Tip of the hat to Pregnancy Weekly

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An aromatherapy meditation can help you relax and unwind by keying to one of your most powerful senses. Get some incense and listen as I guide you through the experience.

Tip of the hat to Elizabeth Scott, MS

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After a stressful day at work, you can really feel anxious about the tasks you bumped to tomorrow’s to-do list. For me, this can cause such a restless mind that sleeping soundly becomes impossible. But meditation helps me immensely.

You can meditate at bedtime, lying down, which is a lot more comfortable than sitting, especially if you’re not in the best physical shape. Lie down on your back with your arms by your side and your legs extended. If this is uncomfortable try placing a pillow below your knees to relieve lower back pressure.

Close your eyes and take a deep inhalation. On the exhale allow yourself to become so relaxed that your hands curl up and your feet turn outwards. A lot can be racing through your thoughts at this point – what your boss said, a strange comment from a coworker, whatever. I clear my mind by closing my eyes and sitting back and watching. Watch your mind. If any thoughts arise, inhale and let them go on the exhale. Don’t allow them to engage you. Also try not to judge or identify with them. Just be a spectator and watch. You will soon find yourself waking up the next morning wondering why it’s been so long since you’ve slept like that.

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Try practicing one of the following two meditations before your next meal. Take a small portion of food, like a single strawberry, raisin or a slice of apple or orange, or a cracker.

Amnesia: Imagine you have never seen a strawberry (or any piece of food) in your life, and examine it the way a baby would examine something newly discovered. Look at the strawberry and try to notice something about it that you have never noticed before. This should be easy, as no two strawberries are ever identical. Now close your eyes and see if you can smell the strawberry. Lick your lips and rub the strawberry over your lips, massaging your lips gently. How does it feel? Now lick your lips. Can you taste the trace flavor of the strawberry? Hold the strawberry in your mouth, and roll it around. How does it feel in your mouth? As you chew, notice the immediate change in the intensity of the flavor. Slowly chew the strawberry while resisting the urge to swallow. Sit a little taller and notice if posture affects your appreciation for the strawberry. Breathe in deeply and let your breath go with long soft sighs. Does breathing help you enjoy the strawberry? Relax your face and smile. Notice how smiling improves the taste of a strawberry.

Sincere Appreciation: Eat a second raisin practicing Sincere Appreciation. Eating just as slowly and following the same instructions from the first raisin, but this time contemplate the many miracles that brought this raisin to your lips. The farmer who grew the grapes, the truck driver, the architect who designed the store where you bought the grapes, all of the people whose lives helped make this moment possible, including your parents for raising you, the rain and sun and the miracle of life present in a single raisin. Give thanks for the wonderful gift of taste. Students who practice this eating meditation are often amazed at how much better food tastes when they take the time to notice and appreciate the food as they eat it. You will notice that a single raisin, eaten with sincere appreciation brings more joy and happiness than a whole box of raisins swallowed unconsciously.

Tip of the hat to Charles MacInerney

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My, What Bad Breath You Have

Today I learned that a man named Bud loves donuts.

I was in a meeting when, all of a sudden, a bright young executive remembers that their company for some reason has a stash of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts stored away for just such an occasion. (I can never remember exactly how each given brand spells the word “donuts,” and having been raised on “Dunkin’ Donuts” I personally lean toward the version with fewer silent letters, however coarse it may be spelling-and-pronunciation-wise.)

The exec brings in the donuts in their glazed and green-polka-dotted glory, and proceeds to be the very first to grab a napkin and plant a sugar pastry right in front of her. A breach of standard etiquette, to be sure, although the transgression is offset by the simple fact of her being one of only two women present in the room. Regardless, by the time the donuts come around my way I’m happy to oblige, seeing as there are twelve donuts and only like ten people in the room anyway, and half of them seem to be the type to be watching their body fat or blood sugar or cholesterol levels or something of the sort.

“Bud” is one of these guys. He’s obviously quite fit, but also obviously getting to the point in life where fitness can only do so much good before grey hairs and a tiny bit of a belly start creeping up on you unless you go bald and anorexic and basically become Skeletor. So Bud here has opted against the Skeletor lifestyle and instead remains successfully health-conscious, possibly of the biking type (I could definitely imagine him on a road bicycle in some sort of taxicab-yellow Spandex and a serious Lance Armstrong-type helmet). And when the donuts come around to him he sort of looks around anxiously, as if to ask the similarly aging but less similarly health-conscious guys around him (each putting on their share of pounds but not their share of road-bike-miles by the look of it), “um, am I the only one who wants one of these?”

He double-checks. Places the box strategically between himself and one of the other guys. Looks at the guy. Looks at the box suggestively. Looks back at the guy. Raises his graying eyebrows.

Then he puts on this look of near-infinite, like definitely asymptotic to some enormously large amount, sadness. I could literally imagine him being four or five and practicing in front of a mirror to get this look just right so next time Mommy and Daddy tried to cut little Buddy off from the donuts he’d have the perfect weapon to whip out on their poor little instinctive-child-care brains and retinas.

