Follow

Translate

NYC Psychotherapist Blog

power by WikipediaMindmap

Friday, August 9, 2013

Mind-Body Connection: Focused Meditation

In prior posts, I discussed The Mind-Body Connection: Coping With Stress - Calming the Body, Calming the Mind. In this blog post, I will discuss focused meditation.

What is Focused Meditation?
As I discussed in my prior blog post, in mindfulness meditation, you focus your attention and awareness on your internal experience. In focused meditation, you concentrate on an object. The object can be a flower, a shell, a gem, a stone or whatever you choose to focus your attention on.

Mind-Body Connection: Focused Meditation

The goal of focused meditation is to stay in the moment.

When you're practicing focused meditation, it's normal for your attention to wander at times, especially when you first begin practicing. Rather than getting frustrated and giving up, you just bring your attention back to the object each time. You also remember to breathe and allow your breath to help you to relax.

As a beginner to focused meditation, you might want to begin by focusing your attention on a category of objects rather than a single object. 

So, for instance, instead of focusing on one flower, you can look at four flowers. This allows your mind and eyes to wander to the different flowers, when your mind and eyes want to wander and, generally, it's easier to start in this way. Over time, you can train your mind to focus on one object. Gradually, you can learn to stay with that focus for longer periods of time.

Focusing on an object helps you to relax and it's a good way to de-stress.

In my psychotherapy private practice in NYC, I encourage clients to find a method of meditation that works for them. Usually, they find that it helps them to relax and also increases their ability to concentrate and be more aware of themselves and others.

About Me
I am a licensed NYC psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, EMDR therapist, and Somatic Experiencing therapist.

I work with individual adults and couples.

To find out more about me, visit my web site: Josephine Ferraro, LCSW - NYC Psychotherapist.

To set up a consultation, call me at (917) 742-2624 during business hours or email me.