Change Your Brain In 8 Weeks

~Going With The Flow~

Changing Your Brain In 8 Weeks
In a study that appeared in the January 30, 2011 issue of Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, a team led by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers report that participation in an 8-week mindfulness meditation program appears to make measurable changes in the regions of the brain that are associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress. This is the first study to document meditation-produced changes in the brain's grey matter.

Study participants took part in the program at the University of Massachusetts Center for Mindfulness, focusing on nonjudgmental awareness of sensations and feelings and state of mind.
A set of MR brain images were also taken of a control group of non-meditators over a similar time interval.

The meditation group participants practiced mindfulness exercises for an average of 27 minutes per daily and their responses to the mindfulness questionnaire showed significant progress compared with their pre-participation responses.

The MR images, which focused on areas where meditation-associated differences were seen in earlier studies, found increased grey-matter density in the hippocampus, known to be important for learning and memory, and in structures associated with self-awareness, compassion and introspection.
Reductions in stress also were correlated with decreased grey-matter density in the amygdala, which is known to play an important role in anxiety and stress.

No changes were seen in the control group.

The study team reported that the act of practicing meditation changed the brain, increasing well-being and quality of life.

Going With The Flow
Multi-Sensory Meditation involves training the mind and body to aware of the input from the senses and to remain detached from the emotions and experiences that arise.

When the 5 senses are involved, strong emotions can create a powerful attachment within the subconscious to past events and the fear associated with similar future experiences.

Multi-Sensory Meditation develops your natural ability to remain impervious to the variability of daily life. This acceptance of the “flow” literally creates new neural pathways within the brain, equipping you with the skills to shift from a downward cycle of negativity to one that is up-beat and filled with positive vitality.

It promotes an awareness of attachment leading to a successful release of negative thoughts and feelings. The mind is no longer flooded with overwhelming thoughts and feelings that determine reactive responses, but rather, there is intention and awareness in every moment creating a happier and healthier way to live.

By highlighting the connection between the senses, memory, consciousness, and awareness patterns of behavior change, resulting in a focused mind and a calm and energized body.

Contact me for more information about Multi-Sensory Meditation and how to learn it.

Affirmation
Your own internal dialogue can and will influence the way that you shape your own actions and ability to self-motivate. Positive self-talk directly impacts future actions with the power to produce healthier and more productive behavior.

I now surrender to the Universal Flow

I accept what is happening and trust that all will be well

I am at peace with all that surrounds me

What Thoughts Are You Carrying?

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.
The brain produces chemicals called neuropeptides which affect the immune cell receptors in specific ways according to your emotional state.

The interaction between your mind and your subsequent behavior affects the immune system of your body, resulting in either health or illness.
People who expect the worst and see everything as half-empty may already be half-way to an early grave. With illnesses ranging from colds and flu to heart attacks and cancer, pessimists do live a shorter and unhealthier life.

Do mind-body techniques such as yoga, meditation or repetitive prayer affect the way the body deals with the activation or repression of genes which can result in cellular damage and consequently disease?
A study by MGH MBI and the Genomics Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center shows that following an 8 week period of meditation, participants’ genes were positively affected demonstrating that thoughts can and do affect the body at a cellular level.

Food and drink contain energy that can work with or against your body.
However, health does not only come from what you consume or apply topically. It stems from the internal and meditation is one of the easiest methods to promote healthy thoughts.
What habits do you keep repeating?
What feelings and fears keep intruding?
A diet of positive thoughts detoxifies the mind and improves your quality of life.
You are what you think.

Affirmation
Negative thoughts draw more negative energy to you; however it is possible to create new and better pathways within your brain with far-reaching consequences. Carry an affirmative thought with you every day to remind you to stay optimistic.

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

Choose Your Thoughts

Check out today's NEW video posting as well the brand new layout of the blog.

Let me know what you think!

A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances

but rather a person

with a certain set of attitudes - Hugh Downs

The illusion of the world is very powerful and plays easily with the mind, if you let it happen, or don’t pay attention to what is actually going on.

Distractions caused by focusing on feelings or emotions of the past, or anticipation of what is going to happen or might happen in the future, draw you away from what is actually taking place at this moment in time.

If you knew the real power of your thoughts, you would never have a negative thought again.

Thoughts have their own unique energy and work for you or against you, but if you don’t monitor them by paying attention, then it should not be a surprise when situations occur that you don’t really want.

Use the power of your words to create only that which is positive for you and will not do harm to others around you.

There is always a way to choose the right path, be it in words or actions and you are defined by the choices that you make.

They reveal your innermost values and what you hold up as important.

Be grateful for all that you have every day.
Say thank you, until you mean it.
And if you say it long enough, you will believe it.

You are a wonderful amazing individual with no limits except those that you place in front of you.
Have confidence in your abilities.
Believe in yourself and what you are capable of and soar as high as you can imagine.

