The Meditation Challenge

I'm taking place in the 21 Day Meditation Challenge with Deepak Chopra, which begins today.  I meditate frequently and use a variety of meditation methods and I'm participating in the challenge to increase and enhance my current practice.

Here is an example of a meditation session with Deepak Chopra:



If you are interested in joining the meditation challenge, click here.

Cleaning as Meditation: How to Transform Your Chores

Rules for Mindful Housekeeping

Elisha Goldstein, coauthor of "A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook," tells us how to make peace with cleaning.

1. Imagine you're doing this chore for the first time. In your mind, it's just a sinkful of dirty dishes. Look for the bubbles instead.

2. Use your five senses, focusing on one at a time. Appreciate the warmth of the water, the scent of the lemon cleanser.

3. Consider it a neural workout. Incorporating mindfulness-based techniques into everyday life can make you calmer and your brain more adaptive.

4. Don't think of housework as punishment. Goldstein says, "You're cultivating kindness toward yourself."




These are additional excerpts to ponder from this article.  Click here to read the entire article: WholeLiving.com. 


What if I Could Slow Down?

I'm thinking of that Zen proverb: "Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water." The idea is that we should find meaning in ordinary tasks, because true clarity is fleeting enough -- and when it's over, somebody still has to clean the crisper.

Cleaning Out Your Soul

"When your physical surroundings are cluttered, your emotional and spiritual self is cluttered. If your space is clean, then your mind is open and you can let God in."

Work as Prayer

For the Benedictines, work and prayer are one and the same. "I think one of the reasons the order is still here after 1,500 years is that no one is excused from kitchen duty," Norris says. "They try to honor work as part of just being human." She tells me about one young novice she met who made a meditative practice out of running the commercial cleaner, again and again, in circles over the hallway's hardwood floors.

On a More Earthly Plane...

Floor cleaning is the therapy of choice for Alexis Stewart, Martha's daughter and cohost of "Whatever" on Martha Stewart Living Radio. "You don't have to do it," she says. "But the result is fun. I never liked cleaning out the chicken coop when I was a kid, but I sure liked the result." (I bet her crisper is spotless.)

This is the kind of old-fashioned pragmatism that women adopted in the days when we were better at wringing meaning out of chores. Take"The American Woman's Home,"written in 1869 by Harriet Beecher Stowe and her sister Catharine E. Beecher. It's a complete compendium of how a woman should manage her household's physical and spiritual ecosystem, from prayers to healthy beverages, dusting to moral foundations. There are three chapters on how to ventilate the house: Homemaking is not about managing the moisture emitted by your furnace; it's about putting the very air in your family's lungs.

The Magic Soap

"When we expect things to be more than they are, or when we value them as less than they are, that keeps us at arm's length from our own life," Miller says. "We think we're supposed to follow our bliss, but when we're really present in every moment, even when we're vacuuming, we can begin to chip away at the feeling of inadequacy. And little by little, our lives are transformed." 

Miller thinks the way we work can tell us something about who we are -- the way we tenderly fold our children's clean pajamas or rage over our husband's towels in dank trails on the floor -- and so it is a spiritual practice of sorts. Plus, "the rituals of daily work just enfold your day in dignity. They make life tasty." Uh-huh........

"Well, here's the magic soap," she says. "Your own attention is what spiritualizes things. Attention to the meal you cook, the clothes you wash. Attention is love. And that's transformative."

My Life as a Bathroom Sink

Kathleen Norris was right about life as repetition. Am I the only person who keeps having the same disagreements, the same gripes, the same bad habits? I was in that slough of despond where it wasn't the bathroom sink but my life that was covered in toothpaste sludge and someone else's beard hair. I set out to clean the thing with attention and enfold my day in dignity.

At first all I noticed was the usual simmering irritation. Then I saw the thin layer of funk on my drain (not much dignity there). But as I worked the cloth around the spigots -- focusing on the doing, not the getting done -- it started to feel pleasantly personal, like giving someone a bath. Not the newborn Buddha, but some cranky elderly relative. Because the sink had been entrusted to me, and because it deserved to be clean, and because I was the one to do it. I scrubbed at that film of filth on the drain, which I'd never noticed all the times I'd spit into it, and there actually was a shiny circle underneath.

