Michael Trestman

Hello! I'm Michael Trestman, PhD. I'm an independent researcher in consciousness studies, and a facilitator and teacher of meditation.

Email me here to talk about meditation.

My research publications can be found on my academia.edu page.

Guided Practice Recordings

This page contains an archive of my guided meditations from the from Sunday sessions of the Meditation and Embodiment Practice Circle facebook group. All are welcome to join the group! The only rule is to be supportive, compassionate and non-judgmental toward others in the group.

The practices I lead focus on embodiment and the bodily roots of emotion, the experience of time and space, and interpersonal connection. Many of the techiques are adapted from the Buddhist tradition, but you do not need to be a Buddhist or have any particular worldview to engage with these practices. All you need is a curiosity toward exploring your own conscious experience.

Intro: The spiciness rating system

Some practices done with the group are more calming or 'down-regulating', whereas others are more emotionally "spicy", and involve moving deeply into challenging emotions, denials, attachment and trauma.

Each practice is rated from one to five chili peppers 🌶, with one chili being a very calming, grounding practice, and five being the most challenging. Challenging practices can be very valuable, but be aware that going deeply into a challenging practice can elicit an emotional 'backlash' or 'hangover' in the following hours or days. This can take the form of unexpected waves of emotion such as sadness or anger, or an urge to become disconnected from the body. Therefore, when doing challenging practices, it is good to be aware of this and give oneself extra care and gentle attention in the following days. It's also good to drink extra water.

Body Scan, Emotion Inventory and Universal Compassion

Nov 01, 2020

This is a practice of paying careful attention to bodily sensations and the bodily roots of emotional experience. By feeling deeply, we become aware of our true nature as conscious beings, and our essential connectedness to all conscious beings.

Spiciness rating: mild-medium 🌶🌶

Embodied Maitri

Nov 15, 2020

Maitri is an ancient and powerful practice from the Buddhist tradition, which aims at the cultivation of compassion and loving-kindness toward oneself and others. This involves feeling, rather than denying, feelings of fear, pain, disappointment, and other sources of disquiet. When we suppress those feelings, they persist and become more desperate; when allow those feelings to be felt, they can rest and allow us to rest. Only then can we find of peace and joy that lies beyond them, and embody the intention to share that peace and joy with others.

Spiciness rating: challenging 🌶🌶🌶🌶

Visantara Practice: Feeling Misunderstood

Nov 29, 2020

Visantara or "emotional integration" is the practice of "embracing what is inside". This means building a tolerance for staying with uncomfortable feelings, resisting the urge to deny or avoid injuries to our attachments and our self-image.

This practice can bring up strong emotions. It is presented here with together with 'Om Jyota' and 'Kanaka Jyota', which are mantra/mudra/mandala practices meant to cultivate a feeling and intention toward open-mindedness and open-heartedness. These work well as supporting practices for the emotional challenge of Visantara.

This practice is an adaptation of one taught by Maha Vajra.

Spiciness rating: moderately challenging 🌶🌶🌶

Cultivating Peace and Pleasure in the Body

Dec 13, 2020

Spiciness rating: mild-medium 🌶🌶

In this practice we employ a "3 Ms" (mantra/mudra/mandala) technique to tap in to the natural states of Peace and Pleasure. A mantra is a phrase spoken or thought, a mudra is a bodily gesture, and a mandala is a visualization. Using these three symbols or cues is helpful in training oneselfto more easily access a desired state of feeling and/or intention.

For Peace, the mantra is "Shanti" ("peace" in Sanskrit), the mudra is a focus on the third eye position (middle of the forehead) accompanied by an upward breath, and the mandala is a visualization of a disk of sky blue in the center of the head. For Pleasure, the mantra is "Sukha" ("pleasure" or "well-being" in Sanskrit), the mudra is a focus on the lower abdomen and a breath expanding into that region, and the mandala is a visualization of reddish orange light (like a sunset) emanating from the low abdomen.

The practice includes a preparatory body scan.

