Meditation - What is It Good for Anyway?
June 22, 2008
Meditation is an age old healing and stress relieving modality practiced throughout the world, in virtually all cultures and all religions, although it may go by different names - prayer, visualization, relaxation techniques, and hypnosis; they are all forms of the same practice.
Meditation refers to “taking a break” from real life. Its goal is to bring about a sense of relaxation to the mind, body and spirit. For some, it helps to connect them to their higher self, others connect to the Universal life force and still others use meditation to get away from reality for a few minutes.
In fact, it’s been found that meditation is not just merely a “taking break”; there are a multitude of physiological changes that take place when a person meditates. As a sampling, and by no means all inclusive, the following conditions can benefit from regular use of meditation:
Addictions, stress relief, pain management, hypertension, PMS, fibromyalgia, headaches, migraines and insomnia.
Other more serious and life threatening diseases such as heart disease, AIDS, autoimmune conditions and cancer may also benefit from the regular practice of meditation.
The Art Of Meditation: How Easy Is It?
June 7, 2008
Meditation is a form of relaxing and a method to spiritual enlightenment that has been around for centuries. Yet with all the different types of meditation as well as the varied methods, how do you know you are truly meditating? Which one is right for you?
We are often told that to meditate is to think of nothing and clear your mind, which to me is impossible. Our minds do not stop even when we are asleep, so how do we consciously clear them when awake? The fact is that our minds are equipped with a goal serving mechanism, which means that the mind does not hear differences but only understands actions. It does not understand "do" and "do not", "will" or "will not." So by saying to your mind, "do not think of anything whilst meditating," the mind did not hear the "do not" and consequently you instructed your mind to do the exact opposite of what you wanted. It will now think of everything.
Enlightenment through Meditation
May 25, 2008
Helping the broadest range of people attain enlightenment through meditation is my lifelong preoccupation. I have more than 20 years of daily interaction with people helping them meditate and encouraging them to set high goals and use meditation as a tool for attaining inspiration, precious insights, enlightenment and other benefits that come along with it.
In order to practice meditation, you need a pleasant quiet place where nobody is going to disturb you. Once you are comfortably seated, you can start with pranayama (rhythmic breathing exercise), followed by pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses from the outer world), thorough relaxation of the mind and senses, and finally relaxation of the physical body. By breathing rhythmically ? inhaling, holding the breath, and exhaling while following a simple pattern (4-16-8, for instance) ? you will accumulate prana, revitalize your life force, and new spiritual strength will come to you. During the pratyahara you will play the role of a neutral observer of your thoughts, with the ultimate aim of achieving a state of consciousness without any thoughts.
Experiencing Peace as You Would Imagine Peace to be
May 11, 2008
Peace can mean quiet, tranquility, serenity, peace of mind, mental calmness, friendliness, no wars, civil disorders or strife. Sometimes a word makes sense and other times there is no reference for it.
From my own experience I had no reference for the word ‘happy’. Logically I knew what it was supposed to mean, however I couldn’t relate to it. On the other hand I knew and experienced what ‘contentment’ and ‘joy’ was, but with ‘happy’ ? sadly I had no reference point.
The word ‘happy’ had to be demonstrated to me in order for it to have any meaning. ‘Happy’ was demonstrated to me by a male facilitator on a course I was on a couple of years ago. He started an impromptu, very silly dance which had me laughing for a long time afterwards. The memory of it still gets me smiling and gives me a ‘happy’ feeling which I fully experience throughout my body.
With that in mind whenever I step into peace I totally experience it through every cell in my body. How do I know that is what I’m experiencing? I feel it and link the word peace to that feeling.
Fitness Workout - Exercising the Present Moment!
April 27, 2008
The following exercise program has been designed to get the mind firmly in the present, not yesterday or tomorrow but right here, right now. It’s a particularly great exercise to become familiar with because it helps during times when you need to totally concentrate on an important task. There have been many times in the past when I’ve been overwhelmed by the many different tasks on my ‘to do list’. Learning to become present has helped me to focus totally on one thing at a time and makes me far more effective in my work output.
You can try one, more than one, or all of the following exercises to access the present moment and as you do them, retain your focus for at least three minutes. The longer you stay focused the longer you’ll be in the present moment.
If you start thinking about dinner; what’s on television; the shopping etc, then you’re no longer in the present but the future or possibly the past. If and when this happens refocus on your breathing to again be aware of the present moment.
Meditation - Easy Tools for Success
April 13, 2008
Do you want to learn how to meditate?
Have you tried to meditate but you keep falling asleep?
Or you’re not sure you are doing it right?
Do you keep thinking about other things while you are trying to “clear your mind”?
