Daily Inspiration,

Change Your Perception

When you change the way you look at things,
the things you look at change.
The way you perceive things is an extremely
powerful tool that will allow you to fully
bring the power of intention into your life.

Dr Wayne Dyer

Meditate Stress Away

Fight stress and pick up your spirits with these surefire mood boosters

Our world's a pretty crazy place lately. Instead of letting all the negativity and frustration of daily life get you down, experts say, you should set aside time to reflect. But daydreaming while you fast-forward through commercials doesn't count. We're talking quality reflection — the kind you get from meditation. You don't have to sit cross-legged in a mass of pillows, either. "Even if you're just looking for a little boost in your mood, meditation can help you do it," says Bruce Frantzis, author of The Chi Revolution: Harness the Healing Power of Your Life Force. His suggestions on how to get started: (More)

Source: Mens Health

Daily Inspiration

Silently a flower blooms,
In silence it falls away;
Yet here now, at this moment,
At this place,
The whole of the flower,
The whole of the world
Is blooming.
This is the talk of the flower,
The truth of the blossom;
The glory of life is fully shining here.

Zenkei Shibayama

The Zen Way to Pain Relief

Meditation technique may help keep discomfort at bay, study finds

Zen meditation appears to reduce sensitivity to moderate pain when practiced by well-trained individuals, Canadian researchers report.

"Previous studies had already shown that teaching patients with chronic pain to meditate seemed to help them, but no one had examined how these effects might come about," said study author Joshua A. Grant, a researcher in the department of physiology at the University of Montreal. "We reasoned that the best approach would be to study healthy people with a lot of meditation training already under their belts, because effects would presumably be strongest in them."

"The first finding then is that the meditators are much less sensitive to heat pain," noted Grant. "We [also] found that this pain reduction in meditators was related to how many lifetime hours of practice they had accumulated, with more pain reduction in the more senior practitioners." (More)

Source: US News Health Day

Daily Inspiration

Feel Superior to No One

Release your need to feel superior by
seeing the unfolding of Spirit in everyone.
Don’t assess others on the basis of their
appearance, achievements, and possessions.
It’s an old saw, but is nonetheless true:
We are all equal in the eyes of God.

Dr Wayne Dyer

Cure PMS in Fifteen Minutes

Feeling bitchy, tired, depressed, bloated and can't sleep? Got PMS? Well, don't reach for over-the-counter meds.Close your eyes and relax. Meditation can help alleviate all your symptoms. In one study, women with severe PMS showed a 58 percent improvement after five months of daily meditation. (More)

Source: NY Health and Beauty Examiner

Daily Inspiration

That which is strong and hard
Gets put down;
That which is pliant and supple
Is exalted.
As low ground forms the
Foundation for the high,
So does humility
Form the foundation of regard.

Lao-tzu

Quick Study in Meditation

Fidgeting meets its match, if you put your mind to it

You could travel the world, scouring large cities, tiny hamlets and everything in between without ever finding anyone less suited to meditation than yours truly. You see, I fidget. Incessantly. I am forever tapping a foot or twirling my hair or biting my fingernails (Yes. It's gross. I'm trying to stop).

Some fathers pass down freckles or nearsightedness to their children. My dad gave me his insatiable need for movement, an unquiet that's less about expending energy and more about overactive nerves. At family gatherings, my mother, an island of calm, rolls her eyes as my father and I bounce from chair to couch to chair again, him rifling through piles of newspaper, me bouncing a pencil off my front teeth.

I'm sure it's quite annoying for her, because it's quite annoying for me, and I only have to watch one person do it. (More)

Source: Chicago Tribune

Daily Inspiration

Use Your Imagination

Your imagination is the concept
of Spirit within you;
it’s the God within you.
It’s the invisible connecting
link to manifesting your own destiny.

Dr Wayne Dyer

Vedder and McCartney to Play Meditation Event

A host of musicians will perform at a gig promoting transcendental meditation.

Music stars Eddie Vedder and Sir Paul McCartney are to appear at a transcendental meditation event hosted by movie director David Lynch.

Pearl Jam frontman Vedder and the former Beatle will play a benefit concert at Radio City Hall in New York for the David Lynch Foundation.

