INNER KNOWLEDGE

Inner Knowledge; Harnessing the Senses for Peace, Balance, and Health is available in print through all major stores such as Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com

Filled with cutting-edge research for a non-yoga audience you don’t have to practice yoga to reap the benefits!

The following is an extract from Chapter 2 Mind Into Matter.

You Can Choose Your Thoughts

Psychiatrist Jeffrey Schwartz combined the science of neuroplasticity with quantum physics to help people with obsessive-compulsive disorder adjust what and how they think and thereby learn to respond in new ways.

During his research he made an extraordinary discovery; that these patients were able to achieve lasting change because of their new-found ability to refocus their attention on positive thoughts and behaviors which in turn transformed the neuropathways in their brains.

Schwartz conceived the concept and practice of “self-directed mental force” based on his own personal practice of meditation, along with using the concepts of quantum physics.

Self-directed mental force is a process where the mind forges new connections in the brain simply by changing undesirable thoughts into more constructive and positive ones.

Perspective Awareness Transformation works similarly by allowing you to let go of the old perspective that does not work so that you can consciously make new and healthy choices in thought and deed, and in doing so, transform yourself. 

You are not your thoughts and this means you are not bound to your current thinking.

New perspectives are born from new ways of thinking and new ways of thinking are the cause for and the result of conscious awareness...

Click on INNER KNOWLEDGE for more information, 

Increasing your optimism. There are No limits!

Concentration, Optimism, Success

The brain has an open loop system where we are able to pick up subtle clues that are emitted from one another. We can also anticipate the actions of other people and react accordingly and this amazing ability fires back and forth in split seconds between each person. For example, hormones are activated in 40 milliseconds while the sympathetic nervous system is activated in a mere 8 milliseconds.

There is also a cycle of "sacrifice and renewal" which occurs daily within the neurons and this cycle is affected either positively or negatively by the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS).

It is estimated that 85,000 neurons are lost every day and if the SNS is activated more frequently and for prolonged periods, it actually promotes cognitive loss. This includes reducing the health of the immune system, increasing nervousness and fears, and stimulating stress.

The PNS has the opposite effect; promoting renewal and health including a better memory for details, increased positive emotions, lowering blood pressure, and arousing compassion.

Increasing optimism
Activities such as meditation, yoga and prayer have all been shown to promote renewal of neurons while also increasing hope, compassion and optimism.

Meditation affects your perception, your perspective on life, and by promoting a positive mental state enables you to be free from negativity that creates upset. It allows each one of us to move beyond the comprehension of what is occurring in the mind and body and to actually begin to feel the flow of positive emotions.

Mindfulness moments increase and effectively give the mind space to focus on what is positive and meaningful to you.

You begin to recognize what is dominate in your life and choose to develop new habits more in line with what you desire. This allows you to transcend the meditative experience and bring the benefits of meditation into your everyday activities.

So what will you do with the new-found attitude?

Let creativity flow
Wonderful things can happen when you channel your true passions into disciplined action and move beyond recurring thoughts and habits and replace them with positive ones through affirmations and a regular meditation practice and to actually begin to feel the flow of positive emotions. Don't compare yourself to others; simply do your best and encourage this in others,

Becoming active rather than reactive to situations fosters positive emotions, framing goals with hope for the future while also being able to see that negative events can “wake” you up to possibilities. This allows you to transcend the meditative experience and bring the benefits of meditation into your everyday activities.

There are NO limits
Be creative and inventive. Let your ideas flow and find what inspires you. Your horizon is as vast as you allow it to be and as tall and exciting as you make it.

Other people do not have your vision or your desire to succeed. There are no limits to your potential.
Your physical outer world is a reflection of your inner world and your energy is always radiating, flowing, and touching others. True change occurs from within and your positive inner dialogue helps elevate others around you even when you are not saying anything TO them; just thinking positive thoughts.

Affirmations

All that I perceive about myself is positive.

I face challenges with certainty that I will find solutions and overcome all obstacles

I am able to help and encourage people around me

I am successful in all that I set out to do

My life is filled with wonder.

 
In the 2008 University of Wisconsin study, “Regulation of the neural circuitry of emotion by compassion meditation: effects of meditative expertise” the researchers found that compassion meditation increased the practitioners capacity for empathy, which has both clinical and social importance.

Earlier studies showed that two people can share the same emotional responses or elicit the same activity in their brain when one actually experiences pain or pleasure, and the other person is either a visual witness, or hears the experience taking place.
This illustrated that humans have a foundation for empathy.

In the study mentioned above, two groups were studied: one who were experienced meditators and the other who were learning the technique.
Measuring brain activity to sounds such as a woman in distress or a baby crying elicited emotional responses in the groups such as a negative, neutral, or positive.

Brain imaging showed that meditating on compassion elicited reactions in the brain in both groups; however the experienced meditators exhibited a greater reaction, especially when someone was experiencing difficulty or distress.

Meditation increases compassion by helping you to focus on affirming thoughts, rather than problems and attune yourself to the needs of others.

Meditation
Meditation has been used for thousands of years for self-reflection, self-awareness, healing, and enlightenment. Today’s technology enables us to see the physiological and chemical changes that occur throughout the whole body.
People who meditate regularly are clinically shown to have fewer overall symptoms of stress, fewer cardiopulmonary and gastrointestinal symptoms, less emotional irritability, and cognitive disorganization.
As the study mentioned above also shows, compassion increases, not only to others, but also to yourself.

Meditation draws your attention away from a particular problem or illness to a place of overall knowledge and feelings of inner calmness and peace. It helps you to concentrate less on individual set-backs or issues and provides you with a tool that promotes inward focus, enabling the mind and the body to experience a profound state of restfulness. In turn, the brain becomes balanced, while the mind and body move beyond thinking, to simply being.

