Meditation Is My Home

I love to meditate for so many different reasons. But mostly, to me, meditation feels like home.

Here is a short list of why I meditate:

Its something I can do no matter where I am, no matter the kind of day I’ve had, no matter what I’ve done wrong or how much time I’ve spent away from my practice. The moment I close the door to my closet and start to center myself this sweet calmness begins to fall over me and I instantly feel safe in this haven of inner peace.  I am reintroduced to my higher self and become reminded of the true person that I am and the person that I strive to be. I am blanketed in God’s love and reminded that holding on to negativity only harms myself; and so in this space, in this moment, I am encouraged to drop my heavy load and burdens and in return I am given a Light to share with the world.

I return to this space on long walks, in hot baths, lying in bed, while sitting or standing; and each time is easier to return than the last because for me meditation is home.

For those of you that do meditate please share with me a reason or two that you feel calls you back to that space. For those of you that don’t I am also interested in hearing why you don’t.  Feel free to share your comments below.

Walking Meditation as a Modern Way to a Healthier Life

Meditation has always been associated with solitude, tranquility, and physical inactivity. When one talks of meditation, you may usually come up with a scenario in which a person finds a secluded area, closes his eyes in silence, and rests his body while working his mind out. Does meditation always have to be like this?

Meditation is an art. A method. A skill. A process. It is the art of keeping in touch with yourself, of discovering your entirety and the many facets of your being. It is also a skill that must be developed. It requires discipline and right mindset. You cannot simply think that you will meditate and expect to achieve a result right after. This requires the tuning of one’s consciousness. Meditation typically involves a set of procedures and guidelines to be followed.

Typically, the success of the activity will depend on the adherence to the given principles and rules.

One interesting form of meditation that deviates from the old and traditional concept is walking meditation. Walking meditation is a lot different from other forms of meditation known to many. For one, you will not have to be physically inactive just to do it. In fact, you need to move and be active – you need to walk! You have to actively engage your mind and your body in this activity in order to experience a holistic positive result. This brings another benefit.
Since walking is a daily activity, you can actually grow by meditation everyday!

You also will not have to find a secluded place just so you can meditate. Anywhere will do. Actually, a noisy and crowded place is even encouraged. Here is where the challenge lies. Concentration is important and awareness must be focused. You must not allow the outer world to bind your mind into it – by the things that you see, hear, or whatever you perceive. You may be aware of them, but you must guard not to do anything about them. Do not cling to anything.

The guiding principle behind walking meditation is achieving a balanced awareness, equilibrium, between your inner self and the outer world surrounding you. This meditation will invite you to feel your entire body, all the workings of the parts that make you up, being aware how each of your body parts operates. While doing this, you also have to notice your emotion and your mood. These are all done while you walk. The outside world need not be lost in your focus. There will always be stuffs that will catch your attention as you meditate, and you are not to resist. You are not to hang on to these, though. You have to let them pass by, observing them without doing anything at all.

This is the real sense of awareness. The ideal result of walking meditation is the person’s consciousness of the outside world while being completely aware of his inner self. When this is achieved, many of the puzzles and complexities of life will become clearer and simpler. By bridging the gap between what is within and what is out of yourself, you can take full control of your life and enjoy a healthier and a more satisfied lifestyle.

Meditation Music: What Kind of Music You Should Play When Meditating

One of the deadliest diseases and considered to be the number killer disease in the United States is heart disease. In fact, recent survey has found that heart diseases kills more people than car accidents in the United States alone. As you can see, you have every right to be concerned about your health in order for you to live a happier and healthier life.

Heart diseases are mainly caused by eating fatty foods and lack of exercise. However, you also have to consider the fact that stress is also one of the main contributors to high blood pressure as well as heart diseases. This is why working all the time without adequate rest is not recommended. It is important for the body to rest in order for it to function properly and remain healthy. However, some people disregard rest because they have to work in order to meet their daily needs.

This kind of pressure is too much for the heart and body. It is also too much for the mind where it cannot function well enough that it impairs your way of thinking. Without adequate rest, you will tend to get moody all the time and lose your efficiency at work.

One of the best ways to relax your mind and body is through sleeping. However, you have to consider that you only sleep once a day and sometimes, you lack sleep because of work. So, the next best thing to sleep is by meditating. Meditation has been around for thousands of years. However, recent studies have found that meditation is beneficial to the mind and body. In fact, research was made on sleeping and meditation. The scanners have found that the brain is more relaxed in meditation than in sleeping. There is less activity in the brain when you meditate. This means that you will be able to fully relax your mind and also your body and keep it fresh all day long.

Usually, meditation requires a quiet room to practice meditation on. However, studies have found that soft meditation music can also help in meditating. People who don’t normally achieve full meditation in a quiet room were introduced to soft and calm music. The research was a success. It states that music can indeed help in meditation and it is now being introduced in meditation classes all over the United States as a helpful tool in meditation.
Ambient meditation music can be downloaded for free over the internet. You will hear soft and relaxing music that will enable you to meditate properly. Meditation music can also help you to go to sleep as well. Other use for meditation music is for sex. It has been found that certain meditation music enhances the sexual atmosphere and gets both partners in the mood for sex.

