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Author: Sharzad L. Lovegood
If you were to tell me to meditate or do yoga in 2019, she would have laughed and said, "Sorry, but that stuff's not for me." Because I had tried meditation a couple of times and found it boring and frustrating rather than relaxing or energizing. And I was not interested in hot yoga or twisting myself into a pretzel and holding some funny named position!
Then 2020 happened. You know, one stressful thing after another with no end in sight. I found that my health, sleep, mood, and general sanity were all suffering. A doctor told me that this stuff can improve all that, and even reduce pain and fatigue. And she recommended that I try a structured program with guidance, rather than random stuff on my own. So I enrolled in a 9 MBSR program, for many hundreds of dollars. It was worth every penny!
Then I started looking online for stuff to help me keep it going, and found a heck of lot of stuff, all over the place. I even found versions I could have done a similar program for free or paid for it through health insurance. I kept thinking I wish I had known those options. I kept wishing I didn't have to go all over so many different sites looking for stuff. I wished someone would just organize all this and make it easier for people to find and access.
Out of necessity, I started making my own Youtube playlists, my own collection of helpful articles, and my own collection of free and inexpensive resources. And then it occurred to me: I'm doing the legwork, so I might as well share it!
Here is what I have found so far. I will add things as I find more. And I will add a blog about my own journey into it. Sure, I am not a world class guru, but sometimes it's easier to learn from someone who had a hard time "getting" something and thinks "I don't get it, what do you mean there is nothing to get? I didn't sign up for a Nike ad, just teach me how I am supposed to do mindful meditation!" (If you didn't instantly find something antithetical to mindfulness in my wish, then you are in the right place!) In MBSR they say it's good to see things with "Beginner's Mind" or "Child's eye," so here I am!
So join me. Let's explore and learn together. I'm not done learning and improving, so If you have "aha" moments, please share. If you know of, or find, great free or inexpensive resources please share those too, so I can add them to the lists.