You can survive days without food, hours without water, but only a few minutes without oxygen. Considering the average person inhales and exhales over 25,000 times per day, it stands to reason we should take our breathing habits as serious as our diet and exercise. Indeed, how we breathe has immediate impact on our physiology as every organ and system function hinges on the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide.
How to Breathe
Due to poor posture, muscular imbalance, stress, and poor cardiovascular conditioning, many people suffer from some issues that can be easily remedied with proper breathing mechanics. We will start with a simple exercise to understand the different roles of the belly vs. chest.
Lie on the floor face up. Place one hand on your chest and one on your bellybutton and breathe as normal through the nose. Which hand moves up and down more with inhalation and exhalation? If you’re like most people, you breathe predominantly with the chest. With that in mind, try to move the belly up with the first 2/3 of inhalation and the chest with the last 1/3. This is diaphragmatic breathing as encouraged in yoga, meditation, and relaxation programs and is a more “natural” way to breathe – just like a baby.
Breathing During Exercise
Unfortunately, many popular exercises inhibit this style of breathe. For example, pushing moves like the bench press coupled with spine flexion moves like crunches create tightness in the front of the body. With this tightness comes a rounding of the shoulders and forward head posture that constrict the movement of proper respiration.
When performing pull-based exercises with the palms facing away from you, such as pull-ups or lat pull-down, inhale during the pull phase of the movement. Pull-based exercise with a supinated (palms face in) grip should be performed with an exhalation during the pull phase. For most all push-based exercises, inhale during the bend and exhale with braced abdominals on the push.
For heavy weightlifting, the breath should be used to stabilize and protect the back. For example (with a deadlift): breathe deep diaphragmatically, tense the glutes and abdominals, and hold. While lifting, exhale through pursed lips or hiss to move through tough sticking points. Upon lockout, re-inhale sharply with the nose, hold, and lower the weight.
Sleep apnea is a dangerous medical problem in which sufferers stop breathing while asleep, which causes sleep interruption. In addition, it causes the person to be more susceptible to other medical issues such as hypertension, heart attack, stroke, diabetes, weight gain and more. It also causes problems with sleeping partners, since someone with sleep apnea usually has very loud snoring problems.
Treating Sleep Apnea
Sleep apnea victims will normally be prescribed a breathing machine for sleep apnea called a CPAP machine. This stands for continuous positive airway pressure. The breathing machine for sleep apnea continuously blows air into the sleeping person’s lungs so that their airway doesn’t collapse and cause them to stop breathing. It is noninvasive and is approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
In order to get a breathing machine for sleep apnea you will need a prescription. However, if you have health insurance, then the cost is normally covered. A CPAP machine is usually fairly small, about the size of a shoebox. It is made up of three parts: the breathing machine, a nose or full face mask, and flexible tubing to connect the mask to the machine.
Using a CPAP Machine
The first breathing machine for sleep apnea was invented during the 1980s. They have come a long way since that time and are now available in several different styles, sizes, and types. It all depends on the type of sleep apnea the person has and what type of treatment best serves their needs. The newer models are also much quieter than the older, bulkier machines in the past.
Despite the fact that a breather machine for sleep apnea is vital to the health of the user, statistics show that about half the patients prescribed to use on stop after only a short period of time. This is usually due to the fact that it can be awkward or uncomfortable to wear the device.It may normally take several days or longer for someone to get used to wearing a CPAP device, so newcomers to it should be advised to not give up wearing it in the first day or two of treatment.
In order to get these levels up, there are now many kinds of CPAP machine accessories to help make using the machine more comfortable. These include special pillows to cushion the tubing and mask, cloth covering for the tubing, many styles of headbands to hold the mask, devices to hold the tubing next to the bed, and more.
Other Types of Breathing Machines for Sleep Apnea
Besides the CPAP machine, there is two other type of breathing machines for sleep apnea: Bi-Level and Auto Pap.
