Meditate Before You Sleep: Here’s What You Need To Know

If you meditate before you sleep, here's what you need to know, says Maggie Martin.

Meditation is known for a long time as an effective method of relieving stress and calming your mental state. Its effects vary from mental, emotional, and physical attributions. From reducing stress levels to improving focus, meditation is a popular health and wellness practice that enhances the quality of life. Read more

Monks Show Scientists How Powerful the Mind-Body Connection Really Is

Arjun Walia reveals how monks with powerful minds showed Harvard scientists how powerful the mind-body connection really is.

It’s fascinating to consider just how many ancient teachings tell us that humans have the capacity to gain extraordinary powers through various techniques. Some of these techniques, known as siddhis in the yoga tradition (from the Sanskrit, meaning “perfection”), include meditation, static dancing, drumming, praying, fasting, psychedelics, and more. Read more

3 Powerful Meditations to Help More People Find Peace

These three powerful guided meditations can help people find peace and overcome procrastination.

It can be tough after a hard day or when you are in the midst of a challenge to sit back and get into a good meditative state. Perhaps it’s the fact that our minds are extra engaged in thought or because we might have our emotions riled up. Either way, we’ve all been there and know what it feels like to have a tough time quieting our minds. Read more

How to Combine Tantra, Yoga, and Meditation for Sexual Empowerment

Psalm Isadora reveals how to combine Tantra, yoga, and meditation for sexual empowerment.

Question: As someone who focuses on holistic healing, I have primarily tried to heal from sexual trauma by going to hot yoga and meditating. As a multi-time sexual and physical violence survivor, I often wonder if this is the best route. I've tried experimental therapy such as EMDR and it has been unsuccessful. I want to be able to do wheel pose without being scared. I want to be able to trust my yoga teachers when they adjust me. Can you help me build trust and heal from so much violence and trauma without utilizing Western techniques?

Absolutely. Yoga and meditation are great routes to healing. I have experienced sexual trauma and suffered post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of that abuse. I also found that yoga helped me reconnect with my body, which was a very important step toward healing and sharing my body with others in a healthy way. Read more

Yog a and Meditation Reduce Cancer Risk

Relaxation techniques, such as yoga and meditation, reduce the risk of cancer by changing our DNA, according to researchers.

Yoga and meditation reduce our risk of cancer by changing our DNA, new research reveals.

People who practice so-called mind-body interventions (MBI), such as yoga, meditation and Tai Chi, produce significantly lower amounts of molecules that activate inflammation-causing genes, a study review found.

Inflammation has been linked to cancer, accelerated ageing and poor mental health. Read more

Meditation Improves Memory

 If you want to avoid memory problems as you age, meditation may be a key, according to a study.

A pilot study has found that regular meditation may help seniors with impeding memory problems. The study looked at 26 seniors all with mild cognitive impairment. The participants were either assigned to 12 weeks of meditation and yoga classes, or 12 weeks of memory-enhancing therapy. Read more

5 Ways to Sneak Meditation into a Busy Day

Too busy to meditate? Rhoda Jordan suggests five ways to sneak meditation into a busy day.

Isn’t it crazy how the busier our lives become, the more and more we need Meditation to anchor us, yet the less and less time we actually have to do it?!

That’s why I created the list below. So on those days where you really can’t find the time to meditate, you can use some of these tips to insert the act of Meditation during the things you normally do, like – Read more

7 Meditation Myths Busted

The benefits of meditation are becoming well-known, but many people still don't try meditation because they believe some of the prevailing misconceptions about the practice. Deepak Chopra dispels seven of the most common meditation myths.

In the past 40 years, meditation has entered the mainstream of modern Western culture, and been prescribed by physicians and practiced by everyone from business executives, artists, and scientists to students, teachers, military personnel, and -- on a promising note -- politicians. Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan meditates every morning and has become a major advocate of mindfulness and meditation, as he describes in his book, A Mindful Nation: How a Simple Practice Can Help Us Reduce Stress, Improve Performance, and Recapture the American Spirit.

Despite the growing popularity of meditation, prevailing misconceptions about the practice are a barrier that prevents many people from trying meditation and receiving its profound benefits for the body, mind, and spirit. Here are seven of the most common meditation myths, dispelled. Read more

Meditate Your Way to an Orgasm

A recent study found that meditation isn't only a form of rest and relaxation:  it can also improve your sex life.

Meditation has become a popular practice over the years, helping to combat stress and promote mental well-being.

But it seems the daily ritual isn't only a form of rest and relaxation - it can also improve your sex life.

Women who are able to train their thoughts while love-making experience more pleasure between the sheets, a study has revealed. Read more

6 Tips for Choosing a Meditation Practice

Have you tried meditation but gave it up because it didn't seem to suit you? It could be that you chose the wrong meditation practice. Meditation teacher Susan Piver givers six great tips for choosing the right meditation practice for you.

When I started practicing meditation in 1995, I didn't tell too many people about it for fear they would think I had joined a cult or turned into some kind of new-aged oddball. If I mention it today, however, I'm more likely to be greeted by comments like, "I just came back from a 10-day silent Vipassana retreat," or "Yes, my doctor told me I should meditate to stabilize my blood pressure." I knew that this ancient practice had officially entered our culture when I saw a billboard advertising a new sleeping pill called Zazen. It's here.

