The StillMind Journal 119 posts

Writing on meditation, in plain language.

Techniques that actually work, and honest reflections from real practice. What we've tried, and what we've learned.

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A woman writing at a kitchen table in evening lamplight, one hand pressed below her ribs where a thread of amber light curls, then rises to her shoulder and runs down her other arm into the pen and the page
Emotional fitness

Fear of cancer recurrence: what to do when a twinge hits

A twinge near the scar, and by evening it has a story. Why your body cannot answer "is it back?", and the plan and practice the evidence points to instead.

By Jamie Murphy
Read the article
  1. A person lying in bed at night with eyes closed as smooth rings of warm light spread from their lips and a jagged shard of cold light glances off them and breaks apart

    Mantra meditation: does the word you choose matter?

    Techniques
  2. A parent perched on a playground bench biting her nails, coffee forgotten in her hand, eyes locked on the top of a climbing frame she can't reach from here

    Parental anxiety: why you picture your child getting hurt

    Emotional fitness
  3. A therapy-style worksheet on a kitchen table with one numbered item just circled in pen, the pen lying across the page and a cold mug beside it, the circle giving off a faint glow that forks into several unlabelled routes running off the edge of the paper.

    Mindfulness vs meditation: does AI weaken your practice?

    Techniques
  4. One pair of hands passing a small point of light to another pair, where it arrives noticeably larger than it left

    Two kinds of meditation myth, and one nobody debunks

    Techniques
  5. A performer standing at a doorway with her eyes closed, the charge in her body drawn as fine light that gathers into her raised hand on one side of her and frays outward on the other

    Stage fright: why calming down is the wrong target

    Emotional fitness
Featured

Worth starting with

Archive

All writing

  1. A hall table under one lamp holding car keys, a hospital parking permit, a visitor pass, a solicitor's envelope and a birthday card, with a lit doorway further down the hallway
    Emotional fitness

    Grieving someone who is still alive: what actually helps

    You grieve them twice, and nobody sends flowers the first time. What ambiguous loss is, why grieving early is not a head start, and what to practise instead.

    By
    grieving someone who is still aliveanticipatory griefambiguous loss
  2. A woman sits by a window in late afternoon light with her eyes gently closed and one hand open in her lap, while warmth gathers as fine gold filaments that begin low in her chest and spread outward through her ribs and shoulders, with nothing glowing around her head.
    Techniques

    Gratitude meditation: the practice with nothing to write

    A gratitude list can curdle into comparison and guilt by week three. Gratitude meditation asks for no list at all. What it is, and who it actually suits.

    By
    gratitude meditationhow to do gratitude meditationgratitude meditation vs gratitude journaling
  3. A kitchen table someone has just left: a steaming mug beside an open journal with two handwritten lines and a pen, while a pristine health advice leaflet sits pushed to the far edge of the table
    Emotional fitness

    Meditation for people sick of being told to meditate

    You have tried it. The specialist suggested it anyway. What meditation honestly offers a body in chronic pain, and how to take it back on your own terms.

    By
    have you tried meditationmeditation for chronic illnesschronic pain meditation advice
  4. A bedroom blackout blind caught three quarters pulled down, with a narrowing band of hard morning light still coming through the gap above a turned back, unslept-in bed
    Emotional fitness

    Meditation for night shift: sleeping when your body won't

    Blackout curtains up, still wide awake at 9am. The standard wind-down routine is day-shift advice, and it can cost you the only window you have to sleep.

    By
    meditation for night shiftnight shift meditationsleep after a night shift
  5. A person still in their coat leaning forward in a clinic waiting chair, a steady unbroken bar of light under the closed door opposite them
    Emotional fitness

    Waiting for test results: meditation for the not knowing

    Your biopsy was on a Friday and the result lands Wednesday. Nothing you do changes what it says. Here is what a meditation practice is for in between.

