Over the past few weeks, I have talked about various techniques of meditation and visualization and how each one worked and affected me. At this point, I feel its time to decide on which ones are the most affective and why.
For me, the subtle mind and visualization practices seem to be the most beneficial. I find them to be beneficial because I can actually do them. This may seem like a poor reason but I have experience with these already...I just didn't know it. My martial arts training has taught me how to focus my mind and block out invasive thoughts. When I so chose, I can completely empty my mind and concentrate on one thing. In the martial arts, that focus tends to be destructive and outwardly focused. However, I learned I can turn that focus inward, and concentrate on anything I so choose...at least for a little while. This makes practicing the subtle mind much easier for me than some of the other practices.
The martial arts has also taught me visualization. I often visualize myself performing techniques in my mind and run through self defense scenarios when I am not in a place appropriate for practicing. I have found that this visualization provides me with the ability to perform these acts in actuality, despite the lack of physical practice. So when it comes to performing other visualization techniques, I feel comfortable adapting to them...tho I often have to take ownership of them and modify the techniques to fit me better. I rarely visualize what I am told. Instead, I take the idea and modify it, visualizing things I understand and recognize better. Instead of a garden I may visualize a forest or the beach. I also feel that having a very good imagination aids my visualization abilities. I often lose myself in books and become oblivious to the world around me. My imagination creates images as vivid as real life.
BUT!!! This is what works best for me. You are different so things may be different for you. What techniques do you prefer to practice? Do you know why they work for you?
Whatever they are, it doesn't matter so long as it has the right affect.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Monday, September 17, 2012
Practice what you preach
This week I have made very little time for myself to meditate. I have only practiced once actually. But the meditation I did do was profound in its effect. I went to beach at night with a group of friends. As they went about their night, I slipped off away down the shore for some quiet time to reflect. I stood ankle deep in the water and looked up into the night sky and cleared my mind and focused on my breath. I became instantly aware of how small I was. I could feel the vastness of the ocean and the infinite of space. This feeling could have been uncomfortable or unnerving were it not for my feet being buried in the sand giving my a feeling of being firmly grounded. It was a truly calming and peaceful experience. My friends came o find me some time later and took a picture that perfectly shows exactly how I felt.
This being said, I do encourage my clients to incorporate meditation of some sorts into their lives. I don't expect them to be perfect with it (as I am not) but I believe that it could help a great many people. I think that all health and wellness practitioners should practice what they preach. One cannot effectively lead others, especially through tasks that may seem unusual to some without being able to perform them and understand what the person is experiencing. If you are helping others develop their mental and spiritual well being than you must constantly strive to improve yours as well. This does not need to be difficult. Simple practice what you preach. Analyze yourself like you would a client. What areas do you still need to develop? Accept the fact that you need to improve these areas and then follow through in some way. You cant expect others to do it if you are not willing to. And that goes for all of your daily tasks.
This being said, I do encourage my clients to incorporate meditation of some sorts into their lives. I don't expect them to be perfect with it (as I am not) but I believe that it could help a great many people. I think that all health and wellness practitioners should practice what they preach. One cannot effectively lead others, especially through tasks that may seem unusual to some without being able to perform them and understand what the person is experiencing. If you are helping others develop their mental and spiritual well being than you must constantly strive to improve yours as well. This does not need to be difficult. Simple practice what you preach. Analyze yourself like you would a client. What areas do you still need to develop? Accept the fact that you need to improve these areas and then follow through in some way. You cant expect others to do it if you are not willing to. And that goes for all of your daily tasks.
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Why do we do what we do?
All of our actions and thoughts are not without motive. Whether we are aware of those motives or not can make a dramatic difference in the way we live or lives. We need to ask ourselves do we really care about others? Are we helping them only for our own sense of satisfaction? To practice Universal Loving Kindness requires that we understand what we do and why we do it. We need to look within ourselves and identify what we are striving for. We are always trying to improve ourselves; such is the nature of being human. The question we must ask ourselves is how?
