Trigger warning: This article mentions suicide.

Welcome back for our Vanderpump Rules Season 11, Episode 6 recap. Last time, the group, minus Ariana and Katie, kicked it in Lake Tahoe. And Sandoval finally apologized to James. This weeks episode, titled Saw It on the Graham, features Scheana and Sandoval trying to connect during a meditation exercise. Heres everything that you need to know about Pump Rules, Season 11, Episode 6!

Scheana was texting with Ariana about how things were going in Lake Tahoe. Lala and Scheana discussed how, if they had planned the trip, Sandoval wouldnt have scored an invite. I just know I cant ever be friends with him again, Scheana stated. Lala agreed, adding, Its really, its its really freaking sad.

However, during the pandemic, Scheana was pregnant and was financially struggling. She didnt have any income. Then she woke up to several thousand dollars in her PayPal account from Sandoval. It is memories like this that make Scheana miss her friend.

Scheana admitted that she was struggling with her feelings about Sandoval.Im not saying come over for f*cking dinner. Let me paint your toenails white. Im struggling not forgiving this human who has been there for me, Scheana stated.

She explained, Im not feeling torn thats the thing Im TeamArianauntil I die. Now Im feeling torn and confused about Scheanas stance.

Katie stopped by Arianas place, where she was having a photoshoot for her new cocktail book, Single AF Cocktails. Her previous cocktail book was with Sandoval. This was the equivalent of her break up album.

Ariana wanted to make some lemonade out of lemons but with vodka. Amen, sister. I need to grab me a copy.

Back in Lake Tahoe, the yoga instructor, Shannon, arrived. She made the mistake of asking him if there was anything that she should focus on. So, Sandoval told her the long, sad tale of how he was a d-bag. Just without the d-bag part.

The group had a partner meditation. Scheana won the honor of being seated next to Sandoval. She looked like a deer caught in the headlights; especially when she had to sit back to back with Sandoval.

Scheana started to cry and told Sandoval she needed a second to herself. As she ran up the stairs into the house, she said, I still f*cking hate you. Brock went after her, urging his wife to admit her feelings to Sandoval.

Scheana returned and struggled through the rest of the meditation. But then the instructor told the group to face their partner and imagine that this was the last time that they would ever see each other. Sandoval and Scheana both started crying. Scheana just cant forgive him for what he did to Ariana. For his part, Sandoval talked about remembering all the great times that they shared.

Scheana said, I thought about the last day Id see you so much during this because I was genuinely worried you were going to do something to yourself.Sandoval hopes that Scheana realizes that he is not this ruthless, heartless villain. I think some people might disagree. Actions speak louder than words.

Scheana felt Sandovals emotions and realized that her friend was still there. And he knew how much of a mess he made of everything. I dont think that Ariana is going to feel warm and fuzzy about Scheana reconnecting with Sandoval.

While Brock, Schwartz, and Sandoval rode in a gondola, Sandoval repeated his mantra about his affair with Rachel Leviss. Neither Rachel nor I, did any of this with the intention of hurting anyone, he said. The way you guys reacted was very intentionally trying to hurt both [Rachel] and I. Not this statement again. If Sandoval hides behind this shield all season, Im going to have a migraine.

Brock reminded him that Rachel took out a restraining order against Scheana. So, Sandoval countered it was because she got punched in the goddamn face.

Then Sandoval moaned about someone putting rumors out about him and Billie Lee in the press. Brock countered that Sandovals team put out rumors that Brock slept with Rachel. Sandoval denied it, but Brocks publicist found out where the rumor came from.

Ariana and Katie were interviewing people for their sandwich shop, which (still) has yet to open. Oof. Ariana told Katie that she received an email from Scheana about her meditation pairing with Sandoval. Finally, Katie asked Ariana the big question. Would Ariana still be friends with someone who was friends with Sandoval? That is a hard NO. She doesnt want any mutual friends.

Meanwhile, Scheana decided to give Ariana a call. She explained her feelings and how this was tearing her apart. Ariana said that Sandoval never cared about his friendship with Scheana. Im not sure about that.

When Scheana shared that Sandoval gave her a genuine apology, Ariana shrugged. I cant keep hating him for you, Scheana told Ariana. Let me point out that Arianas facial expressions were priceless.

