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7 Reasons to Start Meditating Now

Share photo credit: Joel Bedford I have always wanted to meditate.  I read many self-help books that suggest meditation as part of everyone’s spiritual practice.  However, my attempts to sit still whilst thinking nothing proved to futile.  I could no more get my mind to shut up than I could shepard a herd of cats.  Frustrated with my lack of progress, I stopped.  Until I heard of a new meditation programme that promised I could meditate like a  zen monk Huh?  And how, exactly, was I going to do that?  I couldn’t get my mind to sit still; it was as restless as a four-year old child on a sugar high.  How was I going to achieve that impossible goal? Enter Holosync In late 2008, I found Holosync.  I read and read the website at least seven times before I ordered the free demo.  I was impressed enough with the demo to order the first programme in the Holosync series, Awakening Prologue.  The Holosync programme uses binural beats to slow down the brainwaves to the Alpha levels where, it’s believed, that the mind is in a more resourceful and relaxed state.  Free of the clutter and shatter of the wakening state; aka, the Beta level. And, I’ve got to say, that I am loving it. First of all, my busy bee of a mind can buzz all over the place without me resisting it, and I still feel myself gradually relaxing to the point that I feel my mind let go.  Brilliant!  And wicked, besides! That was about 2 years ago, and I have progressed to the next level, Awakening Level One.  Which is also wonderful! However, I am not writing this post as an endorsement for Holosync.  Because I believe that Holosync is not for everyone.  Any more than any other system of meditation is for everyone. Whether you choose to work in your garden, take walks on the beach, surf in the early morning hours, or just take a walkabout round the neighbourhood.  Meditation takes as many forms as there are people populating the Earth. Please do not feel the need to force yourself to sit in the lotus position for hours while chanting some mantra, if you don’t feel any joy at all doing it.  Meditation is supposed to be restful.  And if you are not feeling relaxed and peaceful then you are practicing a form of meditation that’s not for you.  I encourage you to cease and desist right now, if you like.  Explore and discover other form that might appeal to you more.  Transcendental Meditation, Holosync, Mindfulness meditation, or Japa meditation (a form of mantra-based mediation) are all great starting points. You can even tool about in your garage, fixing things if it quiets your mind and lets you hear the voice of your spirit, intuition, or Inner Authority.  Or whatever you desire to call it. The point is, that meditation has many wellness benefits that are helpful on all levels from the physical to the spiritual. 7 Reasons to Meditate Decreases the negative effects of stress. In a University of Massachusetts study, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D recorded the brain waves of  employees of a Madison, Wisconsin high tech firm.  These employees were highly stressed.  The employees were split randomly into two groups with 25 of them being trained to meditate for eight weeks.  Whilst the other group of 16 were left alone as the control group.  The participants had their brains scanned three time during the experiment; in the beginning of the study, at the eight week mark (the end of the study), and four months after that.  The researchers discovered that the mediators were calmer and happier.  (Psychology Today, April 2003, Colin Allen). Leads to greater physical relaxation. Did you know that when you are in a state of enhanced stress all of the blood in the body tend to flow towards the arms, legs, heart and lungs; whilst a bit less to the digestive system? This is because the body believes there is danger, and you need to run away when in danger. Decreases muscle tension. A reduction in muscle tension means more blood and oxygen flow to the muscles, making them more relaxed.  And creating a happier body experiencing less pain due to muscle tightness.  And when the muscles relax so do the joints, ligaments, and bones. Lowers heart rate. Meditation slows down the brain waves Alpha (the relaxed brain waves) from Beta (the more stress-inducing waves, depending on how high the Beta waves are).  Lower heart rates (in healthy people) can result in less adrenaline and cortisone hormones in the blood stream.  With less of these hormones in the system, you don’t over eat to medicate yourself.  Or run down your immune system.  And a lower heart rate (in healthy people) can be beneficial to the cardiovascular system; for example, an athlete in peak physical condition (such as Lance Armstrong) can have a resting heart rate of 47 beats per minute.  This is helpful because it means that the heart doesn’t have to work so hard to circulate blood, nutrients, and oxygen to the body. Gives your immune system a boost. The immune system get repressed sometimes when we maintain overly stressful states of being for long periods of time.  This sometimes the reason why you might be prone to catch a cold more easily when you are experiencing more stress. Produces beneficial changes in brain activity, harmonising the endocrine and nervous systems. This is because the brain switches over from the busy right frontal cortex to the calmer left frontal cortex resulting in calmer and happier brains and emotional states.  When you are relaxed and calm, your body’s systems tend to work more in harmony than in more stress-inducing states. Increases creativity, focus, and concentration. Have you ever been fixing a car, planting in a garden, walking along the beach or your neighbourhood and noticed all the really wicked ideas that occur to you during these times?  While the mind is occupied consciously doing another activity, your subconscious mind gets a chance to come out, talk to you and play. 10 Minutes Per Day to Increased Creativity, Focus, and Concentration, etc.. As you can see, you don’t have to retreat to a Buddhist monastery and devote 30 years of your life to the solitary pursuit of enlightenment while meditating facing a bare wall.  You can just go to your garden or other sacred place (even if it’s your favourite meditation chair) and reap the benefits of meditation. It only takes about 10 minutes per day to enjoy increased creativity, focus, and concentration.  You’ve got nothing to lose, and everything to gain by taking the first step. Start right where you are.  Go out in the garden.  Go to the beach.  Get out in nature and take a walk.  Let your mind clear.  And I’ll see you right back here to tell me what you got out of meditating. Let me know about your meditating experiences in the comments. Vibelicious comments: Be excellent to each other.  Only kind and respectful comments are welcome. SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "7 Reasons to Start Meditating Now", url: "http://seanstargazer.com/?p=917" });Related Posts:Embracing Your Shadow Selfthe Gift of Anger the Wacky Magickal Power Of Being Yourself5 Creative Things for the New Yearthe Blessing of Uniqueness

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the Gift of Anger

Posted by Sean Stargazer | Posted in Self-Actualisation | Posted on 18-10-2009

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Creative Commons License photo credit: cordeman

In the New Age community, much has been made of the ability to turn negative emotions like anger into more positive emotions.  The point of this exercise is to make us more magnetic to what we really want so we stop attracting and manifesting negative experiences.

