The Meditation Tree

07/30/2025

To Be (Mindfully Present) or NOT To Be (Mindfully Present)? That is the Question!

A Mindfulness Meditation practice is about “BEING”, being present in each moment of life, being present for others, and being present within one’s own stillness and in the silence of one’s own mind.

I recently watched a biographical documentary about the musician and songwriter, Bily Joel. And one takeaway was his explanation about his creative process. He explained he had to create a vacuum of space for himself. He needed absolute alone time and to find stillness and guidance from within. We know from neuroscientific research that when we spay strict attention to the present moment, when we cultivate a state of calm and awareness, when we tap into our own silence, when we can “just be”, that the energy we tap into is a catalyst for creativity, new perspectives and ideas that can propel us towards a greater creative and problem-solving freedom. This is only one the great benefits of learning Mindfulness Meditation.

But to realize this benefit requires training and a full understanding of the concepts and techniques that we can acquire from a Mindfulness Meditation Practice. We need patience. We need determination. We need the desire to change our negative thought patterns, our negative self-talk and our unhealthy emotional reactions . And, we need to gain personal insight and to explore the innercore or essence of our trueself.

Sound daunting? I assure you it is not. Our thought patterns and thought process is acquired early on in our lives. Our thoughts have been influenced by our parent’s experiences in their life, by our teachers, by our friends and by many unhealthy defensive methods we have employed during our life, often, to protect ourselves from emotional and physical harm. We are shaped by our thoughts. We tend to believe every thought we have…without questioning them. We begin to believe that all of thoughts are factually true. So, we act upon them the same way, over and over again. And that can lead to continued stress, anxiety, and even depression. These unhealthy reactions to our thoughts, more often than not, eventually weaken our immune system and lead to detrimental physical conditions. We constantly find ourself (over)-reacting and clinging to our thoughts and emotions rather than responding to them with the wisdom we each have within us. Again, another benefit of a Mindfulness Meditation practice.

The list goes on…but the choice to explore the possibilities and benefits of a Mindfulness Practice is totally yours. The Meditation’s Tree’s ONLINE Beginner Classes (group or private) is a great place to begin. We offer 6 weekly 90 min classes in a manner easy to understand with slides, discussion, instruction, and weekly guidance. Just try the first class, then decide if such a practice has value for you personally. Classes are by donation! For more details, visit www.themeditationtree.com. Our next series of group classes begin Sat Aug 9th at10:30 AM pdt. You can register on our website.

We need to create change for ourselves, in a workable way, as part of our everyday lives.”
― Sharon Salzberg,

07/30/2025

New Series of 6 weekly Online Mindfulness Meditation Classes for beginners starts Aug 9th, 10:30 AM pdt. Register NOW at www.themeditationtree.com

04/29/2025

Those who are are interested in attending-Please Register at www.themeditationtree.com and I will send details and your link! Thank You!

04/19/2025

The Willingness and Courage to Change!

UNLESS you enjoy the emotional turmoil of anxiety and stress in your daily life!
UNLESS you thrive on the enjoyment of physical pain, discomfort, illness, insomnia, heart disease, hypertension, skin rashes and other bodily manifestations created by over-reaction to your thoughts,
AND, UNLESS you thrive on anger, self-criticism, depression or low self-esteem:
THEN, a daily practice of Mindfulness Meditation WILL NOT BENEFIT YOU!

HOWEVER, if you wish to make more positive and healthier CHANGES in your life, then it may be worth your while to learn about Mindfulness. It’s not woo-woo or magic! It is a logical and easy-to-understand concept backed by an abundance of neuroscientific and psychological research. Just Google it!

You don’t need to sit like a pretzel or in a yoga/lotus position or sit on a mountain top as often depicted in images of meditators.
You don’t need to stop your thoughts, become spaced-out or sit in a trance during a MINDFULNESS MEDITATION practice.