Affirmation
You have the wonderful ability to think positively and compassionately. It is a conscious choice to ensure that your thoughts and subsequent action are doing their best for yourself and for others. Whether you call it positive thinking or an affirmation, as long as you believe that it is working then it will have the power to make a difference.
Thoughts have their own unique energy
Promote clear and positive images by seeing yourself as confident and compassionate in all that you think, say, and do. Use whichever words best meet your own needs and purpose each day.
Here are a few to begin with:

I choose to be kind
I choose to give love
I choose to be happy
May you and I be safe
May you and I be loved
May you and I be happy

Finding Your Self: This Is Who I Really Am

Sometimes what we perceive is a mirror reflection of who we are.

Do you like what you see?

As always, thank you to everyone around the world who follows my writing and thank you again for forwarding the blog link to friends.

Happiness and friendship is never diminished because it is shared.

Margaret

Finding Your Self
In the early 1980’s, Dr Richard Schwartz, Ph.D. worked as a family therapist. During his sessions with clients, he began to notice that some clients, those with eating disorders, would have internal dialogues with a pessimistic part of themselves that was either urging them to eat or purge the food from their body. As he explored this further with one client called “Diane”, he discovered that he was not talking to what he perceived as Diane, but to a part of her that was constantly engaged in an on-going war with a pessimistic voice that was constantly telling her that she was hopeless. When he asked her to directly inquire why the pessimist was always saying this, it said that it was protecting her from taking risks and getting hurt. Diane felt that this voice made her life a continuous struggle.

As he explored further, he discovered that there was also an angry voice inside Diane that pushed her to achieve while the pessimist voice told her she was hopeless. He invited her to ask the angry voice to “step-back” and to tell him how she now felt toward the negative voice. He reports that Diane immediately responded gently, in a more relaxed manner and compassionate state, appreciating the negative voice for caring about her, for trying to protect her, and for having to work so hard to make itself heard.

From that point on it was easy for Diane to handle the pessimist and to deal with her situation.

Dr Schwartz conducted on-going research into the inner voices with many of his clients. Upon reaching the calm, compassionate state they all gave, in their own words, the same response;
I am not like those other voices,
This is who I really am,
That’s my Self.

For the next twenty years, he has refined his research into teaching clients to reach their Selves. Likewise, he teaches therapists to also release baggage and perceived agendas and to get in touch with their real Self through his Center for Self Leadership (CSL) which has trained over 10,000 people in this approach since 2000.

Self-Awareness
We have all heard the inner voices that Dr Schwarz identified; the ones that discourage, ridicule, or worse. There are several clinical methods that can be used to declutter the mind from the constant static and to heighten awareness of the Self.

Just as research into the Self is now accepted and funded in America, meditation has also been researched with even deeper research examining the effect of meditation within the DNA of cells. Today’s technology enables us to see the physiological and chemical changes that occur throughout the whole body.

Self-Reflection
In many cultures, the Self was already known and spiritual and philosophical ideas arose through the practice of being in contact with the Self.

Meditation has been used for thousands of years for self-reflection, self-awareness, healing, enlightenment and connecting with the Self. It draws your attention away from a particular object or illness to an overall knowledge and feeling of inner calmness and peace. The mind concentrates less on individual problems or issues and settles instead on promoting an inward focus, enabling the mind and the body to experience a profound state of restfulness. In turn, the brain becomes balanced, while the mind and body move beyond thinking, to simply being.

Yet many people live their life following the same routines and habits, sometime without remembering why, and don’t know why or how to begin making simple changes that will bring positive transformation to their professional and personal lives.

Meditation
Meditation allows a heightened state of awareness to evolve and with this newfound clarity comes an understanding of needs, purpose, and the ability to implement change with confidence. Thoughts lessen as the mind develops inner vision 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.

This increased level of awareness helps practitioners make subtle changes in diet, activity, and other lifestyle choices while improving interactions through enhanced empathy, understanding, and greater perception of life situations.

Affirmation

Affirmations are powerful statements about what you want to create in your life.
Balance your actions with awareness of thoughts and clarity of vision.
Noticing how and when you respond to situations gives you the ability to choose your thoughts and subsequent actions.
Envisage a clear and positive outline for your future by retaining only that which is positive and beneficial to you.

With each inhalation I breathe in ….. (what you need)

With each exhalation I release …..(what you don’t need)

I pay attention to why I think what I do

I pay attention to why I do what I do

I pay attention to how I affect the world around me

I am filled with love and happiness

Creating the future that you want, now!

Paths take many directions and forms

What do you believe about yourself, your relationships, and the world around you?
Where does the information come from that enables you to form these beliefs?

All of your past experiences, and your perception of your experiences, create physiological changes in the brain in response to new information that is received. This occurs on a continual basis via images, words, sounds, smells and a myriad of other information that the brain constantly absorbs, including data received from your own thoughts and emotions.

Creating the right thoughts
In one Japanese study, children allergic to a poison ivy-like plant had a leaf of the poisonous plant rubbed onto one arm and a non-poisonous leaf resembling the toxic plant rubbed on the other forearm. The arm rubbed with the poison ivy-like leaf developed a rash while the other arm had no response.
However, the leaves were purposefully swapped resulting in the non-toxic plant producing a rash and the majority of children experiencing no effects from the actual poison ivy-like plant.

Researchers have also studied the link between unconscious thought and an individual’s environment which ultimately influenced their subjective view of themselves and their surroundings. This can also positively affect clinical depression by replacing a patient’s unhelpful and negative thinking patterns with ones that promote feelings of well-being, impacting the body right down to the cellular level.

Creating the right changes
Meditation creates neurological changes that help you during your daily activities. The changes are then reinforced each time you meditate, and each time you follow the new behavior.

During meditation, with the mind still and centered on the breath or your choice of focus, the brain works at keeping the breath slow, calm, and steady. As the breath slows, the mind becomes steady and less prone to random thoughts.

With practice and dedication, your chosen path become straight and clear.

Creating the right path
Over time, thinking positively becomes your normal way of thinking. You are able to catch yourself as each negative thought occurs, and change it quickly to a positive one. Eventually you only think good thoughts.

Constantly dragging the past or concerns about the future around with you keeps the body in a negative energy state. Applying the right thoughts, emotions, and behavior comes after creating space within the mind for new patterns to emerge. Aversions and preferences fade away until you remove the patterns of the past to create space for a new present to occur.