Bi-Level –This is also called a VPAP machine. It is for those patients that need one level of air pressure for breathing in and a different setting for breathing out. This type of machine automatically changes back and forth.This type of breathing machine for sleep apnea is usually prescribed for someone with central sleep apnea. It can also be set up so that if the wearer stops breathing, it will automatically turn on after a certain amount of seconds.
Auto PAP – This is a new kind of breathing machine for sleep apnea. It is capable of automatically adjusting the machine to provide various air pressures depending on the breathing patterns of the user. This type of a breathing machine for sleep apnea can run either in auto mode or regular CPAP mode. It has special software installed in it that helps to run it when the patient needs it most, plus, it is usually prescribed for Obstructive Sleep Apnea.
Advantages of Breathing Machine for Sleep Apnea
There are many advantages to using one of the three types of breathing machines for sleep apnea. Of course, the obvious is to reduce the wearer’s risks for problems such as heart attack, stroke, hypertension and weight gain.
In addition, the person wearing it should be much less tired upon waking up from sleep, thus will have less of a risk of falling asleep while performing daily tasks such as driving or operating machinery.
They will also have a better memory and likely will be in a better mood since they will not be tired all of the time. Also, if you have sleep apnea you will be at a greater risk during surgery if the doctors are unaware of your condition since you could stop breathing during the procedure.
Disadvantages of Breathing Machine for Sleep Apnea
Even so, there are a few disadvantages you may face when wearing a breathing machine for sleep apnea. Some users experience issues such as nasal congestion, runny nose, dry eyes or mouth, skin irritation, chest discomfort, or headaches.
However, many of these problems can be solved by wearing the right type and size of mask, as well as using saline nose drops, or some sort of skin moisturizer. Plus, using nasal pillows instead of a mask helps some people, which are soft attachments that go directly into the nostrils instead of wearing a mask.
Some types of breathing machines for sleep apnea also are fitted with a humidifier to help keep a person’s throat and nose from getting too dry. If the noise of the machine bothers users, one solution is to also turn a fan on in the room to provide a low level noise that will block out the breathing machine noises.
To be certain a breathing machine for sleep apnea is working correctly, users should also always double check for any leaking air. If the seal is worn out or not adjusted properly, the mask will leak and you won’t get all the benefits of the breathing machine for sleep apnea.
The bottom line is that sleep apnea is a dangerous, but very treatable problem that affects thousands of people all over the world. If you are having problems with snoring, being tired in the day, day time sleepiness or fatigue and think you may have sleep apnea, you should see your doctor right away.
Can we develop skills that enable us to enrich our lives by thinking in the moment? By taking a look at how mindfulness can be immersed within personal development we can identify how the strategies can collectively help us to accept that life is the way it is but with an outlook that can remain positive and appreciative. Can mindfulness take us to a place of humble gratitude?
Bringing About Change With Mindfulness
Mindfulness allows us time to gain self awarenes, building upon self esteem and confidence. To be able to believe in ourselves without self judgement and feel secure enough to invest in ourselves is an ability to achieve a state of mind that lends itself to feeling contentment, gratitude and appreciation. Mindfulness. Being present without judgement in every moment.
Please allow me to take you on a snap shot of mindfulness discovery to show how mindfulness can be part of personal development, for life.
Combating Anxiety
Imagine living a life thinking of worst case scenarios while enduring real physical reactions because of those fictional thoughts. The feeling of being crippled by such pointlessness is matched by the feeling of endured negativity. Being mindful focuses on the present moment, negating the ability to look for the untruths of the future and when meditation alone can’t focus the mind and body, yoga can assist in combining physical poses and controlled breathing with relaxation. Childs pose is especially helpful, releasing tension in the neck, back and shoulders while encouraging steady conscious breathing.
Reducing Stress
As meditation slows down our busy thoughts, it is thought that focusing on the present in a meditative state enables a reduction in cortisol levels, lowering stress on a neurochemical level. Thoughts that are mindful enable us to become aware of what is going on within ourselves. As we tune into our thoughts, feelings and bodily sensations we can learn to accept our experiences as they are, responding with a skillful awareness instead of acting, and reacting, out of habit and conditioning.
