Study: Meditation Can Help Adults and Children with ADHD

By Alvaro Fernandez

Travel back, in your mind's eye, to a time when you felt a healthy exhaustion after hiking, biking, playing sports.., and let you re-live that moment as vividly as you can.

Then, remember, re-experience, a loving exchange that really touched you. Pause. See your partner. See the moment. Smell it. Hear what happened around you.

Next, visualize the most caring gesture you have ever received, as full of details as possible. Who gave you that gift of caring. How you felt.

Now, travel to the most magnificent place you have seen. Enjoy the views. Pause. Listen. Smile. Appreciate.

Congratulations. You have trained your brain. As Newsweek's Sharon Begley explained recently:

"But now neuroscientists have documented how "mere" thoughts can also sculpt the brain. Just thinking about playing a piano piece, over and over, can expand the region of motor cortex that controls those fingers; just thinking about depressive thoughts in new ways can dial down activity in one part of the brain that underlies depression and increase it in another, leading to clinical improvement."

We have talked about the value of meditation before. Only a few days ago, in predicting brain health trends for the next 5 years, I wrote that:

"Noncomputer-based programs will also prove to be effective tools. Research increasingly is affirming the value of such methods as meditation to train attention and regulate emotions, using cognitive therapy to build self-motivation and other abilities, and keeping a gratitude journal to affirm positives in one's life and improve self-reported happiness.

A fascinating new study (Mindfulness meditation training in adults and adolescents with ADHD. Journal of Attention Disorders, 11, 737-746) suggests the benefits of mindfulness for adolescents and adults with attention deficits.

Let's see what Dr. David Rabiner, Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University, has to say about the topic:

"Mindfulness meditation is described as involving 3 basic steps: 1) bringing attention to an "attentional anchor" such as breathing; 2) noting that distraction occurs and letting go of the distraction; and, 3) refocusing back to the "attentional anchor". This sequence is repeated many times during the course of each meditative session. As the individual becomes better able to maintain focus on the attentional anchor, the notion of "paying attention to attention" is introduced and individuals are encouraged to bring their attention to the present moment frequently during the course of the day."

"By directing one's attention to the process of paying attention, to noticing notice when one becomes distracted, and to refocusing attention when distraction occurs, mindfulness meditation training can be thought of as an "attention training" program. As such, examining the impact of such training on individuals with ADHD becomes a very interesting question to pursue."

The Results of the study?

Seventy-eight percent of participants (25 of 33) completed the study. On average, participants attended 7 of the 8 weekly training sessions. Adults reported an average of 90 minutes and 4.6 sessions per week of at-home meditation practice; adolescents averaged 43 minutes and 4 sessions of weekly at-home practice. Both adolescents and adults who completed the program reported high levels of satisfaction with it - average scores above 9 on a 1 to 10 satisfaction scale.

Seventy-eight percent of participants reported a reduction in total ADHD symptoms, with 30% reporting at least a 30% symptom reduction (a 30% reduction in symptoms is often used to identify clinically significant improvement in ADHD medication trials). Because the majority of participants were receiving medication treatment, for many these declines represent improvement above and beyond what benefits were already being provided by medication.

On neurocognitive test performance, significant improvements were found on the measure of attentional conflict and on several other neuropsychological tests (i.e., Stroop color-word test and Trails A and B) but not for measures of working memory.

For adults, significant reductions in depressive and anxiety symptoms were reported. Comparable reductions in these symptoms were not evident in adolescents

In short: in order to fight Attention Deficits...may it not make sense to develop the "mental muscles" to Pay Attention?

Copyright (c) 2008 SharpBrains

Alvaro Fernandez is the CEO and Co-Founder of SharpBrains.com, which covers the brain fitness field including products developed by Posit Science and Dakim. SharpBrains has been recognized by Scientific American Mind, Newsweek, Forbes. Alvaro holds MA in Education and MBA from Stanford University, and teaches The Science of Brain Health at UC-Berkeley Lifelong Learning Institute. You can learn more at http://www.sharpbrains.com/

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Use Guided Meditation To Realize Your Goals

By Laurie Raphael

We all deal with so many stressors in todays society that we become overwhelmed and cannot handle things and therefore, miss our goals. We need to learn to deal with the stress in our lives in order to make and meet goals and be successful in our day to day lives.

Facing stress is effortless. You will see that positive change can happen if you meditate on the positive as it happens.

Many people profess that stress is negative energy that destroys the human mind. This is true if you let it. Force can build positive results. Negative stressors, such as death, monetary burdens, illnesses, grievance, and so on can give good turnarounds stock to you providing you take time to meditate, contemplating on the big picture. For example, if a loved one passes on of some disease, you can turn the negative stress in to positive results by striving harder to avoid poor health conditions that could prove cataclysmic.

Instead of looking at debt as a grievance, think of it as a challenge. Sit down and meditate, thinking of great ideas to reduce some of your debt. Illnesses should move you to work toward medical management. If you become injured think of ways to try harder.

Do you see where thinking positive could lead you? Now that we design to abolish negative incidents leading the mind to positive thinking, we can make suggestions to consider positive actions leading to our success. For instance, if you purchased a home, did you sit down and take some time to meditate to see if you could repay the loan by the end of the designated term? With any new home comes, monetary obligations, other responsibilities, and so forth. Buying a new home is a gamble. Now you have the stress of worrying for the following five, 15, or 30 years if you can repay the amount owed without defaulting. Stress may mount up, yet if you entertain new ideas, you may resolve to see a way through it.

To help you see how positive thinking works along with dealing with stress by relating to the stressors that come your way. When we become overwhelmed by stress it often prevents us from meeting our goals. You need to find a way to deal with stress as it is a part of daily life. When you overthink a situation you cause yourself stress. Try to realize how you understand, disect and label your ideas.

Learn to relax and meditate over your ideas in order to make positive decisions. They failed to meditate to think through the problem carefully.

After you learn to relax, you will commence to represent a clear mind that will bring you to goal realization, in turn enabling you to develop new skills. Meditation promotes forward-looking energy and thinking.

At times when you approach an idea, the goal is to consider it carefully and in detail enabling you start developing new skills from new beliefs. The key is teaching your mind to reach the goal.

Probe into some meditative strategies to discover what works best for you. Meditating each day will benefit you in your self-development processes. Probe in your mind and discover helpful information that may help you into meditating successfully.

Thought works in a few ways. That is, meditation intermittently helps you to find what works best for you. You commence to comprehend your goals and can then set plans to reach those goals. Meditation is searching to give in. When you meditate, you can envision possible changes to enable you to overcome the stress in your life. Meditation will eliminate detrimental thinking by replacing it with positive thinking so that you can see your values more clearly and develop your talent more readily.

Get the comprehensive report on Guided Meditation at: http://alternativemedicinebasics.com/meditationreport

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Tantric Active Meditation

By Angelique Shofar

"The treasure is hidden within you as much as it was hidden in Buddha or Christ."

I am a Goddess! The very pronunciation of these 4 powerful words evoke and put light on the Goddess essence I embody. Sometimes I forget that I am a Goddess and my actions and words have me scrambling and struggling to become the Goddess I already am. I may get fixated on what I must do each day to ultimately gain the sensual shawl of a Deity. Again, I forget who I already am. The loss of conscious memory changes my entire world keeping me outside my true self.

The same concept applies to spirituality. It is commonly thought that spirituality is a difficult attainment. Yet it is neither difficult nor an attainment. According to Osho's Tantra philosophy, whatsoever you are, you are already spiritual. Nothing new is to be added to your being and nothing is to be discarded from your being. You are as perfect as possible. It is not that you are going to be perfect sometime in the future. It is not that you have to do something spectacular or incredible to be yourself. You are already there.

If spirituality is some attainment than of course it is going to be difficult - not only difficult but really impossible. If you are not already spiritual, you cannot be, you never can be, because how can one who is not spiritual be spiritual. If you are not divine already then there is no possibility, there is no way. No matter what effort you will make, effort made by one who is not already divine can not create divinity. If you are not divine, your effort can not create divinity. Then it is impossible.

And so this logically destructive cycle continues and humans are lost, confused and in the dark about life and living, being and existing. They are struggling and trying too hard, being tense and tight in the process, - living in the world of the mind. Ask them where they're going... they don't know!

I love how Osho puts it so simply in his manuscript of The Book of the Secrets. He reminds us that the ultimate is already the case. It is already here. No need to struggle to get a PhD or win a Pulitzer Prize or some distinguished award to attain. Simple techniques can help. It is no longer an attainment but instead - a discovery. It is hidden, and it is hidden in very very small things.

The personality is just like clothes. Your body is there but hidden behind the clothes you wear; in the same way your spirituality is here, hidden in certain clothes. These clothes are your personality that you put on. You can be naked physically and spiritually. But you do not know because you've been wearing and hiding behind those clothes for so long. You forgot how to be naked, how to see your true, raw beautiful and divine essence. You've been too busy covering up your real self. You have become the clothes you wear. That is the only barrier!!