As you can see, meditation can be used for different purposes. If you want to relax and meditate, choose a relaxing, quiet environment, play your music and start meditating. You will see that it will increase your chances of relaxing through meditation.

Relaxation and Meditation Exercises

After a day’s hectic schedule of meeting deadlines, attending meetings, preparing different documents, and so on, you will always be looking forward to going home and relaxing. There are many ways to relax, and one method that is quite effective is meditation.

How will you do it? Perhaps you’ve already heard other people talking about meditation. It’s not as hard as you think. The idea revolves around focusing your thoughts to a certain relaxing thing over a sustained time. This way, your mind is able to rest, and your thoughts about stressful things are diverted elsewhere. Your body can recuperate and relax through meditation; toxin build ups are also cleared away.

You will notice that while you’re meditating your breathing slows, your blood pressure is reduced, the muscles relax, anxiety and irritability are reduced, stressful thoughts and lactic acid are eliminated, clears your way of thinking, headaches and stress are also lessened, and you can now concentrate and focus fully.

Focusing on just a single thing is the true essence of such activity. This is an active process unlike that of hypnosis. All your mental faculties should be concentrated on the meditation’s subject. Meditation is usually done for about 30 minutes, so be sure that you’re in a comfortable position. You can lie on your bed, sit on your favorite couch, or choose any position that you’re really comfortable with.

You can focus on different things when you’re meditating like breathing, an object, a sound, or even imagery. Whichever you choose, it is very important to remain focused. If you experience any distractions and external thoughts, recognize them and let them drift them out. This is natural when you’re just a beginner; you will always find your thoughts wandering but as you continue practicing meditation, you will soon improve.

Here are a few examples of mediations that may help you get started:

1. Ideal Relaxation – close your eyes and try to create an ideal relaxation spot inside your mind. Choose any place whether it’s imagined or real and furnish the place according to your own preference and style. Wear comfortable clothes and imagine that you’re going to that place. Feel mellow and at ease in your imagined and ideal relaxation place. Enjoy that special moment for about a minute.

2. White Light – White light and color meditations can be very healing. Close your eyes and take deep relaxing breaths. As you inhale imagine the brightest white light coming in and bringing warmth and healing to every cell of your body. As you exhale imagine the stress, negative thoughts and energies being released from your spirit. Enjoy the white light as it cleanses you; and accept the feeling of being renewed as you let go of negative emotions and thoughts.

3. Word Meditation – Words are very powerful and in understanding their power you can use them to create the reality you need. For example, if you feel that you are all over the place, unfocused and can’t seem to pull yourself together then you may need to ground. One way to do this is to use the word grounding to call forth what you need in the physical. So as you relax, get focused on your breath and think of the one thing that you need. As you breathe in slowly say in your mind “I AAAMMMM” and as you exhale slowly say “GRROOUNNDDED”. We have the power to call what we need into existence. You can use this mediation to bring forth anything into your life; love, peace, patience, healing, calm, etc…

These are just simple relaxation and meditation exercises that you can do. If you’re feeling stressed and tensed, do these exercises. Do what works best for you and have fun

Relaxation Techniques For Children

Relaxation techniques were believed to be related only to adults. Stress used to be considered as associated with work pressures, family tensions and other responsibilities and hence was a point of discussion only in case of the grownups. Today the picture has changed. Relaxation techniques are no longer related only to the issues with grownups. Presently, even kids have to deal with stressful situations. Situations vary right from bearing the separation of parents to coping with school activities. Changes and stressful situations will always arise in life-so take those opportunities to help teach your children how to recognize, deal with, and overcome the stressful times. Here are a few techniques that may help…

Top Eight Relaxation Techniques for Children

Deep Breathing: This activity helps the children relax by slowing their breathing rate, their heart rate and normalizing their blood pressure. Teach your child to take a deep breath, hold the breath for a few seconds and then release it. This will enable the child to relax.

Music: Play for the child his/her favorite music. Certain tunes, instrumental pieces, certain forms of music have the power to soothe your mind and body. I always think of music as a form of divinity. It bears the strength to fight stress and can distract a child’s mind from tensions. Music lovers like me can join the camp of listening to music when stressed out.

Exercise: Ask the child to relax his/her muscles. Ask the child to focus on different muscles of the body and try relaxing them one at a time. The child should start with stretching the arms and progressively his/her body. Physical relaxation eventually leads to the relaxation of one’s mind.

Meditation: Meditation is the best kind of mental exercise. This exercise does not challenge your brain, it rather soothes your soul through the use of sacred messages you convey to yourself. The very well known yoga is one of the most promising relaxation techniques for children.

Laughter: Laughter, popularly denoted, as the best medicine is an excellent relaxation technique for children. All of us love to laugh; moreover a whole lot of clowny things trigger laughter in children. Comic books, words filled with humor, comic actions and the silliest of jokes can make children laugh. Laughter is a good exercise for the facial muscles as it relaxes most of the muscles of the face. Laughter creates a positive note in one’s mind and is thus one of the best relaxation techniques.

