Breathe Easy

Breathe easy

Your breath, your mind, and your meditation practice are all intertwined with each other.

The breath is both a sign that the emotions are out of control and a means of drawing peace and harmony to the Self.
Troubled thoughts release adrenaline and stress hormones that increase outbursts of anger and undesirable consequences.

Researchers at the University of Miami found that controlled breathing, guided imagery, and meditation promote not only a positive mental attitude in women being treated for stage I or II breast cancer, but provide significant health benefits in supporting the immune system and the overall health of the body, including reduced serum cortisol levels in only 10 weeks.

Awareness of your reactions to what you experience enables you to release anxiety and block out the cause of your distress.

With awareness, you cultivate peace through control of the breath and become calmer, more loving, and in full control of your emotions.

Rather that being tossed about by the chaos of life, with the mind filled with hurtful and punishing thoughts, you can observe your thoughts, your reactions, and choose to hold onto the peace that resides within.


THE DAILY EDGE
Helping You Expand Your Possibilities
TODAY'S EDGE: Breath

As I breathe in, I fill my body with light
As I breathe out, I let go all internal impurities that arise from:

the foods that I consume
all pollutants I absorb from my environment
the toxins released from my thoughts.

I feel balanced and peaceful with each breath.


Meditation is for life.

Meditation for Immunity

see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil,

When you think of the reasons for having a regular meditation practice, images of calmness, inner peace, and an unruffled attitude come to mind. These relaxed states will also lower the blood pressure, steady the heart rate, and slow the aging process of the brain.

However there is a third powerful reason to meditate.

Psychoneuroimmunology is the study of the interaction between the mind of an individual and the world and how their behavior affects the immune system resulting in either health or illness.

In the seventies, a Harvard study discovered a special group of receptors on the immune cells distributed throughout the body. This was a major breakthrough and shone new light upon what we know about the immune system. The research demonstrated that the immune system is not an independent self-directed system; rather it has an actual connection with the conscious mind and the effect of thoughts upon the body.

This means that the mind and the body interact with one another in previously unthought-of ways.

Meditation helps this process by directing your thoughts to those that are positive.

No longer do scientists regard cells as operating independently of one another. The energy behind a single thought can alter a cell with either a positive or negative result. When you are exposed to a specific event, it is how your mind reacts that determines the response, rather than the actual event itself.

For example, when you are in a negative state of mind, your body shows a marked decrease in cells responsible for protection against infection and disease.
A positive state of mind has the reverse effect, promoting a healthy immune system, increasing lymphocyte and T-cell activity, and decreasing stress hormones.

This helps you to stay healthy and fight infection by boosting the immune system.



THE DAILY EDGE
Helping You Expand Your Possibilities
TODAY'S EDGE: Mind/Body Mantra

See yourself in a tranquil location surrounded by people and animals that bring you joy. Delight in the warm loving embrace of their presence. You are free of disease and sadness in this environment. Peace and bliss envelop you.

I am divinely guided in all I do.
I expect life to give me what is best for me.
I am safe and always feel protected.


Carry these images and affirmations within you and use them whenever you need to return to a happy state.

Meditation keeps you healthy and happy.

Easy to Use Mantra

Patanjali: author of the Yoga Sutras

What's in your mind?
It is estimated that the average person has over 60,000 thoughts every day. Not all of these thoughts are happy approving ones though.

When you get into the habit of monitoring your thoughts and subsequent actions through meditation, you develop the ability to discern what you are thinking and can then choose to replace the negative, nay-saying thoughts with ones that are encouraging, upbeat and supportive in their energy.

Protecting your mind
A mantra is a mental or auditory word or phrase, often with a personal or sacred meaning. Derived from the roots of two Sanskrit words; manas, referring to the mind, and tra, meaning that which protects, a mantra is therefore a thought, word, or sound which protects the mind.

It serves as a replacement for unwanted thoughts by pulling the mind back to concentration, allowing you to develop single-pointed focus. You can repeat or chant a mantra, focusing on the meaning and the sound, while hearing the mantra vibrate within you.


View from the foothills of the Himalayas

Your very own shield
With regular meditation, you become familiar with detecting thoughts as they appear and by the use of a mantra, your chosen word or phrase rises up like a shield to protect you from either your own self-deprecating thoughts or hurtful energy directed at you from another person or situation.

OMMMM

Om is known as the first mantra. If the mind has a tendency to wander or unwanted thoughts enter the field of awareness, it provides a simple means to relax the mind and allow it to surrender into the peaceful influence of this singular point of focus. Om (also known as AUM) will be written about in more detail in a future blog. To begin though, develop the habit of repeating a mantra, either Om or one of your choice.


Know God, by Sri Ganapati Sachchidananda Swamiji

THE DAILY EDGE
Helping You Expand Your Possibilities
TODAY'S EDGE: Mantra

Traditionally, mantras are repeated 108 times, signifying one complete round. You can say as many rounds as you want to every day. Over time, you will notice that the mantra does have both a protective and a positive effect on the way that you think and subsequently act because you are replacing negative thoughts with more beneficial views and beliefs.

Try looking at yourself in the mirror and telling yourself “I Love You.” Do it 108 times every day for a week. Notice how you feel every day.

You can continue with this phrase or repeat a different one, so long as it is meaningful to you and not derogatory in any way.

Om is the most powerful mantra and the vibration is said to resonate with the universe. Meditation upon the sound of Om will therefore give you knowledge of Om and of the whole universe.

Mantra can be repeated silently during meditation or when walking and is easy to carry around with you and perform.

Keep it short and say it like you mean it.

Soon you will not only mean it, you will believe it even when you’re not saying it.

Meditation is for life.

Guided Meditation: A New Attitude

What's in a Memory?

It's well known that if you keep doing the same thing you get the same results yet changing ingrained habits is really challenging for many people. It seems to threaten to turn their world upside down.

When you repeat an action the mind creates a memory for it. The neurons in the brain are alerted to create a pathway that becomes more familiar over time.
That's why you can wake up in the morning and know how to put on your clothes the right way and tie your shoelaces without having to relearn these skills every day.

