Meditation Anytime

Photo of Waikiki Beach Sunset by Margaret Stockley

You can find time to meditate anywhere.

Meditation Methods
Finding Time to Meditate
Meditation is a means of bringing the mind into a singe point of focus until after many months of practice you eventually transcend beyond the point of concentration and all awareness dissipates and you emerge into complete bliss.

The journey to bliss is wonderful and need not be time-consuming. While a regular practice is to be encouraged, your whole life should be a meditation.
The mind loves to be in meditation and the results bring you to a more relaxed and peaceful state of mind and body.
Stress dissipates and you are more creative, happy, healthier, and productive and take an optimistic view on life.

Places to Meditate
You do not need to be seated at home or another quiet place.
I encourage people to practice drawing the mind into a meditative state whenever they have a few minutes to spare e.g. waiting for the kettle to boil, standing in line waiting to be served, when out walking or when you are participating in any other activity that you can think of.

Controlling the Breath
We all breathe, but many people do not breathe correctly, only half-filling the lungs and not absorbing the essential nutrients and energy contained within the breath to enable daily tasks to be performed with vitality and clarity.
Practice slowing the breath down and keeping it slow and steady. This may take only a few breaths or it may take several minutes depending on how experienced you are at meditating.
As the breath becomes slower and deeper, feel the different levels of relaxation that are occurring in the body and mind.
Feel stress ebb away with each exhalation.

Monitor Your Thoughts
During your quiet moment, notice your thoughts then allow them to pass without becoming attached to them. As you practice focusing on the breath, you will notice that the body is relaxed and the mind peaceful.

Over time you will discover that during your daily activities, if disturbed or angry thoughts emerge you will become aware of them as they occur and will be able to replace them with more appropriate thoughts and subsequent behavior.
This results in a more enjoyable and peaceful environment that keeps you tranquil, happy, and more prepared to face what life sends your way. All your interactions become pleasant and devoid of extreme emotional reactions.

Music
Listening to gentle music has been clinically proven to induce relaxation, slow the pulse, and lower blood pressure. It also enables you to enter into a meditative state with ease. If you can walk outside, listen to the sounds of nature and absorb the natural sounds and colors that the world provides.
If you spend most of your time indoors, a small water fountain that trickles softly can also generate a relaxed response and help you to remain calm and peaceful.

Make Space to Meditate
Remove any items that disturb your environment. Keep the temperature comfortable.
Fill your space with objects that promote serenity and tranquility.
In time, your whole life will become a meditation, free from anxiety, stress and filled with hope and love.

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

PRANAYAMA

Feel the calmness that accompanies freedom from obstacles.

Preparing the body for meditation through an activity such as yoga is an ideal process in which to acquire skills to control unconscious thoughts and physical movements. Yoga creates a training ground in which to bring awareness to the joints, muscles, and the thoughts, in order to create single-pointed focus to sit still in meditation. An integral part of yoga is the practice of pranayama and the key to successful meditation through the all-important control of the breath.

When the mind is calm, the breath is also calm, and vice versa.

Incorporating breathing techniques and meditation in your daily activities is easy to do and helps you to live harmoniously with your surroundings while experiencing the transforming benefits of meditation.

For many people, the breath is erratic, uneven, noisy, and fails to maximize the life-force energy of prana. This is especially so when faced with a challenging situation.

The next time you encounter heavy traffic, pay attention to how you are breathing.
Then notice how you are feeling.
What thoughts and emotions are coursing through you?

Slowing the breath down and breathing deeply into the base of the lungs releases toxic emotions from your body. Notice how a deeper, more relaxed breathing pattern helps you slow down not only the rate of the breath, but your thoughts as well.

You can consciously practice pranayama everywhere; walking, waiting in line, waiting for a pot to boil.

Method
Observe the breath. Begin by monitoring the flow, rhythm, and speed of the breath. All three should be slow, smooth, and steady. When you focus your mind on something repetitive you automatically begin to quieten the thoughts and emotions. Purposely drawing your attention to one thought process prevents negativity and limitations from taking root. With each exhalation you can release what you do not need or want, and with each inhale, full your body and mind with the peace, joy, and love that will uplift you every day.

Once you teach your Self to breathe properly, you will use correct breathing techniques at every waking moment. In the beginning, you may catch yourself during moments of stress and detect that the pace of your breath is not effortless and calm.
Simply bring awareness back to the rhythmic flow of the breath and notice how it returns with ease to a composed and steady rate.

