When you smile you bring with it a multitude of effects, not just beneficial for yourself, but everyone that comes into contact with a smile is softened instantly. Far better than a common hand shake a smile says far more when we meet someone. Your smile is so yours and yours alone. There isn’t anyone else that does it your way, from the way your skin is formed to the size of your lips, there isn’t two smiles the same. Own your smile it not only makes you more beautiful, it makes life more beautiful too.
Rainbows and Star Dust
2 Your made of the same stuff as star dust and rainbows
The scientific community have unquestionably found that we are made up of the same base matter as that of star dust and rainbows. In fact every living and non living entity in our entire known universe is made up of this very same stuff, you are as equally unique as a shooting star or a passing rainbow. The beauty in every stone, tree, waterfall or landscape is inside you. From the rain drop on the mushroom to storm clouds that made it, you are that very same beauty.
3 Your laugh gives people happiness
Your laugh comes from within, a beautifully orchestrated melody of sound that fills people with happiness. No one can produce your laugh, it has been in evolution since your birth, your richness of tones, your accent and language all play a role in shaping your laughter but it is YOU who put the finally spin on it shaping it into you very own, there isn’t two people in the entire universe with the same laugh, which makes yours truly uniquely special. Don’t forget to share.
4 Your beautiful from the inside out
There is no one as beautiful as you, no matter your shape or size, inner beauty your always outshines, leaving people with a great satisfaction after meeting you. With your smile and laughter you have the power to heals wounds, the qualities you already posses inside yourself can far exceeded that of materialistic possessions, an ever lasting contentment of peace and tranquility, the key is yours and yours alone.
5 Your big heartedness
Your loving compassion and openness, willingness and patience make your heart filled with love. A heart that doesn’t just merely beat around 115,000 times a day, it isn’t just an organ to send oxygenated blood around your system, it is so so much more. With the capacity to envelope the entire universe with unconditional love and compassion, you have with in your heart all that is good, a heart can feel love and feel pain, but a heart also has the capacity to overcome pain and transform love into unconditional ever lasting peace and tranquility.
The sunshine in your eyes
6 The sunshine in your eyes
Your eyes have taken 550million years to evolve and that’s still an ongoing process, after your conception your eyes are already starting to form at two weeks, and once grown they stay the same size from birth to death, unlike your ears or nose. Like an iceberg only 1/6 of your eyes are visible and there are over two million working parts. You eyes have more unique characteristics than a finger print counting 256 compared to 40 for a finger print. Your eyes are the second most complex organ in the body after your brain and 80% of our memories come from our eyes. They are so unique to you they sparkle from your very soul.
7 The way you express love
Love comes in many shapes and forms, your love is true, it’s pure an unconditional love that has the power to change the power to heal. Your love is all conquering and all encompassing, no one loves like you. Poets have written sonnets about this very love and never touch the ever lasting feeling your love brings. Your love is so bountiful and never ending, eternal, it can never be taken away from you, it is always yours to give.
Reflection on water
8 Your beautiful reflection in the water
You are so beautiful and perfect in every way, your still reflection is a perfect example. No matter your shape or size you really are completely and utterly perfectly you. No one could come close to your perfection, those little lumps and bumps you feel ashamed are yours and your uniqueness alone. No one comes close to being you, own it and walk with pride, you are truly uniquely beautiful.
9 When you speak angles dance in the twilight
The sound of your voice belongs to you, completely unique to you. When you sing angels really do know it’s you. Your shape and size all play an important role in your sound as well as the size of your vocal tract. Each an every factor from the location of your birth to environment you were bought up, have all shaped the way your voice sounds. A completely unique and special gift of yours.
Angels dancing in twilight
10 Your completely and utterly unique
From your smile which can only be yours to the laughter and love that makes the world a better place, the way you listen with your enormous heart containing unravelled unconditional love, your voice is perfectly in balance with the beauty of your body and the beauty from within. You really are as truly remarkable as a shooting stars and rainbows. You are and always will be Lovely. There is only one you, one complete unique you, treasure yourself for there is only one.