There are four areas in which we can strive to improve. Biological, worldly, interpersonal, and psychospiritual. Everyone is striving to improve something in their lives and most everything can fall into these 4 categories. Personally I tend to bounce between a few every so often. I am going through a shift as we speak. I have recently improved the "Worldly" aspects of my life and now feel as if I need to focus more on the biological aspects of my life. Though my career and lifestyle have improved, I have neglected my fitness. This is something that is not like me! I am now returning my focus on making my body healthy... sheding fat and improving my athleticism. It is difficult for people to focus on more than one aspect of their lives but i feel that perhaps we should try. It has been my experience that focusing too much on one area tends to alienate the others, causing them to stagnate or even regress. We exist within all for realms simultaneously and therefore should have our minds in all four realms simultaneously as well. I encourage all of you to pick something from each area of wellness to improve upon and strive to slowly improve them all. This would help create or restore balance. Wouldn't that be nice?
There are four areas in which we can strive to improve. Biological, worldly, interpersonal, and psychospiritual. Everyone is striving to improve something in their lives and most everything can fall into these 4 categories. Personally I tend to bounce between a few every so often. I am going through a shift as we speak. I have recently improved the "Worldly" aspects of my life and now feel as if I need to focus more on the biological aspects of my life. Though my career and lifestyle have improved, I have neglected my fitness. This is something that is not like me! I am now returning my focus on making my body healthy... sheding fat and improving my athleticism. It is difficult for people to focus on more than one aspect of their lives but i feel that perhaps we should try. It has been my experience that focusing too much on one area tends to alienate the others, causing them to stagnate or even regress. We exist within all for realms simultaneously and therefore should have our minds in all four realms simultaneously as well. I encourage all of you to pick something from each area of wellness to improve upon and strive to slowly improve them all. This would help create or restore balance. Wouldn't that be nice?
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
The Subtle Mind
http://docsharing.next.ecollege.com/(NEXT(ec882937f3))/Main/CourseMode/DocSharing/ListCategoriesAndFilesView.ed#
The above link is yet another guided meditation practice but it is FAR superior the one I posted last week. The purpose of this is to develop what is known as a Subtle Mind. You are forcing your mind to ignore extraneous thoughts and distractions by focusing entirely on your breath.
This is a form of meditation that I not only understand more than last weeks but it is something I have been practicing your a couple years now (though not as often as I should). It is far simpler than the practice of loving kindness. Instead of focusing on, and embracing your thoughts (good and bad), you simply acknowledge and then dismiss them. The explanation is simpler and so is the practice. Just focus on the breath.
All of these guided meditation posts bring me to a point. Spiritual wellness is just as important as physical wellness. This is partly due to the fact that spiritual health has a serious impact on your physical health. It can decrease your health and boost your immune system. It has nothing to do with religion. It is important to explore and learn to understand your inner consciousness. Take control of your thoughts. I do it all the time and it pays dividends. I simply dismiss stress from my mind as much as I can. Negative emotions pop up (road rage) and I quickly get rid of it. It important to be aware of your emotions because you can control them!
Take control of your mind and be happier!
The above link is yet another guided meditation practice but it is FAR superior the one I posted last week. The purpose of this is to develop what is known as a Subtle Mind. You are forcing your mind to ignore extraneous thoughts and distractions by focusing entirely on your breath.
This is a form of meditation that I not only understand more than last weeks but it is something I have been practicing your a couple years now (though not as often as I should). It is far simpler than the practice of loving kindness. Instead of focusing on, and embracing your thoughts (good and bad), you simply acknowledge and then dismiss them. The explanation is simpler and so is the practice. Just focus on the breath.
All of these guided meditation posts bring me to a point. Spiritual wellness is just as important as physical wellness. This is partly due to the fact that spiritual health has a serious impact on your physical health. It can decrease your health and boost your immune system. It has nothing to do with religion. It is important to explore and learn to understand your inner consciousness. Take control of your thoughts. I do it all the time and it pays dividends. I simply dismiss stress from my mind as much as I can. Negative emotions pop up (road rage) and I quickly get rid of it. It important to be aware of your emotions because you can control them!
Take control of your mind and be happier!
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
The practice of loving kindness
http://docsharing.next.ecollege.com/(NEXT(b1e262f046))/Main/CourseMode/DocSharing/ListCategoriesAndFilesView.ed#
The above link is a guided session to help induce a greater ability to practice and experience loving kindness. Previous guided imagery and relaxation sessions have been simple and easily accessible to most people, but I found this one particularly aggravating. The concepts were difficult for even me to grasp. I am very good at meditative practice and controlling my mental and spiritual state but the instructions for this particular exercise were far to vague to follow effectively. The exercise instructed the listener to acknowledge negative feelings and thoughts and give them your loving kindness...isn't the point of the exercise to teach you how to develop that in the first place?
