Category: Meditation

MINDFULNESS

23/9/2015

STOP! How Being Aware Of The Present Moment Can Help Us Feel Calm, Content And Help To Clear Our Mind.

take time to appreciate what is happening in the NOW!

Mindfulness seems to be the buzz word at the moment. In fact offices across California are encouraging their employees to down tools at 12pm for 30 minutes to practice it and there is now a growing number of mindfulness apps springing up everywhere, so what exactly is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness is about being in the present moment and taking time to notice things around you such as your thoughts, feelings, sights and smells. We are all constantly juggling 101 things at any one time like thinking about what to cook for dinner, what jobs need doing and which child needs taking to which club and at what time!
We often miss hearing our children laugh or take the time to listen to birds singing or miss the beauty of what is around us because we are so caught up in the past or planning the rest of your week in our mind. By experiencing life in the ‘NOW’ can help you appreciate what is around you and also help cope with stressful situations more easily by helping you focus on what is important.

Being mindful can be achieved pretty much anywhere!

Mindfulness can be achieved in a number of way including meditation, yoga and breathing and can be done anywhere, even on the bus! It’s about taking a moment to be aware of your surroundings and pay attention to your breathing as it enters and leaves your body and letting your mind go quiet for a moment and ignoring those thoughts telling you what you need to be doing next.

Take a moment to connect with your posture, notice where your back is on the chair and how your feet feel resting on the floor and what your hands are doing. Focus where in your body you feel calm, it may be your tummy or chest and by concentrating on that area will help to relax you.

Use your senses to be more aware of what's around you, how does your coffee smell?, listen to what is around you as you walk, enjoy your food by taking time to notice the colour, smell and taste of it.
Each time you practise mindfulness you are building up part of the brain that corresponds with paying attention by ignoring the endless other thoughts running through your mind and concentrating on the here and now.

There has also been studies done that show mindfulness can reduce stress, improve sleep, stop addictive behaviours and help beat chronic pain just by thinking of the present moment and enjoying the simple pleasures every day brings.

The more you practice mindfulness the easier it becomes. Why not diarise some time, until it becomes a natural practice, to ‘Day Dream’ and be Mindful throughout the day?

I introduce Mindfulness practice into my NLP and Hypnotherapy Classes I run to help people De-Stress. If you would like some more information on these classes check out http://unbouncepages.com/relaxation-nlp-classes/
Like most things you have to practice mindfulness regularly to stop the negative thoughts that can take over our mind and learn to appreciate the smell of the flowers or the scenery around us or that great one liner your child said today. Life is for living and enjoying… Take time to notice!

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Secrets to Stop the Ageing Process? Put it this way…Size Matters!

27/8/2014

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Well it was previously thought that you could not stop the ageing process, but now there is plenty of evidence that shows you can slow the ageing process in a number of ways, including a healthy lifestyle, not smoking, diet, being relaxed i.e. not stressed, and more recently, meditation.

That’s right meditation plays a big role in our physiological health. Obviously we cannot stop time but we can slow our body’s ageing process, to bring your physiological age right down.

Effect of Meditation on Anti Ageing

Have you heard of telomeres? They’re the little end-caps on DNA that stops it unravelling, a bit like the little plastic caps on shoelaces that stop them from unravelling.

Telomeres are the amazing components that have been related to the age of our bodies. Short telomeres tend to be associated to faster ageing. So if you are like me I’d like to ensure I keep my telomeres longer to stay as healthy as possible for longer.

Lots of research has now shown that meditation is a great method that can slow ageing.

A very popular meditation and one I do regularly is the Buddhists’ Loving-Kindness Meditation. I was taught it in one of Dr David Hamilton’s workshops, and used it ever since. It helps you cultivate a sentiment of love, kindness, and compassion for yourself and others. It always makes me feel calm with a warm glow and I feel less triggered by people that have caused me stress when I think about them.

What’s great is that scientists have studied the effect of the Loving-Kindness Meditation on the length of telomeres. Fifteen practitioners of the Meditation were compared with 22 people in a control group. They were all around the same chronological age. Each person had their telomeres measured.

Results of Loving Kindness Meditation Study

The study found that the practitioners of the Loving-Kindness Meditation had longer telomeres than the control group. Basically, it meant that even though they were all around the same chronological age, the people who practiced loving-kindness were physiologically younger.

And if you’re a female reading this, you’ll be very pleased to know that Female practitioners who used Loving-Kindness Meditation had the longest telomeres of all! Hence the study suggests that this meditation seems to effect both sexes favourably but women gain even more benefit.

As discussed earlier if someone has an unhealthy diet, lifestyle, or lots of stress, they will tend to have shorter telomeres and so their body ages faster. A person whose chronological age is 40 but who leads a very unhealthy lifestyle might have a physiological age of 58. Another person with the same chronological age but who leads a very healthy life might have a physiological age of 29.

The length of your telomeres is a good estimate of your physiological age. So this is one of the occasions when size and length matters!!

So the Loving-Kindness Meditation basically reduces our physiological age. You really can grow younger! You can’t become chronologically younger, but it’s your physiological age that ultimately matters.

“So how do I do the meditation”, I hear you ask?

I use this brilliant Loving Kindness Meditation with all of my clients, and myself, as it really does change the way you think about people and desensitises any emotionally negative charged feelings towards the people that have caused you stress in the past.

You can use the following set of statements:

May ____ be filled with loving kindness,

May ____ be well,

May ____ be peaceful and at ease,

May ____ be happy, and

May ____ be free of suffering.

Where I’ve put a ____, insert first yourself (May I be…) and repeat it three times, then choose a loved one (May X be…), and again repeat three times, followed by someone emotionally neutral to you, again three times, then a difficult person in your life; that’s someone from the present or past who causes or has caused you stress and who still triggers your negative emotions. Again you wish them the sentiments three times. Then you finish by wishing the sentiment to all sentient beings, again three times. That’s one cycle.

You can do this meditation for just 1 cycle or as many as you wish. You can focus on your loved ones or people that have caused you stress in your life. There is no rule that says you have to do it in any particular way. What matters most is the sentiment of love, kindness, and compassion. And then note the change after you have practiced this several times.

Remember by doing this you can help prevent telomeres shortening, which is turn helps slow down the ageing process. Got to be worth a shot for mental, emotional, physical wellbeing, quality of life, along with a bit of vanity too, don’t you think?

Get meditating and enjoy!!

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MINDFULNESS

STOP! How Being Aware Of The Present Moment Can Help Us Feel Calm, Content And Help To Clear Our Mind.

Secrets to Stop the Ageing Process? Put it this way…Size Matters!

Effect of Meditation on Anti Ageing

Results of Loving Kindness Meditation Study

“So how do I do the meditation”, I hear you ask?

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