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Meditation has been practiced for centuries, and its benefits are now widely recognized in our fast-paced modern world. Incorporating meditation into your daily routine can significantly enhance your mental, emotional, and physical well-being. In this blog post, we will explore the myriad benefits of meditation and provide practical tips on how to seamlessly integrate it into your everyday life. Whether you’re considering joining a meditation class or embarking on a meditation retreat, this guide will help you get started on your journey to mindfulness.
The Benefits of Meditation 1. Stress Reduction One of the most well-known benefits of meditation is its ability to reduce stress. Regular meditation practice helps lower the production of stress hormones like cortisol. By calming the mind and body, meditation allows you to respond to stressors more effectively, leading to a more balanced and tranquil state of being. 2. Enhanced Emotional Health Meditation can improve your emotional health by promoting a positive outlook and increasing self-awareness. It helps you recognize and manage your emotions better, reducing symptoms of anxiety and depression. Studies have shown that regular meditation can lead to a greater sense of overall well-being and happiness. 3. Improved Focus and Concentration Meditation trains the mind to stay focused and attentive. By practicing mindfulness, you can enhance your concentration and cognitive function, leading to better productivity and performance in daily tasks. This benefit is particularly valuable in our distraction-filled world. 4. Better Sleep For those struggling with insomnia or poor sleep quality, meditation can be a game-changer. Mindfulness practices help calm the mind and relax the body, making it easier to fall asleep and enjoy a restful night. Consistent meditation can also improve sleep patterns over time. 5. Increased Self-Awareness Meditation encourages self-reflection and introspection, helping you understand yourself better. This heightened self-awareness can lead to personal growth, improved relationships, and a deeper connection with your inner self. How to Incorporate Meditation Into Your Daily Life 1. Start Small Begin with just a few minutes of meditation each day. As you become more comfortable with the practice, gradually increase the duration. Starting small makes the habit more manageable and less overwhelming. 2. Choose a Convenient Time and Place Find a quiet and comfortable space where you won’t be disturbed. Choose a time of day that works best for you, whether it’s first thing in the morning, during a lunch break, or before bedtime. Consistency is key to building a lasting habit. 3. Join a Meditation Class If you’re new to meditation, consider joining a meditation class. Guided sessions led by experienced instructors can provide valuable insights and techniques, making it easier for you to establish a solid foundation. Plus, being part of a group can offer motivation and support. 4. Attend a Meditation Retreat For a deeper dive into meditation, consider attending a meditation retreat. These immersive experiences allow you to disconnect from daily distractions and focus entirely on your practice. A meditation retreat can accelerate your progress and provide a profound sense of peace and clarity. 5. Use Guided Meditations Guided meditations are an excellent resource for beginners and experienced meditators alike. Apps and online platforms offer a wide variety of guided sessions that can help you stay focused and motivated. They provide structure and guidance, making it easier to maintain your practice. 6. Incorporate Mindfulness Into Daily Activities You don’t always need to be seated in a quiet room to meditate. Practice mindfulness throughout your day by paying attention to your breath, sensations, and surroundings. Whether you’re walking, eating, or working, bring a mindful awareness to your activities. 7. Be Patient and Persistent Like any new habit, meditation requires patience and persistence. Don’t be discouraged if your mind wanders or if you find it challenging at first. Keep practicing, and over time, you’ll notice the benefits and find it easier to incorporate meditation into your daily routine. In conclusion, meditation offers a wealth of benefits that can enhance various aspects of your life. By starting small, choosing the right resources, and staying consistent, you can make meditation a regular part of your day. Whether through a meditation class or a meditation retreat, there are numerous ways to deepen your practice and experience the transformative power of mindfulness.
