Veterans Day 2009 Meditation

Before we have today's meditation posting I wanted to simply remind people to pause at 11 a.m. to mark Remembrance Day/Veterans Day. (so called depending on which country you live in.)

The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month marks the signing of the Armistice, on 11th November 1918, to signal the end of World War One.
And so it was that at 11 a.m. on 11 November 1918 the guns of the Western Front fell silent after more than four years continuous warfare.

The following video is a tribute to the men and women who have served or are currently serving in the military, and their families.

For today's meditation, I invite each one of us to pause and take stock of who we are, what we are doing, and how we can make a difference.

Meditation

Freedom to Soar

1. Create Space
Spring-clean your mind. The deeper you dig through the jumble of tired and worn-out behaviors, the easier it becomes to recognize what you need to keep and what you can do without.

2. Let your Light Shine
Don’t judge yourself. Fear of doing what’s right in your life can hold you back. You have the support of a loving Spirit that helps and guides you when asked.

3. Love
There is a peaceful and sacred place deep within you where your Spirit resides. By eliminating negativity, you also exclude judging others and in turn bringing judgment upon yourself.

4. Use the Spiritual Community to Nourish your Needs
No one is an island and what affects people around you in your street, town, and country can alter your own destiny thereby demonstrating how each person is bound to one another.
Create peace, in word and action.
When you consciously endeavor to do no harm to yourself or towards others, you bring lightness into your world.

5. Meditation
Your whole life is a prayer when you are one with the Spirit. Immerse yourself in silence and hear the voice that created the universe.

Love and Light.

SPIRITUAL MEDITATION

Meditation helps you find the tranquil spiritual place that lies within you.

Over 2500 years ago, yoga originated as a means of teaching people to control their bodies and minds, in order to sit in meditation.
Meditation was considered extremely important because of the limitless possibilities that it unveiled. It was viewed as so much more than a medium of relaxation, emotional healing, and relieving stress as is often seen today.
This is like being offered a blank check that has your name written on it and only asking for a dollar of the true worth.

At its heart, meditation is the foundation of spiritual growth. It is a unique pathway that enables you to explore your soul and draw awareness to your actual self that lies deep within.
With meditation, you learn to rise above the perceived restrictions and prejudices that keep you in a habitual pattern of emotional and physical limitations and reveal instead the doorway to the spiritual realm.

In the spiritual realm you can tap into great wisdom, tranquility, and deep healing as you take time to explore your emotions and feelings, while maintaining an open connection to God.

It is here, in your meditation, that you discover your potential, and know the profound love that exists for you. As you bathe in this love, you feel the bliss. There is no place for fear or anxiety to reside. Instead, there is only love, peace, and happiness. This love emerges from the source of Light and this Light fills you and emanates from you. In turn, your light shines on others and they delight in being around you because you help them to feel the love and Light.

This spiritual consciousness brings a shift whereby spiritual gifts will emerge for you to put to good use to help others. The more that you practice meditation, the easier it becomes to enter into meditation, making your meditation deeper and more blissful. Eventually you reach a state of enlightenment where consciousness expands in all directions and becomes limitless. You lose awareness of having a body or breath and realize instead your very soul and its connection to God.

Persist with your practice of meditation and know that its ultimate goal is to help you to grow in your love for your Self, your love for others, your love for the world, and especially in your love for God.

No matter where you are on your own spiritual journey, meditation transcends religious dogma by enabling you to grow closer to and maintain an authentic relationship with God.

Om Shanti Peace

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

Transcendental Meditation

Today is Info Friday where I highlight anything that is relevant to meditation. I’m not involved in any of these products or areas. They are simply something that I thought was interesting and thought you might enjoy too.

David Lynch is a well-known film producer and his current project is taking him into areas far from the world of Hollywood. As one of the biggest proponents of Transcendental Meditation, (TM) he is promoting TM through concerts and videos using well-known musicians such as Paul McCartney and Sheryl Crow via his David Lynch Foundation.
David has practiced meditation for decades and believes it has helped him tremendously in his career and also by increasing his creativity and intuition.

David is currently raising funds to place TM in schools and using his foundation to support Universities of World Peace that will “train the coming generation in a new profession: that of professional peacemaker.”

These schools are open to everyone, regardless of culture or religion and by offering a Consciousness-Based education to children in both elementary and high schools, he believes that a strong foundation for a healthy, harmonious, and peaceful world can be created. Funding is also being streamed into colleges that specialize in this form of meditation, offering classes on philosophy and aspects of meditation and spirituality.

