Breath Counting: A Great Way to Start Your Day

Imagine the body is merely an extension of the mind. If you're mentally unbalanced, you will be physically unbalanced as well. Get in control.

You may have a weaker appetite; trouble falling asleep or waking up, more aches and pains and less energy in general.

But like two connected batteries, you can use the mind to charge the body and vice versa. If you incorporate some simple directive meditation into your daily routine, you will feel stronger physically and have more energy to get through the day. As little as 10 minutes of meditation a day can have a profoundly positive impact on your sense of balance, control and overall health.

If the idea of meditating makes you think of swamis and elaborate rituals, you may say, "Ugh!" and never want to try. However, meditation can be very simple, time efficient and (best of all) cost free.

Try this exercise in the morning. Find a quiet place and get into a comfortable position. You can lie down or sit, whichever is most relaxing. Close your eyes and focus on your breathing. Simply count each breath in your head, up to four. Then start over at one. Don't count higher than four because, believe it or not, you'll start to lose track and begin worrying about what number you are on.

As you count, focus on the feeling of your chest as it rises and falls. If you get distracted by thoughts about work or things you have to do, gently guide yourself back to the counting. The mind is not always a cooperative entity, especially if you are a Type A person, which means you are constantly moving from one chore or responsibility to the other. So at first, thoughts may intrude fairly frequently. But don't worry! Stay with it. As long as you are patient and gentle with yourself, the outer world will become less and less distracting during those 10 minutes.

To provide some structure for the exercise, you may want to use an egg timer. Then you won't have to open your eyes periodically to look at a clock or watch, wondering whether your 10 minutes are up.

The breath count is a great beginning meditation. It does a number of powerful things. First, it turns your attention inward. During those 10 minutes, you will become more aware and connected with your body. Second, it relaxes you. Your head, arms and legs may feel heavier or suddenly warmer as you count. Third, it centers you. It allows you to just "be" for a few minutes, before you must re-enter the busybody mode of life. It is a moment where you can gather all your body's energy and direct it in a very simple way.

This exercise should make the energy you need to accomplish life's most demanding tasks more readily available, and you will be able to access it faster. Getting control of a situation won't seem like such a tall mountain to climb. You may even be surprised to find that, after a week of morning breath counts, you can concentrate better at work, organize yourself more easily, and manage your relationships with greater confidence. If you are tired of relying on concentration-enhancing drugs like Ginkgo Biloba, try breath counting. And welcome yourself to the world of meditation!

Meditation & Spirituality: The Value of Relaxation

Relaxtion helps you to reduce your stress levels in many ways - physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. Actually, it's impossible to draw solid boundaries between these levels. Each influences the other, as mind, body and spirit are inextricably linked.

Relaxation helps you to reduce your stress levels, in many ways:

• Physical: Relaxation activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which counteracts the effects of the stress response by reducing the level of arousal in the body: muscles loosen, breathing and heartbeat slow down, blood vessels may dilate, and the digestive system acts more efficiently. Regular relaxation gives the body an opportunity to heal itself and strengthens the immune system, allowing the effects of chronic stress to dissipate.
  
  
• Emotional: Relaxation allows panic, anger and anxiety to drain away, to be replaced by a sense of stability and well-being. Everyone is familiar with the draining effects of these negative emotions; as relaxation reduces the intensity of these emotions, our inner resources and sense of self become stronger.
  
  
• Mental: One of the characteristics of stress is that everything clamouring for our attention assumes equal importance, making it hard to know what to tackle first, and even harder to concentrate on any one thing. Relaxation allows us some distance and perspective on our lives, creating the space in which clear priorities can emerge. As thoughts slow down, and the mind becomes dreamy and detached, we begin to access the resources of the right brain -- the creative, intuitive, non-linear part of our minds. This part can often come up with solutions to problems that defeat our logical thought processes.
  
  
• Spiritual: Relaxation provides the detachment from everyday concerns that allows us to realize what is really important in our lives; to observe thoughts, emotions and physical sensations without judging; and to have the time and space just to be, without doing. Without the distractions that normally crowd our minds, we can discover and accept who we really are.