Unfortunately for Bud/Buddy, nobody but me was watching. And it’s in a moment like that where you can learn more about a person than you would from anything they’d admit to you. It’s in a moment like that where you remember why it’s so useful to just keep an eye on other people, even when they’re talking neither to or about you. People’s faces give them away all the time, and it’s key to at least know where and when to look for it.

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To practice the Tantra, first understand that  there are eight petals to the heart chakra as well as the chakra’s center. You must visualize a silver flame at the heart chakra’s center and recite the mantra of Zhunti Tathagata and Vairocana Tathagata going around the center with each chakra being the source of a sound syllable or word (AH, VIR, RAH, HUNG,CHIT, ….Namo, Sado, …). In other words, you visualize the heart chakra center point, and recite the jouint mantras going round it in a circle, always keeping your focus on the central channel. You recite the mantras along these chakra petal points in a circle to help send the chi there and open them. That’s one key point of the practice.

You can recite the mantras going clockwise around a chakra, counterclockwise, in a sphere on the point, or a circle traversing the zenith and nadir, and so on. Be creative. Someone will one day come along and say a particular direction is best or most efficient, but for now I’m saying try everything. You keep concentrating on the image of the flame so that it becomes stable, and you continue reciting the mantras on the chakra location, and on the bright points surrounding the chakra. That is the essence of the Tantra. Very simple, very easy, very quick, very clean, very effective.

Don’t furrow your brow when concentrating. Creating a stable image means that it’s always there in front of you in your mind without any effort. Think of an apple this moment – that’s it! Now hold on to that picture without pressure. So focus on an auspicious, bright silveryimage at the location of the heart chakra behind the breastbone, and frecite mantras from that location, and you’ve got the gist of the practice. Do so for the third eye location as well. Which mantras? You can try many, but focus on the Vairocana mantra and Zhunti mantra.

It helps if you have a picture of Zhunti Buddha (and Vairocana) to venerate and use as motivation for success because if you open your third eye and look at his picture, at times Zhunti will shine a bright point from the brow or heart chakra in the picture to show you where you shold be concentrating your cultivation that day/session. Zhunti is actually quite good looking, and  Vairocana is extremely awesome, majestic and regal in appearance as well. The shining of bright points on Buddha pictures only happens at very advanced stages of practice and you must have previously opened up your third eye somewhat to see it. Don’t think you can cultivate for a single week or month and have this happen.

You must also learn to be constantly reciting the VairocanaTathagata mantra “Ohm Ah Vi Ra Hung Chit” and the Zhunti mantra (see the website Zhunti sadhana for this) throughout the day, and of course especially during your concentrated hours of meditation practice for this Tantra. Always you must recite these two mantras on top of each other or one after the other — first the one and then the other … Om Ah Vir Rah Hung  Chit Ohm Zhurlee Zhulee Zhunti Soha, and vica versa. You recite them at the location of the heart chakra and brow chakra, and visualize a diamond flame or shining Buddha at those points. This is key — use these two Great Buddhas, use their mantras, concentrate on the heart chakra and brow chakra, use a diamond-silver-bright point visualization at these chakra points — recite the mantra from theses locations and rotate the mantra along the chakra point petals.  Be creative.

Tip of the hat to MeditationExpert.com

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Make yourself comfortable, sitting upright, with a straight spine. With your eyes closed, look at the point midway between the eyebrows on your forehead.

Inhale slowly, counting to eight. Hold the breath for the same eight counts while concentrating your attention at the point between the eyebrows. Now exhale slowly to the same count of eight. Repeat three to six times.

After inhaling and exhaling completely, as the next breath comes in, mentally say Hong (rhymes with song). Then, as you exhale, mentally say Sau (rhymes with saw). Hong-Saumeans “I am He” or “I am Spirit”. Make no attempt to control your breathing, just let its flow be completely natural. Try to feel that your breath itself is silently making the sounds of Hong and Sau. Initially try to feel the breath at the point where it enters the nostrils.

Be as attentive as possible. If you have difficulty feeling the breath, you canconcentrate, for a while, on the breathing process itself, feeling your diaphragm and chest expanding and contracting.

Gradually as you become more calm, try to feel the breath higher and higher in the nose. Be sure that your gaze is kept steady at the point between the eyebrows throughout your practice. Don’t allow your eyes to follow the movement of the breath. If you find that your mind has wandered, simply bring it back to an awareness of the breath and the mantra.

As you become calmer, be more aware of the breath itself, higher and higher in the nose. Be sure to keep your gaze steady at the point between the eyebrows throughout your practice. Don’t allow your eyes to follow the movement of the breath. If you find that your mind has wandered, simply bring it back to an awareness of the breath and the mantra.

By concentration on the breath, the breath actually diminishes; its gradual refinement leads naturally to an interiorized meditative state.