He states, “In today’s world of fear and uncertainty, every child should have one class period a day to dive within himself and experience the field of silence—bliss—the enormous reservoir of energy and intelligence that is deep within all of us. This is the way to save the coming generation.”

Dr William Stixrud, Ph.D., is a clinical neuropsychologist in Silver Spring, Maryland, and specializes in working with children and adolescents. He has studied and lectured frequently on the effects of stress on the brain, particularly the developing brain. “The effects of stress are not pretty. Not only does stress interfere with functions such as attention, memory, organization, and integration, but prolonged stress actually kills brain cells and shrinks the brain’s main memory structures.”

Studies show that schools where the students and teachers participate in meditation are generally free from bullying and aggression. Students are calm, grades improve, and there is an overall positive feeling within the schools.
This program is an innovative tool to eliminate stress and promote healthier physical and learning environments for both students and teachers.

In the following video David explains why meditation and TM in particular, is so important to him personally and why he believes it is important for the world.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2UHLMVr4vg

Transcendental Meditation has been successfully implemented in public and private schools and in after-school programs across the U.S. and around the world, with thousands of students enjoying its benefits (see www.mum.edu).

What role does meditation play in your life and what do you think about schools integrating meditation into the curriculum?

MEDITATION PRACTICE

"Be soft in your practice. Think of the method as a fine silvery stream, not a raging waterfall. Follow the stream, have faith in its course.
It will go its own way, meandering here, trickling there.
It will find the grooves, the cracks, the crevices.
Just follow it.
Never let it out of your sight.
It will take you."

Sheng-yen (807-869 CE)

Are You at Peace?

In the busy, high-pressure, fast expectation environment that we so often find ourselves, it is often challenging to set aside fifteen or twenty minutes a day to be in meditation.
We cling to past thoughts and behaviors hoping that that will be enough to help us deal with unexpected challenges.

Meditation is a means to achieving peace not only during the meditation experience, but during your daily life and interactions with others.
Are you at peace?
What thoughts circulate through your mind about how you perceive yourself or other people?
The thoughts that you think and the words that you speak say a lot about you as a person and influence the way that people treat you. If you are not aware of negativity in your choice of language, your tone of voice, or even the flow of your thoughts, you should not be surprised when your life does not go the way that you hoped.

The awareness that emerges through regular meditation practice is applied in daily thoughts and reactions, ensuring that you only think and say good things.
Firmly held beliefs can be chipped away at and permanently removed by meditation. You no longer need believe that you are undeserving of success, love, or happiness in whatever endeavors you pursue.

Release Attachment

We've all seen someone whose happiness circulates around the material stuff and possessions that they acquire. They are on a seemingly endless quest for more toys, gadgets, and objects with no end in sight. Are they happy? For a short time yes, then they're off looking at something new.
Yoga philosophers such as Patanjali wrote over 2000 years ago of the importance of non-attachment in helping a practitioner achieve peace. While a degree of attachment is necessary to enable us to achieve goals, help those in need, and to nurture those whom we love, the freedom, happiness, and joy that we all seek arises from connecting to the peace that lies within.
The same holds true with your meditation practice. Follow it, never force it, and go where it leads and guides you.

Meditation Holds the Answers

Previous postings give specific details on how to begin to meditate.

During your meditation practice, awareness on the breath slows the thought process down so that you become aware of what you are thinking and can then respond accordingly rather than reactively. For example, by using the breath and a chosen word such as relax, you can direct this energy of the word to tell your body to breathe deeply and slowly.

Replace your old thought patterns with a new phrase.
Start with one thought.
Choose a specific word or phrase that you can repeat during your meditation.
Take a moment right now to listen to your mind and body.

• What is it that you need more of, or less of e.g. more peace, less stress.
• What is preventing you from achieving this goal?
• Decide what you need and be specific rather than too vague and all-encompassing.
• Ensure that what you ask in your affirmation is positive in nature and in the present tense; eg “I am loved” rather than “I will be loved.”
  

Following your meditation, carry one of the affirmations with you throughout the day and soon you will see the changes that you desire manifest in your life as you develop your ability to be more aware and in tune with your thoughts.
You will find that you become less attached to the external world as you uncover the source of real peace.