I was once a Law of Attraction believer.  I believed if I were to feel only positive feelings and thought positive thoughts then I would avoid all of the chaos and oops situations in my life.  After all, everyone knows if you just avoid negative feelings you will have positive experiences.

All this did for me was create feelings of guilt which led me to try harder to think and feel positive; this led me to feel frustrated which led to more feelings of guilt.  And finally to anger.  It was a never-ending vicious cycle.

Let me tell you a story to illustrate my point.

I have had a strained relationship with my mum since I was a teenager.  We are not close.  The reason being that I had alot of feelings of resentment towards her; anger towards myself for not living up to my high expectations that I could just forgive and then forget the poor choices she made in my childhood that put me and my siblings in danger; all this was done for the sake of her own personal gain.  As I said, I had a wellspring of resentment built up because I spent years denying the fact that I was angry.

Why?

Because I felt like a bad person; I believed that I had no right to be angry with her because she’s my mum.  I guess I thought it was wrong to be angry at your mum.

As long as I denied my anger, and believed I had no right to my feelings; the more resentful I became.  Then one day I met a rather indifferent psychiatrist who told me that feelings aren’t right or wrong, they just are.  Just like that.

It started me thinking.  It wasn’t wrong to feel anger towards my mum at all.  It was wrong to pretend I wasn’t feeling what I was feeling.  Once I admited that, yes, I am angry at her; and, yes I my anger is justified.  I allowed myself the gift of embracing my feelings and healing simultaneously.

The point is this: not all anger is self-destructive.  Sometimes anger is an indicator that can lead to growth and healing.  If you’re willing to face your anger head on, be present with it by admitting it to yourself; then working through it with a therapist or with physical activity like hitting a pillow, screaming, kickboxing or whatever, you may experience a period that feels like a walk through total darkness but you will come out of the dark a more compassionate and whole person.

The world could use more compassionate and whole people.

So…

Are you harbouring any anger within you?  At whom or what?

Now that you have this information, allow yourself to feel the tsunami of emotion completely.  Do what you need to do to make it easier on yourself.  Scream, punch a pillow, go running, for example.  Admit that you’re angry.

Go ahead; I’ll wait.

Okay.  Feel better?

Here’s a little dewdrop of wisdom I’ve learned in my self-actualisation journey: The world won’t end because you’ve gotten upset.  Trust me.  I have gotten angry many times with people and situations, and the world is still here today. I believe you will have a similar experience.

Anger is only toxic or poisonous when it is allowed to fester for too long.  The key is to admit you’re angry,  feel your anger, express it, move it out of you by moving your body.

Is this always easy?  No, it’s can be challenging sometimes.  But when you follow or adapt the journey mentioned, you have an excellent chance of experiencing the healing that its a natural outcome.

Everyone deserves healing.  Don’t you?

What I want you to keep in mind: being angry is okay.  Holding it in or denying it isn’t.  And  anger can  clear the path to wisdom and clarity.  Who couldn’t use more those?

Peace & Healing, fellow travelers!

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  • natabridge
    I agree on this topic, Sean. I remember us talking about it: use ur anger as a rocket fuel by burning it off (letting urself experience it) to take you higher and faster then any artificial calm u force on urself can ever do.
    I've been emracing all my emotions as much as I can. And now that I am in a situation that I have to just be where I dont want to be for another 2 weeks and work with ppl that simply irritate the heck out of me, I am feeling all the side effects of supressing my emotions and keeping fake calm appearance. It hurts my body and make me wanna sleep all the time. So I know what u r talking about. But thanks for reminder, I'll go punch a pillow before I snap and punch a person :)
    Peace,
    NataBridge
  • I understand your challenge, sweetpea. I have the same challenge. The tendency to somatise when you are feeling anger is very high. The price is always high when you repress emotions/feelings that need to be expressed.
    Most people assume that suppressing anger protects others . However, I disagree. All that happens is that the deeply held anger seeps out in insidious ways. For example, you might experience physical symptoms (as you have said you do), or you might find yourself running on low energy and needing to sleep.
    Whatever way emotional suppression expresses itsself, you can bet that you, your body/mind and everyone around you will suffer. Why do this to yourself? Scream, yell, cry if need to. Dance, do karate if need be. Anger is a very physical emotion that needs physical movement to move it out of you before is stagnates inside you and poisons you. Remember, it's not the anger poisoning you. It's the suppression of the anger that is doing the job.
    Your welcome for the reminder. Sometimes we all need to remember every once in a while that it's okay to feel how we feel.

    In every moment, we always have a choice. And I chose to feel my feelings, release them, or use them as rocket fuel to propel towards my intentions. After all, feeling isn't wrong, but supressing your feelings is definitely not to the benefit of anyone including you.
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