An American professor of mythology and religion, and celebrated author all of which delve into the human condition of experience. Born in New York into an Irish catholic middle class family, he excelled at academia from an early age later going on to receive a Bachelor of Arts and a Masters of Arts. After spending five years working, studying and living in Europe, Campbell came away spiritually awakened to the philosophies of the Indian sub continent, Hinduism and the ancient language of Sanskrit.Soon after returning to the United States he took up the position of professor at the Sarah Lawrence College in literature. In 1938 he married a previous student of dance and stayed teaching for 38 years and in that time produced some of the greatest works on the human experience.
Nikki Giovanni 1943 – present day
An celebrated African American poet, writer, commentator, activist and educator. One of the worlds most loved and well known African American poet, winning numerous awards for her poetry recording and her non fiction essays and poetry anthologies. Born in Tennessee and educated in the Austin High School, still in the area, then later accepted, at an early age due to excellence, into Fisk university in Nashville, where she graduated with a Bachelors Arts history degree
Nikki lost her grandmother soon after graduation, Giovanni would turn to writing as a solace and comfort, beginning a passion and love affaire ever since, it is from this period that she first privately published “Black feeling Black talk”. Nikki has been awarded the Rosa Parks award, the NAACP image award, Langston Hughes Medal, been nominated for a Grammy award, has twenty honorary doctorates and has been selected by Oprah Winfrey as one of her 25 living legends.
LAO TZU 601BC – unknown
LAO TZU was an ancient Chinese philosopher and writer having a great influence on t he shape Buddhism took across China and into Japan. LAO TZU literally translates as old master from the Chinese symbols and is credited with writing the TAO TE Ching and being the founder of the philosophical religion of Taoism.
There is a lot of mystery and confusion surrounding the very life of LAO TZU and even his death is unknown as it is believed he travelled west to live as a hermit in around 531BC aged 70. According to the traditional accounts of LAO TZU life, LAO worked as a scholar for the archives to the royal court of Zhou, it is believed he met and encountered Confucius, where upon hearing his words changed something in his heart, a search for truth was awakened and slowly the ideas of Taoism came about after hours of contemplative meditation.
It is said LAO TZU spent most of his life roaming the countryside of China teaching the Taoist way to many thousand followers, until he was eventually asked to record his wisdom for the good of the many. The TAO Te Ching is credited to his teaching and vastly complicated,it may take many years before we in the west truly understand it’s full genius.
Even after LAO TZU passing Taoism grew and spread through China, schools of learning were erected and empires all claimed linage direct from LAO TZU himself. As Taoism spread to the furthest shores of China it would cross the water and hit Japan with Zen and Zazen meditation. A colourful character although surrounded in mystery and myth, it is undoubtedly the spread of Taoism and it far reaching effects that are LAO TZU legacy.
Don Byas 1912 – 1972
Don Byas was an extraordinarily gifted jazz saxophone musician. Born in Muskogee, Oklahoma he was to show exceptional talent from an early age, both his parents were musicians and started there young Don’s training at an early age first teaching classical music, the violin the clarinet and then finally the saxophone, a love affaire grew with his very first sax and was to become part of his life until his death of lung cancer in 1972.
He played with some of the greatest all time swing and jazz musicians of his era and some of the well known big bands at the time. Eddie Barclay, Bill Coleman,Don Redman to name just a few.
Don spent the last 26 years of his life living and working in Europe, touring with his own big ban as well as other great musicians. He was inducted into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame in 1997
Sam Keen 1931 – present
American born author and professor of philosophy, best known for his exploits into questions of love, religion, and the human experience. He has produced numerous works of literacy both in and out of print, some of these titles include “To Love &a Be Loved”, “Faces of the Enemy”, which he co-produced into a PBS award winning documentary with the same name, and “The Passionate Life” Sam Keen has also been the subject of a television documentary in the 1990’s and spent 20 years as editor of Psychology Today Magazine. He resides in California with his wife Pratrica de Jong.