Making Things New

The cleaning seemed different when I wasn't doing it for the guy with the clipboard anymore. That guy had been me anyway. In some way, I was starting over again. What was that quote from the Bible that my mother kept on our spotless refrigerator? Behold, I make all things new.

I'll never love it, but I can say this: Cleaning changes things. So much in life is uncertain -- you take vitamins and get sick, love people who disappoint you, pour your heart into a job and lose it at the end of the fiscal year. But if you take a rag to a piece of soap scum, it will go away. From that point of view -- the pure continuum of cause and effect -- cleaning stops seeming futile. It starts to look like the only thing worth doing.

The Calming Collection

The Calming Collection

By Roberta Shapiro

5 Meditations for a New Year

1. Think about what you're thinking about.  

Take 3 deep breaths and give your full attention to your thoughts.

2. Recharge each day.  

Ideas: Take a brisk walk, read a chapter in a new novel, add your favorite fragrance to your bath.

3. Pick 3 new practices to try.  

Ideas: Try a new food, listen to a new genre of music, try a new yoga pose.

4. Pamper yourself. 

Everyday is a special occasion. Make yourself a priority and do something you enjoy.

5. Find Balance. 

Eliminate your clutter. Ideas: Clean 1 drawer in your home, unsubscribe from unnecessary emails, evaluate your relationships and choose the ones that empower, uplift and support you. 

Give Thanks

Gratitude. Unlike eating leafy greens or practicing yoga, it’s not something we usually consider “good for us.” Yet a recent study by psychologists at the University of California-Davis and the University of Miami shows that giving thanks is indeed beneficial for our psychological well-being.

Conducting “gratitude interventions” with such varied groups as college students and adults with neuromuscular disease, researchers Robert A. Emmons and Michael E. McCullough found that individuals practicing gratitude on a regular (daily or weekly) basis displayed a more positive general outlook, greater optimism, and less stress and depression. Other benefits found were higher levels of alertness, energy, enthusiasm, and determination as well as a greater likelihood of being generous, empathetic, and aware of one’s interconnectedness with others.

Though we may say “thanks” countless times each day, really practicing gratitude requires reflection and open-hearted sincerity. Mark Nasralla, former ayurvedic clinician and current therapist manager at The Crossings in Austin, Texas, notes, “Being grateful intellectually isn’t enough. Gratitude is an emotional, psychosomatic experience. You feel grateful, so you have to put your attention inward and seek out the source of that feeling.”

Similarly, the subjects in the study were not merely thanking others in passing, they were actively engaged in contemplating what and whom they were thankful for by making lists, participating in self-guided exercises, and keeping journals. Not surprisingly, Emmons and McCullough found that the religious and spiritual were more apt at cultivating gratitude, often through the practices of prayer and meditation. But becoming more grateful doesn’t require joining a church, it can be as basic as counting your blessings before bed—a practice anyone can do.

“The simplest way to become more grateful,” Nasralla explains, “is to make lists, every day. This allows you to revisit all the things you are thankful for. As you continue, gratitude becomes a habit.” Not a list-maker? Prayer or a moment of silence before a meal is one way of honoring the food and the person who prepared it. In his book Bless This Food (New World Library, 2007), author Adrian Butash has compiled 160 mealtime blessings from cultures and religions throughout the world, making it easy and educational to say grace. Finally, if you meditate, incorporate gratitude into each session by visualizing one person, place, or thing you truly appreciate.

The more you practice gratitude, the easier it becomes. “It follows the law of attraction—like attracts like,” says Nasralla. “What you [focus] your attention on grows stronger.” To bring more thankfulness into your daily experience, Nasralla offers three steps. One, have a clear intention. Two, take action by meditating, journaling, or speaking. And finally, consciously look for opportunities to feel gratitude during small, everyday events.

Though there is no magic spell to keep stress, troubles, and the bumps of life from happening, there is evidence that bolstering feelings of gratitude can change the way you experience those events. By helping you navigate life’s storms with greater ease, more general happiness, and a brighter sense of optimism, giving thanks can become something to be thankful for.