Habits
Habits form in a similar manner. Whether it's your preference for a type of ice-cream or style of music, your opinions are molded over the years through suggestions, your experiences, and statements that you have come to hold as a belief or a truth.

Breaking the Cycle
Through meditation you are able to identify your recurring thought patterns and by connecting with your real Self you can see where past events and comments have led you into behavior that no longer serves you. In addition, you can recognize the mantra-like words and phrases that repeat internally telling you that you cannot do something because you were told a long time ago that you were no good at a particular activity.

A Trick of the Mind
What you were told you actually believe and thereby go on to create a life around a deeply-held belief.
Meditation helps you achieve whatever you want by carving out a new pathway in your mind.


It can do this because the mind cannot distinguish between what it sees or experiences, and what you project mentally within your mind's eye.
Whatever you keep imagining, the mind believes, and in turn your images and thoughts become reality.

THE DAILY EDGE
Helping You Expand Your Possibilities
TODAY'S EDGE: A New Attitude

Choose one thought or activity that you want to change.

Sitting in a comfortable position, begin to notice the breath and slow it down,
Don't rush this. Take your time following the breath all the way in from the tip of your nose to the base of the lungs and all the way out again.
Notice your body. Relax any tight or hunched areas.
When you feel the breath reach a slow rhythm, focus on each inhale and exhale. See them as two halves of one whole with the duality that exists within nature.

As each breath leaves the body it is gone permanently.
And so you begin again with a new breath.

Now release attachment to any thoughts that keep trying to intrude within the mind. Feel the breath cleansing you, creating space within as you breathe away all that clings to you. (You don't need to be aware of specific memories at this moment.)

When a thought drifts into your field of awareness, let it go and stay with the peace that flows with each inhale and exhale.
All that matters is the peaceful feeling inside of you.


Now, focus on your positive thought or image that you want to create and reinforce in your life.
Explore the thought or image with your emotions and feelings.
Enjoy how it makes you feel

When you feel complete, allow the eyes to slowly open.

Each time you practice this meditation you create a positive memory.

When an unhappy or unpleasant thought crops up, you can prevent it from rising up and doing any harm by returning to the gentle flow of the breath and the peace that is associated with your new thought pattern.

Gradually, you replace all negative memories and thoughts and by developing a new attitude, you change your life.

Negative thoughts from past memories don't stand a chance.
Meditation is for life.

Instant Relaxation

Two rivers meeting to become The Great River Ganga

Mastering the Basics
Once you have mastered the basics of relaxing through meditation and are familiar with the different layers of relaxation that occur within your body and mind, you can bring the benefits of meditation instantly to you, without spending up to 20 minutes sitting quietly.

Your mind loves the way you feel during meditation and wants to stay in this peaceful tranquil state.

Awareness of Emotions
Awareness of how you are feeling; tense, anxious, or breath rapid and shallow are indicators that you use to instantly draw your mind, breath and body back to a place of happiness and joy that is both internal and external.


Instant Relaxation and Important Events
Your ability to transport the effects of meditation instantly is a really useful tool prior to situations like giving a speech, attending an interview, or going on a first date. It helps stop feelings such as anxiety and fear of failure, and even reduces the incidence of sweaty palms due to nervousness!

You will release apprehension and gain confidence in your abilities, helping to put yourself and other people at ease.

How it Works
During your meditation, become aware of the point at which you become totally relaxed.
Make a mental note of the rate and rhythm of your breath.
Notice your relaxed arms, legs, and facial muscles.
Tell yourself that you can return to this place simply by following the breath.
Your mind will accept what you have told it.


Meditate Instantly
The Response
During your everyday activities, when you feel yourself becoming tense, simply tell yourself to relax and the memory of what it feels like to be calm and at peace, triggers a response in the breath and the body.
You respond by slowing the breath down, the breath lengthening and deepening.
The shoulders, facial muscles, and limbs relax.
Tension dissolves.
The benefits of your meditation practice recharges you and fills you with energy and well-being.

Peace

A breath of meditation.
The breath is linked to all the emotions.
When you feel angry or watch a scary movie, the heart rate increases and the breath becomes shallow and rapid.
When you are watching a sunset, strolling in a park, or meditating, the breath is slow and steady.

The breath is very powerful because it is closely linked to the mind. When you lose control of the breath through your thoughts and feelings, you find that your subsequent actions are also impacted.

Taking control of the breath through meditation enables you to to know what a calm mind and body feels like. With practice, you develop a new mental habit so that anytime you are faced with a stressful situation, you can recognize how you are breathing and adjust the rate and rhythm accordingly.

Controlling the breath helps you to control your actions. Any time that you sense that you are experiencing anger, frustration, or irritation with a person or situation, simply return to the rhythmic flow of the breath and you will find yourself calm, relaxed and able to think clearly.


THE DAILY EDGE
Helping You Expand Your Possibilities
TODAY'S EDGE: A Breath of Meditation
With the eyes gently closed
Follow the breath from the tip of the nose to the base of the lungs
Follow the breath all the way out
Notice the rate and rhythm of the breath
Adjust it so that is it slow and steady
Center yourself by seeing the belly rise and fall
With each exhalation, let the breath become deeper and deeper
Let the mind follow the breath
Let the body relax with the longer and deeper breath
Feel a deeper connection with the Self
Feel the body and mind relax
Feel calming detachment from anxiety and stress
Enter into meditation

With practice, you will be able to return to a calm and peaceful breath with ease and eventually maintain inner and outward peace at all times.
Meditation is for life.

A Marathon Meditation

Emma approaching the finish line: 2009 Boston Marathon

Meditation for life.
Endurance and Fortitude. We don't automatically associate these words with meditation, however when faced with adversity, questions, and everyday struggles, endurance and strength are qualities that you really want in abundance and meditation gives you the ability to free yourself from the pain and doubts associated with day-to-day living.

For Emma, maintaining her focus and believing she could run this marathon enabled her to leave thoughts of failure far behind.