Considerations

We speak of Consciousness,
yet what do we do;
We live in the Moment,
yet plan future Events;
We share the Dream,
yet are we fully Awakened;
We pray to our Ancestors,
yet forget to love the Children;
We learn from our Friends,
yet where is the Unity;
We acknowledge the Importance,
yet fail to provide Support;
We recognize Inspiration,
yet do we inspire Others;
We take from the Earth,
yet what do we give back;
We are born of Woman,
yet what separates our Sacredness;
We feel our inner Earthquakes,
yet not our Mother's Unrest;
We climb Success Ladders,
yet never stop climbing;
We know of The Oneness,
yet know not of our oneness;
We want Independence,
yet who is anyone Alone;
We understand Patience,
yet are ignorant of Time;
We live a life Full-Talented,
yet where is our One-Hearted;
We desire Uniqueness, seek Democracy,
yet we cannot reform our Families;
We have Experiences,
yet we keep them to ourselves;
We honor White Buffalo,
yet still follow the Herd;
We all have been Hungry,
yet still there is Starvation;
We think what we Become,
yet what we think also Becomes;
We exalt at writing Poetry,
yet how many are living as Poets;
We love to Live,
yet do we live to Love.

by
Michael Faraday
You can find more info about Michael on FaceBook or by clicking the Considerations banner in the title on this blog page (not the email) and it will link you to Michael's Facebook page. You may need to be a member of FB to view the info though.

LOVE

Holy River Ganges, India

“Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden where the flowers are dead. The consciousness of living and being loved brings a warmth and richness to life that nothing else can bring.”

Oscar Wilde

“I am a river of Love. If you judge people, you have no time to love them.”

Mother Teresa

Meditation on Love

Method
For this particular meditation practice, imagine a river filled with the energy of Love.

With each inhale and exhale, feel this river flow effortlessly through your body.
See the fluidity permeate through every cell, bathing you in Love.

Feel this river of Divine Consciousness flow through you and surround you.
Experience the oneness with the source of all Love.

Focus on the word Love.
As you repeat it, feel bathed in the energy of Love.
Continue to repeat the word Love, while feeling embraced by Love.

See the energy of Love as a brilliant white Light radiating from the base of your spine to the crown of your head.
As you inhale, draw the Light from the base of your spine to the crown of your head.
As you exhale, feel this Light flow through you and pour from the crown of your head to surround you.
Feel totally immersed in the Light and at one with the Light.

See your Light and Love continue to surround you and when you are ready let it extend out into the world.

So in order to see a change in the world, you simply have to look within and connect to the Light.
As you continue to practice this meditation, you will illuminate the world with your inner light.

Bathe daily in the River of Love and keep your own Love flowing by being consciously connected to the source of all life and Love.
Feel the Love, warmth, and richness in your life permeate through all that you touch, in both thought and action.

Direct all your energy to what truly matters, i.e. Love, and you will be more productive and happy in all areas of your life.

Imagine what your life will be like when you know how to be at peace and filled with love.
Direct your energy and Love to others and see Love returned.

Be at one with the river of Love.

Peace and Love.

BLISS

Enter into the Light within and find your state of true Bliss.

In his epic book The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck writes, “Carbon is not a man, nor salt, nor water, nor calcium. He is all these, but he is much more, much more;”²

During your meditation practice, you come to see beyond the physical realm and enter a deeper state of awareness where you become a witness of your mind. As you immerse yourself into the whole experience, you become aware of the fact that it is your soul that is doing the observing, or witnessing.

Bliss
Sustaining the witness state allows for realization of “I Am Bliss,” expansion of your consciousness, and awareness of a higher knowledge.

These are often challenging concepts to understand with the thinking mind, but with a regular meditation practice you personally experience these for yourself. Over time, you enter into meditation with grace and ease and dissolve into the state of bliss that is ever-present within you. This bliss stays with you during your everyday life as you realize that the soul is not separate from you but with you always.

Inner Knowledge
The soul expresses itself in the world as “I” and during inward reflection as the “Soul.”
Yoga philosophy describes the soul reflecting the witness state in the same way that the moon reflects the light of the sun. What you know in the world is often expressed as the “lower mind” with all of the material mind-stuff that accompanies it, while what you experience when you move beyond the pull of the external world is a “Higher Knowledge” and it is this knowledge that is accessed and revealed during meditation.

Surrendering Control
Recognizing what you need comes not from what you perceive outwardly, but what comes to you inwardly when you reside in bliss and listen to your innermost guidance. In quieting your mind you receive knowledge, guidance, and love.

Through a regular practice of meditation, gifts of higher knowledge and intuition develop, transforming you anew and enabling you to generate a new and positive life, not one that takes your existing situation and reshapes it into more of the same.


