Meditation-Mind Blog

 

“There is a place in you where there is perfect peace.
There is a place in you where nothing is impossible.”
—A Course in Miracles

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“There is a silence into which the world cannot intrude.
There is an ancient peace you carry in your heart and have not lost.”
—A Course in Miracles

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“The only way to have peace is to teach peace.
By teaching peace you must learn it yourself.”
—A Course in Miracles

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“Each little gift you offer to your brother lights up the world.”
—A Course in Miracles

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“Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.”
—Sy Miller and Jill Jackson, songwriters

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These quotes on peace are in celebration of Peace Day, September 21, 2007
For more on how people all over the world are marking this day, check this link:
http://www.peaceoneday.org/home.aspx

I especially liked the video of the song, No Wars Will Stop Us Singing.

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For the complete lyrics and the story of the song, Let There Be Peace On Earth, you can visit this site:
http://www.jan-leemusic.com/history.htm

 

If you have inner peace, the external problems do not affect your deep sense of tranquility. You are happy regardless of circumstances.
—Dalai Lama
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Therefore, in our daily life a certain way of thinking makes us happy, and a certain way of thinking makes us unhappy. In other words, there are certain states of mind which bring us problems, and they can be removed; we need to make an effort in that direction. Likewise, there are certain states of mind that bring us peace and happiness, and we need to cultivate and enhance them.
—Dalai Lama
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Peace starts within each one of us. When we have inner peace, we can be at peace with those around us. When our community is in a state of peace, it can share that peace with neighboring communities.
—Dalai Lama

Every so often I run into my notes for the Five Finger Exercise, one of my favorite self-hypnosis breaks. This version is adapted from a wonderful book called The Relaxation & Stress Reduction Workbook by Martha Davis, Elizabeth Robbins Eshelman and Matthew McKay

I hope you’ll enjoy it too.

You can use this exercise whenever you need to relax for a few minutes.

If you read it through a few times, you’ll find that you remember the steps quite easily.You just give yourself cues by touching your thumb to each of your fingers in turn. But it’s OK to peek at your notes until you get the hang of it. Enjoy the calm.

Five Finger Exercise

After finding a place where you won’t be disturbed for a few minutes and getting comfortable:

1. Begin by touching your thumb to your index finger.  As you bring your thumb and index finger together, think back to a time when your body felt ready for a rest, right after you had been for a walk or jog or swim or some other pleasant, physical exercise. It felt good and healthy to exercise and now it feels good and healthy to rest. Take a deep breath, and then another, and then one more, and give your body time to slow down.

2. When you’re ready to go on, touch your thumb to your middle finger.  As you bring your thumb and middle finger together, think back to a time when you felt very loving toward someone.  It can be anytime that comes to mind. Just remember having a warm loving feeling and let yourself feel it again. Stay with the feeling until you’re ready to move on.

3. Next touch your thumb to your ring finger.  As you bring your thumb and ring finger together, recall a time when you received a nice compliment. Let yourself hear the kind and appreciative words again and take them in. Accept them. And then, if you wish, extend a mental thank you to the person who said them. 

4. And now touch your thumb to your little finger.  As you bring your thumb and little finger together, think back to a beautiful place you have been. Maybe someplace you found awe-inspiring. Take in its beauty once again. The light, the colors, the sounds, the scents, the feeling in the air. Let yourself experience it for a while.

Let yourself be filled with these sweet feelings of peace and love and calm, and after a while, when you’re ready, come back to your resting place, still feeling very peaceful, very loving, very calm and very good.

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I hope you enjoyed this self-hypnosis break. If you’d like to share your experience, you’re welcome to leave a comment. Just click on the word “comments” below and an easy-to-use form will appear.

 

Did you happen to see Patricia Leigh Brown’s article in the New York Times about kids learning mindfulness meditation techniques? Entitled, In the Classroom, a New Focus on Quieting the Mind, it described some programs in schools in California and Pennsylvania which helped kids learn some simple stress management techniques.

A couple of times a week,  they were led through 15 minutes of such mindfulness techniques as focusing on their breathing and imagining loving kindness toward people in their lives.

