Get Grounded with Meditation
By Jackie Christensen, BS, HHP, NC, MH
Faculty Member of GCNM
Researchers speculate that primitive hunter-gatherer societies discovered meditation while staring at the flames of their fires. Buddha, a major meditation icon, first made his mark in the mediation world around 500 B.C. His teachings were spread far and wide across the Asian continent. Separate countries and cultures then adopted different forms of the word "meditation," and they each found their own unique ways of practicing it. Meditation was spread to Western society thousands of years after it was adopted in the East. In the 1960s and ’70s, the interest of popular culture icons such as the Beatles helped to promote the practice of meditation through the rest of society, while scientists began exploring the practice’s physical and mental benefits. Meditation became the first widely accepted form of alternative medicine in the West, and is now used routinely to reduce stress and promote healing. Various techniques of meditation are now widely taught in medical settings and are often prescribed as a healing technique for relaxing the body and calming the mind, as it has done since the beginning of recorded history.
The "deep rest" meditation gives a person dissolves stress and enables him or her to make better choices through clear thinking. The practice has also been used to help people quit smoking, conquer drug and alcohol addictions, reduce blood pressure and reduce symptoms of pre-menstrual syndrome and menopause. Meditation aids in lowering heart rate and blood pressure by slowing down breathing, which reduces the amount of oxygen needed. Along with the mind, the muscles can then gently relax. Some experts have compared meditation to a ‘reset button’ for your body.
A one ancient meditation technique called the pineal wave focuses on the seventh chakra, which is commonly referred to as the crown chakra. This chakra is generally considered to be the chakra of pure consciousness. It is the spiritual part inside us which gives our bodies life. Physically, this chakra also corresponds to the pineal gland, which is found behind the eyes, between the ears, and approximately in the center of the head.
The benefits of this meditation are helpful for grounding. It offers a visualization of oneness with the planet and universe by having us picture our spiritual essence from the pineal gland traveling down to the Earth’s center and back again.
To begin start standing straight with your hands at your sides and your feet placed together. Close your eyes and imagine the pineal gland inside your head (precise location described above). Envision it as a bright, white energy source shaped like a ball. Next, take a deep inhale while continuing to visualize the white light ball. Then, exhale forcibly through the nose, moving the ball of light through the inside of your body, out the bottom of your feet and down into the Earth. Imagine the energy ball continuing through the Earth’s crust, into the mantel and beyond the molten lava deep into the core of the Earth, to the power source at the very center. Take your time getting your energy ball to reach the center, it is important to allow enough time to really complete the visualization. Once your energy ball has reached the center then gradually begin to inhale through the nose. Start slowly and feel the energy rising up from the Earth, through you’re your feet, into your body and ultimately back into the pineal. It is best to repeat this exercise at least three times.
There are no restrictions on where one can meditate because it is possible to do it at home or at work. At first a quiet environment may be necessary, but with practice it can be done anywhere. Meditation knows no age bar and people of all ages and ranks can reap the benefits of meditation through regular practice. Today, meditation is a worldwide phenomenon that is essential for us to survive the rigors of this fast paced world.
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Exercise of the Month
Exercise Description: Front Arm Raises
Target Muscle: Front Deltoid (Front Shoulder)
Instructions:
Begin the exercise by sitting down on a chair or bench. Make sure you are sitting up tall and straight. Slightly bend your elbows and let them rest at your sides. Keeping the elbows slightly bent, raise the arms straight up directly in front of you until hands reach shoulder level. **Going any farther than shoulder level could put unnecessary strain on the shoulder socket if it is not strong enough to bear the resistance.
Motivational Article
What’s Stopping You From Achieving Your Goals?
By: Roseanna Leaton
I was walking through the airport today and caught a glimpse of a great advert which showed a picture of Tiger shielding his eyes from a dazzling sun as he peered down the fairway. The caption I think related to the difficulty of making a plan of action if you couldn’t see what lay ahead; I have to say that I am really very uncertain as to what the advert really said or indeed the product which was being "sold" as I was not applying my full attention to it.
The fact that this advert now springs into my mind is a wonderful demonstration of how subliminally advertising works. Our minds perform the most complex activities frequently without us even being aware of what they are even doing from one moment to the next. Our minds perceive so very many things which we encounter and we pay attention to only a very small percentage. And when we do pay attention we may not even see things as they really are.
The perceptions we make via our senses are scanned and sorted and filed into the various compartments of our minds depending upon how we make sense of those perceptions. Only yesterday I was aware of creating an erroneous pattern match in the split second that I "saw" a dog out of the corner of my eye and thought to myself "gosh, that dog is so obedient". It was that very thought (assumption) which made me look more closely and realize that it was in fact a statue and not a real live dog. I laughed at myself whilst my partner wondered aloud how many times we made erroneous assumptions based upon this type of pattern match. An intriguing thought which few of us take time to contemplate.
We tend to think that what we think is "real"; we think that our view is "solid reality". The truth is not quite as clear cut; our reality is only real because we make it so in the way in which we choose to think about it. Even then, we are often not aware of choosing how we think and it is more an automatic focus which just happens based upon subconscious expectations.
It is this type of subconscious expectation which is the main barrier to achieving ones goals. Reverting to the advert with Tiger, what I think it was getting at was the fact that one has to be able to clearly see ones goals in your mind’s eye to enable the human mind to find a way in which to get there. If you cannot clearly see what you want then your mind will have no idea in what direction to strive. The thing which is most frequently the culprit in stopping a person on their way to achievement is the inability to see their end result, an inability to see a way forwards.
It is in fact your subconscious mind which needs to be tapped into. This is the driving force in your life which acts without you having to think logically and consciously; it thinks for you, if you see what I mean. But this implies that your subconscious mind does require a certain amount of programming so that it sets off in the right direction. You really don’t want to end up with a statue when you were seeking a real live dog complete with wet nose and wagging tail, do you?! I am reminded of a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson - "Most of the shadows of this life are caused by our standing in our own sunshine". If you don’t want to stand in your own sunshine then you will need to get your subconscious mind on side. The easiest way in which to do this is to learn to use hypnosis.
Hypnosis is a natural state of mind which you pass through each night as you go to sleep. As you relax in hypnosis you have access to your subconscious mind which as I said earlier is the part of the mind which acts automatically and spontaneously; it is the part of your mind which acts instinctively and automatically. With hypnosis your mind really can be pre-programmed for success. You can use hypnosis mp3s whilst in the comfort of your own home and train your brain to really see the goals that you desire. You can learn with the help of hypnosis to really imagine your goals coming to fruition.
We humans should pay homage to the power of our subconscious and creative minds because it is what we imagine that we end up creating. As Michelangelo said "I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free." With the help of hypnosis you will more clearly see your angel and then your subconscious mind will find a way in which to set him free.
With a degree in psychology and qualifications in hypnotherapy, NLP and sports psychology, Roseanna Leaton is a practitioner of self-improvement. You can get a free hypnosis download from http://www.RoseannaLeaton.com and learn how to set powerful goals and achieve success.
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Article Source: http://www.ArticleBiz.com
Search online for values in the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference.