Meditation allows the essence of unity with the source of pure love to lead you to a state of harmony and bliss through specific examples in stilling the mind, surrendering to change, and reaching the highest level of awareness that enriches and nourishes you.

Life is not about one thinks may happen in the future. Life is about enjoying the daily journey of creative 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.

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.

Awareness Meditation

A bird house is hidden in the asters.

Look deep within yourself and see what lies beneath the clutter of the mind.

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.

Varied health professions now teach meditation as a means of stress management and improving a patient’s overall quality of life in a wide-variety of diseases such as cancer, hypertension, and back pain.

Meditation is also a means of reducing the symptoms and discomfort of depression, anxiety, and anger, as well as increasing energy and vitality. 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.

Awareness meditation draws your attention away from a particular object or illness to an overall knowledge and feeling of inner calmness and peace. During this specific method of meditation, 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.

Awareness Meditation: An Introduction

• Prepare your meditation room as outlined in previous postings
• Ensure there are no distractions that will disturb you for the next 10 to 20 minutes
• Allow all energy that arises through your meditation practice to flow.
• Be open to all that you may experience
• Simply observe

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

• 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 act from a source of love.

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.

MEDITATION: PRESENCE AND AWARENESS

Animals live fully in the present

Meditation: Presence

Who is the most important person in the world?
It’s not a trick question and this individual is someone that you actually know.
The most important person in the world is the person you are with at any given moment in time. All too often we fail to notice this individual or give them our complete attention because other distractions get in our way.

Nothing on Earth is permanent and we never can tell if we will be the last person this individual will see, or conversely the person we are with will be our last.
Awareness and presence develops through meditation. Being mindfully present in all your interactions, means that you have an opportunity to treat others differently from this point on.

Presence is both an awareness of your own existence and what you are witnessing at this very moment in time. It releases you from expectations about what you think might happen or from speculating about why things are unfolding a certain way. Speculation is different from intuition and I’ll talk more about intuition in a later posting.
Take your time with this meditation. Allow at least 15 minutes and practice regularly until you notice that your ability to remain present in every situation is occurring with ease.

Meditation
In a seated position with the spine straight and the flesh of the body relaxed, bring your awareness to the breath.
The eyes can be open or closed, but the gaze should be soft with the eyes still and attention focused directly in front of you.
The shoulders are relaxed, the hands resting on the thighs with the palms facing up in Om mudra. (Tip of thumbs and first fingers lightly touching. Also known as Inner Om Mudra.)
Observe the breath from the tip of the nose into the base of the lungs.
Feel the belly gently rise and fall with each inhale and exhale.
Keep the breath slow, smooth, and steady.
Don’t rush or force the breath.
Continue to watch the breath as it flows effortlessly from the tip of the nose to the belly.
Feel the belly gently rise and fall.
Draw awareness fully to the breath.
Experience the sensation of the lungs expanding and contracting, the air entering and leaving the body.
If the mind wanders (which it often does when you start to learn to meditate), simply draw the awareness back to the breath.
Do not judge or think that you have failed or cannot learn to meditate.
You are retraining the mind and new habits can take up to four weeks to become part of your regular routine.
Continue to watch the breath and direct it from the nose to the base of the lungs.
Feel the breath flowing in the present moment.
When you feel ready, in your own time, shift your attention from the breath to the present moment
Continue to focus on the present moment and dissolve into meditation.
Go deeper and deeper into the awareness.

After Your Meditation
You will strengthen you ability to be present in all that you think and do.
Your relationships will improve.
You remain open to experiences and lowly eliminate obstacles that block energy.
Your heart center opens as you give your full attention to the person that you are with.
You strengthen your ability to remain in the present moment and to be present with everyone that you meet.
You cease to be lonely as you experience contentment with your Self and connection to the source of all Love and Light

STRESS-FREE MEDITATION

Reflection Pool at Ayurveda Clinic in Mysore, India

Purpose of Meditation
Meditation is often viewed as a form of relaxation therapy; however relaxation is a by-product of the actual technique itself. Meditation produces many positive results but its ultimate goal is to enable the practitioner to attain a state of Bliss and connection to God.

The meditation path, therefore, has much to offer and the relaxation response should not be dismissed but utilized and appreciated for the gifts that they are, strewn along the meditative journey.

Meditation produces an altered state of consciousness which helps protect against anxiety and depression. Researchers are using this altered state to help patients help themselves overcome the debilitating effects of these pernicious ailments.

Health Benefits
Numerous studies show that when patients are given instruction in a meditation and relaxation technique for a minimum of 8 weeks, the results clearly demonstrate a significant reduction of anxiety, depression and other stress-related disorders such as high blood pressure (hypertension) to name but a few.

For patients, the gains include not only the ability to experience relaxation , but the ability to experience a reduction in pain and the associated feelings of discomfort, a reduction in hypertension, and the ability to have self-control over their condition without the use of drugs with the associated negative side-effects.