Meditation has long been known to bring inner peace and the corresponding external tranquility within relationships and all activities. However, for many people the starting point to begin meditation often arises out of pain, anxiety, or finally deciding that enough is enough and you really want to change your life for the better.
It is well known that if you keep on doing the same things, you get the same results.
That's why meditation is a steady method to practice and bring about the changes you desire.

You cannot think two thoughts at the same time.
When you maintain a constant vigil over physical pain, rehash angry conversations, and see only the sufferings of the world, you draw your attention to negative energy.
Meditation releases you from this, giving you peace and joy to focus on.


With practice, your meditation becomes like the gentle flow of water seeping into the cracks of your life and smoothing out the rough parts.
A great transformation occurs as you focus less on what cannot be done because of perceived limitations and see instead that your mind and body have no restrictions.

Let yourself flow in your meditation practice and as you leave your old self behind, see what personal mountains you can move and what you can achieve.


THE DAILY EDGE
Helping You Expand Your Possibilities
TODAY'S EDGE:Marathon Meditation

Meditation is one-pointed focus, yet often during the day our mind drifts away from peace and happiness and becomes focused on finding fault either personally or by criticizing other people.

In your meditation practice, focus on releasing critical behaviors.
Focus on seeing the beauty in life, rather than being fixated on what is dull and unexciting.

Have a mantra that you can repeat during your meditation and throughout the day.
Examples include:
I choose to be grateful
I choose to be kind
I choose to give love
I choose to feel joy
I choose to see the good within
I choose to be happy

Use your chosen word or phrase whenever you hear yourself revert to fault-finding. Feel yourself draw back to your light and the peace within via the use of your mantra.

In time, you stop thinking negatively because you are too busy thinking only good and positive thoughts.

Your time is too precious to waste on negative thinking. Look at what can be achieved if you put your mind to positive use.

While running a marathon may not be your desire, find out what is and what is holding you back.
Use your meditation to help you get there.
Meditation is for life.

2009 Boston Marathon

Emma aged 12 crossing the Boston finish line.

Today is the 113th Boston Marathon and Emma Stockley is one of over 27,000 runners taking part in the race. Ten years after she ran in a junior high Massachusetts BAA race, she is crossing the finish line as an adult.
Some runners are competing to win while others are raising money for a charity of their choice. Emma is running for Great Kids Marathon Team (which is organized by Goodwill Industries and marks their 5th year participating in the Boston Marathon.) Details of Emma's fund-raising efforts are in a separate link at the end of today's blog.

Runners sometimes have a buddy that they run beside, or stay close to a pack where they pick up on each others energy, but running is predominantly a solitary sport.
It is an extraordinary feat of endurance that requires discipline, dedication, and a focused mind.

As the race continues and the miles go by, the rhythm of the pace takes over. Scenery, houses, trees and people drift by and gradually the thoughts lessen until the mind is focused only on the single step or breath. Mental strength develops and prepares an individual to control their body and thoughts.


Emma has laughingly said that "after a while, you run out of thoughts to think and just notice what is happening in the moment."

Meditation is the same.

With a person new to meditation, during the quiet moments the mind races and distracting thoughts intrude causing some people to give up by thinking that they can't focus enough to successfully meditate. In the same way that runners train alone but get to know their strengths and find their rhythm, learning to meditate requires getting to know your Self.

With continued practice, thoughts lessen as the mind develops clarity and learns how to develop single-pointed focus. Like most things in life, meditation takes practice but it can easily be learned bringing with it the rewards of purpose and self awareness. Allow your meditation to release your drive and enthusiasm and let it add significance to all you do.


THE DAILY EDGE
Helping You Expand Your Possibilities
TODAY'S EDGE:Hello Self

Meditation
In your meditation, practice sitting still and focus on getting to know your Self. Begin by focusing on the breath, finding a gently steady rhythm, and quieten the mind.
You may decide beforehand what you want to discover about your Self, or you may like to see what emerges during your meditation.
Like the marathon runners, stay the course. Know that after meditating regularly, thoughts and distractions will pass and you will be left only with your Self.
Your Self will not judge, but will be comforting and direct you to your life's purpose and help you find answers to questions.
This meditation helps you to know who you are and stay true to your real Self and to use each meditation session to strengthen your ability to bring your thoughts under control.
Each meditation session carries you over obstacles.
Delight in getting to know your Self and as each thought drifts on by you can find out how truly amazing you really are.

Meditation is for life. Practice it daily.

Expanding Your Possibilities

When you think of meditation, the concept of someone sitting in quiet contemplation comes to mind. That individual is seen as being someone who is at peace with their Self and the world.

Meditation offers many possibilities beyond Self peace though.

We all have a finite amount of energy to see us through the demands of daily life.
If we don't rest, consume proper nutrition, and breathe correctly, we literally run out of fuel and eventually come to a grinding halt.

Likewise, our time here on planet Earth is limited and yet all too often we throw away our thoughts, words, and actions in wasteful activities, in arguments, or in thinking negatively about a person or situation.

If we're not careful, or mindful, we end up frittering our precious energy on matters that do not lead us and the world around us to a better place.

When teaching yoga asanas (poses) and synchronizing the activity with the breath, students are encouraged to deepen and lengthen the breath in order to "expand the mind and body in all directions." This means that the student will no longer cling to the limitations of the physical body, but release thoughts, feelings, and emotions in order to allow the mind to expand and create space within for love and peace to grow and knowledge to emerge.



When the mind is too blocked by lists, anxiety, comments from other people, and internal discouraging remarks there is a limit to how you can use your energy.

Just as a car engine and its filters need to be cleaned, serviced and filled with gas and oil, you also need to to use meditation in order to clean out the mind of clutter that you don't need, to replenish your will, and allow your Self to shine through.

Then You, as the silent witness observing all that goes on in the mind, can finally allow your mind to be open to receive wisdom and allow intuition to flourish.

Your mind then, will know no boundaries or limitations.

Meditation is your golden key to unlocking wondrous possibilities that are contained within you. Use meditation every day to free your mind and expand your possibilities.

