Living Energy Blog

Meditation (Photo credit: atsukosmith)

Meditation has hit the mainstream media–again! This is a very nice, succinct piece on the value, process and benefits of meditation practice. You can see it here:
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/w_AlternativeNews/meditation-prescribed-doctors-study-finds/story?id=13563912

You can also find more on meditation in our archives—scientific, how to, benefits and even a video with a specific technique to calm and quiet your mind. Click on the select categories  ”button” on the right side bar on this page and you will find more articles as well as the video. You can also find a nine minute meditation here: http://www.livingenergyworks.com/audio.html

We’ll be getting back to more information on dealing with energy vampires shortly, but for now— the practice of meditation is a great way to begin to be in touch with your energy and to build a strong field so you can be sensitive and aware of energy and not be drained by the people. places and events of your life!

Breathe (Photo credit: PhotoLab XL)

Numerous studies have shown that meditation and breath-work used on a regular basis result in ‘stress hardiness’ and improved health. So even if you have no interest in becoming knowledgeable about energy you can still benefit in very significant ways!  In addition to strengthening the nervous and immune systems, these practices also help quiet the mind and body so you can become aware of subtle energies within yourself and in your environment. They are the cornerstones for other methods that can eventually provide you with greater control over your energy.

Meditation & Breathwork

There are many ways of altering the breath and using it to change our state of awareness. However unless you are working with a practitioner who is knowledgeable about these techniques it is best to stay with simple straightforward methods.  Most of us breathe very shallowly, so simply deepening the breath and opening the chest fully can go a long way to raising your energy level and helping you to feel more relaxed. Another thing that breathing in this way accomplishes is to slow the mind. You will notice at the start that your mind will wander…A LOT! That’s okay; it’s what the mind does. The point is to notice when this happens and bring your attention back to the breath. The mind needs something to focus on in order to become steady and less busy.

This may seem too simplistic a tool in the overall scheme of things that you are trying to accomplish in your life. Be assured however that if you engage in such a practice, you will actually develop more ability and strength to achieve your goals in a much less effortful way than you may imagine at the outset.  The simple approach just described regarding the breath can also become your form of meditation. Meditation techniques in general employ a specific focal point of attention to help quiet the mind and body. We have to breathe; it’s always present and costs nothing so it’s a good choice for a focal point.  It is that simple but not easy!  There are many styles of meditation just as there are techniques of breathwork. The important thing is to choose one that fits for you. We are each unique in how we respond to stress and our lives. The tools we use should fit our particular temperament, life & stress style.  There are many books, tapes, classes and videos that can teach you these techniques for self mastery and feeling good. Explore the many alternatives with your needs in mind and discover what fits for you. The effort you make to integrate a twenty minute ‘stress break’ into your day will bring great returns in the form of increased perception, improved ability to concentrate, enhanced health and an overall increase in your ability to build and use energy for your benefit.

Paying attention to your breathing on the inside pays significant dividends for you on the outside.  You can strengthen your core, the center of your personal power system, by simply focusing on your breath and bringing your attention to it.  Breathe in as deeply as you can.  Expand your chest and draw your breath into your abdomen.  If you can’t do this right away, don’t worry.  Do a little bit everyday and before you know it, you’ll be breathing more deeply and more fully.

When you strengthen your core, you put yourself in control.  Begin to notice how you feel and what you are feeling.  You will notice different triggers: situations and things that make you feel great as well as conditions under which you feel more stressed.  Pay attention to the people and relationships that strengthen and energize you as well as those that deplete you.  When you find yourself feeling more stressed, take note and practice breathing consciously for just a few minutes, or even a few complete breaths.  Breathe in slowly, fully and deeply.  Doing so will slow you down and allow you some thinking time.  As you think, you can consciously choose how to handle each situation vs. simply reacting.

Pay attention to your breath at various points throughout the day. Before you get out of bed in the morning take a few deep breaths.  Nice, long, slow deep breaths.  Expand your chest and breathe all the way down and into your abdomen.  Practice deep breathing while you are in the shower.  Simply breathe deep, long and slow as the water washes over and cleanses you.  If thoughts of your upcoming day rush into your mind, acknowledge them, let them go and return to breathing deeply, slowly and consciously.

Breathe deeply as you are on your way to work.  Long, slow, conscious breaths.  As you do so, think about what you want to happen.  Think about the events in your day flowing easily and effortlessly.  Try to hold these thoughts for at least 68 seconds.  There is a theory that says holding our thoughts for 68 pure seconds (without self-doubt or sabotage creeping in) helps whatever you are thinking about to manifest.  The key is to keep your focus pure and undiluted.

Take a few moments during the day to breathe as deeply and as consciously as you can.  If there is a lot going on around you and you find it hard to focus, take three deep breathes.  They will only take a little time and you can return to your present situation in a calmer and more directed state of mind.  Become aware of what you are thinking and choose thoughts that are supportive.

