Fully Present: The Science, Art and Practice of Mindfulness by Sue Smalley, PhD and Diana Winston Mindfulness — the art of paying attention with an open and curious mind to present-moment experiences—has attracted ever-growing interest and tens of thousands of practitioners, who have come to the discipline from both within and outside the Buddhist tradition. coque iphone pas cher In Fully Present, leading mindfulness researchers and educators Dr. coque iphone Sue Smalley and Diana Winston provide an all-in-one guide for anyone interested in bringing mindfulness to daily life as a means of enhancing well-being. Fully Present provides both a scientific explanation for how mindfulness positively and powerfully affects the brain and the body as well as practical guidance to develop both a practice and mindfulness in daily living, not only through meditation but also during daily experiences, such as waiting in line at the supermarket, exercising, or facing difficult news.
Yoga & Meditation
Contact Yoga by Tara Lynda Guber
Contact Yoga: The Seven Points of Connection & Relationship by Tara Lynda Guber with Anodea Judith, PhD Photography by Norman Seff Preface by Anthony Robbins Foreword by Deepak Chopra Mandala Publishing Contact Yoga presents an inspiring new vision of yoga created to deepen your relationships with lovers, friends, family, and other intimates in your life. soldes coque iphone Contact Yoga explores that mysterious and dynamic edge where two people connect: physically, emotionally, and spiritually. soldes coque iphone 2019
Aimee – Reiki Master, Yoga Instructor
Aimee’s practice in the teaching and healing arts began in Chicago as an English teacher and then as a school and community counselor after receiving her Master’s Degree in Human Services and Counseling. After moving to Los Angeles, she expanded her experiences by becoming a certified Kundalini Yoga teacher with Harijiwan and Tej from Golden Bridge as well as Guru Singh and Kia Miller from Yoga West. coque iphone 8 She is also a Master Level Reiki and Crystal Healer. Her yoga and healing sessions incorporate breath movement, mantra and meditation to get your radiant, creative, divine energy flowing through the blues and blocks. coque iphone 8 Aimee is grateful to share in the union of love and light with the finite and Infinite at House of Intuition. coque iphone 6 Reiki: Reiki is a healing technique where Universal Life Force Energy is shared through hands-on treatment. coque iphone xs max It helps remove energetic blocks within the mind, body and spirit promoting wellness and harmony within and throughout your life. acheter coque iphone en ligne Kundalini: Kundalini Yoga incorporates asana (postures), pranayam (breathing), mantra (sound) and meditation in order to energize and awaken the Divine, Creative Energy within. This Universal Energy clears the pathway of the chakras thereby making space for all that benefits your Higher Self. coque iphone soldes It breaks through the blocks, thought patterns and habits that limit you so that you can fully embrace your Truth and rewrite your Destiny.
Light Institute – Meditation Center
Nestled in the magical hills of Galisteo, New Mexico, The Light Institute remains timeless. Founded in 1985 by world renowned and respected Spiritual Teacher, Healer and Author, Chris Griscom, this enchanting center for spiritual healing and multi-incarnational exploration is without equal. Individuals of all ages, from all walks of life, from around the world visit The Light Institute to heal the body, mind, and spirit. What distinguishes the work at The Light Institute is the expertise of the internationally famous and incomparably trained Light Institute Facilitators and the unique method they use. Meditation.
Personally selected and trained by Ms. Griscom, the Facilitators deliver the highest degree of integrity while guiding and protecting you during your spiritual exploration. The method used during this adventure is phenomenally powerful. Ms. Griscom teaches that merely viewing and clearing a lifetime is insufficient to actualize the healing process and develop a repertoire for living in ecstasy. To truly heal and live within divine frequencies, these incarnational memories must be released at the cellular level so that the pure energy is redirected to our lives now. Not only will you be freed of specific and thematic residues as a result of releasing karma from other embodiments, you will also discover the many talents you hold within your multi-dimensional consciousness; you must connect with your Higher Self, the Divine Source. The work you will encounter at The Light Institute will allow you to access your Higher Self.
This is the remarkable, differentiating element of the healing work initiated at The Light Institute: the accessing of and the reconnection to one’s inherent, divine purpose and gifts and the integration of these magnificent forces into the consciousness and daily life. You will indeed Experience the Light in the midst of the serene setting of The Light Institute. You will be able to work one on one with the Facilitator of your choice and begin the spiritual adventure of a lifetime.
THE LIGHT INSTITUTE offers private multi-incarnational sessions and year round group intensives relating to specific themes. The intimate and popular 4-6 day intensives provide a rare opportunity to spend time working directly with Chris Griscom.