Affirmation
When you are exposed to a specific event, it is how your mind reacts that determines the response, rather than the actual event itself. When you are aware of the power of your intention and how it shapes yourself and the world around you, you recognize how uncontrolled emotions can keep you tied down in the very place you are struggling to get away from.

The past has no hold over me

I am in control of my thoughts and emotions

I make conscious decisions to follow one path

My life is brimming with bright choices and overflowing with joy and happiness

As always, thank you for checking out the blog, the hundreds of affirmations, and for passing the blog along to friends.

Boosting Your Happiness

The moment that I have right now is everything. Margaret Stockley

Have you ever seen or held a crystal up to the light and watched the way that it catches the sunlight? Many colors shine through it, their colorful rays spreading out in a myriad of directions.

In what way does the crystal change?

The answer is it doesn’t.

No matter the amount of light passing through the crystal, the intensity or color of the light, the crystal remains unaffected by what has happened.

Likewise, the part of you that does the observing also remains unchanged by what happens around and to the body.

Developing awareness in all situations, including your own feelings and reactions, enables you to take control of what you think and therefore do.

It’s up to you to determine what kind of reaction,

and ultimately reality, you're going to create.

You are not your thoughts, but they do impact you and others. Thoughts occur in the present moment so choose your present thoughts wisely and you will not be upset with the way that your future turns out.

Boost your happiness and confident outlook by honing your attention on your innermost thoughts and replacing any negative patterns that keep repeating themselves with a positive word or phrase. By making a conscious effort to change those habitual and troublesome thoughts you gain control over your life.

Affirmation

My inner glow is not dulled or discolored by what is happening around me

I am a beacon of pure energy radiating on the world, helping others

by the brightness and power of my light

Are Your Thoughts Creating The Reality That You Want?

The meditative mind reflects peace and clarity.

A 1995 report to the National Institutes of Health on alternative medicine concluded that "More than 30 years of research, as well as the experience of a large and growing number of individuals and health care providers, suggests that meditation and similar forms of relaxation can lead to better health, higher quality of life, and lowered health care costs…"

Fifteen years after that report, multiple aspects of meditation are actively being studied with the results raising further ideas for research as well as finding answers to health and wellbeing problems through the many benefits of meditation. Many of these studies have been highlighted in our previous newsletters.

One of the latest areas of research focuses on gamma waves produced by regular deep meditation. These gamma waves cause the electromagnetic rhythm of neurons to fire very rapidly in synchrony with each other, changing the brain in positive ways.

The thought-process becomes clearer while the ability to be the observer of your thoughts becomes sharper and immediate. What this leads to is a rewiring of the circuitry of the brain, resulting in stress-reduction, calmness, and improved interactions.

Your Powerful Thoughts
A balance between rest and activity enhances productivity because you are able to focus, are more observant, and creativity can flourish. Your mind requires meditative time to stay inspired and alert. The difference between being tired or rested often translates into the difference between being overwhelmed with daily challenges or finding resourceful solutions to them.

No one has control over your thoughts except yourself. Your hope, wishes, even your imagination are all within your own power to direct their energy in one path or another.
Studies show that the mind cannot discern between what it has actually seen and what it is seeing via your imagination.

The mind can be “tricked” into believing a memory that is simply created as though it has actually been experienced.

Use your imagination to generate a reality that is positive, loving, and all that you desire. This is not a make-believe type of imagining, but a means of creating more positivity and constructive actions that in turn generates affirmative thoughts and actions. Gradually, you develop the habit of thinking positively, seeing opportunities rather than obstacles, and being the type of person that people want to be around because they feel good by being in your presence.

You always have a choice about how you are going to react to the world. For example, take a look around you at the room that you are sitting in. What do you notice? Do you pay attention to the fact that it is comfortable and are appreciative of having a home?
Or do you choose to think about the chores that need to be done?

Try to pay attention and catch yourself mid-thought whenever you find that a thought has appeared that does not promote the environment that you want.

Affirmation

Use affirmations either as part of your meditation practice or carry them with you and repeat them throughout the day whenever you catch yourself thinking a negative thought.
Over time, your affirmations will have a positive effect and transform not only your behavior but generate an assuredness of self-worth and contentment.

My thoughts are creating the reality that I want
My imagination creates what I believe
My affirmations are creating habits in keeping with my objectives
I am now achieving my goals

Changing Your Thoughts and Emotions

A New Pathway is Possible

Thoughts and Emotions
In a 1997 study, researchers at Duke University found that negative thoughts altered emotions and caused physical symptoms leading to ischemia of blood vessels. The study summarized that positive emotions reduced the risk of ischemic attacks.

Since then, additional studies in the field of PsychoNeuroImmunology (PNI) have examined the role of thoughts and the mind on the body, right down to the cellular level. Despite the wealth of information available, it is hard to simply start thinking positive thoughts all the time.

However, changing the way that you think is possible.

New Pathways
For this to happen, new pathways, i.e. thought patterns, have to be made in the brain and the most efficient method of creating lasting change is through breathing and meditation.

Constantly dragging the past or concerns about the future around with you keeps the body in a negative energy state. Applying the right thoughts, emotions, and behavior comes after creating space within the mind for new patterns to emerge. Aversions and preferences fade away until you remove the patterns of the past to create space for a new present to occur.

It takes energy to produce energy and this is true for all actions, including meditation.

Creating Change
During meditation, with the mind still and centered on the breath or your choice of focus, the brain works at keeping the breath slow, calm, and steady. As the breath slows, the mind becomes steady and less prone to random thoughts.

Meditation creates neurological changes that help you during your every day life. The changes are then reinforced each time you meditate, and each time you follow the new behavior.

Over time, thinking positively becomes your normal way of thinking. You are able to catch yourself as each negative thought occurs, and change it quickly to a positive one. Eventually you only think good thoughts.