This post was written by Tanya M. Williams for HealingLifestyles.com.

How to Meditate for Beginners

6 steps to getting started with meditation

Meditation is one of the most effective ways to take a break from the distractions of daily life and calm your mind. If you're new to meditation, the following steps can help get you started on the road to a quieter mind and a refreshed spirit.

Step 1: Gather meditation supplies

To start, figure out if it's more comfortable for you to sit still on a cushion, the floor, a mat or a chair. Some people use multiple cushions, while others find that it's most comfortable to meditate while sitting on a chair.

Another helpful item for beginners is a meditation timer so you can forget about time and just focus on meditation.

And, lastly, many who meditate find that a focal to help draw their attention away from the outside world to be very useful. 

Step 2: Block off time for your meditation practice

Start by making a commitment of 10-20 minutes at about the same time every day. If you’re a morning person, starting the day by quieting your mind might work best for you. For others, evening is better. Whatever time works for you is the right time.

Step 3: Create a meditation space

Find a space that’s uncluttered and private, away from outside noise — a room or just a corner — it doesn’t matter, as long as it’s quiet during your meditation session.

Step 4: Settle down in a posture

Whether you sit cross-legged on your cushions, kneel or sit in a chair, make sure the meditation position you settle into is free of pain and strain, and that you feel relaxed, balanced and connected to the Earth.

Step 5: Focus on your breathing

Once your body is relaxed, begin to focus in on your breathing. You can count breaths, or simply become conscious of your breathing. The goal is not to think about your breath but to quiet your mind and become aware of it. If you find that focusing on your breathing is tedious, try repeating a mantra, a word or phrase that means something to you, slowly and steadily in a soft, easy rhythm.

Step 6: Let thoughts flow through

The goal of meditation is to quiet the mind, but that’s often easier said than done. If thoughts creep into your session, don’t panic. Let them come, acknowledge them, then let them go. Imagine you’re sitting by a lovely stream, and, when you have a thought, place it into a tiny boat and send it floating away.

This post was written by E.C. LaMeaux for blog.gaiam.com.

