There are times when we're so busy thinking, planning, worrying, stressing that it's really hard to focus on the breath or the body, or whatever particular meditation object we're using.

This practice with Mark Coleman offers an alternative that's helpful when we feel like we're going a million miles an hour. It uses soft, focused attention: relaxed eyes, soft gaze, and just being aware of the visual stimuli—like color, light, form, shape—to settle our focus.

Mark Coleman is a Dharma teacher at Spirit Rock and has taught Insight Meditation retreats since 1997 worldwide. Mark is passionate about integrating meditation and nature and leads wilderness retreats through his organization Awake in the Wild and runs annual Nature Meditation teacher trainings. Cofounder of the Mindfulness Training Institute, Mark coeads year-long mindfulness teacher trainings in Europe and the US. He is author of Awake in the Wild: Mindfulness in Nature as a Path of Self-Discovery and Make Peace With Your Mind and his recent book From Suffering to Peace. He lives in Sausalito, Marin and likes nothing more than hiking, biking, and kayaking in the outdoors. Find out more at markcoleman.org

The transcription of this guided meditation will be online and in our app at Mindful.org next week.

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Show Notes

Find more from Mark Coleman here.

Go Deeper

For a variety of reasons, not every brain is well-suited to "traditional" meditation techniques. Here are ways to explore other alternative practices:

• Awareness in Action: Rethinking ADHD Through Mindfulness

• Guided Meditations for Working with ADHD and Anxiety

• Trusting Your Senses

• Mindfulness and Autism: Learning to Celebrate Neurodiversity

• Addiction, Trauma, and the Problem of Being Present

If you've even had the feeling that traditional meditation isn't for you because of how you're wired, try this neurodivergent-friendly approach: Dual Anchor: A Neurodiversity-Informed Meditation for Wandering Attention

And more from Mindful here:

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