    By
    waiting for test resultscoping with scanxietymeditation for uncertainty
  6. Headphones lying where they were pulled off on a bedside table, sound still spilling from the earcups as fine gold threads into a dark room where nobody is listening
    Scripts

    Why guided meditation voices annoy you, and what helps

    The narrator puts you on edge and you assume it is you. Usually it is the recording, or what the script asks you to picture. How to tell which one is yours.

    By
    guided meditation voices annoy meirritated during guided meditationguided meditation pacing
  7. A man in work clothes sits on the edge of an unmade bed in late afternoon light, forearms on his thighs and hands loosely clasped, looking away toward the window with his phone face down on the covers beside him, while a band of warm light holds him in focus and the room softens into haze at either edge.
    Emotional fitness

    Meditation for men: when 'stressed' is the only word

    One word covers anxious, tired, angry and flat, and a practice chosen for that word does nothing. Three questions that find the state underneath in 90 seconds.

    By
    meditation for menis meditation good for menhow to know what you are feeling
  8. A small notebook open on the floor with two lines just written in it, a pen still lying across the page and a finished meditation timer beside it
    Techniques

    How to meditate: what every instruction is actually for

    You are sitting alone, wondering whether your posture looks wrong. Every meditation instruction does one of three jobs. Here is how to tell which.

    By
    how to meditatemeditation posturewhat to do with your hands
  9. A man reclined on a sofa with his eyes closed, warm light glowing through his chest and arms and stopping at his knees, leaving his lower legs and socked feet in cool shadow
    Journaling

    Therapy homework: the meditation half nobody helps with

    My therapist gave me practices to try between therapy sessions. Doing them was never the hard part. Holding on to what I noticed was. Here is what helps.

    By
    meditation between therapy sessionsbetween therapy sessionstherapy homework
  10. A person sitting still in low evening light with one hand resting open on their knee, a faint ring of light circling back on itself just above the hand and a second line of light travelling outward past it into the room
    Techniques

    Does meditation make pain, tinnitus or anxiety worse?

    Meditation asks you to turn toward what already hurts. What the evidence actually says about attention and tinnitus, chronic pain, health anxiety and OCD.

    By
    does meditation make tinnitus worsedoes focusing on pain make it worseis body scan meditation safe with health anxiety
  11. A person holding their breath on the edge of a bed, shoulders raised and light compressed inside their chest, as a square of light closes on its fourth side around them
    Techniques

    Breathwork techniques: what the evidence actually shows

    Box breathing, 4-7-8 and cyclic sighing, checked against the head-to-head trial we could trace. What was tested, what wasn't, and the dose that worked.

    By
    breathwork techniques explainedbox breathing technique4-7-8 breathing technique
  12. A painterly kitchen scene in which a woman sits on a wooden chair with her forearms on her thighs and her face calm and unreadable, while a translucent version of herself stands a half step behind and to her left, looking down at her, with a narrow column of light rising through the empty space between them and an untouched mug of tea on the table.
    Emotional fitness

    Meditation when you feel nothing: which numb is it?

    Numb isn't one state. Four kinds wear the same word, and the advice that helps one can deepen another. How to tell which flat you're in, and what actually fits.

    By
    meditation when you feel nothingemotional numbness meditationmeditation makes me feel more numb
  13. A person sitting cross legged with eyes closed next to a pale blank canvas where a beach scene would be, warm light falling across their resting hands and shoulders
    Techniques

    Meditation with aphantasia: when you can't visualize

    The guided session works fine until the voice says picture a beach. If mental images were never a thing for you, here is what to do with the instruction.

    By
    meditation with aphantasiaaphantasia guided meditationmeditation without visualization
  14. Man sitting cross-legged on a bedroom floor at night with his eyes closed, a phone lying face up on the floorboards in front of him sending ribbons of amber light upward that fray into scattered particles at his jaw before reaching his face
    AI meditation

    Meditating with ChatGPT: how to make the session land

    ChatGPT writes a good meditation, then hands it over and steps back. How to prompt for a session you can actually practise, and where the format runs out.

    By
    how to use chatgpt to meditatechatgpt guided meditationchatgpt meditation prompts
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