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 Article from guest writer Brad Krause. Many retirees typically experience lessening flexibility, weaker muscles, and an inhibited ability to move around as they age. This can be frustrating on several levels — not only are they less able to get around physically, but they can also experience a great deal of frustration at their declining motion. The best way to combat this is to help them take steps to improve their mobility and flexibility. Through clever, careful use of yoga and meditation, you can help to keep the senior in your care limber and flexible, both mentally and physically. Boosting Your Senior’s Mind with Meditation As the aging process continues, many seniors frequently have difficulty reconciling their self-image as younger, healthier people when their current state requires them to slow down and take caution. For many seniors, this can lead to feelings of worthlessness. Additionally, any kind of negative talk can build up over time, which is why many seniors choose to become more reserved, separating themselves from their family and their relationships. It is therefore critical for seniors to have a sense of purpose and of self, independent of their age. This is one of the key ways meditation can be beneficial for seniors. While you may find that the senior under your care might initially approach meditation with skepticism, you can tell them that at the center of meditation is self-talk, or mindfulness of one’s self and the surrounding world. Meditation can help seniors come to terms with their own aging and even take joy in it. It can also help create a cycle of positive self-talk in their minds that not only supports good moods, but even boosts their overall cognition and memory recall. In short, practicing meditation for 15 minutes every day can help seniors feel youthful and active. Boosting Your Senior’s Health with Yoga A common side effect of meditation is the desire to start conquering the other major stumbling block seniors experience: a body that may be less healthy than they prefer. Not only can yoga help you build muscle and help improve your mobility, but it can also tackle problems such as an unhealthy gut, which occurs when the flora in your gut becomes out of balance. The best use of their time is to combine the two activities into one exercise that helps support the body and mind simultaneously. Mindfulness meditation is at the heart of basic yoga, which is an exercise routine involving stretches, held positions, and deep breathing. While not all forms of yoga are equal (some types can be extremely difficult for athletes), there are many varieties of yoga that are specifically designed for seniors, like chair yoga, which provides a chair or stool to assist seniors with their balance while they hold the different positions. Practice Yoga and Meditation at Home You can also make it easy for the loved one under your care to explore the world of yoga and meditation by setting them up with their own practice space in their home. You can create a small home gym where they can participate in all of their home-based workouts, but keep in mind that it’s safest for seniors to exercise on padded or rubber flooring in a room with ample lighting. If an all-around home gym isn’t necessary, it’s simple to set up a calming space just for yoga and meditation. If you can, find a quiet spot with a view of nature or another relaxing focal point. Add a yoga mat to cushion the floor and a reliable WiFi connection to allow them to watch or stream instructional videos, guides, and exercise classes. Bonus points if there’s enough room for you to practice alongside them. Yoga and meditation are great ways for seniors to overcome the troubles of their advancing years. After months of supporting their mental health with meditation and their physical health with yoga, they will feel more flexible and quicker in body and in mind. Brad Krause graduated from college in 2010 and went straight to the corporate world at the headquarters of a popular retail company. But what started as a dream job soured quickly. After four years of working 15-hour days and neglecting his health, he decided enough was enough. Through aiding a friend during a tough time, Brad discovered his real calling-helping people implement self-care practices that improve their overall wellbeing. He createdSelfCaring.info to share his own knowledge and the many great resources he finds on his self-care journey. What is meditation and what are the benefits of meditation. Our mind is a powerful tool. Most of the time, we tend to believe what our mind is saying. We hear a voice in our head and we tend to identify with it. Yet whatever is being said isn’t always true. But if we believe all that we hear in our head then our happiness will only depend on our positive thinking. It is great if we are a naturally born optimist but challenging if our mind is wired on fear or self-criticism.