After Scheana hung up, Katie was shocked by Scheana wanting to forgive Sandoval. Ariana seems close to cutting Scheana off as a friend.

Lala questioned Sandoval about how he could tell her to be real about her life last season, while he was busy cheating on Ariana. The day that the news about Scandoval broke, Sandoval was in a publication bashing Lala, stating that he didnt think shes real.

He reminded her that the VPR cast respected parts of her life being out of bounds for years. Sandoval pointed out that they both lied about their relationships, so it should be a draw.

Lala started to get heated. Once Sandoval lied to her face, he gave her the right to talk about his affair. Sandoval called out the timeline, saying that he only lied for six months, while Lala was bending the truth for six years. Instead of apologizing, as Lala expected, Sandoval doubled down about her past mistakes.

Youre insane! Lala yelled at Sandoval. And the old Lala is back! I felt bad for you for five f*cking seconds, and now youre proving to me that you are terrifying! Sandoval accused her of slamming Rachel, then only backing off when social media dissed her.

You isolate. You groom. You lie, the mom of one stated. Sandoval went nuts when she accused him of grooming.

Scheana hopped in, explaining that all Lala wanted was an apology. And Lala had been really nice to Sandoval. Finally, Sandoval admitted in his confessional that he was hypocritical because of his affair with Rachel. And Sandoval apologized and hugged Lala.

Now, Scheana was dealing with hate for posing in a group photo with her arm around Sandoval. While Scheana was dealing with the online backlash, Ariana had been MIA as far as defending her. Scheana started to cry to Lala, confiding that when she told Ariana that she was struggling, she just brushed it off. She is happy for Ariana because of all the opportunities coming her way. But Scheana was also hurting.

In her confessional, Lala said, It is time for Ariana to pull her head from out of her own ass. Ariana needs to remember that Scheana was there for her. And Scheana would like to know when it can, finally, be all about her.

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988.

You can catch Season 11 of Vanderpump Rules on Tuesdays at 8/7c on Bravo.

TELL US WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT VANDERPUMP RULES SEASON 11, EPISODE 6? DOES ARIANA NEED TO REMEMBER WHO SUPPORTED HER? IS SHE WRONG TO CUT OFF ANYONE WHO IS FRIENDS WITH SANDOVAL?

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Vanderpump Rules Season 11, Episode 6 Recap: Will Ariana End Her Friendship With Scheana? - Reality Tea

Sometime in the year 2000, meditation was rebranded as 'Mindfulness', a recasting that somehow made the act more accessible. It was soon followed by the digitization of medita...er...mindfulness, which means we only needed an app and ten minutes at our desks during lunch.

The awareness created by mindfulness apps such as Headspace and Calm has brought meditation to the mainstream and has certainly helped millions focus their minds and calm their stress.

But it has all got a bit messy.

Homescreen heroes

This is part of a regular series of articles exploring the apps that we couldn't live without. Read them all here.

There are hundreds of meditation apps, audiobooks, podcasts and tracks on Spotify. The irony is that with all the mediation app noise, it can be hard to filter the good from the bad or even to know where to start.

This is where the new app, The Way, comes in.

Rather than have a list of meditations to solve each of life's problems, such as sleep, stress, empowerment, or anxiety, The Way provides a step-by-step course by one of the world's foremost experts, an actual Zen Master.

Henry Shukman is your guide on the course. This man has spent much of his adult life studying meditation in many different forms, notably in the Sanbo KyodanZen, where he has received Dharma Transmission. This sounds like something you would find on an ecologically sustainable car, but it actually makes him a Zen master with a lineage that can go back from master to master, theoretically all the way back to The Buddha himself.

It is probably important to note at this point that The Way isn't a religious app. Although Zen is rooted in Buddhism, the app and the course are agnostic; the focus is on meditation and there aren't other doctrines at play, so it should be suited to everyone.

For the last few months, The Way has been in beta, where I have been trying it, but it is now out in the wild and live on iOS and Android app stores.