With practice, you will notice an improvement in clarity of thought, happiness, and peace of mind. Other people will notice the changes in you too and that means that you are making a positive difference not only in your own life, but in the lives of others too.

Your life becomes calmer, your meditation practice effortless, and the mind becomes limitless.

Peace

POSITIVE AFFIRMATIONS

 

Let your thoughts drift on by, like sail boats on a lake.

The mind can only think one thought at a time and the same goes for concentration.
Try it!
This means that you can only give full attention to one thing at a time, despite the people who insist that they can multi-task quite effectively. Duties and responsibilities would be completed more efficiently when one item at a time is finished before moving onto the next.

Distractions, either physical or mental, prevent you from successfully concluding the daily to-do list. Other thoughts, such as the criticizing voice inside you, can discourage you from trying new things.
By focusing the mind on a positive repetitive word or phrase you automatically begin to quieten your mind and teach it to focus.

Have you ever found yourself settling down to gaze at the ocean or listen to music only to find that all the other images and sounds have disappeared because you have drifted so deeply into the view before you or have followed the notes of the music so intently?

Using an affirmation has a similar effect of inducing deep concentration and single pointed focus. It also has the additional benefit of promoting positive thoughts and behavior by blocking out negative beliefs and opinions that creep in when you least expect them to.

Create your own affirmations that best suit your own daily needs using positive affirmative language. Repeat an affirmation whenever you feel or catch yourself thinking or saying a negative thought.

Positive Affirmations

I always receive everything that is for my highest good
I am divinely guided in all I do
I am always in the right place at the right time
I am safe and always feel protected.
I am at peace
I am at peace with myself
I am always living in harmony
I am filled with Love

GUIDED MEDITATION: SPIRITUALITY

Guided Meditation: Spirituality
Finding time for yourself is hard due to the demands of work, volunteering, or keeping up with family needs. Lack of time for one’s self impacts many facets of your life including blocking you from cultivating your spirituality. Constant distractions and feeling pulled in many directions doesn’t even give you the quiet moments that you need to figure out who you are, where you want to go in life, and what you actually believe in.

Meditation is a wonderful method that enables you to gain time for yourself as well as reap the health benefits. Your life energy shifts in an upward direction by gaining insight into how to live in the moment and to reduce the impact of life’s pressures with calmness and self-control. You accept what life sends your way and recognize what you can change and what you cannot. All of the past samskaras, or imprints of the mind, are released and you learn how to view life from a different perspective.

Imagine the many ways that meditation can create transform your life by altering your perspective. A strengthened mind and actions continues to foster thought-patterns that nurture the positive qualities that you desire, while also deepening your understanding of your spiritual needs and what you need to do in order to grow in your divinity.
Know that your deepened spirituality is one of enhanced wisdom and connection.

Spirituality Meditation

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

Let your arms rest loosely by your sides, or place your hands face up on your lap.

With each inhalation, breathe in the unique blessing 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.

Focus your awareness on your heart.
Give thanks for being alive and for all your experiences.
Acknowledge that life is a blessing.
With each inhalation, feel the connection to the source of the energy of each breath.

Continue with this rhythmic breath until a feeling of peace flows over you.
Peace and love fill every part of your body.
The source of this peace is your spiritual home which you will return to one day.

With each inhale, draw the peace and love through you and as you exhale, send the peace and love out into the world.

Know that it is the soul and not the ego self that is connected to the love.
The deeper your meditation practice, the more you release attachment to the physical self and connect to the source of love.
Letting go of the concept of and worldly limitations of the self enables you to accept the presence and guidance of God.

Your enhanced spirituality brings freedom and the knowledge that your spiritual self is not the physical self and is unchanging and unaffected by the world.
Utilize the peace that exists within you by cultivating peace at every opportunity being a messenger of peace.
Continue to meditate with awareness of God and the love that surrounds you.
As you maintain this heightened awareness and consciousness, you become a beacon of love and peace as the peace of God fills you and emanates from you.

Om Shanti Peace

AFFIRMATION:WATER

A single raindrop merges with the ocean.
Likewise, we are all connected to the Source.

The five elements of nature; earth, water, fire, air, and ether exist within our own body and cycle through us every 59 minutes. The last minute of this hourly cycle is where the potential for the subtle feminine energy called kundalini can awaken and give rise to both self-knowledge and a higher knowledge.