Also our emotions are strongly linked with our thoughts. If our mind tends to worry about something in the future, we then tend to experience fear in the present moment. It does not mean that this worry will actually happen, it may or it may not. But in the meantime we have created stress for ourselves by listening to those thoughts. Whatever the mind is saying, it will create an emotional response in our body.We have a tendency to spend most of our life reacting and responding to our thoughts without questioning. Yet what if it could be different? We hold the power within ourselves to change our thoughts and even to stop our mind at once. And when we become able to control our mind, we also become in control of how we experience life. The best tool I know that can bring us this new quality of life is the practice of meditation. With regular meditation practice, we slowly start managing our thoughts. We become more aware and conscious of all the incessant chatter inside our head. And then we can learn how to completely stop it. Of course it takes time but the peace and happiness that result are definitely worth it. With meditation regular practice is essential. We can learn different techniques and practice the ones that suit us best. We can also join a meditation class in our neighbourhood or enrol in a meditation retreat for a quantum leap in our practice! Check out our meditation ebook and our meditation retreats, we will help you silence that chattering mind! :)  For years and years, I identified myself with my mind. I thought I was the mind. What a surprise when I discovered I was not! It changed everything. It was a big relief for me because as a teenager, despite being one of the smartest kids at school, I believed myself crazy. There was incessant chatter in my head, most of it unnecessary thoughts of fear and worry, and I didn`t know if it was the same for other people. That chatter was driving me insane, I wanted to go and see a psychiatrist sometimes. But it seemed that everybody found me ‘normal’, and I was doing pretty well at what I was undertaking. So I started assuming that it was just the way to be, and that I would be an overactive thinker for the rest of my life, no respite. As the French philosopher Descartes was saying: ‘I think, therefore I am’. I had no idea how wrong we both were! What a relief it was for me the first time I experienced a few minutes with absolutely no thought. Complete silence. It was so peaceful! And yet I was still alive. I still existed. I could feel myself be in the absence of the mind. That`s when it hit me: I AM even when I don`t think, therefore I am not my mind! To rephrase Descartes I could say: ‘When I do not think, there I am’. Furthermore, I was feeling more myself in this moment than when I was thinking! That changed my life. That`s when I started meditating even more so as to find that space again, that peace, and so as to start controlling my mind. That is when I really started living.
THE MIND AS A COMPUTER So what is the mind? The mind is like a computer, storing and processing data on its hard drive. Then analysing, comparing, and offering solutions to situations. For example, when I see a flame, straight away the mind may think: flame- fire- heat- careful- burnt hand at seven years of age- painful- could burn now- third degree burn- ambulance- hospital- staying away from flame! All this in a split second. Amazing! My experience and knowledge about fire will prevent me getting burnt each time I see a flame, and at the same time it offers me possible scenarios if I choose to get in contact with it. The mind sees what is in the present. Then, it compares it with what it knows happened in the past, or with what it learned in books, with people, school or society. Then it gives us all this data in thought forms, impressions or feelings. And finally it diverges on possible future scenarios according to all this information. That is why when we are listening to the mind, we find ourselves in the past or a probable future. It is really an amazing tool which is here to help us survive in a physical body in this third dimensional world. The problem is that we forget that it is just that, a tool, a computer. Over the years we put effort into making it strong, sharp and intelligent. Unfortunately, we overuse it and we forget to turn it off. Now the most common problem in the world is an overactive mind and people`s identification with it. It`s like having a TV inside our heads which is turned on all day long, and we can`t stop ourselves from watching it. After a while we even forget that we are actually separate from it. This is the biggest illusion, the identification with the mind. Most diseases of the modern world are related to this confusion: depression, compulsive disorders, anxiety, stress, etc. And taking medication or going to see a psychiatrist