And I disagree with that practice! Do not acknowledge negative feelings and thoughts. Do not put love into negativity. Instead I believe it must be dismissed quickly and completely. Do not let negativity linger. Acknowledge it yes, and understand it for what it is but then remove it from your mind!
Loving kindness starts with yourself. If you do not love yourself for who you are, then you cannot love others for who they are. To practice loving kindness, you do not need guided training. You simply need to remove negativity from your life. Do not let it affect you. Surround yourself with a barrier of positivity and love.
This is where the idea of a mental workout comes in. You have to train your mind to focus on the positive, just like you have to train your body for a sport. It needs to be a daily task and does require conscious effort. Research shows that, in time, you can control your mind and your feelings.
I've personally done this with my life although I did not know what I was doing at the time. I have practiced dismissing negativity and focusing on the positive for the majority of my adult life after being a pretty negative and emotional child. I learned how to not just internalize (because that alone is unhealthy) but dismiss my negative feelings. It is not always easy to do and at first you may agitate people (not expressing negative emotions tends to make people think you don't express any), but in the long run the emotional and spiritual payoffs are fantastic. Imagine being able to brush aside anger, sadness, and disappointment. It just takes time, patience, and practice.
The above link is a guided session to help induce a greater ability to practice and experience loving kindness. Previous guided imagery and relaxation sessions have been simple and easily accessible to most people, but I found this one particularly aggravating. The concepts were difficult for even me to grasp. I am very good at meditative practice and controlling my mental and spiritual state but the instructions for this particular exercise were far to vague to follow effectively. The exercise instructed the listener to acknowledge negative feelings and thoughts and give them your loving kindness...isn't the point of the exercise to teach you how to develop that in the first place?
And I disagree with that practice! Do not acknowledge negative feelings and thoughts. Do not put love into negativity. Instead I believe it must be dismissed quickly and completely. Do not let negativity linger. Acknowledge it yes, and understand it for what it is but then remove it from your mind!
Loving kindness starts with yourself. If you do not love yourself for who you are, then you cannot love others for who they are. To practice loving kindness, you do not need guided training. You simply need to remove negativity from your life. Do not let it affect you. Surround yourself with a barrier of positivity and love.
This is where the idea of a mental workout comes in. You have to train your mind to focus on the positive, just like you have to train your body for a sport. It needs to be a daily task and does require conscious effort. Research shows that, in time, you can control your mind and your feelings.
I've personally done this with my life although I did not know what I was doing at the time. I have practiced dismissing negativity and focusing on the positive for the majority of my adult life after being a pretty negative and emotional child. I learned how to not just internalize (because that alone is unhealthy) but dismiss my negative feelings. It is not always easy to do and at first you may agitate people (not expressing negative emotions tends to make people think you don't express any), but in the long run the emotional and spiritual payoffs are fantastic. Imagine being able to brush aside anger, sadness, and disappointment. It just takes time, patience, and practice.
Monday, August 20, 2012
3 types of wellness
So lets talk about wellness. There are 3 kinds, physical, spiritual, psychological. One cannot analyze others without first analyzing themselves so lets start with me...
On a scale of 1(really bad) - 10 (PERFECT!!)...
Physical (7)
I write this part with a little smile as I've been suffering from the flu all week. But BESIDES this week I would say that I am better than most. I exercise 5-6 days a week on a good week and 2-3 on a bad. I eat relatively healthy and my cheat meals are nothing compared to most peoples regular meals. On the downside I definitely do not get enough sleep and I overextend myself with work.
So how can I improve this? My main goal right now is to maximise my profit and minimize my effort. I.E make more and work less. This should decrease my stress a great deal and allow me to get some more sleep.
Spiritual (8.5)
I wont even bother going into the complex beliefs that I've developed over the years but needless to say I am VERY comfortable with them. I know my place in the universe and that is a great feeling. I know how to meditate very effectively and I feel that I am very "tuned in" spiritually. However, again due to crazy life happenings, I am unable to practice what I know. Physical and mental exhaustion make taking the time to spend on my spiritual self not on the top of my priority list.