THE DAILY EDGE
Helping You Expand Your Possibilities
TODAY'S EDGE: Watch Your Thoughts

For today's meditation I wanted to leave you with the following words taken from The Upanishads; a major work from India that discusses aspects of philosophy and spirituality.

Watch your thoughts; they become words.

Watch your words; they become actions.

Watch your actions; they become habits.

Watch your habits; they become character.

Watch your character; for it becomes your destiny.

All photos by Katarina 2353, on Flickr">

Meditation is for Life. Practice it daily.

Guided Meditations

A guided meditation is a meditation where you as the practitioner are led through the meditation process by a teacher who uses their experience to assist you with either learning a particular technique or help you enter into and deepen your actual meditation.

In addition, this type of meditation session can use music or other external sounds such as chanting, listening to a mantra, or the use of a chime or singing bowl. These and other items are used to assist you with your meditation needs and music has been shown to heighten the meditation experience and its clinical benefits.

What can you expect?

Your meditation environment
Your meditation teacher will help you set the right environment, which includes sitting comfortably, the lighting of candles, burning of incense, slow rhythmic music, and a dimly lit room.
One or all of the above can be used depending on your preferences.



The guided meditation
This will usually begin with a gentle breathing technique to slow the breath down and quieten the mind. In turn, the body relaxes but thoughts may still be intruding and distracting you. The voice of your teacher will help you to stay focused on the breath.

As you begin to notice your body relax and release tension, you will then be guided to release attachment to your thoughts and feelings.
This process is not rushed. It can take several minutes to enter into meditation when you first practice.
To release attachment to emotional thoughts, visualization is often used to keep the mind focused. This is a pleasant experience where you see yourself in a tranquil place or even imagine that you are in a celestial realm.
Once you are in your tranquil place, you are guided deeper into your meditation until the breath is slow and deep

At this point, the teacher is usually silent to enable you to meditate. This means that you remain focused on a single object such as the breath, a beautiful image in your mind's eye, repeating a mantra, or listening to a mantra that is playing on a CD.
You may open your eyes to end your meditation when you feel that you are complete, or may have decided with your teacher that s/he will guide you when the session is over.



Self-guided meditation
Once you have followed a guided meditation session a number of times, you will find it easy to remember the meditation process and then try it for yourself. You may find that you want to linger longer on the breath or in your nature spot before you transition fully into meditation.
Do what feels right for you. It will vary from day to day depending on your particular needs that day.

Group meditations
If you belong to a yoga class or attend a meditation center, you will learn your meditations in a group session. You will discover that you are able to disassociate yourself from other people in the room until you feel completely at ease with your Self.
A special sound like a chime or bell is used to bring the meditation session to an end.
After the class is over, you may find it interesting to find out what other people's experience was like. You were all listening to the same guided meditation, yet the results are different as the meditation meets everyone's needs.

Where to meditate
You can listen to a guided meditation

while walking
sitting by the ocean or a lake
in natural surroundings
listening to the sounds of nature (real or by CD)

You may find other places that you prefer; enjoy exploring.

After your meditation
Your teacher can give you some tips or images to try at home.
Guided meditation helps you to learn how to achieve the state of mind you are trying to achieve, and encourage you to keep practicing.

Learning to meditate is an important life skill and not only improves your quality of life but helps you cope with whatever life throws at you.

I plan to have some actual guided meditations posted that you can listen to. So keep following the blog for updates.
Meditation is for life.

Mind, Breath, Body

During meditation, the breath slows down, your heart beat and blood pressure lower, and a feeling of well-being fills your body.
Who wouldn't want to feel that?

When you experience something scary, hear bad news, or get pulled over by a police officer, your heart pounds, your pulse races, and the breath becomes shallow.
But even in times like this, you can learn to control the way that the mind reacts through meditation.

Meditation enables you to not only experience bliss, but know what to do during the times that you are facing a challenging situation.

Simply put, the messages from the mind affect the breath which affects the body. If life is a roller-coaster of emotions you will gradually experience ill-health and the effects of long-term stress.

Your thoughts and actions are bridged by the breath. Meditation combined with slow, rhythmic breathing is clinically proven to significantly decrease feelings of anxiety, stress, and depression.

Challenge the way you think and react by introspection and the power of positive thinking. This is another way of saying that meditation and affirmation are amazing tools that reinforce your ability to create the best possible outcome of every situation.

THE DAILY EDGE
Helping You Expand Your Possibilities
TODAY'S EDGE: BREATHE DEEP

Pain and struggle do not lead to the best outcome or your highest good. Meditation and positive affirmations bring balance to the body and mind and draw happiness, health, and joy to you easily and in abundance.

During your meditation practice and during quiet moments in your day, reaffirm what you feel during meditation and apply it whenever you feel tension arising.

Be open to receive
Give and receive freely
Be at peace within yourself

Slow the breath down until it is smooth and even.
Practice noticing the breath during meditation.
In your everyday activities, take time to notice the breath and adjust it accordingly.
In time, the mind sends you a gentle reminder to let you know that the breath is rapid and shallow and you can quickly correct it.

Meditation is for life. Practice it daily.

Meditation: A Mind to Succeed

Meditation harnesses your thoughts and helps liberate you from your fears.

Every thought that you have is powerful and is an affirmation, whether or not you are consciously aware of this fact. The subtle energy that lies behind a thought or an action impacts your choices and ultimately what happens to you.

We have all failed many times although we may not remember specific occasions. What happened the first time you tried to walk? And when your tried to swim you probably swallowed a lot of water. On these occasions, chances are you kept on trying until you were able to walk or swim.

Meditation is the way to succeed in whatever task or role you face because it helps you to focus on the present and not the fears from the past. The mind can and will continue to replay powerful emotions as long as you allow emotions and memories to over-power your resolve, hopes, and potential.

Meditation and affirmations reinforce your commitment to recognize, acknowledge and face your fears.

THE DAILY EDGE
Helping You Expand Your Possibilities
TODAY'S EDGE: POWERFUL AFFIRMATIONS

Positive affirmations challenge the negative beliefs that you hold and enables you to stop them from taking a deeper hold. They do not need to be done exclusively during your formal meditation. You can focus on them when you feel a negative thought enter the mind, or when mindfully practicing a seated or walking meditation.

