Meditation: How to Enter a Deep State of Relaxation
Meditation: How to Enter a Deep State of Relaxation
There are many methods of meditation that can lead to channeling, mediumship, or simply a greater spiritual awareness. Here is the method I use: Find a comfortable position, either sitting or lying down. Close your eyes.Take three or four deep breaths, inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth.Concentrate on your body and mentally tell each part of your body to relax, from the toes on your feet to the muscles in your face.Tense some of your muscles, then let them relax.While in this relaxed state, visualize the color red. Breathe in the coulor red and exhale the color red. Move to the color orange. Breathe in orange and exhale orange. While you are visualizing this color, allow your emotions to relax. Move to the color yellow. Breathe in yellow and exhale yellow. Allow your mental activity to cease. Hold only the color yellow in your mind.Move to the color green. Breathe in green... exhale green.Allow peace and healing to surround you, and penetrate you.Move to the color blue. Breathe in blue... exhale blue. Feel the Love of God encompass you. Move to the color indigo. Breathe in indigo... exhale indigo. Concentrate on your dreams and aspirations. Feel yourself going deeper and deeper within.Finally, concentrate on the color violet. Breathe in violet... exhale violet. Tell yourself you are now in touch with your spiritual self.
From here you can journey to a place in nature, such as a beach or a mountain, where you can be alone and can feel at peace.Sometimes when you have reached a deep state of meditation, you will begin to see swirls of color, see mental pictures, or internally hear a voice talking to you. Take note, and keep a journal of any impressions. Come back to normal consciousness by visualzing the colors in reverse sequence.Elaine Murray, B.A., teaches spiritual development classes with an emphasis on meditation.
She has been a student of metaphysics and parapsychology for over 20 years, culminating in the publishing of "A Layman's Guide to New Age & Spiritual Terms." Visit http://www.newagefast.com to read more of Elaine's work.
How to Use White Noise
How to Use White Noise
White noise is: A sound containing a blend of all the audible frequencies distributed equally over the range of the frequency band. White noise is analogous to white light which contains all the colors of the rainbow together. The term "white noise" as used in this article will be applied a little looser to include a host of sounds (waterfall, rain and brook as examples) used for blocking out unwanted sounds.Because white noise contains most sound frequencies, it is commonly used to mask other sounds. If you are in a hotel and voices from the room next-door are leaking into your room, you might turn on a fan to drown out the voices. The fan produces a good approximation of white noise. How does this "white" sound work and why does it mask out other noise?Here is one way to think about it. Let's say two people are talking at the same time. Your brain can normally pick out one of the two voices and actually listen to it and understand it. If three people are talking simultaneously, your brain can probably still pick out one voice. However, if 1,000 people are talking simultaneously, there is no way that your brain can pick out one voice. It turns out that 1,000 people talking together sounds a lot like white noise. So when you turn on a fan to create white noise, you are essentially creating a source of 1,000 voices. The voice next-door makes it 1,001 voices, and your brain can't pick it out anymore. One thing to keep in mind when using white noise is that more is not always better - it is usually best to use just enough to help mask the offending noise, not completely overwhelm it.There are three sources of white noise that are commonly used to help mask out annoying sounds: mechanically generated, electronically generated and recordings usually on CD format.The mechanical devices produce a sound very close to that of a fan. The Sleepmate by Marpac is this type of device and has been around for a long time. This is the most popular type of white noise machine; probably because it produces a sound that we are all familiar with and don't find unpleasant. One drawback of the mechanical units is that they are limited in volume. Since they produce the sound mechanically, it isn't possible to simply turn up the volume.White noise is commonly generated with a digital or electronic sound synthesizing device. Sound designers, with some processing and filtering, can create a multitude of effects such as wind, rain, waterfall or surf. The main consideration when choosing a digital device is if the device loops a recorded clip of sound or synthesizes its own sound. By looping we refer to a few seconds of sound that is digitally recorded and played over and over. They try to match up the end with the beginning but if you listen carefully you can detect where the segment begins - this is irritating to some people. The better digital sound devices actually synthesize the sound instead of playing a recording, therefore no looping.Compact discs are a popular and inexpensive way (not counting the cost of a stereo system) to bring white noise into your home or office. You can get almost any sound imaginable but the most commonly used are nature sounds like rain, thunder or babbling brooks and nature sounds overlaid with soft music. The advantages of CDs are a high quality sound and low cost. The disadvantage is that, if you are using the sound to help you sleep, the interruption when changing tracks or cycling will often times wake you up. Generally the best uses for CDs are for office privacy, meditation or just relaxing.Michael Kirtley is owner-manager of Nature's Tapestry ( http://www.naturestapestry.com ), a site with information about how to choose a white noise machine.
