Last week, we covered why meditation is great for us fat girls’ minds and bodies. This week, we get down to the nitty gritty and share how to meditate, with a few resources to get you started, with the help of yoga teacher and author Kate Hanley. A contributing editor at Body + Soul magazine and founder of MsMindbody.com, Kate specializes in making yoga, meditation, and breathing accessible and relevant to our million-mile-an-hour lives.

FGG: How often should we meditate, and for how long per sitting? Can you suggest ways to find pockets of time, and modifications on how to sit – can we sit anywhere, or even lie down?

I’ve seen a study that suggests that you need to meditate for at least 20 minutes at least four times a week to reap the kinds of benefits I mentioned in the previous post. That’s basically every other day. You don’t need to be alone in a quiet room—you can meditate on your bus or train commute, or while you’re waiting to pick up your kids from school. If you’re the antsy type, you can also choose to go on a 20-minute walking meditation, which is basically walking very slowly with your attention focused on the physical sensations of the ground under your feet, the feeling of your body weight shifting, the feeling of the air on your skin, the smells you notice. Or you can do a similar practice while you do something mundane and unavoidable, such as washing the dishes. You simply have to set an intention to use that activity as a time to immerse your focus on what you’re doing—not composing your grocery list.

That being said, it is nice to dedicate at least one formal time a week to sitting in meditation. You don’t need to get all pretzel-y on the floor if that’s dreadfully uncomfortable—try sitting in a basic cross-legged position on one or two firm cushions so that your hips are higher than your knees. Or sit in a hard-backed chair. You do want your spine to be straight—assuming some basic form signals to your brain that this is different than just zoning out. You can meditate while lying down, so long as you aren’t so tired that you drift off every time. Sleeping is an important self-care practice, but it ain’t meditation!

Over the long-term, your practice will take different forms. You might get on a kick where you are really loving your quiet alone time and find that you do most of your meditating on your cushion (or chair, or floor) at home. Some times you will be lucky to eke out 10 minutes here and there. Even during the crazy times when you get no time to meditate at all, when you do come back to your practice, all the effort that you’ve put in up to that point will be holding your place in line so you don’t have to start from scratch all over again.

FGG: Can you share a couple of basic meditation techniques?

KH: The most basic meditation technique is to focus on your breath. You can do this in a couple of different ways; try a few so that you have options at your disposal:

· As you inhale, think “inhale.” As you exhale, think “exhale.”
· Count your exhales. When you get to 10 start again. (This gives you just enough of a task to make it a little challenging—when you come to and realize you’re on breath number 45, you’ll know it’s time to rein it back in and start again.)
· Hone in on the physical sensations of breathing—the air moving past your nostrils, the movement of your ribcage as you inhale and exhale, where in your body you feel the breath flowing.

No matter how you choose to focus on the breath, when you notice that you’ve started daydreaming, silently say to yourself “thinking” and get back to following your breath.

You can also focus on a particular word or phrase, otherwise known as a mantra (which translates as “tool of the mind” in Sanskrit). Your mantra could be something formal and spiritual-ish, such as “Om” or “Amen.” But it can also be any word or phrase that has particular resonance for you. The only true requirement is that the words you repeat are meaningful to you. And try to leave any negative words out of your mantra. For example, thinking “no fear” places a lot of emphasis on the word fear. Instead, flip it to something more positive, such as “brave” on the inhale and “confident” on the exhale.

I like using the word “now” – it helps you not spend your time on the cushion anticipating the future or rehashing the past. Try “happiness” on the inhale and “now” on the exhale. This phrase can also help you remember that happiness isn’t conditional—it’s not reserved for when you lose weight or achieve some other goal, it’s basically now or never, because now is all we’ve got!

Here are some other inhale | exhale word combos to experiment with:

Acceptance |  Now
Big body | Big heart
Clear mind | Open heart
Here | Now
Love | Now
Peace | Now

Feel free to develop your own words or phrases that hold personal meaning to you.

FGG: Are there any great resources for beginners – iPhone apps, DVDs, books, CDs, web sites?

KH: Check out Sharon Salzberg. She’s wonderfully plain spoken, and she’s no 90-pound nun either. She’s a real woman with a real body and it’s a total inspiration to see how comfortable she is in her own skin.