Repeating affirmations is more than just repeating words. By consciously feeling the spirit and energy of your affirmations and consciously choosing to use them, you create a new way of thinking. As you become aware of the thoughts and words you use in everyday life, you will discover the secret to making them work for you.

You will also find that you can enter into your regular meditation faster as your mind is less troubled and is in the habit of focusing.

Practice thinking about and repeating one or all of the following affirmations:

I release all fear and worry and replace it with peace
Life is a joy filled with delightful surprises
I choose to forgive, open my heart and allow love to flow into my life

Meditation: Powerful Affirmations

Meditation leads to inner growth and personal development by enabling you to be fully aware of your thoughts and the subsequent actions that you choose to make.

WHAT YOU EXPERIENCE IS OFTEN A REFLECTION OF WHAT YOU ARE THINKING

Everything in the Universe is made up of energy and with the proper use of affirmations you successfully manage your life by drawing to you that which you have asked for.

Affirmations are powerful positive assertions that you make with complete certainty. There is no doubt when you make a particular statement during your meditation.

With continued practice you can change the way you think, reprogram your subconscious mind and remove the old negative beliefs that have been stopping you from achieving success, all with the use of affirmations.

THE DAILY EDGE
Helping You Expand Your Possibilities
TODAY'S EDGE: POWERFUL AFFIRMATIONS

Choose a word or phrase that has meaning to you. This is your affirmation.

Examples include:
I have the power to control my health and well being
I am loved
I am healthy
I achieve all my goals and dreams with complete ease
I am filled with gratitude
My life is filled with abundance and prosperity

During your meditation practice, maintain your focus by repeating your affirmation again and again to yourself.

In time, you will feel the energy of your affirmation and fully experience it in your everyday life.

Meditation with affirmations help you explore and develop consciousness expansion.

Long Term Benefits of Meditation

Long term benefits of Meditation

1. Reduce stress while creating inner peace and tranquility.
3. Help the body heal and cure itself.
4. Develop clarity of thought, improved brain function, and improved memory.
5. Discover joy and inner happiness.
6. Develop intuition and unleash your gifts and talents.
7. Align yourself with your Higher Self, find your true purpose and True Nature.
8. Discover the Conscious Witness.

Meditation calms the thought waves and makes it easier for the mind to enter a meditative state each time you begin your practice. As you experience better health and peace, you gain balance with all of your thoughts and emotions and find that finally you have the life that you've always wanted.
Meditation is the key to opening up new opportunities that always seemed so elusive. You gain confidence in your ability to co-create the life you seek and meditation shows you the way.

A Daily Edge Meditation and Affirmation will help you practice meditating. In the coming weeks, I'll look at each of the topics above and write more about these aspects of meditation and how they will help you on your spiritual path.

THE DAILY EDGE
Helping You Expand Your Possibilities
TODAY'S EDGE: CLAIMING YOUR POWER

You can alter the way you think and act by the use of affirmations either before, during or after you meditate.

Your affirmation may also be used as a mantra to help you to concentrate during your meditation.

You are a being of limitless possibilities who is free to choose peace and protection in the light or to cling to powerlessness.

Through visualization, see yourself in control of your thoughts and actions. All that you think and say is for the better good.
You are strong and safe knowing that you are guided in all that you think, say, and do.

Affirmation:
I am guided by the source of all light
I am secure in the knowledge that I am loved
I shine my light on others

Practice repeating your affirmation daily and your meditation practice will deepen as you relax. In time you will know with certainty that what you affirm you become as you draw ever closer to light and happiness.

Life in the Balance

Meditation is for everyone.

More research is being carried out annually on meditation, relaxation, and rhythmic breathing techniques showing that meditation is a sustained and clinically significant nonpharmacologic intervention for many diseases. Patients with AIDS, cancers, and heart conditions are now able to integrate meditation into their medical treatment.

In one study, The Support, Education, and Research in Chronic Heart Failure Study (SEARCH): A Mindfulness-Based Psychoeducational Intervention Improves Depression and Clinical Symptoms in Patients With Chronic Heart Failure researchers found that after only 8 weeks, the incidence of depression and anxiety in the patients was greatly reduced, plus their symptoms improved. Depression in patients with Chronic Heart Failure is a powerful predictor of morbidity and mortality and Meditation is a wonderful non-invasive approach.

In healthy people, meditation has a variety of uses; to promote inner peace, calmness, and even improve memory. With patients, the same benefits are achieved, but there is an additional bonus; symptoms of diseases are minimized as the mind and the body work together to stimulate the immune system.

Meditation enables the practitioner to maintain optimum health, while assisting other therapies and medicines by strengthening all the systems of the body.

It's more than a feel-good effect

A number of leisure pursuits and hobbies help us feel warm-and-fuzzy and relaxed. While meditation also promotes a feeling of well-being, it has clinically proven benefits that other activities such as watching a sunset, massage, or spending a day at a spa do not.

Meditation makes your mind calm and peaceful and by doing so, frees you from worrying. With regular practice, your mind will gradually experience freedom from anxiety and be able to stay calm, peaceful and content even in the most difficult circumstances.

The more familiar your mind becomes with meditation, the more peaceful it becomes and when your mind is peaceful you are free from all worries and mental discomfort.

Meditation is key to help keep you healthy and happy for a long time to come.

THE DAILY EDGE: MEDITATIONS

Helping You Expand Your Possibilities
TODAY'S EDGE: CLAIMING YOUR POWER

You can alter the way you think and act by the use of affirmations either before, during or after you meditate.

Your affirmation may also be used as a mantra to help you to concentrate during your meditation.

You are a being of limitless possibilities who is free to choose peace and protection in the light or to cling to powerlessness.

Through visualization, see yourself in control of your thoughts and actions. All that you think and say is for the better good.
You are strong and safe knowing that you are guided in all that you think, say, and do.