The article mentioned some of the ways kids seemed to be using the techniques they had learned. One young boy had learned to “take a moment” to calm himself when he had started feeling like hitting someone on the playground.  I especially loved the story about the 4 year old girl who called out “Mommy, Mommy, you have to sing the breathing song!” as her distressed mom was dealing with road rage.

Just follow the link above if you’d like to read the article.

Reading about these programs left me wanting to know more, so I went looking for some specifics. If someone with an interest in calming techniques wanted to share them with some of their favorite children or had an interest in putting a program together what might be some good resources for doing that?

MP3’s

I was delighted to discover a collection of meditations from the Mindfulness Awareness Research Center at UCLA,  one of the places mentioned in the NY Times article. Written and recorded by Diana Winston, their Director for Mindfulness Education, they are excellent examples of the kinds of experiences that could be offered. These MP3’s are absolutely free and left me feeling wonderful. I loved the loving kindness meditation I listened to. You can check out their whole collection of mindfulness meditation MP3’s and see what you think.

Books

The article also mentioned that the programs had been influenced by the works of Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. Two books of his that you might want to check out on Amazon are Full Catastrophe Living and Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life

Online Training

Susan Kaiser Greenland at the InnerKids Foundation offers online training programs through a site called eMindful for people wanting to teach mindfulness. I haven’t tried them, but with titles like The New ABC’s: Teaching Children About Mindfulness, they look promising. You can find out more about these online meditation courses by looking at the eMindful site.

CD

Maybe someone reading this knows the breathing song that the 4 year old girl encouraged her mom to sing. If we can’t track that one down, as it happens, some hypnotherapists whose opinions I trust, recently recommended a recording by Marcel Klasen, a hypnotherapist and musician. 

It’s a CD called HAPPY SONGS, that is intended for ages 9-12, with a combination of music and positive suggestions, along with instructions for breathwork, a story about healing, a song about world peace and even a rap song. You can contact Marcel at marcelklasen@yahoo.com for ordering information.

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Care to Add One?

That could be enough to get you started. If you have any additional or alternative resources you’d like to recommend for learning and teaching mindfulness meditation or its close cousin, self-hypnosis, whether for children or adults, I invite your suggestions. Just click on “comment” at the end of this post and share your thoughts.

 

1. Take a Deep Breath. Then do it again. Now once again. One of the simplest ways to relieve stress in a matter of moments is to change your breathing.

Have you ever noticed that when you’re feeling stressed you typically breathe very shallowly, often rapidly, or sometimes even hold your breath? That can’t be good.

We can relieve stress by intentionally slowing and deepening our breathing, which mimics the way we naturally breathe when we are most relaxed. Practicing the Inner Smile Meditation you’ll find here on the blog is one of many ways to slow and deepen your breathing and relieve any stress you may be feeling.

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2. Laugh. Most of us just know intuitively that laughter is good for us. A merry heart doeth good like a medicine, as I’m sure you’ve heard.

Laughter has become a real focus of study, especially because of the many ways it benefits our health: protecting our heart, easing pain, reducing blood pressure, aiding digestion and respiration, to mention just a few. For an in-depth article on the benefits of laughter, you might find this article on How Stuff Works interesting.

And to experience the benefits of laughter right now, you might enjoy reading some of these observations from the amazing mind of comedian Steven Wright. I love the way his humor just sneaks up on you until before you know it, you’re giggling.

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3. Call a Friend. Sometimes a different perspective is all we need in stressful situations. There’s nothing like talking and laughing with a friend to help us see things differently. If the friend you’d most like to talk with is an old friend you’ve lost track of, you can look them up in the white pages at AnyWho.

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4. Listen to Soothing Music. Music can transform our mood very quickly and ease feelings of stress. Hypnotherapists, meditation instructors, massage therapists, and Reiki masters all know how soothing the right music can be for their clients and all have their favorites.

Two of my favorites are on CD’s you can find at Amazon. Since I promised that these were 7 ways you could relieve stress right now, here are two links where you can listen to free samples of relaxing music.