Improvements in health not only continue during the weeks and months that an individual continues to practice meditation, but the effects actually become more pronounced with deeper efficacy and positive change.
The long term use of meditation produces a lasting effect that has profound significance for not only maintaining good health, but for both prevention and producing better long term health.

Meditation Technique
Choose your most comfortable seated posture
Feel grounded and supported by the earth
Focus on the breath
Slow the breath down until it is slow and steady
Follow each exhalation and allow the breath to lengthen and deepen
Notice the space between each breath and enter into the space
Feel the energy of the breath fill your body
As you exhale, release all tension
Continue with this technique until you feel deeply relaxed
Feel the energy of the breath flow through you with no obstacle
Notice the levels of relaxation that exist within the mind and the body
Let the mind enter the deep vastness of your life-energy
Allow the mind to dissolve from a place of concentration and enter a place of stillness and peace
Remain in this peaceful place until you sense that it is time to begin the tasks of your day

After Your Meditation
You can pre-empt any anxious thoughts or moments by noticing changes in your mind and body’s calm and relaxed state. Then, by returning to the rhythmic flow of the breath, you can quickly bring yourself into a tranquil and stress-free place.

EVENING: GUIDED MEDITATION

An evening meditation helps you unwind, give thanks, and prepare for a new day

EVENING MEDITATION
While a morning meditation is a wonderful start to the day, ending the busy-ness of the day with an evening meditation is a perfect resolution to the various tasks, distractions, and emotions that present themselves throughout the day.

An evening meditation restores balance, peace, and calmness if these have somehow gotten lost during the day. It also provides a means to offer gratitude and prayer and prepare you for a good night’s sleep, free from concern about what has transpired and what may happen in the future.
It helps to keep you in the present moment so that with practice you will live every moment of your day and night in peace and harmony with both yourself and in your interactions with others.

Winding Down
The energy of the day is winding down and just as most of nature rests during the night hours, you also can prepare yourself for the best night’s rest in order to have the best start the next day.
An evening meditation provides you with the fuel to restore physical healing, a calm mind that will sleep undisturbed, and endows you with an energized mind, body, and spirit when morning comes.
When the mind is clear and the heart open, the body can enter into a deep state of relaxation, bringing healing and light into a body that has expended its daily quota of energy and fill up the tanks for the next day.

Evening Meditation
Begin your meditation practice by sitting in a comfortable position and concentrating on the breath. This permits a single-pointed focus and promotes concentration and relaxation.

When your mind and body feel calm and still, experience the silence that resides deep within you

All sounds melt away and your heart is open and at peace
Enter into the place where you feel closest to God the Creator
Offer sincere thanks for what has occurred today, whether it was part of your plan or not
Give thanks for all the many blessings that God has given you
Give thanks for all who have come into your life today
Ask for forgiveness
Ask that others in the world may find peace and love
Ask for understanding of your purpose
Rejoice in being safe in God’s presence

With the mind clear, continue to follow the breath and let all thoughts and emotions pass away
Enter into meditation and bathe in the peace that surrounds you
Stay in meditation until you feel complete

Reflection
Remember every day to Love others as God Loves you.
Each time that you pray and meditate, you are replenished and renewed as God’s Love and energy pours forth into you.
Use your energy to further Peace, Love, and the Healing of the Earth one person at a time.

NOTE: The free weekly Multi-Sensory Meditation newsletter (published every Wednesday) is available at the following link:
Link

MORNING:GUIDED MEDITATION

Morning is breaking and the sky fills with the potential of a new day.

Morning Meditation
A morning meditation is a wonderful way to start every day.
The energy of the morning is tranquil as the earth and the daytime inhabitants begin to stir and prepare for the tasks that lie ahead.
A morning meditation lengthens the stillness and peace and creates a positive lasting experience and memory that you can draw on throughout the day.
Try to sit for your meditation about fifteen minutes prior to the sun actually rising.

If you are able, sit outside for your meditation practice in order to hear the dawn chorus of birds, see the remnants of night pass away, and feel the warmth of sunlight striking the earth and enveloping your own body.

No matter the weather, a morning meditation helps you to see the challenges of the day with a new perspective.
It helps you to act with intention and clarity of purpose throughout the day. You begin each new day with peace and harmony that arises out of the tranquility and stillness contained within the promise of each new day.

Pranayama
Before you begin your meditation practice, spend ten to fifteen minutes in a pranayama practice.
A breathing practice prepares the body and mind for meditation, brings the brain into alpha rhythm which is most conducive to a peaceful state of being, and provides you with the energy that you need to see you through the day.