Water is a basic element of life and sustains us and mirrors our own existence on earth.
Life has a natural flow and we are carried along gently in its wake when we conserve our energy and realize what we cannot change and what we can and should ably resist.

Each one of us has unique qualities that enable us to go with the ebb and flow of life, just as water ebbs and flows along its own path moving over rocks and bumps, twists and turns, and soaring and shallow depths.

Water moves slowly or fast, depending on the terrain, and flows continually until it reaches its final destination where it blends with a large body of water or dissolves into the earth or air.

A river begins with a single raindrop that merges with others until it forms a powerful force that returns eventually to the source from where it started.

Likewise, we are born from a source of love and will return to that special place when our life has completed its flow. Disruption in the flow occurs when we waste our energy struggling to maintain the status quo and staying in the past rather than going where life is taking us. Belief in our separateness and individuality creates difficulties and we end up wrestling with the natural course of life. There are challenges to be overcome such as changes in our health, our environment, or people that we love passing on, but acceptance helps us to flow through life and acknowledge the connection that we have, one to another, and one to the universe. We are all connected and will return to the source one day where we will be re-united.

The water element has much to teach us; from its clarity and purity when it is healthy, to its darkness and odor when it is undrinkable. Look at areas where you can cleanse your life and be like the water element, rolling and flowing with grace and ease, compassion and love.

AFFIRMATION:

I am part of something larger than myself
I live in a loving universe
I am filled with the light and love of God
I am in harmony with the Universe

What role does meditation or affirmation play in your life?

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.

AFFIRMATION

September 1st marked the 6th month since I started the meditation blog.
The blog continues to evolve and grow and over the coming weeks I wanted to begin to formalize the daily postings.
I will continue to write Monday through Friday except when on vacation or traveling due to work obligations.
Mondays and Wednesdays will have a guided meditation and Tuesdays and Thursdays will have an affirmation. Fridays will have either an uplifting message or information about a technique or other method that I have tried and found beneficial.

AFFIRMATION

As always, choose affirmations that feel appropriate to you. Feel free to create an affirmation that's suitable to you by asking yourself the following question:
What do you want?

This will help you to create affirmations that assert your purpose and therefore have special meaning to you.
It is important that the words you use are your own or that they feel comfortable to you.
Once you become familiar with using an affirmation, you can create your own ones, based on your specific needs on a day-to-day basis.
The affirmations presented below are a suggestion and I encourage you to change the language and content to better fit what is happening in your own life.

GRATITUDE

An integral part of any affirmation is to believe that it will happen.
If this does not come naturally to you, an easy way to learn this is to practice feeling as if it has already happened by imagining what it will feel like.
I always follow up any affirmation with an expression of gratitude, whether it’s a simple “Thank You” or a more lengthy prayer or communication of thanks.

Today I choose to believe rather than hope.
Divine guidance is with me always.
There are opportunities for deeper insight in all of my interactions.
I am willing to grow. Love is my guide

TODAY’S AFFIRMATIONS

• I am successful in all that I do
• I recognize the infinite wisdom within me
• I now surrender to the will of God

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.

Meditation: Peaceful Life

Paying attention to the needs of your body means that you have to ask yourself several key questions on a regular basis: are you getting enough rest, appropriate nutrition, adequate exercise?
Listening to your physical and emotional needs disciplines you to live in tune with your inner rhythm. The body’s requirements differ from day to day just as the natural rhythms of the body rise and fall from morning through the night.

Is your body getting adequate nutrition?

Monitor Your Thoughts
Meditation helps you to protect and nurture your body and learn to face and cope with daily challenges. This is an ongoing process as you discover your strengths and skills and use them to help yourself and others. You learn to monitor your thoughts and see the intention behind the thoughts, resulting in actions that are kinder and more productive.

Creating Change
The inability to initiate changes is not always because of a lack of will power.
Apprehension of what will replace your current behavior, fear of the unknown, and uneasiness of having an empty space in your life are all reasons why it can be difficult to alter your current mind-set.
Even fear of success brings its own trepidation with concerns about how other people will view you, what they will think of you, what they will say about you.

Altering any aspect of your life is initially fraught with potential discomfort as you begin to realize that some friends may not welcome the changes that you are making and will not support you or walk with you on your path. As you become more confident and see the positive effects of one small change in your life, it becomes easier to keep transitioning until you are comfortable with who you are.

