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Meditation Information.... from Heart-Links.com |
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BreathingBreathe in through your nose and draw your breath down into the area just below your navel, allowing your stomach to expand as you breathe (Baby Breath) and filling your lungs entirely with each breath before exhaling through your nose. Breathing is the most important part of meditation and Kundalini Awakening. From our birth until death we breathe more or less continually, yet for the most part we do it without any awareness of our breath and its effects on us, and believe it or not most people in the western world do it wrong! Take a moment right now and feel your breath. Pay attention to the air as it flows in through your nostrils and down into your lungs. Don't think about anything or do anything other than just breathe. 1. Are you taking a relatively shallow breath and just filling the upper lobes of your lungs? 2. Does your stomach move out as you breathe? 3. Do you feel the bones of your ribcage expanding and opening with each breath? For most people the answer to 1 is YES and the answers to 2 and 3 are NO so lets expand this exercise a bit. Draw your breath down to a point about 2 inches below your navel (the body's center of gravity). When you do this you'll feel your stomach expand and push out in front of you. Most westerners usually keep their stomach pulled in and their chest out, so if you do this you'll have to relax your abdomen. Just take a moment and be aware of your breath as it flows down into your center. Now as you inhale and draw your breath down, also let your ribcage expand. You'll feel your floating ribs at the bottom of your ribcage spread and move, and you may get a few pops out of your spine also. Now just take a few moments and breathe this way. Don't think or let your mind wander, just breathe. If you've never meditated before then congratulations, you just did! It's exactly that simple. There are many benefits to proper breathing. The extra oxygen in your system means that your heart doesn't have to beat as fast, which lowers your pulse and your blood pressure. Drawing the breath down into your center also helps to massage your internal organs, providing more oxygen to them as well as helping to release the accumulated stresses that build up there. The long term health benefits are immeasurable and have been repeatedly proven for thousands of years. Breathing is by far the most important part of the kundalini awakening exercises, although it sounds so simple. Paying attention to the breath is the beginning of opening up your awareness and it's use in meditation is seen in every culture on the planet. Take some time to practice this, as it's the foundation for everything that comes next. If you have to dedicate your meditation time to breathwork for awhile then that's good, as we all proceed at our own pace. I recently read a translation of some of Jesus' teachings from the original Aramaic (the language he actually spoke, although he apparently wasn't literate) and it was very interesting to me that in Aramaic they used the same word for wind, breath and spirit. Those with a Chi Kung background might find it interesting to take another look at the New Testament and insert the word breath every time you see the word spirit. --- Robert Morgen is a Reiki Master who currently holds a Black Belt in Hoshin Roshi Ryu. He's the founder of the Kundalini Awakening Discussion Group, the Druids Circle Discussion Group and the (offline) Druids Circle in Lakewood, CO. You can find more info on all these at; www.druidscircle.info He's also the founder and Executive Director of the Windhaven Foundation for Sustainable Living. He writes a regular column on subtle energy for Fight Times Magazine and a twice monthly column on Kundalini Awakening at Alumbo.com. In addition to teaching about energy work and Kundalini Awakening he donates time to teach about Renewable Energy, Alternative Building and Creating Sustainable Lifestyles in various Public Schools. He travels and teaches as much as possible and you can find out how to attend one of his Kundalini Awakening seminars at his website at; www.windhavenco.org His new book "Personal Mastery: Develop Your True Inner Power By Awakening Your Kundalini" is now available at http://www.lulu.com/RobertMorgen.