The first is a beautiful version of Pachelbel Canon done by Gordon Jeffries“ and the second is Mike Rowland’s And So To Dream Highly recommended anytime you need to unwind.

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5. Get Inspired. Sometimes just reading some wise, thought-provoking, inspiring or just plain funny thoughts from those who have been here before can help us shift our perspective in the middle of stressful times. Here are a few to start you off:

“There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so” - William Shakespeare

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“I have given everything I see all the meaning that it has for me.” - A Course in Miracles

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“I could see peace instead of this.” - A Course in Miracles

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“In the depths of winter I finally learned there is in me an invincible summer.” - Albert Camus

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Check out a few more inspirational quotes.

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6. Relax Completely. Taking yourself through a relaxation process that helps you to let go of the tension you’re holding in muscles all over your body is a very powerful way to relieve stress. Doing it on a regular basis helps you to keep your stress levels low.

You can use this script for a progressive relaxation in a number of ways.

You can just read it through to yourself to get the idea and then settle into a comfortable position as you follow the process. Sometimes people find it helpful to find a partner who will read it to them or some prefer to read it into a tape recorder and play it back for themselves.

No matter which way you choose to do it, whenever you follow the process, you will feel much more relaxed when you’re done.

Here’s the script for a progressive relaxation.

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7. Experience Guided Meditation. Try one of the free beautiful audio samples on Belleruth Naparstek’s Health Journeys site.

Here’s one by Belleruth designed to soothe anxiety and stress. If she had an affiliate program, I’d sign up. Her stuff is wonderful!

 

For an easy way to take a meditation break online, you might like to check out The Meditation Room at Lime.com.

There are a series of rooms to choose from ( 6 so far), consisting of beautiful slide show images with audio accompaniment. You’ll find the Space Room, the Forest Room, the Water Room, the Zen Room, the Floral Room, and the Winter Room, all viewable online, with additional options for downloading to iPod or subscribing at iTunes.

Each room is a celebration of the beauty found all around us. Each one leads to a state of calm as it focuses attention on a series of images. Each room also has appropriate music or nature sounds which can be turned off if you prefer a silent meditation.

I always like to try things out before I recommend them to you, so I can tell you that I have happily visited each room several times. My two favorite experiences are listening to the sounds of ocean surf (instantly relaxing for me) while watching the images of water drops in the Water Room and, being immersed in the beautiful shades of green in the Forest Room, which leaves me feeling very healthy, very calm, and with an overall sense of wellbeing.

You can find your own favorite for free at The Meditation Room at Lime.com. and feel calm too.

 

Our daily lives are full of times when something unexpected pops up and we need to improvise. When we learn to use the power of our minds to stay in a calm and resourceful state, these times are much easier to handle.

Here are 10 situations you may have encountered when a calming technique would come in handy:

1.  When you can’t fall asleep and you’re telling yourself how tired you’re going to be tomorrow if you don’t fall asleep right now.

2.  When you’re running late for an appointment.

3.  When you’re running late for an appointment and then you get caught in traffic.

4.  When you’re getting married in 15 minutes and no one has the ring.

5.  When you’ve returned to where you parked your car and you can’t find your car keys.

6.  When the power goes out. Anytime the power goes out.

7.  When you have to give a speech.

8.  When you’re waiting for the results of a pregnancy test.

9.  When you’re off doing some shopping for your  sweetheart’s birthday and your list blows away.

10. When it’s up to you to soothe a crying baby.

Have you ever noticed how some people seem to just take these kinds of things in stride, while others tend to panic? Same situation, very different reactions.

Somewhere along the way we have all learned a way to handle problems. If you tend to panic and you’re not happy about that, you can learn another approach. Instead of looking at problems as disasters, you can choose to see them as bumps in the road.

As soon as you notice those familiar, panicky feelings you can interrupt any this-is-a-disaster kind of self-talk by yelling STOP in your head, halting the negative monologue that was about to immobilize you. You can practice this by picturing a STOP sign in your mind at the same time that you yell STOP and emphasize it further by making a STOP gesture with your hand. Interrupting disaster thinking opens the way to a calmer, more resourceful state.