Now, we're faced with a plethora of choices for developing a meditation practice. I say go for it! Explore the practice of "Vipassana" or "Insight Meditation." Ask your doctor to refer you to a clinic where they teach mindfulness based stress reduction, which is connected to Vipassana. Visit your local Shambhala center or another Tibetan Buddhist center and learn "Shamatha" or the practice of tranquility. Try "Zazen" (the Zen meditation practice, not the sleeping pill).

There are many other forms of meditation practice, but as a Buddhist, these are the ones I am familiar with and can vouch for. And as you do your research, I suggest you consider these parameters: Read more

What Is Meditation?

Meditation teachers Ed and Deb Shapiro say that meditation is not what you think.

However you try to define meditation, it's not that. -- Swami Brahmananda

Through many years of being involved with meditation we have seen how easily people miss the point, mainly because they take the practice and themselves too seriously. Many "try" to meditate but their minds are so busy they get frustrated and quickly believe they are no good at it. Others turn into diehard advocates of a particular method or technique and become like a salesperson trying to sell a product.

Just like yoga, people want to own meditation and to believe that their technique is the best one. They give it a name: TM, Vipassana or Kundalini meditation and sometimes make outrageous claims of what can be achieved, but that is not the point. Meditation is not a technique -- being quiet happens by itself, not because of following the breath in and out, reciting a specific mantra or creating a visualization.

Teachers, through their compassion, have created the many methods and techniques in order to help their students to concentrate and focus their minds, to be one-pointed. No one technique is better than another; they equally give our monkey minds something to do other than drive us bananas. Many of the practices known as meditation are actually concentration; they bring the mental energy together so the mind is less fragmented. But this is not meditation. Read more

How Meditation Might Ward Off the Effects of Aging

A study at a US Buddhist retreat suggests eastern relaxation techniques can protect our chromosomes from degenerating.

... After several years of number-crunching, data from the so-called Shamatha project is finally starting to be published. So far the research has shown some not hugely surprising psychological and cognitive changes – improvements in perception and wellbeing, for example. But one result in particular has potentially stunning implications: that by protecting caps called telomeres on the ends of our chromosomes, meditation might help to delay the process of ageing. Read more

3 Tips for Inducing Altered States of Consciousness

An altered state of consciousness is a brain state wherein one loses the sense of identity with one's body or with one's normal sense perceptions. A person may enter an altered state of consciousness through such things as sensory deprivation or overload, neurochemical imbalance, fever, or trauma. One may also achieve an altered state by chanting, meditating, entering a trance state, or ingesting psychedelic drugs. Ammol Mehta gives three tips for inducing altered states naturally.

... Tips for Inducing Altered States of Consciousness

It is very difficult to pinpoint the reasons why these altered states take place when they do. If such states do interest you and you would like to explore them in your own life, I would give the following advise as starters…

1. Ask How You Spend Your Energy:

Start with that question. See how you spend the energy you are given. Do you simply waste it away or are you putting it to good use? If you are wasting your time and energy, then it is wise to start making modifications to your life in order to better gather and use your energy. Perhaps enlightenment is simply a reward for doing this. Read more

Gayatri Mantra Meditation for Opening the Third Eye

This mantra meditation technique uses the Gayatri mantra to help activate and open the Third Eye Chakra. In addition to the Gayatri Mantra, the meditation also uses the Gyan Mudra and Shambhavi Mudra to further stimulate the Third Eye Center. This combination of techniques makes this one of the most effective meditations for Opening the Third Eye.

Mindfulness Meditation Benefits and Changes Brain Structures in 8 Weeks

Meditation isn't just good for the soul. It affects your body and mind, too. A recent study concluded that mindfulness meditation benefits and changes the brain structures associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress in just eight weeks.

Meditation is just a way to relax and maybe calm you down for the moment, right? Wrong. Not only will most regular meditators tell you that meditation makes them feel better emotionally and physically, but now there is also scientific evidence that regular meditation literally changes the body -- specifically, it changes the brain in ways that appear to be beneficial.

In a study published in the January 30 edition of Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers concluded that an eight week mindful meditation practice produced measurable changes in participants' brain regions associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress. This is the first study to document meditation-produced changes in the brain's grey matter over time. Read more

6 Ways to Develop Your Intuition

How intuitive are you? Do you just rely on logic or do you follow your gut? When you feel strongly about something without logical basis to it, it's called intuition. Some say only a few people are gifted with intuition, but the truth is that anyone can develop intuition.

Why the need to develop intuition, you ask? First of all, intuition promotes good communication. It makes you more sensitive to the people around you. It often keeps you from hurting those you love because you are intuitive enough to understand them. Intuition also has a healing power. This healing power is not in the physical sense, but in delving deep into your soul to eradicate negative energy buried in it.

If you ready to develop your intuition, here are six ways to unlock this gift:

1) Trust your first impressions.