The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh is fabulous at explaining how to turn your entire life in to an opportunity to practice meditation. Hanh is a Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk who has been living in exile since the 60s when he traveled to America to denounce the Vietnamese war. He’s the closest thing we have to Gandhi, and he often travels the U.S. giving talks. It’s worth seeing him in person—keep tabs on his whereabouts at PlumVillage.org.

I love the guided meditation and visualization CDs from Belleruth Naparstek. These are a little woo-woo, with pan flutes in the background, but there is something about this woman’s voice. She helped me through my 72-hour labor, my friend recover from breast cancer, and another friend not lose her mind while on bed rest. She’s got a CD for nearly every ailment at HealthJourneys.com.

And if you’re Type-A, check out Meditation in a New York Minute by Mark Thornton. He teaches CEOs how to meditate, and he’s very approachable and down-to-earth.

Mental Workout is an iPhone app with guided meditations written and led by Stephan Bodian, author of Meditation for Dummies. (You can also download sessions as individual MP3s). Full disclosure: I haven’t tried it, but if you find yourself in the doctor’s office with a long wait ahead of you, listening to one of these could be a lot more productive than flipping through US Magazine.

Thanks, Kate for making meditation so appealing, like a free mini vacation just for us! We can all use a little of that in our lives.

Toni here: For my recently adopted meditation practice, I love the Ambiance iPhone app, which is also available in a free “Lite” version in the iTunes store. You can choose from a variety of natural sounds (“Forest Rain Inside Tent” is my fave) and original, soothing music from what I like to call the “yoga class” genre. You can make custom music and sound mixes and even better, you can set a timer to fade out after a set amount of time – a soothing way to ease out of a meditation session.

Girls! Whether you’ve been meditating for years or these guides have inspired you, we want to hear your stories. If you’re feeling stuck, unsure, or have any questions, post them in the comments, too.Similar Posts:

• The Fat Girl’s Guide to Meditation, Part 1
• The Fat Girl’s Guide to Great Posture
• The Fat Girl’s Guide to Yoga

Toni in her happy place by LonnaS

For years I’ve been both drawn and resistant to meditation. Drawn to it because “grace under pressure” is not in my dictionary, and while my life is satisfying, it’s full to the brim with three boys, a marriage, a home, and a career. But I’ve resisted the idea of sitting still without either being productive or soaking up new information. Add to that my recurring worry one of my kids will burst into the room while I’m meditating to inform me they’d jammed something down a toilet or up an ear canal, and I gave up before I ever started.

But this year’s stressful events – loved ones lost, recurring health issues, freelance woes – led to an increasing inability to focus or maintain my productivity. After picking up the fascinating Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life by Winnifred Gallagher and seeing several references linking meditation to both concentration and well-being, I decided to give it a shot.

I asked Kate Hanley, a yoga teacher and writer to tackle this topic for The Fat Girl’s Guide. Author of The Anywhere, Anytime Chill Guide and founder of MsMindbody.com, Kate has this way of coaxing woo-woo topics down to earth where we average humans can put them to good use.

This week, Kate shares what meditation involves and how it can benefit us fat girls. Next week, we’ll get into how-to’s and resources to get you started on . . . doing nothing.

FGG: Care to bust any myths about meditation for people who have never tried it?

The first myth I’d like to blast is that in order to meditate, you must sit absolutely still and endure physical and mental pain in order to meditate properly. You can meditate while you’re washing the dishes, taking a walk, or keeping an eye on your kids at the playground. You do need to set an intention to stay focused on something—whether it’s your breath, the physical sensations you experience, or a particular word or phrase—while you’re doing these activities in order for them to qualify as meditation, but you certainly don’t need to lock yourself away and punish yourself to be a full-fledged meditator.

