Meditation -To Bring the Mind Home

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Meditation -To Bring the Mind Home

Today we generally waste our life in endless activity, struggle, aggressive competition and achievement. Meditation is the exact opposite. To meditate is to make a complete break with how we normally operate, it is a state free of all cares and concerns.

The heart of meditation
In the stillness of meditation, we return to that inner nature that we have so long ago lost in the busy and chaotic distractions our mind is subjected to each day. The heart of meditation is to bring the mind home, release and relax.

• To bring the mind home means to turn your mind inward and to rest in the nature of mind.
• To release means to release mind from its prison of grasping, since you recognize that all pain, fear and distress arise from the craving of the grasping mind.
• To relax means to relax your mind into your true nature, letting all thoughts and emotions naturally subside and dissolve into the state of the nature of mind.

Meditation in a nutshell
I don't think it is possible to relate what meditation is in a nut shell but here is my feeble try: "Quietly sitting, body still, speech silent, mind at peace, let thoughts and emotions, whatever rises, come and go, not clinging to anything".

A Reiki meditation
Strictly speaking I am not sure this can be called a meditation but I cannot think of a better name so I will still refer to it as a Reiki meditation.
There are many types of meditations the three methods that seems most effective in the Western world are watching the breath, using an object and reciting a mantra. In this simple Reiki meditation one could say one uses the last two: object in the Reiki symbols and mantra in the names of the Reiki symbols. This is a very forceful and effective meditation that gives relaxation, mental calmness, clarity, increased ability to visualize, clairvoyance, increased healing power and a wider conciousness. It can also be used to solve problems or reach goals and it surrounds you with healing Reiki energy.
Here is how to do it:

1. Sit comfortably, either on a cushion with legs folded or on a straight back chair. Keep your spine erect (without force). If you are sitting on a chair do not lean back. Rub your hand together and put your hands on your knees or on another place comfortable for you.
2. Relax and breath slowly, think about Reiki.
3. Draw the Power symbol in front of you with your whole hand. Visualize how a white or violet light comes out trough your fingers as you draw the symbol in the air in front of you.
4. Visualize the symbol in the third eye chakra an recite its name three times. Keep the symbol steadily in your third eye.
5. When you feel that you have meditated enough on this symbol let it float up into a field of light above your head. Return your consciousness to the third eye chakra.
6. Repeat steps 3 to 5 with the Mental/Emotional symbol and the Distance symbol.
7. When you are finished meditating on the three symbols you will be concentrated and full of healing Reiki energy. You can now continue with the final part of the meditation where you can send Reiki to your projects, goals or healing others at a distance.
8. Send Reiki by visualizing or describing the object, goals or person. You can use the method you have learned or the one you feel is most suitable to you.
9. When finished, slowly relax and release all thoughts. Sit quietly for a few minutes and enjoy the peace.
10. Rub your hands together and "wash" your face with them. Open your eyes, walk a few steps and feel how refreshed you are.

Here are a few tips:
Make sure you have a quiet and undisturbed place. I will once again stress that you should keep your back straight to receive the most benefit from any meditation. At step 2 you can ask for help from your Reiki guides and thank them when you are finished. Practice seeing the symbols in front of you, this helps whenever you use Reiki.

Try it and see if you like it - have fun!

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Sleep Therapy

Sleep is one of nature`s greatest inventions and blessings of life. It is a periodic rest of the body, which is absolutely essential for its efficient functioning. It has been called "most cheering restorative of tired bodies," since sleep repairs the wear and tear of the body and mind incurred during waking hours. Sleep is thus a vital element in man`s mental as well as physical life, since the loss of sleep exerts seriously detrimental effects upon the nervous system. Long periods of wakefulness may cause profound psychological changes such as loss of memory, irritability, hallucination and even schizophrenic manifestations.

For correct living, however, it is essential to differentiate between sleep and rest. At rest the body is disturbed by all exterior noises; but in sleep it is screened from them by partial loss of consciousness. During rest the limbs are normal, but in sleep they swell. Blood flows from the brain, distends the arteries, and makes the limbs bigger. In sleep more muscles are relaxed than in rest, though without knowing the sleeping person changes his position about 35 times in one night. Many organs, which work during rest, suspend their activities in sleep. Thus, the recouping value of sleep is much more than that of rest or simple lying down.

Many theories of sleep have been advanced to explain the temporary loss of consciousness, which we know as sleep. Although the various theories have certain amounts of experimental evidence to support them, none has really solved what is the most mysterious process in our lives. All we know is that sleep substitutes constructive measures for the destructive processes of our waking hours and that we cannot live without sleep. The average amount of sleep needed to feel well rested is seven-and-a-half hours, though individuals vary from six to nine hours. On the whole, women sleep from 45 minutes to one hour more than men. The amount of sleep required varies at different ages as follows:
New born: 18 to 20 hours
Growing children: 10 to 12 hours
Adults: 6 to 9 hours
Aged persons: 5 to 7 hours

Throughout the sleep the depth of ordinary restful sleep fluctuates. In most adults, sleep deepens through the first hour, after which it lightens rather sharply and then more gradually until morning or until the usual time of wakening. However in growing children sleep deepens a second time for a little while. Two hours before and two hours after midnight are the most valuable for sleep of all the twenty-four hours of the day and in at this time, the mental and physical vigour are at their lowest ebb and sleep is soundest and most natural.

Sleeping well is an art. It needs a perfect blend of healthy habits and control of mind. A clean body and mind, relaxed mood, physical exercises, and perfect dietary control are some of the basic sleep-inducing methods. The sleeping place should be well ventilated, with balanced temperature and free from noises. The bed should be neither too hard nor too soft, but comfortable. The pillow should not be too hard or too high. The bedclothes should be loose-fitting and light coloured. Another important rule is not to eat heavy food shortly before bedtime.

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