I've been using The Way to get a little more from a meditation practice. If I'm feeling stressed or anxious, I'm pretty good at being self-aware and taking a moment to shut my eyes and breathe, even if just for a moment. But I want to take that a bit further so I can perhaps become more reflective and not get as stressed in the first place. To become more, er, Zen... if you pardon the perfectly appropriate pun.

What separates The Way from other meditation apps is that it is really a course or a journey - you follow The Way - a literal illustrated path in the app. Along the path, are different retreats, each one delving a little deeper into meditation with different sessions giving a step-by-side approach.

Each session is either a guided meditation or a brief talk by Henry, offering vital context as to what the approach or aim is from this particular part of the course. From experience, the voice of the narrator is critical to the success of a guided meditation. I've started too many guided mediations where the sound of a beautiful forest or harmonious bamboo wind chimes has been broken by someone with a voice that sounds like fingernails on a chalkboard. These moments instantly break the harmonious synergy between mind, body, and smartphone app.

Thankfully, there are no chimes or gongs, at least not where I am on The Way. Instead, there is silence and Henry's voice, which is very soothing. Think of Bob Ross, although, with his English accent, a better comparison would be to Monty Don (he does gardening programs on the BBC and is far cooler than he sounds).

I first came across Harry Shukman on an episode of the Tim Ferris Show podcast a few years back. I was instantly struck by how calm and laid back Harry was, which is obvious - the dude is a literal Zen Master. But he has a sense of humor; you can hear the smile on his face when he talks.

The audio is impeccably recorded, and one of the things that I like is that there are times when you will hear Henry 'um' or 'err' when giving an introduction or talking about a topic. I genuinely like that the tone and the message haven't been edited to death as it gives it a close feeling, like Henry is actually with you, guiding you, and not just reading from a script or, worse still, an AI-generated voice.

I've been trying to use The Way every day, which more realistically has become 'when I remember,' but that is ok. At any point, you can go back and play a previous session, and you can even choose the meditation length, either 10 or 20 minutes.

Early sessions are very much in the 'mindfulness' mold: sitting comfortably, letting your thoughts wander, focusing on your breath, scanning and relaxing your body and noticing tension and how you feel, listening and observing sounds.

Henry explains the Four Zones of practice you work through during The Way - Mindfulness, Support, Flow, and Awakening. There are 110 sessions at the time of writing, and the plan is to build on this. As a guided course, there is a lot of information, including some Zen Koans, which are statements or questions that don't have a literal answer. Koans are like tools to make you reflect. You may already kind of a know one - 'Two hands clap, and there is a sound. What is the sound of one hand?'.

I'm not expecting to become enlightened from being guided through The Way, although who knows what will happen. All I know is that with all the research into the health benefits of meditation alone, spending a few minutes every day to appreciate the fact that I breathe without even trying can't be a bad thing. Taking time to appreciate life and everything in it will help keep me grounded daily.

Currently, there is an Early Supporter offer, which is 9.99 ($9.99) a month ( usually 19.99) or 69.99 ($74.99) for the year (usually 139.98). Like anything digital, there is an expectation that everything should be free, but to put it in perspective, a single group meditation class could cost 10-20, so to have access to an entire course at that price is good value if you think you will complete it and get something from it.

You can find The Way on iOS and Google Play.

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This app helps me learn to chill like a true Zen Master - TechRadar

I wake at 6:45am. Then I spend the first 15 mins on my morning ritual after which I get myself and my kids ready for the day.

The first thing I do every morning is just after I wake up, I meditate in bed to connect with myself, my body and my soul. A healthy body and mind are very important to me. I do a gratitude ritual each morning, I shut myself down for about 5 minutes and focus on the things Im grateful for that day. The ritual helps me to feel lighter and gets me ready for a day with full of energy.

My morning routine is after meditating, I like to visualize how I want to feel throughout the day. It really gives me something special as it sets the tone and energy of my day and makes me feel positive and grounded. I also always make my bed in the morning and afterwards, I like to take a shower, going from hot to cold at least 4 times. I also train with a personal trainer twice a week.

I cant go to work without starting the day with my kids, having breakfast with them, and taking them to school. It nourishes my feeling of home and love.

The self-care tool I use every day is meditation and visualisation. And I try to take a walk twice a day, especially after lunch when I can.