Making Your Body Your Temple
Author: by Susanna Harwood Rubin
Think of your body as the temple in which you do your spiritual practices. So instead of simply rolling out your mat or getting to the studio, make the process a part of it. The walk or drive you take to get there, the organizing of your time in order to make it happen, the delaying of calls and emails so that you can squeeze some asana into your overcrowded day — think of these activities as preparatory. Dressing for the temple, walking toward the temple, entering the temple. It is all a slow move inward.
From the minute you decide to practice asana, decide that that moment is where the practice begins. Even if you have a full day of work to get through or a commute to the studio, when you think, “In four hours I’ll go to class,” let that thought initiate the practice itself. Then everything you do between that initial thought and your body moving on your mat is a gathering up of materials, a bathing, a dressing, a lighting of candles, an integral preparatory part of a greater whole.
Let this shift in thinking infuse your daily activities with intentionality. There is a reason why we set an intention at the beginning of our practice. We want our movement to carry meaning. We want more than simply, “Step your right foot forward for Warrior I.” When movement carries conscious meaning, it becomes far more than simply movement.
I went through a dramatic life shift last year due to unexpected knee surgery that overturned my physical practice as well as necessitating a reconfiguration of my approach to teaching yoga asana. Since my practice was severely limited as I healed, I took the time in which my body was so unusually constrained to refine my verbal instructions so I could just sit while teaching, as I ironically invited people into their bodies through my words. I couldn’t say, as I usually did, “Oh, just do it like this,” then kick out a quick demo.
As a friend of mine observed, for the first time asana was actually difficult for me. I had to pause, plan, and think in a new way. I learned a lot from the experience and have written and taught extensively about it. But its relevance to what I’m writing now is the fact that everything was very slowed down for me, since my days had to be in service to my knee. So parts of my day I had not previously associated with my teaching practice now had to become an integral part of it.
I could no longer dash out the door of my apartment and speed walk down to Virayoga, where I teach weekly classes, giving the studio manager palpitations as I bounced into the studio my usual five minutes before class. I had to leave early and walk slowly and make the getting to the studio a part of my personal ritual. I spent a year learning a lesson about slowness, thoughtfulness, and intentionality.
I regularly ask my students, “Can you think of your practice as prayer?” Think of each asana as a bead on a mala, each an opportunity to touch something you love. Your breath is the thread connecting pose to pose, stringing together the beads of your practice so that you can hold your intention in different ways, in different containers, seeing which form offers the most meaning for you today.
Choose to make every thought, movement, and gesture toward your practice a part of your practice. And here’s a thought: Even if you don’t get to your mat, you are still engaged in your practice. It’s a much more compassionate way of thinking, and that should be part of your process as well. Try it.
Make your body your temple.
Make your asana your ritual.
Let your breath be your prayer.
—
Originally published in Elephant Journal
The Amazing Power of Meditation
New Year, New You – The Power of Meditation
Author: Dr. Gail Gross
In today’s busy world of working, networking, and the ongoing assaults of emails, texts, and family problems, we are saturated with the stress of psychological overload. Our minds are rarely at rest and our bodies are paying the price. You finish the end of a normal day and find that stress has become your partner. Meditation is one easy way to combat the effects of daily stress, and take back control of your health. Just 20 minutes a day can reduce stress and help your brain to recharge.
The Benefits of Meditation
Throughout my own work as a researcher and educator with a Ph.D. in psychology and a Doctorate of education, I have found that simple meditation techniques can do so much, including:
Lower your blood pressure
Increase your circulation
Throw more blood to the prefrontal cortex
Enhance your executive function, working memory, concentration, and visuospatial processing
Help you hold images longer
Process information better
Allow for contemplation, intuition, and creativity to thrive
The Neuroscience Behind Meditation
Scientists and neuroscientists, through the use of functioning magnetic resonance imaging and cat scans can now demonstrate the effect of meditation on the brain. Cortisol, the stress hormone, can be reduced by simply controlling your breath through the use of mindful meditation. The default network in your brain which is connected to both introspection and concentration slows down activity when meditating. When the mind wanders it tends to concentrate on negative issues thus creating stress but through meditation that function is less active.
In a 7-year study at MIT with the Dalai Lama, several of his monks, and non-meditators, it was established that not only could meditators hold images longer, have more blood sent to the pre-frontal cortex, and have their memory and cognitive function increased, but also non-meditators who were instructed to meditate over several months saw the same benefits. Further, experienced meditators use their brain like an orchestra, connecting various networks whether meditating or not.
