BENEFITS OF PRANAYAMA

Prana is the essence of ALL life.

BENEFITS OF PRANAYAMA

The essence of the breath is Prana; the life-force of the body. The breath removes impurities from the body and puts fuel into the body. By mindfully consuming the right foods, maintaining a regular meditation practice, and living a lifestyle that promotes good health you will assist yourself in achieving a purer prana which is, at its core, your life-energy.

You have the right amount of energy within you to complete your life path but all too often, there are distractions and obstacles that stand before you, sapping your strength and vitality.

Energy is increased by staying ever-present and aware to the needs of your body, mind, and spiritual path. When you increase the energy, you allow your life purpose to manifest.

Silencing the vibrations of the breath silences the vibrations of the mind. Monitoring the flow of the breath means that you can tell when the breath is rapid, uneven, and shallow. Always be aware of its expansive nature. When the breath flows smoothly, it cleanses the energy points within and enables your life energy to flow smoothly.

Prana is derived from pra, meaning continuous and na, meaning movement. With each breath, the body relaxes while the breath flows in and out. Feel the life-energy (prana) that flows through the vehicle of the breath. The breath and mind are interrelated and when you control one the other is controlled.

Yogis believe that decreasing the amount of breaths per minute increases the life span. (Animals that breath rapidly have a shorter lifespan.)
Keeping track of your thoughts helps you to notice changes in the breath where it is flowing in a disrupted pattern.
It also enables you to slowly deepen and extend the length of the breath.

Benefits of Pranayama

1. Creates and maintains the natural way to breathe.
2. Massages the internal organs and strengthens abdominal muscles
3. Reduces stress and tension
4. Helps in maintaining a relaxed body and mind
5. Opens the chest; frees the breath
6. Maintains a healthy diaphragm
7. Creates rhythmic breathing
8. Increases life-energy by taking in more oxygen than the normal, shallow breathing and making oxygen exchange efficient.
9. Strengthens the heart and regulates blood pressure
10. Revitalizes the blood
11. Gives abdominal muscle control
12. Stimulates all physiological functions
13. Reduces stress and anxiety
14. Develops a positive state of mind as the breath and mind are interrelated
15. Aids in balancing the emotions
16. Increases circulation to the head
17. Deepens concentration by listening to the sound of the breath
18. Provides steady oxygenation. Increases the elimination of toxins from the lungs
19. Slows the breath and increases breath retention
20. Strengthens the heart and lungs and creates good communication between them
21. Heats the body and energizes the mind
22. Relieves Sinus congestion, headaches, nausea, and other imbalances
23. Cleanses the air passages
24. Removes impurities from the lungs, purifying the blood
25. Cleans residual air from the lungs
26. Helps cells eliminate carbon dioxide while becoming saturated with oxygen
27. Stimulates cellular respiration, which produces warmth throughout the body
28. Strengthens the diaphragm and circulation on blood
29. Gives control over abdominal muscles while reducing excess fatty tissues in this area
30. Calms the nervous system
31. Invigorates the pineal and pituitary glands
32. Increases the lung capacity
33. Steadies and calms the mind
34. Balances the male (rational) and the female (intuitive) energies, bringing good physical and mental health to the body and mind
35. Creates alpha brain waves


The average number of breaths per minute is 15.
The average number of breaths in 24 hours is 21,600
Slowing the breath down can increase the life span.

METHOD

• Inhale, slowly breathing into the base of the lungs with a full breath.
• Breathe into every space of the lungs.
• Exhale, releasing the breath in a slow and steady stream.

Give full attention to your breath and notice what you are experiencing physically, as well as what you are feeling, thinking and doing.
Notice the relaxation that occurs within your body and mind and draw on this tranquil feeling by bringing awareness to the rhythmic flow of the breath at any time that you feel that you have moved from a point of peace.

Om Shanti Peace

Copyright 2009 Margaret Stockley

PEACE AND HARMONY

Create Peace and Harmony Within Your Thoughts.

PEACE AND HARMONY

A life that is over-worked, stressed, and flits from one crisis to another is usually a life that is living in confusion and chaos with a mind in inner turmoil. If prolonged, this can lead to accidents, illnesses, and unhappiness and no knowledge of a way out of the present situation.

The demands of daily living are not exactly conducive to a life of tranquility but every day you are presented with a myriad of choices.
If you were to monitor your thoughts, would they be assertive, encouraging, affirmative, hopeful, loving to your self or other people or even towards situations?

When you are relaxed and happy, you put others at ease too. Plus, other people like to be around you as your positive energy level rises and in turn, people feel happier when they are around you too.

A peace and harmony meditation allows you to develop calm and peaceful feelings that you can feel within yourself as well as emit to the world in general. As clarity of mind evolves, you discover that through the inner silence you can discern how to utilize your thoughts for the better.

As more people learn how to meditate upon peace and draw harmony and serenity to themselves, their meditation practice will allow more people to live in tranquility.

AFFIRMATIONS
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.

I choose to see only the best in myself and other people
I am happy with who I am
I bring light and love to everyone I meet
I take time every day to meditate
I think, say, and do supportive and loving thoughts and actions

IN PRACTICE
The stillness of your mind will evolve and become natural through contemplation of all the energies that are positive and stem from love.
Developing a single point of focus through both meditation and the practice of affirmations will silence the worries and fears that prevent you from remaining calm and living in peace and harmony.
When you focus only on what is good, there is no room for negativity to set up residence and so it will dissolve away.
Loving kindness will flow through you and surround you, and extend to everyone that you come into contact with.

Om Shanti Peace

Meditation and Light

Life has ebbs and flows and can change direction when you least expect it.

Change continues to be a theme for today as so many people that I have been meeting at the moment are finding that aspects of their lives have ended and new opportunities are beginning. Quite what the future holds is uncertain, but the ability to embrace change while remaining accepting and calm with the transformation that is now occurring.

Last week, one friend so eloquently said the following words:

“change is a part of the flow~ change is always life~ change is moving the life”

While plans and strategies are useful to help us to focus and aim for goals, the curve balls that sometimes head our way mean that we do have to move out of the way and head in a different direction. This does not mean that the path you have been following is wrong; rather it may simply mean that it has run its comfortable familiar course and now it’s time for new growth, challenges, and opportunities.

It can be hard to know why a situation has occurred, but meditation helps you to recognize what needs to change and what needs to stay. This change may have happened suddenly, but for many people it is a gradual and slow development.

Before you enter your meditation session, invite the spirit of truth to enter your awareness. This spirit will lead you to the light and guide you on your next path of this journey.
Maintain focus on the light within and trust that what is revealed during your meditation will continue to direct you during your everyday life.

Following your meditation practice, it’s always helpful to remember that change will happen regardless of our desire to maintain the status quo.

Every moment becomes a meditation moment as you continue to walk in and follow the light.