or psychologist won`t do any good, because you cannot fix the mind. The mind is the problem. The only medication that will heal these issues is Meditation, because it is the only way to get rid of the problem. UNDERSTAND YOUR MIND The first step to understand the mind is to watch it. Pay attention to it. Notice how it works. Follow the strand of your thoughts. Try to remember what triggered your thought patterns. Why are you thinking what you are thinking now? What was your first thought, your first sentence, your first word, etc? Look at your thoughts. Watch them from a distance. Be the observer. Don`t try to understand them, just be aware of them. Look and listen to them as if you were watching a movie, the fictional movie of your imagination. Try to notice the patterns. Try to notice the repetitions. Try to notice how that mind of yours is functioning. THE MIND AND ASSOCIATIONS The mind works with associations. You see something that makes you think about another thing which reminds you of something else which…it is a jumping monkey. For example, you see a blue flower. You may think: this is a blue flower- it`s beautiful – I love blue- it looks like the one my mum used to have in her garden- it`s been a long time since I called her- wonder if she found the key she was looking for- that reminds me that I need to pick up my car keys at Kate`s later- then I will need to get something for dinner- a roast would be great- but it takes too long to cook- let`s have mashed potatoes instead- yes that`s good, I’ll have more time to watch my TV show…You are still looking at the flower, but you are gone with the mind. The flower is real, it is what IS NOW, but the mind is not. You left reality to follow an illusion. And this happens all the time, indeed it never stops. THE MIND AND LABELING The mind works at labelling. The mind loves to notice and label things which you are seeing with your physical eyes: a blue/ beautiful/ small/ big/ funny/ etc flower, a car, a tree, a bus, oh it`s raining, etc. It likes putting adjective to the material world it sees depending on your experience, subjectivity or perception. It also comments on what/ how your body is feeling in the moment: it`s hot/ cold/ humid/ etc. It transfers physical data to your conscious self so you can act accordingly, like putting a sweater on if you`re cold. It will always describe and label what your senses perceive of the outside world. It is a computer, it processes information. THE MIND AND READING The mind loves reading things. Whatever your eyes get in contact with, your mind will try to read if you don`t consciously stop it. For example the billboards in the streets, even if you take the same road every day, if you look at the board you will have the slogan being said inside your head straight away (great for advertising!). That is also why every morning, while you are eating your cereals, you are reading what`s in the pack if it is right in front you, even if you have been eating the same cereals for years and they haven`t changed the ingredients. The mind will always be looking for something to read, while you`re eating, while you`re walking, while you`re on public transport, etc. It will always try to remove you from the experience you are having right now. It will prevent you from focusing on your present reality, and reading is one of its escape tricks. . THE MIND AND TIME The mind loves to go over the past and sometimes change it. It loves to remember the past, good times or not, like watching a movie over and over again. Then it loves to think about what would have happened if someone might have done this instead of that, if someone might have said that instead of this, or what someone should have done or not done, should have said or not said…The mind also loves to plan the future. It is always concerned about what we should do, don`t do, what could go wrong and why. It loves its ‘what to do’ list: what we ‘have to’ do tomorrow or next week, which day, what time, etc. It likes organizing, planning, making lists and when something is finally done from the list, something else suddenly appears…always busy! It is a computer, gathering, analysing data and offering solutions. It never stops. It is restless. We made it that way. It will only exist in time, in the past or in the future, and it will always try to escape the present, because in the NOW the mind is not. This is an excerpt from 7 Illusions  What is meditation?Meditation has been used for centuries all over the world. People that have been practicing meditation for a long time can radiate peace and well-being. Meditation is the best tool available to us to find happiness and peace of mind. Yet, despise it being known, practiced and praised for so long it is still not part of our every day life. Why? Maybe because meditation can be both easy and difficult at the same time.