We are already that which will be, which should be, which are to be. The future hides in the present. All possibilities are here in the moment as a seed. Only we need to take off our clothes, or break a foggy window in our house (the body) or a small surgical procedure may be required to remove the cataract in order to come into one's vision. Small efforts rather than big ones will reveal what lies hidden in the divine treasure you carry.

Yet we live in a very dramatic world. Glitters, psychedelic lights, huge TV & theater screens, heavy machinery, overwhelming technology, fast fuel injected cars, oil, diamonds, and the pursuit of money and material things. Gosh, having to measure up to all those big things can be pretty overtaxing and strenuous on any individual. Imagine thinking and believing that you have to do something so big, so grand, and so humongous to become spiritual or enlightened. That is a lot of pressure in itself. No wonder on one gets there. It's just not how energy and the law of nature work.

The way is small, no big effort or production is necessary, only small efforts, in fact, the smaller, the better. And effortlessly is even better. Why is it that the more one tries, the harder it is to attain? Like trying to get pregnant or trying hard to find a partner to settle down with and marry. Your very effort, your tension, your occupiedness, your longing, your expectation becomes the barrier. With a very small effort, an effortless effort as they call it in Zen - doing as if not doing - it happens quite easily! The more madness you apply, the less the possibility because one is using a sword where only a needle is required.

So you are asking if something is smaller how can a bigger step be possible. The concept is irrational and unscientific. Even science - with its limitations - knows that the smaller the particle the bigger the bang or the effect. What is an atomic bomb made of? Very small atoms! Who would have ever conceived before that era that 2 atomic explosions would completely wipe out two big cities in Japan - Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Two hundred thousand people were simply wiped out of existence in seconds. And what was the force used? An atom! The very smallest particle - blew up 2 cities. You can not see the atom. Not with your eyes, not by any means. It can not be seen with any instrument only the effects can be seen. Are you with me?

Tantra is concerned with the atomic secrets in the human being, in the human mind, in human consciousness. Tantra contains atomic secrets and atomic methods. If you can attain those methods, then results will be explosive, cosmic. The formula is small but the results are massive.

In my Tantric meditation - simple full body movements and simple isolated body part movements can bring about a big shift in one's energy field, in ones consciousness, in ones being, in ones life. It only took one sitting to feel the energy moving itself into a state of equilibrium. I only sat still and watched it happen like magic. It felt so good that I began to do it easily and effortless throughout the day. And I was excited to bring my son in on this. And with him, he immediately had a bowel movement. As the energy in me shifted from the upper quadrant of my shoulders, neck, facial muscles, my chest and heart became lighter and freer. That very day I got a stream of emails and messages inquiring about my serves and the opportunity to teach yoga classes. I was amazed, stunned and laughing my ass off! I remembered that I am already a Goddess!! I am in my Goddess state of being. Nothing more, nothing less! Now my fire is ignited and I am in motion again. Now I must share the secrets with you and keep spreading the Goddess love everywhere.

Join me for a free introductory Osho inspired Tantric Meditation with the use of stones.

Angelique Shofar is a sexual wellness & sensual lifestyle coach; a tantric yoga/dance teacher & freelance writer. She facilitates sensual~ cultural events, retreats & workshops around holistic sexuality, wellness & empowerment. She is the founder and director of The Spirit of Wellness. Visit her online at: http://thesexualgriot.typepad.com and her blog at http://sexualgriot.blogspot.com Email her at: thesexualgriot@gmail.com

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Meditation, Yoga and Occidental Medicine

By Werner Boersch

The Yoga discipline - centuries old - is nowadays more valid than ever, she provides the means to combat the lack of inner equilibrium, that the actual rhythm of life so frequently inducts.

For a great number of illnesses are the psychosomatic origins already mostly accepted, especially in the psychological and psychiatric practice.

Often has been asserted a very close relation between psychic components and the symptoms of illnesses in the gynecology, and most times is it sufficient to affront the relations between the psychic components and the symptoms to resolve the accused disturbs. To do so is it frequently sufficient to deal out with the problems that arise in course of a dialogue.

Insuring the person, that her ills does not reckons from an organic alteration but from a modification of the functionality of the organs, induced likelihood from his life-style, opens already afresh possibility for her to relate to his own body.

Evidently is the equation "realizing - recovery" not always that immediately and most importantly, if such disturbs are of an older date, is a long work of unblocking involved before the person can refind his lost equilibrium.

The advantage of Hatha Yoga and its exercise is to allow us to retrieve possess of our whole body, which is a result that goes widely over dissolving only illnesses.

As son of the western science, I tried to find a justification for the therapeutic results received from Yoga; for this I examined the "Chakra's" (centers of energy) for every yoga position, looking for the nervous points that are involved and stimulated through the particularly yoga posture which the body assumes in such asana's.

Sure that's not a scientifically research but I hope that it induces the skeptically to a major reflection of the possibility of "self-cure" what resides inside our bodies, acknowledged since thousands of years and neglected and disregarded or ignored in western hemisphere since too much time.

For to understand how a Yoga posture acts, we have first to know the Chakra (center of energy), which it stimulates. The Chakra's- literal meaning "wheel"- are the psychophysically centers of our body. We have very much of them thoroughly our body crossed from little conveyer channels of energy (Nadi), and some of them we have in our astral body.

The principal Chakra's are six, of which the spinal colon is the central axle (Sushumma), and two are the secondary ones.

On the base of our sacrum resides the Chakra "Muladhara", which in relation with the plexus sacralis and the ganglion coccygeal regularizes the feet's, the function of excretions and childbirth, stimulates the speech communication and regulates the olfactory modality.

On the level of the vulva (the penis base) resides the Chakra "Svadhisthana"; it commands in relation with the plexus uterus ovary (spermatic) the ovary, the loins, the suprarenal glands and the lower abdominal area, the legs and the gustatory modality.

The Chakra "Manipura" resides nearby our umbilicus; it controls in relation with the solar plexus the stomach and the intestine; manages the digestion and assimilation, and is connected with the menstrual cycles and influences the visual sense.

To the right of "Manipura" we find the "Surya" Chakra (small center of the sun), commanding the functions of the liver; on the left side of "Manipura" is situated the "Chandra" Chakra (small center of the moon), which act's onto the pancreas and spleen.

In the thoracic region, located right behind the heart is the Chakra "Anahata". It regulates and controls in relation with the plexus cardiacus the functions of the thymus gland, the tactile sense, the penis and the blood circulation, the respiration as the deglutination and the locomotors system.

Situated on the base of the neck is the "Vishuddha" Chakra that in relation with the plexus pharyngeal is connected with the thyroid gland and controls the auditory modality, the skin, the mouth and the respiration.

In the head (in the centre between the eyes brown), is situated the "Ajna" Chakra connected with the hypophysis (pituitary gland).

By exercising Hatha Yoga, one or more of those Chakras becomes stimulated, in base of the different postures (the asana's), and creates so the necessary energy for the correct function of the organs that correspond to those centers.

by Werner Boersch

To enjoy all the benefits of Meditation, to attain fast real results, to discover Your Higher Self, Your Spirituality, to Live in the Flow of Your true Nature, to let your soul be set in harmonically emotional vibrations alike the musical harmony of meditation music, to meditate easily without obstructions, practice your Meditation-Sessions with scientifically backed brainwave Meditation Music aka binaural beats.To enjoy all the benefits of Meditation and Buddhism teachings to discover Your Higher Self, Your Spirituality, to Live in the Flow of Your true Nature, to boost your Personal Development check out my Blog.

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Pushing Through a Difficult Period of Zen Meditation

By Ted Hanulak

The following article deals with the "counting of breaths" meditation in Soto Zen. The first thing that you should understand about Zen meditation is that there is no "bad" meditation period. Struggle is good. When thoughts start flowing in and you think you are going to loose your mind, that is when the battle begins! Usually when you are taken in by extraneous thoughts you should simply just go back to your counting. If it seems to be extra difficult, then I would recommend the following:

Clearing the Mind

Take a moment to relax. Close your eyes and try to turn your eyeballs backwards as if you are attempting to look backwards. Do this for about 30 seconds. After 30 seconds, relax your eyes forward again and resume your counting. You may find that you have to do this a couple of time before it works. This may sound strange but it will work.

Kyosaku Stick

If you are sitting with a group or "sangha" that utilizes a monitor, the kyosaku stick is your best friend. Many groups allow you to raise your hand to ask for the kyosaku stick. Others will use it at the monitors discretion. The kyosaku stick is a flat stick that is used to strike the meditator's back and shoulders in the muscular area between the shoulder blades. This will stimulate your body and mind to push forward.

Kinhin - Walking Meditation

Kinhin is traditionally used for in between meditation periods. It helps stretch out the legs and also clear the mind. If your sitting alone and it gets unbearable, rather than quit, get up and walk around your house for a couple of minutes. During this time, try to only think about walking. feel the carpet under your feet. Be aware of every step you take. After a couple of minutes, sit down again and resume your meditation.

These are just a couple of ideas to help get through "difficult" meditation periods.

Ted Hanulak is the head instructor / Sensei of the Japanese martial art of Senso-Ryu Aikijutsu. He teaches Aikijutsu and Zen meditation out of the Aikijutsu Academy of Indianapolis

http://www.aiki-jutsu.com

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The Awesome Benefits of Meditation

By Zula Ron

Meditation is making a strong comeback in today's world. Stressed out business people and all sorts of different groups have found this old technique for its many benefits.

Meditation will help restore your energy, rejuvenating your body and leave you feeling calm and ready to face the rest of the day.

There have also been claims that meditation is a good way to cut down on the sleep you need. Meditation is different then sleep. Its a different kind of deeper relaxation. During meditation, the mind is able to rest more intensively and concentrated, than it is with sleep. Meditation will help calm the mind, relax the body and refocus the energy you already have. Although meditation cannot replace sleep, it can help to reduce the amount we need.

The benefits of meditation are boundless, but some include: higher energy levels, better concentration throughout your daily tasks and work times, and reduced stress levels. Meditation is one of the best stress reducers and is even used in hospitals for that purpose. Through your meditations, you may even gain new insights on your life and the people around you. Meditation is also often used for religious or spiritual purposes, so feel free to add that to your meditation routines, you'll still get the same energy boosting results and may gain more personal or spiritual insight.

For whatever purpose you use it for, meditation is one of the best known methods for restoring energy without sleep. Now, add this to the sleep routine talked about in the Energy through Sleep section and you'll optimize not only your energy levels, but the time you spend refilling those levels.

For more information on meditation and other ways to boost your energy and live healthy go to http://www.voernix.com/

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Amazing Meditation Music - Mp3 Magic

By Tina Bardo

In this article we are going to discuss meditation music Mp3's and how integrating sound into your meditative practice can take your experience to a whole new level. Read on as we explore some of the popular technologies, and see if we can't help you achieve a Zen like experience for yourself, in record, rapid fire turn around time!

The Magic is in the Music

The days of thinking that soft music are a nice addition to the meditative experience are over. Many hard core meditators are finding that sound ( be they music or any other acoustical drivers) are an INTEGRAL part of transforming consciousness to an entirely new level of awareness. Research done on many of the top meditators, as well as recent discoveries in neuroscience have illustrated that brain entrainment is a huge component of entering the "trance" state, and that acoustic drivers are some of the most powerful ways to enter blissful states in a hurry.

Surf the Supernatural Surfboard, Baby!

On top of simply being a central part of the meditative experience, many of you who are familiar with other forms of spirituality recognize the importance of using headphones and MP3's to drive wonderful and mystical experiences of all types and stripes. Robert Monroe pioneered the use of Hemi-Sync technology for the study and achievement of out of body experiences 25 years ago, and rapid advancements and adoption of these sorts of sounds, referred to as "binaural beats", have allowed tens of thousands of men and women around the world to have incredible, life changing, paradigm busting experiences that have completely and utterly shifted their views on human potentials and possibility.

And from a personal experience, as someone who STRUGGLED to learn how to meditate properly for years, I can tell you first hand that the meditation mp3's have been transformative for me in ways I can't even BEGIN to articulate. The key is, in my own humble opinion, to STOP reading about other people's experiences, and start having your own!

Who Else Wants to Experience Radical Inner Peace & Magnificent Well Being?

Read on...to discover how to experience blissful meditation quickly, easily and magically even if you are a complete novice and have no idea what you are doing!

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How to Clean the Aura Using Meditation

By Jack Chua Koon

We are not just physical but multi-dimensional beings. We consist of mental, emotional, astral and etheric layers.

Our human aura is like an illuminated egg if someone can perceive energy directly, the Mexican shaman Don Juan Matus mentioned in Carlos Castaneda's book - A Separate Reality, can perceive energy directly and he claims it looks like an illuminated egg with a votex of energy coming into the aura, the votex where the spiritual energy enter our aura is called the assemblage point.

There are 7 layers in our aura based on the chakras, but some says there are 12 chakras. When we use meditation and try to 'clean' it, we have to clean every layer. Many new age mystics just tell you imagine and visualize a white light coming down and engulfing your whole aura, this sometimes doesn't work well. I usually clean every layer as I go along. Start by doing some kind of relaxation procedure like counting 1 to 10 or say to yourself, upstairs, downstairs, over and over again until you feel bored and sleepy,or you can get some relaxation music to help you get to alpha or theta brain states. Once you done that, mentally say to yourself " I am at level 1' and move your awareness from head to toe or vice versa, the idea is to scan your level 1 for blockages, once you sense that something is there, move your awareness to it, it should 'melt' or disperse. If it is still there, try breathing it colors, you may have to experiment with the color that will remove the block, repeat the same procedure with all other level, eg. I am level 2, I am in Level 3, When you say this, you are telling your mind to adjust to the next level using intent, Intent is the force that changes the level. Some times if you are at level 1, and you sense something 1 feel in front of you and you cannot get it off, and you try the usual color breathing method, This could be due to the fact that this blockage is actually at some other level eg. Level 3 and you can usualy remove the block if you move your awareness to level 3. Sometimes when you move your awareness into the blockages, you get 'impression' like a past event or sometimes it plays like a movie in your mind's eye, this is usually the reason for the block.

You have to scan your aura like you are enclosed ina n egg, that means there could be blockage 2 feet in front of you in a certain layer.

Using brown color can help to ground yourself while using too much black color can cause depression.

According to Diana Cooper in her book Discover Atlantis, there are 12 chakras. There is a chakra below the feet that is called the Earth star chakra, then there is the Root chakra which is at the spine below, the sacral and naval chakra are both different chakras. The rest is usual, solar plexus, heart, throat, third eye, crown. after the crown chakra, there is a causal chakra which is at the back of our head. The soul star chakra which is above the crown and finally the stellar gateway chakra which is above the soul star.

Jack Chua is a meditation student, for more info on meditation visit site

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Transformational Healing Through Dynamic Meditation

By Joy Idries

Let me invite you to be still and hear the voice within.

You CAN effortlessly access an inner wisdom that has the answers to your heart's desires simply by becoming still and bringing all of your attention to a single focus, then witnessing or listening to the promptings and messages given to you from within and acting on them.

Through guided or focused meditation you can learn to see and appreciate the gifts at the heart of the trials in your life. The root cause of suffering is attachment and our earliest and strongest attachments are at birth and in childhood. Many people have taken on the wounds of their parents as their own and often continue to experience the world from this standpoint. Healing through guided meditation comes about via a re-connection to our higher and more joyful selves. When we become very still and really listen to our inner wisdom we can find the solutions we are looking for. We can find peace and rest and are then much more able to laugh and see the funny side of life.

As an example I would like to share with you one of my meditations which involved asking the question 'why am I still crying?' At that time in my life I had often found myself in tears and didn't know why. So I set the focus with this question, then closed my eyes, let go of attachment to my thoughts and relaxed with a few deep breaths.

Whilst meditating in this way I 'saw' or 'sensed' with my inner vision what appeared to be a nest of eggs. As soon as I saw this nest I found myself starting to cry as I realized that these 'eggs' in fact represented my 'unborn babies', the children I had never been able to have because of losing my womb to cancer some years before. I became aware that prior to this meditation I hadn't realized I had been grieving their loss. I had just stuffed my feelings down into my body somewhere and 'got on' with life as my mother had taught me before.

At that moment in the meditation the eggs 'cracked' and out popped what I can only describe as 'little angels' who promptly flew up to heaven with the message that they were waiting for me there. I felt washed through at once with an amazing feeling of pure delight and happiness. The power of inner metaphor, this 'Language of the Soul' can bring such powerfully deep insights and instant transformation. It was at this point that my grief was finally completed and a way was made open for me to laugh with life again. It was a real WOW moment where my grief dissolved instantly there and then, never to come back again since.

Up to this point I had also been in a lot of pain in the lower abdomen but afterwards the pain disappeared completely. This is a great endorsement for letting go of negative and allowing laughter and the body's natural healing abilities to work together.

We can view our difficulties differently by shifting our level of awareness. Inside your own being is an essence that is ready to shine beyond the difficulties that life presents. You can take a journey into it, to your inner wisdom to ask it what you need to know, and it'll take you exactly where you need to go and give you answers that will astound you and lead to instant transformation. Through it you can find healing, peace and enlightenment. This is transformational healing through dynamic meditation. It is a way of paying attention to our suffering from within, looking at it as a Witness or Observer, experiencing how it feels or sounds or what it looks like, and then releasing and healing your pain by making a connection to a higher state of consciousness. You come to view your difficulties differently by shifting your level of awareness. We are in fact bigger than our painful experiences, much bigger.

When you become aware of yourself as Infinite Compassion, for example, the anger you might have been feeling prior to this experience suddenly loses its overwhelming quality and you are able to look at this now relatively smaller angry part of yourself with acceptance and love. There is a deeper essential self that remains untouched by the challenges and trials of life, abuse, abandonment, feeling unworthy or unfulfilled ... these are only parts of who we are. We are bigger than all of this and getting in touch with our deeper essence allows us to open to this deeper truth and see the world in a totally new and empowered perspective.