Meditation
Choose your most comfortable seated posture.
Feel grounded and supported by the earth.
Focus on the breath and ask yourself what you want to achieve today.
Follow each exhalation and allow the breath to lengthen and deepen.
Notice the space between each breath and enter into the space.
Allow the mind to go deeper into the space between the breath.
Feel the energy of the morning cleansing and invigorating you
Develop an expansion of the breath and the mind as radiant love flows through you.
Let the mind enter the deep vastness of your life-force.
Breathe in rhythm with the energy of the morning light emerging from the sun.
Allow the mind to dissolve from a place of concentration and enter a place of stillness and peace.
Remain in this peaceful place until you sense that it is time to begin the tasks of your day.

This was taken as the sun rose over the Pacific. The ripples are caused by dolphins.

Other Morning Meditations
You can practice your morning meditation when walking, praying, or simply marveling at the sun rising.
Look at your surroundings with an awakened perspective.
Notice the plants and flowers that are in window boxes or line the side of the road. Notice trees, the shapes and colors of their leaves, the birds in the trees.
Notice the clouds, their sizes.
Feel the warmth of the sun, the touch of a breeze against your skin.
Absorb the serenity and peace of this special moment
Express your gratitude and listen for the answers that arise from within or in your encounters with people as the day progresses.

Morning Meditation
You will feel energized, renewed and willing to face the world. You will be a positive force for change as you bring your light to everyone you meet.

CONTEMPLATIVE MEDITATION

Word
Prayer
Spirit

Background
Centering Prayer is now more commonly known as Contemplative Meditation. It is drawn from prayer practices that began in the first century C.E. and was made popular in the 1970’s by monks from the Trappist Abbey, St. Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts.

They describe Contemplative Meditation as “A prayer of silence, an experience of God’s presence as the ground in which our being is rooted, the Source from whom our life emerges at every moment.”

This form of meditation is a means of centering the mind to receive God’s presence and increase awareness of God's presence in your life. It creates a peace even when awake by releasing the flow of knowledge and guidance at the level of the soul.

There is a peaceful and sacred place that abides within you. It is your refuge and your home. It is here in this hallowed sanctuary that you are safe to withdraw to discover the areas where you need to grow.

Find a quiet place to reflect on a word in Contemplative Meditation

Essence
Contemplative Meditation is a means of training the mind to concentrate, or center, on a word, a thought, a spiritual passage, or a mantra.
This type of meditation can be practiced anywhere that you have time to yourself such as walking, physical activity, or simply sitting.

Method
Choose a phrase from a spiritual book, or select a spiritual word or name.
Study the word. Notice what “speaks” to you.
Study the word again. What feelings does it evoke within you.
Return to the word a final time.
Keep focusing on the word, absorbing it, understanding it, and knowing its truth.
Merge into meditation if the situation permits.


Benefits
It expands your ability to concentrate and become aware of the thoughts, emotions, and feelings from the body as they arise.
Any time that you find yourself in a situation that is challenging, you can induce relaxation by bringing awareness to the flow of the breath and focus on a word or phrase that you have encountered during your Contemplative Meditation.
It heightens your spiritual journey and deepens your relationship with God.
Your intuition increases as it maintains an openness to hearing and following the wisdom that arises from within.

You may like to carry your word with you to deepen your spiritual connection and awareness.

AUM and OM

Om can be heard in many objects and also experienced as a ringing sound.

AUM and OM

The sound of Om is recognized as being a universal sound because it permeates the universe.

It is a sound that is inherent within everything and everyone. When you listen carefully, you can hear the sound in engines and machines, at the end of prayers, even within your own body as a sound resonating deep within you.

Om consists of the letters AUM which represent creation, maintenance, and ending. We see this in all aspects of the universe. All things have a moment when they evolve, exist, and then pass away and we acknowledge this every time we chant Om.

Your Own Om
During your meditation practice, hear the sound of Om deep within you.
As you continue to meditate upon it, the sound will evolve, becoming deeper and stronger. You experience the sound of Om during your meditation and afterwards it continues to reverberate within your life.

Only with practice does learning and understanding come.

Each time you meditate, the sound becomes more powerful in its intensity and volume. You will hear it clearly and feel it vibrate through every cell of your body.

It is your personal Om, different from mine yet both are connected to the source of Om.

Om is a pure sound emanating from the Creator therefore it is a sound that protects you and promotes goodness in your life. Also known as the first mantra, it gradually removes negativity from your consciousness and keeps your entire being focused on that which flows from God.

The Sound Current
With continuous practice of meditation and chanting Om, both externally and hearing it internally, you feel the vibration of Om throughout your body. Maintaining awareness in the third eye, located deep within the center of the head level at the space between the eyebrows, you focus on the sound, the flow, the energy within Om.

With constant study and concentration on Om, you become aware of the sound current that carries Om everywhere.

The water in the fountain comes from and always returns to the Source

The Source
Om brings a steadiness to the mind and the thought process.
If you are new to meditation, you will focus on the word of Om, then progress to its sound, then to the current of Om. Over time, you will then experience the Knowledge and the Bliss that accompanies the sound current of Om and travel to the source of the Bliss.