Also take time to breathe deeply and consciously before you go to bed.  Review the events of your day.  Focus on what went well and give thanks before you drift off to sleep.  Breathe in slowly, deeply and consciously. It’s one of the best methods of self-care and it costs you nothing!

One of the key elements in an energetic approach to living is to FEEL good. Not only is this a goal, it is also a part of the method to achieve the goal. We are so accustomed to working hard, striving, pushing…efforting to reach our destination that it seems to never occur to us that there can be another way. It is not about not making an effort to reach our goals…the point is that we can do so with a lot less angst than most of us generate! The key here is in the attitude and inner state that shapes our approach.

 Fortunately the same techniques that are used to help discover our problem patterns can also be part of the solution. For instance, meditation and breath work can heighten awareness of mind-body patterns that deplete our energy resources. At the same time these methods can help to develop an inner state of ease and also harness the mind in order to create new, healthier patterns of thinking and feeling. The enhanced well being that comes with this type of  practice eventually spills over into real life!

"Gathering the Light" from the Taoist book The Secret of the Golden Flower, translated by C. G. Jung and Richard Wilhelm (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

New research is documenting that even beginners with brief instruction in meditation can reduce/eliminate pain with meditation.

Full story: http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2011/04/06/135146672/even-beginners-can-curb-pain-with-meditation?ps=sh_sthdl

Contemplation (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Are you feeling the results of the harsh, cold and unyielding temperatures on your patience? The already difficult season of winter becomes even more unbearable when we are besieged by extremes of temperature, as well as continuous ice or snow storms!

 Is there a way to make peace with this season?  Is there a means to find not just respite, but maybe even an appreciation of this quieter, less active, time of the year?

Of course there are many approaches that help us tolerate and get through this time: winter sports, vacations, new hobbies and interests. These are all worthwhile and useful alternatives to enable us to withstand the long, cold, and dark season.

There are also choices in how we view this time of year that can help reduce some of the stress and frustration. We can look at winter as a teacher. We can open ourselves to learn something from this season that we are used to just enduring. Years ago we would have laughed at such an approach! Finally it occurred to us that our attitude was not working. So we thought a trial run of a different point of view couldn’t hurt.  We found that it not only didn’t hurt, it in fact helped…a lot!

The natural world has much to teach us about flowing with cycles and changes…how to be patient and go with the flow rather than fight what is.  If you allow it, winter’s journey can be a kind of spinning inward, a letting go of resistance to all that you find harsh, cold and unyielding. Within the short and cold days of winter, there is a lot of magic and beauty.  It can be a time of quiet reflection, a time to learn how to turn your attention inward. When you do this, the possibility opens to learning how to become friends with a slower, quieter, less active pace. You can welcome the respite from the over-activity of the holidays, and warmer seasons. By slowing down and going inward, you may discover that solutions come to you more easily.  You may also discover that you can get more done in less time.  You may discover that you like the new pace and improved balance.

However, there are challenges to implementing these ideas! We seem to resist slowing down. We are used to such a high level of activity, and have such high expectations for every area of our lives, that it is hard to slow down. We have all cooperated in the creation of lives so full of action that is hard to change. In spite of warnings regarding health, our own unrest and feelings of distress with the pace, we continue onward as if it is impossible to change.

You are, whether you choose to believe it or not, the change agent and meaning maker of your life. So if you are to have something new enter your existence, you will have to make room for it and put it there. You will have to align your energy with your intentions and get ready to receive everything you are asking for.  Whatever you ask for, will come.  How about beginning with the willingness to entertain some new ideas?

Nature’s wisdom follows predictable, repeatable cycles of change and growth. Winter’s time of ‘darkness’ is a resting time, a space where there is a deep process of renewal and rejuvenation happening before the grand explosion of life in spring.

Winter provides us with a similar experience. With a somewhat slower pace of life you can take the opportunity to give yourself a gift of time each day for quiet reflection. You can learn to enter into this state that nature models so gracefully. How do you do this? One way is to practice some form of meditation, deep relaxation, and contemplation or prayer as a daily routine. This may be difficult at first for many reasons. It may feel as though nothing is happening or that you are not being productive, responsible or worthwhile. As you become more familiar with spending time in this type of activity, you will gradually become aware, however, of how profoundly it can impact your life in ways that support the values you cherish.

Deep within each of us, is the need for quiet; for the kind of rest that replenishes and nourishes our bodies, minds and spirits. There is a place inside that understands and knows how to BE. However, you need to access it, it will not force its way into your life. You access it by slowing down, tuning in and listening to everything within your body and soul.  When you provide the means to travel there, your life is greatly enriched for the brief investment of time that you make.

What are the benefits of learning to spend this kind of time?

• You may find a kind of rest you did not think was possible.
• You can discover that silence will teach you things you didn’t know.
• You can develop new perspectives, new views that help you in practical ways.
• You may realize the difference between knowledge and understanding.
• You may find you are more than a constant process of doing.
• You may find that by slowing down you actually accomplish more with less effort.
• You may rediscover your creativity and simple solutions to everyday problems.
• You may find that you really enjoy and cherish this time.
• You can develop a reliable source of renewal, guidance, support and problem solving.