Affirmation:
I am guided by the source of all light
I am secure in the knowledge that I am loved
I shine my light on others

Practice repeating your affirmation daily and your meditation practice will deepen as you relax. In time you will know with certainty that what you affirm you become as you draw ever closer to light and happiness.

Meditation: Live Stress Free with Music and Meditation

What does it all have to do with Meditation?

Music.

Stress is a huge problem today, being blamed for increasing heart disease and elevating blood pressure while meditation is known to reduce the detrimental effects of stress. Studies are consistently showing that music induces positive changes in the cardiovascular and respiratory systems of people listening to music, and aids in reducing the negative impact of stress on the body.

Combined with Meditation the effect is even more powerful.

Music has been shown to reduce stress, assist the physical abilities of stroke patients, and increase milk production in cattle. Meditation is also known to reduce blood pressure, promote memory recollection, and improve quality of life by inducing relaxation within the mind and subsequently the body.

While the style of music is not important, the tempo is, and individual preferences of singer, group, or composer doesn't matter. Fast music increased the heart and breathing patterns while slow music had the opposite effect, creating a calm and peaceful state and helps the listener to relax.

Meditation does not need to be done in complete silence.

There are many forms of meditation, including meditating while walking or performing menial tasks, but meditation is enhanced when music or sound is introduced.

Pauses between tracks of music further enabled relaxation to become deeper. Combined with rhythmic breathing and meditation techniques, patients can enter meditation faster and experience a deeper state of meditation.

Listening to music for therapy is a passive rather than an active experience and by alternating slow rhythms with pauses, it can have a positive effect on cardiovascular disease in much the same way that meditation also slows down heart rate and lowers blood pressure.

The health benefits of meditation are becoming more widely known and when music is added into the meditation session it elevates the relaxation experience and the physical and mental results.

Meditation combined with music is a non-invasive and inexpensive method with many advantages.

Source: Music May Be an Alternative Relaxation technique with Cardiovascular Benefit. Medscape 09/2005

Genes Surprise: It's All In The Mind

We're all different. Even identical twins have differences, based on preferences, thoughts and choices.

At the level of our genes, subtle differences in gene expression vary not just biologically but in the way in which neurological information from the brain alters the genes.

In a recent study at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, researchers used the latest bioinformatics tools to identify potential gene functions. Using relaxation techniques with both experienced practitioners and participants new to meditation and relaxation techniques, the study aimed to discover if the ancient technique of meditation would alter genes over time.

Results demonstrated significantly similar changes in the genes of both groups.
Meditation altered the expression of genes involved with areas such as inflammation, programmed cell death, and how the body handles free radicals which if not neutralized, can damage cells and tissues.

Jeffery Dusek, PhD, co-lead author of the study notes, "Changes in the activation of these same genes have previously been seen in conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder; but the relaxation-response-associated changes were the opposite of stress-associated changes and were much more pronounced in the long-term practitioners."

Meditation, rhythmic breathing, yoga, and mantra used to engage the mind in single-pointed focus create changes in the mind and body not only in a superficial layer and a quality of life perspective, but create actual changes right down to the cellular and gene level.

Meditation has long been used to create a calm and peaceful feeling and now, thanks to today's technology, we can show how meditation is able to treat stress-related disorders, heart conditions, and even increase an individual's ability to fight infection and boost the immune system.

Meditation has so many health benefits, and your thoughts really do impact not only your mind and actions, but every cell in the body too.

Learn to Meditate. Your health depends on it.

Meditation: Talk to the Cell

Meditation: Talk to the Cell
When you feel "under the weather" or have a cold, a quick trip to the local pharmacy shelves can send you home with pills, potions, or creams to make you feel better.

A number of factors contribute to making you feel unwell and scores of research now indicate that the health of your mental and emotional self plays a major role in affecting your mind and body.

While diet and the environment must be taken into account, how you cope with stress affects your immune system, cardiovascular, pulmonary and other major systems of the body including the brain itself.

Stress causes the brain to instruct the body to alter the number of immune cells, impacting the ability for infection to multiply. The nervous system aids in passing along the messages it receives from the brain to the receptors in the cells causing disease to occur.

The brain talks to the white cells responsible for fighting infection and can either increase or decrease their numbers.

Meditation is key
Meditation is key at warding off infection and maintaining optimum health. Meditation promotes alpha brain waves which are responsible for a feeling of well-being. People who meditate are more positive and optimistic in nature, able to deal with stress, and over time their meditation practice boosts the immune system and blocks harmful stressors.

Meditation increases your brain's ability to talk to cells without you having to consciously think about it. It strengthens your ability to maintain a calm and peaceful internal and external state of being, so that you are not affected by what happens around you.

Patients with more serious conditions such as cancers, heart attacks and even AIDS are shown to benefit from meditation. Their body increases the production of cells such as lymphocytes, T-cells and reduces immunosuppression.

Meditation is vital for everybody. Learn to Meditate. Your health depends on it.

Meditation: Who is watching who?

Meditation: Who is watching who?

When you think a thought, any thought, where does it come from? Scientists are able to determine the biology of the brain and many of its functions and know what areas are aroused when we think, listen to music, or eat food. However, they cannot pinpoint the exact place within the brain that you perceive yourself from when you meditate. When you are asleep, you are not aware, but the conscious part that is you, still exists because you dream and sometimes in the morning you can wake up and know that you dreamt.

Who is the meditator when you meditate?


In meditation, with the mind directed to a single-pointed focus, the real unchanging self that is you, your soul, acts as an observer or as the real meditator, enabling you to really take charge of every thought and all your actions.

Meditation connects you to the sacred place within where you reside.

No Sherlock Holmes in England!

Works by Scottish authors are to be removed from the English curriculum in 2010 to encourage kids to read authors from their own country. That means no Treasure Island, no Auld Lang Syne, and no Sherlock Holmes. English kids will really miss out!

Meditation is a unique skill that when learned becomes a way of life. Thoughts have a habit of randomly emerging out of nowhere causing all manner of mischief with either your actions or what you say. Meditation enables you to obtain single-pointed focus of the mind, putting you firmly in control. You have one mind and it's up to you to decide in what direction you want the mind to go.