As the current of Om permeates all of your being, both during meditation and during your everyday existence, you experience Bliss at every moment. You have the Knowledge that you are connected to the Source and delight in being there.

The Bliss cannot be learned from reading or external study. Bliss has to be experienced. As you connect to the source of the Bliss, you will achieve freedom and peace and understanding.

Meditation and Om combined is a unique gift. Accept it and use it every day.

MEDITATION AND BREATHING

With a controlled breath there are no limits.

WHAT IS THE CONNECTION BETWEEN BREATHING AND MEDITATION?

Contemplation and self-inquiry are made possible through Meditation. Meditation heightens conscious awareness of what is happening at the present moment.
Meditation reveals your present state of mind and consequently your present way of living.

When the mind is not aware, it brings about an imbalance in mood and health. Random thoughts can occur, emotions rise, and unforeseen or unwanted events occur.

When an incident actually happens or is even ONLY PERCEIVED in the mind
1. the body tenses up
2. the breath speeds up
3. becomes shallow
4. resulting in an increase in heart rate and perspiration

EXAMPLE: We’ve all used a thermometer.
Just as a thermometer can tell if your internal body temperature is too high, awareness of the breath and the meditative mind brings an awareness of the mental temperature.

What is YOUR emotional temperature?

If the mind is agitated and heated up, you can act appropriately to cool it down before it becomes too hot.

NO ONE LIKES A HOT HEAD.

If you sit in meditation and are unable to connect with the inner peace, determine what is blocking this natural state.
If you had a high temperature, you would seek the cause. In the same way, you should seek the source of inner health.

MEDITATE ON THE POSITIVE
1. Cultivate constructive driving forces by directing the mind to opposite ideas, ones that are positive to the individual and toward others
2. Negative thoughts require energy to plan and implement. They are detrimental in manner, sound, and effect
3. By maintaining a single-pointed focus of awareness via meditation, you choose to be positive and identify ways to maintain a strong mind and body, to stay resilient, and to help others.

CONTROLLING THE BREATH
In a Swedish study, published in December 2007, the researchers studied 55 healthy adults and the effect of a breathing technique that involved cycles of slow, normal, and rapid breathing exercises.

The exercises were practiced for an hour daily, 6 days a week, for 6 weeks.

48 control patients were advised to relax in an armchair for 15 minutes daily.

At the end of the study, feelings of anxiety, stress, and depression were significantly decreased and optimism was significantly increased in the breathing study group.
There was also a reduction in the sympathetic nervous system activity and a feeling of well-being with an increase in antioxidants and lower levels of cortisol.

SO, HOW DOES THE BREATH WORK IN CONJUNCTION WITH MEDITATION?
Through:
1. Concentration
2. Awareness of the states of the body, e.g. tense, anxious
3. Knowledge of how to relax

Meditation improves your ability to focus and concentrate, alerting you to distracting thoughts and emotions that arise in your mind when you stop being busy.

When your mind recognizes that a situation is stressful and notices changes in the breath, you draw your awareness to the breath and slow the breath down to maintain a relaxed physical and mental state.

Eventually you maintain a relaxed and calm state wherever you go.

Meditation is the key to controlling the mind, the breath, and therefore the body.

GUIDED MEDITATION: HEALING

Guided Meditation: Healing

The unique Life Force that exists within you flows effortlessly when all obstacles have been removed. This force is often “seen” within your mind’s eye as an internal light that promotes well-being. It is the energy that is contained within the healing process and your light can be directed to a specific area or drawn through the body as a means of maintaining and optimizing health and vitality.

This light brings an awareness of happiness and contentment that permeates all aspects of your life, including your thoughts and your actions.
If you have any illness, see a qualified medical practitioner as this is not a substitute for medical care.

Method

• Sit in your chosen seated position for meditation
• Draw awareness to the breath until the breath is slow steady and rhythmical
• Focus on seeing your healing light at the base of your spine
• Don’t strain to see the light. Simply focus on the base of the spine with a steady breath until the light appears.
• Keep your body and inner focus relaxed
• With each inhalation draw the light through the body to the crown of the head and on the exhale, see the light flowing from the crown of your head to surround you like a protective aura.
• If the mind wanders, do not judge yourself. Accept that this may happen in the beginning when you are first practicing this method. Simply draw your awareness back to the rhythmic flow of the breath and “see” your light flow from the base of the spine to the crown of the head.
• Let the flow of light continue until you feel that your body is filled and surrounded by the healing light, about three to five breaths.
• Enter into your meditation feeling the light surrounding you, concentrating on the steady flow of the breath

Benefits

There are many benefits of this guided light meditation. They include:

• Stress-reduction
• Awareness of your inner Self where calmness resides
• Ability to relax
• Increased peace
• Calmness during all situations including challenging ones
• Increased flow of energy through the body
• Clarity and balance of body and mind

This inner light meditation is powerful at blocking negative thoughts and emotions and helping you cope with daily life. When the mind is happy and content your energy flows effortlessly and your inner light shines brighter, not only within yourself, but outwardly onto other people as well.

