Make Your Own Meditation in 5 Minutes

Meditation is good for you, many people have said they don’t know where they would be if it wasn’t for a good “letting go” of what’s on your mind – releasing your thoughts, desires attachments and reconnecting with your feelings and non-judgemental heart.

Meditation –the word meaning: “medi” root is the middle, like median, the intermediate and mediation, to intervene between opposing parties (also medium, connecting with the spirit world and Mediterranean lying between lands or even medication...) “Tion” root meaning is “act of” or “ state of” or “result of”.

So “meditation” meaning derived from the root meanings of the Medi and tion parts means the act of finding the middle, joining things up or the result of connecting parts... Just like the Buddhists say finding the middle way...
Practicing every daily helps relieve stress, improves focus and can develop compassion for ones’ self and others – relaxed concentration creates good brain wave patterns, more Alfa waves associated with a relaxed state of mind.
Exercise for the day
Draw a circle on a piece of white paper and paint or colour in the circle in blue and put it on the wall opposite somewhere you can sit comfortably. Shamans in South America would search their space for “their spot”, a place where their energy instinctively gravitates towards, so you too can find your spot, where the vibe is best for you.

Simply sit with your back straight, neck straight with your legs crossed or just upright on a decent chair sitting normally with your hands resting on the top of your thighs if this is more comfortable for you and with your shoulders resting down just be aware of the cool air coming in through your nose as you breath in and your stomach expanding and your stomach receding as you feel the warm air naturally coming out as you breath out through your mouth.

Feel your body resting on the chair as you continue to sit upright and gaze in a relaxed but focused manner at the blue spot on the wall simply keep your poise and look at the spot keeping your eyebrows and forehead relaxed.

Any thoughts that come to mind just acknowledge them, witness them and let them go, let your thoughts flow, don’t get too involved in them – just let them flow like air bubbles floating up from the depths of the ocean, dissipating as they reach the surface of the water, the surface of your mind.

Gently guide your mind back to the blue spot, just watching it, looking in a relaxed way at the blue spot and let go of your thoughts...

Finding balance and the centre between relaxation and concentration is where peace and contentment is found, letting all your thoughts go is a great release for all of you, especially your mind. Getting in control of your mind consciously yourself is also very empowering and will help you in many ways of your life.

The important thing is not to try just allow your mind really gently to focus and relax, relaxed concentration and just allowing all thoughts to flow, and then they gradually slow down and then finally almost stop in peace all by themselves...You just need to allow it, allow yourself and relax into it.

Don’t worry if you feel you can’t do it just keep re-committing to give it a go, see what happens, relax and let yourself flow...

Could we create something better?

The hustle and bustle of life, extra pressure of things costing more, people earning less and seemly less jobs on the market, financial turmoil, political unrest and added stress of challenging relationships...
“So what...?”

Is there a new way to live...? To develop closer community ties when most of us are on the computer all the time staring at an inhuman screen? When we cram onto commuter trains while the top executives of banks and major corporations who can control the markets through big advertising budgets and crushing the small competitors lounge in luxurious decadence...?

This tirade of what life can be viewed as will over spill eventually and I will transform it into a positive accepting view of the world... Accepting and challenging the status Quo to be better, based on gross domestic happiness rather than gross profit as the Dalai Lama recently said and how Bhutan runs their country (they have banned smoking and television by the way, as they found it contributed to their people being less happy...)

There is the rub – how can we create a new community based on better values, based on community and support rather than capital and currency...
We need more community values, this is happening, how about this:
Communities of people, single people, couples, families sharing work, skills and love unconditionally, being ecological, sustainable, growing their own crops on land, living locally supporting each other. Working towards improving their wellbeing and contentment and most importantly celebrating existence....

I don’t mean a beer and a fag and believe me I’ve learnt this too, we don’t REALLY need anything to celebrate life just life itself is enough to celebrate, the beauty of nature, people, the shape of the clouds and SPA-ARKLE of reflected light...
How are we going to do this...?

Answers on a postcard to GOD...Or Supreme Beingness (Or just send me some ideas...)

The Heart of Wellbeing Book Launch in London

The balance between practical action and creative imagination is how Craig Brown Chairman of the British Holistic Medicine Association describes Jan Alcoe, creator of “The Heart of Wellbeing – Seven Tools for Surviving and Thriving” practical wellbeing improvement book.