A Mindfulness practice will teach you how to become more aware of those negative thoughts that are detrimental to you mental and physical well-being…and then how to make a choice to “let them be”. Studies show that the majority of our thoughts are really false beliefs that we have adopted through our childhood and adolescent years.

A Mindfulness Practice will teach you how every thought we entertain sends a message to our brain. The brain believes everything we tell it! And then it sends signals to your body (via our neurons and neuro transmitters) and you react accordingly to those messages. Example: When you have a thought, “I am not very good at_________” or “I’ll never understand__________”, then you will indeed be sending a negative message to yourself and those statements will become your reality. We become what we think
With an understanding of Mindfulness, there’s so much more to learn about the structure of our own human behavior and about the value of finding more calmness and ease in our day-to-day life. All one needs is the desire and courage to change for the better!

Perhaps you don’t think you are ready, or you won’t “get it”, but you’ll never know until you open yourself up to JUST TRYING IT.
You will have the opportunity to TRY IT by registering for The Meditation Tree’s next series of ONLINE Beginner Classes starting Saturday, May 3rd, 2025 at 10”30 AM PDT. There will be 6 weekly 90-minute classes. For more details and/or to register, visit www.themeditationtree.com. Classes are by donation!

12/31/2024

A New Year? Perhaps a New Start for yourself!

12/20/2024

A New Year Resolution Worth Considering!
December is a great month of reflection as we think about the changes we’d like to make in the coming new year. It’s when we create our New Year’s Resolutions. Some take this tradition quite seriously by writing them down to make them seem more tangible. Research shows that 79% of all resolutions center on health. Many refer to this resolution process as a “fresh start” effect. It’s when we set aside our past habits and behaviors and aspire for change. And psychologists tell us New Year Resolutions can help motivate aspirational behaviors that make it more likely to stick to those goals than ones that were made with no specific dates in mind.
And one of the greatest tools of “change” available to us is a practice of Mindfulness Meditation. It is believed that globally between 200 and 500 million people meditate. Since 2012 the number of people practicing meditation has tripled.
So, you ask, why Mindfulness? Neuroscientific and Psychological studies have shown that a daily practice of Mindfulness Meditation is a strong and effective catalyst for change. Change itself is rather easy, but it is our resistance to change that makes it so difficult. Past experiences, behavioral patterns and how we react to our thoughts have been programmed into our brain. And, it takes time to create new neuropaths in the brain.
And this is where mindfulness comes to the rescue. Through a daily practice, we learn to become more aware of our thoughts and the learned reactions that constantly trigger detrimental and unhealthy responses such as stress, anxiety, self-doubt, depression and a host of physical manifestations that can lower our immune system, create illness, aches and pains, etc.
We learn to combat resistance to change through non-judgmental awareness, through stillness, through acceptance, and through present moment awareness. We become more open to change in our lives when we learn to become less reactive to our thoughts; and, that’s precisely how mindfulness benefits us.
If your goal to attain a healthier lifestyle, to reduce stress and anxiety, to become more productive and to find less resistance to positive change in your life, then you may want to consider MINDFULNESS MEDITATION. Here at the Meditation Tree, we offer ONLINE classes privately or via groups. Our next series of 6 weekly Zoom Mindfulness Classes begins Saturday, February 1st at 10:30 AM PST. Just visit our Meditation Tree website to register or learn more about the practice of Mindfulness.

12/16/2024

Need a gift suggestion?