Why is meditation easy? It is free! It is not something only available to the richest people in the world, it is available to anyone! Its does not cost any money, nothing, nada! It is technically easy to do, we just have to sit down and close our eyes. How easy is that! it does not take too much of our precious time. If we can spare twenty minutes a day that`s already plenty. We can always wake up 20 mn earlier, go to bed 20 mn later, or spend 20 mn less on Facebook or watching TV. we don`t have to think hard about anything, on the contrary the less we think the better it is! Why is meditation so difficult? mainly because we identify with our mind AND THE MIND DOES NOT LIKE MEDITATION! What the mind says: ‘i don't have time today’ ‘i`ll do it later’ ‘i`ll start tomorrow’ ‘pfff, it`s too hard’ ‘i don`t want to’ `’i don`t feel like it’ i rather eat, watch TV or check Facebook again’ Why does the mind say that? The main aim of meditation is to quiet the mind. A quiet mind = peace. But the mind itself doesn`t want to be quiet! It wants to be active, busy, heard, listen to. It just wants to talk talk talk!!! Meditation can quieten and stop the mind. The mind does not want to disappear so it will do anything to stop YOU from meditating. It will give give you ALL the excuses in the world not to meditate, EVERY TIME you will try to. YOU are NOT your mind. If you can learn to quieten, stop and control something, it means that THAT THING is not you, it is separate from you. So why should you meditate? Do you want to spend the rest of your life listening and being controlled by a voice in your head which is NOT REALLY YOU? It is like having a TV in our head, switch on all day long on the same channel, with no remote to change channels or turn it off. Meditation is the remote control. What could happen if you start practicing meditation? * you can become in control of your mind * you can become in control of your thoughts * if you control your thoughts, you control your emotions * you will become happier * you will become more peaceful. * no more stress, no more worries * your life will change Shall I start meditation? * If you are 100% happy with your life and yourself, you probably don`t need to * if not, you`ve got nothing to lose, except your mind maybe 😉 We offer regular meditation classes in Byron Bay, NSW, as well as yoga and meditation retreats to teach people how to meditate and implement a regular and easy practice. Check our services on the website or Contact us if you would like more information on the teaching and retreats.  Article by freelance writer Sally Writes.
Reduce Pain By Up to 90% with Mindfulness Meditation Pain, like any other emotion, is incredibly subjective. It is information processed by the brain, which can be tackled by focusing your attention in the right way. It is estimated that the most experienced meditators can reduce pain by 90% without medication. This is not just based on anecdotal evidence, but is backed up by a number of scientific studies. The alleviation of suffering can come from living in the moment. Here are the benefits of mindfulness of pain relief and how it works. Non-Addictive Alternative to Medication One reason you should be using the power of the mind for pain relief is to avoid potentially addictive medication. Opioid addiction is increasing and health experts are searching for a safe alternative. Meditation might just be the answer. Brain scans have shown that focusing on the present really does relieve pain, but using different neural pathways to pain killers. Instead of using the body’s natural opioid system, meditation targets a different area of the brain, making it non-addictive. This can be combined with other natural alternative pain remedies. Primary and Secondary Pain The evolution of the brain is incredible, but sometimes detrimental to our happiness. Response to pain essentially happens on two levels. There is the initial, primary response, such as the immediate reaction to placing your hand on a hot stove. You will pull your hand away before you have even processed the pain. This is a way the brain can respond to pain rapidly and keep you safe. Secondary pain is that long lasting, chronic pain. This is manufactured and draws on memories of suffering from the past. Mindful meditation can train your brain not amplify these feelings, essentially turning down suffering. Much pain is caused by stress and anxiety, both of which we know can be managed with mindfulness. This is because brain has a bias towards negative feelings. By closing your eyes, taking deep breaths and thinking positively, you can induce a relaxed state, causing your brain to believe there is no danger and no need to feel pain. Like any skill, mindfulness must be practiced regularly in order to have an effect. It can be all too easy to reach for a pill for quick relief. However, pain is almost entirely manufactured in the mind. If pain is intense and long lasting, you can naturally relieve it by becoming truly present and paying attention to sensations as they arise.  Article by freelance writer Sally Writes