What is different between this and the myriad of other wellbeing and self help books is that it is a working product – 7 guided meditations on two CD’s for each of the 7 steps of improvement practices drawn from research and many years personal experience...

The publication is short and to the point with easy to read snippets of information with extensive actionable material.

The publication is the collaboration between the Janki Foundation; a Charitable trust that supports health practitioners especially with spiritual awareness and training to help cultivate the energy to heal and The British Holistic Medical Association; a leading body promoting holistic health in healthcare in the UK. After the gathering of many years research into what “wellbeing” actually is the group found that Wellbeing is really the subjective feeling and awareness we have inside us that makes us feel – well; even people seriously ill can experience wellbeing, essentially the feeling of connection, community, compassion and contentment – all possible for us to achieve.

Based on this research into wellbeing and many therapists personal experience they found that wellness was very much influenced by the areas shown in the diagram above (courtesy of The Heart of Wellbeing Book Publishers).

The book launched today gives us 7 tools for improving these areas of our lives:

1. Relax & Tune in.

2. Imagination

3. Thinking Positive

4. Be Creative

5. Lighten Up

6. Value Yourself

7. Discover Peace

Each of the 7 tools has a guided meditation or visualisation on the audio CD to give you some practice help to improving these areas.

Whether you are a practitioner looking to sustain your healing practice, someone who considers themselves happy, really in need of wellbeing support or someone feeling a little under the weather – there is always room for improvement.

The author of The Heart of Wellbeing, Jan Alcoe is a hypnotherapist and holistic health trainer, in the audio CD’s supplied with The Heart of Well-being there are really relaxing, focusing and empowering practices that I have been using to great benefit as I go through the publication.

The publication also references “Human Givens” – early research in the results of this therapy has found rapid success for many different mental health issues – Human Givens helps us to understand our basic needs and provides quick transformative tools to help meet them. This helps people to understand once they have met their “Human Givens” – their basic needs, they can be content and progress forward from this.

Wellbeing is a continual work-in-progress and I am looking forward to utilising this book and it’s CD’s to improve my life in many ways on a daily basis...

I invite you to give it a go....

For further information contact go to:

http://www.jankifoundation.org/heart_of_well_being/purchase_the_book.jsp

Cockney Krishna

Met this great bloke from India who can do the best Cockney accent around. It was like the East End of Bombay with a dash of rhyming slang.

Morgan speaks over ten languages, I'm not sure if he includes Cockney in this but I get the feeling he knows how to do things right. A self made man in India, Morgan runs Out of The Blue, a beautific oceanic restaurant amongst the heat and spirituality of pushkar (near Jaipur) Rajastahn, india.

I met him as I swaggered back from Mcleod Ganj in search of nothing, just walking back from somewhere towards somewhere else after melting on a magnificent pine forest mountain meander...

And so I popped into where Morgan is at now, Trek and Dine on the hills of the Himalayas, and had a cup of Masala Chai and plain rice steamed vegetables (gentle on the tummy at the moment, ahem)...

When your next inn pushkar on a sabbatical or camel trekking pop into this award winning new ITALIAN and chat some Cockney with an Indian...

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Golly! A 19 hour bus ride, lucky we had an AC Deluxe sleeper! The journey should of taken 12 hours from Jaipur to Haridwar but we happened to arrive at the Kumbh Mela the day of the great bathing, where 15 million people take to the holy waters of the river Gang due to the belief that at this time and place the holy nectar to be received from the bathing will be good for you. There was also "The word of God" Puja in the evenings at a great gathering!

This is a picture of the Pujas Gathering the evening after this most special day at the largest Mela ever!

We were lucky enough to be very well looked after by eight Sadhus who fed us and gave our own Puja, we returned the compliment by buying a Pineapple to share and Almond biscuits!

Thank you to all at the Kumbh Mela, to God and all in India for being such a wonderful place, the only place in the world where 15 million people get together for a spiritual and religious experience and dedication!

This is a picture from our bus on the way there!

Amber Fort In Jaipur, Rajasthan, India

We had a mo to go and see a big fort that was pink, very nice, they had a great little Hamman with medieval hot tub! Any of those who can spot Nan-See, Blower of the Holy Wind in the picture of the Amber Fort Entrance will win a free floatation tank experience in London UK....

Pictures of Savista Spa & Retreat

What a lovely day, this is the view of Savista from the tennis court:









And from the Veranda of our beautiful room pictured above looking out to the gardens: