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Sunday, January 31, 2010

Daily Inspiration



Meditations for Manifesting Introduction. Dr. Wayne Dyer reveals a secret ancient meditation technique to help you connect with the abundance of the Universe, so you can manifest anything you want in life.

Inmates Gets Time Off Sentences for Taking Yoga

Can downward dog transform murderers into model citizens?

The prisons of India's state of Madhya Pradesh offer special yoga classes to the incarcerated. For every one-to-three month program completed, the prisoners receive a reduced sentence by 15 days.
(Handout)
More PhotosThat's the philosophy behind a program in India's state of Madhya Pradesh where prisons offer special yoga classes to the incarcerated. Instead of breaking rocks, they learn yoga positions, like the downward dog which is when a person gets on all fours and forms an inverted V by pushing their buttocks high into the air.

For every one-to-three month program of yoga lessons completed, the prisoners receive a prison reduction of 15 days.

Murderers and thieves learn to meditate and breathe from some of the world's best yoga instructors like Swami Ramdev.

"So many of the prisoners have total life transformations and now they are very responsible citizens of the country and they become yoga teachers as well," said Ramdev through an interpreter. "They become the course of inspiration and respected citizens of their community." (More)

Source: ABC News

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Daily Inspiration

Meditation for the Practitioner

Balance is such an integral part of a massage therapists' life. We must physically maintain our balance during a session in order to properly work on a client; we promote massage as a way of maintaining balance in our lives; and because we often work late and on weekends to accommodate clients, we often struggle to balance work with the other demands in our lives. One way to maintain the various balances in our lives is to practice the ancient art of meditation. (More)

Source: Massage Today

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Daily Inspiration

Three Reasons Why Mindfulness Meditation Helps Relationships

In my work as a psychologist, I see a lot of very bright, insightful people who still struggle with relationships, and when I suggest that they start practicing mindfulness meditation, they want to know why and how sitting and meditating can help their love lives. They may know that they "should" meditate because it's good for them, but how is it going to make things better between them and their [fill in the blank: Wife/Husband/Boyfriend/Girlfriend/Partner...]?

Here are three of the many reasons I give to them, with some examples we can all relate to. (More)

Source: Psychology Today

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Daily Inspiration

Thinking Happy Thoughts at Work

Like many workers, Ivelisse Rivera, a physician at Community Health Center, Middletown, Conn., feels stressed-out by mounting workloads. And she didn't expect to get much help during her employer's annual staff meeting last November—just the usual speeches on medical issues.

Instead, she got a big dose of something new: Happiness coaching. Keynote speaker Shawn Achor—a former Harvard University researcher and former co-teacher of one of the university's most popular courses, Positive Psychology—extolled 90 listening employees to shake off dark moods at work by practicing such happiness-inducing techniques as meditation or expressing gratitude.

To her surprise, Dr. Rivera says, she drove home filled with thoughts about cheering up; "if I assume a negative attitude and complain all the time, whoever is working with me is going to feel the same way." (More)

Source: Wall Street Journal

Monday, January 25, 2010

Daily Inspiration

"Doga", Yoga and Meditation For Dogs And Their Owners

Dog-owners and yoga-lovers have finally found a way to bring their two passions together: doga. Yoga classes for dogs and their owners are sprouting all around the United States, combining massage and meditation techniques with gentle canine and human stretching. Ludicrous or blissfully relaxing?

Doga aficionados are adamant: there's nothing like balancing your cocker spaniel on your belly as you stretch to create a bond between you and your canine companion. The practice stems from an unsaid philosophy shared by many yogis: because dogs are pack animals, they are a natural match for yoga's emphasis on connection with other living creatures. (More)

Source: The Observers

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Daily Inspiration

Yoga You Can Do at Your Desk

Celebrity Yoga instructor Kristin McGee showed how doing simple Yoga poses at work can help reduce stress and promote relaxation.

Working at a desk all day can leave you achy and stressed, but yoga can help you deal with that -- and for some yoga exercises you don't even have to get out of your chair.
Celebrity yoga and pilates instructor Kristin McGee, Fila's yoga ambassador, shared some simple moves you can practice at your desk. (More)

Source: CBS News

Friday, January 22, 2010

Daily Inspiration

Meditate Your Way to Good Health

This year Gwyneth Paltrow is going to clear her mind and give meditation a try. Before you write this off as another one of Gwyneth's questionable health practices or categorize meditation as something hippies, Buddhists, and the new agey do in incense filled rooms, hear me out. Meditation is an easy way to alleviate stress and anxiety and it doesn't cost a dime. Also, it can be done anywhere in as little as five minutes. (More)

Source: Fit Sugar

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Daily Inspiration



BREATHE

Relaxation Through Meditation to Manage Excessive Stress

At the end of yoga class, our instructor invites everyone in the room to lie on their mat in what’s called corpse pose. Flat on your back, with legs outstretched and arms at sides, the instructor begins to lead everyone in a meditative relaxation journey: systematically clenching and releasing the muscles in each section of your body, and listening to the music being played along with the sound of the instructor’s voice. This method of meditation is Progressive Muscle Relaxation, developed in the 1930's. It's based on the idea that mental relaxation can be a natural outcome of physical relaxation.

All forms of meditation take practice and are excellent for managing stress; they include: (More)

Source: Empowher

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Daily Inspiration

Techies Told to Turn to Yoga, Meditation to Beat Stress

Turn to yoga and meditation at work place to beat stress levels and fight health blues, says an IT industry veteran to techies.

Impressed by the value yoga adds in his own company in terms enhancing enthusiasm and output, Chairman of city-based IT firm MindTree, Ashok Soota, says the practice certainly helped the firm’s professionals energise themselves.

Asked about the tendency by a section of IT industry to brush under carpet health concerns of young professionals triggered by long hours of work before computers, he pointed out that the sector literally employs millions of people.

“I would not necessarily speak for the BPO sector and its 24X7 pressures”, Soota, a past President of Manufacturers’ Association of Information Technology and Confederation of Indian Industry, said. (More)

Source: The Hindu

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Daily Inspiration

Self-centred Buddhism

At a meditation retreat, I learned to watch myself. But would it be more effective if the aim wasn't my own wellbeing?

Western Buddhism can be a serious business. If you travel to Newton Abbot in Devon, and then make your way a few miles further west – through the village of East Ogwell, and then the hamlet of West Ogwell – you arrive at Gaia House, one of the places in the UK where western Buddhism is being forged with impressive commitment. It's a meditation centre. Run by volunteers, who offer a year at a time to manage the place, it hosts retreats – periods of time, running from a single day to many weeks, during which retreatants meditate. (More)

Source: The Guardian

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Daily Inspiration

Accident Leads to Meditation Practice

When Chuck St. Romain was granted a new lease on life, he also received a new view of how to live that renewed oppportunity more fully.
A hunting accident came perilously close to killing St. Romain, but his traumatic journey through that experience led to an appreciation of meditation and a spiritual awakening.
"I was duck hunting south of here," St. Romain said. "I slipped, heard a bang, got shot and was bleeding from my head. At first, I was terrified. Then that shifted into sadness, and I told those with me to tell (wife) Barb and (daughter) Claire that I love them, because I didn't think I'd see them again.
"Then I shifted into this incredible awareness of my breath. I was so present with my breath, so connected. My terror had eased dramatically." (More)

Source: The Adversier

Friday, January 15, 2010

Daily Inspiration

Meditation Could "Prevent Thousands" Relapsing With Depression Every Year

Meditation could “prevent thousands of people from relapsing into depression every year," the head of a leading mental health charity claims

Andrew McCulloch, chief executive of the Mental Health Foundation, made the statement on the day that a report from his charity urged for mindfulness – a form of Buddhist meditation - to be widely available on prescription.

In 2004, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) recommended mindfulness-based cognitive therapy courses for people who had had depression at least three times. (More)

Source: PsycMinded.co.uk

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Daily Inspiration

Chain Your Ego and Unchain Your Spirit

Ed and Deb Shapiro’s new tribute to meditation takes its title from one of Mahatma Gandhi’s most famous quotes, “Be the change you want to see in
the world.” Change has to start from within, say the award-winning authors of 15 books on meditation, self-development and social action in their latest offering, How meditation can transform you and the world, “If we want to have more love in our lives, we must become more loving; if we genuinely want to end terrorism and to bring real and peaceful change in the world, then we must start by ending the war within ourselves.” (More)

Source: Economic Times

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Daily Inspiration

Meditating With a Baby

Probably like many others, I am in the midst of my new year's kick to meditate more. So yesterday, I found myself diligently sitting down to meditate even though Iris, my little eight month old girl, was up and running around (and I was the only one home looking after her). I set the timer for a modest fifteen minutes, and for the first five minutes, Iris, a few feet away from me on the rug, kept to herself and I settled in. (More)

Source: Beliefnet

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Daily Inspiration

Schoolboys Getting Classes in Meditation and Stress Relief

Schoolboys at the leading public school, Tonbridge School, in Kent, are receiving weekly 40-minute classes in meditation and stress relief.

In what is being described as a ground-breaking school curriculum addition, the school’s pupils aged 14 and 15 are taking part in the courses designed by Oxford and Cambridge psychologists.

The school’s year 10 pupils’ “mindfulness” course, which will last for two months, is said to be one of the first in the country, which was designed to develop skills in concentration and to combat anxiety.

The school also reportedly said it showed teenagers the benefits of silence and helps them to identify certain “corrosive” mindsets that could lead to mental health problems. (More)

Source: The Telegraph

Monday, January 11, 2010

Daily Inspiration

The Meditation Zone

Hardly a week goes by, when I don't hear someone, some expert in the field of healing the Total Person, express the vital importance of Daily Meditation. So, what is meditation, many may say? Well, the best way that I can explain it is this. To meditate, a person needs to go to a 'Quiet Place', sit in a chair with one's back upright, and feet firmly on the floor. When in that position, either in complete silence, or with some appropriate calming, quiet background music playing softly, one should close the eyes and commence breathing deeply. As you relax, you also focus on a pivotal point, like your 'Inner Eye' which is located in the middle of your forehead. So, meditation is a form of relaxation, coupled with concentration.

Dr. Paul Masters President of The University of Metaphysics and an expert in the field of meditation, coined the phrase which is the title of this article 'The meditation zone' many years ago, and he refers to it as, halfway between wakefulness and sleep. Now, when a person gets into this 'Meditation Zone' where they are both relaxed, whilst concentrating on the pure power of the actual state that they're in, one can do several things. (More)

Source: The Nassau Guardian

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Daily Inspiration

Three Fundamentals of a Meditation Practice

You’ve read you can increase your brainpower or you want to enhance your sports performance. Perhaps your doctor told you it’s time to learn stress reduction. In yoga class you’ve become aware of the possibility of enlightenment, understanding your true nature or your purpose in life. Whatever your motivation, bravo! Meditation is an extremely effective change agent because you are looking within yourself.
There are three simple steps to set up a practice: create the appropriate environment, maintain a relaxed and alert posture and have an intention. (More)

Source: AnnArbor.com

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Daily Inspiration

How to Breathe Stress Away This Year

This new year, as we look back on an eventful year filled with economic turmoil and downfalls unprecedented in recent history, looking forward to the future seems like a daunting task.

Today's world is increasingly defined not by who we are but by what we do. Work plays an increasingly important role in life. Considering the volatile job market and the apprehension that inevitably accompanies it, those who are employed feel the sense of impending doom. Those who are jobless worry, realizing that their future remains uncertain. (More)

Source: mycentralnewjersey.com

Friday, January 8, 2010

Daily Inspiration

Five (Etiquette) Tips For Better Yoga

Yoga's a great way to get in shape and zen-up your new year -- as long as you do it right. I don't just mean how you hold Triangle Pose. I mean respecting the unwritten rules of yoga class.

Yoga is far different than any other fitness class. The breathing, the awareness, and the quiet of the room all contribute to the experience for all attendees -- so best not to be the jerk in the room.
Joining me today is guest blogger Noel Rozny. Noel's a fitness freak who's had her share of rude-butts interrupt her "oms." Take it away, Noel, and I'll chime in with my bitchy two cents: (More)

Source: Chicago Now

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Daily Inspiration

Meditation Not Medication for Depression

Three quarters of GPs have prescribed anti-depressants even though they thought a different kind of treatment would be effective, according to a survey for a leading mental health charity

A report for The Mental Health Foundation says many patients with recurrent depression are not getting access to therapies like meditation.

Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) was recommended for people who suffer repeated bouts of depression by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence in 2004. However, the report called ‘Be Mindful’ says that, five years later, only one in five GPs say they can get the treatment for their patients, and only one in 20 prescribe it regularly.

Depression facts
The Mental Health Foundation says depression affects one in 10 people and costs the economy £7.5 billion a year.

The number of prescriptions made each year for antidepressants in England has doubled in a decade to 36 million in 2008. (More)

Source: WebMD

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Daily Inspiration

Why Meditation Therapy on the NHS is so Vital

I believe depression needs to be tackled with a range of treatments, especially non-drug options such as meditation, talking therapies and exercise.

So I'm appalled that a meditation-based therapy which works - and was recommended by advisory body NICE five years ago - is still largely unavailable on the NHS.

A report released yesterday by the Mental Health Foundation reveals that only one in five GPs have access to the therapy, known as mindful meditation.

It combines meditation with yoga and cognitive behavioural therapy, an established technique that tackles negative thinking. Three-quarters of GPs say they still have to prescribe antidepressants due to lack of access to more effective alternatives.

It's a crying shame as mindful meditation is clinically proven to cut the risk of a relapse by half. This could make a huge difference as one in 10 people will be affected by clinical depression at some point. (More)

Source: Mirror

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Daily Inspiration




For Pam

Cure Cervical Cancer through Diet, Yoga and Meditation

Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among women and almost 4,000 cases were fatal just last year. Conventional treatments for cervical cancer such as chemotherapy, radiation, surgery, hysterectomy, or the removal of lymph nodes and ovaries can often leave the woman infertile. However, alternatives exist for women who seek a more holistic approach to improving their bodies' responses to cancer. Cervical cancer can be remedied in ways alternative to conventional, damaging treatments. Instead of harsh treatments that can wreak havoc on the body, a combination of yoga, meditation, and a raw vegan diet can be a much more gentle and beneficial method for healing. (More)

Source: Natural News

Monday, January 4, 2010

Daily Inspiration

Meditate To Keep The Mind Active?

Many people have very busy lifestyles and, as a result, may suffer from stress. Some people use alternative therapies like meditation to relax, and new research indicates that there may be other benefits to meditation besides just stress relief.

A team from the University of Wisconsin recently learned that meditation may help some individuals to focus their minds and attention. This may be helpful for treating individuals who suffer from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), believes study leader Antoine Lutz.

"For example, attention training is worth examining for disorders like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder," Lutz explains. (More)

Source: Personal Liberty Digest

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Daily Inspiration

5 Tips to Better Meditation

For some novice meditators, the quest for inner peace can get a bit … stressful.

Do I "om?" Picture a white-sand beach? Breathe white light out of my nostril? Can I scratch that itch on my back before I lose my mind?

Studies show that meditation has many health benefits, from lowering blood pressure to boosting happiness. But nothing defeats the purpose like stressing out about it. So let's keep it simple.

Stephan Bodian, a California psychotherapist and author of "Meditation for Dummies," recommends mindfulness meditation as best for stress reduction. In mindfulness meditation, you let yourself be fully present in the moment by focusing on your breath.

Bodian offered five pointers: (More)

Source: Chicago Tribune

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Daily Inspiration

Looking to Reduce Stress in 2010? Meditation, Helpful Solution

Meditation may be a simple and effective solution to decreasing stress and increasing relaxation in your life in the New Year. It offers a range of benefits and has been practiced for thousands of years. It does not have to be a complicated practice and anyone of any background, religion or culture can practice it. Think of it as a Universal way of reconnecting to peacefulness within. And meditation has also gained the interest of the medical community as well as researchers. They have seen time and time again that meditation helps restore the balance within the body. The truth is, today’s modern lifestyle is highly stressful and full of tension each day. There are increased amount of demands both at work and at home. (More)

Source: Cherry Hill In New Jersey

Friday, January 1, 2010

Daily Inspiration

Control Emotions Through Meditation

A longtime reader wrote that he is going through difficult times with a lot of stress and asked for tips on meditation. He remembered that I started meditating to lower my blood pressure. It proved to be so helpful that I have had a daily meditation practice for over 20 years.

My recommendation is that you make your life a meditation. Let me explain why I reached such a seemingly radical attitude.

I read an article by Zen teacher Shinzen Young recommending a slow-motion dishwashing practice. The idea is to intentionally wash your dishes at about half the speed you would normally wash them. It works. It forces the brain to slow down and relax. It put me right into alpha (pleasant) brain waves and was great fun.
(More)

Source: Chattanooga Times