Peace and well-being are closer than you think by feeling your light within you and surrounding you.

MEDITATION: A NEW AWARENESS

The Mind is Vast and Limited Only by Your Own Beliefs

Meditation: A New Awareness
Taking time every day to reflect quietly on what is required of you through meditation, through maintaining a still and peaceful mind, and through developing a slow and rhythmic breath allows you to release from your mind, and thereby your life, the issue that you no longer need and brings your mind into a deeper connection with God.

Spring-Cleaning the Mind
Meditation is a gentle but efficient means of cleansing and purifying your mind by helping you to be in control of all thoughts and the intention behind the thoughts. When space is achieved by clearing out the clutter you enable new and more beneficial thoughts to enter and a deeper understanding of your spiritual path to develop.
Here you have a unique opportunity to gain wisdom and understanding through the guidance that is freely given to you if you decide to take it. You remove the impurities of your thoughts and permit the cleansing energy of the light of the universe to flow through you, nourishing your soul.

Direct Spiritual Connection
Through the silence of meditation and prayer you receive answers through the knowledge that flows within you from your direct connection with the Creator. Other thoughts may interrupt the quiet exchange when you are in contemplative silence and you should permit them to pass through without judgment. By focusing on the space between each thought you teach your mind and body to experience the peace that passes all understanding and to feel the presence of God in your life.

Knowing Your Self
When you nurture your Spiritual self, you gain power to overcome obstacles. With thoughtfulness and openness to everyone around you, you know that as your intention shapes your actions you have within you the power to use your actions to heal the world, one person at a time.

Knowing Your Needs
This means freedom of mind, of body, and of soul. How can this be?
When your mind is no longer focusing on acquiring more items, no longer desiring extras, and no longer watching what other people have, worldly standards no longer tie you down. You rise above this and instead move toward seeing how you can use what you have for the benefit of the world.

Humanity’s Struggle
When the leaders of one nation refuse to share their country’s wealth with even its own people, the greed of the leaders promulgates downwards spreading disaster for individuals, the nation as a whole, and negatively impacting the world’s resources. A united attitude benefits everyone; both the individuals and the groups that are responsible for ensuring that the needs of those who want help are met.
Perceiving that what we have is ours and ours alone separates us from seeing how we can share what we have with those who need our help.

Create Space Within and Let Your Self Sail

Meditation and Awareness
Creating space is a liberating experience because you cannot receive until you release.

When one person initiates positive change for another person, we move closer towards achieving a balanced and objective society. Generosity spreads upwards and outwards, initiating global transformation in our neighbors. When you are generous, you know that God blesses you in line with the size of your intention and your kindness.

The more you hold onto, the less you are able to move, figuratively and literally. Letting go of all that you hide away in your thoughts, your lifestyle, your closets, frees you to allow positive energy to flow to you and from you. Your awareness heightens and your perceptiveness grows. You are liberated, you are able to move around, explore ideas, experience peace that you are doing no harm to the environment, to others, and to yourself.

Meditation on Awareness
During your meditation practice, focus on lingering on the space between each breath. Notice the peace that resides deep within.
Enter it without any reservations
Free the mind from all restrictions.
Know that you are safe in the space between each breath
Keep focusing on the space.
You will discover that you will be able to spend more time in this peaceful state.

After Your Meditation
During your everyday activities, listen for the guidance that comes from within.
Look for ways to share your gifts with others, whether it is in the form of a kind word, a smile, or in sharing a material gift.
Let your meditation practice transform you and everyone you come in contact with.

MINDFUL MEDITATION

Many activities require great concentration

Mindful Meditation
Recognizing what you need comes not from what you perceive outwardly, but from what comes to you inwardly through prayer, meditation, and listening to your innermost feelings.

A couple of summers ago I injured my right ankle and attended physiotherapy department for a series of treatments. I waited for my therapist, leisurely flicking through a glossy magazine, and two elderly women joined me in the waiting area; one in a wheelchair.
I couldn’t help but hear their conversation as the two friends discussed the hot humid New England weather that we were experiencing that day. Both agreed that they disliked the heat. “When my husband was alive,” began the woman in the wheelchair, “he was always turning up the thermostat, while I was opening windows. He liked the heat, you see.”
There was a slight pause, and her voice became wistful and wavered as she spoke. “I would put up with any amount of heat if I could just have him back.”

Nothing on Earth remains the same, but being able to live in the present moment enables us to heighten our experiences and interactions with people.
Every moment counts. No moment is more important than the one you are experiencing right now. Events and milestones are significant and add to your mental library of happy memories or lessons to learn from. But even these come down to the thoughts that take place inside you.