The best part of my day is when I come home and spend time with my husband and kids after a busy workday. But I also really enjoy having focused meetings, to create together and finetune progress to reach our goals. This gives me lots of energy.

After a long work week, I destress by spending time with my family. Every Sunday we practise gratitude together, we hold hands and tell each other what we are grateful for.

The most challenging part of my day is the afternoon. Often I dont have enough time to finish what I want to and at the same time cant wait to see my kids for dinner and bring them to bed.

Before I go to bed, Ill put my phone away half an hour before I go to bed, and I also love to end my day with a candle meditation. By staring into the flame and releasing the day it increases the amount of melatonin. Right before I go to sleep, I sit quickly, and I practise breathing and gratitude as this really helps me to put the daily stress away.

My go-to comfort meal is Im a vegetarian so vegetarian Pad Thai.

When I need a moment to myself, I try to take at least 5 minutes a day for my meditations and gratitude and when I need to reflect, I like to take a walk.

Everyone should try face yoga! A healthy lifestyle is important for your skin. We all know that exercising is good for your health, but another form of exercising, namely face yoga, is also a fun and effective skincare routine. Furthermore, while focusing on my skincare routine I meditate in a way of being kind to my skin and really focus on positivity. How weird it may sound, what really made a difference for me is to treat your skin with some gratefulness. So, a tip I would like to share is to have good thoughts for your skin. We always have comments and see the imperfections, but dont forget to be grateful for the skin you have. Start or end your day with giving your skin some love and compliments. I tried it for a period, and it really worked, so it is part of my daily routine now.

Photography by Rituals.

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Wellness Diaries: Niki Schilling, Rituals Director of Innovation and Sustainability - image.ie

Browse hundreds of posters for sale, attend the final MLK Week commemorative event, celebrate Black History Month with a delicious dinner, practice mindful meditation, and cheer on the women's basketball and men's gymnastics teams at home.

Daily, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. January 29 February 2 | Nebraska Union, The Crib

Browse, enjoy, and purchase from hundreds and hundreds of different prints to decorate your residence hall room, apartment, chapter house, or office. Choose from a wide selection of smash-hit classic posters of famous art and images to fresh-off-the-press artist prints, and so much more.

Poster purchases can be made with cash, credit cards, and NCard.

6 to 8 p.m. January 30 | Nebraska Union, Centennial Room

Attend the final commemorative event of the annual MLK Week at UNL. This years program will feature a keynote address from Xernona Clayton and the awarding of the annual Chancellors Fulfilling the Dream Award.

7 p.m. January 30 | Pinnacle Bank Arena

Stop by PBA as the Huskers take on the Boilermakers.

Get your free student ticket.

4:30 to 8 p.m. February 1 | Willa Cather Dining Complex

Kick off Black History Month with a delicious dinner at the Cather Dining Center. The menu served on the Home Cooking line will include fried chicken dumplings, fried catfish nuggets, vegetarian red beans & rice, collard greens with ham, southern black-eyed peas, fried okra, and more.

Included with meal plan or pay guest prices.

4 to 7 p.m. February 1 | Nebraska Union, Centennial room and Ballroom

Explore and interact with a multitude of recognized student organizations (RSOs) for social, professional, and leadership interests.

RSO members and officers will be on hand to provide details about their organization and answer questions from prospective new members.

This event is free and casual in nature.

5 to 6 p.m. February 1 | Campus Recreation Center

This basic-level meditation class introduces participants to mindfulness meditation. Meditation is beneficial for reducing stress, controlling anxiety, and enhancing focus. Begin your meditation journey in this class that prioritizes the awareness of body and breath.

Register for this FREE event.

6 p.m. February 3 | Devaney Sports Center

Cheer on your Husker Mens Gymnastics team as they take on Penn State at the Devaney Center.

Get your free student ticket.

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Explore cuisine, clubs, meditation, and more at 7 events this week - Student Affairs

Movies

This documentary by Serbian-born director Marta Popivoda is a mildly psychedelic drift into the horror of one womans deportation and determined survival

Much of this Serbian documentary uses a striking, mildly psychedelic technique: a super-slow dissolve between images that morph near-imperceptibly into the next. Cracks in rendered rural walls appear to shift and Balkan forest vegetation undergoes subtle mutations, as the films subject, nonagenarian Sofia Vujanovic, recalls her past in voiceover: one of Titos partisans, her wartime activities and subsequent deportation to Auschwitz. Its as if an ineluctable force history is moving through the material world, warping and reshaping it.