Intuition
This does not mean that you cannot see danger or when a situation or person is harmful. Rather, your intuition is heightened.
It helps you to:
see when situations are bad for you, whether it is in the form of gossip or being in the company of someone
recognize when your behavior is reckless
hear when your thoughts are unkind either about yourself or directed at someone.

Making a Miracle
You “make a miracle” by creating good vibrational energy and sending it through your body. This restores much needed balance to both the body and the mind.

In the silence of a stilled mind, you move into a meditative state with grace and ease, creating the vital space within for new knowledge to emerge.

Peace transfers to the body and mind
You gain health and vitality
You create the life you really want.

Make meditation a part of your life and experience peace, happiness, and improved health every day.

Guided Meditation: Awareness

Meditation helps you create a mind that is still

and thoughts that drift by like clouds against a blue sky.

The subconscious mind uses memories and learned behavior patterns to react to many everyday events. On a simple level, this means that when you wake up, you don’t have to be re-taught everything that helps you in your day-to-day life such as putting on your clothes the right way or tying your shoes!

On the other hand, this ability creates problems when past events that you have forgotten about leave a lingering impression that manifests whenever you are exposed to people or events that bring an immediate response that you were unaware of.

Power of the Imagination
Illusions are powerful and play easily with the mind, impacting everything, from your imagination to your actions.

Your mind can and will continue to replay powerful emotions as long as you permit the input from memories to influence what you do with your life. However, this can only occur with awareness; and what's the easiest method to develop awareness? Meditation.

Power of Meditation
Meditation enables you to rewire your thought patterns by changing the way you think and feel. Gradually you notice positive changes as your brain lays down new neural pathways enabling you to observe and act in a manner that you desire.
Previous attitudes, beliefs, and points of view that no longer work for you are replaced with a perspective that empowers and strengthens you.

Meditation also helps you to let go of the shadows and imprints of the physical world by taking control of the body and mind in order to transcend the inner stillness of a mind and life that is at peace, and tap into the knowledge that exists in your spiritual world.


In the beginning of your practice, meditation is a tool, or coping mechanism, that helps you to generate a positive frame of mind. As you continue to enter into your practice with ease, you not only promote a healthy state of being, you respond differently to the world because your thoughts are different and your self-esteem and self-worth becomes balanced as ties to negative emotions and feelings are severed.

Guided Meditation
Relax and focus on an object of meditation that you prefer, such as the breath or a candle flame.
Observe without any judgment.
If the mind moves away from this object, return to it when you become conscious of it.
Notice any feelings of relaxation that occur such as the breath slowing down, muscles relaxing,
Notice the growing space between thoughts and your meditation object
Stay with your growing awareness of inner peace
If any other feelings occur, allow their energy to flow through you.
Notice what rises up through your meditation
Release what you no longer need.
Allow the focused attention to dissolve into awareness
Enter into the space between the thoughts.
Draw the inner stillness to you and fill yourself with tranquility and silence.

When you conclude your awareness meditation, know that you can return to the feelings of peace simply by returning to the flow of your breath. Awareness and self-knowledge grow with each meditation enabling you to think with precision and from a source of love.

Meditation and Thoughts

Light reflecting on water.

Have you ever seen or held a crystal up to the light and watched the way that it catches the sunlight? Many colors shine through it, their colorful rays spreading out in a myriad of directions.

In what way does the crystal change?

The answer is it doesn’t.

No matter the amount of light passing through the crystal, the intensity or color of the light, the crystal remains unaffected by what has happened.

During meditation, the part of you that does the observing also remains unchanged by what happens around and to the body.

Meditation and Thoughts
Stress remains the number one health problem in the United States and during persistent anxiety and periods of extreme duress the body releases chemicals that detrimentally affect the neurons in the brain and all other systems, contributing to many serious health conditions such as heart attacks and even death.

The 2002 study Psychoneuroimmunology and Psychosomatic Medicine: Back to the Future, emphasizes the impact of positive thoughts and their broad implications in reducing the risk of negative physical symptoms.

Meditation has been used for thousands of years for self-reflection, self-awareness, healing, and enlightenment. Today’s technology enables us to see the physiological and chemical changes that occur throughout the whole body.

People who meditate regularly are clinically shown to have fewer overall symptoms of stress, fewer cardiopulmonary and gastrointestinal symptoms, less emotional irritability, and cognitive disorganization.

Restoring Inner Balance
Meditation draws your attention away from a particular problem or illness to a place of overall knowledge and feelings of inner calmness and peace. It helps you to concentrate less on individual set-backs or issues and provides you with a tool that promotes inward focus, enabling the mind and the body to experience a profound state of restfulness. In turn, the brain becomes balanced, while the mind and body move beyond thinking, to simply being.

How do you want to live?

You are not stuck with the life-pattern and thought-pattern that you currently have. Change is possible. Putting new thoughts into new actions is not just about producing a new way of thinking though.
It’s about generating a new way of living, discerning and applying the information gleaned through meditation and letting go of old ways of reacting to a lifestyle that no longer serves you.

You are not your thoughts, but they do impact you and others.

Choose your thoughts.

Peace, Light, Love.

Awareness

 

When the mind is still, you can look inside.

"How can I be useful, of what service can I be? There is something inside me, what can it be?"

Vincent Van Gogh

In the latest meditation research, US neuroscientists say that electro-encephalography (brain imaging) shows that meditation can help you achieve your goals by clearing the mind of distractions, in addition to promoting physical and emotional balance.

Researchers at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia have also found that meditation delivers an enhanced ability to control the mind’s focus and disentangle it from distracting or harmful preoccupations.

Meditation is becoming more popular amongst senior business people too and was a topic at a one - day Leadership Stamina conference in Cape Town, South Africa in July 2009.

In many countries, the benefits of meditation are being researched, talked, and written about. 
Meditation studies have also found that mental characteristics that were previously regarded as fixed and unchangeable can in fact be altered by mental training such as meditation, helping you to make happier, wiser choices and stay with your chosen objectives and aspirations and allowing you to become more focused and positive.

We all like to think that we have a good understanding of our deepest needs and motivations, yet we are often surprised by some of the things we find ourselves doing or saying.