10-Minute Meditations to Beat the Stress

We all know stress is bad for our health. And whether it's the news headlines, the morning school-prep rush, that looming deadline at work, or discovering an empty refrigerator at 6pm, working moms often have more than the average number of stress triggers. But what can we do about it? Especially if we don't have time for hour-long yoga classes, long candle-lit baths, or weekends at the spa - some of the usual stress-management recommendations? Current medical research is very clear—techniques that fall into the category of 'mindfulness-based stress-reduction' (MBSR) are the most effective. These are techniques that reverse our body’s stress response, and instead trigger its natural relaxation response. When we are stressed, levels of certain chemicals such as adrenaline and cortisol elevate in our blood, we take shorter breaths, and our muscles tense. When we are relaxed, the opposite occurs. The value of MBSR techniques is that they can halt the momentum of our body’s physiological response to stress, and elicit some or all of its relaxation response. So what exactly is MBSR? Meditation. Not the sit-and-gaze-at-your-navel kind of meditation, but the take-a-moment-to-breathe kind—in short, the kind any of us can do, anywhere. Below are ten brief MBSR techniques you can do, for just a minute at a time, to help stop your stress response in its tracks. 1. Belly Breathing: Place your hands over your belly, and take 5-10 deep breaths, taking special care to expand your belly with each inhalation instead of your chest. This forces your diaphragm down, allowing your lungs to take in more air - a powerful method for immediately calming your body. 2. Progressive Muscle Relaxation: Close your eyes and focus your attention on your facial muscles. Take a deep breath, and as you exhale, imagine all these muscles relaxing. Then move your attention down to your neck and shoulder muscles, take another breath, and imagine the tension releasing from that area. Continue scanning down your entire body, breath by breath. In addition to being a stress-buster, this particular technique is excellent for helping you fall asleep quickly after a busy day. 3. Visualization Vacation: Visualizing a soothing scene is a great way to halt the stress response, and using a memory of an actual scene from your past is particularly effective, because many of the neurotransmitters triggered during the original experience are also triggered when you remember it in detail. Pick a favorite vacation moment – sitting on a beach at sunset, for example – and try and reconstruct what you saw, heard, smelled, and felt. 4. Favorite Word: Word repetition is another great MBSR technique. Simply pick a word that represents the opposite of whatever difficult emotion is related to your stress. Feeling angry? Try ‘peace’. Depressed? Try ‘joy’. Discouraged? Try ‘optimistic’. Just repeat your word to yourself 10-20 times under your breathe. 5. Heat of the Sun: Nature has a soothing effect, but you probably can’t wander a forest or the beach in the middle of your workday. Instead, try stepping outside for just a minute, and focus your attention on the feeling of the sun as it hits some part of your body. Imagine the heat of the sun melting away your tension. 6. Breeze of Insight: Another effective natural element you can focus on during brief excursions outdoors is the wind, or breeze. Face away from it for a moment and imagine it is blowing away your stress. Then face into it, and imagine it is blowing in relaxation. 7. Take a Hike: Walking meditations are particularly effective, because the movement helps take the edge of the restless feeling that often accompanies tension. A quick walk around the parking lot at work, or even down the hall, can help, if you make an effort to shift your mind away from the source of your stress. Try paying special attention to each of your senses in turn – note everything you see in great detail, and then everything you hear, then smell, and so on. 8. Find the Love: Sometimes just reminding yourself of your emotional support structure can help calm your nerves. Close your eyes and visualize someone dear to you (children are great) in an affectionate moment. Hold that thought as you take a few deep breaths. 9. Gratitude: Another emotional shifter is gratitude. In the midst of a crises, taking a few moments out to remind yourself of all the good elements in your life can help you re-center. Make a mental list of all the people, things, and experiences you are grateful for. 10. Self-Distancing: A little more abstract, this technique is often used in anger management programs. When you start to feel angry, take a moment and mentally ask the question ‘Who is it that is feeling angry?’ The idea is to begin to separate yourself from your own angry emotion, strengthening your self-awareness and impulse control. Over time, you can refine your ability to choose which emotions you want to draw upon, and which you want to let recede. Regardless of what technique you choose, the important thing is not to turn your stress-busters into stress-creators! In other words, don’t judge your efforts, and don’t get caught up in trying to find the perfect setting or time. Bathrooms stalls, parked cars, or even your office chair, are all you need to practice most of these techniques. Just set aside one minute, pick your method, and let yourself relax. 

This post was written by Lisa Erickson for WorkingMother.com.

How to De-Stress in 1 Minute

Picture this: Sixty seconds of inner quiet. Of not trying to multi-task a thousand responsibilities. Of not projecting yourself into the future. Sixty seconds of listening instead of talking — or lovingly wrapping a gift rather than Grinching your way through the chore.

Believe it or not, a focused 60-second meditation stops the forward momentum of anxiety and nervousness that's so pervasive in our world. And anybody, regardless of schedule, can do it with some practice. "Take just a moment of quiet — even one brief minute of serenity is powerful," says busy mom, leadership trainer, personal development coach and spiritual counselor Dawn Groves, author of Meditation for Busy People. "You don't have to set aside a whole day for meditation," she adds. "Instead, grab what's fresh and useful from a short meditative break, and take that calm into the continuing action of your life."

Are You Too Busy?
The speed of our culture has trained us to multi-task, juggling many activities in hopes that we're being efficient.

"Busy people tend to worry about tomorrow rather than being in the here and now," says Groves. "As a result, they lose the color and freshness of life. Good things like eating a juicy apple or hearing a great piece of music happen in the moment, not tomorrow. If we're always projecting, we miss the joy of present time."

Busy-ness also induces stress and makes it hard to effectively communicate with others because you're not focused on the moment. Fortunately, meditation is a natural antidote for a busy lifestyle since it:

• Retrains you to live in the present.
• Gives you the focus to concentrate on one thing at a time.
• Helps you deal with immediate, concrete problems rather than being distracted by nebulous worries.
• Teaches you to slow down and cope with the non-specific anxiety that plagues most of us.
• Helps you respond more creatively to pressures that usually elicit habitual, knee-jerk reactions.
• Trains you to be comfortable with a quieter, more serene mind.