Being mindful when eating helps to slow the process down while giving the opportunity to savour. Purposefully thinking in this way helps you to feel more in control as you consume when you are hungry and appreciate what you consume. When positives are applied to food consumption we can begin to apply positives to how we perceive ourselves in terms of our body image. The act of slow purposeful eating facilitates good digestion therefore negating the need to eat more to gain the feeling of satisfaction.
Improving Sleep
Every day stresses take their toll on our ability to sleep. Research by Hulshegar et al suggests that even a small amount of mindfulness can calm our mind to improve our sleep. Their research found that those who meditated experienced improvements in sleep quality and sleep duration.
How do you help yourself to better sleep?
• Don’t look at the clock when you do struggle to get to sleep or remain asleep. Watching time pass adds to the stress and frustration of not sleeping.
• Keep to a sleep routine. Get up and go to bed the same time every day, even at weekends. This will help your body clock get in to sync.
• Try to unwind with meditation to focus the brain and relax the body. Exercises that engage breathing will help to quieten your mind and body, bringing a sense of calm that enables you to drift off to sleep.
Fighting Pain
Instead of focusing on how badly we want our pain to stop, being mindful allows us to think of the pain in a way that is not natural for the brain. The pain sensation ensures our minset surrounds negativity, annoyance and upset possibly feeding anxiety and sadness. Little do our hurting negative selves know but that approach makes the pain appear much worse. A change in our thinking will enable us to relate to the pain differently. We should focus on what is noticable about the pain and it’s attributes (for want of a better word!) bringing forth an awareness to the severity patterns, peaks, troughs and differing sensations. In other words, in times of chronic pain try to focus on learning about what you’re experiencing rather than enter a frantic search for answers and endings.
Lowering Blood Pressure
Taking a few minutes to relax each day could help you lower your risk of cardiovascular disease. Being mindful and in control of stress, anxiety, sleep and having good eating practices can all have a positive effect on blood pressure. It is recognised that mindfulness alone isn’t enough to lower blood pressure but being mindful and adopting positive lifestyle changes can be a complementary treatment for blood pressure in the prehypertensive range.
Cultivating Empathy
To be able to successfully pay attention the mind needs to be aware of how we’re paying attention. Our minds will naturally wander but an empathetic person will experience compassionate thoughts about the ‘interuption’, embracing an attitude of ‘I’m interested and care that this is in my present’. To be able to show compassion for others we should endevour to show compassion for ourselves. If we’re able to be patient wth all of our unresolved issus, we can learn to love the questions too.
Building Gratitude
As we sit down to consider what we’re actually grateful for, we take a moment to picture each item in our mind. The feeling of gratitude enables neurons to light up areas of the brain that facilitates happiness. In term of mindfulness, we can’t feel grateful for things that we don’t notice. The two go hand-in-hand helping us to appreciate lovely moments in life whilst enabling us to make lovely moments for others.
Developing Humility
The humble amongst us are able to see and accept their own strengths and weaknesses without being defensive or judging themselves. In possessing self acceptance we can expect to show little value in showing others that we can accomplish to feel accepted in the society in which we live. It mens we don’t place our seelf worth on those extermal things, keeping ou self esteem in tact when we can’t live up to expectations. The trick, it seems, is self compassion.
Soul Rejuvenation
We can let ourselves become laden with worries that take their toll on our body and our mind. The need to rejuvenate our physical and emotional self becomes apparent at some stage as we have an innate ability to know that when the mind and body are struggling we should slow down. By learning to live in the moment we can use awareness and positivity to reconnect to our inner self, breathing slowly to calm the body.
Mindfulness offers us the chance to change the conditioning that has occured through experiences and our perceptions of them. It enables us to take back control of ourselves and the way we think, feel and act while helping us to live with greater joy, contentment, and kindness. We can learn to embrace difficult feelings and emotions both in mind and in body. Mindfulness is no quick fix but it can be a desirable strategy for coping with what life throws at us. Mindfulness isn’t a life changer but could well be seen as a life enrichment tool.