Joy Idries shares her passion for Spiritual Growth, Healing and Fun through her weekly 'Love Laughter' newsletter. If you want to learn how to get in touch with your inner light and joy through laughter, to reduce physical and emotional pain AND boost your immune system all at the same time, claim your FREE E-COURSE 'The Benefits of Laughter and Playing On Purpose' now at http://www.clownfocustherapy.com ~ Also see more at http://www.selfgrowth.com/experts/joy_idries.html and http://www.instantnaturalpainrelief.com

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Meditation to Achieve Your Goals - How to Use the Power of Your Subconscious to Create What You Want

By Katie Evans

Imagine you are walking along a path in an open forest. You notice the sky above you and the sun shining gently overhead. You feel safe and secure and you're just enjoying yourself. You begin to notice the life in this forest, the trees, bushes, grasses, flowers. You can smell the plants and trees. Perhaps you even reach out and touch a leaf or the bark of a tree. You feel alive and full of life. Just take a moment to be on your path and take in what is around you.

You walk along the path and up ahead, you notice that there is an obstacle blocking your path. And you really want to keep walking on this path. As you get closer the obstacle becomes clearer and you see that it is a wall and that the wall has a sign on it.

Take a minute to see sense or imagine this wall. How tall is it? How thick is it?

What color is it? What does it feel like? How does it make you feel?

You know that this obstacle is what is keeping you from attaining your goal. Perhaps the sign on the wall can tell you what the wall represents. Imagine what the sign says now.

You can dismantle that wall using any powers you can imagine. Begin to deconstruct the wall now until you can see past it. Beyond the wall you see yourself having achieved your goal. Take a moment to imagine life on the other side of this wall - What is the weather like? What do you imagine it is like over there?

You know you want to be on that side of the wall and that you have the tools you need to get there. You can continue to knock down this wall and you can return and continue this work at anytime, just by closing your eyes and imagining it. By doing this you are getting closer to the life that you truly want for your self. Take a few seconds just to feel, see or imagine that power rising with in you. Allow your self to feel that power and to feel good about it.

Repeat this exercise every day, spending just a few moments a day, until you achieve your goal.

Katie Evans is the founder and CEO of the Living Lite Weight Loss Program, which shows people HOW to create a healthier lifestyle. When you use hypnosis and the incredible power of your subconscious mind, you will never diet again, you will simply learn how to create a new relationship with food. For those who wish to make a living helping people heal their lives so they can lose weight and keep it off, there are now Living Lite Franchises available.This is a great opportunity for anyone who wants to own her own business (we accept men franchisees, too!) and still have support and guidance in setting up the systems. Ms. Evans is a published author, lecturer and entrepreneur. She also teaches "The Mental Game of Golf" on cruise ships. You can reach Katie at: http://www.livinglitenow.com/tapes-cds.htm or http://www.hypnosisweightlossbusiness.com or http://www.livinglite.net

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Mindfulness Meditation As Psychotherapy

By Migel Jayasinghe

Until quite recently the treatment of choice for depression, and for many other conditions identified as psychiatric illnesses, has been Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT). Historically, CBT developed from a coming together of two strands of therapy known first separately as Behaviour Therapy, and a later development known as Cognitive Therapy. While CBT is the approved mainstream 'talking cure' periodically subjected to experimental validation by the scientific community, there are also drug-induced treatments which are subject to periodic testing for efficacy. It is informative to note that Behaviour Therapy developed at a time when psychology regarded classical and operant conditioning as sufficient mechanisms in explaining human behaviour. Later when psychology took on board the mediation of thought and language (what went on inside the 'black box') as equally, if not more important in explaining human behaviour, Cognitive Therapy was born.

CBT is approved by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) in the UK. However, since no one therapy (including medication) has been proved to be universally beneficial for all patients, the field of counselling and therapy is replete with many alternatives such as psychoanalysis, Gestalt Therapy, NLP and other 'talking' therapies. These are not seen as 'scientific', objective, and amenable to quantitative research. Increasingly, with the passage of time, it appears that 'mind' a concept that had been totally alien to 'scientific', positivistic psychology, was beginning to be accepted, at least in the form of neural activity in the brain underpinning all mental schemata as the basis of behaviour.

From here, it has been quite a jump to accept 'mindfulness meditation', borrowed from the Hindu and Buddhist traditions practised as a religious observance for more than 2500 years as a means of reaching enlightenment. So, Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), may be seen as an innovation in therapy through an attempt at a fusion between two widely divergent fields of human endeavour separated not only by time of origin but by distinctiveness of culture as well . Even so, it is reported that over the last two decades MBCT appears to have proved efficacious in treating persistent or recurring depression in psychiatric patients.

Meditation in mindfulness is the cultivation of awareness of the activity of one's consciousness from moment to moment. When one is able to accomplish this, it can stop one being trapped in constant ruminations and automatisms in thinking and mood. This is best achieved by concentrating on one's breathing (in and out) without attempting to control the flow of thoughts. Alternatively one can scan one's bodily sensations from head to toe. For those who are able to distance themselves from their daily stream of thoughts and sensations, the reward is perfect bliss. 'Sadhus' in India have been known to remain seated in the lotus position for months, if not years.

Where the use of mindfulness meditation differs in its use in therapy, is that the object of the exercise is to monitor and stop the stream of negative thoughts by enabling the patient to realise that such thoughts and the resulting negative mood or depression are not inevitable. There is no religious or transcendental objective beyond the capacity for healthy everyday living by the patient who is expected to reduce the odds of being caught again in a spiral of depressive rumination through mindfulness meditation.

Originally developed by Prof. Jon Kabat-Zinn of the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in 1979, it was then an 8-week programme designed for stress reduction. Research shows that MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction) is enormously empowering for patients with chronic pain, hypertension, heart disease, cancer, and gastrointestinal disorders, as well as for psychological problems such as anxiety and panic. Several studies have been undertaken which led to the conclusion that MBCT was most effective in the treatment of patients who had suffered three or more episodes of depression in the past.

What are the mediating variables or mechanisms that are at work in mindfulness meditation which ameliorate these 'different pathologies'? One of the hypothesised mechanisms is the concept of 'defusion' where patients learn to distance themselves from the stream of recurring negative thoughts without attempting to change the thoughts themselves. Mindfulness allows the patient to observe or witness the mental activity moment by moment, thereby creating a space between the culturally constructed inner commentary, and grasp the insight that another, completely different self, or selves, is a possibility. A stable self that one identified oneself with in the past is no longer seen as inevitable.

Teasdale, J.D., Moore. R.G., Hayhurst, H., Pope, M. Williams, S. & Segal, Z.V. (2002) developed the Differential Activation Hypothesis (DAH) to account for mediating mechanisms in MBCT treatment. In studying patients with a history of relapses into depression, they found that often transient negative moods led to negative thought patterns which spiralled into full-blown depressive episodes. Taught to practise mindfulness meditation, these patients learned to become aware and identify early, their transient negative moods which, for them, automatically led to negative thoughts culminating in a relapse. Mindfulness to these patients meant an act of 'decentering' that helped to prevent the automatism connected with the downward spiral towards a relapse. Patients learned to become aware of their thought processes and to disengage from ruminating through acceptance of them as mere thoughts and not needing to identify themselves totally with the thought patterns.

In a more recent article by Shapiro, S.L, Carlson, L.E., Astin, J.A. & Freedman, B. (2006) entitled 'Mechanisms of Mindfulness' a new theory is proposed which addresses what are seen as limitations of the 'defusion' and 'decentering' hypotheses discussed above. While acknowledging the validity and usefulness of the earlier described mechanisms, Shapiro et al say that a 'testable theory of the mechanisms involved in the process of mindfulness itself is needed to explicate whether and how mindfulness affects change and transformation' (op cit.). They credit some of the early researchers into mindfulness with having developed 'valid and reliable measures of mindfulness' (Baer, 2003, Bishop, 2002, Brown & Ryan 2003).

A definition of mindfulness is - 'paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally' (Kabat-Zinn 1994). Using this definition Shapiro et al have identified three axioms of mindfulness.

1. "On purpose" or intention,

2. "Paying attention" or attention,

3. "In a particular way" or attitude (mindfulness qualities).

'Intention, attention and attitude (IAA) are not separate processes or stages - they are interwoven aspects of a single cyclic process and occur simultaneously. Mindfulness is this moment-to-moment process (Shapiro et al 2006).

Intention, according to Shapiro et al is at the heart of mindfulness meditation. This aspect of meditation is often lost in adapting it to therapeutic purposes. Enlightenment or self-liberation was the original goal or intention of religious practitioners of mindfulness meditation. In therapy, self-exploration and self-regulation must be seen as goals that are dynamic and evolving and equally valid for both the patient and the therapist. Without a clear early identification of intention, mindfulness meditation is in danger of drifting into aimlessness.

Attention is the second component of mindfulness meditation. 'In the context of mindfulness practice, paying attention involves observing the operations of one's moment-to-moment, internal and external experience ... At the core of mindfulness, is this practice of paying attention' (op. cit.). Attention is common to most therapeutic practices. For example in Fritz Perls' Gestalt therapy, awareness of the present moment and attention to it is said to be 'curative' in itself. CBT also stresses the importance of attending to (observing) internal and external stimuli.

Attitude is explained as the qualities one brings to mindfulness meditation. It is not a cold and abstract intellectual exercise, but a warm and engaged openhearted activity. The attitude is one of affectionate, compassionate involvement. '... attending without bringing the heart qualities into the practice may result in (a) practice that is condemning or judgmental of inner experience. Such an approach may well have consequences contrary to the intentions of the practice. For example, cultivating the patterns of judgment and striving instead of equanimity and acceptance' (op. cit.).

Having set down the three essential axioms or building blocks for the theory they propose, Shapiro et al go on to postulate 'a model of the potential mechanisms of mindfulness, which suggest that intentionally (I) attending (A) with openness and non-judgmentalness (A) leads to a significant shift in perspective which we have termed reperceiving' (op. cit.). This involves a disidentification from the contents of consciousness (thoughts) and cultivating an ability to stand back and witness the never ending drama of our unfolding individual life story. Concepts already employed by western psychology which are similar to reperceiving are: 'decentering', deautomatization and 'detachment'. All these concepts share at their core a fundamental shift in perspective. This shift ... is facilitated through mindfulness-the process of intentionally attending moment by moment with openness and nonjudgmentalness (IAA) (op.cit.)

Shapiro et al further discuss statistical models that could be employed to test their theory. They are careful to underline the fact that research into mindfulness is 'still in its infancy and requires great sensitivity and a range of theoretical and methodological' approaches 'to illuminate the richness and complexity of this phenomenon' (op. cit.).

The strengths in the exploration of postulated mechanisms in mindfulness meditation are that they are conducted by practitioners who appear to build on the scholarly and scientific investigations of others in the forefront of MBCT therapeutic practice. They seek to aim at a consensus. The weaknesses stem from the fact that positivistic scientific hypothesis testing requires the isolation of a few variables and crude statistical analyses to examine very complex phenomena not necessarily amenable to scientific exploration. Every encounter between therapist and client is a unique one where by the very nature of the context, an objective generalizable theory can only be an approximation unlikely to be falsifiable applying scientific criteria.

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Easy Meditation Method For Inviting Enlightenment

By Anmol Mehta

The vast majority of humans go through life without ever experiencing Reality beyond what the ordinary dualistic mind projects. Bound tightly by the ego-centric mind, they live their entire life stuck in mediocrity, mostly struggling for this or that, while experiencing a few fleeting joys. One of the things that I hope to accomplish in this life, is awaken in you a passion for the supreme, for the highest, and to that end, I think having an enlightenment experience or two can go a long way.

Enlightenment experiences are glimpses of that aspect of life and your being, which are beyond time, space and self. These enlightenment experiences come in infinite variety, and in addition to giving you deep insight into the true nature of reality, they also inspire you to live life at your highest potential.

Seeing the truth of singularity makes you question the nature of duality and thought, while experiencing the utter freedom of these states, makes you question the value of your attachments. So how can we go about facilitating these experiences?

Enlightenment experiences are not subject to your will. They occur when there is a shift of awareness beyond the ego-centric mind and life can be defined as an opportunity for setting the stage for such shifts to take place.

Some of the best tools for creating such a stage are without a doubt Meditation, Yoga and Pranayama (Yoga Breathing Exercises). But, in this article I want to share with you a very simple and key tip, which I have noticed through personal experience, helps create the situation that is conducive to enlightenment experiences occurring.

This simple method is that of napping. Yes that is correct, you read it fine, napping. I have noticed time and again, that when napping during the day, the phase between wakefulness and sleep invariably opens the doors to infinity.

It does not matter where you nap. On the bus to New York, on the sofa, in bed, does not matter. The key factor is for you to maintain your awareness as you drift off to sleep. If you can do this you are in for a treat. So try to remain alert as sleep comes and see what magic takes place. It is not even necessary for you to chase enlightenment experiences. Invariably we all end up napping at some stage due to whatever reason and when that happens, treat it like an opportunity to break through.

I want to mention here that you can have similar results with simple nighttime sleep as well. Although, the probability of a shift in awareness is less than napping, the phase when the ordinary wakeful mind is diminished and sleep is yet to come, is a very conducive time to penetrate the veil of the dualistic mind.

In addition, if you can develop a habit of meditating prior to sleep, this transitory phase and overnight sleep itself can become a very spiritual, precious and cherished time for you. One of the key aspects of developing this ability is discovering in which position you cannot sleep easily. You can then use that knowledge to give yourself a better opportunity to practice this technique on a nightly basis. It is well worth the effort.

Anmol Mehta is a Yoga & Zen expert. His Free Guided Meditation Techniques & Kundalini Yoga Website offers the Learn How to Meditate - Free Beginner Meditation Class and many Free Yoga Exercise Videos.

This article is available for reprint on your website and/or newsletter, provided it is not changed and you include the author's signature.

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Meditation and Non-Thought

By Bruce R. King

The first time I was asked to meditate was about 20 years ago by my psychologist. He told me to recite a mantra "she-rem". The objective being that if I was repeating a mantra over and over my brain wouldn't be worrying about other things that might stress me out. I tried this technique off and on through the years without many results, or at least the results I wanted. I would lay in bed at night and repeat the mantra "she-rem, she-rem" over and over again until I fell asleep or I got distracted by other thoughts. I eventually dropped this practice and didn't hear about the benefits of meditation for another 10 years.

The next time I heard about meditation was in context of helping cancer patients. I was told that the cancer patients that had been meditating did better than the ones who did not. Since I didn't have cancer I didn't really see the benefit for me. Perhaps I could have better health if I meditated, but my health was and is pretty good so I didn't really have a good reason to meditate, I thought.

Then I found an organization called Higher Balance Institute (HBI). They encouraged meditation in a different way for a different reason. They taught me a unique and powerful way to meditate that would help lead me to what is known as non-thought. It was later explained to me that it is not really no thought so much as thinking in a different way with a different consciousness. I put two and two together and realized that non-thought through meditation was a way of accessing my higher consciousness. If I could access my higher consciousness then I could possibly have peace and enlightenment.

This is what I found. Using the unique and powerful meditation technique along with many other practices I learned from HBI I am beginning to understand the difference between my organic brain thoughts and "thoughts" from my higher or multidimensional consciousness.

There are some other benefits to meditation that I should also mention besides non-thought. You can actually store an invisible energy known as prana when you meditate. This energy can be used to help you do supernatural things, like manifesting desires, etc. Since I have been using the meditation and other practices I have been able to manifest much more quickly and easily.

Oh yeah, another side benefit of quieting the brain through meditation is you can hear God/Universe/Force a lot better.

That may be the best benefit to meditation and the reason why I find myself at much more peace now. The closer we get to God/Universe/Force the less concerned I am with the worries of this dimension, and the more able I am to build a soul for myself.

Building a soul, gaining access to your multidimensional consciousness, being able to do supernatural things sounds appealing doesn't it? How do you know that I am not just pulling your leg about all this though? I mean, there is a lot of baloney on the internet. I would say the best way to find out if something works or not is to try it out for yourself. That's what I did. I took a chance and instead of watching a 30 minute TV show at night I sat down and meditated.

Bruce King writes on metaphysical topics and teaches a workshop on How To Bend Reality. For more information go to http://www.HowToBendReality.com

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Learn Simplified But Powerful Meditation in 15 Mins

By Shiyam G

Hai, this is Micky. I'm here to share my little secret that will help you to relax easily and refresh yourself in your day-to-days activities. I'm not a guru or a teacher, but a benefited person of what I ought to share with you.

Ok, here I start. Many things in our life make us tired, lazy, irritated, unhappy and so on. These things will drive-out our energy and leave us empty. This I'm sharing with you is a simple method of meditation. By practicing this you can recharge yourself and be active always.

Just sit relaxed and comfortable on floor or possibly in a chair. Just be relaxed. Close you eyes slowly, and make yourself comfortable. Now concentrate on your breathing over the nostril. You can feel the air going in and out through the nostril.

While practicing this your mind and body will completely become relaxed. If you feel sleepy, it is a indication that you need a good sleep. Be in peace and silence, that you can concentrate more on your breathing. Do not think about any thing or even not think that you are Meditating.

Now your mind will be relaxed and at ease. Just concentrate on your breathing no other thing is needed.

After a while on meditating slowly open your eyes with a relax breathing cycle (breath In and Out).

Now you are relaxed,recharged and energized with energy to run your Race, to play you Baseball match and even continue with your Martial Art coaching and with your Education.

Some may find this a little difficult concept, but remember 'Practice makes a Man Perfect' so practice just for 5 mins every morning and also whenever you like. Also don't avoid this is just a simple one. There is Wisdom in every simple thing, as Jesus explained with those Flowers and Birds.