When you see someone for the first time and think that he is a bit too arrogant for your taste, chances are that impression actually is correct. Most of the time, first impressions are brought by intuition.

2) Just let go.

If you are faced with a major decision, let go of all the inhibitions and head to a quiet place where you can find out where the letting go has brought you. Sometimes you just have to listen to the voice within you, and that voice can't speak to you unless you let go.

3) Never expect.

After letting go of the inhibitions and all those things that stop you from thinking and feeling clearly, never expect an answer right away, or that the "hunch" will come to you immediately. Give it some time.

4) Stay positive!

A worry-free, fear-free state can do so much to improve your intuitive ability. By staying positive, you attract positive energy that will be able to easily recognize imminent feelings and events.

5) Be happy!

Happiness attracts immense power, and such power includes intuition. In tapping your intuition, your motivation must be happiness and contentment. In that emotional state, intuition comes to you more easily.

6) Meditate

Meditating means finding peace in yourself. If your mind and heart are cluttered with too much baggage and pain,  you won't be able to reach that part of you that can eventually initiate intuition. There are so many ways to meditate. All of them work iff you practice them.

Intuition is helpful, because sometimes it leads you to knowledge that cannot be attained otherwise. Decisions are made more easily if informed by this gift. Develop intuition now and reap benefits you never imagined.

The 4 Myths about Meditation

If you resist meditation, you may be buying into one of four common myths about it, says Ronald Alexander.

The majority of my clients resist mindfulness meditation at first, although the time commitment is small and the payoff is enormous. One insisted that it wasn't necessary and that she didn't have enough time in her day to devote to a regular practice. Then she went through the loss of a parent, and had such trouble coping that she couldn't even drag herself out of bed. After missing work 10 days straight, she called me for my advice. I told her to mindfully meditate while in bed. Terrified and bewildered, my client did and, in a few days, found that she could face going to work again. After that, whenever she was in an overwhelming state of grief or so distracted that she couldn't focus, she would close her door, tell her assistant to hold all her calls and do a five minute meditation. Slowly, her grief lessened.

Typically, those who resist meditation are buying in to one of the following four common myths from my book, "Wise Mind, Open Mind" that create resistance to regular mindfulness meditation practice. Read more

Meditation Improves Cognitive Skills in Just Four Days

If you are still undecided whether to sign up for that meditation class, perhaps this piece of research news may do the trick. A study published in the April 2 issue of Consciousness and Cognition found that twenty minutes of meditation each day can improve cognitive skills in as little as four days.

Some of us need regular amounts of coffee or other chemical enhancers to make us cognitively sharper. A newly published study suggests perhaps a brief bit of meditation would prepare us just as well.

While past research using neuroimaging technology has shown that meditation techniques can promote significant changes in brain areas associated with concentration, it has always been assumed that extensive training was required to achieve this effect. Though many people would like to boost their cognitive abilities, the monk-like discipline required seems like a daunting time commitment and financial cost for this benefit.

Surprisingly, the benefits may be achievable even without all the work. Though it sounds almost like an advertisement for a "miracle" weight-loss product, new research now suggests that the mind may be easier to cognitively train than we previously believed. Psychologists studying the effects of a meditation technique known as "mindfulness " found that meditation-trained participants showed a significant improvement in their critical cognitive skills (and performed significantly higher in cognitive tests than a control group) after only four days of training for only 20 minutes each day. Read more

3 Meditation Methods for Dealing with Pain

Anyone who has heard of the expression about the power of mind over matter will easily understand the benefit of meditation on people suffering from different forms of physical pain. Meditation can help in alleviating a person’s condition through several methods.

Concentration techniques in meditation can help in easing a person’s suffering by keeping his/her mind away from the source of the pain. Usually, the pain is magnified because people choose to focus on it. If their attention is trained somewhere else, the pain becomes more manageable.

Another method is called mindfulness meditation. This involves being aware of one’s present condition and accepting it as such. If a person accepts that he/she is currently in pain, dealing with it would be much easier.

Then there’s visualization. It could be considered as a form of self-hypnosis. It is done by creating an image of the pain and imagining it moving away from the body.

As suggested by these methods, they do not actually take away pain from the person. Rather, they make dealing with the pain much easier. This is also the reason why methods like those mentioned should be coupled with the proper medical advice. Otherwise, there will be a risk of overlooking more serious conditions that could be causing the pain. Along with the proper medical advice, meditation can help improve a person’s tolerance for pain.

Can Meditation Be Sexy?

Ed and Deb Shapiro say that the Appreciation Meditation can help you connect with the beauty in both yourself and the world around you.

From Madonna to Christie Turlington, from Sting to Richard Gere, meditation is what's happening. We use the term 'sexy' because meditation is now the IN thing, with more and more people, both young and old, chilling out by doing it. At the same time, cross-legged yogis and monks can be seen in television and magazine ads selling everything from cars to herbal teas.

You do not have to be a hippie or on a spiritual quest to meditate. We have taught housewives, athletes, musicians and therapists in yoga centers and town halls, high school gymnasiums, on ski slopes and on television. We were invited to teach meditation in Thailand to corporate CEO's, as more businesses are incorporating stress-release and meditation techniques. Read more