Mindfulness pioneer Sylvia Boorstein suggests ”Mindfulness doesn’t change life. Life remains as fragile and unpredictable as ever. What changes is the heart’s capacity to accept life as it is. It teaches the heart to be more accommodating; not by beating it in into submission’ but by making it clear that accommodation is a gratifying choice”.
As the current culture continues to grow and evolve, certain words and phrases are becoming more common as people continue to embrace them. One of the many words that has been thrown around is “mindfulness.”
Undoubtedly, most people have heard this word before and think that it is important, yet few people actually know what it is. Today, many people find themselves multitasking on a regular basis. Perhaps people do the laundry while helping the kids with their homework. Maybe someone is on the phone with their boss while continuing to type away at their current assignment.
Kids seem to always balance multiple text message conversations while doing their homework (perhaps poorly) at the same time.
Mindfulness is the practice of taking the time to focus on the present moment instead of on the distractions that can overwhelm someone’s life and soak up every ounce of their attention.
Mindfulness meditation is the practice of focusing on the present moment in an active manner. Think about everything that people miss out on when they don’t take the time to focus on themselves and the moment at hand. Mindfulness meditation helps prevent this from happening. In fact, the benefits of mindfulness and meditation have been studied scientifically.
Mindfulness Meditation can Improve Someone’s Mental Health
As people’s lives continue to get busier, it is easy for people to lose their mental and emotional health in the shuffle. People may start to feel like they’re simply being stretched too thin and may turn to unhealthy coping mechanisms as a way of dealing with the stress. In fact, substance abuse disorders involving drugs and alcohol remain one of the major health problems that society has to deal with. Furthermore, people develop mood disorders, including anxiety and depression, from trying to balance everything that is taking time out of their day. In the past few years, many scientists and researchers have studied the practice of mindfulness meditation and the benefits that it can bring to someone’s state of mental health. It can even help with:
When people take the time to be mindful of their emotional state, it can help them accept the emotions that they’re feeling in their life, whether they are good or bad. By accepting what has happened, they are able to process what they’re feeling instead of turning to avoidance of these emotions through unearthly means. Mindfulness has even been incorporated into cognitive behavioral therapy, one of the backbones of treatment employed by psychiatric providers. This meditative state helps people find a new, healthy perspective that improves their mental health.
Mindfulness has Numerous Benefits on Physical Health
In addition to the many benefits that mindfulness can have on someone’s mental state, it can even improve various facets of someone’s physical health as well. When someone takes the time to meditate and think about their current state of mind, it provides a calming influence on both their mind and their body, which is reflected in the numerous physical health benefits that mindfulness meditation can bring. Among the many health benefits are:
It is important for people to realize that many of their chronic health problems stem from a cluttered mind, anxious emotional state, and a lack of sleep created by many of the problems above. When all of these areas of life are improved, their emotional health translates to an improved state of physical well-being and is reflected as an improvement in many of the health parameters discussed above.
Mindfulness Meditation can Improve Someone’s Well-Being for the Future
When people start to incorporate mindfulness meditation into their daily routine, they start to see many of the overall benefits as they move into the future. When the mental and physical health benefits of mindfulness are rolled into one, it creates a general sense of improved well-being in many ways, including:
Enjoying the Moment: When people take the time to be mindful and remain in the present moment, they are able to enjoy the simple pleasures in life. This means that people are more engaged in the present activities and are less likely to miss the important moments that occur from day to day.
Less Likely to Have Regrets: People who are able to practice mindfulness regularly are less likely to have regrets over the past because they know that they have lived in the present moment. They will not be concerned with their own success and self-esteem which allows them to take chances that they otherwise would not have taken. It also helps people to open themselves up to the ability to form deeper connections with loved ones and others around them.
Overall, mindfulness meditation will help people develop the attitudes that are necessary for not just success but fulfillment as well.