Meditation and the Moment
Meditation helps you to appreciate the value of time and your experiences and interactions with the people that you see every day.
Meditation keeps you in the present moment, not only during your meditation session, but afterwards too.
Meditation trains the mind so that you are able to catch thoughts before they turn into actions and thereby choose appropriate ones.

Mindful Meditation
In your comfortable seated pose, use the methods shown in previous blogs to release the mind from thoughts and conversations, feelings and emotions, and to simply follow the breath.
Feel the breath become slow and steady.
When the mind is calm and peaceful and the breath slow and steady, focus on the intake of the breath from the tip of the nose into the base of the lungs.
As you exhale, follow the breath slowly all the way out of the body and out through the tip of the nose.
Continue with this rhythmical breath.
Ignore any thoughts that enter the mind’s awareness.
Stay focused on the flow of the breath.
As your meditation deepens, you may lose awareness of the body.
Stay with the flow of the breath and then allow the mind to release into the space between the breath.
Continue in this manner until you feel that your meditation session is over.

Mindfulness helps you notice small gifts in life such as this rainbow forming

Mindful Present
During your everyday activities, stay mindful by keeping the breath steady and even. Focus on each task, whether you are at work, in conversation with someone, or preparing food for dinner.
Notice your thoughts and behaviors.
Notice how you react to other people.
Strive to remain positive and non-judgmental
Return to the steady flow of the breath when you need to draw yourself back to the peaceful place within.
Treasure each moment and you will have a lifetime of happy memories,

ATTRACTING SUCCESS

Attracting Success

No matter who you are or what you are doing, you want to succeed in your particular endeavor, whether it is seeking a new job, finding a dream house, or even a dream partner.

Using your mind to visualize what you want to draw to you is a natural technique that we can all learn. Many people use it unconsciously but wonder why they don’t have “luck” in their life. This is because they focus on negativity rather than positive trains of thought.

Thinking “I’ll never get a job that earns x amount, or I can’t afford to live in a neighborhood like that” are all affirmations that come true.

Creative visualization is a mental technique that uses the imagination to help you to “see” what you want and thereby assist it in coming true by attracting the success that you want. Visualizing your goals as already accomplished “tricks” the mind into thinking that it has already happened. The mind cannot distinguish between reality and fiction and envisioning that you have what you want and need draws the energy of the mental picture to you.



Successful Visualization

If you truly want to achieve and be successful, set aside a time and place for your daily meditation session.

Decide what it is that you want to draw to you, and enter into meditation using one of the previously taught breathing and meditation techniques in this blog.

• With the eyes gently closed and the breath and body relaxed, creating a mental image of what you want.
• For example, if you want to see yourself in a new house, try not to struggle with adding details that are too specific such as colors, types of moldings, styles of doors and windows. Instead know how many rooms you want, bathrooms, size of house, whether it has a garden, etc.
• See yourself unlocking the front door and entering the house. Walk through each of the rooms, spend time there.
• Every time you enter your visualization meditation, see the same image and it quickly becomes clearer and more real.

Universal Visualization

If you are unsure about what you want, practice the following visualization to familiarize the mind with the technique. This Universal Visualization helps you to start the day right.

Enter into meditation with a calm breath and mind.

• See yourself smiling and at ease.
• In your mind’s eye, follow yourself as you do each of your normal morning tasks. Feel yourself enjoying each moment.
• Embrace the day and see yourself being happy to greet everyone that you meet.

Your New Job

Enter into meditation with a calm breath and mind.

• See yourself smiling and at ease.
• Know what job you want to do. Envisage yourself doing the job
• See how successful and relaxed you are.
• Hear the praise that you receive for a job well done.
• See your environment and feel how happy people are to work with you.
• Everyone that you interact with is happy to see you.

Implementing Your Visualization

Identify the steps required to achieve your visualization. In the example of acquiring a house, identify all that you need to do in order to attract the house.

Creative visualization uses the power of the mind and can improve your life.

Writing down your goals helps you to work progressively toward the direction that you want to proceed in. This helps you to take control of your life and avoid or overcome obstacles that appear.

Do something everyday that helps you move closer to achieving your dream.

Expend your full effort to achieving your dreams.

See yourself successful every day. Notice your positive traits and believe that you are worth receiving what you want.

Gratitude

As you work toward achieving your goal, help as many people as you can along the way. Demonstrate gratitude through prayers, through acts of kindness, and by monitoring your thoughts and subsequent actions to ensure that you are truly thoughtful with every word and action.

Grazie
Merci
Thank You

No matter how you say it, giving thanks and showing your gratitude is a positive emotion that unlocks the fullness of your energy.
As opportunities open themselves up to you, you will be able to recognize them and act upon them. You have the power to influence your thoughts.
Meditation helps you to be mindful and remain in the present, thereby helping you to fulfill your dreams.