These tectonics operate on human flesh too: Vujanovics Auschwitz tattoo has slipped down her forearm as the years have gone by. Purpose still weighting her words, she recounts her journey into activism: she was attracted to communism by progressive classmates in the countryside; cherrypicked as a cell leader during the second world war because being a woman allowed her to escape attention; and then sickened by taking her first life, an SS officer during a raid on a supply train. Vujanovic was then captured, tortured and shipped off into darkness in Poland, with Czechoslovak railwaymen taunting the prisoners en route: Gas, gas! She thought they were being sent to work at a gas-processing plant.

Interweaving these enigmatic shots with sequences of Vujanovic in her apartment, overlaying them with diary extracts and sigil-like illustrations, the films director, Marta Popivoda, lets history subtly press upon us. Her attempt to draw a line to present-day fascism is a little clumsy, though: Popivodas mention of moving to Berlin with her partner and co-writer Ana Vujanovic as a protest against growing Balkans homophobia and capitalism is featherweight in comparison with the pensioners life-or-death resistance. Ana Vujanovic is Sofias great-niece, so making the documentary personal is understandable but as a pre-emptive warning to heed extremism in our time, it feels half-baked.

The older womans experiences and Popivodas unflustered conveyance of them speak louder. Where our attention is drawn initially to the beguiling images, it finally settles on the constant of Vujanovics voice; testimony to the strength of idealism and human determination to transmit through the decades.

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Landscapes of Resistance review an enigmatic meditation on a life marked by Auschwitz - The Guardian

The first time I tried walking meditation, it was with a Soto Zen group, and I fell on my faceliterally. My leg had fallen asleep during zazen, and I didnt even make it one step before I hit the ground. Not great. And when I finally got my feet under me again, the other people in the room were moving so slowly that, at first, I wasnt sure if wed started or not.

The second time I tried it, I was at a Thich Nhat Hanh-style retreat in the woods. It turns out that Buddhists do walking meditation in all kinds of different ways. This time we walked outside in pairs, holding hands and pausing every so often at the sound of a mindfulness bell. (I know everyone paused because I, ever mindful, looked around each time to check.)

Then the third time was in a Rinzai Zen zendo, and when the bell rang, we practically broke into a run. I just trotted along, trying not to crash into anything. I had no idea what I was doing. And I didnt really care, because in my understanding, walking meditation was just a break from real (seated) meditationand I was always ready to take a break.

Any discussion of walking meditation starts therewith this idea that its just something we do between sessions of the thing that really matters. That its a chance to stretch our legs a little. That its a breather. That its secondary. And if thats our approach to it, then thats all it is. But what it offerswhats right beneath our feetis a path to living our lives on purpose.

Almost all approaches to walking meditation come down to two simple instructions. The first is to synchronize your breath with your steps. That could be completing a full inhalation and exhalation over the course of one half-step, or it could be something like breathing in for seven steps, then breathing out for ten. Whatever the style, the relationship between breath and step is intentional, and its consistent over the course of the session.

The second is instruction to notice that youre walking. Or, to put it another way, walk on purpose. Slow down. Feel your feet on the ground. Let walking be an activity you do with awareness, rather than simply a mode of transportation.

In my tradition, Soto Zen, we do what is called kinhinmoving in a straight line. Almost no written instructions for how to do kinhin can be found in the traditional literature. The founder of the Soto school, Dogenwho wrote detailed instructions for how to wash your face, brush your teeth, cut vegetables, open doors, and on and onwrote only that in kinhin, we take one half-step for every full breath. Not surprisingly, there are various interpretations of what that looks like on the ground, even eight hundred years later. But heres how I learned it:

First, stand up straight. Take a moment to really plant your feet on the ground and find your posture. Heels are about one fist apart, feet pointed outward at an angle. If youve just stood up from zazen, let the blood return to your legs. Wiggle your toes. As in zazen, feel the breath coming into your belly and then gently going back out.