Putting new thoughts into new actions is not just about producing a new way of thinking though.
It’s about generating a new way of living, discerning and applying the information gleaned from meditation to let go of old ways of reacting to a lifestyle that no longer serves you.

Delight in the peace that is yours to have in abundance.

Follow your stream and see where it takes you.

MEDITATION AND BREATHING

When the breath is calm, the mind and body are also calm.

Power of the Breath
Researchers have found that controlled breathing, guided imagery, and meditation promote not only a positive mental attitude in people being treated for cancer, but provide significant health benefits in supporting the immune system and the overall health of the body, including reduced serum cortisol levels in only 10 weeks.

Blood flow is greater in the lower lungs due to gravity and correct breathing techniques ensure the maximum exchange of carbon-dioxide with oxygen, effectively eliminating toxins and other waste products from the body via the breath.

The breath has a great deal of power over the mind and the body. The main predictor for a long life is your lung capacity. The ability to breathe deeply in a steady and controlled manner has been proven to not only promote health, but increase your life span.

The breath has power not only on a physical level, but on a subtle level too. As you meditate every day, you raise your ability to develop positive awareness in rhythm with your deep and steady breath. When you are faced with challenges and stress in your day-to-day life, you simply have to return to the rhythmic flow of the breath and within a few moments, your pulse rate slows, blood pressure lowers, respiration slows and you continue breathing slowly and deeply until you experience a physical and mental state of calmness that you normally experience during your meditation practice.

Slow and Steady Breathing
As you meditate every day, choose a positive word or phrase and repeat it in rhythm with your slow and steady breath.
Positive thoughts directed to yourself and others help you to stay focused on what really matters.

Examples of positive affirmations are:

I am loved
I am filled with vitality
All is well
I am at peace
I am happy
Peace in my body, mind, and spirit

Breath Influences Your Mood
Each one of us is defined by the choices that we make as they reveal our innermost values and what we hold up as important.
Cultivate a state of optimism in all your thoughts by drawing this understanding to the flow of your breath, during meditation, and all your waking activities.

In time, a slow and steady breath becomes your normal state of being. When the breath is calm, your thoughts and life choices are also calm and appropriate.
Make choices that honor who you truly are and you will create a lifetime of love and happiness.

MEDITATION AND HEALTH

The mind is expansive and not limited to the physical body.

Meditation and Health
A 2007 national Government survey found that more than 20 million adults had used meditation in the past 12 months which is 5 million more than a previous study 5 years earlier. In addition, 725,000 children had practiced meditation.

People use meditation for various physical and emotional problems, such as:

• Anxiety
• Pain
• Depression
• Stress
• Insomnia
• Symptoms associated with chronic illnesses and their treatment, such as heart disease, HIV/AIDS, and cancer.

Meditation also helps promote overall wellness:

• Quality of life
• Spirituality
• Relaxation
• Inner Peace
• Heightened connectivity
• Improved relationships

Mind-Body medicine has proven that psychological factors in the way that an individual thinks affects their clinical symptoms with either positive or negative effects depending on a persons mood and train of thoughts.

Meditation can significantly slow down the progression of degenerative diseases and improve blood pressure, reduce stress, and enhance the effects of rehabilitation techniques in conditions such as cardiac care and cancers.

Pain Reduction
Evidence from a variety of studies has shown that meditation lowers or even completely alleviates pain. One study with a master meditator showed that he was able to withstand pain that was inflicted upon him during his meditation session. fMRI of his brain mapped out the areas within the brain that were affected and showed meditation calming the brain down to ignore the pain. Meditation switched off the receptors that the brain used to transmit the awareness of experiencing pain.

In addition to improving an individual’s quality of life, meditation helps with the ability to sleep through the night, cope with daily issues, and improve the outlook on life including raising overall hope and expectations.
This means reductions in pain and nausea, reductions in use of medications, fewer trips to visit the doctor, and a feeling of well-being and improved health. Life becomes livable as the mind focuses on the present, not on the difficulties of the past or what may happen in the future.

The Meditative Brain
Meditation creates positive changes within the mind and the body that are both physiological and emotional. The National Center for Complimentary Medicine states the following:
Some types of meditation might work by affecting the autonomic (involuntary) nervous system. This system regulates many organs and muscles, controlling functions such as the heartbeat, sweating, breathing, and digestion. It has two major parts:

• The sympathetic nervous system helps mobilize the body for action. When a person is under stress, it produces the "fight-or-flight response": the heart rate and breathing rate go up and blood vessels narrow (restricting the flow of blood).