Practice this simple way of Meditation every day, surely it'll be more helpful for your Physical & Mental health.

http://www.simply-relax.com

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Where's the Right Place to Practice Zen Meditation

By Ted Hanulak

When people hear the term "Zen meditation" they envision robes, candles, incense burning, people sitting in pretzel positions, etc. They would be correct. That is the traditional view of Zen meditation. The wonderful thing is, you can also practice Zen meditation while walking the dog, waiting for an appointment at the doctors office, driving your car. In other words, anywhere.

The practice of "shikantanza" which is Japanese for "just sitting" can be use in any situation like "just walking"," just driving" or "just going to the bathroom". Whatever you are doing at that moment, is what you are doing. You concentrate on just that action. Many times people will drive while daydreaming or talking on the phone. This is how accidents occur. If you are focusing on the driving you may be able to prevent the accident. Shikantanza is the active practice of "living in the moment".

Another way of looking at it is "taking your Zen with you". It is important to sit everyday at least 20 minutes. "Sitting" implies sitting in meditation on the floor. Traditional sitting can be viewed as "charging your batteries". After sitting, it is time to unplug, get up and go live your day. Everything you do, walking across the room, picking up a pencil, looking to your left, etc. can be part of your practice.

Through this practice, situations that would normally aggravate most people, like being stuck in traffic, waiting for a bus, anything that would test someones patience, is simply more practice for you! Because of this, you will begin to feel more centered. These types of situations will not bother you as they once did because of the new way of looking at.

Remember Zen meditation practice doesn't end on the meditation pillow. It has to be part of every moment of your life.

Ted Hanulak is the head instructor -Sensei of the Japanese martial art of Senso-Ryu Aikijutsu. He teaches Aikijutsu and Zen meditation out of the Aikijutsu Academy of Indianapolis. http://www.aiki-jutsu.com

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Benefits and Techniques of Meditation

By Ramakrishna Thinnavelli

Healthy mind lives in a healthy body, it is perfectly truth because your happiness depends on your mind and it depends on your body. Without physical health you can't be completely happy, and without mental happiness you can't be completely healthy. So you need both of them, how to improve mental and physical health? Only solution is meditation.

Actually which take place in the mind, and sometimes these are equally as important as the physical benefits. Psychological benefits of meditation include improved creativity, learning ability, and memory.

As you focus on meditation stress relief, you will introduce more oxygen into your blood because of the improved breathing you will use during your meditation session and you will find suddenly get more energy.

Important Benefits of Meditation:

1. Meditation gives the meaning of life
2. Reduced your breath rate gradually
3. Through meditation your mind and body will be free
4. Your blood pressure will be control
5. Increased metabolic activity
6. Reduced your heart rate
7. Reduction in high frequency range heart rhythm variability
8. Decreased agglutination of red blood cells
9. Increased forced your vital capacity
10. Reduction in stress hormone production
11. to Focus on Self-Healing
12. to Help Control Internal and External Pain

Meditation success is mainly depend on specific place and environment, you must keep your surrounding with peaceful environment; time is also very important in meditation practice, everyday you must perform10-15 minutes breathing exercises to relax your body and mind. This time can relax you and can give you piece of mind for the whole day.
easy techniques for meditation

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How to Clean the Aura Using Meditation

By Jack Chua Koon

We are not just physical but multi-dimensional beings. We consist of mental, emotional, astral and etheric layers.

Our human aura is like an illuminated egg if someone can perceive energy directly, the Mexican shaman Don Juan Matus mentioned in Carlos Castaneda's book - A Separate Reality, can perceive energy directly and he claims it looks like an illuminated egg with a votex of energy coming into the aura, the votex where the spiritual energy enter our aura is called the assemblage point.

There are 7 layers in our aura based on the chakras, but some says there are 12 chakras. When we use meditation and try to 'clean' it, we have to clean every layer. Many new age mystics just tell you imagine and visualize a white light coming down and engulfing your whole aura, this sometimes doesn't work well. I usually clean every layer as I go along. Start by doing some kind of relaxation procedure like counting 1 to 10 or say to yourself, upstairs, downstairs, over and over again until you feel bored and sleepy,or you can get some relaxation music to help you get to alpha or theta brain states. Once you done that, mentally say to yourself " I am at level 1' and move your awareness from head to toe or vice versa, the idea is to scan your level 1 for blockages, once you sense that something is there, move your awareness to it, it should 'melt' or disperse. If it is still there, try breathing it colors, you may have to experiment with the color that will remove the block, repeat the same procedure with all other level, eg. I am level 2, I am in Level 3, When you say this, you are telling your mind to adjust to the next level using intent, Intent is the force that changes the level. Some times if you are at level 1, and you sense something 1 feel in front of you and you cannot get it off, and you try the usual color breathing method, This could be due to the fact that this blockage is actually at some other level eg. Level 3 and you can usualy remove the block if you move your awareness to level 3. Sometimes when you move your awareness into the blockages, you get 'impression' like a past event or sometimes it plays like a movie in your mind's eye, this is usually the reason for the block.

You have to scan your aura like you are enclosed ina n egg, that means there could be blockage 2 feet in front of you in a certain layer.

Using brown color can help to ground yourself while using too much black color can cause depression.

According to Diana Cooper in her book Discover Atlantis, there are 12 chakras. There is a chakra below the feet that is called the Earth star chakra, then there is the Root chakra which is at the spine below, the sacral and naval chakra are both different chakras. The rest is usual, solar plexus, heart, throat, third eye, crown. after the crown chakra, there is a causal chakra which is at the back of our head. The soul star chakra which is above the crown and finally the stellar gateway chakra which is above the soul star.

Jack Chua is a meditation student, for more info on meditation visit site

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How to Use Visualization Meditation to Achieve Success

By Perry Lai

In this article I shall share with you how to use Neuro Linguistics Programming to do visualization meditation to achieve success in your life. There are three things you must do to use visualization meditation.

First of all, put yourself in a place where you can have total concentration and relaxation. Make sure that the environment is quiet or at least conducive for you to put yourself into a deep state of visualization meditation.

Secondly, make sure that you are wearing very comfortable clothes. In other words make sure that your physical state is in a relaxed manner. This could be using the comfort of the chair you are sitting in. I would recommend that you sit in a chair rather than lying on the bed because lying on the bed would probably mean you may fall asleep. What you want to do during this visualization meditation process is that you are semiconscious or at least relaxed but awakened.

Third thing you need to do is to know how to do creative visualization meditation. Neuro Linguistic Programming has a very unique technology known as tapping into your sub modalities for you to easily achieve a deep state of relaxation and a heightened state of visualization meditation. First of all, allow yourself to close your eyes and relax using your deep breathing technique. Allow yourself to go deeper into a state of relaxation and if you have any mind chatter, just politely tell your mind 'Thank you for sharing' and allow silence to come back into your mind. The very moment you allow silence into your mind, begin to use words to conjure up an image for yourself that you find desirable. This image should be the image that you see yourself achieving the success that you want. This is visualization meditation. As you are saying those words that brings up the vision of success, make the picture bigger and brighter and allow your body to totally associate with that picture that you have conjured up. Hear what you hear and feel what you feel, as if you were totally associated with the image you have brought up in your mind. Practice this as many times as possible for you to properly use the technique of visualization meditation. Neuro Linguistics Programming is a very useful tool for you to use in visualization meditation.

Perry is a trainer with Singapore's largest training company. Using what he learnt from his NLP master trainer mentors, he was able to quit his dead end civil service job and work as a platform speaker and intrapreneur. With his personally designed success system of the "Empowering Communicator", he now helps others achieve success a step at a time using communication skills. Click here to learn how to harness the pwer of NLP for visualization meditation

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Is There A Real Substitute For Meditation?

By Laura D Adams

I've come to understand the amazing benefits of meditation.

I've seen TV news specials about schools that have incorporated meditation into their curriculum, causing student's grades and test scores to sky-rocket. I've also read about major corporations that believe in meditation. They feel it's so important for good performance that they hire meditation consultants to teach their workers and even pay employees for time just to meditate.

I've asked my mentors what has really helped them move to the level of success they enjoy today. And you guessed it, meditation was their answer. Phil Helmuth, one of the world's best poker players even attributes his success to the practice of meditation!

Because I know its value, I want to be able to practice meditation successfully too. I have tried for years, but to this day I am still NOT able to meditate.

I spent some time trying to troubleshoot my meditation problem. Does it go back to my formative years? Did I spend too much time playing video games as a kid?

I'm not sure of the cause, but the reality is that my mind is just too active to meditate. You see, my brain works like CNN. I have one reporter delivering the news and an additional ticker tape of information flowing across the bottom of the screen.

But despite my meditation failures, I am very fortunate to have been able to achieve incredible results in my life using an alternate technique.

This technique was actually a tremendous gift that I received from a close friend of mine. This is a friend who also had limited success meditating. He introduced me to an effective technology called brain wave entrainment.