11/28/2024

A Thanksgiving Wish to Everyone!
I just wanted to take a few minutes to wish you lots of JOY today. Although global conflict, political turmoil, and personal emotional and physical challenges may overtake us from time to time, we always have a remedy available to us….and that is to seek the joy and gratitude ever present in our lives each and every day. On Thanksgiving in particular, we reflect on the “good” in our lives. But, what if we extended this concept beyond this Thanksgiving day?
The more we practice GRATITUDE, the easier it is to see the simple Joys in our everyday lives. Take a second to look at the small things that create a significant impact in our world such as having access to clean water or having a vehicle to take us to and from work or recognizing we have a roof over our heads, food on the table, those we love and those who love us We go about these everyday mundane routines without taking a second to think, “what if we didn’t have these luxuries.” We often don’t appreciate what we have until it’s gone. The next time you’re taking out the trash, brushing your teeth, or washing dishes, imagine a scenario where you aren’t able to do these anymore due to physical or mental limitations.
Many of us are so focused on our long term goals that we fail to invest the time and energy in learning to find gratitude in the day we’re living. We long for a better future, but in the process, we neglect inserting JOY into our day. We are not limited or defined by our current situation. We can find JOY regardless of our circumstances.
The amazing thing about GRATITUDE is that we don’t have to get or achieve anything to feel it. All it takes is a change in perspective. It’s been said, “The joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives!
So, my Thanksgiving wish to all: May you take the celebration of joy and gratitude of this day and carry it forward into all the days that follow.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

10/14/2024

An Open-Minded Challenge
I’d to address the concept that is one of the bulwarks of a Mindfulness Meditation practice. It is the premise that most of the suffering we experience in our lives can be attributed to the thoughts we think, feel and express.
Admittedly the spectrum of “suffering” is rather broad; and, most often it is interpreted as physical suffering. But in truth, “suffering” also can become self-inflicted emotionally through the negative thoughts we think and the negative words we speak to ourselves. For example, we create our own suffering when we experience anxiety, stress, worry, self-doubt, prolonged sadness and sorrow, when we focus more on that for which we crave and less on appreciating what we already have, when we live to focus on what we want in the future (often creating frustration) rather than focus on doing our best in the present moment.
Through a Mindfulness Meditation Practice, we learn how to become more aware our negative self-talk, how to acknowledge our negative thoughts without becoming attached to them. We learn how to respond to our thoughts rather than detrimentally react to them via our egoic defenses and narratives, with judgment, labeling and self-criticism.
However, to accomplish these changes, we, first, must have a strong willingness to make these changes in our lives; and, secondly, be open to consider new perspectives as to how we can process our thoughts and feelings with a more meaningful and healthy (“less suffering”} construct.
Mindfulness Meditation is not as “wu-wu” as many believe. The Mindfulness approach is nonsectarian. Its success is backed by research in both the Scientific and Neuroscientific community. In the field of psychology, Mindfulness continues to expand and evolve and has become greatly integrated into psychological theory and practice. It is a tool widely used by therapists the world over.
When we feel better about ourselves, when we begin to focus on enabling ourselves to focus on positive and productive thoughts, when we can rid ourselves of so much suffering caused by a lifetime of learned negative thought patterns, we begin to grow and benefit from “change”., we begin to discover our true essence, we improve our overall physical health and we experience more compassion and joy in our lives.
But don’t take my word for it. Find out “firsthand” without any financial obligation. Enroll in a class. Then decide if you just might find it helpful. My next series of Six 90 minute WEEKLY ZOOM classes begins Saturday, Nov. 2nd, 2024 at 10:30 AM (pst). Register at www.themeditationtree.com

10/07/2024

New Zoom Series of Mindfulness Meditation Beginner Classes

08/30/2024

Whenever I tell someone that I teach Mindfulness Meditation, I most frequently hear, “oh, I’ve tried that but I can’t stop thinking” or “that wouldn’t work because I’m constantly thinking”!
In truth, Mindfulness Meditation is not about stopping thoughts. It’s about changing your relationship to your thoughts.
One of the most freeing insights of meditation practice is realizing that the only power thoughts have is the power we give them. -Joseph Goldstein

We need to learn to question our thoughts, to stop reacting to every thought we have as if they are facts or statements of truth. Just because we think someone doesn’t like us or that we can’t handle a given situation or that the worst may happen, doesn’t make it true.