First you need to decide what type of meditation you want to do. There are basically two types of meditation - active and passive. Passive meditation is clearing the mind of all thoughts. You can then allow your “inner voice” or “minds eye” to speak to you. Passive meditation is good for reducing stress, increasing creativity, or just getting in some quiet time.
Active meditation is when you keep your mind active by working on a particular problem in your life or focusing on accomplishing certain goals you have set. Using affirmations while meditating are particularly helpful in this area.
There are many simple techniques to help you meditate. You may have read about them already. They include breathing techniques, repeating mantras, sitting up so you don’t fall asleep and visualizing certain objects. These are all good techniques and will help you accomplish reaching that alpha brain wave level necessary for meditation.
An Algorithm to Remove ?Hurt? from Pain
March 30, 2008
The behavior of pain was enigmatic. Its responses were strange. It was only a pin prick, but the surrounding skin reddened and the child cried out in pain. Yet, the caress of a gentle finger around the injury subdued that pain. A person suffering from the agony of chronic pain reported no pain at all, while focused on painting a canvas. Again, hypnosis caused a patient to report that his pain did not hurt. How could just a touch, or a change in the focus of attention reduce or remove pain? How could there be a pain, which did not hurt? Could such phenomena be explained as clear algorithmic behaviors of the brain? Could such knowledge be used to subdue the distress of pain?
An algorithm was a repetitive procedure, which yielded a trusted result. Recently, a new view of the mind suggested that it was an algorithm, which enabled the mind to race, like a lightning streak, through neural regions. It saw, recognized, interpreted and acted. In the blink of eye. From input to output, it took just 20 milliseconds. Myriad processes converted light, sound, touch and smell instantly into your nerve impulses. A special region recognized those impulses as objects and events. Another region, the limbic system, interpreted those events to generate emotions. A fourth region responded to those emotions with actions. The mind perceived, identified, evaluated and acted. So, the scream followed the injury, as swiftly as a flash of lightning. All of this was powered by intuition, a pattern recognition algorithm.
Mindfulness and Eating: Divine Desk Dining
March 16, 2008
Are you stuck eating lunch at your desk again?
Lucky you.
You see, staying put can be surprisingly soothing compared to making a mad dash to the cafe for a sandwich and running back to your office, all the while worried that you’ll miss an important call.
If you feel chained to your desk, try viewing it instead as a powerful anchor that keeps you from drifting mindlessly.
Desk dining can be the epitome of mindlessness-or a remarkable opportunity to slow down, reconnect, and enjoy a delicious moment or two. You can choose a chug-and-chew cubicle lunch or settle in for a session of mindful mastication.
Mom always told us to slow down and chew our food properly. She was more worried about choking, indigestion and bad manners than she was about the possibility that we would grow up to be disconnected from our experience of dining.
As usual, Mom made good sense. New research indicates that becoming more mindful of every mouthful is a powerful way to reduce our food intake, increase our meal satisfaction, and savor more than just the taste of our veggie on rye.
The Brain Scrub for Druids
March 2, 2008
The Brain Scrub is designed to help you overcome the "monkey mind" which leaps and bounces around from subject to subject in an uncontrolled manner. After mastering this exercise you’ll be able to instantly clear and calm your mind in any situation, allowing you to focus completely on any subject.
Sit on the floor “Indian style”. Don’t worry about trying to sit in any particular position. If you wish you can sit upright in a chair, just sit towards the front and let your feet rest flat on the floor. Keep your spine straight, shoulders back and just let your hands rest in your lap. Take a moment to relax and let your breathing soften.
Now, as you inhale focus on the number 1. Hold your focus and exhale. On the next inhale focus on the number 2 and so on until you get to 10. The purpose here is to focus entirely on the numbers and not allow any other thoughts to intrude. Remember to breathe as I outlined in the article on Breathing.
DO NOT beat yourself up with this exercise! Our minds are constantly at work and the untrained mind will bounce from thought to thought continually (monkey mind) and even during this exercise you’ll have other thoughts arise.
Druids and Meditation
February 17, 2008
It’s pretty obvious that the ancient Druids used several forms of meditation. That the Druids were able to still and control their minds is unquestioned, but the techniques they used have apparently been lost to the ravages of time and the lack of written records.
As with much of the re-creation of the Druid paths, we find ourselves turning to other cultures and methodologies to fill in the gaps. Before the cries of "Untraditional" become too loud I think I should point out that meditation and mind control/self awareness are universal to the human being. Everyone who’s ever lived on this planet has had the ability to access their inner energies and power to varying degrees. Today we find ourselves without the social framework of the ancient Druids. Rather than a single unified entity we find that our Tribe is scattered to the winds without a common language or concept of what it means to be a Druid. It’s a period of creation and re-creation and thanks to the easy availability of printed sources and the internet we find that once again we can begin to study and put together systems for training Druids.
