Friday, June 6, 2008

Breathwork

Let's take a few moments to settle in. Let the day go and just relax. Let you whole body go.

When thoughts come into your mind, acknowledge them, and let them go. Are you ready to begin?

Breathe through the nose and from your abdomen. Doing this will keep the rib cage flexible so that it will direct the air to the bottom of the lungs where there is more blood to be oxygenated.

Some people like to count from 1 to 8 as they take a breath in and let that breath out. Eight full breaths - even and equal. Now you try it.

Again, when thoughts come into your mind, acknowledge them and let them go. Try the 8 breath count - eight breath in for the inspiration, eight breaths for the expiration. Even and equal.

Awareness is the natural breath. Now take a few moments to just sit. Do you feel more relaxed? More aware?

Namaste

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Left hemisphere of the brain

The left hemisphere of the brain is the interpreter center. It tries to make sense of the myriad of information floating around. Most of this has nothing to do with your thoughts. These are not your thoughts, just random thoughts floating around. The body/mind collects these and tries to interpret them. For the most part, these thoughts have nothing to do with you.

Most of the thoughts we have today (95%), we had yesterday. We will continue to repeat these thoughts until we learn how to use our brain better. For the most part, it is as easy, or as hard as just acknowledging these thoughts and letting them go.

Until now, we have not used our brains efficiently. Through meditation, we can learn to make choices about what we think about. Doing this, we can create better health, reduce stress and color our landscape.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Mindful Matters

Thanks for taking a few moments to peruse this blog. It was created for you!

Let me tell you a little about myself. I am a former health care administrator who has worked with terminally ill and comatose individuals. I am certified in gerontology and meditation. I am also certified in Reiki. My hobbies include hiking, kayaking, sewing, painting and volunteering as an environmental and social activist. I only take projects that I believe in. I am also a writer.

I conduct corporate workshops, workshops for individuals, families and groups. I also customize workshops dependent upon my audience.

Meditation is not a collection of techniques that belongs to any particular group. It is a way of being in the world. It is about the practice of learning to "be." It is about letting go of non-productive thoughts. Through meditation, we can learn to be in the NOW, be present and see things are they are...not as wish them to be.

Meditation is a way to lower the incidence of stress. Some of the benefits of meditation include decreasing cardiovacular heart disease, cancer and high blood pressure.

In future blogs, I will answer some of your questions. We will talk more about meditation, how to begin and what happens physiologically in your body when you are under stress, and what you can do to reframe this.

Susan, M.A.