Brain wave entrainment allows one to manipulate the brain state with very little practice and a rapid learning curve. It's generally accomplished with audio soundtracks. The audio has been modified to manipulate the brain into the desired state. So if you can listen to audio, you can change your state of mind. And if you are hearing impaired this effect can also be created with specially designed strobe effects.

So why am I telling you about changing the brain state in an article on meditation? Because whether you realize it or not, the holy grail of meditation is the theta brain wave state!

When you are barely conscious (just before sleep or right after waking, for example) your brain waves are in the theta state. This is the middle ground between the conscious and the subconscious world, and also the goal of meditation.

When you get into the theta state, but can remain conscious, you have the ability to access and influence your subconscious mind. This is extremely important because the subconscious mind is much more powerful than the conscious mind.

So, getting yourself into the theta brain wave state on a regular basis in order to influence your subconscious mind is the secret to manifesting change and positive results in your life.

In fact, before we were able to measure brainwave patterns in the human brain with machines, people were using entrainment to induce a theta state. The chanting of monks, the drumbeats of Native Americans, and the hypnotic state created by a campfire are all examples of brain wave entrainment.

To learn more about brain wave entrainment and how it can help with all aspects of your life visit GetTheDream.com.

How would you like to manifest your ideal life by tapping the power of YOUR subconscious mind? Revolutionary videos from Get The Dream combine an electronic Vision Board with Brainwave Entrainment technology. Put the Law of Attraction to work in your life with only 20 minutes per day! A FREE Sleep product is now available for instant download at http://www.GetTheDream.com

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Meditation: A Powerful Process To Achieve Prosperity

By Thomas Davey

Unfortunately Western culture all too often categorizes meditation as being something that "hippies do". The truth of the matter is that meditation is an incredibly powerful tool for you to employ on your path to wealth, health and happiness. When you study the lives of extremely successful people, you will find that no matter what their schedule, they put aside quiet time for themselves. Also of interest is that every author featured on The Secret uses meditation on a daily basis!

When you come to understand that there is but one stream of positive energy running through this world, you can then begin to understand the merit of meditation. See, when you quiet your mind, you in effect take your attention off of any negative things you don't want! Thus they are not being attracted into your experience! The Universe will then bring positive thoughts and experiences into your reality. Sounds simple but I assure you that this is fact!

I suggest you apply meditation in two key ways, starting today! Firstly, most of us will come across stressful events during our days. This is the perfect time to take a couple minutes and just close your eyes, get comfortable and just breath in and out deeply. Try to keep your mind "unfocused" so to speak, and if any thoughts pop into your head, try to set them aside. This may seem like a simple technique and it really is as simple as it sounds. You should make sure to find a comfortable meditation position, however do not get too comfortable or you may find yourself falling to sleep!

Often meditation is a much better way of dealing with a negative situation than trying to think positive thoughts right off the bat or attempting to tackle the issue head on. The reason that trying to think ‘positively’ immediately following a negative event does not work is simply due to the Law of Attraction. Negative experiences were attracted to you because of negative thought. And negative experiences attract negative thought! Simple! Meditation provides a simple solution to this unfortunate cycle. Abraham Hicks in the book, “Ask and It Is Given” made a wonderful point which was that it is much easier to focus on nothing than it is to focus on something positive following negative events.

The other way to incorporate meditation is to apply it as a daily ritualistic practice. I do suggest trying this! Aim to set aside a regular time each day to spend about 15 minutes in personal meditation. This practice may not be for everyone but I urge you to give both a try as I guarantee that you will see immediate benefit! Quite often answers to problems will just pop into your head after time spent in meditation. Meditation is really just an extension of what your parents told you when they said, “It’s alright, everything will be better in the morning.”

Meditation is often thought of as a new age type of practice, (as alluded to in the first paragraph of this article), however nothing could be further from the truth! Meditation has been practiced in Eastern cultures for an eternity and one only needs to apply these principles to see the immediate benefits meditation offers.

I hope you have enjoyed this article and don't forget to apply the process of meditation into your life. Start today!

Tom Davey is an Australian based author specialising in prosperity principles to help you attain health, wealth and happiness. For more free information, with articles added daily, on principles to attain health, wealth and happiness, go to www.prosperitylivingonline.com

Article Source: http://www.amazines.com/Self_Improvement/article_detail.cfm/518157?articleid=518157

Benefits Of Meditation

By Edwin Mah

Many people have heard of meditation, but most may not be aware of the real benefits of what it can do. Many think of meditation as simply closing your eyes and doing some chanting. Many also think that meditation is closely related to religion. The most commonly known benefit of meditation is stress reduction. While this may be true, there are also many other benefits that most are not aware of. This article summarizes some other benefits that meditation can bring:

Relief Stress and Anxiety

The most known benefit of meditation of course, is that it is used to relieve stress and anxiety, and this is the reason why most people meditate in the first place.

Reduction of Blood Pressure

Studies have shown that regular meditation can lower your blood pressure. The reason for this is because the practice of meditation opens up the blood vessels, thus lowering the blood pressure.

Reduction of Cholesterol Level

Meditation can also reduce blood cholesterol levels, minimizing chances of heart disease. Meditation could be the answer to a healthy heart!

Reduction of Respiratory Problems

Have breathing problems? Try meditating! As part of meditation, you control and focus on your breathing. You may not realize, but your controlled breathing reduces airway resistance and increases air flow into the lungs. This makes for easier breathing and is beneficial for patients with asthmatic problems.

Reduce Heart Rate and Metabolic Rate

Meditation lowers your heart rate, and also lowers the metabolic rate, bringing you into a state of calmness.

Coping with Depression

Meditation can bring you into a more positive state of mind, making you feel happy and rejuvenated. Because of this, meditation is often used as an effective tool to cope with depression.

An Increased Emotional Stability

Meditation brings about emotional stability, enabling us to better control our emotions and feelings.

An Increase in Productivity

Meditation also helps to increase memory and alertness, giving us more clarity of thought to make better judgments and decisions. It makes us more alert and awake at work, thus increasing productivity in what we do.

Enjoy meditating!

Experience the benefits of meditation for yourself. Visit Meditation Heaven to download a free guided meditation session and enjoy instant stress relief.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Edwin_Mah

Meditating On A Regular Basis

By Ted Hanulak

Meditation. Everyone knows that it is good for you. Lowers blood pressure, fights stress, helps one to be centered and more peaceful. There are 1000's of books out there on meditation. Books on how to meditate, the benefits of meditating, martial arts and meditation, Zen, etc.... Books are how many of us first learned of "sitting" in the first place. You can only read so much. Eventually you have to do it, and you have to do it on a regular basis.

Here are a few ideas that can help you keep that commitment to "sit" everyday. The first and perhaps most important tool is a good "zafu". The zafu is a round meditation cushion, usually filled with kapok or buckwheat hull. Kapok provides a firm zafu and buckwheat hull provides a softer zafu. It is a personal choice. Choose whichever helps you sit longer. A soft zafu may feel good at first but it may cause problems as your mediation period continues.

Another important tool is the actual place you sit. Take a small area in your house and make it your "meditation place". This will remind you to meditate every time you walk by the area. If you sit with a group a couple of times a week, burn the same incense and play the same music that the group uses. This will create the illusion that you are with the group.

Try and sit the same time every day. This way you won't forget to sit. Early morning or late at night is best because it is usually more quite at those times. Less distractions. Sit for shorter periods at first, 10 minutes or so. Quality is more important than quantity. Also, if you know your facing 45 minutes of meditation, you probably won't do it.

You must make meditation as natural as eating and going to the bathroom. You do those things everyday, now it is time to also meditate everyday.

Ted Hanulak is the head instructor / Sensei of the Japanese martial art of Senso-Ryu Aikijutsu. He teaches Aikijutsu and Zen meditation out of the Aikijutsu Academy of Indianapolis http://www.aiki-jutsu.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ted_Hanulak

Dreams For Our Well Being Meditation

By Tolga Savas

Dear kindred soul, as you know we humans have a rich history, and dreams play an important role in our journey, it has always been the case, earliest recorded dream dates back to 1760 B.C. to ancient babylonian times contained in "epic of Gilgamesh, and mentions Ishtar and Izdubar, in this recorded dream, the king summons his seers and commands them to interpret a concerning dream. Similarly famous story in the Old Testament the Book of Daniel (2: 2-3) which mentions the King Nebuchadnezzar: "commanded to call the magicians, and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, for to shew the king his dreams.

So they came and stood before the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream and my spirit was troubled to know the dream." In the end it was Daniel, who, enlightened by the a vision sent to him by God, interpreted Nebuchadnezzar's dream, first explaining " the secret which the hath demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, shew unto the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days." Daniel (2:27-28). As you can see many cultures have always taken dreams very seriously.

