Unstressing Is Good

Unstressing is good.

We need unstressing because it is the only way to get rid of our stresses.

In our meditation, what causes us to unstress is the use of the mantra. The mantra brings our awareness into a less excited state, which brings the body into that less excited state. Then, the body starts releasing stress. Our mantra is the anchor, pulling us inward.

Meditation: No Dark Side

Whenever asked about his own level of consciousness, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi would reply, “We’re doing just fine, thanks.”   

20 Uses for the Lovely Lavender Essential Oil

Lavender (lavandula angustifolia) is a must have staple when it comes to house hold homeopathic and natural medicinal aids. It is mostly known for its soothing and relaxing effects on the body, but there are so many more uses for this amazing essential oil. It is a wonderful physical and emotional body, spirit and mind balancer.

Meditation: Identity Crisis

To grow the best fruit, the farmer does not water each individual mango as it hangs from the tree.  Instead, great care is taken to ensure that the roots of the tree are watered sufficiently in order for the tree to reach its full potential.  The product of that full potential is delicious fruit which everyone can enjoy.  The farmer knows where the source is, and how to nurture it.

Being Kind to Ourselves. Permission and Love

I have an overwhelming feeling of gratitude. Everyday. It oozes out of my heart, into my blood stream, my arms and legs, out the top of my head and shoots down from my feet, deep into the ground of which I find myself always running on. I am even more grateful for the people around me that help serve others, that are raising families, that are working to keep our society flowing, that offer enlightening concepts, inventors, scientists, children and their energy, as well as their sweet and bright outlooks on life, talents on a streaming media platform to brighten up a routine day. I am grateful for my family, my children, the warm sunshine and my ability to wake up day after day and feel this way (though obstacles sometimes challenge my perception of my knowing gratitude). Actually, even though I do feel this much gratitude, I do still have to constantly face that critic in my head, day by day, and talk to her. I have to tell her that everything in our lives is put here to teach us something and we can use the tools around us to learn from it when the time is vibrationally right. It is a skill to kindly talk to that anxious and sometimes pessimistic internal self critic. Sometimes I am too tired to talk. Or listen.

Healthy Aging and Improved Longevity

Leaving behind the bright years of youth and entering a quieter, more mature phase in life often prompts the question: How can I preserve my youth and extend my life? For answers to this question we might consult the teachings of Li Qing Yun.

According to the 1933 obituary for Li Qing Yun in Time Magazine, he lived from 1736 until 1933. While this improbably long life span has become the stuff of legend, for arguments’ sake, let us acknowledge that this man managed to live to a ripe old age.

How did he live so long? Acupuncture and Oriental medicine provide guidance to understand what Li Qing Yun found essential to leading a long and healthy life. Let us examine the meaning behind his response when asked about his longevity: “Keep a quiet heart, sit like a tortoise, walk sprightly like a pigeon, and sleep like a dog.”

Our Full Potential

 The more optimistic psychologists and neuroscientists agree that most of us use about 10% of our full mental potential. The pessimistic ones say that number is closer to 2% – but whatever the figure is, it’s certainly small. That leaves 90% or more of our mental capacity spent recycling, rehearsing, regretting or simply dormant.

The Vedic model of the mind states that we are only aware of the surface levels of mental activity. Mental stresses maintain background neural activity at a high level, preventing awareness of the quieter underlying levels of thinking. It’s not unlike speeding down the freeway in a car with the windows rolled down – the noise of the air and engine necessitate our turning the radio up, yet still we hear only the general outline of the music.

Happiness: Getting Into the Flow

Tal Ben-Shahar, Ph.D. writes a wonderful book called Happier: Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment. He is also the author of the pursuit of perfect. There are many great points in his books and I wanted to share a quick chart he explains which according to psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, exemplifies flow (a state in which one is immersed in an experience that is rewarding in and of itself, where action and awareness are merged, and where happiness tends to find us).

The Unconcern of Meditation

Sitting quietly in meditation is a practice which reveals our least excited state – the very basis of our Being.  However, our least excited state may not always result in an experience of sustained pure silence.  Instead, we must think of our least excited state as our simplest form of awareness in that particular moment. 

As the mind dives into meditation, our body faithfully and dutifully prints out whatever state of de-excitation the mind is able to achieve.  The sequence is:  first the mind, and then the body.  These are the mechanics of how the body launders stress – through simple rest – and the engine driving that process is the mind. 

As the body unwinds stress, the mind can become active with thoughts, emotions or even body sensation.  Those experiences are the after effect of the body unstressing.  Whenever we have those experiences in our meditation, as long they are preceded by our thinking the mantra, then we know they are the byproduct of stress release.  Something good is happening.

When there is more stress in the body, there are more opportunities for stress to be released.  During the early days of meditation, when the body is still holding a lifetime backlog of stress, only very little de-excitation is needed in order to trigger its release.  As we clear out that backlog through regular practice, the trend is toward more sustained periods of depth in meditation.

However, deeper meditation is not solely a function of how many months or years we have been practicing.  We must also factor in whatever is happening in our current life experience.  Life is change, and with change comes a variety of demands.  Sometimes those demands can overwhelm us and add stress.  Even though experienced meditators find this happening less and less in their lives, no one is completely immune – no matter how much meditation we’ve done.

For most, the three biggest demands in life are change in living situation, change in work (financial) situation and change in relationship status.  Even long time meditators report that their depth of meditation can change when those demands arise.  Oftentimes, meditation during those challenging periods feels more “on the surface” and less relaxing, and some even feel a little agitated coming out of their practice.

If any of those experiences sounds familiar, know that you are not alone.  And also, remind yourself that it is just a small bump in the road – it will pass.  Ultimately, the perfect prescription is simply to keep regular with our practice, and take the whole experience as it comes, without judgement or concern. 

Meditation and Understanding Fulfillment

Transcendence in our meditation is an experience of bliss. Bliss in its pure state it is far beyond interpretation by the senses. All the senses go silent. In this state of pure contentment, all cognitive processes come to an end.