Healing From Within
Healing From Within
"We become sick because we act
In sickening ways."
Louis JourardModern medicine is based upon the notion of battle. We battle germs and fight for life. As soon as we feel pain or discomfort, we immediately try to change it. We feel we must conquerThis way of being leads to a never-ending struggle. After one illness or problem is conquered, another arises. Usually we expect the doctor to take control and make us well. We relinquish our part in the illness, deny the fact that it is up to us to stop, listen, and discover the lessons the illness has to teach us.Healing from within brings inner peace with it. It arises from a different orientation towards all the experiences of life. We are taught to stop, pay attention, to respect what is happening ? to see our pain as a messenger. It is as if we were re-focusing a camera, receiving our experience through a different lens.Pointer 1
See Your Pain As A Messenger Bringing Important NewsDialoguing With Your PainUsually there is a deep sense that when pain arises it is because something is wrong. This is a misunderstanding. Pain arises from lack of balance. It contains much needed information, brings many messages along with it. When we see our pain as a messenger and learn how to really listen to it, healing begins in all kinds of ways.Some would suggest there is no difference between our physical pain, our illness and the emotional, mental or spiritual suffering we are going through.Illness often comes when we feel defeated and may not want to struggle or live anymore. Some become ill when they are overly exhausted, which is a way of telling themselves it is time to make changes in their lives. Looking at one aspect of our suffering, we are also inevitably, looking at the next. All aspects are interconnected.In some cases, for full healing to take place, a person may have to make deep changes in his life.
It is important to stop and wonder specifically what the pain is saying to you, to dialogue with the pain, ask fundamental questions of it: "What do you want from me? Why are you here now?"No matter what we are feeling there is only one pain and it manifests itself in various ways. If we do not address it in one mode, often it will come in another. It can come physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually.In whatever form this pain arises, it is extremely empowering to turn directly to our suffering and interact with it. This requires turning around. Instead of tensing up, we learn how to pause and understand there is a lesson here we have to learn. As we do this, we often discover that the pain comes holding a gift in its hands.Pointer 2
Pain Often Comes Holding A Gift In Its HandsEach Illness Has Its Own StoryIllness often comes when we feel defeated. We may not wish to struggle anymore. Some people become ill when they are overly exhausted. The illness is the only way they can give themselves permission to stop, rest, and make much needed changes in their lives. Each illness has it's own story. The same is true with psychological or emotional symptoms that grow strong, demanding our attention.When someone is in physical pain and suddenly understands what is troubling them emotionally, the physical pain often startlingly subsides. For full healing to take place it may be essential to make changes in one's total life. Cancer can be suppressed for many years, and then it returns. When it reappears we must ask, "Why now? What is going on in my total life?"Sitting In The Middle Of TroubleDuring the practice of Zen, students engaged in zazen (Zen meditation), sometimes sit for many hours on the cushion without moving. Sometimes incredible pain arises.As they continue to do this practice, they gradually become
stronger than the pain. They learn to see that most of the pain
simply comes from resistance to what's going on. It comes from
refusing this very moment.When we stop fighting, we experience joy. Once we start
fighting again, we are cramped into agony.Pointer 3The Best Way Out Is The Way InThe Best Way Out"The best way out is the way in."Eido RoshiThe best way out is to make friends with the pain. Fighting intensifies it. If we can relax into it for a little while and explore, many new possibilities arise.Natural healing is always available in all situations, but it can be cut off by fighting and by fear. When we let go and enter the flow of what's going on at the moment, we became available to our greater source of energy, guidance and help.Brenda Shoshanna, Ph.D, is a psychologist, speaker and well known author who is a long term Zen practitioner. This article is from her new book Living By Zen, (Timeless Truths For Everyday Life) http://www.livingbyzen.com The relationship expert on i.village, she is also the author of of Zen Miracles (Finding Peace In An Insane World,) Zen And The Art Of Falling In Love, (Simon and Schuster) and many other books. You may contact her at topspeaker@yahoo.com. Her personal website is.http://www..brendashoshanna.com