Hesitation in making a smooth transition from your current way of thinking to achieving your hopes and dreams is normal. You clear away tension and stored up anxieties only to come across an obstacle that grinds you to a halt. Every journey has its delays and detours.

Meditation helps you to stay true to your destination.

Personal questions to consider:
• What makes you react to situations and other people the way that you do?
• What feelings do you hide within you?
• What makes you feel afraid?

Don’t judge yourself.
Judgment is in itself a negative thought and therefore not conducive to helping you move to a life of peace and harmony, whether it is other people or yourself that you are judging. You are striving, one step at a time, to consciously monitor your thoughts and alter your behavior.
This is a learning process and you are focusing first on the areas where you want to make a change and then gradually discovering ways to remove unnecessary habits and replacing them with actions that are more productive.
Work consistently through your early successes and accept that there will be some aspects that are more challenging.
Remain steadfast in your conscious desire to change.

Meditation helps you create and maintain lasting inner peace

Meditation is a Healer
Meditation restores balance and controls negative emotions. Prayer, meditation, and your inner voice (intuition) all serve as a means to guide you in a particular direction.
As you become aware of areas that create difficulties, work with intention to open your heart and mind to learn and eventually to heal.
Meditation helps you create the space within to allow intuition to flow and enable your choices in life to be the ones you really want.

Meditation for Peace
During your meditation practice, slow the breath down until it is smooth and steady.
Feel space within you as you breathe away negative thoughts.
With each inhalation, draw in positive happy feelings.
As you exhale, release all tension and discomfort.
Continue with this breathing technique until you feel peaceful.
Hear the sound of Om resonating deep within you.
See light at the base of your spine and draw it in a column to the crown of your head.
Om changes to the sound of bliss, which is the sound Ah.
As you exhale, see the light pouring from the crown of your head to surround you.
Repeat the sound and light visualization for 3 to 5 rounds
Feel yourself dissolve into meditation

Retain the peaceful feeling inside you wherever you go, returning to it through the calm and peaceful breath and the ongoing healing of your meditation practice.

MEDITATION: MEMORIAL DAY 2009

Today's meditation article is a reminder to all of us to reflect on peace, sacrifice, and courage. To reflect, not on war, but on peace.

Today we remember our veterans for their strength in doing more than people thought was safe or wise to do so. We will not forget the lives that were taken.

It takes courage to stand up against injustice and the abuse of human rights, and we remember our veterans for their perseverance in withstanding danger through not counting the days, but in making the days count.

With guarded optimism for the future, we are both humbled and privileged to see the character of this country in our veterans and say; we do remember you for your courage in giving of your time and of yourselves. Your resolve, grace, and strength are an example to our nation.

Unity
The men and women we remember today demonstrated the highest form of courage, ensuring not only our survival, but our ability to continue to live in freedom; ensuring unity, fairness, and justice. Together they embody the belief in standing side-by-side with determination and one purpose.

They have seen sorrow and pain that will never completely go away, and to those who have lost a loved-one, our country will never forget the debt we owe all who gave their lives for freedom.

Memorial Day, Decoration Day, Remembrance Day.
These are names given to the day when we pause, reflect on, and honor our soldiers, our family, our friends, who have died.

Meditate on What Lies Within
What lies behind us and what lies before us is a small matter compared to what lies within us, as we strive to be a nation that serves goals larger than self.

All of us today can take a moment to reflect on these words on this special day and look within ourselves for a portion of the unique courage and strength of character that these men and women portrayed.

The veterans’ values give meaning to our lives today.

Throughout the country, we solemnly reaffirm our duty to honor the dead and embrace the living by honoring their memory through teaching the next generation of the determination and commitment of our veterans and to strive for peace wherever possible so that there may finally be an end to war.

Time for Remembrance
Please take time today at 3pm to reflect on and honor the men and women of the United States who died in the pursuit of freedom and peace. This is designated as a National Time of Remembrance.

Meditation on Peace
During your Meditation practice or during a time of reflection, look at areas of your own life that is experiencing struggles. Focus on creating peace and harmony in your life and in your surroundings.

If we all brought our awareness onto peace beginning with ourselves and in our connections with others, we would indeed change the world and create a peaceful world for all of us and for future generations.

On Memorial Day 2009, seek out peace and love wherever you are and pause to reflect on what the Day means. Change does begin one person at a time, one thought at a time.