More often than not, it’s possible to see some humor in your situation. When you think of it, this is the stuff of comedy. Number 10 on the list, for example, being thrust into the role of babysoother, was the premise of the movie, Three Men and a Baby. Audiences laughed as they watched each of the three men soothing the baby in his own unique, amusing and endearing way. 

Your situation might be like something you’d see in a movie too.  If it’s possible for you to laugh about it, you’ll find that much of your stress is relieved and that you’ve already moved into that more resourceful state.

But sometimes we’re not quite ready to laugh. If that’s the case, you could begin by taking some slow, deep breaths and saying the word “calm” to yourself with each out breath.

Continue for at least 3 full breaths and more if you need it. If you’ve already been practicing meditation or self-hypnosis, you’ll find this step is very familiar and becomes easier each time you do it.

As you feel yourself calming down, start repeating to yourself,

“I can handle this. This is easy for me.”

“I can handle this. This is easy for me.”

“I can handle this. This is easy for me.”

Say this over and over until you begin to recognize that it’s true.

You can handle this and this is easy for you.

And that’s what you call a more resourceful state.

From there, resolving any problem will seem easy.

 

Sometimes the trickiest thing about stress is recognizing its signals in ourselves. In his book, Instant Calm: Over 100 Easy-to-Use Techniques for Relaxing Mind and Body by Paul Wilson, Paul Wilson details many of the ways we experience stress including such things as butterflies in the stomach, tense shoulders or jaw, heart palpitations, headaches, indigestion, difficulty sleeping and extreme irritability. The list is a long one.

After taking a good look at how stress works and its many signals, Wilson takes us through his collection of over 100 techniques for calming and soothing ourselves.You’ll find ways to calm yourself using acupressure, aromatherapy, breathing, massage, meditation, music, relaxation, physical exercise, stretching, self-hypnosis, visualization, foods, herbs and teas. And those are just the larger categories.

This is one of those books that makes you feel better just looking through it. You could probably use it like a cookbook and just open to any page and read through the instructions for inspiration. It won’t take long to find several techniques that can be combined into your own personal calming routine.

There are so many techniques that I had trouble choosing a favorite, so I decided to try the pick-any-page method myself to offer you an example. I just tried one called Comb Therapy. To be truthful, since I’m sitting at my computer and don’t have a comb within reach, I tried using a little 6-inch plastic ruler that I have in the mug where I keep my pens. That seems to work too.

Comb Therapy goes like this: Take an ordinary comb (or ruler) and, beginning at the fingertips, lightly stroke the comb over the tops of your fingers and the top of your hand and then continue over your wrist and arm all the way to your shoulder. Then repeat this action on your other arm. Continue this as many times as you like. When you feel done, sit quietly for a few minutes taking some slow, deep breaths. Very simple. Very pleasant. I just tried it three times on one hand and arm while breathing deeply and then moved to the other hand and arm. That was calming too.

You could follow this simple massage and breathing technique with one called Calm Affirmation. Sit quietly for about 5 minutes and read these affirmations adapted from Instant Calm over and over to yourself either out loud or silently:

 ”More and more, I am relaxing into a state of great peace and calm.
 I feel at ease with the world.
 I radiate this peace and calm to all around me.”

I played with this a little and found it was very effective to repeat each affirmation 3 times or more before moving on to the next one. For example:

 ”More and more, I am relaxing into a state of great peace and calm.”

 ”More and more, I am relaxing into a state of great peace and calm.”

 ”More and more, I am relaxing into a state of great peace and calm.”

Then, if you’re ready, start repeating:

 ”I am at ease with the world.”

And so on, from there.

If you want to close your eyes and make it even simpler, try just repeating the words “peaceful, calm and relaxed” over and over silently to yourself as you take slow, deep breaths. For example, think “peaceful” as you breathe in and “calm and relaxed” as you slowly breathe out.

It’s OK to experiment with this to see what is most relaxing for you.