Actually, it's impossible to draw solid boundaries between these levels. Each influences the other, as mind, body and spirit are inextricably linked. Recent research on peptides (the body's ''messenger molecules") confirms that peptide receptors are found all over the body, not just in the brain; and that the nervous system, the immune system, the endocrine (hormonal) system and the digestive system are in constant multi-way conversation.

Quick relaxation techniques are useful in dealing with acute stresses. Regular, deep relaxation has a deeper and more permanent effect. As your levels of stress reduce, you become more relaxed in everything you do, able to place each event of our day in perspective rather than overreacting. It becomes much harder for people or situations to upset you and much easier for you to take control over your thoughts, emotions and actions, and to take charge of your life.

Regular relaxation with the help of your relaxation tape will assist you in coping with your own stresses. Practice relaxing without the tape as well, perhaps by repeating some of the suggestions on the tape to yourself, so that you can relax quickly and easily whenever you need to: before an important meeting or interview, between periods of intense work, or when you need to go to sleep.

Meditation: Give Yourself a Gift

In this season of gift-giving, it is easy to become so preoccupied with searching for the perfect gift to give someone else that we forget to take care of ourselves. The altruistic spirit is a nurturing spirit when it is fully expressed. To be fully expressed it must come full circle-nothing in nature continues to exist only with the outflow. Everything flourishes in giving and receiving.

We all have the same amount of time, which flows, for eternity, in an endless stream of "now" moments. The illusion of not having enough time comes when we face the options, requirements, and opportunities that life presents to us as if we had to choose them all, or as if we cannot choose the ones we want because of obligations and forces beyond our control.

Here are some gifts you can give yourself that can make the holidays seem less hectic and more meaningful.

The Gift of Spirit:
The spirit with which we enter into everything influences its effect on us and on everyone around us. Before you go to any event, or even out shopping, do an attitude check. Use your option to say, "No" to those activities where your spirit will be agitated rather than lifted.

The Gift of Release:
Decide to let go of any rituals or activities that no longer have full meaning. Your family and friends may be just as ready to simplify their lives. Trim your card list; engage in meaningful activities and practice serenity in everything.

The Gift of Time:
Spend some time by yourself, either doing nothing or engaging in an activity which is refreshing to you, one in which you will come away renewed--not frazzled. You may also choose to combine one or more of your other gifts to yourself with this one.

The Gift of Music:
Music has the ability to soothe, uplift, renew, and inspire. Choose to have music, which evokes pleasant memories and feelings, in the background of your activities. Listen to soft music as you drive, prepare meals, or as you soak in a luxurious bath.

The Gift of Balance:
A frantic holiday season comes from keeping our attention fixed on all we have to do, or on the negatively imagined results of not being able to do everything. The ability to see and appreciate the sacredness and beauty of life comes to us only one moment at a time. Balance your activities with time alone. Allow enough time to get to where you are going without being pressured.

Opening Your Gifts:
You can begin by consciously choosing to align the way you spend your time with the needs of your body, mind and spirit. Bring your shopping, relationships, work, and resources into balance within the framework of the gifts you are giving to yourself. It is not so much what we do, or how much we do, as it is how we do it that produces a creative and peace-filled life.

To have a happier holiday season answer these question when you feel stressed:

1. How can I change the way I perceive this event? This person?
   
2. How does what I am doing right now contribute to the quality of my life or the life of others?
   
3. How can I bring the highest that is within me to this moment now?
   
4. What can I release, remove or rearrange to bring peace to my life?

Use these steps to remind yourself of your commitment.

• Be true in your actions to the spirit of your heart.
  
• Clarify your thoughts and focus on one thing at a time.
  
• Orient your choices toward satisfaction, flexibility, compassion and contribution.
  
• Affirm: Today I am at peace in my world. I move in my world with a deep spirit-nurturing attitude. This is my gift to myself and to the world.