Meditation draws your attention away from a particular problem or illness to a place of overall knowledge and feelings of inner calmness and peace. It helps you to concentrate less on individual set-backs or issues and provides you with a tool that promotes inward focus, enabling the mind and the body to experience a profound state of restfulness. In turn, the brain becomes balanced, while the mind and body move beyond thinking, to simply being.

 

Reflecting pools are found in surprising places and offer a quiet moment in a busy world.

Peace lies within.

Focusing on the positive things in your life means that you alter your perspective as you seek to attain success in reaching your goals. This has the effect of making you more constructive every day, while others are glad to see you because of your enthusiasm and affirmative action.

Affirmation
Noticing how and when you respond to situations gives you the ability to choose your thoughts and subsequent actions and stick to the resolutions and goals that you have set for yourself.

“I pay attention to why I think what I do”

“I pay attention to why I do what I do”

“I pay attention to how I affect the world around me”

“I am secure and at peace in knowing who I am.”

"I am filled with love and happiness"

Free Yourself From Limitations

Our thoughts can cause events to keep repeating themselves

At various points in our lives there are situations that are sad or even down-right unpleasant. We may try our best to cope with these experiences but without our knowledge, the feelings and emotions associated with these events embed themselves deep within our mind and even the cells of our bodies.

Neuroscience shows that past experiences, thoughts, and actions are imprinted on the neurons of your brain. Without awareness of what you are thinking or your conduct at any given moment, you will unconsciously keep reacting in a specific manner, choosing habit over healthy behavior, and reaction rather than conscious thought.

Wiser Choices
Meditation allows you to release yourself from worrying thoughts or off-the-cuff remarks and actions that you might regret, and opt instead for happier, courteous, and wiser choices.

Your present thoughts and actions alter when you first become aware of, then choose to change, your previous thought patterns and consciously act differently.

We share our lives with others via family and friends, online, and through professional relationships. Life might seem simpler if we lived in isolation on a desert island, but the truth is, our thoughts are always with us.

Looking beyond the personality we see the human self within. Forgiveness, of yourself and others, is a large part in helping you to move beyond past events and actually experience the present while planning for a future that you actually want. Meditation uplifts you, resulting in relationships that are strong and appreciative. You start to gain clarity into situations that have upset you and actually learn to release them in order to become stronger by freeing yourself from ties that are binding you to the past.

Life is a wonderful gift and meditation helps to sweep away confusion and reveal a clear path free from obstacles. It provides each one of us with an effective tool for dealing with inner conflicts and mental challenges while bringing real feelings of love into all of our most challenging situations. It imparts an appreciation for our relationships and turns previous ides on their head.

As people enter our lives, we also enter theirs. They can bring much to us, and it may surprise us to know how much we mean to them.

Releasing Limitations
During meditation, memories and thoughts that you no longer need can rise to the surface as you cease to impose limitations on yourself, your relationships, and on your opportunities.

Symbolically breathing away what you no longer want allows you to discover the person you would like to be. In addition, you discover the passion that lies within your heart and is waiting for a chance to be revealed and put to use.
However, like most things in life, knowing what to keep or what to release doesn’t happen all at once. This information usually reveals itself in drips rather than a flood.

Celebrate
You have lots of reasons to celebrate.
Celebrate because you are moving away from all of the old limitations and expectations that you once knew and held onto, and into a brighter future.
Feel secure and at peace in knowing who you are.

How well do you know yourself?
Meditation is your key to unlocking the biggest surprise of all; that which you keep hidden away.
We all like to think that we have a good understanding of our deepest needs and motivations, yet we are often surprised by some of the things we find ourselves doing or saying.

Let your spirit be bigger than anything that comes your way today.

Guided Meditation

Surroundings
As always before you begin your meditation practice, ensure that you find a quiet place with no distractions such as the telephone and that your clothes are comfortable. Your chosen place for meditation can be either indoors or outdoors but ensure that the temperature is not too hot or cold.
Try to develop a habit of meditating in the same place. Then once you are ane to enter into meditation with ease, you will find that you gravitate to meditation easily and oblivious to potential disruptions.

Sit as comfortably as you can, with the spine lengthened.
Close your eyes, and use the power of the breath to relax the body and mind
Follow the breath from the tip of the nose to the base of the lung
Follow the breath all the way out again.
Don’t rush this process
Continue following the breath until you feel completely relaxed

Allow the exhalation to become twice as deep as the inhalation.
Continue to notice the rate and rhythm of the breath.
Maintain attention only on your steady and even breath

With each breath, release your thoughts. Do not follow them or struggle with them.
Acknowledge they are there and allow them to drift by.
If you are visual, you can see the thoughts as images of clouds and let them drift away against the backdrop of a blue sky.

Return to the flow of the breath

With the breath gentle and flowing, notice the stillness within you. Focus on the space between each breath.
Thoughts lessen.
Stay with the deep, rhythmic breath
Enter into the space between each breath

NOTE: Even if this stillness lasts for a few seconds, you have been meditating and with practice the stillness lasts longer. When you come aware that you are experiencing stillness, it occurs with a thought such as “I am experiencing stillness.” Release that thought and return to the breath and then the stillness.

Feel the expansive abundance of the stillness
Feel the oneness with peace

When you are complete, allow the eyes to slowly open.
Notice how you feel and the state of your mind.

Know that you can return to this state of mind, simply by returning to observing the rhythmic flow of the breath.

Powerful Thoughts, Powerful You!

The Himalayas

Appreciative words are the most powerful force for good on Earth.

What are you doing today?

What are you thinking about?

Your thoughts and intentions are composed of energy and with their positive power you become a force for change.

Conversely, the opposite is true and people pick up on your negative “vibes” and either pull away in order to distance themselves from you or they react angrily. Whatever the reason, the result is not pleasant.

Meditation develops a single-pointed focus, blocking out distractions and actually helps you to train your mind to focus only on what you want to focus on.

Remember, the mind does not see.

The eyes transmit images to the brain and the mind discerns what these pictures represent, based upon previous experiences and your formed opinions.

Even when time has passed and situations have come and gone, when you close your eyes, you can “see” images from the past in your mind’s eye.

It is a relatively easy matter to trick the mind into believing what it sees or hears.

The brain responds to information received via the senses, mental images, and from memories. Mental visualization or sensory induced stimulus creates changes in the heart rate and respiratory rate and is depicted in four brain wave patterns: Beta, Alpha, Theta, and Delta.

Music, rhythmic breathing, and meditation alter the brain waves and promote healing by bringing the mind into Alpha rhythm, promoting a calm and relaxed state of mind.

There are many guided meditations listed on this site already and you can access them simply by clicking on the guided meditations in the Labels link near the bottom the blog page.  They will help you develop a regular meditation practice.

Yoga philosophy teaches us the following statement:
Where the breath goes the mind follows and where the mind goes the body follows.

Meditation will block out what you don’t want and help you stay in control of your mind, giving you back your awesome power to be in command of your thoughts and subsequent actions, while maintaining a positive and peaceful state of being in the process.

Whether I'm teaching yoga in my studio or teaching people through seminars and presentations, I encourage everyone to discover and use their untapped potential.

Hold onto your dreams and dare to imagine that life could be different.

Keep expanding your mind in all directions beyond the height and breadth of even the vast mountain range of the Himalayas.

There are NO limitations to your possibilities.

Make your thoughts as wonderful and extraordinary as YOU are, and see the transformation that occurs.

Positive Thoughts

Meditation helps stop the endless stream of thoughts.

One of the biggest problems that people who are new to meditation struggle with is intruding thoughts.
When the mind tries to release attachment to the outside world by focusing inward, thoughts, emotions, and conversations creep in and leap around, refusing to go away and leave you in peace.

What happens in the brain when thinking takes place? First, we have to go back to the mid 50’s, where the Nobel prize winners for Neuroscientific Research, David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel of Harvard Medical School explained how the brain cortex receives and interprets impulse messages via the eye.

Roger Sperry, who also received a Nobel Prize, showed that the left hemisphere of the brain is responsible for logical thinking and the right side of the body, while the right hemisphere is responsible for creativity and imagination and controlling the left side of the body, for example writing with a dominant left hand.

Neurobiologist Walter Freeman of University of California at Berkeley conducted research on the olfactory sense and using EEG, he was able to identify the specific area of the brain that identified with smell and taste. In addition, he discovered that the area of the brain that identified with a smell was different than the first time the brain perceived a smell.  The memory of a particular smell is located within a specific part of the brain, but we now have to ask ourselves about the role of emotions and feelings associated with a scent.

We use different language to express our feelings of preference, likes and dislikes, even happiness associated with what the smell represents.  Our thoughts are influenced by so many things that we are often unaware of their impact upon us until we attempt to quieten the mind during meditation.

Brain mapping has helped us understand what happens to the brain when we participate in or experience a particular event. It broadens our comprehension of physical and mental disorders as we recognize that there are a variety of factors that influence our consciousness at any given moment and on many different levels.

Meditation is clinically proven to balance both hemispheres of the brain, bringing stability to your emotions, thoughts, and actions. This means that creativity is enhanced, thoughts are clearer, and logical reasoning is focused and attentive.

Your personal life and your interactions with other people improve as you become more contented and at ease with the calmness that exists within you.

The thoughts that intrude and demand your attention are successful. Replacing them with positive thoughts that you want to focus on, such as an affirmation, is a step forward in bringing relaxation and peace to your life.

Meditation helps you to monitor your thoughts and how they make you feel. You learn to replace unwanted emotions with ones that you DO want and with practice you find that you can eliminate unnecessary thoughts as they arise and before they are able to take up permanent residence in your mind.

Think about how wonderful you will feel when all your thoughts are happy ones. No more self-doubt, no more self-criticizing; only confidence and contentment.

Om Shanti Peace

Inner Peace

 Patanjali

(Photo by Margaret Stockley)

The Hindu sage Vyasa defines non-violence (ahimsa) as "the absence of injuriousness toward all living beings in all respects and for all times." He noted that a person who draws near one engaged in the true practice of ahimsa would be freed from all enmity.

Similarly, Patanjali (circa 100 ce) regards ahimsa as the great vow and foremost spiritual discipline which those seeking Truth must follow strictly and without fail. This was not meant merely to condemn killing, but extended to harm caused by one's thoughts, words and deeds of all kinds--including injury to the natural environment. Even the intent to injure, even violence committed in a dream, is a violation of the principle of ahimsa.

Take a moment to identify harmful behavior:
i. to others
ii. to you
iii. to the environment

Non-violence has a more encompassing meaning than not killing or physically striking out against another. It asks you to follow the stem of violence to its deeper root and understand the reasons why you respond the way you do in certain circumstances.

Every day, there are media reports of violence, anger, hatred, verbal abuse, and deaths. In your own life, you hear harsh words uttered in the spur of the moment, callous remarks spoken about someone who is not in your present company, unsympathetic words spat out in impatience.

Living a life free from violence promotes love. You love your neighbor as you love yourself, you feel compassion for all living things, and you honor and respect the challenges that you face without judgment, knowing that you and everyone that you come in contact with are all at different stages on the journey of life and are doing the best that you either know how to do, or choose to do.

Meditation is the easiest method to develop inner peace and calm and is available to everyone.  Meditation develops heightened awareness of your Self and your surroundings.  Through meditation you grow in your understanding, knowledge, and ability to know Bliss.

Surroundings affect your well-being through your awareness and your sub-consciousness. Pollution, harsh noise, and foul smells are all violence directed at the environment. You co-exist with nature and it is your responsibility to be aware of what is occurring around you. This is a moral obligation and you may wonder why you need to bother. As you explore the causal effects of right and wrong, what is sometimes referred to as the karma effect, you begin to understand where this responsibility comes from and why it is your duty to uphold this moral code, even when other people appear to be doing the opposite. Every time you make a choice, you verify or nullify the Creator.