With the pressures of today’s society, it is very easy to fall out of touch with who we truly are. What with the difficulties of balancing work and personal commitments and harmful messages from the media that make you feel like you are never ‘enough,’ it is easy to lose track of your true feelings in the struggle to keep up. Luckily there are many ways to reconnect with your inner self. Here are a few to consider. Mindfulness Mindfulness can reduce stress and help you be aware of your own thoughts, emotions and the sensations around you, thus allowing you to connect with your inner-self. Mindfulness is the mental state achieved by focusing your awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one's feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations. You can cultivate mindfulness through methods such as mindful eating where you really focus on every sensation of the food rather than wolfing it down while scrolling through Facebook. There are many books on mindfulness as well as free resources on mindfulness practice on the internet. If you feel you need some personal help, search for a mindfulness coach in your local area. Meditation The world is finally learning the power of meditation. Across multiple studies meditation has been shown to improve anxiety and depression. Even mentally healthy people can benefit from using meditation to handle stress and promote well being. A less talked about but equally important benefit is using meditation to reconnect with yourself. By turning off the physical and psychological noise around you, meditation allows you to tune into thoughts that you usually miss and maybe tap into abilities you didn’t know you had. Connectedness hacks Whilst these hacks aren’t as effective as a long term change, they can really give you a boost when you are finding it hard to hear your inner voice. Two of the most effective are taking a solo day trip to spend time in nature and turning off your phone to take a social media and communications hiatus for a weekend. Both of these activities are great when you are feeling overwhelmed because they forcibly quiet the background noise and give you breathing space while you recenter yourself. Self-love Self-love is treating yourself with the same kindness you would a dear friend. Recognise and accept your inner needs. Understand you are human and make mistakes. For many people, getting to know and love your inner self is the final piece of the puzzle. This life can be hard and keeping in touch with your inner self can be a challenge. However, it is work well worth doing. Moreover, these methods are enjoyable and add to your quality of life. Give them a try, you deserve it.  By Guest blogger Sally Writes
Going on a spiritual vacation is one of the best ways to clear the mind, get in touch with one’s inner self, and achieve enlightenment. Every year, thousands of people go on a spiritual or yoga retreat to refresh their minds, with many travelling all the way to New South Wales to learn meditation techniques and reconnect with nature for a better quality of life. With most people living a fast-paced lifestyle, it seems that the proliferation of mindfulness retreats seem to be timely as more individuals are seeking positive ways to reduce the stress of everyday life. Visiting spiritualist destinations around the world provides many benefits for those in need of spiritual, mental, and physical healing. Moreover, taking a trip to these vacation destinations can contribute to a person’s overall health and happiness as they learn to go on an inner journey and discover deep truths about themselves. Here are all the reasons why you need to go on a spiritual or yoga retreat. You get ample time for self-care Most people eschew self-care as they take on the demands of work and family, but taking some time to care for yourself is crucial to avoid burnout and restore your energy. Just having the time to meditate, pray, read, walk, or do nothing at all can do wonders to help you unwind and reflect on what’s truly important. The Awaken Meditation Retreat in Byron Bay is a fantastic example of a spiritual destination that promotes mindfulness and self-care. The serene vacation spot holds mindfulness and meditation workshops as well as daily yoga lessons to help you quiet your mind, reduce stress, and have inner peace. You become more mindful Going on a spiritual or yoga retreat helps you become more aware of how your actions impact the environment and the people around you. As you grow mindful, you focus on the people around you and you find ways to improve yourself every day. You’ll make healthy choices Some yoga or spiritual vacation destinations provide healthful food during your stay, so your body becomes well-nourished as you feast on fresh food every day. Most retreats also prohibit unhealthy habits such as smoking and drinking, and some even require you to go on a technology detox to get the full benefits of the retreat. By going on this type of vacation, your body and mind get a break from all the pollutants and toxins that you get from your daily environment and lifestyle. You’ll look and feel better than you ever did before Doing yoga, meditation, and eating healthy food will make you feel physically and emotionally better. You may find that your muscles don’t ache as they used to, and even your skin glows as your appearance reflects all the tender care that you’re giving your mind and body during your stay. These are all the reasons why you should opt to go on a spiritual or yoga retreat for your next holiday. You’ll find that taking some time to reflect and care for yourself will give you the priceless gift of peace of mind, health, and happiness. Next retreat in Byron Bay from the 18th to 23rd of February 2018. Book Now  When our physical body get sick, we try to fix it. We can try a western medicine approach: take a few pills and wait for the symptoms to disappear. Or we believe in a more holistic approach when all physical symptoms are a mere reflection of a dis-ease in our mind/ emotion/ body /soul connection. Then, not only are we trying to treat the symptoms but also the causes of the problem. We will also try to keep our body/ mind healthy and in balance to prevent ‘getting sick’ again. All diseases have something to teach us if we dare to look inside ourselves at what is really causing our suffering.