Ultimately, this is only a brief overview of the practice of mindfulness, meditation, and the numerous benefits that it can bring to someone’s life. Remember that mindfulness is an important part of maintaining a healthy mind, spirit, and body while meditation can help focus the mind on the moment at hand without having to miss out on what’s happening around a person. By incorporating mindfulness and meditation into the daily routine, it can help someone gain a new perspective on their life that can bring about a healthy change in someone’s emotional, physical, and mental state.
There’s no doubt that conventional medicine has its place. But more and more people are turning to naturopathy for their healthcare needs. Why? Because naturopathy is a form of medicine that focuses on treating the whole person, not just the symptoms.
Naturopathic doctors work to find the root cause of your health problems and then treat you accordingly. This means that you’re not just popping pills to cover up your symptoms. Instead, you’re getting to the root of the problem and addressing it head-on.
Not only does this approach tend to be more effective in the long run, but it can also help you avoid dangerous side effects that can come with taking too many medications.
If you’re looking for a more holistic approach to your health, naturopathy may be the best medicine for you!
Naturopathy is a system of primary health care that combines modern scientific knowledge with traditional and natural forms of medicine. Naturopathic medicine is based on the belief that the body has an innate ability to heal itself. Naturopathic treatments aim to support and stimulate the body’s own healing process and can be used to treat a wide range of conditions.
A naturopath is a healthcare professional who focuses on the natural treatment of illness and disease. Naturopathic medicine emphasizes the use of dietary and lifestyle changes, herbal medicines, and other natural therapies to promote wellness and heal the body. Naturopaths work to treat the underlying cause of illness, rather than simply managing symptoms. A functional medicine-trained naturopath uses a variety of modalities, including nutrition, lifestyle changes, and supplements to help their patients achieve optimal health. Naturopath Melbourne has some great information about functional medicine and the additional insights functional testing can provide.
The term naturopathy was coined in the late 19th century by John Scheel, and was popularized in the United States by Benedict Lust. Naturopathic medicine is considered a form of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), which focuses on natural remedies and the body’s innate ability to heal itself.
Naturopathy has been practiced for centuries, and its roots can be traced back to ancient Greece. The father of medicine, Hippocrates, advocated the use of diet, exercise, and fresh air to treat illness.
In the early 20th century, naturopathic medicine fell out of favor in the United States as conventional Western medicine became more prevalent. However, it experienced a resurgence in popularity in the 1970s, and today there are naturopathic medical schools and clinics across the country.
There are many benefits of naturopathy, including:
If you are looking for a healthcare approach that focuses on the underlying cause of disease and promotes wellness, naturopathy may be right for you. Naturopathic therapies can be used to treat a wide range of conditions, and naturopathic physicians are trained to provide individualized care. Naturopathic medicine is based on the principle of first do no harm, and naturopathic therapies are often gentle and non-invasive. If you are interested in naturopathy, make sure to consult with a naturopathic physician to see if it is the right fit for you.
There are a few things to keep in mind when choosing a naturopath:
If you are looking for a healthcare approach that focuses on the underlying cause of disease and promotes wellness, naturopathy may be the ‘medicine’ for you.
Reducing stress with mindfulness is probably the easiest way to work with yourself in your quest to be more focused and of sound mind. I find it to be the easiest way for me to decrease the stress of the day, mostly due to the fact that virtually any activity of daily life can be approached in a more mindful way. Mindfulness is a healing and helpful way to walk through life, and it can easily become habitual. Some of my ideas follow.
Observe Your Thoughts
If you’re someone that has a noisy, busy mind like my own, I find I can calm it down some by the simple observance of the thoughts that pass through it. You can easily watch while racing thoughts come and go within your head for a calming effect that for me at least, seems to place me in a kind of separated way from my actual body. It’s a unique feeling in itself that creates a calmness for me.
Be Present
Become more aware of the present moment for an effective stress reducer that leads you from moment to moment. Whatever it is that you’re engaged in, become completely attentive to the activity. Feel all of the feelings that come with that particular activity from head to toe. This mindful activity is by far one of my favorites for getting my head in the right place. Feel the wind on your face as completely as you can, smell the flower you’re smelling…feel it’s scent permeate every cell in your nose.