One of England’s greatest literary and social critics creating some of the most loved and well known fictional characters of our time. Born into a family of eight children it was his fathers brief time working as a clerk for the Navy Pay Office that enabled a few years private education for Charles, however Charles’s father was living well above his means and in 1824 was imprisoned in a debtors prison, at the age of twelve Charles was forced to leave school and find employment working a 10hr shift in a warehouse pasting labels, cementing an image that Dickens would recreate so well in future works.
Dickens literacy success began with the publication of the Pickwick Papers and within a few years he had risen to become an internationally celebrated author. For the most part Dickens novels that we know and love today started out as serial publications, mostly monthly, some weekly instalments that pioneered the serial publication that become the Victorian’s standard way of book publication. Because of the serial episode approach, Dickens was able to add flavours and feelings of the time and use the current politics for wit and satire to great effect, developing characters as he went based on his readers reactions. As such, his works become a fascinating insight into Victorian England. His great works of classics fiction include ‘Great Expectations’, ‘Oliver Twist’ and a ‘Tale of Two Cities’ to name but just a few. He is revered by fellow literary artists as one of the all time greats
Picasso was a Spanish painter, sculptor, poet, playwright, stage designer and printmaker. He co-founded the Cubist movement an early 20th century avent garde art movement that revolutionised European painting and sculpture. He invented the ‘constructed sculpture’ and was co-inventor of the collage, both similar in there assemblage of different forms of individual elements.
Picasso was born into a middle class family where his father was a painter by trade specialising in naturalistic depictions of birds and wild game. From a very early age it was said Picasso showed an incredible artistic talent, painting seemed to be natural to him. His early adulthood witnessed considerable change in his paintings as he explored different theologies and philosophies and experimenting with different artistic mediums. He is most well known for his surrealism period of the 1920’s and for the amount of works produce, reportedly in the region of 50,000, including paintings, sculptures, drawings and prints, this great number also comes with a down side and Picasso is the most stolen artist with a recorded 1500 pieces listed missing.
Herman Hesse love quote
Herman Hesse 1877 – 1962
Was a German born writer, poet and painter, from his childhood Hesse was a headstrong character testing the will and patience of his parents on many occasion, having a firm upbringing and stern timetables are accredited to turning a wild spirited child into a young man filled with love for music, poetry, literature and the arts.
He was educated in Switzerland and Germany and was to show early signs of excellence, however it was in the beautifully preserved Maulbronn Abbey school, that Hesse started a rebellious streak which involved conflict with his parents, school and his religious beliefs. It wasn’t until a chance work placement at a book store specialising in philosophy, theology and law that Hesse settles and his creative nature flourished. Having access to all those books and information grabbed Hesse’s attention and a passion was born and has influenced all his great classics.
His best known works, all of which explore spirituality, self knowledge and the individuals quest for authenticity, include ‘Siddhartha’, ‘Steppenwolf’ and ‘The Glass Bead Game’ considered by many as one of Germans greatest contributors to literacy. Herman Hesse was awarded the Nobel peace price for literature in 1946.
Eleanor Roosevelt love quote
Eleanor Roosevelt 1884 – 1962
An American diplomat, civil rights activist, writer and political figure serving as First Lady of the United States during her husband Franklin D Roosevelt’s four terms as United States president. A passionate human rights activist that has her the nickname ‘the First Lady of the world’ first coined by president Harry S Truman.
She was born into the prestigious family of Livingston but lost both her parents at a young age. She was educated in both America and London England where it is said the headmistress had an enormous impact on her life. She married Franklin D Roosevelt in 1905 and after her husband had an affaire she became more independent wanting a public life of her own.
Sometimes outspoken always headstrong she redefined the role as First Lady campaigning strongly for civil rights of African and Asian Americans and the World War II refugees. Following he husbands death she would spend the next 17 years in public service becoming the United States very first delegate of the United Nations. Regarded by many as one of the most esteemed women of the world.