I can improve this area very easily by simply going back to my daily mediation and stop making excuses as why not to do it.
Psychological (6)
Hey who isn't a little bit crazy? I'm pretty comfortable with my physchological health but I wouldn't say its amazing. I tend to over analyze things and think too many steps ahead, often losing sight of the here and now.
The biggest improvement I can make is to stop internalizing everything and use the resources I have available to vent my frustrations. This is going to be very difficult for me because I have an image to uphold.
Here is another Guided meditation for everyone to try.
javascript:ulinkPopup('http://www.kushs.net/kaplan/HW420/TheCrimeOfTheCentury.mp3','http://www.kushs.net/kaplan/HW420/TheCrimeOfTheCentury.mp3','800','600','location=yes,toolbar=yes,menubar=yes,status=yes,scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes')
Even though I mentioned last week that i was not a fan of these, I found this particular one was worth sharing for the rainbow meditation as it guides you through a simplified version of the meditation techniques I practice on my own and find to be so effective.
On a scale of 1(really bad) - 10 (PERFECT!!)...
Physical (7)
I write this part with a little smile as I've been suffering from the flu all week. But BESIDES this week I would say that I am better than most. I exercise 5-6 days a week on a good week and 2-3 on a bad. I eat relatively healthy and my cheat meals are nothing compared to most peoples regular meals. On the downside I definitely do not get enough sleep and I overextend myself with work.
So how can I improve this? My main goal right now is to maximise my profit and minimize my effort. I.E make more and work less. This should decrease my stress a great deal and allow me to get some more sleep.
Spiritual (8.5)
I wont even bother going into the complex beliefs that I've developed over the years but needless to say I am VERY comfortable with them. I know my place in the universe and that is a great feeling. I know how to meditate very effectively and I feel that I am very "tuned in" spiritually. However, again due to crazy life happenings, I am unable to practice what I know. Physical and mental exhaustion make taking the time to spend on my spiritual self not on the top of my priority list.
I can improve this area very easily by simply going back to my daily mediation and stop making excuses as why not to do it.
Psychological (6)
Hey who isn't a little bit crazy? I'm pretty comfortable with my physchological health but I wouldn't say its amazing. I tend to over analyze things and think too many steps ahead, often losing sight of the here and now.
The biggest improvement I can make is to stop internalizing everything and use the resources I have available to vent my frustrations. This is going to be very difficult for me because I have an image to uphold.
Here is another Guided meditation for everyone to try.
javascript:ulinkPopup('http://www.kushs.net/kaplan/HW420/TheCrimeOfTheCentury.mp3','http://www.kushs.net/kaplan/HW420/TheCrimeOfTheCentury.mp3','800','600','location=yes,toolbar=yes,menubar=yes,status=yes,scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes')
Even though I mentioned last week that i was not a fan of these, I found this particular one was worth sharing for the rainbow meditation as it guides you through a simplified version of the meditation techniques I practice on my own and find to be so effective.
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Guided Relaxation
http://www.kushes.net/kaplan/HW420/JourneyOn.mp3
I have tried many forms of stress relief and relaxation techniques and I firmly believe that they are an important part of every ones mental health. I, however was a particular fan of the guided relaxation clip (the above link). This says nothing against the clip which was done as well as any other I have heard. I simply prefer to find my own peace. When I relax and meditate I prefer either complete silence or the sounds that exist in nature. I find voices to be disruptive and sound through speakers to be agitating as well. I instead focus on my breathing and hone in on the quiet, almost imperceptible ringing sound that exists in all silence. Doing this clears my mind and relaxes me far more than receiving instructions.
But when it comes to relaxation, to each his own! Perhaps the above link will serve a purpose for you.
I have tried many forms of stress relief and relaxation techniques and I firmly believe that they are an important part of every ones mental health. I, however was a particular fan of the guided relaxation clip (the above link). This says nothing against the clip which was done as well as any other I have heard. I simply prefer to find my own peace. When I relax and meditate I prefer either complete silence or the sounds that exist in nature. I find voices to be disruptive and sound through speakers to be agitating as well. I instead focus on my breathing and hone in on the quiet, almost imperceptible ringing sound that exists in all silence. Doing this clears my mind and relaxes me far more than receiving instructions.
But when it comes to relaxation, to each his own! Perhaps the above link will serve a purpose for you.
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