Next, place your hands in front of your chest in shashu. To make shashu, first form a fist with your left hand, wrapped around your thumb. Place that left hand against your sternum. Then, rest the right hand on top of the leftopen, right thumb resting on the left thumb, fingers pointed to the left. Your forearms are parallel to the ground, elbows resting against your ribcage. (This placement of the hands is not unique to kinhin, by the wayits generally how one walks around in a Zen monastery.)

Similar to zazen, your eyes are opennot wide, but with a soft gaze aimed downward about six or seven feet in front of you. You want to see where youre going, but youre not taking in the landscape. Youre looking at where you are, and where youre just about to be.

If youre with a group, theres a sounda bell, or maybe a clackerthat signals its time to take that first step. If youre alone, then just start whenever you feel settled in your spot.

Inhale, and as you do, slowly lift your right foot off the ground, heel first. At the top of the in-breath, lift the ball of your foot as well. As you exhale, move your foot forward so the right heel is in line with the instep of the left, then gently ground yourself as you breathe outheel, then ball of the foot, then toes, until you reach the end of the out-breath. In this momentfor just a momentyour weight is equally distributed between both feet. Next, continue the cycle with your left foot: inhaling, lining up the left heel with the right instep, setting it all down, grounding again.

This is done slowly. Dogen said, remember, to take only a half-step in the time it takes to take a full breath. In Kinhinki, one of the only texts we have on kinhin, Menzan Zuiho (16831769) wrote that we should move forward like were standing in one place. Whatever this practice is for, its not for going anywhere.

Its easy in kinhin to lose your balancenot only because its strange to move so slowly, but because we dont ordinarily think about walking at all. Like the act of breathing, we dont have to think about walking. But when we do think about itwhen we notice this is what Im doing right nowit changes how we do it, whether thats our intention or not. We become self-conscious about it. A lot of Zen practice is like this, some version of becoming a beginner at something we already know how to do.

In most Zen communities, kinhin is practiced in a clockwise rectangle around the room. When you reach a corner, you just step and turn so that your feet are together again, and you start again with the right foot. But Ive trained at monasteries that had a kinhin hallway, where monks just practiced going back and forth. Thats closer, according to Menzan at least, to how it was practiced in the Buddhas timejust going a few steps one direction, turning, and coming straight back. Thus, moving in a straight line.

The whole session, start to finish, usually lasts ten to fifteen minutes. At the sound of another clacker or bell, everyone finishes by bringing their feet together for a moment and bowing in shashu (or not, depending on the customs of the place). From there, everyone walks at a normal pace back to where they started, bows to the group, and returns to zazen.

Kinhin practiced in this way is a very formal, very conspicuous way to do walking meditation. It has its own time, its own place, even its own instruments. But you can also do it undercoveron the side of the road, or in your backyard, or on a beach. Just inhale, and as you start to breathe out, take a step. Feel how your weight shifts to your other leg, how your entire body understands how to make that complex move. Then feel how, when your foot comes down, it pushes against the earth, how your body shifts again, how gravity keeps you right here, right in this spot. Repeat. It can take a while to find your balance in a practice like this, especially if youre going really slowly, but it doesnt take practice to just walk. Youve been doing that for a long time.

I was asked once how to do kinhin in a wheelchair. The question is importantit reveals that the practice is never really about walking. Its about harmonizing body, breath, and mind. So instead of finding the rhythm in the steps, you can find the rhythm in the slow turning of the wheels, pushing forward as you exhale and repositioning your hands as you inhale. At its heart, its just the practice of performing a simple action for its own sake, over and over.

Many times, Ive heard kinhin explained as walking zazen or zazen in motion. I get thatits an invitation to bring a certain quality of intention and awareness into this other activity. But that kind of instruction privileges zazen in a way that overlooks its literal meaning: seated meditation. Zazen is what Zen practice looks like when were sitting down. Kinhin is what it looks like when we walk. In my understanding, the point isnt to rank them, or to make one into a version of the other. Its to find what makes them the same, so that we can discover what Zen practice looks like when we drink coffee, or tie our shoes, or hug someone when theyre crying. When we choose this breath, this step, this posturewhen we do whatever we are doing on purpose, as a practicewe choose our life in this moment. The choice changes the activity. The activity changes our life.

