Meditation Mentor Introduces Guided Mindfulness Sessions for Silicon Valley Professionals
San Francisco (PRWEB) April 23, 2014 -- Meditation teacher Michael W. Taft has begun offering one-on-one guided meditation sessions for select tech industry professionals. Michael is an author, editor, teacher, and neuroscience junkie living in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is currently the editor-in-chief of Being Human, a site for exploring what evolution, neuroscience, biology, psychology, archeology, and technology can tell us about the human condition.
From Zen temples in Japan to yogi caves in India, Michael has been meditating for over thirty years and has extensive experience in both Buddhist and Hindu practice. He began his journey as a teenager suffering from crippling anxiety attacks, and the realization that his greatest obstacle was his own mind. Teaching himself to meditate at 16, Michael experienced immediate and significant pain relief, which launched him on a life-long path of meditation and self-inquiry. He experienced a life-changing awakening in Japan in the summer of 1987.
Starting around 2000, Michael became very interested in what neuroscience had to say about meditative states and practices. Through study and direct conversation with some of the leading researchers in the field (such as Richie Davidson, Judson Brewer, and many others), he gradually reworked his understanding of his “wild and woolly” experiences of meditation into a structured, secular, science-based model. He currently teaches using a cutting-edge, non-denominational, “woo-free” system, particularly suited for people who want to learn meditation without joining a particular religion or belief system.
In his guided meditation sessions, Michael offers step-by-step personalized instruction, feedback and encouragement, and individual counseling. He also works with students to set up a structure specifically geared to create an ongoing, effective, and substantial mindfulness meditation practice. “I’m particularly interested in working with Silicon Valley clients,” he says. “I feel like their specific need for a meditation practice that is efficient, productive, and non-religious are not being served in the current climate.” He offers sessions in person, over the phone, or via vchat.
Rick Hanson, author of Buddha’s Brain, Hardwiring Happiness, and Just One Thing described Michael as “...steeped in practice and deeply trained in multiple traditions. He is extremely articulate about subtle states of mind and important distinctions in meditation, for both beginners and long-time practitioners. He’s also very open, warm, and supportive – plus deeply wise.”
Shinzen Young, meditation teacher and author of The Science of Enlightenment, said “Michael Taft is a gifted teacher of mindfulness with an impressive track record of helping people get results. As one of my senior facilitators with over 30 years of practice experience, he has a comprehensive understanding of meditative traditions and practices, and is able to translate that into science-friendly, secular language. I recommend him wholeheartedly.”
Michael has been featured in Scientific American, and was previously editorial director of Sounds True, a publisher of meditation and spiritual teachings. He is the co-author of the book Ego, and is founding editor of the secular mindfulness meditation blog Deconstructing Yourself.
For more information on guided meditation sessions with Michael Taft, see http://meditationwithmichael.com/personal-instruction/.
Michael Taft, http://meditationwithmichael.com, +1 5103878429, [email protected]
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