Practice this technique as long as you feel to. As a boy, Paramhansa Yogananda used to practice it for hours at a time, withdrawing ever more deeply into the spine until he found himself without breath altogether. He had ascended into soul-consciousness…and a higher reality took over…

Tip of the hat to Sangha

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Walking alone has always provided me with the time to mindfully quiet my thinking. Early morning is my favorite time to walk. I mean really early. The traffic sounds are at a minimum, the waking birds are at their most vocal.I begin by just being aware of the environment. I notice the color of the sky, the mood the trees set, the way the air touches my skin and certainly, the sounds.

I always take deep breaths as I start out. Big, steady strides- not necessarily fast, but steady. Then, when I feel like I’m in sync, I begin to consciously turn my mind off.

I concentrate on my breathing. I inhale for two or three steps then I exhale for the next. If thoughts come to mind I discourage them leading to solo conversation. I just ignore myself.

Before I know it I am engrossed in doing nothing but moving and I am as relaxed as if I were in my sitting meditation position. The pace matches the rhythm of my breathing. My pulse is slow and steady.

I thoroughly enjoy nothingness. Often my spirit will divulge important messages to me as if by osmosis; they just occur to me completely. Not as a thought; I am not thinking, but as a fact, a feeling, a sense. a sensation.

From these messages I may decide upon a few words to use repetitively. Invariably this phrase touches exactly upon what my spirit and soul know I need to address. I continue on until I know it is time to return.

Walking meditation has long been practiced by people who are both physically and spiritually enlightened. The two practices go together naturally. Each provides the time and space to connect with your soul. Silent or with music, anything goes.

Tip of the hat to learningmeditation.com

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Here is one meditation technique that will bring you closer to discovering the hidden powers of your Chakras. After you have grounded and centered yourself and are in a comfortable position, close your eyes and picture yourself. You can do this a number of ways. You can remember an actual photograph that has been taken of you and see it in your mind’s eye. You can look at yourself in the mirror before beginning this meditation and recall the image of yourself. You can visualize yourself floating up and out of your body and then look down at it. You will want to have pencil and paper handy to use following your meditation. This meditation requires two sessions, one to simply observe and note and the second to repair.

Session one:
Once you have the image in your mind, look at it without any analysis. If thoughts come note them and let them go gently. Focus on breathing from your diaphragm through the nose and just look at yourself head to toe. You are the observer and only need to gather information for analysis later; make no judgements and come to no conclusions at this point, just observe. Look for color and areas of darkness and light and remember where and what they are without becoming attached to what you see. In a deep relaxed state, you only need a quick glance to gather the information needed. Mentally note any areas that feel or appear disturbed or in turbulence or torn, or any areas that lack definition. During the process note any impressions you receive while quickly glancing at these areas, any thoughts that arise or any emotions may be keys to any imbalance.

After scanning your entire body and gathering impressions, gently end the process by counting to 10 and opening your eyes. Jot down your impressions, leaving nothing you observed and felt out. You will find that as you write, you know where the problem areas are and have some idea of how they were created.

Session two:
Begin again as before except this time add to your visualization a ball of pure white light/energy just above your head. Correct any disturbances and imbalances you see. If the color is muddy, clear it – draw clear brilliant light into that area. If an area is ripped or torn, mend it. Pass any excess into the earth. End this session as you ended the first.

Image credits:  Spencer Finnley and narcedBob

Tip of the hat to Chakra Vortex of Light

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So, I’m not supposed to use Q-Tips for that…

All throughout life our parents tell us, “You’re my little angel – don’t listen to what those big bullies told you. Everyone loves you.”

Life goes on and we realize we are not loved by everyone. But we aspire towards perfection and seek love everywhere. In our journeys we forget that sometimes the people closest to us can be the ones who have the worst effects on us. You may think you would never willingly spend time with an individual who was bad for your self-esteem, but many times a bad friend is so very well disguised as a “concerned friend.” You know, the “friend” who tells you that you deserve to be loved, but that one more cookie might hide the real you from all those people.

This isn’t to say that true teasing and honesty are bad traits for friendship.  But someone whose comments always come laced with  negativity or bitterness may not add any value in your life.

You spend most of your life with, maybe, five to ten truly close friends, plus the family you can stand. It’s so important to pick the right people before investing so much of your life in them. Remember, you get to choose who you bring into your life. You get to decide who influences you.

Your time is precious and you are fragile. Every moment counts either towards your happiness or deducts from it and the people you decide to spend it with make the biggest difference.

Ever since the dramas of middle school, I have spent a lot of time wondering what is important in a friend. What should I value most? And how do I stop a bad relationship from forming once I’ve learned I that someone is hurting my happiness?

These questions resurfaced for me recently when ­­­­­­I was standing in a room of screaming “friends” and it became overwhelming to balance my thoughts against their barrage. I realized at that moment that something important to me in a friend is mindfulness and that these friends just didn’t have it. So I got my emotional bags and left.

I was fed up with disappointment. I finally realized that I had only projected the attribute I most value onto them. Facing the truth was heart wrenching, but I am over it. I’m still standing!

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