• The parasympathetic nervous system causes the heart rate and breathing rate to slow down, the blood vessels to dilate (improving blood flow), and digestive juices to increase.

Each system of the body is not an independent self-directed system; rather they each have 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.
Meditation produces actual changes in brain function which in turn creates new neural pathways that assist in new habits, the ability to monitor thoughts and feelings, and your ability to choose appropriate actions.

Meditation improves your health. Can you afford not to meditate?

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

INNER CHILD GUIDED MEDITATION

Meditation helps You to See and Embrace the Wonders of All Life

The Inner child is a term used in psychology to describe an aspect of a person’s psyche as though it were a separate being. It lies beneath the layers of adulthood that mask the innocence and clarity with which a child views the world. The Inner Child is often used as a means of addressing emotional memories stemming from childhood and connecting to the child within can help guide you to speak from your heart and the source of truth.

The following Guided Meditation is a means of rediscovering the dreams held by a child, exploring a child’s view of looking at the world through wondrous eyes, and remembering hopes and dreams that will help you find your passion.

Before you enter into your meditation, create an appropriate environment or sacred space by lighting a candle. See yourself sitting in a safe place surrounded by the light of the sun. Feel its warm embrace nurturing you.

Guided Meditation
Sit in your chosen seated position for meditation with your back supported and the spine as straight as possible. Sit in as upright a position as you are able with your hands in a relaxed manner by your sides or on your lap. The feet are placed with the sole of the foot flat on the ground.

If you are sitting on the floor, choose your most comfortable seated position. If you are able, try placing the heel of one foot in front of the ankle of the other foot without discomfort and maintain this position for the length of time of the meditation.

The hands are relaxed and resting either on your lap or by your hips.

With the eyes gently closed, begin your meditation.
Inhale slowly and begin to notice your breath. Exhale slowly and steadily.
And continue.

Breathe steadily into the base of the lungs, feeling the belly rise gently. Exhale and release the breath in a steady stream.

Never force the breath.

And continue, concentrating on keeping each breath of equal length; breathing slowly in, exhaling slowly out.

Draw awareness to the breath until the breath is slow steady and rhythmical

If the flow of the breath is uneven, make any adjustments necessary to maintain a steady breath.

Keep your body and inner focus relaxed.

With each lengthened exhalation feel the body relax even further, staying focused only on the rhythmic flow of the breath. Feel the facial muscles relax, the shoulders drawing down and away from the ears.

With each controlled inhalation fill your body with the energy of your breath.
With the exhalation feel the arms relax, releasing further away from the body.

Feel loved and safe, surrounded by the love from the light.
Continue with this technique until you feel extremely relaxed.

See you Inner Child sitting beside you.
Hold onto your Inner Child’s hand

Feel the warmth of the hand and the embrace of the light

Hold your Inner Child to you and let your heart open
Feel light and love envelop both of you

Listen to anything that your Inner Child has to say
Tell your child that you hear what they are telling you and that you love them

Spend as long as you need to, listening to anything that you hear or experience.

All obstacles melt away
Feel joy and happiness and that life is good

Continue to hold your Inner Child as you embrace life together
Let the child dissolve into the light while you remain surrounded by the light.
Feel renewed and aware of all that life has to offer.
Draw on the energy of the light at any time.

Animals Live in the Present and Seize Moments to Play

After Your Meditation
Delight in the basic joys of life; a sunset, birds flying, colors on tree bark, the feel of grass between your toes, a refreshing drink.
Let yourself laugh and play more without fear of what others may think.
Balance work, rest and play.
See life for the precious gift that it is.

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 Spirituality

Meditation and Spirituality

How does meditation help you deepen your spirituality?
This is a vast subject with enough material for a book but I will mention some key points so that you will know that when you are meditating you are doing more than relaxing; you are getting to know, deepening, and expanding your spiritual self.

With regular practice, meditation enables you to gain control over the mind by stopping it from leaping around from one thought to another. This ability to concentrate also brings with it self-discipline. From here, the mind becomes pure as it focuses only on that which is beneficial and good.

The purpose of meditation is to connect with the Creator. Many people get distracted on the way by the feelings of peace and relaxation that they acquire and end up going no further than trying to achieve more and more relaxed, when all the while a greater experience lies ahead.