Charles Dickens love quote
Charles Dickens 1812 – 1870
One of England’s greatest literary and social critics creating some of the most loved and well known fictional characters of our time. Born into a family of eight children it was his fathers brief time working as a clerk for the Navy Pay Office that enabled a few years private education for Charles, however Charles’s father was living well above his means and in 1824 was imprisoned in a debtors prison, at the age of twelve Charles was forced to leave school and find employment working a 10hr shift in a warehouse pasting labels, cementing an image that Dickens would recreate so well in future works.
Dickens literacy success began with the publication of the Pickwick Papers and within a few years he had risen to become an internationally celebrated author. For the most part Dickens novels that we know and love today started out as serial publications, mostly monthly, some weekly instalments that pioneered the serial publication that become the Victorian’s standard way of book publication. Because of the serial episode approach, Dickens was able to add flavours and feelings of the time and use the current politics for wit and satire to great effect, developing characters as he went based on his readers reactions. As such, his works become a fascinating insight into Victorian England. His great works of classics fiction include ‘Great Expectations’, ‘Oliver Twist’ and a ‘Tale of Two Cities’ to name but just a few. He is revered by fellow literary artists as one of the all time greats.
Plato love quote
Plato 428 – 348BC
Plato was a Classical Greek philosopher and founder of the very first institution for higher learning in the western world. He set up and established the ‘Academy’ in Athens a school where Aristotle himself studied for twenty years.
Plato is widely considered one of the forefathers of western philosophy, spirituality and even influencing western religions. His insights and contributions to our modern world cannot be underestimated, his realist solutions to universal problems now known as Platonism one of the many contributions to modern man.
Along with his teacher Socrates and his student Aristotle the three have set the course of human reasoning into overdrive and a golden Age of Enlightenment has followed. We still base some of our deep rooted ethics and philosophies in our lives from this period.
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A Vietnamese zen Buddhist monk and peace activist, nominated for the Nobel Peace prize by Martin Luther king jr. in 1967. Thay as he is affectionately known was refused entry into his native Vietnam also in 1967 and moved to France where he set up his plum village monastery, now home to over 150 monks and nuns. His numerous literary works include ‘peace in every step’ ‘the miracle of mindfulness’ and ‘old path white clouds’.
A truly extraordinary man who I personally had thought privilege to meet while at his plum village monastery, to sit in his presents was so calming, you didn’t feel nervous just completely loved. Thay has in recent times suffered from illness and has now been given permission I reside in his beloved Vietnam for his final days
For more information on Thich Nhat Hanh, his mindfulness techniques, or plum village his monastery in France then CLICK HEAR for further details.
Breathing meditation is one of the simplest and easiest of all meditations to grasp, however the untrained mind will find it a lot harder than it sounds. The good news is just like going to the gym regularly you start to build those muscles up so to with meditation you powers of concentration become greater and meditation becomes easier. Always be kind and compassionate to yourself and let whatever happens be ok.
Sit in a comfortable position with a straight spine, gently relax your shoulders and your neck muscles and softly close your eyes. Take a few long deep breaths and feel yourself relaxing.
Breathing in be aware you’re breathing in,
breathing out, be aware you are breathing out.
Count one.
Repeat this for five or ten counts then start again. This is the basics of samadhi meditation. Some points to remember, try to keep the breath as natural as possible. If your mind wanders, be kind to yourself, and bring your awareness back to the breath and start counting again. Try this meditation exercise for ten minutes at first and slowly increase the time over a course of a few days. The most important thing is to always be patient and compassionate to yourself.