Meditation allows you to see deep within to where you can be the catalyst for peace.

LEARNING TO MEDITATE

LEARN TO MEDITATE BY TRAINING THE MIND TO MOVE BEYOND OBSTACLES

LEARNING TO MEDITATE is achievable by anyone in a few simple steps.

The mind is in the habit of following a random train of thoughts and when you are learning to meditate you are effectively teaching it to follow a single-point of focus. In other words, what you are doing is training the mind to meditate.

Concentration
Concentration of the mind can last from a few seconds to several hours. When you perform any task you are focused on it, whether it is tying your shoelaces or following a recipe, and as you know, if the mind is distracted the task takes longer or steps may be missed and mistakes occur.

When a beginner is learning to meditate, it is not easy for the mind to concentrate on the breath or the space between the breath when it is trying to meditate. The beginner mind often needs an object to focus on, then with practice, the mind enters into a meditative state with ease and can focus on light, space, and connect with the Supreme Consciousness.

TRAIN THE MIND TO MEDITATE BY FOCUSING ON A SINGLE OBJECT

Steps for Concentration for Meditation

• Find a pleasing object that holds your interest such as a flower, a lit candle, a rock.

• Sit in a comfortable seated position that you can stay in without fidgeting.

• Gaze at the object without any eye strain. Notice how beautiful it is. Marvel at it's creation.

• After a few minutes, close your eyes and hold the memory of the object in your mind's eye.

• If it disappears, gaze at your object again for a little while longer then close your eyes and concentrate on your chosen image.

• With practice, you will be able to close your eyes and bring the object to mind instantly.

• Now you can focus on more subtle objects such as the breath, inner light, healing sound such as OM.

Benefits of Concentration
Whatever you focus on, your mind forms thoughts, emotions, and actions around a particular stream of thinking.
For example, if you focus on a strawberry, notice the colors and the perfume of the fruit, your mouth waters in memory of how sweet and juicy the fruit tastes and so you decide that you must have one.

During Meditation, when you are able to focus not on physical objects but on pure objects such as love or God, you become like the essence of what you are concentrating on.

You Can Do It
Meditation takes practice, but it is easily doable. Many people struggle because they try it once or twice by attempting to empty the mind, but that is too challenging because the mind is not under control. It keeps on leaping around.

The simple steps above will help you to achieve concentration and take control of the mind.

In turn, you will find that you progress very quickly from holding an external image in your mind to one where you enter into meditation and find the peace and bliss that emerges as a result of meditation.

POSITIVE AFFIRMATIONS

POSITIVE AFFIRMATIONS CHANGE THE MIND LIKE THE CHANGING SEASONS

We all use affirmations hundreds of time every day. However these affirmations are not the ones that we want to continue using. Every thought that you have affirms a choice or a decision that may or may not be in your best interest. They're filled with doubts and negativity, but are powerful nevertheless.

Changing your thoughts and life is possible through the use of POSITIVE AFFIRMATIONS.
They allow you to nurture yourself through kindness and are an internal cheerleader, helping you achieve your goals.

How Affirmations Work
Your mind cannot hold two thoughts at the same time.
You have a choice therefore to replace negative thoughts with powerful positive ones.

Holding a positive affirmation in your mind, carrying it with you, repeating it, believing it, makes the mind less resistant to change and eventually it slips into a positive way of thinking on a deep subconscious level.



All Affirmations must be positive in nature and use the present tense as though you already have what you need in your life and have created the changes that you seek.

When you are open to change, you will see opportunities present themselves before you for you to take hold of and use to your advantage. What you need will come to you, often when least expected. Even if you don't feel ready or prepared enough, accept that it has arrived for a reason and will help you.

You will not be given more than you can cope with. You will grow as an individual and in turn be able to help others by perhaps being the answer to or the completion of an affirmation that they have asked for.

Affirmations for Happiness:
I choose to be grateful and kind
I am successful in all that I do
I am happy
In this moment I am at peace
I have peace in all areas of my life.

Affirmations for Love:
My family life is loving and kind
I choose to give love
All aspects of my being are filled with love

Affirmations for Health:
I am filling each cell with light and creating a new body.
I have abundant energy to complete all my tasks
I am filled with vitality in body, mind, and spirit

Affirmations for Wealth:
All my needs are being met
I have abundance in my life
I receive whatever I need


Affirmations: Positive, Powerful, and Your Key to Happiness

Create Your Own Affirmations

1. All your affirmations must be positive in nature and in the present tense.
2. State your affirmation as though it is already happening.
3. Determine what is important to you, whether it is already a part of your life or not.
4. Decide what you want to have in your life.
5. Write it all down. That way you can see if you are using the correct positive language.
6. Create your list
7. Ignore any negative internal voices that tell you:

• you don't deserve to have...
  