Seeds of Fruit
One example of this is the act of eating a piece of fruit and randomly spitting out the seeds with no thought to where the seeds will fall and whether or not they will take root. This is the same as permitting your emotions to motivate you and rule your life without thinking how your actions will affect the world. With a little forethought, there would be less pain and misery.

Accepting your own traits and personality as a wonderful part of what makes every person a unique individual enables you to make the best use of the opportunities that confront you. Seek to monitor your thoughts and your actions and how they impact yourself and others.  Meditation helps you maintain single pointed focus and complete attention on what exists within you.  From here you are able to explore the inward journey and the source from which all peace flows from.

Goals
Ask yourself what your motive is for your actions. Do your actions serve your real purpose? Do they move you closer to achieving your goals?

Set yourself goals about what really matters and counts to putting you on the real path. Know that it is not material growth that you seek. You are seeking ways to enrich yourself, your friends and family, and the world at large. Catching yourself in a violent thought or action is the start of a process of achieving positive actions rather than repeating destructive behavior.

Be ever mindful, ever present, and ever conscious of all that you think, say, and do. If you are not in charge of your intentions, you will not be able to control what comes out of your mouth, or what you do physically.
In turn, your heart and mind becomes pure and free of petty egos and negativity and you develop divine qualities such as tolerance, humility, kindness, and love.

Peace

POSITIVE MEDITATION

Embrace life.

The practice of meditation is transformative on many levels. The beginning of a changed life pathway is by living THIS moment in the present to your maximum potential. Then the next moment will ALSO be lived to fullest potential, and then the remainder of your life!
Life is not about what you think may happen in the future. Life is about enjoying the journey of daily creativity and loving experiences.
Then when you least expect it, something great comes along to change your life making it even more purposeful, with an aliveness, vitality and a higher sense of spiritual purpose in life. Something even greater will happen for you that you never even planned.

Will you be able to say in a few months time that this moment TODAY changed your life, because you changed to THINKING POSTIVELY by using your mind and soul to your maximum potential ?

Can a mere thought block energy? Can a mere thought cause disease? A study at Duke University in 1997 found that thoughts leading to negative emotions like anger or sadness actually constrict the blood vessels of the heart, a condition known as ischemia. Ischemia starves the flow of energy to the muscle and is a precursor to heart attack. Researcher Elizabeth Gullette said "What surprised me was the power of the association and the fact that negative emotions can actually trigger ischemia." The findings summarized that "negative emotions double the risk of ischemic attacks for an hour after the emotional trigger but positive emotions reduce the risk of such events."

So, holding on to a negative thought about someone or something blocks energy flow while a positive thought reduces risk.

In this way, the nature and quality of the thoughts we think, the feelings we experience, and the meaning we attach to events, either consciously or unconsciously, both influence and are influenced by our sense of awareness and level of consciousness long after the experience has passed.

Recognizing what you need comes not from what you perceive outwardly, but what comes to you inwardly through prayer, meditation, and listening to your innermost feelings. In quieting your mind, you hear what you need and begin to recognize the areas of your life that require healing, sustenance, and love. Determining the difference between wanting and truly needing is self-liberating.

Be serious in your choice to follow the right path and all that it requires. It takes effort, but pursuing the wrong path is destructive and painful and demands more effort in the long run.

Change your routine and habits to set yourself up for success. Replace bad habits with good habits. Begin one at a time and don’t be afraid to bring people into your life you who will support you and not try to detract you from your intentions.

We live in a world full of temptation and by maintaining a regular meditation practice you equip yourself with a unique tool to cope with pressures and desires. You will feel the joy that flows through each one of us, instilling you with the capacity to face up to daily challenges.

Meditation infuses you with a powerful energy. While you are in a relaxed state of body and mind, realize that you are master of your body. The mind is yours to control, and when it is controlled it will care for you and follow your directions.

Only when your mind becomes still through meditation can you attain clarity of thought and purpose in your actions. Ultimately, life is about maintaining a balance. In other words, when you practice moderation, your mind, body, and Spirit are healthy.

A positive mindset leads to positive actions and meditation allows the essence of unity with the source of pure love to lead you to a state of harmony and bliss.

Om Shanti Peace

Meditation with objects

 

Rocks are a solid connection to the earth.

Meditation can help you achieve self-awareness and greater insight into the world around you.
Additional benefits include relaxation, lowered blood pressure, and a reduction in stress-levels which are clinically proven to promote better health.
Meditation involves training the mind to be in the present moment and words, objects, and images all help in bringing the mind into a calm and steady state.

Maintaining single-pointed awareness occurs with regular practice and one of the easiest methods is to imagine an object that will give the mind something solid to focus on.
Meditation is pleasurable and should be free from struggle but all to often the mind wanders as thoughts intrude and people give up, thinking that they can’t meditate.

Begin slowly. Start with a few seconds, then minutes, until you find that you are able to sit still with the mind rested and enjoying the experience for as long as you need in order to complete your meditation session.

Solid State
Using your imagination, visualize a rock. It can be any shape, size, or color. The choice is yours as this is your meditation.
Using images and objects from nature are a natural organic choice as they ground you by maintaining a connection to the earth.
Focus on your imagined rock. See it; explore its shape and all its features. How shiny or dull is it. What other aspects do you see? How does it feel beneath your fingers as you imagine touching it. Is it rough or smooth, warm or cold?
Is the rock a solitary object or do you see other rocks with it?

Play around with this image as you notice the solid permanence of the rock. What is the environment that the rock is situated in; a desert, a garden, a river?

There is no right or wrong way to practice this meditation technique.
Use it for as many meditation sessions as you would like and gradually you will find that you can both enter into and remain in a state of meditation with ease.

Centering Meditation

Focus on your inner center to create the changes you desire

One of my favorite methods of meditation is Centering Meditation.
This is a simple method that makes positive use of the energy contained within the body in order to create affirmative changes within the mind and the body.
Whenever stressful or challenging periods are encountered, centering allows the self to quickly overcome potentially difficult situations and prevent negative and detrimental effects from occurring. Anxiety is released, the muscles of the body relax, and breathing slows down, promoting clarity of thought.