It would be in everyone’s best interest to be aware of our negative self-talk and to understand that we are not our thoughts, but rather that our thought patterns are from an “often subconscious” accumulation of our past experiences with parents, friends and others, from the logic we applied to past emotional events in our lives, from the fears we may have experienced at a given time in our history.

Changing our relationship to are thoughts takes time. It’s more than changing your focus to your breath or to a mantra whenever we experience a circumstance that evokes stress or anxiety. It requires practice. It requires an ability to recognize when a thought stimulates a strong emotional reaction and often becomes a detrimental threat to our total well-being. It’s about awareness and choice…and that’s exactly one of the most beneficial teaching principles behind a daily practice of Mindfulness Meditation.

So, NO….Mindfulness is not going to stop your thoughts from happening, although over time, you may be able to create some “space” or “slowdown” the effects of an incessant “monkey mind.” And there are so many other benefits to be derived from a formal Mindfulness meditation practice.

Curious? Then join us Saturday, September 7th, 10:30 am (pdt) for the first of 6 weekly online Mindfulness Meditation beginner’s classes. Try it! See if it fits your needs at this time in your life. No Obligation. Classes by donation! Private classes also available during the week!
For more details or to register for the class, visit www.thmeditationtree.com. Or email: sandy.themeditationtree@gmail.com to contact me with any questions you may have.
(Class reviews on Google and website)

“Mindfulness meditation practice will help you discern which thoughts support your goals and well-being and which thoughts are destructive or unhealthy and should be discarded.” - — Benjamin W. Decker

08/16/2024

“Don’t “MYTH” the Point!
Whenever I tell someone that I teach Mindfulness Meditation, I most frequently hear, “oh, I’ve tried that but I can’t stop thinking” or “that wouldn’t work because I’m constantly thinking”!
In truth, Mindfulness Meditation is not about stopping thoughts. It’s about changing your relationship to your thoughts.
One of the most freeing insights of meditation practice is realizing that the only power thoughts have is the power we give them. -Joseph Goldstein

We need to learn to question our thoughts, to stop reacting to every thought we have as if they are facts or statements of truth. Just because we think someone doesn’t like us or that we can’t handle a given situation or that the worst may happen, doesn’t make it true.

It would be in everyone’s best interest to be aware of our negative self-talk and to understand that we are not our thoughts, but rather that our thought patterns are from an “often subconscious” accumulation of our past experiences with parents, friends and others, from the logic we applied to past emotional events in our lives, from the fears we may have experienced at a given time in our history.

Changing our relationship to are thoughts takes time. It’s more than changing your focus to your breath or to a mantra whenever we experience a circumstance that evokes stress or anxiety. It requires practice. It requires an ability to recognize when a thought stimulates a strong emotional reaction and often becomes a detrimental threat to our total well-being. It’s about awareness and choice…and that’s exactly one of the most beneficial teaching principles behind a daily practice of Mindfulness Meditation.

So, NO….Mindfulness is not going to stop your thoughts from happening, although over time, you may be able to create some “space” or “slowdown” the effects of an incessant “monkey mind.” And there are so many other benefits to be derived from a formal Mindfulness meditation practice.

Curious? Then join us Saturday, September 7th, 10:30 am (pdt) for the first of 6 weekly online Mindfulness Meditation beginner’s classes. Try it! See if it fits your needs at this time in your life. No Obligation. Classes by donation! Private classes also available during the week!
For more details or to register for the class, visit www.thmeditationtree.com. Or email: sandy.themeditationtree@gmail.com to contact me with any questions you may have.
(Class reviews on Google and website)

“Mindfulness meditation practice will help you discern which thoughts support your goals and well-being and which thoughts are destructive or unhealthy and should be discarded.” - — Benjamin W. Decker

The Meditation Tree is a meditation studio/instructor located in Sherman Oaks/Los Angeles conducts Meditation and Mindfulness classes through group and private sessions. The practice teaches moment to moment awareness, how one can recognize self-defeating thought patterns, and how inner stillness ca