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Then exhale
slowly through your mouth. Now begin to take slow, long breaths without holding them, and continue to
breathe smoothly for the rest of this exercise.
Now, with your eyes closed, imagine that you enter your safe place using all of your senses to ground
yourself in the scene.
First, look around using your imaginary sense of sight. What does this place look like? Is it daytime
or nighttime? Is it sunny or cloudy? Notice the details. Are you alone or are there other people or animals?
What are they doing? If you’re outside, look up and notice the sky. Look out at the horizon. If you’re
inside, notice what the walls and the furniture look like. Is the room light or dark? Choose something
soothing to look at. Then continue looking for a few seconds using your imaginary sense of sight.
Next, use your imaginary sense of hearing. What do you hear? Do you hear other people or animals?
Do you hear music? Do you hear the wind or the ocean? Choose something soothing to hear. Then listen
for a few seconds using your imaginary sense of hearing.
Then use your imaginary sense of smell. If you’re inside, what does it smell like? Does it smell fresh?
Do you have a fire burning that you can smell? Or, if you’re outside, can you smell the air, the grass,
the ocean, or the flowers? Choose to smell something soothing in your scene. Then take a few seconds to
use your imaginary sense of smell.
Advanced Distress Tolerance Skills: Improve the Moment 33
Next, notice if you can feel anything with your imaginary sense of touch. What are you sitting or
standing on in your scene? Can you feel the wind? Can you feel something you’re touching in the scene?
Choose to touch something soothing in your scene. Then take a few seconds to use your imaginary sense
of touch.
Last, use your imaginary sense of taste. Are you eating or drinking anything in this scene? Choose
something soothing to taste. Then take a few seconds to use your imaginary sense of taste.
Now take a few more seconds to explore your safe place using all of your imaginary senses. Recognize
how safe and relaxed you feel here. Remember that you can come back to this place in your imagination
whenever you need to feel safe and relaxed. You can also come back whenever you’re feeling sad, angry,
restless, or in pain. Look around one last time to remember what it looks like.
Now keep your eyes closed and return your focus to your breathing. Again, take some slow, long
breaths in through your nose and exhale through your mouth. Then, when you feel ready, open your eyes
and return your focus to the room.

CUE CONTROLLED RELAXATION (Exercise #2, Chapter 3)

Instructions
To begin, sit in a comfortable chair with your feet flat on the floor and your hands resting comfortably,
either on the arms of the chair or in your lap. Close your eyes. Take a slow, long breath in
through your nose. Feel your belly expand like a balloon as you breathe in. Hold it for five seconds: 1,
2, 3, 4, 5. Then release it slowly through your mouth. Feel your belly collapse like a balloon losing its
air. Again, take a slow, long breath in through your nose and feel your stomach expand. Hold it for five
seconds: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Then exhale slowly through your mouth. One more time: take a slow, long breath
in through your nose and feel your stomach expand. Hold it for five seconds: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Then exhale
slowly through your mouth. Now begin to take slow, long breaths without holding them, and continue to
breathe smoothly for the rest of this exercise.
Now, with your eyes still closed, imagine that a white beam of light shines down from the sky like
a bright laser and lands on the very top of your head. Notice how warm and soothing the light makes
you feel. This could be a light from God, the universe, or whatever power makes you feel comfortable.
As you continue to breathe smoothly, taking slow, long breaths, notice how the light makes you feel more
and more relaxed as it continues to shine on the top of your head. Now, slowly, the warm, white light
begins to spread over the top of your head like soothing water. And as it does, the light begins to loosen
any muscle tension that you’re feeling on the top of your head. Slowly the light begins to slide down your
body, and as it moves across your forehead, all the muscle tension there is released. Then the white light
continues down past your ears, the back of your head, your eyes, nose, mouth, and chin, and it continues
to release any tension you’re holding there. Notice how pleasantly warm your forehead feels. Now, slowly,
imagine that the light begins to move down your neck and over your shoulders, releasing any muscle
tension. Then the light slowly proceeds down both of your arms and the front and back of your torso.
Feel the muscles in your upper and lower back release. Notice the soothing sensation of the white light as
it moves across your chest and stomach. Feel the muscles in your arms release as the light moves down
to your forearm and then across both sides of your hands to your fingertips. Now notice the light moving
down through your pelvis and buttocks and feel the tension being released. Again, feel the light move like
soothing water across your upper and lower legs until it spreads across both the upper and lower surfaces
of your feet. Feel all of the tension leaving the muscles of your body as the white light makes your body
feel warm and relaxed.
Continue to notice how peaceful and calm you feel as you continue to take slow, long, smooth
breaths. Observe how your stomach continues to expand as you inhale, and feel it deflate as you exhale.
Now, as you continue breathing, silently think to yourself “breathe in” as you inhale, and then silently
think your cue word as you exhale. (If your cue word is something other than “relax,” use that word in
the following instructions.) Slowly inhale and think: “breathe in.” Slowly exhale and think: “relax.” As
you do, notice your entire body feeling relaxed at the same time. Feel all the muscle tension in your body
being released as you focus on your cue word. Again, inhale and think: “breathe in.” Exhale and think:
“relax.” Notice your entire body releasing any muscle tension. Again, inhale … “breathe in.” Exhale …
“relax.” Feel all the tension in your body releasing.
Continue breathing and thinking these words at your own pace for several minutes. With each
breath, notice how relaxed your entire body feels. When your mind begins to wander, return your focus
to the words “breathe in” and “relax.”