• it won't work
• you're being silly
  

You are starting a new way of thinking and it will take a little while for you to replace your past thoughts and behavior pattern. Have faith in yourself and in your affirmations.
Your affirmations cost nothing but they achieve everything that you need. Throw out the doubting, negative-accepting thoughts and start believing in yourself.

Thoughts can be changed and by doing so you change your life.

Meditation Methods

Meditation Creates Expansion of the Mind

Meditation Methods

Finding Time to Meditate
Meditation is a means of bringing the mind into a singe point of focus until after many months of practice you eventually transcend beyond the point of concentration and all awareness dissipates and you emerge into complete bliss.

The journey to bliss is wonderful and need not be time-consuming. While a regular practice is to be encouraged, your whole life should be a meditation.
The mind loves to be in meditation and the results bring you to a more relaxed and peaceful state of mind and body.
Stress dissipates and you are more creative, happy, healthier, and productive and take an optimistic view on life.

Places to Meditate
You do not need to be seated at home or another quiet place.
I encourage people to practice drawing the mind into a meditative state whenever they have a few minutes to spare e.g. waiting for the kettle to boil, standing in line waiting to be served, when out walking or when you are participating in any other activity that you can think of.


The meditative experience can occur anywhere.

This does not replace your regular daily practice though. It is in addition to your practice to reinforce what you have learned from meditation and to see that meditation is not separate from your life but an integral part of it.

Controlling the Breath
We all breathe, but many people do not breathe correctly, only half-filling the lungs and not absorbing the essential nutrients and energy contained within the breath to enable daily tasks to be performed with vitality and clarity.
Practice slowing the breath down and keeping it slow and steady. This may take only a few breaths or it may take several minutes depending on how experienced you are at meditating.
As the breath becomes slower and deeper, feel the different levels of relaxation that are occurring in the body and mind.
Feel stress ebb away with each exhalation.

Monitor Your Thoughts
During your quiet moment, notice your thoughts then allow them to pass without becoming attached to them. As you practice focusing on the breath, you will notice that the body is relaxed and the mind peaceful.

Over time you will discover that during your daily activities, if disturbed or angry thoughts emerge you will become aware of them as they occur and will be able to replace them with more appropriate thoughts and subsequent behavior.
This results in a more enjoyable and peaceful environment that keeps you tranquil, happy, and more prepared to face what life sends your way. All your interactions become pleasant and devoid of extreme emotional reactions.

Music
Listening to gentle music has been clinically proven to induce relaxation, slow the pulse, and lower blood pressure. It also enables you to enter into a meditative state with ease. If you can walk outside, listen to the sounds of nature and absorb the natural sounds and colors that the world provides.



Natural Sounds enhance the Meditative Experience

If you spend most of your time indoors, a small water fountain that trickles softly can also generate a relaxed response and help you to remain calm and peaceful.

Make Space to Meditate
Remove any items that disturb your environment. Keep the temperature comfortable.
Fill your space with objects that promote serenity and tranquility.
In time, your whole life will become a meditation, free from anxiety, stress and filled with hope and love.

Life Happiness

Happiness is a State of Mind
There is a Sanskrit saying that reads "A man is according to his mind."
If you think that you are happy, you are happy.
If you think that you are miserable, you are miserable.

We make life more complicated than that because of self-imposed restrictions set by the mind. However, you are not bound by the limitations that the mind sets for you, unless you choose to be.

Meditation helps you to rise above the mind and see that the Self is different and separate from the creations of the mind.
The Self is eternally free and Meditation helps you to distinguish your Self from the mind and transcend the mind's perception of reality.

Non-Stick Meditation
When the mind is free from all obstacles, it can view the world clearly. Life will continue to occur around it but the Self is not affected by it. Nothing sticks to the mind. The meditative mind rises above the world and while it sees what is happening around it, it is unaffected by it as though the concerns of the world simply slide right off.

This does not mean though that you become distant or aloof from the world. You live in it, you are a part of it, and you use your new-found compassion to help others reach the calm and tranquil place that you have discovered.