Body scan meditation
This meditation is usually done lying down but if you find you keep falling asleep it can equally be done siting in a straight backed chair. Find yourself a comfortable place, somewhere where you won’t be disturbed, lay flat on your back with a cushion under your knees this help keep your back flat against the floor. Your head needs to be comfortable, if you are using a yoga mat try without a pillow. Start by taking a few long deep breaths, gradually start to feel yourself unwind and relax, slowly, starting from the very top of the head notice any sensation that may arise. it could be itching, aching, tiredness, pain or stiffness, or any number of different sensations. Just notice, don’t interfere, don’t scratch or itch or fidget, just notice and be ok with it. Be gently to yourself, be kind, and be ok with whatever you feel. Maybe you feel no sensation at all and that’s ok to, there is no rule as to what you will feel. Just notice then slowly move down to your forehead, your eyebrows, cheek bones, ears, lips, chin, neck and shoulders, keep moving down through your body checking for sensations. You don’t have to start the way I described either, be inventive a move around your body to each new sensation that arises. Do this for 10 or 20 minutes everyday and you will soon see a remarkable difference in your stress levels.
Mantra meditation
A mantra meditation is the repetition or repeated use of a phrase, sentence or saying. In this example we will use the divine Om Mana Padma Um mantra, a Buddhist chant still very much in use today, especially with Tibetans Buddhists. The Dharma Haven Society have a great article on the mantras history and usage. This is the correct pronunciation of the mantra, although the repatriation is more important than pronunciation, OM (ohm) MA (mah) NI (nee) PAD (pahd) ME (may) HUM (hum). It is said the entire buddha’s teachings are within this mantra.
Now sit in a comfortable position with a straight spine, gently relax your shoulders and your neck muscles and softly close your eyes. Take a few long deep breaths and feel yourself relaxing. On the inward breath repeat in your mind Om Mana out the out breath repeat Padma Hum, On the inward breath repeat in your mind Om Mana out the out breath repeat Padma Hum On the inward breath repeat in your mind Om Mana out the out breath repeat Padma Hum. Try to carry out this exercise for 5 minutes minimum the benefits are worth every second invested.
Gratitude meditation
Gratitude meditation is one of the best ways to overcome past traumas, being grateful for what we have in the moment allows no space for negativity, pessimism, doom or gloom. Finding things in your life to be grateful for may be a little bit harder to do for some, so if you have a little trouble finding things to be grateful for CLICK HEAR, this will help. Some of my personal Seven Wonders I love to meditate with grateful are, my adopted stray dog Marley, sometimes affectionately known as Marley Moo. He really is adorable and the unconditional love he has for me. It will put a smile on my face every time. I also love the great outdoors and enjoy a good long walk, taking in the fresh air is magical.
This meditation can be practiced at home or at work, so long as you can find a quiet place you won’t be disturbed.
Have a few ideas in your mind that you are grateful about, then sit in a comfortable position with a straight spine, gently relax your shoulders and your neck muscles and softly close your eyes. Take a few long deep breaths and feel yourself relaxing.
I slowly go through my Seven Wonders list spending a nice amount of time feeling all the sensations in my body and across my face. This can be done for just ten minutes and you will feel recharged, full of energy and feeling good about life. Simple yet effective.
Try this simple Seven Wonders exercise to bring instant wellbeing to you day
The history of meditation, the oldest form of spiritual awakening there is, could be as old as antiquity itself. It isn’t however until the very first use of a form of the written language do modern historians find there first glimpse into this mystical tradition.
The earliest found written proof of meditation comes from the sacred Hindu Vedas dating from around 1700-500BC, to put that into perspective, this is from the Iron Age to late Bronze Age, the most famous reference is that of the Vedic Mantra known as “Gayatri” it describes meditating on the divine light of Savitri. The buddhist scriptures state how Gautama Buddha gained enlightenment through mediative techniques of the time, around 563BC, the masters of his time based there techniques on the very same Hindu scriptures. The Buddha however found them to be incomplete on his way to becoming enlightened and so developed his “middle way” meditation as way of gaining higher states of complete enlightenment.
It is from this period in history do we see that Buddhism gives rise to the spread of meditation, slowly moving from its Indian roots via the Silk Road, first to the East and into China, Nepal, Burma, Thailand and beyond. Confucius 551-479BC developed and further expanded on mediative ideas and techniques and would later pass them on. Taoism then developed from these methods and would spread far and wide throughout the entire of China finally reaching the shores of Japan with Zen Buddhism and zazen meditation around the 12th century.