Lynch is a prominent member of the Transcendental Meditation Movement, which believes enlightenment and world peace can be gained through 'yogic flying' or levitation through the power of the mind. (More)

Source: Tour Dates

Daily Inspiration

Holding on to anger is like grasping
a hot coal with the intent of throwing
it at someone else;
you are the one who gets burned.

Buddha

Controlling Your Anger

Just a note before you get into the story, It has been reported in the Hartford Courant that NHL hockey's so called bad boy Sean Avery has started taking meditation classes to control his anger. I wish him all the best.

I've learned to manage my temper pretty well over the years, but when I'm stressed, I fly off the handle at the slightest provocation. I don't like this behavior. How can I avoid it?

Combine a hotheaded disposition with regular day-to-day stresses, then add a dose of worries about the economy. It's a recipe for blowups, but you can bring them under control.

Remind yourself what has worked before. What have you done to manage your temper? Consider preventive strategies as well as steps you've taken in the moment to remain in control.

Understand your triggers. For example, if you know that last-minute changes or people who don't follow through will flip the switch for you, plan ahead. (More)

Source: Sun Sentinel

Daily Inspiration

There is no joy in life
like the joy of sharing

Billy Graham

Forced Yoga Will do More Harm Than Good

Experts in the field of yoga and medicine here are unanimous in their opinion that introduction of yoga as compulsory learning, as part
of physical education for the students in the state, will do more harm than good.
Sukumar Shastri, a yoga expert, asserts that there are some basic fundamentals which are to be followed while doing yoga. "It should not be forcibly introduced as it may lead to mental stress," Shastri says adding that girls should not perform yoga during menstruation.

The idea to introduce yoga in schools by the state government from the next academic year may have percolated from strong the endorsement by Union health minister Anbumani Ramadoss that yoga should be made compulsory for school students. Ramadoss oft repeated this view from October last year at various foras. (More)

Source: Times of India

Daily Inspiration

Who looks outside, dreams;
who looks inside, awakes.

Carl Jung

Spiritual Dance: Workshop Connects Meditation and Movement

Kathy Cotton's strict Southern Baptist upbringing taught that dancing was sinful. So the "twirly child who wrote spontaneous songs and danced barefoot with great abandon" put on her shoes and learned how to sit still.

It wasn't until years later that Cotton began to question this teaching while watching a religious program on TV. A woman became so overcome that she began spinning across the stage. Something long dormant stirred in Cotton.

She turned to scripture, relishing every passage that mentioned dance, once considered an integral part of the religious ceremonies of ancient Israel. (More)

Source: The Southern Illinoisan

Meditation May Lower Blood Pressure More Than Medication

High blood pressure and hypertension are huge problems in this country.

Millions of people suffer from the condition which can lead to heart attack, stroke and kidney disease.

Now, a study shows that a different type of program can help get blood pressure under control.

56-year-old Rosemary Palmer-Powell had been taking medication for high blood pressure for years, but after getting a routine check she started down a whole new treatment path.

"I've been doing transcendental meditation for a solid six months and it has really changed my life," she said.

Palmer-Powell was selected to be a part of a Howard University Hospital study on the effect of transcendental meditation for high blood pressure.

Experts believe that meditating for 20 minutes twice a day, helps to relax the brain and relieve stress, which can lower blood pressure. (More)

Source: WBIR.com Knoxville, Tennessee

Daily Inspiration

Expand Your Reality

Expand your reality to the point
where you pursue what you love
doing and excel at it.
Involve yourself in high-energy l
evels of trust, optimism, appreciation,
reverence, joy, and love when you engage
in every activity in your life.

Dr Wayne Dyer

Meditation for Irritable Bowel Syndrome

You can learn how to meditate to relax and clear your mind. One small study shows that meditation helps to reduce symptoms of pain and bloating caused by irritable bowel syndrome.

People in the study had training in meditation at six weekly sessions. After a year of doing meditation, 8 in 10 people found their symptoms had improved.

Source: Keefer L, Blanchard EB. A one year follow-up of relaxation response meditation as a treatment for irritable bowel syndrome. Behaviour Research & Therapy

Daily Inspiration

If we want a love message to be heard,
it has got to be sent out.
To keep a lamp burning,
we have to keep putting oil in it.

Mother Teresa

How to Lose Weight: Just Relax

Women who are anxious about losing weight could be harming their chances of shedding extra pounds, scientists believe.


A new study shows that learning to relax can help slimmers become thinner.

Those who took part in activities designed to help them unwind, including meditation and yoga, could even lose weight without going on a diet.

Scientists believe that feelings of stress and anxiety can help to increase the desire for surgery and fatty foods, which are high in calories.

Those who manage these feelings are more able to resist the temptation to indulge in unhealthy snacks.

Scientists spent two years studying 225 overweight or obese women asked to try a variety of activities to help them de-stress. (More)

Source: The Telegraph

Daily Inspiration

At clear dawn entering the ancient temple,
First sunlight shines high in the forest.
A bamboo path leads to a hidden spot,
A meditation chamber deep in the flowering trees.
The mountain light cheers the natures of the bird,
Reflections in pool void the hearts of men.
All nature’s sounds here grow silent,
All that remains are the notes of temple bells.

Ch’ang Chien

Learning To Unwind

Students learn to meditation to increase focus, reduce stress


Demetrius Mirabal has changed his life by spending at least 30 minutes per day for the past five years sitting in silence atop two cushions.

Mirabal shares his meditation techniques with students in a weekly class offered in the Robert H. Ewalt Recreation Center.

He said the meditation techniques he practices daily can have several positive affects for students, including an increase in focus and academic performance.

"I started seeing results fairly quickly," said Mirabal, "and it has helped me to worry less, be more calm, and not let things stress me out."

Mirabal finds peace through meditation in a culture that has taught people to be constantly stimulated, he said, and that is why meditation is especially useful in a university setting. (More)

Source: The Texas Tech Daily Toreador

Daily Inspiration

Let Go of Your Need to Have More

When you stop needing more of everything,
more of what you desire seems to arrive in your life.
Since you’re detached from the need for it,
you find it easier to pass it along to others,
because you realize how little you need
in order to be satisfied and at peace.

Dr Wayne Dyer

Kids, Parents Find Calm in Yoga Poses

Most kids are natural yogis. Babies grab their toes; toddlers bend at the waist and put forehead to floor; elementary-school kids demonstrate an affinity for headstands and handstands — all variations on yoga poses. Young yogis tend to be more flexible, less fearful practitioners. And minors are not intimidated by major tongue-twisting required by reciting Sanskrit names of poses, perhaps because pronouncing Adho Mukha Svanasana and Salamba Sarvangasana and Uttitha Trikonasana is not a far cry from Dr. Seuss.

Today, more young Americans — from babies barely out of the womb to college students — have a yoga practice.

"It's nascent because yoga creates such all-over health for adults, who know it benefits them mentally and physically and makes them peaceful; and naturally people want that for children," said Sydney Solis, founder of Storytime Yoga.

Boulder-based and internationally recognized, Solis created a yogic brand primarily for preschoolers to foster "children's peace, health and literacy through yoga and storytelling." She uses yoga poses and puppets to teach kids physical alignment, as well as life lessons. (More)

Source: The Denver Post

Daily Inspiration

"You cannot solve a problem from the frame of mind
that created the problem in the first place."

Einstein

Women at work: Meditation, Science, Business Management Meld Into New Way to Lead

It's coming to an organization near you: It started in China and India thousands of years ago. It's in the halls of Harvard and Stanford University today. It's making its way into leadership development globally. It is mindfulness, a combination of meditation, science and business management. These disciplines are being merged to access new sources of brain-power. It is the 21st-century skill for leadership.

Over the past 50 years, we discovered that leadership is comprised of personality, intelligence, experience, skills and emotions. Our foundations were primarily scientific management, psychology, economics and the military. These models created a thriving economy for much of the 20th century. Unfortunately for many leaders, when the competition heated up, they were ill-equipped to handle problems of the new economy. Consequently, I believe Rochester's leaders need to have access to cutting-edge leadership models. (More)

Source: Rochester Democrat & Chronicle

Daily Inspiration

The joy of living in seclusion deepens as I grow older,
For a new poem is born wherever I turn my eyes.
Flowers that withstood the wind
Fall of their own accord;
Thin rain left by clouds has not yet cleared.
The frail butterfly over the fence
Has left the twig where it sat,
And the silken dove has flown
From the eave to sing in the woods.
To attain a vision transcending the here and now
Is not my concern:
What I see is much too clear,
As in a mirror

Yi Saek (1328-1396)

Flour Power

Let dough rise and the mind fall quiet when you bake bread as a meditation.

I was well into my 30s when I summoned the nerve to make bread for the first time, settling on challah as my inaugural loaf. I felt drawn to the braided bread, traditionally served at Jewish Shabbat dinner, partly because of its sweet flavor and spiritual significance. Also, my niece Emma makes challah occasionally, and I reasoned that if a sixth grader could do it, so could I.

Still, I had no idea what I was doing. As a regular meditator for the past four years, I was mostly intrigued by the notion of baking bread as a meditation, and I had an inkling that kneading dough in a meditative manner would help me still my mind. (more)

Source: Yoga Journal

Daily Inspiration

Peace cannot be achieved through violence,
it can only be attained through understanding.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Listen to the Bell of Mindfulness

Before we had our own clocks in the home, and later pocket or wrist watches that we could carry with us all the time, what we had were the town or village bells, usually those of the local temple or church. They ritually marked the phases of the day for us. However, the main function of the community bell was not to just mark the passage of hours, but to indicate that these were times for people to carve out small, prayerful spaces in the midst of their day-to-day preoccupations.

The Vietnamese Buddhist teacher, Thich Naht Hanh, known to his followers simply as Thay, which means teacher, popularised the tradition of the 'Mindfulness Bell', that we see used in many places today. In many meditation or retreat centres, and even in homes, you might hear a bell sound and suddenly people around you stop whatever they are doing. (More)

Source: Times of India

Daily Inspiration

The purpose of a superior person is as clear
as the blue sky or as bright as the white sun;
it must not be kept from being known. B
ut the talent of a superior person i
s like the jade hidden in a rock or
the pearl covered with a shell;
it must not become easily known.

Hung Ying-ming 1596

More Mainstream Physicians Suggesting Meditation, Massage and Acupuncture

For years, Dr. Ali Keshavarzian ignored "alternative" therapies because his Western-trained brain wanted more evidence that they actually worked.

But Keshavarzian also knew conventional medicine often needed some assistance. And when he learned his patients were seeking out natural products, acupuncture, meditation and massage, he took a deep breath and dived in.

Ten years later, Keshavarzian straddles both worlds, using Western treatments along with a variety of alternative approaches, a combination known as complementary and alternative medicine, or CAM. "CAM is looking at a patient as a human being, rather than a disease," said Keshavarzian, a gastroenterologist at Rush University Medical Center. "Instead of treating 'ulcerative colitis,' I treat 'Mr. Jones.' "

The future success of the holistic CAM movement in the U.S. hinges on the very people who once viewed alternative medicine with cold skepticism: mainstream, conventionally trained doctors. Though many, such as Keshavarzian, still believe medical treatments should be backed by rigorous scientific data, they will not rule out adding into the treatment mix mind-body therapies that have been used for centuries in other cultures. Keshavarzian, for example, might suggest relaxation techniques when he thinks stress is a factor, acupuncture for pain or probiotics for acute diarrhea. (More)

Source: Hartford Courant

Daily Inspiration

To one who has faith,
no explanation is necessary.
To one without faith,
no explanation is possible.

Saint Thomas Aquinas

Organic Snacks, TV, and Meditation for Rover

Holistic hotel caters to four-legged guests


It's not everywhere that dogs can watch hockey and cartoons on TV, munch on organic snacks and listen to meditative music when lights are dimmed during the afternoon quiet time.

But at Kozy Kennels, "we've created an atmosphere where dogs are active when they need to be and peaceful and tranquil when they need to be," explains Wendy McIntyre, who owns and operates the Kelowna, B. C., kennels with her son Darren Dingwall and his wife Tracy.

At home most dogs sleep the day away. But at a kennel many dogs miss that sleep because they are overstimulated by all the other dogs and action.

"That's why we have quiet time noon to 3 p. m. every day," points out McIntyre. "We turn all the lights off except for the little LED lights we have and put on meditation music that is especially designed for dogs. Everything quiets down and we have a very restful afternoon."

Before and after quiet time, dogs have access to their individual runs and are taken into the exercise yard one by one to have play time with one of the co-owners or staff.TV time is limited and is meant to

replicate what the dogs experience at home. When Darren is there he usually has on a hockey game or some other sports. When Tracy is there with their two young children it's likely to be cartoons, whereas McIntyre likes CHBC News, CNN or Country Music Television. (More)

Source: The Peterborough Examiner

Daily Inspiration

All that we are is the result of what we have thought.
If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him.
If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought,
happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him.

Buddha

Alan Lew, Brought Meditation to Judaism, Dies

Rabbi Alan Lew, who helped cultivate a spirituality bridging Judaism and Buddhism and left a legacy of social activism in the Bay Area, died unexpectedly Monday while visiting the East Coast.

Lew, 65, apparently died while on a jog, said Rabbi Micah Hyman, who leads Congregation Beth Sholom, the Richmond District synagogue from where Lew had retired and was still rabbi emeritus.

"It's a huge, huge loss," Hyman said. "In our community, the wave of shock is just beginning to take effect."

Lew's coming of age as a Jew actually happened as he sought to deepen his Zen Buddhist practice. Disillusioned by the Judaism he'd experienced as a child, Lew was considering becoming ordained as a lay Buddhist priest, according to a 1995 interview that was published in the J., a weekly newspaper serving the Bay Area Jewish community.

But he found himself unable to sew a priestly garment while on a retreat in the 1970s at Tassajara, a Zen center in Carmel Valley. (More)

Source: SF Gate

Daily Inspiration

If we have no peace,
it is because we have forgotten
that we belong to each other.


Mother Teresa

Strike a Yoga Pose to Strike Down Stress

When hyperventilating sometimes seems the only option to stress, Petri Brill has a healthier suggestion: yoga.

"Yoga is not just a practice of poses, but of your breath work," says Brill, a Dallas certified yoga instructor. "The practice of slow, controlled, rhythmic breathing helps bring down blood pressure, rest the heart, clear the mind, energize the body and relax the muscles. Combine this with some relaxing yoga poses, and peace and serenity are just around the corner.

We asked her for poses to help ease stress. Yes, poses even those of us with the flexibility of a pencil can do. Here are five: Do one or two or all five poses for a deep inhale and exhale of a minute or two. Or longer.

Or, as she puts it, "You never want to stay and struggle in a pose. Feel the benefits; you don't want to feel like you're going to pass out or rip in half." (More)

Source: TheTimesonline

Daily Inspiration

A green pine is in the east garden,
But the many grasses obscure it.
A frost wipes out all the other species,
And then I see its magnificent tall branches.
In a forest people do not notice it, but
Standing alone, it is a miracle.
I hang a jug of wine on a cold branch;
Then stand back, and look again and again.
My life spins with dreams and illusions.
Why then be fastened to the world?

T’ao Ch’ien

Meditation Goes Mainstream as Many Christians Discover Practice

She rounds out her church- and prayer-filled life with another spiritual practice that's not quite as familiar: meditation.

"I'll see a difference in my day if I don't," says Robinson, who opens each day with 20 minutes of absolute silence.

All the chanting and incense and - yikes - even meditation altars may seem too New Age and mystical for some, but meditation has gone mainstream and been embraced by suburban moms and busy people.

Younger generations get an introduction in yoga classes, careerists escape on meditation retreats and boomers seek tranquility in meditation gardens. Meditation, it seems, is no longer associated as a counterculture activity made hip by The Beatles and favored by flower children. (More)

Source: Hattiesburg American

Daily Inspiration

Practice Unbending Intent

When you practice unbending intent,
you match up with the intent of the
all-creative universal mind.
So keep a solid picture of the task
you want to accomplish in your mind,
and refuse to let that intention disappear.

Dr Wayne Dyer

A New Perspective: Take Care of Your Soul

“Every challenge, every obstacle is here to have us ask who we really are,” — Unknown

I’m sitting here this morning watching a taped Oprah show where she talks about her recent weight gain. She states over and over in the interview about her disappointment in herself for not paying attention to the weight gain and how life got away from her. Though my plan for this week’s column was completely different, I’ve decided to address a different, very important, subject.

Our lives, no matter who we are, can get away from us. No matter how spiritual you are, how much money you have, no matter how many fitness instructors, chefs or psychologists you have, you still have to do your spiritual work. Your spiritual work is a practice. It is a life decision and a soul decision. (More)

Source: Vail Daily

Daily Inspiration

Autumn mountains:
Brocades of light
The clouds:
Endless beauty
I lean on my staff,
Contemplate crimson leaves
Silent:
As the birds streaming above me.

Shih-shu (17th century)

ADHD Study: Meditation Relieves Anxiety in Children

A small new study reports decreased anxiety and increased attention in children with attention deficit disorder (ADHD) who practice meditation each day.


Anxiety is a comorbid condition often associated with attention deficit disorder (ADHD) in children and adults. And, according to a new report in the online journal Current Issues in Education, anxiety is also a condition helped by the practice of transcendental meditation.

According to a study of 10 children with ADHD and language-related learning disabilities, lessons in transcendental meditation (TM) seemed to diminish the symptoms of anxiety and help the children concentrate and behave better at school.

Though the study was quite small, its encouraging results suggest that 10-15 minutes of quiet meditation could help ADHD children with anxiety, attention problems, working memory, organization, and behavior. Certainly, the downsides are minimal...

Read more about this study on Reuters UK.

Source: ADDitude Magazine

Daily Inspiration

Snow obstructs my brushwood
Door with me inside alone
One by one coral branches
Break in winter woods.
In the light of dawn
Mountain green is gone
If the plums have finished
Blooming I for one can’t tell

Han-shan Te-ch’ing (1546-1623)

Health Minute: Meditation Benefits

Feeling stressed out and not sure what to do about it?

As Judy Fortin tells us in today's Health Minute, more and more doctors are recommending meditation.

Close your eyes and bring your attention inward.

THIS IS KEVIN HOLSTON'S SECOND LESSON ON HOW TO MEDITATE AND ALREADY, THE 46-YEAR-OLD SAYS HE IS FEELING LESS STRESSED AND MORE FOCUSED.

Meditation helps you to, I think, have some clarity of mind, for me, to have a little more patience.

WHAT KEVIN AND HIS CLASSMATES MIGHT NOT REALIZE IS THAT RESEARCHERS HAVE SHOWN EVEN SIMPLE MEDITATION TECHNIQUES CAN BENEFIT THE ENTIRE BODY.

Relaxing your body actually will turn down your heart rate. It turns down your blood pressure. (More)

Source: WDEF News 12 and CNN

Daily Inspiration

Optimize Your Health

In order to optimize your health,
begin noticing the frequency of any
thoughts that support the idea of
sickness as something to be expected
and eliminate them from your mind.

Dr Wayne Dyer

For Stress Reduction, Just Say OM

Managing the service department of an Atlanta, Georgia, car dealership is a stressful job, according to Debbie Peek.

Handling customer demands and keeping up with paperwork would leave anyone frazzled, but Peek, 56, has found a way to cope with the stress. For the past seven months, she's been meditating daily.

"What I have found for me is it helps me find the quiet time in the hustle-bustle of the day," Peek said. "I am able to focus."

Researchers like Dr. Charles Raison, a psychiatrist at the Emory School of Medicine in Atlanta, are convinced that meditation serves an important purpose.

"All the studies aren't perfect, but there is more and more data suggesting that meditation is useful for reducing stress responses," said Raison, who is also CNNhealth's mental health expert doctor. (More)

Source: CNN.com

Daily Inspiration,

For my home I delight in the hidden and concealed;
The place where I live is cut off from the noise and the dust.
The grasses I trample become my three paths;
The clouds I behold, make up my
Neighbors on four sides all around.
In helping me sing, for music, there are the birds;
I’d ask about the Dharma,
But to talk with there’s no one at all.
Today I’m like the stinking cedar;
Several years are just like one spring.

Han-shan

The Art of Living: Vipassana Meditation

Everyone seeks peace and harmony, because this is what we lack in our lives. From time to time we all experience agitation, irritation, dishar­mony. And when we suffer from these miseries, we don't keep them to ourselves; we often distribute them to others as well. Unhappiness permeates the atmosphere around someone who is miserable, and those who come in contact with such a person also become affected. Certainly this is not a skillful way to live.

We ought to live at peace with ourselves, and at peace with others. After all, human beings are social beings, having to live in society and deal with each other. But how are we to live peacefully? How are we to remain harmonious within, and maintain peace and harmony around us, so that others can also live peacefully and harmoniously?

In order to be relieved of our misery, we have to know the basic reason for it, the cause of the suffering. If we investigate the problem, it becomes clear that whenever we start generating any negativity or impurity in the mind, we are bound to become unhappy. A negativity in the mind, a mental defilement or impurity, cannot coexist with peace and harmony. (More)

Source: MediaForFreedom.com

Daily Inspiration

Transcend Your Circumstances

By choosing to hang on to your corner of freedom,
even in the worst situations, you can process your
world with the energy of appreciation and beauty,
and create an opportunity to transcend your circumstances.

Dr Wayne Dyer

Spirituality: Is It All In Your Head

Having a spiritual experience may be all in your head — or at least part of it. A group of University of Missouri researchers recently completed a study that claims a particular area of the brain is linked to spirituality.

According to sciencedaily.com and several other news sources, Brick Johnstone, an MU neurophysiologist, made the finding after studying individuals who had suffered various brain injuries. What he found was that people who suffered injury to the right parietal lobe of the brain reported higher levels of spiritual experience. That portion of the brain controls people’s ability to recognize themselves and their relationship to their environment.

Dr. Johnstone said he believes the finding is important because it means people can learn to become selfless by decreasing activity in that part of the brain. It can be achieved through meditation or prayer. But he cautioned against reducing spirituality to a mere brain function.

“Just because the brain is shutting down, allowing you to be more selfless, that doesn’t take away from the spiritual experience you feel,” Dr. Johnstone said in several news sources. (More)

Source: St Joe's News

Daily Inspiration

Emptiness is a long story
That swallows up heaven and earth
A splash of ink turns into two dragons
Stray clouds become an azure dog

Lurking in my bowl: mountains, rivers
Wheeling through my breast: a sun, a moon
A fierce wind shreds the ancient mists
Grasses and trees bow before its snap and snarl

Shih-shu (17th century-early 18th)

Secret Power Places: A Mystical Rebirth

The crunch of the sand under my feet resonated like a mantra inside my head. The sound was occasionally joined by a buzzing bee as it tried to suck scarce juice from a desert flower. The silence around me was ringing as I briskly walked down the gorge. The California winter sun was still up, warming the hills and crystal clear air, shining off the rocks and then disappearing into sharp shadows. A feeling of deep nostalgia filled my heart. I have been coming to this power place for over 20 years. I remember being introduced to this desert by my teacher in the early eighties and the countless magical experiences that has taken place among these majestic hills. Since then, I have returned many times, sometimes with my students, sometimes alone. Shifting my thoughts away from memories, I inhaled the sweet desert air. I had been looking forward to this trip for several months. The desert is my teacher, my lover, and my friend. I didn't want to miss the smallest sensation, sound or revelation. This is my place of dreaming and regeneration, a mystical passage of transformation.
I've learned respect for the desert from my teacher, who used to explain that a place of power is a vortex of energy, a doorway into another world. If you've done your preparation by cleaning up your life, meditating and practicing mental yoga, a power place may not only show you the way, but transport you to high spiritual dimensions where mystical transformation takes place. You can also come to a power place seeking your inner purpose. (More)

Source: Vision Magazine

Daily Inspiration

Be Infinitely Patient

Being infinitely patient means having an
absolute knowing that you’re in vibrational
harmony with the all-creating force that intended you here.
You know that everything will happen at just the right time,
at just the right place, with just the right people.

Dr Wayne Dyer

How to Beat Stress and Angst Through Meditation

There's nothing like economic calamity to focus the mind. But instead of obsessing over your job security or declining 401(k) balance, try diminishing your stress with a new assist from a very old tool: meditation.

Stretching back thousands of years to ancient spiritual traditions, meditation has been attracting a growing following of secular practitioners in recent years. While it's still not exactly mainstream, data released in December by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, an arm of the National Institutes of Health, show that 9.4 percent of adults surveyed in 2007 had tried meditation at least once during the previous 12 months, a significant increase from 7.6 percent in 2002. And 1 percent of children had zoned in, too. (More)

Source: US News