-- Wed Jul 25, 2018 9:06 pm --

WHERE ARE YOU NOW? (EXERCISE #3, CHAPTER3)

The next time you’re in a distressing situation, ask yourself the following questions:
 Where am I right now?
 Am I time traveling in the future, worrying about something that might happen,
or planning something that might happen?
 Am I time traveling in the past, reviewing mistakes, reliving bad experiences, or
thinking about how my life could have been under different circumstances?
 Or am I in the present, really paying attention to what I’m doing, thinking, and
feeling?
If you’re not in the present moment, refocus your attention on what’s happening to you now
by using the following steps:
 Notice what you’re thinking about and recognize if you’re time traveling. Bring
your focus back to the present moment.
 Notice how you’re breathing. Take slow, long breaths to help you refocus on the
present.
Advanced Distress Tolerance Skills: Improve the Moment 45
 Notice how your body feels and observe any tension or pain you might be feeling.
Recognize how your thoughts might be contributing to how you’re feeling. Use
cue-controlled relaxation to release any tension.
 Notice any painful emotions you might be feeling as a result of time traveling, and
use one of the distress tolerance skills to help you relieve any immediate pain.

too much imagining. the purpose of meditation is to quiet the mind. in my experience, focusing on breathing doesn't work because it's autonomous, that is: you do it automatically, so your mind is still free to engage in thought. again, in my experience, the best way to quiet the mind is to focus on a mantra. i use the lords prayer. i can repeat this in my mind to the exclusion of all other thoughts. eventually, it'll 'see' colours 'projected' in my mind and i can then switch my focus to this, without using the mantra. when i was very young i used to be able to do this without using a mantra first. it's quite possibly a past life skill. other mantras i've tried are the 23rd psalm and 'om mani padme hum'. i did think the latter might work quite well, as it doesn't have the depth of associations, however, having tried it i'm actually a little doubtful. i think perhaps the associations create a certain emotional state that allows the mind to enter a deeper consciousness.

I want to call you sensei. Can I call you sensei? Sensei Monkey.

We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.

-- Thu Jul 26, 2018 12:40 am --

These are kind of cheesy:

WE ARE DAUGHTERS of our Heavenly Father, who loves us, and we love Him. WE WILL “STAND as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places” (Mosiah 18:9) as we strive to live the Young Women values, which are:

Faith • Divine Nature • Individual Worth • Knowledge • Choice and Accountability • Good Works • Integrity • and Virtue

WE BELIEVE as we come to accept and act upon these values, WE WILL BE PREPARED to strengthen home and family, make and keep sacred covenants, receive the ordinances of the temple, and enjoy the blessings of exaltation.

-- Thu Jul 26, 2018 12:44 am --

too self focused?:

The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined. We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need women of faith. We have enough greed, we need more goodness. We have enough vanity; we need more virtue. We have enough popularity; we need more purity.

I could try the Lord's prayer or the 23rd Psalm. I thought it might be helpful if it was something I'd had a history with. The above could be changed to be gender neutral.

pamelaperejil wrote:I want to call you sensei. Can I call you sensei? Sensei Monkey.

... that might be going a bit too far! however, i did recently read 'monkey', which is a translation of 'journey to the west' by arthur waley. in it the monkey is given the name in religion of 'aware of vacuity'. and, i must admit, that did sound rather familiar.

This is why DBT didn't work for me, I feel like emptying my mind/ignoring bad thoughts/chilling has always been a skill. It never made sense to dwell on something I had no control over at the moment.

iabsurdlyexist wrote:This is why DBT didn't work for me, I feel like emptying my mind/ignoring bad thoughts/chilling has always been a skill. It never made sense to dwell on something I had no control over at the moment.

That's cool. I envy you.

pamelaperejil wrote:That's cool. I envy you.

Well, there is a downside. It's possible I just dissociate from these negative experiences and then they add up until I break down. So, is it better knowing and attempting to cope or not really knowing and breaking down for unknown reasons.