I will admit that it can feel like not much is happening on the spiritual development front when you meditate—whether you’re sitting quietly or engaging in a simple task. My favorite meditation teacher, Sharon Salzberg, said it best, “Even when you think nothing is happening, it is.” Whether you’re a beginner or an old hand, there will be days where it seems all you do is get off track and get caught up in some daydream or thought stream and you completely forget your chosen focus again and again. But even on those days, the act of recognizing that you’ve gotten waylaid and making the conscious choice to redirect your focus is teaching you one of the most important meditation and life skills there is—the ability to forgive yourself for any lapses and to simply start again. Being aware enough to notice when you’ve lost your way, kind enough not to beat yourself up about it, and trusting enough to get going again will help you in every single area of your life.

My favorite excuse I’ve ever heard from someone who was doubtful about the benefits of meditation is, “I don’t have time to not think—my thoughts are too important.” First, the goal of meditation is not to completely stop thinking. Which is a good thing, because this is an impossible goal–you can never completely shut off your thoughts. It is the nature of the conscious mind to churn out running commentary, judgments, observations, and non sequitors. All meditation can do is give you the chance to objectively observe these thoughts so that you can see that just because you think something, it doesn’t mean it’s the Truth. It helps you stop being ruled by the constant chatter in your mind, which is frequently the source of those annoying little voices that tell you you’re not good enough for whatever reason. Second, once you start to pay attention to your thoughts, they don’t have to work so hard to get your attention. They get a little quieter, come a little slower, and their power over you begins to fade. When that constant chit chat dies down a little bit, you can hear the deeper, truer wisdom that is generally drowned out by the blather. The flashes of insight you are privy to when you meditate are worth more than six million of your everyday, ho-hum, “I’m hungry but I shouldn’t eat the cookie but oh what the hell” thoughts.

FGG: In what ways does meditation help our physical health and well-being?

KH: A major way meditation gives a boost to your well-being is it helps you disengage from the drama, whatever your particular drama du jour may be. When you learn how to become a witness to your thoughts, you automatically also learn how not to become swept up in them. That means when your co-worker is pushing your buttons, you may still get upset, but you have the tools to recognize that your attention is getting swept up in something unpleasant and to refocus on something calming, such as your breath. It can also help you disassociate from self-sabotaging thoughts. When you recognize that your inner ball-breaker is starting to squawk, you can learn to consciously observe those thoughts and then let them go.

There is a substantial amount of research enumerating the many physiological benefits of meditation. German researchers have found that regular practice actually changes the structure of the brain, causing increases to the areas responsible for assessing our physical state, regulating our attention, mitigating knee-jerk reactions, and helping us feel connected to others. If you’re overweight, this can mean that you’ll develop more awareness of when you’re truly hungry and when your desire to eat is being triggered by an uncomfortable emotion. It will also provide you some tools to use to handle those uncomfortable emotions.

Meditating also releases neurotransmitters—chemical messengers of the nervous system—that improve mood, promote self-awareness, and reduce the physiological symptoms of stress (which also lowers your risk of developing chronic diseases that are triggered or exacerbated stress, which is basically every chronic disease out there, including high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and IBS). It has been shown to have a big impact on psychological woes such as depression and anxiety, and to lessen insomnia. Honestly, what’s not to love?

What’s not to love, indeed! Stay tuned for next week’s Fat Girl’s Guide to meditation, where Kate returns to share basic techniques and some cool tools to get you going. Meanwhile, if you have any questions or experiences you’d like to share, let us know in the comments. Thanks, Kate!Similar Posts:

• The Fat Girl’s Guide to Meditation, Part 2
• The Fat Girl’s Guide to Great Posture
• The Fat Girl’s Guide to Yoga

Yoga instructor Stacey Shulman (photo by Melissa Mimms)

If you’re unfamiliar with yoga and your only impression so far involves media images of svelte women who appear to be contortionists, you’ll want to check out our Fat Girl’s Guide to Yoga, featuring a Q&A with Stacey Shulman, a certified yoga instructor in Atlanta, Georgia. Stacey has been practicing yoga for five years and recently founded a class called “Yoga for Curvy Girls and Big Guys.”

How did you get started practicing yoga?

When I started doing yoga, I really loved it but I didn’t feel like my body was understood and I needed more support to learn some of the poses. There were very few props in the studio, and if I needed something, I had to ask for it and they had to dig around in the back for it. So I left yoga for a little while, tried different aerobics, worked hard and pushed myself and I kept finding my muscles getting tighter and tighter, and I couldn’t walk around without pain. So I started back into yoga and I stumbled into a class that had a lot of support and I said, “I’m home now.”