There are many neurological advantages to meditation, including:
Calming the amygdala where our fight or flight and emotions live
Strengthening impulse control, which allows you to self-manage stress, pain, depression, and drug and alcohol issues.
Mindfulness Programs at Work and in Healthcare Facilities
Emerging data indicates that by lowering stress and anxiety, meditation can be a beneficial practice in the workplace, as a calming tool for overwhelmed workers. In fact, Google has a very popular program called “Search Inside Yourself,” which teaches mindfulness.
Moreover, some universities, public schools, hospitals, and health care centers have initiated meditation and mindfulness programs. Because stress has been connected with illness over the years, the approach of using meditation in hospitals and healthcare facilities is a particularly important one. As a result, meditation has moved from an outlier position, into the mainstream of American culture.
How to Begin a Meditation Practice
Meditation does not have to be associated with any religious practice. Viewed as secular and scientific, it is easy to get started.
Set your alarm for 20 minutes, twice a day. This is the time you will be meditating. By setting your alarm, you relax and don’t have to worry about how much longer you have to go.
Simply sit or lie down with your eyes shut in a comfortable position.
In the beginning, your mind will wander and bring in outside sounds and thoughts; just invite all of your distractions into your meditation, don’t resist them. What resists persists. Ultimately, all of these distractions will fall away as you learn to focus your mind in meditation.
Some people like using a mantra, some people like using a word. The power of a mantra is that you can’t assign a meaning to it, therefore you can’t associate any thoughts with it as you empty your mind. A simple mantra such as “om” will do.
Before you begin to meditate, relax your body by isometrically tensing and releasing all the muscle groups starting from the tips of your toes and ending at the top of your head. Just squeeze and release and check in with your body, making sure that you are relaxed.
Then, follow your breath. As you breathe in you will notice that the breath is cool, as you breath out you will notice that your breath is warm. Focus on your breath and bring in your mantra while concentrating on the bridge between your eyes.
This is how you meditate.
The Power of Meditation
Through meditation you actually develop consciousness. In fact, by accessing your own unconscious you gather insight into your conflicts, and find the capacity and resources to meet them. Meditation is so powerful, that if I were dying and had only one gift to give to my family, it would be the word meditation.
In my own life, faced with the death of my daughter Dawn, the only solace I could find was the time I spent in meditation. In all major religions, the deepest traditions concentrate on the practice of meditation to access the unconscious — whether Sufism, Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism, Islam, or Christianity — in the deepest meditations, the practice will lead you inside and connect you back to your central core.
Whether it is a psychological journey or spiritual journey- the model is the same: the path to consciousness. In our secularly materialistic culture, dominated by tabloid journalism, and thriving with celebrity, meditation gives you time out and has the capacity to open you to the wholeness in yourself. In our world of artificial images, meditation can awaken you to your own magnificent source and by doing so transform you.
The Mind-Body Aspects Of Yoga & Breast Cancer
The mind-body aspects of yoga specifically could carry benefits for women undergoing breast cancer treatment, according to a small new study.
The research, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, shows that women undergoing radiation therapy for breast cancer who were enrolled in a yoga intervention (that included meditation, relaxation and breathing techniques) experienced improved stress hormone regulation, decreased fatigue and improved general health.
“Combining mind and body practices that are part of yoga clearly have tremendous potential to help patients manage the psychosocial and physical difficulties associated with treatment and life after cancer, beyond the benefits of simple stretching,” study researcher Lorenzo Cohen, Ph.D., director of the Integrative Medicine Program at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, said in a statement.
The study included 191 women with breast cancer of varying stages, who were randomly assigned to one of three groups as they underwent their radiation treatment for six weeks. One group did simple stretching, the second group did yoga, and the third group did no yoga or stretching. The yoga and stretching groups did their assigned activity for one hour, three times a week.
The participants self-reported their fatigue and depression levels throughout the intervention, and researchers also collected saliva samples and administered echocardiogram tests at the beginning of the study, at the end of the radiation treatment, and then one, three and six months after the radiation treatment had ended.
They found that overall, the participants who were assigned to the yoga group experienced the greatest gains in all measurements of health. Specifically, the yoga group had the greatest decreases in cortisol levels throughout the day. And after radiation treatment, the yoga and stretching groups experienced decreases in fatigue, compared with the control group. Months after the radiation treatment, the yoga group self-reported higher general health, and were also more likely than the other two groups to say that they found some kind of meaning of life from their cancer experience.
Previous research has indicated that yoga could decrease inflammation and fatigue among breast cancer survivors. One study showing this effect, published in the same journal as the new study, posited that the beneficial effects could come from yoga’s ability to improve sleep.