In an early chapter of Instant Calm, Paul Wilson promises that you’ll feel better after reading this book. I’d say he’s right. If you want to check it out on Amazon, try any of the links in this post, including this one. Instant Calm: Over 100 Easy-to-Use Techniques for Relaxing Mind and Body by Paul Wilson 
 

 

Sometimes I find that doing simple rhythmic tasks puts me into a relaxed meditative state. Now that it’s autumn, for some people, that could take the form of raking leaves or stacking firewood or gathering the walnuts that the squirrels haven’t already stored away.

At this time of year, I like to round up an assortment of flowerpots and some potting soil and search the garden for some plants that still look happy and might like to come inside for the winter.

So, over and over, I say hello to each plant and tell it I’m taking it inside as I dig it up, tuck it in a pot and press potting soil around it. Parsley, sage, rosemary, (no thyme), a marigold, some impatiens, baby lamb’s ears, some lemon balm. As I work, I take in their pungent fragrances and still-bright colors.

Experiencing the rhythm of the task, marking the earth’s change of season and feeling the joy of communing with each of these living things becomes a calming meditation. Just a short time playing in the dirt is a peace-inducing experience that takes me far away from any stresses I may have been feeling.

By the time I have all the plants settled into their new home in the kitchen window that gets the most sun, I’m feeling very relaxed, very peaceful and very good.

All winter long, each time I look at them, and each time I water them, I’ll let them remind me of the power of our minds. In the words of Albert Camus: “In the depths of winter I finally learned there was in me an invincible summer.”

For more thoughts on meditative experiences in our everyday lives, you might like to have a look at this article on meditation at Mystic Eye.
  
 
 
 

 

Counting your breath sounds like it might take quite a while. In truth, it’s a technique you can use for just a few minutes or continue for an hour, if you choose. Breath counting is a very simple meditation technique which provides excellent practice in keeping your mind focused. Practicing this technique offers lessons in maintaining concentration, noticing your thoughts without judging them, and returning your mind gently to its task.

Once you get the hang of it, this is an excellent meditation technique to use in any situation when you need to calm yourself. Visiting your dentist? Try a few rounds of breath counting. Just heard your bank bounced your check? Breathe and count.

The idea here is to count each breath for a series of 4 breaths and then to repeat that pattern of counting each breath for another series of 4 breaths, continuing until you reach 5 rounds of counted breaths.

The Technique
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As with any meditation, begin by getting yourself in a comfortable position. Close your eyes if that’s appropriate for your surroundings.

Now as you breathe in slowly, think “one” to yourself and then repeat “one” as you breathe out.

With your next breath, count “two” as you inhale and repeat “two” as you exhale.

Continue by counting “three” as you breathe in and repeating “three” as you breathe out.

And complete the first round by counting “four” as you breathe in and repeating “four” as you breathe out.

Go on to your next round of breath counting in the same way, counting “one” as you breathe in and repeating “one” as you breathe out and so on, repeating the pattern: In-1 — Out-1, In-2 — Out-2, In-3 — Out-3, and In-4 — Out-4.

Proceed with each round of breath counting until you’ve completed 5 rounds.

If you should lose track of your count at any time or you notice stray thoughts entering your mind, just let the thoughts float on by and gently return your mind to focusing once again on counting each breath, beginning again with “one”.

You can’t lose with this technique. During the process of learning to maintain your focus for longer and longer periods you also learn to look at your thoughts without judging them each time you gently return your mind to counting each breath. It’s all practice, no matter whether you’re maintaining your focus or learning to gently return to focusing.

As with all meditation techniques, you can modify this to suit your tastes. You might want to count to 5 or 7 or 10 instead of 4, for example, before you repeat the pattern.

Or, instead of repeating a series of 4 counted breaths, you may choose to set a goal of counting 50 or 100 breaths, noticing how high a number you can reach before you lose focus and return again to one. The task here isn’t so much to reach a high number as it is to give yourself plenty of practice at maintaining your concentration, observing your thoughts without judging them, and guiding your mind to a focused state.

In addition to helping to train your mind, each time you practice breath counting, you may also notice that you’re feeling much more peaceful than when you began.