What does it mean to live a spiritual life?
Spirituality is a personal experience and is a journey of education and fulfillment. This means that people are at different places on their journey of discernment, but only when you enter the spiritual path and invite Spiritual guidance into your being do you begin leading the life you were born to live. You have an unwavering guide within you who will help you identify the choices that you need to make in your life.

You are the person responsible for making choices and changes. You have the freedom to decide when and if you are going to move away from the negativities of the past and move forward. The Spirit is never pushy and it will never make decisions for you but is always there. When you find yourself in situations that are troubling, ask for guidance.

Meditate Daily
Your meditation practice speeds up the process of identifying problem areas. The veil that covered the mind is removed and you see into the mind clearly. Here you can acknowledge the aspects hidden deep within the shadows of your mind and to set about removing them.

Clear away the debris that blocks the mind from leading a successful and productive life and transform your life anew. Practice fresh feelings of honesty and forgiveness, non-judgment and peacefulness.

Release demanding traits that are defining a lifestyle that you do not want. Enter a state of harmony and bliss by stilling the mind, surrendering to change, and reaching the highest level of awareness that enriches and nourishes you.

Meditation Strengthens Serenity
Meditation focuses your energy on the spirit. It redirects it to a place of Bliss that cannot be described, merely experienced.
Meditation brings clarity and peace and also directs all the energy involved in thinking to a single-pointed focus where it connects with the Creator.

Intuition
Trust what you sense deep within you. Listen to the still small voice inside you and hear what it is saying. Trusting in your intuition endows you with the skills to embark upon new challenges and adventures in life.

Meditation helps you see the way forward.

Visualize and Speak your Prayers
Change the way you act by acting as though what you ask for in meditation and prayer has occurred. The pressure is off you as peace arises and guidance from within moves through your life.

Meditation and Spirituality
Meditation equips you with confidence and gladness as you witness yourself succeeding in overcoming old behavior patterns. You understand that you have the tools to help you complete each step on your path. Unwavering Bliss permeates your life both during meditation and following it.

Your whole life becomes a meditation. Your whole life becomes Bliss.

When you offer your inherent gifts of kindness and generosity freely, you feel enriched and renewed by knowing that you are compassionate and doing work that helps humanity.
You owe it to yourself and to the world to live the fullest life possible, assured in the love that is awaiting you.

What you give out, you receive back.
If your thoughts and actions are positive and loving, you will receive this from others and your needs filled in abundance. You learn to live your life free from negativity.

Meditation and Peace
Inner peace comes from helping others. Living a contented life that embodies the positive benefits of connecting with the energy of the Spirit is within your reach. You gather strength in getting to know people and their unique perspectives and skills.
Keep your heart and mind open.
Become a person whose life is spiritually strong and open to the possibilities in everyone.

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.

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: Inner Peace

Peace

Noise is everywhere; in the streets, in shops, even inside your head when you keep replaying past conversations. Sounds of laughter, crying, shouting, and music can affect your mood even when it is in the background and you are not aware of paying it very much attention.

So when life gets so hectic and fast paced and you say to yourself, “I just want a break. I need some peace,” where do you go to find it?

A spa? A sacred place of worship? A stroll in the park or by the ocean? A library?

Finding peace can be a temporary fix. When you leave the confines of your special haven, relieved of stress and anxiety, you return to the noise and disruption you faced earlier and before too long you find yourself longing for both the peaceful feelings that you experienced and solitude again.

True lasting peace will not be found if the tranquil place is an external one.

Lasting peace is cultivated over a period of time, provided it is given the right environment so that you can first recognize it, and then enable it to deepen its roots and strengthen over time.

When to Find Peace

Now is the best time. Don’t wait until you think you’re life is so organized that you can step straight into a tranquil existence.

It is through meditation that you experience serenity and tranquility. You create a memory for it within your mind and body.

When feelings of anxiety or stress come upon you, you can draw on the skill-set of meditation and return the breath to a slow and steady state. In doing so you calm the mind and the body, creating a situation that promotes calmness and freedom from worry.

Make Time to Meditate

Meditation is like any other skill, whether it’s tying your shoes or driving a car. It takes practice to learn how to do it. Over time, your meditation practice helps your concerns to dissolve and gives you the knowledge to know how to stay calm in all situations.

You learn how to release the issues that prevent you from experiencing joy and as you go deeper into your meditative practice, you learn how to free yourself from fear and worry.

By tapping into the calmness within, you move into a meditative state with ease and carry the inner peace with you in all your activities.

Meditation leads to peace.

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.