Listen To Music
Listening to music in a mindful way is a very stress-reducing way to enjoy your favorite music. Especially because if you are listening to music that is particularly pleasant to you, naturally engaging in it is easy. Engaging completely in music is also used as a therapeutic method for helping those with anxiety and stress management. Hearing my favorite music tunes in one way I have that is sure-fire in helping me relieve stress by being mindful in a way that is natural to me.
If you are looking to lose or maintain your weight, is eating organic going to help? I have eaten organic food for a long time. I am sure that eating organic does affect your weight, although lightly. However, what are some of the factors that may contribute to weight loss when eating organic. However, before that what are some of the things that make organic foods organic?
For organic food to be organic it, first, it must be grown without the use of artificial fertilizers or pesticides of any kind. Natural fertilizer is acceptable, things such as eggshells, fruit skins, and dead plants. If the food comes from livestock, the animal has to be free of antibiotics or growth hormones. Finally, organic food cannot be genetically modified or treated with radiation. Now let us move on to some ways eating organic foods can help you lose/ maintain weight.
1. Organic Food Isn’t Processed
Today almost all the food we find in the grocery store has been processed, packaged, and stripped of its nutritional value. Why? To make the food last longer, stay cheaper, and taste better. When your body is robbed of the nutrition it needs, it starts storing the energy you consume in the form of fat. Organic food, however, is more wholesome and full of nutrition. When you eat wholesome foods you feel satisfied, allowing you to get the nutrition you need, without eating too much. It is a win-win situation!
2. Organic Food Does Not Have Food Additives
Food additives are substances added to food to preserve its flavour and appearance. Things such as starch in chicken to make it crispier, and fats in pastries to make them tastier are just some of the common examples. They also add salt, sugar, and thickeners. All these are definitely not good for your body in large amounts. Organic food does not contain any food additives, making it less sugary, fattening, and unhealthy.
3. Organic Food is Non-Toxic
Non-organic foods can contain toxins, which can affect your body’s state of being, making you sick, sleepy, or mood. All these can have effects on your weight and that means weight gain. Sometimes these toxins may target your weight directly, especially with fried foods and foods full of preservatives and other substances.
4. Organic Food is Associated With an Active Lifestyle
People who eat organic are thought of as active and outgoing people. Other people choosing to switch to organic might step in their shoes as well and follow suit. While this is not a direct link, when people change their diet to organic, they might start exercising just because they are starting to eat healthy.
5. Organic Foods are Often Grown Locally
If foods are grown locally, chances are if you are like me, you will walk to get your fresh produce. When food is grown locally and it is just half a kilometer from your house, you might feel a little bit guilty driving that car. When you walk you burn calories and that is one step to weight loss.
Whether or not organic food is going to be in the next wave of weight loss techniques is still yet to be answered. However, through my experiences, I have to say it definitely helped me lose and then maintain my weight!
If you searching for a new way to get healthier then try doing yoga! This is a unique practice that can improve your health in a very holistic way; meaning your mind, body and soul. Yoga is a very traditional and ancient practice that has been used by many to detox and energize the body and the mind. When practiced regularly it can bring an inner peace within a person and an increased wellbeing. Below are just some of the many benefits yoga can have on your health.
• Relax those nerves
When practicing yoga continuously, you will see a change in how your body’s nervous system functions. The techniques and positions used in yoga can calm your nervous system and reduce stress. By using different stretching poses and breathing practices of yoga, the result will be a huge relaxation of nervous system. As a result, this will also provide relief in other parts of your wellbeing such as foggy thought processes, negative emotions and sluggish behavior. In addition to this, since your nervous system is more relaxed, there is a stronger connection with your mind and body.