You can enjoy an oasis of peacefulness even in the midst of the busiest schedule. "We think meditation has to be hard or take a long time to achieve to make a difference in our lives," says Groves. "It's the 'feel the burn' mentality, but it's not applicable here." Instead, a moment or two of stillness helps clear your thoughts before a difficult phone call, calm you before a presentation, or maintain your equilibrium before facing hordes of Christmas shoppers.

"If you open yourself to a new way of viewing life, even for 60 seconds, you've made an enormously powerful start," Groves notes. First, in order to achieve a moment of serenity from the whirlwind, practice some meditation basics such as focusing on your breath.

Three Steps to Nirvana
Once you've been able to take 60-second calming meditations on a relatively regular basis, try Groves' three-step Meditation for Busy People. She recommends spending three or four minutes on each step. But if you're new to meditation or find it hard to relax, try meditating in tiny increments — two or three minutes total — and gradually increase the time you practice.

1. Relax: Slowly scan your body, releasing muscle groups one at a time. After a week or so, this process becomes easier as your body remembers how to relax automatically. Once that happens, you're ready to practice it in a 60-second scenario. Just take a couple of deep breaths and your body will unwind within seconds.

2. Center: Focus your attention completely on each inhalation and exhalation. If your thoughts wanders, bring them back to the breath. This mindfulness will calm you and bring you into the present moment.

3. Release: During this meditation wrap-up, return to waking consciousness by gradually coming back into awareness of your body and surroundings. Take a deep breath and wiggle your fingers and toes. Acknowledge yourself for taking time out and consider what you've accomplished with the experience. Now you're ready to continue your day with fresh insight.

Regardless of duration, Groves suggests you follow a structure such as the above to stay focused.

The Power of Being in the Moment
Commit yourself to this practice for at least a month, then continue from there, says Groves. "Meditate for 10 minutes a day, even if you have to shut yourself into the bathroom to do it," she urges. "Learning to meditate is like developing any new skill like playing the piano or learning how to skate. There's a clumsy, awkward growth stage when you have to be patient with yourself. Remember, you have to go slowly to achieve change." Stick with the 10- to 20-minute meditations, she promises, and you'll soon be ready to do effective 60-second meditations following the same three steps - calming, watching the breath, and releasing - whenever stress rears its head.

Finally, give meditation a chance. You may not feel results immediately, but as you practice it more, you'll notice that you're not as caught up in daily dramas and you're able to step back from stressful situations and see your path more clearly. Perhaps you'll cultivate patience when you're stuck in traffic, or you'll find the resources to creatively redirect your kids' energies when they're quarreling.

"Through meditation, we develop appreciation for the process of living, not just the end result. It's the getting there that counts - the actual practice itself," Groves emphasizes. "The decision that you're going to take time every day to meditate builds character and the skills that enhance your life."

This post, written by Laura Kallenbach, was taken from blog.gaiam.com.

Meditation for Healing

5 Simple meditation steps and tips for beginners


People struggling with chronic pain or other medical conditions can use healing meditation to feel better in body and spirit. Some report dramatic results from healing meditation, while others simply appreciate the reduction in stress that comes from sitting quietly and focusing the mind. Healing meditation often incorporates visualization techniques.

What to expect

While meditation hasn't been proven to cure specific ailments, patients report that it can be helpful when used alongside more conventional treatments. Meditation can help reduce anxiety, for one thing, which can potentially cause positive changes in your body. It's important to be open to the process and have faith that it will help, but be willing to give it time.

Guided meditation techniques

Guided imagery, in which you create mental pictures in response to another person's instructions, is commonly used for healing meditation. For example, if you have cancer, you might be asked to vividly picture your white blood cells fighting and winning against the cancer cells, and purging the bad cells from your body.

Personal healing images

You can use a healing meditation CD, or you can develop your own powerful healing images. For example, you might visualize your immune system as a train chugging steadily up a hill. Try to meditate on your chosen image often, at least once a day. You can also turn to it whenever you need a mental boost.

