The fourth installment in our weekly Sunday seminar series is a class on dyad noting, a meditation technique developed by Kenneth Folk.

I’m sure you already know that there’s a ton of research about the benefits of meditation. Meditation helps people make better decisions in the ultimatum game. Meditation boots performance and reduces stress. Meditation changes the way your brain works.

I could keep citing studies, but I’ll spare you because I’m guessing you already feel guilty about not meditating more.

I can remember quite clearly telling myself over and over that I wanted to meditate more, and not being sure how to get started. I remember feeling overwhelmed at the different types of meditation and, more than anything else, being afraid that I was going to do it wrong. Meditation seemed mysterious and arcane, and I was scared that I would end up wasting my time sitting around daydreaming, or resisting my thoughts, or making contemplative expressions and having absolutely no idea what was going on in my head.

If you’ve ever shared concerns about not knowing how to meditate, you’re worrying about the right thing! According to Kenneth Folk, a professional meditation teacher who has been meditating himself since the 80’s, it’s very common for beginning meditators to be doing it wrong. People will sit down to meditate, and become lost in thought for almost the entire time. You have to train your brain to get it to note sensations, and the key to getting the hang of a skill quickly is exactly what’s missing in most meditative practices: feedback.

Dyad noting is the solution. The basic premise is very simple: instead of identifying sensations and noting them silently to yourself, you identify them and note them out loud to another human being. Every time you note a sensation out loud you can be completely sure that you are…noting a sensation! Simple, and useful.

This Sunday, we’ll teach you:

• the vocabulary of basic noting (Why “My co-worker is an idiot” isn’t a good note, and why “imaging thought” is)
• how to handle pacing (What to do when it’s your turn to note and you’re not sure what to say!)
• Mahamudra noting (How your noting practice can lead you to transmute any negative-affect sensations you observe)

And here’s what you’ll leave with:

• A dead-simple meditation technique to observe what’s going on inside that you can do with a friend, or even alone!
• A second meditation technique that gives you a basic framework for taking negative thoughts and sensations and transforming without resisting.
• You will have practiced meditation for two hours! So far the most reliable strategy I’ve found for getting myself to meditate more has been scheduling time and committing to do it.

This Sunday’s seminar is presented by our new personal-growth company, Positive Vector, and led by our team, William Ryan, Divia Melwani, Adam Widmer, and Shannon Friedman.

Suggested donation is $20-30. Order tickets via Eventbrite.

If you would like to be informed about future Sunday seminars, sign up for our mailing list!