Practice understood in this way can feel small, subtle. So subtle, in fact, that someone watching may not realize anything is happening at all. Even to us who are doing it, it can feel like were standing in one place. But then theres another breath. And another step. Moving forward, not going anywhere.

This article is from the March 2024 issue of Lions Roar magazine.

Koun Franz

Koun Franz is a Soto Zen priest. He leads practice at Thousand Harbours Zen in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Excerpt from:

Step Into Awareness - Lion's Roar

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) In this weeks episode of Run for Fun, we are exercising our minds with meditation. There are plenty of benefits for athletes of all kinds to sit still and meditate.

Meditation does not necessarily mean chanting or sitting in strange positions. It can simply be taking an extended time to limit distractions and letting your brain focus.

Leigh Spann and Coach Maria discuss ways to incorporate meditation into your daily training. They also sit down with runner Michael Wilsey, who has seen improved performance in the year hes been meditating.

More Run for Fun stories:

Meditating can be helpful for anyone to lower stress and find a sense of calm, but athletes and runners may get additional benefits. It can help restore the body and allow them to train regularly with fewer injuries.

Pushing your body can increase mental stress. Taking time to relax the body and mind can help athletes limit mental drain and re-energize the body.

Athletes can also use the benefit of regular meditation to enhance their mental focus. This focus helps keep the runner or athlete zoned in during tough races or workouts. Limiting distractions allows your body to only focus on the task at hand.

Adding designated rest to your training can help you enjoy running without it feeling like a chore. Its just one way to Run for Fun. Be sure to watch or listen to previous episodes of the show for more tips.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFLA.

Continued here:

Run for Fun: Benefits of meditation for athletes - Yahoo News

Rotterdam film festival

Rotterdam film festival: Jaydon Martins absorbing, poetic docufiction follows two men reflecting on work, death and religion

Australian film-maker Jaydon Martin makes an outstanding feature debut with this absorbing, moving and visually beautiful docufiction a kind of guided reportage about two mens lives in the regional town of Bundaberg in Queensland, the Australian Texas. Its shot in a luminous monochrome, switching inscrutably to colour occasionally for the digital moments of home video.

Flathead refers to the fish used in fish and chip shops in the locality. One such, the Busy Bee, is now being looked after, prior to sale to new buyers, by a young man called Andrew Wong, whose late father was a Chinese immigrant who owned the shop, built the business through 50 years of toil and paid for the education of Andrew and his sisters. Andrew, however, seems committed only to his workout programme and bodybuilding goals.

Andrews mate Cass Cumerford is the films unselfconscious star: a rangy, scrawny, liver-spotted old guy whose scenes in the hospital MRI scanner hint at illness and imminent death. One gruesome shot of him throwing up into a toilet shows us a lower set of false teeth on the bathroom floor. And yet he seems pretty tough, with an unrepentant smoking habit, a liking for getting drunk and a way of swinging his forearms when he walks that reminded me of Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino.

Perhaps in search of redemption, or salvation, or just a narrative shape to his life at its end, Cass is exploring religious options. He has evidently befriended a Christian fundamentalist preacher who tells him about how all sins including murder, robbery and child abuse can be effaced by being born again into the faith. He talks easily and good-naturedly about his early life involved in drugs, which he then (with some regret) had to leave behind when he became a husband and father, and then discloses a private tragedy that puts everything into perspective.

Meanwhile, Andrew is brooding on Buddhist faith and what meaning his hard-working fathers death has for him.

And so Martins camera ranges loosely around the landscape, often in a car whose radio is tuned to the Christian station, sometimes in the company of Cass and Andrew, sometimes with others, such as the itinerant labourers who have kept the regions ailing agricultural economy afloat or some good-old-boys who are cheerfully loosing off shot guns (shotties) and hunting rifles.

Cass gets drunk with lots of people, including a gnarled character whom he asks about his dreams and is told: Im not into this dreaming caper, mate. Cass himself sings a song of his own composition, and sounds rather like a young Dylan.