Preparing for healing meditation

When learning how to meditate, beginners often have trouble finding the best posture for meditation. Don't be afraid to experiment — there's no "right" way to meditate. Prepare to meditate by finding a quiet room without disruptions and take the following steps:

• Turn off your phone and any other gadgets.

• Dim the lights.

• Sit in a straight-backed chair with your head forward, knees bent at a right angle and your hands on your thighs. You can also sit with your legs crossed or, if you're flexible, pretzel your legs into a lotus position. If sitting isn't comfortable, lie on the floor (it's too easy to fall asleep on a bed).

• You can chant a mantra to yourself, such as " Om Mani Padme Hum," a Tibetan healing mantra, or use a simple word like "calm," "one" or "om."

• Close your eyes, or try staring at a focal point.

The best advice for beginners just learning about meditation is to start simple. Quieting your mind for long periods is more difficult than it looks, so just carve out 10 to 20 minutes a day at first. All you'll need is a quiet space where you won't be disturbed.

Benefits of meditation

Regular meditation can help relieve stress, improve your ability to focus and lead to a better understanding of your own thought patterns and processes. Some people use meditation to enhance creativity, reduce chronic pain, treat headaches and even improve athletic performance.

Focus

Although most people meditate with closed eyes, many beginners find it useful to have a point of focus, such as a candle. Concentrating on the flame can make it easier to clear your mind.

When learning how to meditate, beginners tend to get frustrated by the persistence of outside thoughts — all the anxieties, to-do lists and random memories that parade constantly through the brain. Instead of fighting them off, simply observe them as they enter your mind and let them pass. Repeating a mantra to yourself is another good way to maintain your focus.

Meditation techniques for beginners

Breathing meditation and relaxation meditation methods are especially good for people first learning to meditate. With breathing meditation, you simply breathe deeply from your abdomen, focusing all your attention on your breath, inhaling slowly through your nose and exhaling through your mouth.

Relaxation meditation involves consciously visualizing the release of tension from your body, beginning at the head and moving slowly down to the toes.

Meditate in action

"Walking meditation" is another useful way for beginners to learn how to meditate. The key is to concentrate fully on each deliberate step, paying attention only to the present moment. Focus on the rhythmic motion of your legs and the feel of the ground under your feet. Other active forms of meditation include tai chi and qigong (both traditional Chinese movement therapies) and yoga.

Combine meditation With lifestyle choices

A healthy diet, regular exercise and good sleep all enhance the positive effects of meditating. Spending time in nature, getting out in the sunshine, spending time with loved ones and trying to maintain a good attitude should also improve your results.

This post was written by Kate Clark for blog.gaiam.com.

How to Focus Your Spiritual Energy

5 Steps to Enhance Your Spirituality


You’ve probably heard it said that we only use 10 percent of our brains, but even though our mental power is important, there’s something that lies dormant in all of us that’s even more powerful than our brains — spiritual energy. And just like our brainpower, we often don’t use our spiritual energy, according to the Spiritual Science Research Foundation. However, by following a few simple steps, you too can learn to focus your spiritual energy, to practice spiritual energy healing and spiritual therapy, as well as live a full, holistic life.

Step 1: Learn to meditate

According to Infuze Magazine, meditating is the easiest way to get in touch with your spiritual side. However, it is important that you learn to meditate correctly. Take a few classes or join a meditation group to keep yourself committed.

Step 2: Pray

Most religions put great stock in prayer. Prayer is the speaking part of the communication with a greater being, and meditation is when you listen. According to Infuze Magazine, you should pray about the spiritual directions you should take. Also, pray that you will learn how to tap into your spiritual energy and focus it in the right direction.

Step 3: Take care of yourself

Your spiritual energy is just that — yours. But so many women try to spread themselves too thin, caring for everyone but themselves. When you take time for you, you can concentrate more on your own spiritual health.