Visualization: Experts say that picturing the things you love can make you feel relaxed. Allow the child to imagine something nice and visualize that scenario in front of his/her closed eyes. The thoughts and imagery of a positive picture in front of one’s eyes makes the person feel relaxed. Imagining to have gotten what you want to get is like going near to meeting one’s aspirations. Thus imaging of good things happening to you is definitely helpful.

Take a break: Taking a break from the daily routine is very necessary when it comes to relaxation. The activity of relaxing is about switching off for some time of the day. Whenever your child feels stressed, ask him/her to take a break from work and rest for a while or engage in his/her hobby. Even a short break can serve as a refreshing stimulant to get back with a fresh new approach. A break can actually help the child find a solution to the stressful problems and make him/her distressed.

Introvert: This technique might sound a difficult task for children to perform, but if they are trained at an early age, they can gradually grasp it to serve as one of the very good ways of getting rid of stress. Introverting requires a person to contemplate the situation that gives him/her the stress. The person is advised to introspect one’s problems, make a conscious effort of tracing to the root of the problems.

How To get To Sleep, and Stay Asleep

Sleep is as important to your physical health as it is to your mental health. When you sleep, you are not only recharging your body but your mind as well. When we tire, we lose our ability to work at full mental capacity. Anxiety and tension tend to run high when we’re lacking sleep, too. Unfortunately, many of us aren’t getting the sleep we need because we simply can’t sleep. Insomnia is incredibly common in our society because our brains are often unable to shut down at night. We are constantly thinking about the previous day or possibly the next day when we really should be resting.

The good news is, there are a number of ways to combat insomnia that don’t require sleeping medications or special nature sounds CDs. If you keep the following in mind at bed time, you’ll find yourself falling asleep quickly and staying asleep throughout the evening. If these techniques just aren’t working for you, you may need to see your doctor as it could be a sign of a sleep disorder.

Exercise in the Morning

Exercise can help us to sleep, but only if it is performed in the morning or early afternoon. If you exercise within a few hours of your regular bed time you body will still be hyped up on endorphins. You’ll find yourself sleeping much more restfully if you do your exercising in the mornings instead.

Thirty Minute Rule

A rule of thumb for those with insomnia is that if you aren’t able to fall asleep within thirty minutes, rather than continuing to lie there without sleeping you should get up and do something calm and relaxing. Reading a book or watching a calm television show are excellent examples. Try to do these tasks in low light, however; bright lights stimulate the body and mind.

Nighttime Snack

Even if you’re dieting, you should never go to bed hungry. Sleeping on an empty stomach will only keep you awake longer. Getting a light snack before bed will help you to sleep and you’ll feel more content. If you have problems falling asleep, try a snack such as warm milk or turkey. These items have in them an amino acid called tryptophan. This amino acid encourages the body to rest.

No Caffeine After Noon!

This might be a difficult one to stick to, but consuming caffeine after midday can also keep us awake at night. Caffeine is a strong stimulant and should be treated as such. If you can’t live without your mocha latte or cup of green tea, drink it in the morning or with lunch so the effects wear off by the time you’re ready to sleep.

Schedule Your Sleep

Sleeping at the same time every night develops a natural pattern for our bodies to follow. If you consistently sleep from 11:00 until 7:00 nightly, your body will always think of 11:00 as sleep time and 7:00 as wake up time. This way you’ll find falling asleep and waking up to be much easier.

Don’t Look at the Clock

When we look at the clock every five minutes as we toss and turn, we’re stressing about losing precious time to sleep. This will only keep you up longer. If you turn your clock away so you’re unable to see the time, you’ll no longer have that temptation there to sneak a peak. Avoiding the clock whenever possible during the night is the best course of action for anyone, whether they usually have problems sleeping or not.

Are You Stressed? Take This Quiz and Find Out

Answer each question with a True or False.

1. I often suffer from tension or migraine headaches.

2. I spend a lot of time thinking about finances.

3. I haven’t had a vacation in a long time.

4. I wish I had more time for hobbies.

5. I have a hard time falling asleep at night.

6. I usually eat more than three meals a week “out” rather than at home.

7. I suffer from chronic pain.

8. I am unhappy with my relationship or recently divorced.

9. I have lost a good friend or family member within the last two years.

10. I want to change my job situation.

11. I often skip breakfast or lunch in order to get things done.

12. I don’t have a group of friends to turn to.

13. I don’t exercise regularly.

14. I am on medication for anxiety/worry or depression.

15. My sex life is not very satisfying.

Count the number of “True” responses you gave and give yourself a point for each.

Less than 5 points: You have a low level of stress.

5 – 10 points: You have a moderate to high level of stress.

10 – 15 points: You have an exceptionally high level of stress.

Once you have pinpointed your stress triggers, it is easier to brainstorm solutions for eliminating or at least reducing the effects of these situations in your life. Remember that a balanced healthy diet, plenty of sleep and moderate regular exercise go a long way towards preventing or minimizing the physical effects of stress on your body.