The film is dedicated to the agricultural workers of Queensland and yet some of its poignancy and irony lies in the fact that its two key figures have not, in fact, got much or any work to do although at one stage Cass helps a mate with some shovelling and muck-spreading. The films poetry resides in its thoughtful inactivity, its vernacular spirituality and its gentleness.

This article was amended on 30 January 2024, replacing documentary with docufiction to more accurately represent the nature of the material.

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Flathead review a beautiful meditation on life in rural Queensland - The Guardian

A short restorative practice can bring peace and perspective.

Anxiety disorders affect 301 million people worldwide. Anxiety is also a common component of depression. But one doesn't need to be officially diagnosed with a mental health disorder to be stressed, uneasy, and tense. We live in an anxiety-provoking world, with constant and accelerated technological change, a pandemic that sparked fears, losses, and isolation, a war in Ukraine, a volatile stock market, and horrific news of mass shootings and climate-related catastrophes. Cultivating ways to alleviate anxiety and stay calm has never been more important.

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I recommend to my patients that they incorporate meditation into their daily routine and advise my family and friends to do the same. Devoting even five minutes every day to mindfulness meditation can be a game-changer. Meditation helps slow down breathing, cultivates breath and self-awareness, and is an effective tool for regulating emotions. A recent study conducted at Georgetown University Medical Center found that a mindfulness-based stress reduction program was as effective as the use of a common antidepressant in treating anxiety disorders.

There are lots of books and apps you can research for guidance about how to meditate. But the following are the simple, bare-bone basics. Mindfulness meditation consists of four primary elements.

Find a comfortable chair in a quiet space. Sit upright, feel the floor beneath your feet, and lay your hands on your lap.

Begin to breathe. Air should fill your abdomen so that your belly begins to protude. As you take the air in, feel it rise up into your chest and broaden your ribs. Hold the breath for a second and exhale in reverse fashion, with your chest and then your abdomen releasing air. Wait a few seconds and then repeat. Try this a few times, breathing slowly and consciously.

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Start at the top of your head. Relax your forehead around your eyes, face, and mouth. Roll your neck gently, relax your shoulders, and release the tension in your arms. Stretch your fingers and relax. Come back to your back and chest. Move your focus down to your stomach, buttocks, hips, thighs, knees, and feet. Stretch and flex your ankles and toes. Survey your whole body to see if any tense spots remain. Breathe into those spots. Your breath has become a tool of relaxation.

Focus on your nose and breath as the air comes in and out at a typical pace. Don't worry if your concentration wanders. Just keep bringing your mind back to your breathing. You will notice that you will continue to get more and more relaxed. At first, try this for one minute. Gradually, with practice, work up to three and then five minutes. When you are finished, gently roll your neck and stretch your hands and the muscles of your face by making funny faces. Wait a moment, breathe deeply, and youre done.

After following these steps, you are likely to feel very relaxed, with your mind cleared, an effect that can last from a few minutes to much longer. If you do this brief exercise regularly, the relaxation effects will stay with you for longer periods. You will have trained your mind and body to live in a mindful and relaxed state. Your understanding of how to use your breath to achieve a sense of relief will empower you to stay calm, keep a positive perspective, and be more resilient.

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If you practice meditation regularly, you may achieve a moment when your attention is totally absorbed by breathing. Your breathing will become very slow and deep. A soft smile might break across your lips. You'll enter a very peaceful state known as a "meditative moment." This may only last a few moments but can be quite profound. You won't forget it. I point this out so that you'll know when you've entered a moment of "transcendental meditation." If you frequently meditate or join a group, you will probably enter this state more frequently, or for longer. But, for now, the basic steps above are an excellent beginning.

As someone who has meditated for decades, studied with renowned teachers, and seen patients incorporate meditation into treatment for anxiety, depression, ADD, and other behavioral health challenges, I firmly believe that anyone will benefit from practicing mindfulness meditation. While we can't always prevent stressful situations, we can affect how we respond to them. Taking the time to stop and focus on our breath quiets our minds and connects us to our inner selves. It allows us to see ourselves, others, and, very often, the beauty of the world with clearer, more appreciative eyes.

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A short restorative practice can bring peace and perspective. - Psychology Today

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How Woodhull Wellness, a Corporate Provider of Meditation and Mindfulness Addresses the Employee Mental Health ... - USA TODAY