Daily Practice
Practice catching your thoughts, moods, feelings, and alter your thought pattern to reflect a happy state of mind. Notice how you react to what other people are doing and saying and strive to remain centered and at peace.

While reading about and understanding the principles behind meditation are important, even more knowledge and understanding is received during a regular meditation practice.
Without action, nothing is achieved.
Know that there will be days when your practice is smooth and others when you struggle to maintain a connection to a single focus. In time you will overcome all struggles and enter into a meditative state with ease.

New meditation information is added to the site every week with links to my additional articles on how to meditate, reduce stress, and gain inner peace.

Meditation Practice

Meditation Practice
Change is inevitable and it happens all around you from the rising and setting of the sun to the changing seasons. Having a meditation routine can be comforting, reassuring, and safe because of its predictability but without conscious awareness of the content, it can become stale.

Breathing-in New Energy
Life is about balance, harmony, and choice and your meditation practice should reflect the changes that you experience in your own life by enabling you to meet your daily needs and bring healing and knowledge into your life.
Breathing new energy into your daily practice comes through accepting the need for change and surrendering to the possibilities before you.

Embracing Change
Surrendering to subtle shifts of your energy releases built-in issues that are restrictive and negative while enabling you to embrace the potential that lies within.

Photo by Margaret Stockley

The mind compartmentalizes roles, thoughts, and emotions, and meditation helps you to break down limitations. It is a cleansing procedure to go through as you perceive the positive transformation in your physical abilities and in your thoughts and awareness of your surroundings.

Awakening To The Self
Your sense of self and spirit awakens to the freshly created space in your life that is ready to welcome the new. This awareness enables you to remain in the present and listen to your inner wisdom.

Surrendering To Your Meditation
Learning to be in the now enables you to let go of the past while not being afraid of things to come. As you remain in the present, aware of your thoughts, you experience the joy of a deepening sense of purpose and direction that alters how you approach your practice.
Surrendering to anything new can feel as if you are losing control but gradually you develop the ability to still the body and mind and ensure that you free yourself of self-limiting expectations.

Enjoy Your Meditation. There are no limits; only self-imposed ones. So open yourself up to receive and explore the wondrous possibilities that present themselves.

New meditation information is added to the site every week with links to additional articles on how to meditate, reduce stress, and gain inner peace.

Meditation: Spiritual Healing

Meditation is a non-invasive method that heals deeply and enables deeper connection and growth to your spirituality.

Harking back to the past and reliving past mistakes or persistently reminiscing about how things used to be impedes the flow of positive energy in your life.
Wishing that things could be better tomorrow without doing anything constructive detracts from what you can do right now to make a difference.

Spiritual healing comes by recognizing that what you do now, you reap the reward of in the future.

If you do nothing, you get nothing back.

Make Time for Yourself
Taking time every day to reflect quietly on what is required of you through meditation, through developing a slow and rhythmic breath, and through maintaining a still and peaceful mind brings your body and mind into one central place and enables you to understand what you need to do in order to live a life that is in harmony with your innermost desires.

During the silence of meditation and prayer you receive answers in the form of knowledge that flows deep within you.

If thoughts interrupt the quiet exchange when you are in contemplative silence, simply 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 peace in your life.

Your thoughts, your words, and your actions all reflect the state of your inner self. If your mind is troubled, you cannot emit kind, loving, and helpful energy.

Gaining Guidance
It is through meditation that 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 and act upon it.

This enables you to either begin or deepen your spiritual journey, with burdens removed (or shedding one-by-one) and to know that you are not on the journey alone, but are being guided every step of the way.

A stagnant mind that is embedded in the past is unable to move forward. Only when you are infused with the knowledge that arises from meditation can you pass on pure thoughts of loving energy and experience the joy and bliss of living in an atmosphere of purpose and peace.

Acting randomly and with thoughts only of one’s self creates a blockage within the mind, limiting the flow of energy and understanding. You become fixated on one train of thought and are unable to see beyond it.

Meditation brings clarity to your thoughts.

Your Practice
You see beyond the confines of the mind and recognize the good that exists when your thoughts and actions are in harmony with purpose, regardless of other people’s narrow expectations of you or the situation.

With continued practice you will enter into meditation and connect with the spiritual source and be a living example of someone who not only exhibits peace of mind but whose very existence is one of peace and wholeness.

