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Seasonal Rituals
A specially designed, seasonal ritual for every event of the year. As the year ebbs and flows, we bring back ancient rituals.
Summer
Summer Solstice Ritual
Joy Meditation
Poetry for Summer
Autumn
7 Days of Gratitude
Thanksgiving Morning Meditation
Winter
Setting Intentions for the New Year
Gentleness Meditation on Valentine’s Day
Spring
First Day of Spring Meditation
Mother’s Day Compassion for Mom
The Benefits of this Kind of Meditation
Each class Elizabeth facilitates is meditation-based. Research studies suggest that these kind of meditations lead to:
- better health
- more positive emotions
- improved mood
- a broader perspective
- greater self-compassion
- more compassion toward others
- more ability to receive support
- more resilience
- decreased worry
- decreased emotional suppression
- less self-criticism
- less self-doubt
- less anger
- less anxiety
- reduced stress
Enjoy these! I hope meditation makes its way as a sacred and valuable part of your day.
Scientific Studies
The following is a summary of the scientific research studies on this kind of meditation, presented chronologically:
- Practicing loving-kindness meditation for eight weeks reduced both pain and psychological distress among patients with chronic low back pain according to a study from Duke University Medical Center conducted in 2005 by James Carson et al. called Loving-kindness meditation for chronic low back pain: results from a pilot trial.
- Compassion meditation increases positive emotions, well-being, and satisfaction with life; this, in turn, helps individuals broaden their perspective, and both give and receive emotional support more freely according to a study conducted in 2008 by Barbara Fredrickson et al. at the University of North Carolina called Open hearts build lives: positive emotions, induced through loving-kindness meditation, build consequential personal resources.
- Compassion meditation increases the ability to empathize with others and builds a deep sense of connection to others, according to a 2012 study conducted by Olga Klimecki et al. that was a collaboration between the University of Dresden and the University of Vienna called Functional neural plasticity and associated changes in positive affect after compassion training.
- According to a study conducted in 2012 by Hooria Jazaieri et al. at Stanford Medical School called Enhancing compassion: A randomized controlled trial of a compassion cultivation training program, a nine-week compassion meditation intervention (which utilizes the compassion techniques in which I was trained at Stanford Medical School), leads to greater compassion toward the self, greater compassion toward others, and an increased ability to receive compassion and support from others. This is the definitive study which suggests that compassion and self-compassion can be cultivated through training.
- A nine-week compassion intervention leads to greater happiness, greater mindfulness, as well as decreased worry and decreased emotional suppression according to a study conducted in 2013 by Hooria Jazaieri et al. at Stanford Medical School called A randomized controlled trial of compassion cultivation training: Effects on mindfulness, affect, and emotion regulation.
- Practicing compassion meditation for 12 weeks reduces symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anger, and depression among veterans with PTSD according to a 2013 study conducted by David Kearney et al. at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System in Seattle through the University of Washington called Loving-kindness meditation for post-traumatic stress disorder: a pilot study.
- According to a 2014 study conducted by Ben Shahar et al. called A wait-list randomized controlled trial of loving-kindness meditation program for self-criticism, compassion meditation can significantly reduce self-criticism, self-doubt, anxiety, depressive symptoms, and a sense of isolation.
- As little as two weeks of compassion meditation increases resilience and equanimity in relation to suffering according to a 2018 study conducted by Helen Weng at the University of Wisconsin-Madison called Visual attention to suffering after compassion training is associated with decreased amygdala responses.
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As you know, I do your meditations twice daily. It is amazing because each time I hear one, it always brings new understanding. Often it is as if I never heard it before and I am amazed.
- Jane S.
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