The spread to the west again uses the Silk Road, at first spreading into Afghanistan, Turkey and then into Syria, it’s not until just twenty years before the birth of Christ and the invention of our calendar that we see the Roman Empire recording of meditative techniques and forms of spiritual exercises of the day, in its great library at Alexandra.
Islam has reference to meditation and meditation techniques, these first appear around the 8th or 9th century with the practice of Dhikr which involved the repetition of the 99 names of God. By the 12th century breath control was in practice as a mediative technique as recorded in the practice of Sufism.
And the Christians also developed some sort of meditation techniques by the 6th century, however it seems there meditation techniques contrasted all the previously discussed by not involving the repetition of any phrase and required no particular posture, which all the other scriptures without exception had practiced, bible reading according to the christians at this time was considered meditation. It’s not until the 10th-14th century do we see the practice of Hesychasm which involves the repetition of the Jesus prayer.
The modern western idea of meditation really starts in India in the 1950’s when easier forms of meditation were introduced and presented as relaxation and stress reducing techniques, these new ideas spread quickly to a busy western world, and by the 1960’s the hippy trail had started with young men and women finding there way into the Ashram’s of India, to learn first hand meditation and mindfulness. Famous bands like the Beatles popularised the spiritual meditation and mindfulness practices of today and with many eastern spiritual teachers becoming refugees during the sweep of communism across the east it hasn’t taken long before meditation practices and mindfulness training have become mainstream. It has become increasingly more difficult to find your way through the mind field of information out there. So where do you start.
Meditating Monk
What is meditation
Meditation as cited by the Oxford English Dictionary is “The action to focus one’s mind for a period of time, for religious or spiritual purposes or as a method of relaxation” and Wikipedia describes it as “a practice where an individual uses a technique of focusing their mind on a particular object”. Meditation in days of old was a passage to gain spiritual enlightenment, however today the word meditation or mindfulness can be over used by a commercial industry selling self help, relaxation and stress reduction.
The Benefits of Meditation are far more than just relaxation, yes it produces results of calming, compassion, equanimity and a general feeling of contentment, but if used as a regular practice true everlasting peace, contentment and wellbeing can be achieved through meditation and mindfulness.
The numerous scientific studies that have taken place over the last fifty or so years have shed light on The Benefits of Meditation and this mystical practice from the east. The benefits of meditation are far reaching. Increased concentration levels, reducing stress and anxiety, being more attentive, respecting others and nature, becoming kinder and calmer. Increased IQ levels, can eliminate sleep deprivation and will leave you with a deep sense of satisfaction and wellbeing.
So where do you start?
Beginners Basics
In the beginning it’s difficult to know where to start, there are so many types of meditation to choose from wether that’s focusing on the breath, Chanting a Mantra, Walking Meditation, mindfulness meditation or SittingMeditation to name but just a few. It’s good therefore to have a decent place to start.
No matter if you are looking for meditation to relax and distress or for further enlightenment, the best place to start is by having a regular practice. This can be from as little as 2 minutes a day to begin with and slowly increasing the time the more comfortable you get.
Another important factor is to find a quite place, somewhere where you won’t be disturbed, nature can be an excellent place to meditate but can also be difficult to find somewhere you feel safe and alone. Your own house or apartment is usually best.
For myself the morning is an excellent time to meditate, just after you rise, but equally as relaxing is the evening time, there is no set time just what suits your time commitments.
Meditation posture
Position and posture
After setting aside a time slot and promising to keep to a regular schedule to yourself, posture and position are next to get right. No matter how old or inflexible you are there is a position for you to meditate in. The usual meditating positions are sitting, standing, walking or lying.
Sitting Meditation doesn’t just involved bending your legs into those funny lotus positions you see in the photos, it can easily be done from a straight back chair. The most important factor to consider is your own comfort. If you do sitting meditation on the floor, you can use either the full lotus or the half lotus positions or the Thailand/Burmese style cross legged position which as you sit cross legged you sit with you legs on the floor not on top of each other, be, this is to help eliminate the pressure to the knees and ankles that sitting with your legs on top of each other creates.