• Better Digestion
When it comes to digestion, several people can suffer from chronic constipation and in general a sluggish system. With the help of yoga, constipation can be greatly relieved, because yoga improves the health of the body from the inside out. With certain yoga poses, you can actually massage the inside of your digestive system thus improving flow and blood circulation. When the circulation of your digestive system has been improved, your digestive system with soon follow and improve as well. With a proper functioning digestive system your body will start to function at its optimal level, and therefore you will have more energy and fewer toxins in your system.
• Detox Detox Detox
Detoxing the body is very important and a healthy process to undertake in general. It is the best way to eliminate toxins that are festering within the body’s system. When practicing yoga on a daily basis, you will be able to enable the body to clear out toxins that are causing havoc within your body. With fewer toxins in your body, the more energy you will have to tackle on the day. The detox that yoga provides not only pertains to physical toxins in the body, but also emotional toxins and psychological toxins, perhaps it could be cleansing yourself from the bad emotions of a previous relationship, a bad friendship and negative thoughts and emotions that you yourself might be hanging on to. Yoga can help you let go of this and have peace of mind. With a clear mind you can make better decisions in life, adopt a healthier lifestyle and form more positive connections, relationships and friendships that benefit your life.
• Inside out improvement!
Get your glow on! With continuous practice of yoga, you will see a definite improvement of your body from the inside out. So besides the improvement of your digestive system, relaxation of your nervous system, and the detox benefits, you can also expect your skin to glow! Due to the increase blood circulation in your system, your metabolic rate will increase, which can lead to glowing skin and lighter body weight.
When practicing yoga, most students also adopt healthier eating habits. So instead of consuming deep fried foods, you might make a smarter choice and opt for a nice kale salad instead.
At the end of the day yoga ultimately leads to healthier lifestyle, more positive outlook and glowing skin. So what are you waiting for? Give yoga a try!
To take advantage of meditation and its benefits it is important to make meditation your new daily habit, like brushing teeth. It will present challenges similar to those you experienced when embarking on a new physical exercise program. At first you notice your body is weak and can hardly cope with what is asked of it, but with time you’ll see it gets stronger, healthier. When you first start on meditation exercise you will notice disturbing restlessness in your body as you try to sit still. Restlessness in a body is a sign of neglected, untrained mind. With time you will learn to control your body better, you will be able to sit without moving a muscle for hours if you chose to. Your body will listen to you faithfully, you will learn to create and remove pain at will, make yourself happy, improve your luck, there is no limit to positive things you can do from there.
In the beginning sit straight and still on a chair with your eyes closed in a quiet place for 10 minutes twice a day, increase the time gradually. In the beginning you may have to use suggestions to quiet your body, keep repeating in your mind: I am relaxed and comfortable, I can sit without moving a muscle for hours, with time you will train your body to listen to your suggestions after the first time. As you notice your body slowly begin to relax and stop bothering you concentrate on an imaginary object, it could be anything you want, for example a book. Observe it closely in your mind, stare at it, keep it alive in your mind, this exercise will push all other thoughts and worries out of your head, but you will notice slowly they begin to creep right back, observe the thoughts like they were no longer yours without judgment and let them go as you continue to hold the book in your mind. When the thoughts relinquish you in stillness of mind you can put you attention and intention on anything you want, it will flourish and be anything you want it to be as long as it is good and positive.
Too much in modern life can be stressful. This article, the fourth in a series on meditating with the senses, explores ways to relax with sound. The following simple meditations use water, nature, music, and one’s own voice so that hearing becomes a joy.
Flowing Water Meditation
Running water can soothe a tired mind. The following meditation using flowing water offers the person meditating the opportunity to release his or her burdens and let the water carry them away.
Relaxing Music Meditation
Music has the power to inspire, entertain, and relax. The following meditation offers an opportunity to rest with one’s favorite song or another relaxing piece of music.
Mantra Meditation
The human voice has the power to connect people and the individual to himself or herself. The following meditation invites a person to talk to himself/herself using a meaningful phrase that promotes relaxation.
Noise doesn’t have keep being stressful with some simple exercises to relax the body and make hearing a pleasure again.