All relationships need attention, time and space to grow. Winter provides the possibility for a new kind of relationship—with yourself. This relationship is grown and nurtured internally. It is deceptively quiet and subtle, but like winter, it can be powerful in the gifts it brings: expansion, growth, warmth, beauty …your own personal Spring!  Go inward this winter and nurture the seeds of change and growth within you.  Contemplate what you really want in your life and make room in your heart and soul for its arrival.  Align your thoughts and your energy with your intentions on a daily basis.

Make a commitment to nurture yourself this winter.  Align your spirit with Nature’s cycles.  When spring arrives, the seeds of winter will burst forth will new life and vigor.

La méditation (Danse Odissi, musée Guimet) (Photo credit: dalbera)

From a NY Times article

… The researchers report that those who meditated for about 30 minutes a day for eight weeks had measurable changes in gray-matter density in parts of the brain associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress.

M.R.I. brain scans taken before and after the participants’ meditation regimen found increased gray matter in the hippocampus, an area important for learning and memory. The images also showed a reduction of gray matter in the amygdala, a region connected to anxiety and stress. A control group that did not practice meditation showed no such changes.

Britta Hölzel, a psychologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School and the study’s lead author, said the participants practiced mindfulness meditation, a form of meditation that was introduced in the United States in the late 1970s. It traces its roots to ancient Buddhist techniques….

“The main idea is to use different objects to focus one’s attention, and it could be a focus on sensations of breathing, or emotions or thoughts, or observing any type of body sensations,” she said. “But it’s about bringing the mind back to the here and now, as opposed to letting the mind drift.”

Generally the meditators are seated upright on a chair or the floor and in silence, although sometimes there might be a guide leading a session, Dr. Hölzel said.

… a 2009 study suggests that meditation may reduce blood pressure in patients with coronary heart disease. And a 2007 study found that meditators have longer attention spans.

Previous studies have also shown that there are structural differences between the brains of meditators and those who don’t meditate, although this new study is the first to document changes in gray matter over time through meditation.

Ultimately, Dr. Hölzel said she and her colleagues would like to demonstrate how meditation results in definitive improvements in people’s lives.

“A lot of studies find that it increases well-being, improves quality of life, but it’s always hard to determine how you can objectively test that,” she said. “Relatively little is known about the brain and the psychological mechanisms about how this is being done.”

In a 2008 study published in the journal PloS One, researchers found that when meditators heard the sounds of people suffering, they had stronger activation levels in their temporal parietal junctures, a part of the brain tied to empathy, than people who did not meditate.

“They may be more willing to help when someone suffers, and act more compassionately,” Dr. Hölzel said.

Click here for the article:

http://http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/how-meditation-may-change-the-brain/?src=me&ref=general

Clinical research shows Buddhist mindfulness techniques can help alleviate anxiety , stress , and depression (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“Mindfulness is the miracle by which we can call back in a flash our dispersed mind and restore it to wholeness so that we can live each minute of life.” Thich Nhat Hanh, The Miracle of Mindfulness

The natural world has much to teach us about flowing with cycles and changes…how to be patient and go with the flow rather than fight what is.  If you allow it, winter’s journey can be a kind of spinning inward, a letting go of resistance to all that you find harsh, cold and unyielding. Within the short and cold days of winter, there is a lot of magic and beauty.  It can be a time of quiet reflection, a time to learn how to turn your attention inward. When you do this, the possibility opens to learning how to become friends with a slower, quieter, less active pace. You can welcome the respite from the over-activity of our modern digital life, the holidays, and warmer seasons. By slowing down and going inward, you may discover that solutions come to you more easily.  You may also discover that you can get more done in less time.  You may discover that you like the new pace and improved balance!

When we allow time to simply BE in the silence, stressful energy can unwind, our minds can clear and become more restful allowing for consciousness to deepen, broaden and ripen. Learning how to simply be present with what is in the moment  helps us rejuvenate our energy and learn from the inside out how to flow more gracefully with life.

Resources:

Crown chakra guided meditation now on YouTube

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As we engage in a routine meditation practice we are able to tame the conscious mind, and become more open to the higher frequencies of universal consciousness. Meditation intrinsically helps to develop an enhanced perspective that allows us to become aware of the lower mind (ego) and its various machinations that keep us stuck or locked in struggle and repetitive behaviors that imprison us. 

 When practiced over time meditation takes your awareness beyond time, ego, thought, sensation, emotion and memory. As you move closer to Source frequencies, you move away from the tyranny of the lower mind. After a while you begin to recognize transcendent experience as a sense of fullness, of steadiness or of an appreciation for the infinite.

 Mediation practice helps enhance any other work you may be doing ten fold. It helps cleanse and strengthen the nervous system, as well as increases perception, insight and concentration.  Although it may seem counter intuitive, taking time to meditate regularly actually expands time and opportunities in other areas of your life.