Walking meditation is one of the nicest ways to meditate, and for me personally I find it the most relaxing. First find an area where you are safe to walk, no obstacles in your way. With your back straight and your shoulders relaxed, keep your head and eyes looking forward but slightly down, about 6-10ft in front of you will do nicely. Now walk as slowly as you can, try to really feel the movements of each muscle as you inch forward. Walk for 20 or so paces then slowly turn back around, pause, and walk back again. Try walking slower than a snail, it’s most enjoyable.
Lying meditation is one of the easiest ways to fall asleep and isn’t really recommended for beginners. However lay on your right shoulder, with a hand resting under the head, a pillow can be used as required, legs slightly bent.
Breath Meditation infographic
Breathing Meditation
Sit in a comfortable position with a straight spine, gently relax your shoulders and your neck muscles and softly close your eyes. Take a few long deep breaths and feel yourself relaxing.
Breathing in, be aware you’re breathing in,
breathing out, be aware you’re breathing out.
Count one.
Repeat this for five or ten counts then start again. This is the basics of breath or breathing meditation also known in Pali asSamadhi Meditation.
Some ponts to remember, try to keep the breath as natural as possible. If your mind wanders, be kind to yourself, and bring your awareness back to the breath and start counting again. Try this meditation exercise for ten minutes at first then slowly increase the time over the course of a few days. The most important thing is to be patient and compassionate to yourself.
Meditation for kids
Meditation for children is one of the most beneficial activities you can get them to do, it can boost concentration levels at school, help with socialising, aid in confidence, it will help balancing emotions and will have an overall improvement in academic test results. You can start children meditating from a very early age, however the breath technique, described above, wouldn’t be a good place to start with very young children but teenagers would be able to manage quite proficiently. For younger children it is better to do guided meditations, almost like story time, we get them to use there already incredible imaginations to focus on one particular object of meditation. Games are also another great example. Imagining that as they breath out they are filling a big balloon with air as an example.
Old meditation joke
Other types of meditation
The other types of meditation that you will find all have great benefit include,Metta or Loving Kindness Meditation, SamadhiMeditation, Vipassana Meditation, Body Scan, TranscendentalMeditation and KundaliniMeditation to name just a few. If you are a beginner the best place to start is with the Beginners Meditation or breath meditation as found above. It is a foundation for further meditation techniques that need great powers of concentration. If you are more practiced and have a good routine then you will may feel as though you may want to explore some of the other methods listed. Just for you we have put together a resource page at the bottom which can help you investigate further.
Tips and tricks
When you first start to meditate you will undoubtedly come across a few niggling problems, maybe it’s the pain in your knees or back. Maybe you keep falling asleep, or you mind keeps wandering and you don’t notice. This section is hear to help. I understand first hand the issues with meditation I was a Buddhist monk in Thailand for many years. During the full moons for instance we were expected to meditate from 10pm until sunrise.
When your feeling sleepy rubbing or a light pinch of the ear lobes gives an instant surge of life through the body, try it.
Never sit in any position longer than is necessary. There are meditators that say the pain is a useful experience to learn. Yes it is, but your knees will suffer really badly, there is other pain that can better to learn from and not as damaging.
Make a meditation diary this helps keep you motivated. Make a regular time in your day of 10 minutes or even 20 minutes and keep to the same time, make it a habit forming exercise. It takes 21 days to form a habit and 90 days to make that habit natural.
Always be kind and patient with yourself, the times when you think your meditation isn’t good because your mind is distracted, can be the times of our greatest learning, compassion and kindness go a long way.
Spend a couple of minutes getting settled into a position, wiggle your bottom around until it feels comfortable on the tail bone, also known as the sitting bone.
For more on Tips and Tricks Page to the common problems that can arise in meditation. If for any reason you can’t find the help within these pages then please feel free to Contact Us and we will respond personal as soon as we are able.
Finding the Calm in Karma 