With mental health, the issues are harder to diagnose as we do not have any physical symptoms; we are sick ‘inside’. Again we have the choice of trying to fix the problem with a few pills and while it may help us to feel better and relieved while we are on medication, it often does not remove the problem. Healing the mind/ emotion is a far more complex healing journey than it may appear. How can meditation help? I started meditation when I was 23. I didn`t know anything about meditation or know anyone who was practicing it. I`d heard and read about it and strongly felt it could help me. I had never been diagnosed with any mental health issues before as I had never seen or told anyone about how I was feeling ‘inside’. Yet looking back I was far from being ‘as well as I appeared to be’. I grew up very shy and introverted, with very low self-esteem,getting sick a lot, got through my teenage years with ‘low mood’ and ‘dark thoughts’ always running through my head. Maybe I was just feeling lost, maybe I was looking for myself, maybe I was depressed. I was also very anxious, stressed and was experiencing panic attacks on a regular basis. And I also had some mild form of OCD ( how many times did I have to check my pocket to make sure I hadn`t forgotten my keys!!!). But because I was doing very well at school and then at uni and always been told that I was ‘ intelligent’; I didn`t know if what I was experiencing was normal or not. For me it was normal anyway, that is all I knew then. Leaving my country at 22 for a one year holiday in Australia was supposed to be life changing. I hoped it would change me anyway, change how I felt inside. Although, even if I did escape my physical conditions, what I thought made me unhappy, I couldn`t escape myself. Inside it was still the same: a busy, scared, worried, unhappy mind. I can`t remember the first time I heard about meditation, but I remember the first time I tried to do it. Not much of a success I can tell you. I didn`t stay sitting for long. But for the first time I totally become aware of how BUSY and full of nonsense my thoughts were! And if meditation could help me with that then I would give it a chance. So I started practicing daily , and slowly I started noticing some improvements. First I could manage my thoughts a bit better, then control them, then change them, then stop them altogether . That first moment when I experienced pure emptiness of thought felt incredibly amazing. I was free. Free from any negative thinking that my mind was trying to make me believe in. I was at peace. I was myself. It was just me. Bliss. I`ve never stopped meditating ever since. Meditation taught me a lot and brought me on a amazing journey full of wonderful experiences. But mainly what mediation did is that it saved me. It saved me from myself, from my own thoughts, my own fears. It does not mean that I don`t experience fear, stress or worries or negative emotions anymore, but they don`t have much power over me. They do not affect me as they used to. I can be aware of them without identifying with them. I can notice them and stop them. Or I can leave them alone while I live my life. But the best of it is that my mind is so much more peaceful! That alone is worth gold! Meditation changed my life because it changed the inside of me. It changed how I experience and respond to life. Life has still its moments of pain, joy, its problems, its ups and downs. But how I react to them is totally different now. I can now say that I am well, I am at peace, and I am happy. It has been an amazing journey, trying at times but well worth it. Now I am dedicated to teaching people how to help themselves. You can check our sessions and workshops if you are interested in learning meditation, I wrote a couple of e-books too and teach meditation retreats. Our next retreat is coming up in February. It would be great to see you there! Karen Wilson |