Being in your Forest

Dec 21, 2020 Spiciness rating: mild-medium 🌶🌶

This is a practice of gentle patience in dwelling with whatever bodily sensation, emotions and thoughts arise.

Visantara Practice: Craving

Dec 27, 2020

Craving is considered one of the three 'poisons' of existence in the Buddhist tradition, along with denial and aggression, because it is a primal psychological force that fuels suffering.

Here we explore craving in a humble, intimate form by examining the structure of a recent experience of giving in to a craving.

Spiciness rating: challenging 🌶🌶🌶🌶

Body Scan and Segmented Breathing Practice

Dec 28, 2020

This is a deep dive of bringing the awareness to the body in the present moment, by focusing deeply on different parts of the body, and by mindfully shaping the breath to allow it to open fully. This is a calming, grounding practice.

Spiciness rating: mild 🌶

Space in the Body, the Body in Space

Jan 3, 2021

In this practice we explore the roots of the experience of space in bodily sensations. This is a calming and grounding practice.

Spiciness rating: mild 🌶

Siddhic Principles: Garima and Laghima

Jan 17, 2021

In this practice we work with two of the classical yogic siddhis, cultivating them as powers of consciousness. Garima (heaviness, density, inertia) is the propensity of formations (mental as well as physical, biological, social, etc.) to coalesce and to persist. Laghima (lightness, freedom) is the propensity of formations to disintegrate and pass away.

We ease into the practice with a preparatory body scan.

Spiciness rating: moderately challenging 🌶🌶🌶

I've divided the recording into two parts, an introduction

and the meditation practice.

Tonglen: Compassionate Sending and Receiving

Jan 24, 2021

Tonglen is a powerful practice for cultivating fearless compassion and open-heartedness. It is a classic practice in Tibetan Buddhism and has been practiced formally for at least 1000 years.

Here is a great summary of the practice by the great master and teacher Pema Chodron.

Spiciness rating: challenging 🌶🌶🌶🌶

I've divided the recording into two parts, an introduction

and the meditation practice.

Siddhic Principles: Anima and Mahima

Jan 31, 2021

In this practice we work with two of the classical yogic siddhis, cultivating them as powers of consciousness. Anima (smallness, subtlety) represents the smallness in space, briefness in time, the subtlety of just-noticable sensations and feelings. Mahima (vastness, all-encompassing expansiveness) represents size in space and duration in time, but also the ability to 'zoom out' or 'step back' into the stance of the observer regarding our own experience: to be aware of being aware, to our experience itself as the object of awareness. It also represents the expanse of possibilities available to consciousness; consciousness as a domain of possible experiences, which transcends any particular localized experience. Mahima therefore allows us to transcend our localized identity, experiencing our connection to all sentient beings throughout space and time.

We ease into the practice with a preparatory body scan.

Spiciness rating: moderately challenging 🌶🌶🌶

Grounding Techniques

Jan 31, 2021

In this session we focus on techniques for grounding in the body and the present moment. These techniques work for most people as a way to down-regulate and calm the body and mind.

As you develop a meditation practice it is important to have reliable ways of regulating yourself to a calm, even state as a stable baseline from which to explore more challenging and emotionally activating techniques. Remember that meditation should make you feel good. Always listen to your body.

In this session we try releasing stress with snake breathing, regulating our state with different in-breath and out-breath counts, and using the energy of humming to scan and tune the body and its relation to space.

Spiciness rating: mild 🌶

Exploring Attunement Modalities and Self-Love

In this practice we pay special attention to the variety of techniques for feeling grounded and oriented ('tuning in') in the present moment--what I call "attunement modalities", in particular ones that do NOT involve a direct focus on body awareness, which does not work well for many people. We experiment with soundscape awareness, breath and humming as alternatives to body scans for achieving attunement.

In the second part, we explore the theme of self-love, and the relationship between love for the self and a sense of love for, and connectedness with, others.

Spiciness rating: mild-medium 🌶🌶