But what are dreams? why do we dream? the answer to that question is up to the individual, as we are in a dream state we fall in to utmost relaxation of our being, similar state can be achieved in meditation, this also might raise the question; can we dream without sleeping? well I don't really know the answer to that, all I know is we sometimes daydream,

We can all learn to analyze our dream, buy spending quite a long time to understanding the meanings and decoding it, we can have a dream diary to write them down, while it's still fresh in our mind. There is a lot of people who take dreams very seriously, and I am one of those people, and in the search engines if you just search "dreams" you will get millions of search results. Dreams are personal to us, we usually share them with family and friends. Also there are many dream analyzers online and all are eager to re dream your dream with you.

I personally believe, when we try to analyze a dream we must try to accomplish this by taking the whole dream and everything seen, heard and felt as one. example if we saw ocean in a dream, the meaning for it, is interwoven with every other detail of that particular dream, this is very important to truly get the one real meaning.

And every dream must be translated as good and pure.

Meditation

You heard about it, you might have practiced it, you may have made it part of your daily life, it has been scientifically proven that meditation works for your well being, we are all out there trying our best to be healthy by eating well, counting calories, exercising and so on which is highly beneficiary for you, how about the the health of our soul. Our inner self our mental state. How many people do you know who looks after that department very well, we tend to say there is no time or I will look into it some other time. Please remember dear friend tomorrow is not promised to me or you, so what we do today that counts. meditation is one of the best things you can do now, to improve your well being and it doesn't cost you a dime.

Tolga Savas

International Psychic Clairvoyant offering psychic medium readings, psychic readings, dream analysis, real psychic advice, dream translations, psychic chat online, astrology forecasts, Kumalak the Mirror of Destiny, See the Future that is Now

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tolga_Savas

Meditation Can Be Your Key To Getting A Great Night's Sleep

By Keira Adams

Practicing meditation can be a great tool in the battle to achieve a more restful night's sleep. You CAN achieve a deeper and more refreshing sleep that will leave you ready to tackle your new day. Meditation is often very helpful for those who have trouble falling to sleep in the first place. It's a way for them to deeply relax their muscles and also their minds, thus allowing sleep to come more quickly to them.

A lot of people, for a variety of reasons, may try taking numerous different pills. However, you should know that with sleeping pills, you run the risk of interrupted sleep and daytime drowsiness. If you decide to use meditation instead of medication, it takes practice to learn the techniques that work for your body in particular, so be patient.

You can meditate in many different ways, such as using music, or not using music, lighting candles, or trying a more intense technique of yoga meditation by sitting quietly and letting your mind wander. Meditation will help to reduce your stress and anxiety, so that you get a better night's sleep.

There are several tips to help you reach better results with your meditation. You could try utilizing techniques such as a mantra, which is a positive phrase repeated aloud or in your mind, listening to relaxing CDs, or focusing on deep breathing exercises. When negative thoughts creep into your head and interrupt your meditation, try sweeping them away, making room for positive thoughts.

When you have a peaceful place with no distractions you will be able to easily meditate. Use the following tips to help you concentrate.

1. Find a quiet place where you're not likely to be disturbed. This place might be somewhere in your house, or a lakeside park bench. Remove the television, phone and other things that might cause a disturbance.

2. Get comfortable. Find a sitting position that is comfortable for you, using pillows or cushions if required. Remove your footwear, and do not wear anything that restricts you.

3. Try to relax. With your eyes closed, set your mind free to go where it wants. Think of a peaceful lake or a meadow while you meditate.

4. Take a deep breath. Inhale deeply and rhythmically, while concentrating on the air being drawn in and exiting your body with each breath. Stress relief and increasing your oxygen levels can be achieved by these deep breathing techniques.

In order to get a good night's sleep, try practicing meditation for 10 to 15 minutes before you go to bed. This should help improve your sleep patterns, and leave you feeling nice and refreshed for the day ahead.

Keira Adams writes about women's wellness and stress management. If you want to know more about the calming practice of meditation, visit Meditation-Info at http://www.meditation-info.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Keira_Adams

Meditation Tools And Techniques For A Compassionate Mind

By Laurie Desjardins

Empathy and compassion are two emotions that make us human. It's the ability to identify with another person, to place ourselves in another's shoes, which allow us to have a greater connection with our fellow man.

Unfortunately, with the stress and general busy-ness of life, it becomes harder for us to place ourselves in the lives of others, as we're too busy worried about our own lives and our own families. Though it is easy for us to empathize with those close to us, it's a lot harder to summon compassion for people we've never met.

However, it's possible to learn compassion and empathy through meditation techniques.

Here's the story

A recent study published in the journal PLoS One showed that 16 Buddhist monks had been able to train their brains to be kinder and more compassionate, thanks to years of practiced compassion meditation.

The monks and a volunteer control group underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging brain scans during meditation sessions. During the sessions, the participants were given emotional cues - a baby crying or a woman in distress, for example - and asked to meditate or to refrain from meditating.

The scans showed that the brain circuits that detect emotion and feelings were significantly changed in the monks, where the volunteers showed little change, if any. The deeper the meditation, the stronger the response from the monks.

What this means for you

No, you don't have thousands of hours right now to spend training yourself in compassionate meditation techniques. However, those monks didn't start with thousands of hours under their belts. They had to start one day at a time.

By starting now, you can start making your brain kinder and more compassionate, taking it a day at a time.

Meditation has other, more noted health benefits as well. Studies have shown that it can reduce chronic stress and high blood pressure, and improve clarity and attention. With the high positive impact this can have on your life, it's important to make daily meditation a priority.

Meditation tools and tips

When life gets so busy, it's easy to put off meditation. You don't have time. You don't have space. You just can't fit it in.

However, meditation is one of those rare things that you actually can do just about anywhere. Whether you're at work or at home, if there's a place you can go for just a few moments of quiet, even if it's the bathroom, then you can meditate.

Images provide a very powerful meditation technique for some people. Imagine that the light in the room is sunlight shining on a beach. Turn on the water in the bathroom and imagine that you're sitting by a babbling creek. If it helps, bring in scents like pine or lavender to help you meditate.

Meditation tools are an excellent addition to your meditation repertoire, especially if you're just getting started. It can help immensely to have a physical tool on which to focus your energy. One particularly effective meditation tool is the Zen Stick, a smooth, wooden stick that you toss and catch with your eyes closed. It takes some coordination, but the repetitive motion combined with the physical meditation tool makes it a very quick and successful meditation.

Meditate one day at a time

In the modern world, we are constantly bombarded with a sense of "now now now" and "me me me." We are so worried about the future - what to have for dinner, when to do our taxes, how to finish those projects at work - that we forget to take time to enjoy the present and help our fellows.

Meditation techniques take away that unending rush and bring your focus to the here and now. Take it one day at a time, and you'll be more at peace with yourself, and be on your way to being a more compassionate, empathic person.

About the Author: Reduce your stress, better your health, and establish a feeling of peace and tranquility in your everyday life. Visit SleepingTiger.org today to choose the Zen Stick meditation tool that's right for you.

Laurie Desjardins is a meditation expert and creator of the Zen Stick relaxation tool. If you want to truly align your mind, body and spirit, consider adding the Zen Stick to your relaxation repertoire. For more information about meditation techniques and Zen Sticks, visit http://www.sleepingtiger.org.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Laurie_Desjardins

Enjoy Meditation to Remain Fit

By Tom Chuong

What is meditation? It is a process of thought and concentration, which reduces stress, worries and obesity. People, who are conscious about their weight, do meditation to the fat of their body. Meditation is safe, healthy and affordable. Meditation is a component of yoga from past 50000 years.

Meditation increases the energy level present in the human body. There are many people who meditate in the morning to reduce their anxieties, stress and like to remain strong and fit. It is both complex and simple. Meditation is about looking at an object and then describing about it.
Some of the steps one should follow while meditating:

• Kneel or sit comfortably.

• The hands to be kept loose and opened with the palms, one on the top of other and the thumb touching lightly.

• The head should be upright, eyes must be closed or open and if they are opened, they should be focused either on your hands or a spot.

• While meditating, a person should breathe in a relaxed and natural way. The beginner meditators should count the number of times they exhale. This is to be repeated again and again.

• This process needs to be continued for at least 15 minutes.

Here are some benefits of meditation:

• It reduces stress.

• Cures diseases like diabetics, blood pressure, obesity and hypertension.

• The quality of sleep gets improved.

• Improves concentration, chronological aging, visual acuity heightens immunity level and increases alertness.

Meditation bestows fruitful results if followed in an appropriate way and an encouraging force. Always begin meditation with reason- Plan a reason in your life for doing meditation such as reducing weight, anxieties or diseases. Explore the benefits of meditation by doing a research on mediation techniques.

• Begin it with dedication- if you serious want to get rid of your problems in life, start meditating with concentration, respect and seriousness. You will experience the results immediately in your life.

• Meditation should be done with an objective or a goal in life. If an objective is set behind mediation, it will lead to the steps of success.

Tom Chuong works as an Health Consultant for Clay Media Group, LLC. Currently, he's writing health articles on topics related to Hoodia Diet Pills, Hoodia, and Herbal Remedies. If you need an experienced SEO expert to work on your commercial website, please contact him.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tom_Chuong