Step 4: Cut out the negativity

When you’re dwelling too much on the negative, you can block out things that are positive, like your spiritual energy. Also, when your faith is poor or wavering, you won’t be able to perform a spiritual energy healing or spiritual therapy. This can also be true when you are in need of energy balancing. Infuze Magazine suggests getting support from positive friends and refusing to let yourself worry. You should also make every attempt to lead a balanced, healthy lifestyle.

Step 5: Get support

If you’re really having trouble focusing your spiritual energy, consult a person who can offer you guidance, like your spiritual adviser, pastor, rabbi, guru, or priest, or consider joining a spiritual energy or faith group.

Tips and warnings

When you meditate, try focusing on your spiritual energy. Repeat a mantra that reflects how you would like your spiritual life to look. Don’t get discouraged. Like our physical and mental health, our spiritual health is difficult to maintain. With hard work and proper care, you can focus your spiritual energy.

This post was written by E.C. LaMeaux for blog.gaiam.com.

How To: Simple Meditation for Beginners

This meditation exercise is an excellent introduction to meditation techniques.

1. Sit or lie comfortably.

2. Close your eyes.

3. Make no effort to control the breath; simply breathe naturally.

4. Focus your attention on the breath and on how the body moves with each inhalation and exhalation. Notice the movement of your body as you breathe. Observe your chest, shoulders, rib cage and belly. Make no effort to control your breath; simply focus your attention. If your mind wanders, simply return your focus back to your breath. Maintain this meditation practice for 2–3 minutes to start, and then try it for longer periods.

This post is an excerpt from Meditation 101: Techniques, Benefits & Beginner’s How-to taken from blog.gaiam.com.

Why Meditate?

Buddhists, yogis and ayurvedic doctors have said for centuries that meditation improves health and well-being. Now scientists are trying to prove it.

Several clinical studies have documented specific ways that meditating may help people stay healthier, sharpen mental focus and gain more power over their emotions. Some studies even show that the brain of someone who meditates may be physically different from the next guy’s.

Scientists say it’s a very new field of study. But their findings to date offer compelling confirmation to the more than 20 million Americans who meditate — and tell skeptics that those who are getting on the cushion every day might be onto something.

Can meditation make you happier?

When emotions wreak havoc, it helps to “get it out” — ranting to a therapist, friend or spouse, or writing about your feelings in a journal. Sitting down on a cushion to meditate is seemingly the polar opposite of this catharsis. But could it be that the two approaches are helpful for similar reasons?

Talking or writing about your feelings forces you to call them something. And one technique taught in mindfulness meditation is naming your emotions. It’s part of noticing and detaching from those emotions vs. letting them hijack your bliss. Meditation instructor Dianna Dunbar calls it “the mindfulness wedge.” It’s about “helping people develop that pause button,” she says, so they can observe emotions from the outside.

Can meditation make you healthier?

Thirty-seven-year-old mom Nikki Ragonese has meditated for six years as one way to cope with painful degenerative osteoarthritis. Meditation, she says, makes it easier to accept her pain and the difficult emotions it fuels.

“Often when you feel something, you don’t acknowledge it,” Ragonese says. “And by avoiding that feeling, you perpetuate greater pain. Meditation helps me realize that I create my own feelings. If I’m in a state of frustration and I stop and observe it, I realize there’s another way to deal with the pain.”

Ragonese’s mindfulness meditation instructor in Boulder, Colo., therapist Dianna Dunbar, agrees. “I’ve seen patients who gain a greater sense of awareness of their pain become nonjudgmental observers of their pain,” she says. “They are less irritable, and more able to calm down and relax.”

Science is starting to churn out more evidence echoing Ragonese and Dunbar’s experience, showing signs that mindfulness meditation can help ease symptoms of conditions including psoriasis and hypertension as well as chronic pain.

Meditating also slows breathing rate, blood pressure and heart rate, and there’s some evidence that meditation may aid treatment of anxiety, depression, high blood pressure and a range of other ailments.

This blog post was taken from blog.gaiam.com.  It's entitled Why Meditate? Science Finds Clues by Rachel Brand.

Meditation

Meditation is the self-guided practice of relaxing the body, calming the mind, and tuning into the spirit.  Meditation decreases anxiety, depression, and pain, while increasing balance and overall health and wellness.