617-331-4654
Be at Ease in Your Body, Mind and Relationships
Videos and Other Resources
Guided Meditation Videos
This is a simple practice to steady the mind and nervous system. It combines seated meditation with simple yoga-based breath control and movements in a seated position. The breath control and movements help focus and stabilize the attention, which tends to produce states of spaciousness, quiet mind, relaxation and well-being. Stress responses in the nervous system are reduced. The chattering mind tends to grow quiet, which is often hard to achieve in traditional meditation with the focus on the natural breath.
Meditation helps us gain more control of the mind, so we can use the mind, rather than being dragged around by it in an unhelpful way. It also gives us tools to work with challenging thoughts and emotions. Here’s a talk on how it can help.
This simple mindfulness practice is guided to help focus the attention and quiet the thinking mind. No need to look like the Buddha statue. Come as you are!
This is an online guided meditation for overall self-regulation. Intended to be practiced in a simple seated position, it guides the viewer to cultivate balance and stability in the physical body, breath and attention. Unlike yoga for exercise, this is the ‘internal’ yoga, intended to deepen one’s sense of comfort, confidence and self-mastery of body and mind.
This online guided meditation of Alternate Nostril Breath may sound bizarre at first. In fact it’s great for those of us who sometimes struggle with simple breath meditation because of how distracting thoughts can be for those newer to meditation. This deceptively simple technique can be powerfully grounding and centering. It gives the thinking mind a simple task to attend to, allowing the observing mind to concentrate more easily.
This guided practice of yogic breath holds, called Kumbhak, is a great in-body way to build resilience and tolerance of uncomfortable feelings and sensations. The practitioner learns to hang out with the need for breath, and stretches the possible comfort zone. Many people find this translates into greater ease with other forms of challenge, with strong emotions, stress, impulses, feelings of uncertainty, or vulnerability. CAUTION: If you have any medical concerns, especially high blood pressure or recent abdominal surgery, consult your physician before practicing this, and consider practicing with less intensity. If you are well and willing, go for it- play with your edge. Be mindful that for some it can disrupt sleep because of the energy it stirs up.
Other Resources for Guided Meditations
A good selection of guided meditations recordings can be found on the Guided Meditation Recordings page of the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy website.
Links
The largest yoga and holistic health center in the U.S., located in Western Massachusetts. Yoga classes focused on personal transformation and radiant health. Holistic health treatments, massage and wellness teaching.
Comprehensive trauma treatment center in Brookline, Massachusetts. Website publishes cutting-edge research on holistic and other treatments for trauma.
Cambridge Insight Meditation Center offers instruction in mindfulness meditation, meditation retreats, and a community of people practicing mindfulness.
Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts. The center offers silent residential meditation retreats with world-class teachers. The website offers downloadable talks on meditation and Buddhism.
Non-profit service providing information on resources for recovery from sexually-addictive behaviors, including 12-step meeting lists nation/worldwide.
Non-profit service providing information on recovery for family members effected by alcohol and other addictions, including 12-step meetings lists for the U.S. and Canada.
Non-profit service providing information on recovery from alcohol dependence, including 12-step meeting lists in Massachusetts.
Lucie Kasova is a Cambridge-based Kripalu yoga and meditation teacher who offers group and private lessons. For anyone wanting to be more at home in the body through these wisdom traditions, she is a steady, mature and inspiring mentor.
A local yoga teacher offering instruction in Kripalu Yoga, the yoga of personal transformation and overall wellness. Great for improving one’s relationship with the body, and working on emotional issues through the physical practice of yoga.
Other Videos
It's always good to know why you're doing anything. When a therapist or teacher recommends meditation, it's important to know what the intention is- why is it "good" for you. This video lays out four basic intentions or purposes, of meditation.
Books
Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn
The landmark book for bringing mindfulness meditation into daily life to reduce stress and cope with emotional and physical pain, written in simple language.
Yoga and the Quest for the True Self by Stephen Cope
Stories of how yoga can create personal transformation and help us live in alignment with our deepest values. It is also the story of the Kripalu Yoga lineage.
Kripalu Yoga by Richard Faulds
The handbook for Kripalu Yoga, overviewing all aspects of practicing the yoga of transformation.
Codependent No More by Melody Beattie
A basic guide to understanding and releasing codependency, the pattern of neglecting our own needs while feeling compelled to please others.
Out of the Shadows by Patrick Carnes
A comprehensive guide to understanding sexually compulsive and destructive behaviors.
The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching by Thich Nhat Hanh
A guide to the basics of Buddhist psychology, and how to transform suffering into wisdom about life.
A Gentle Path Through the Twelve Steps by Patrick Carnes
A simple, practical guide on how to apply the 12 step process for healing.
The Drama of the Gifted Child by Alice Miller
How parental neglect can create damaging dilemmas for children.
Healing Your Aloneness by Erika Chopich and Margaret Paul
A guide to healing the pain of neglect and abuse of childhood, using the Inner Child model.
Peaceful Mind by Mcquaid and Carmona
Using mindfulness and other therapy techniques to work with depression and other life-limiting patterns.
The Happiness Trap by Russ Harris
A simple, readable guide to Acceptance Commitment Therapy, which is a simple, practical set of teachings for ending the struggle with difficult emotions and how they can block us from living a full life. Don’t be fooled by the mainstream ‘self-help’ packaging of this book- the teachings are great- basically applied Buddhist psychology aimed at emotional difficulty.
Go In and In by Dana Faulds
Poems about the awakening and spirituality one yoga teacher encounters on the life path of yoga.
The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
Tolle obsessively focuses on the habits of the mind that pull us out of the present moment, which, he points out, is the only time we actually get to live. Although some of his statements about achieving permanent freedom from struggle are over the top, this book is a valuable resource for seeing how the mind works. He has a gift for simple, clear language to illustrate subtle concepts about how we inadvertently add suffering to our lives.
When Things Fall Apart and The Places That Scare You by Pema Chodron
Brief, inspirational books on facing difficult circumstances with more grace and less fear. And, learning to let the fear be there, and not be controlled by it.
The Wise Heart by Jack Kornfield
Warm, humorous guide to Buddhist Psychology and how to apply it in our lives.
Peace is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh
Simple teachings on how to live a more skillful and peaceful life by training the mind to be more focused. Basic help for attentional difficulties that are sometimes medicalized, diagnosed and medicated as ADD/ADHD.