Meditation is Your Spiritual Solution
Meditation is your answer to staying true to your self and your purpose. Whether you choose to use guided meditations, mantras, or embracing your inner light, each step will reinforce relaxation and deepen your understanding of spiritual healing and knowledge.

Meditation:Healing Stress

Meditation: Healing Stress
When you are in control of your thoughts and emotions, you are in control of your physical body and able to view the world with clarity of vision and compassion. You are able to envisage a better way of living and you also gain a unique perspective of viewing the world around you.

We don’t often think about the importance of maintaining awareness of our thoughts. Think about a race car driver though.


He or she cannot risk the mind wandering and thereby losing concentration. It’s easy to see what may happen.

When any aspect of the body is unhealthy, other parts suffer. A stressed mind adversely affects the body if there is no release from the undue tension. Disease spreads if healing is impinged in any way and when one person is in pain they affect others who see their suffering.

As you take care of your home and environment, should you not also look after your living body and the thoughts that you keep?

Your body, thoughts, choices, and mind all undergo many transitions through each stage in life and you have a choice to either respect and maintain your body at each level to enable it to achieve its highest potential, or to consume and do whatever you want with no thought to the end result either on your own body or on the environment around you.

Meditation

Maintaining a healthy life is determined in part by what you eat and drink, how you think and act, and increasing your devotion to a spiritual path.

All decisions lie with you and it is by taking time through meditation that you are able to know what you should be doing and take the steps necessary to stay on the path even if you do not know where the journey will end and have only a rough idea of the destination.

Meditation both frees and clears mind occurs when you remove the existing thoughts and preconceptions that you carry with you everywhere you go.
It sweeps the area clean for a fresh beginning.
Remaining focused on the present, consciously choosing to act in a loving manner, and living in gratitude on a spiritual path directs the mind inwardly and away from distractions.

Through meditation you achieve conscious relaxation and freedom from stress. Meditation gives you the peace that you seek and helps you keep it.


Affirmation
Release yourself from stress using the following affirmations or words of your own choice that meet your daily needs.
You may first speak them aloud then draw the words in and out silently with each breath.

I am relaxed and free
I am at peace
I am loved and accepting of others
I trust my inner self to lead me in the right path.
I am always connected with the Divine Love in the Universe.

If you have any suggestions for meditation articles please write to me from the website (there's a place at the end of each posting to do this) and I'll be happy to write on this subject.
New meditation information is added to the site every week with links to my additional articles on how to meditate, reduce stress, and gain inner peace.

Meditation Benefits

If you've ever wanted to pursue a hobby, diet, or exercise plan and struggled to complete the course, meditation is the solution to your success.


Recent clinical studies have compared what is happening in the brain during the thought process and during meditation. Using fMRI's, they have been able to see the parts of the brain that are involved when you think and when you meditate.

Basically, habits of any kind follow a specific neural pathway within the brain which becomes easier to traverse with each repeated action. This is a good thing otherwise we would all have to re-learn how to dress every morning!

The downside is when a thought or action becomes outdated or is based on fabricated truths where your present experiences continually add to a past experience by telling yourself, "see I knew ... would happen, or so-and-so would be like that."

You are reinforcing past beliefs which have changed over time and are not in fact true any more.

What this means is that your existing habits are well-ingrained and tough to change without assistance. Meditation is the easiest method to use if you are serious about wanting to make a difference in your life.

Brain cells (neurons) switch on and off depending on their specific use, so that your body can successfully function with each body part knowing its role. New thought patterns can be formed, but just like a little-used country path that is covered in undergrowth, it is challenging to walk through at first.


With repeated use it becomes easier to traverse until you can walk through it without any obstacles in your way.

Meditation actually facilitates a new way of thinking.

Rather than rehashing the same experiences, you begin to acquire a different understanding of who you are and what you want based on new and more accurate knowledge of your thoughts and habits.

Meditation promotes relaxation and peace, which the brain likes and wants to return to. When you associate meditation with a new behavior, you actually make it easier to stay on track and not fall back into old habits.

Meditation alleviates struggles and is your very own tool to making life more enjoyable and easier.

Making meditation part of you everyday not only brings peace, but helps you lead the life that you want.

If you have any suggestions for meditation articles please write to me from the website (there's a place at the end of each posting to do this) and I'll be happy to write on this subject.
New meditation information is added to the site every week with links to my additional articles on how to meditate, reduce stress, and gain inner peace.