Jay Michaelson, Reality Sandwich Waking Times It’s a not-so-dirty little secret that most of today’s leading meditation teachers were interested in drugs. By “drugs,” of course, I don’t mean alcohol or Oxycontin, but rather that subset of chemicals which our society has deemed unfit for human consumption, including cannabis, psilocybin, MDMA, and others. Many of today’s …
David Wilder, Reality Sandwich Waking Times The effects gained from meditation continue to affect brain function for a long time after meditation is over, according to new research. “This is the first time meditation training has been shown to affect emotional processing in the brain outside of a meditative state,” said Gaelle Desbordes, Ph.D., a research fellow …
No longer do the Eastern practices of yoga, tai chi and meditation remain esoteric mysteries to us Westerners.
Josh Richardson, Prevent Disease Waking Times The qualities the world desperately needs more of, namely love, kindness and compassion, are indeed teachable. Scientists have mostly focused on the benefits of meditation for the brain and the body, but a recent study by Northeastern University’s David DeSteno, published in Psychological Science, takes a look at what impacts …
Dr. Sunil Sharma, Guest Writer Waking Times Meditation is often associated with either relaxation or spirituality. It can be either a relaxation technique or a spiritual practice – both of these are just specific applications of meditation. Meditation is a method of changing your state of consciousness. Many texts commonly refer to the three ‘normal’ …
Peter Russell, Spirit of Now Waking Times You may be surprised to hear that meditation should be effortless, that no striving or concentration is needed. I know I was. When I first became interested in meditation, back in the mid-sixties, I was repeatedly told that it took great mental discipline and many years of practice. …
Chopra Wellbeing Waking Times In the past forty years, meditation has entered the mainstream of modern Western culture, prescribed by physicians and practiced by everyone from business executives, artists, and scientists to students, teachers, military personnel, and – on a promising note – politicians. Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan meditates every morning and has become a …
Daikan Basho, Contributing Writer Waking Times Many thought leaders of our time inspire us to meditate regularly in order to reach great depths of inner peace and grow our understanding of the nature of our mind and humanity. More and more ordinary people are beginning to meditate these days, exploring how meditation impacts their lives. With …
Waking Times The following meditation is a powerful tool for resetting your day to day priorities and is best done on a regular basis. It is an opportunity to dig deeply into all the areas of life where gratitude can be found, acknowledging and savoring each one in order to bring your heart and your …
Jamila Gorman, Guest Writer Waking Times The benefits of meditation are many, and we are learning new ones everyday. In general, meditation lowers stress levels, anxiety, and risk of depression. It improves our ability to concentrate and helps stabilize our moods. It even helps us sleep better. Meditation helps us have better lives and sharper …
David James Lees, Guest Writer Waking Times Pronounced ‘Chee Gong’, Chinese is difficult to translate directly into English so Qi roughly translated means air, breath of life or vital essence. I prefer life force, vibration or energy. Gong means work, self-discipline, achievement cultivation or mastery. Qigong is a discipline whose practice allows us to gain …
Osho With me, happiness comes first, joy comes first. Many people come to me and they say they are unhappy, and they want me to give them some meditation. I say: First, the basic thing is to understand why you are unhappy. And if you don’t remove those basic causes of your unhappiness, I can …
Ann Logsdon, EdS, Guest Writer Waking Times Developing intuition doesn’t require years of practice or complex meditative routines. These easy strategies tell how to improve intuition. Developing intuition, according to most books on the topic, requires daily meditation, probably involves yoga, includes a vegan diet, and works best in a remote setting like Tibet. People …
Raising Social Consciousness Waking Times Meditation is generally an internal, personal practice and done without any external involvement, except perhaps prayer beads to count prayers, though many practitioners of meditation may rely on external objects such as candle flames as points on which to focus their attention as an aid to the process. Meditation often involves invoking …
Arun Goel Waking Times Meditation can be described as a continued, unbroken awareness of the mind in its raw state. It involves the overcoming of distractions and dissipated energies into a blissful awareness. Let us look at it this way – at any point of time we are consumed with countless thoughts and emotional baggage …
Prevent Disease New to meditation and already thinking about quitting? You may have simply chosen the wrong method. A new study published online July 7 in Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing highlights the importance of ensuring that new meditators select methods with which they are most comfortable, rather than those that are most popular. If …
Ed and Deb Shapiro Waking Times “For fast-acting relief, try slowing down.” — Lily Tomlin, actress and comedienne We tend to take our bodies very much for granted, and our health even more so. As a result, when something goes wrong, it can be alarming, even frightening, as if we had been walking around inside a …
Waking Times Scientists say that meditators may be benefiting from changes in their brains. The researchers report that those who meditated for about 30 minutes a day for eight weeks had measurable changes in gray-matter density in parts of the brain associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress. The findings will appear in the Jan. …
You don’t believe in God? That is not a hindrance to meditation. You don’t believe in soul? That is not a hindrance in meditation. You don’t believe at all? That is not an obstacle.
You gotta relax, man. Life in 2012 means a degree of stress, for just about everyone. Our bodies and minds can take a lot of abuse, but its all too easy to get into a negative cycle, and just keep sinking. You don’t sleep well, you get up late, so you don’t eat, your blood sugar is low, so your temper is short, etc. Stress. If you need more time, more energy, or better sleep, then its worth taking the time to relax and meditate.