Meditation Method
Look for opportunities to practice concentrating. This type of meditation does not need to be done in a quiet place in a seated position. You can practice concentrating while doing everyday activities, such as tying shoes, meditating on a phrase in a spiritual or religious book, feeling each footstep as you walk, or even trying to focus on a mantra in a noisy or crowded place.

Build up your power of concentration and you not only stay in control of the mind, you experience every moment with the mind fully engaged.
Meditation that improves your ability to concentrate draws you closer to your real self. You remain unfazed by disturbances around you and stay in a calm and peaceful state of mind.

Meditation leads to concentration and inevitably to the place within where you reside. Your mind gains a deeper understanding of who you are and desires only positive behavior and thoughts. Concentration becomes easier and meditation brings even more space within for jumbled up thoughts that arise of their own accord to be released for good and replaced with joy and love. That's a wonderful thing to meditate upon.

Meditation: Balanced Life

Meditation and rhythmic breathing can save your life.

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal discussed how people think they can fly off to a spa, have two weeks of idyllic pampering, then return home and get on with their lives in the belief that they can somehow offset the stress they feel when going about their everyday activities.
The key to creating balance in life lies in two areas:
Recognizing when you are stressed and knowing how to relax
Creating balance in your life by knowing what's really important

Millions of people manage stress incorrectly putting their health, career and relationships at risk. They stress out all day and defer relaxation to isolated blocks of time such as yoga classes, trips to the spa, or even antiquing at the weekend!

Life is out of Balance.

The problem with this approach to stress management is that your overall health suffers due to the relentless exposure to daily, chronic anxiety. Your health suffers leading to illnesses such as heart attacks, poor neural functioning, reducing your ability to think clearly, and even premature death.

Meditation helps with both areas.
You teach the body to relax through breathing, awareness, and meditation.
Through the different layers of relaxation that occur, you recognize when you are tense, learn how to apply the relaxation techniques to heal the mind and body and return them to a peaceful state, and know how to cultivate calmness when faced with stressful situations.

With meditation, eventually the mind and body remain calm always.

You gain clarity over the mind and know that while work, career, volunteering, deadlines or anything else that you have prioritized in life is important, balancing time spent with family, yourself, your friends, and or daily meditation techniques are important to fit into your schedule too.

Meditation practitioners know with experience how to relax and stay calm and peaceful when all around them is going crazy enabling them to be supportive to others.

As you continue to follow this blog, you'll gain more knowledge of how to meditate.
That's the healthy, wealthy, and really smart way to live.

Purpose of Meditation

Choosing the title of this blog as Healthy, Wealthy, and Really Smart was very deliberate. Meditation is a hot topic in many fields of research looking at the ways that meditation improves overall quality of life and maintains optimum health. More specific health areas include, assisting in AIDS and Cancer treatments as well as improving the health of patients with heart conditions. Stress reduction is a huge area where meditation plays a big and really important role.
Meditation practitioners quickly tap into the peace and stillness within themselves realizing the wealth of knowledge available. They know that gratitude brings wealth in whatever form they need whether it is an abundance of love, friendship or choosing the right career and earning sufficient quantities to enable them to provide for their needs and also have enough left over to help others. That's the real wealth, when you can help others and see your response returned.
Meditation is not only a really smart thing to do, researchers have shown that people who meditate in their forties and older have a pre-frontal cortex that is similar to those of people in their mid twenties suggesting that meditation can reduce the mental signs of aging.
So Meditation really is the Healthy, Wealthy, and Really Smart way to live.

Meditation: A Free Mind

Most of us have a place at home where odds and ends get put into for sorting out at a later stage. For some of us it's a drawer, for others it's the garage or basement. We get around to sorting it out eventually, whether it's days, weeks, or even years either because we're moving house or there's no more space left to squeeze anything else into and we're forced to have a garage sale. Rarely is it because we recognize that these are things we don't need and make a conscious decision to get rid of them once and for all.
While clearing physical space with a garage sale won't exactly make you wealthy, it will either make space for more clutter or help you use the space for its intended purpose.

The mind is a vast place filled with all manner of memories, perceptions, and preferences. They influence our decisions from who we like, to the food we eat. The brain is hard-wired to be happy as it thrives on positive thoughts and behavior. That's what helps you be healthy in both body and mind. Healthy thoughts are happy thoughts.

Events from the past however, whether it's 5 minutes ago or 5 years ago, continue to affect us and pop up when least expected.

Removing them once and for all is possible with regular meditation.

Method:
Sitting in a comfortable position, begin to notice the breath and slow it down,
Don't rush this. Take your time following the breath all the way in from the tip of your nose to the base of the lungs and all the way out again.
Notice your body. Relax any tight or hunched areas.
When you feel the breath reach a slow rhythm, focus on each inhale and exhale. See them as two halves of one whole with the duality that exists within nature.

As each breath leaves the body it is gone permanently.
And so you begin again with a new breath.

Now release attachment to any thoughts that keep trying to intrude within the mind. Feel the breath cleansing you, creating space within as you breathe away all that clings to you. (You don't need to be aware of specific memories at this moment.)

Each time a thought drifts into your field of awareness, let it go and stay with the peace that flows with each inhale and exhale.
All that matters is the peaceful feeling inside of you.

When you feel complete, allow the eyes to slowly open.

Each time you practice this meditation you create a positive memory.
When an unhappy or unpleasant thought crops up, you can prevent it from rising up and doing any harm by returning to the gentle flow of the breath and the peace that is associated with it. Your overall health improves as you fill your body with happy healthy energy.

Gradually, you replace all negative memories and thoughts and choose instead to make all your experiences positive by seeing the world from your own peaceful space within. Negative thoughts from past memories don't stand a chance.

That's the Healthy, Wealthy, and Really Smart way to live.

Meditation keeps you Healthy and Happy

Meditation keeps you healthy and happy and that's a fact!

Simply put, how you think becomes how you feel.

Meditation brings the brain waves into alpha rhythm where you experience a feeling of well-being and calmness. The brain likes this feeling so each time you meditate you create a positive response within the mind. Gradually you look forward to and make time for your meditation sessions. In turn, you become happier for longer and longer until you retain a feeling of contentment within you.

The brain produces chemicals called neuropeptides that vary in amount depending on how you are feeling. When you are angry or sad, you inhibit your ability to fight infection or remain optimistic or in control of your life, resulting in poorer choices relating to finances and relationships. You are more likely to become sick for longer periods of time and stress increases to the point that it can become chronic.

When you are happy you increase specific cells in the body that fight infection demonstrating in a very simple way that the immune system responds to the way that you think. Relationships improve because you are someone that people want to be around. In turn, your happiness becomes infectious and people are happy in your company.

Meditation is clinically proven to maintain a positive mental state keeping you happy and healthy so that you can be a beacon of light to others.

Like all things in life you have a choice. Happy or sad?

Meditation is the Healthy, Wealthy and Really Smart way to live.

Part 2: When thoughts intrude: What to do when you Meditate?

Meditation enables you to separate yourself from your thoughts and handle situations differently. In doing so you maintain optimum health of body and mind.

Before you begin to meditate ask yourself if there is anything that you really have to do that can't wait ten or fifteen minutes. That's the length of time you'll spend in meditation initially.

Set yourself a goal or question and keep a record of it. That way when you receive insight or an answer to your question following your meditation you know what it is in relation to.

Some answers appear straight away, while other appear more subtly; in the form of a person you meet who teaches you what you need to learn, or a repeated song on the radio, or more likely a deep seated conviction that what you need to do is .....

Be gentle with yourself. So what if a thought intrudes. You're learning. Not one single person on Earth ever went from being a baby to a toddler without falling many times until they mastered the skill of walking. That's what it's like with meditation. It takes practice that's all.

You can do it.

Remember that meditation is all about maintaining single pointed focus.

Focus on an object. There are a wealth of techniques but one that I like to teach my students is to focus on a light.
Objects are fine too.
Over time, you may want to focus on a word or phrase called a Mantra. This word or phrase can be as simple as:
Love
Peace
Light
I Am Loved
I am Healthy

When thought do intrude, do not become attached to them, otherwise who knows where you'll end up. The mind is a vast place. Know that this will happen in the beginning but it does become less and less frequent.

You acknowledge that the thoughts are there and return to your object or word of focus. (I'll discuss other forms of mantra at a later date as you become more proficient) Continue focusing and when you sense that your ready to end your meditation session slowly open your eyes.

That's the Healthy, Wealthy, and Really Smart way to control your thoughts when you meditate.

You can check out Healthy Wealthy and Really Smart at Feedburner.com
This site helps you look for what's the latest hot topic in blogging as well as use tags to search for what your searching for.

Part1: How To Meditate to be Healthy Wealthy and Really Smart

What is Meditation
Each blog posting will take you through the process in detail. It's not something to be rushed, and learning how not to feel pressured or rushed is definitely a topic for another day. You are not alone in your attempts to meditate and if you follow the techniques each day, you will be on your way to a healthy life, filled with a wealth of knowledge on how to make tough choices.

There is often some confusion as to what's really going on when a person meditates.
First, if you are someone who is either new to meditation or have tried it in the past and struggled, the mind is not "empty."

Meditation is a single pointed focus and you can do it when sitting in a quiet place, with your eyes closed or open, when walking outdoors, or even by a window watching the clouds drift by.

The important thing to remember is to concentrate.

That's the hard part. When we still our bodies, or take a quiet stroll and attempt to focus on one thing, we succeed for a few moments only to have feelings or thoughts intrude and before we know it we've forgotten all about our meditation and we're off thinking about something else.

To begin any meditation, try to focus on an object within your mind's eye. I like to teach new students the technique of focusing on a flame of a candle. Keep trying this and you should find it gets easier with practice.

That's the Healthy Wealthy and Really Smart way to begin.

Healthy, Wealthy, and Really Smart: A Breath of Fresh Air

Rhythmic breathing and meditation revitalize the body, while detoxifying the blood while calming the mind. With regular practice your overall health improves. Controlling the breath relaxes the body and mind, massages the internal organs, and when combined with meditation promotes a positive state of being by inducing Alpha brain waves increasing naturally occurring endorphins responsible for a feeling of well-being.

Harvard researchers have shown that positive thoughts promote better health, fight infection, enable you to make better choices creating a stable and productive life, and promote a wealth of gratitude and appreciation for all that occurs in everyday life. Neuropeptides (chemicals produced by the brain) increase or decrease based on your emotions so your very thoughts influence your body's health either with a positive or negative result.

Meditation draws the senses inward and frees the mind from unwanted thoughts such as cravings and brings awareness to the body by focusing on your physical and emotional needs. That sounds really smart and it happens because each time you do something new, the brain creates a new neural pathway for it. Most of us have to keep repeating a skill in order to learn it and the same goes for rhythmic breathing and meditation.

Of course the first time you do any new activity you may encounter a few obstacles but over time it gets easier as the brain gets used to firing up the same neural pathway. That's why bad habits are hard to break; they're so deeply entrenched in your brain that it takes a few tries to "rewire" your brain to do a different activity.

Reward yourself with a renewed feeling of inner balance and peace by making rhythmic breathing and meditation part of your everyday routine.
That's the Healthy, Wealthy, and Really Smart thing to do.

Healthy, Wealthy and Really Smart

Welcome to Healthy, Wealthy, and Really Smart
This site provides tips and techniques on meditation in order to reduce stress and promote health, increase your ability to make wise choices concerning career and finances, and increase neural pathways to improve the health of the brain and the body.
Current scientific data also shows that in addition to increasing an individual's overall quality of life, meditation may reduce the signs of aging, improve practitioner's memory, and aid in the treatment of many serious illnesses by increasing the cells that fight infection.
During each posting, I'll share information from different researchers and show you how to apply the tips into your everyday life in order to live a Healthy, Wealthy and really Smart Life.