MORE RESOURCES:
Meditation - Google News | | | | RELATED ARTICLES Scientific Research on Transcendental Meditation (TM) Scientific research has shown that the most beneficial meditation technique is Transcendental Meditation (TM). The striking reduction of stress and anxiety caused by TM are 3 times greater than the effect caused by most meditation and relaxation techniques. How To Meditate Without Even Trying I remember when I started trying to meditate. I would sit down, close my eyes, and try to be really calm (my definition of meditation at the time). Meditate to Unlock Your Hidden Potential - Part 1 Meditation is often misunderstood by those who do not practice it. Very often, I hear meditation referred to as, "altered states of consciousness. Yoga Meditation For Pain Relief The purpose of this article is to provide information on methods and techniques on how to cope with pain, or in some instances, possibly even overcoming pain with the use of techniques derived from Yoga meditation.Chronic pain sufferers spend millions of dollars to find ways of relieving their pain. Holosync Meditation - Does It Really Work? Chances are, if you are on a quest for self-improvement, you've already heard of the Holosync Meditation CD's. What It Is: Developed by Bill Harris in the late 1980s, the Holosync Solution is an audio program designed to bring your brain waves to the alpha (and lower)levels automatically just by listening to the cds. Cultivate a Positive Mind-Set Through Meditation You have the ability to create your own mind-set. Whether your attitude is positive or negative, is up to you. Meditation, Self-Acceptance & the Muse Meditation presents an interesting paradox. It requires humility and acceptance, and yet it results in self-empowerment and increased confidence. Active Meditation / Visualization Part OneChoose a nature scene. For instance scenery of mountain, meadow or ocean to picture and imagine during your session. Meditating - Staying Awake Why is staying awake while meditating important? Falling asleep is certainly relaxing, and can be good for you, but to get the full range of benefits from your meditation you need to have your brainwaves in the alpha and theta ranges. When you are asleep, your brainwaves range from theta to delta. Relaxation Magic - Hypnosis, Meditation, Visualization Hypnosis, meditation and visualization are three similar processes for accessing a creative area of the sub-conscious mind. Relaxation Magic lessons use a combination of all three therapies for maximum results. Basic Meditation Exercises (Authors Note: Before reading this you should see my other articles on Breathing and Full Body Awareness)Now that you've begun to develop the ability to move energy around in your body there are some things that you can do with it. The following exercises range from pretty simple to pretty complicated, but as you develop your abilities you'll eventually find that you can do them all at once and effortlessly. Mindfulness and Eating: Divine Desk Dining Are you stuck eating lunch at your desk again?Lucky you.You see, staying put can be surprisingly soothing compared to making a mad dash to the cafe for a sandwich and running back to your office, all the while worried that you'll miss an important call. Body Talk ZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzHow many times have you zoned out in front of the television, only to discover an empty bag/bottle/carton of _______ (substitute your current no-no food) sitting in front of you and you have NO MEMORY of having consumed it, let alone enjoying it?Come on, we've all done it.It's OK - well, actually, it's not OK, but we'll talk about that in a minute. Meditation - What is It Good for Anyway? Meditation is an age old healing and stress relieving modality practiced throughout the world, in virtually all cultures and all religions, although it may go by different names - prayer, visualization, relaxation techniques, and hypnosis; they are all forms of the same practice.Meditation refers to "taking a break" from real life. Do You Want To Relax And Think Clearly? Learning To Be In The MomentImagine thinking clearly, and feeling relaxed at will. Could you get more done? Enjoy life more? Would you like to know how to do that right now? Start by learning how to put yourself more in the moment with a simple mindfulness exercise. Meditation: Time to Stop & Listen As a co-active coach, one of the underlying principles that I subscribe to is that everyone has their own answers within. Most of what I do as a coach is to give people the time, space and permission to find these answers (and sometimes I provide a question or two to get things going). Meditation Is A Dinner Party Try Not To Force Things Too MuchOften, when meditating, we try too hard to force a certain state of mind that we think we should have. We try hard to suppress thoughts, for example. Can Cognitive Fitness Be a Workout for Your Brain? There is growing interest to exercise your brain using something called "cognitive fitness."It's a known fact that exercise and meditation reduce anxiety, ease depression, and give you a general feeling of wellness. Stress: Guilty As Charged How To Defend YourselfDo you ever find yourself feeling overwhelmed? Do you sometimes feel like you just have too much to think about? Does it make you tired, irritable, or even depressed? What can you do about it?People rarely go to the doctor to say "I think I have stress," and yet the National Institutes of Health say that 80% of illnesses are caused by stress, directly or indirectly. Hormones, such as adrenalin, are released into your blood when you're stressed. Quieting the Mind Opening the Heart To put it simply, the act of meditation involves quieting the mind so you can open the heart. That's it in a nutshell. |
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