What got you interested in teaching?

One time I was getting a massage from a plus size massage therapist who said she only went to the pregnancy yoga classes because that’s the only place where she felt like her big belly was accepted. That really got me started on the path to help people find acceptance of their bodies on the yoga mats regardless of their size or shape at the time.

How can practicing yoga specifically help fat girls?

Well, for one, it’s a wonderful way to move your body, especially if you haven’t moved it a whole lot. Many times when we carry extra weight, we limit our movements and yoga is a wonderful way to start moving again. Second, as we begin to move our bodies, we find ourselves able to cultivate more grace as we find our bodies in space. Third, yoga helps improve your sense of balance, and it also helps lengthen and strengthen your muscles.

Yoga can really help with stress, anxiety and depression – because yoga focuses on the breath, there are specific breathing techniques and the movement to calm the nervous system. If you’re feeling lethargic, doing yoga also helps energize the nervous system to elevate your mood, again by combining breathing and movement techniques.

Yoga can help you become more strong and flexible, but a strong and/or flexible body does not necessarily make you an advanced student. Advancement comes from learning about your body’s own abilities and limitations – and making peace with them. Knowing your physical and emotional edges and working with them rather than pushing boundaries and risking injury to look like someone you saw in a magazine or on TV isn’t what yoga is about.

Can yoga help people lose weight?

Different teachers will tell you different things, but here’s my experience: my weight has fluctuated over the years, but not to any real extreme. Yoga has helped me become more connected to my body, mind, and spirit in order to reshape my figure. The more yoga I do, the more in touch I am with my feelings. As someone who struggles with emotional eating, this is a very good thing, allowing me to release some of those patterns.

Are any special clothing or gear required to practice yoga?

No. Yoga is practiced in bare feet, so you don’t need special shoes. Wear loose, comfortable clothing. You should get a yoga mat, because many yoga studios have wood floors, and a mat provides a cushion under your feet and knees. You can find starter mats for around $20.

As far as accessories such as straps, foam blocks, or bolsters, check with your studio to see what they have. A strap works wonders and it’s so easy to tuck in your bag. You can use a strap as an extension of your arms or to grab your feet when you can’t reach them. Blocks bring the floor to you when leaning into a forward bend pose. I recommend having some kind of pillow, firm cotton blanket, or bolster to sit on – I take mine around with me like a teddy bear. This helps  elevate your hips up when sitting on the floor.

What’s the difference between using a DVD or video versus attending a class in person?

There’s no comparison between a live class and a DVD. I appreciate videos and DVDs and in fact, when I was first starting out, I had a couple of videos that I liked to use once in a while. They’re handy for situations when you don’t have access to a regular class or you missed class and want to do something. But a DVD can’t give you the same kind of instruction, support, and adjustments that a live teacher can to give you.

What should fat girls look for in a studio and instructor?

Some key words to look for are “gentle” or “beginner” yoga. Look for classes with “restorative” or “relaxation” in the title to help with stress or anxiety. Call the studio and say you want to take a class, and ask them about their teaching style and how they feel about beginners. You can get a feel by their answer how comfortable they are having students of different sizes, shapes, and abilities in their classes.

If you’re new to yoga or feel shy about coming to a class, many teachers will do private instruction, and you may be able to find one to do a private session for you and a couple of friends. This allows you to get to know that teacher and their style, and you can ask questions about form in front of a private audience.

Any parting thoughts for our readers?

I want your readers to know that yoga can be really fun. It’s a great way to spend a girls’ night out doing something that makes you feel healthy and vibrant in the company of good friends. There are so many great teachers out there, all with their own styles. I’ve gone to yoga classes that feature live music, drummers, and yoga and dancing. Try them all until you find the one that fits you best.

Questions? Comments? Stories to share? Post them in our comments section. You can learn more about Stacey Shulman at her web site, AbundantBliss.net.Similar Posts:

• Stuff We Love: Land’s End Yoga Pants
• Reader Giveaway: Plus-Sized Yoga Book
• The Fat Girl’s Guide to Meditation, Part 2