Method
If possible, sit in a comfortable position with the legs folded so that your body makes a triangle shape from both knees to the crown of the head with the spine as a conduit for energy to travel from base of spine to crown of head.

Draw awareness inward to the belly and focus on the flow of the breath
Notice the rate and rhythm of the breath
Slow the breath down until it becomes slow, steady, and even
Inhale with a deep breath, feeling the abdomen expand
Exhale, breathing all the way out by drawing the navel to the back of the spine to assist with the exhalation
Let the abdominal muscles relax before beginning your next inhalation

Continue with this deep breathing technique for about 30 breaths, staying focused on the flow of the breath into and out of the center of the body

Breathe away any tension in the body
If the mind wanders, simply return to the flow of the breath and the center of the body

As you maintain steady focus on this deep centering breathing, the body continues to relax from the base of the spine to the crown of the head

Now, with each inhale, draw peace through whole body and feel stillness and serenity flow effortlessly through you as obstacles release via the exhalation

Continue until you feel completely relaxed, peaceful, with no attachment to troubles or tension.

This meditation method hones the mind away from stressful situations while releasing toxins via the flow of the breath. Oxygenated air passes into the deepest parts of the lungs where it replenishes the body.
Try it at bedtime to experience a restful sleep, and in the morning for heightened intuition and expanded awareness.
Combining pranayama techniques with meditation in this manner strengthens, balances, and increases energy in both your body and mind.

Awareness Meditation: Part 2

Awareness of the mind enables it to become clear, calm, and still

Awareness Meditation: Part 2

Once you have practiced the basic introduction method to awareness meditation posted below and feel comfortable about dissolving into your meditation with ease, you may wish to try a deeper meditative practice.
A deeper awareness meditation may uncover deep-seated issues or desires and the key is to let them arise without judgment.

You are an observer of your thoughts and emotions and the purpose of meditation is to remain unattached to them. As you focus on whatever arises during your practices, identify it but don’t spend time analyzing or struggling to identify it if it is not immediately recognizable.
Whether it is a person, an object, or a desire for something that you wish to occur in your life, it is useful to know what it is in order to recognize the feelings and emotions that are consciously or unconsciously associated with it. With each subsequent awareness meditation, more thoughts become recognizable and therefore identifiable.
Remember to remain objective and without judgment of either the object or yourself.

If meditation is fairly new to you, you may find that interruptions in your flow of thoughts will occur. You suddenly find that your mind has gone off at a tangent. Once again remain the observer, without opinions, and return to the rhythmic flow of your breath to draw your awareness inward.
Stay with your breath as other thoughts arise and observe them without following them.
Pay attention to the emotions that appear as these will help you hone your self-awareness and introspection.

Allow all energy that arises through your meditation practice to flow.
Be open to all that you may experience
Remain the observer

As your mind settles on the space within, you discover a reservoir of energy that enables you to quietly identify aspects of yourself that you want to release, and aspects that you wish to nurture and grow.
Enter into the space between the thoughts and feel the expansion of knowledge, creativity, and compassion that emerges.

With continued practice, once each meditation is complete, you will continue to foster awareness in all aspects of your life including communications with other people and your interactions with the world around you. Heightened awareness enables you to become more alert, with renewed or enhanced desires and a sense of purpose.

STRESS-FREE MEDITATION

Relaxing vacations have proven health benefits

Stress-free Living
When you are constantly on-the-go, you risk losing track of what’s important in life. This creates adverse effects on your physical health as well as significantly impacting your psychological and spiritual well-being.

Researchers at the State University of New York at Oswego published a large study in Sept. 2000 based on 12,866 men, aged 35 to 57. They found that regular vacations lowered the risk of death by almost 20%, helped ward-off stress-related illness, and improved health over the long term. Compared with men who took no vacations, those who took regular vacations were 21% less likely to die over the next nine years and 32% less likely to either have a heart attack or die of heart disease.

The findings of this study are relevant to both men and women regardless of age too. When you feel chronic pressure about time, as opposed to short-term acute pressure, it compounds the stress that already exists, and increases your likelihood of developing high blood pressure, cardiac problems, and other health risks.

Meditation Balance
Meditation helps to rebuild your energy, enabling you to be still, quiet, and connected with the centers of your heart and mind. Without this, you risk leading a hectic lifestyle in which you feel emotionally and physically wrought and chronically exhausted.

A balance between rest and activity enhances productivity because you are able to focus, are more observant, and creativity can flourish. Your mind requires meditative time to stay inspired and alert. The difference between being tired or rested often translates into the difference between being overwhelmed with daily challenges or finding resourceful solutions to them.

Making Time for Meditation
Once you train your mind and body to relax and receive answers and blessings during meditation, you will find it easier to return to a peaceful state by remembering what tranquility feels like, and thereby using the breath and physical adjustments to restore harmony and be fully present and conscientious.
In time, every moment is a meditative moment.

Sitting or lying down, depending on your physical abilities, close your eyes and focus on creating a rhythmic flow of breath.

With each inhalation, breathe in the richness of life.
As you exhale, release the breath in a slow and steady stream.
Feel tension and stress leave the body on the breath.
Slow the breath down even further with each inhale and exhale.
Consciously release all anxiety, allowing the facial muscles and the limbs to relax.
Feel peace fill the inner space where tension once resided.

Let your mind drift to a safe and serene nature scene.
This can be a garden, beach, lake, or country scene. Whatever you are drawn to, real or imagined is the place that you will travel to in your imagination.

Focus on a calm scene

Experience the peace of this relaxing environment.
Remember how you feel: protected, nurtured, and free.
Stay in your safe place until you feel that it is time to leave.

Slowly bring awareness back to your body.
Allow the eyes to open.
Keep the breath calm and steady, the body relaxed.
Feel recharged, invigorated, and contented.

Know that you can return to this peaceful safe place simply by closing your eyes and following the breath’s journey.
Peace resides deep within you.

With practice, you will restore balance and harmony simply by returning to a calm and peaceful flow of breath.
Embrace your ability make contentment a daily reality.