Enjoy the outstanding benefits of Yoga
Enjoy the outstanding benefits of Yoga |
- Enjoy the outstanding benefits of Yoga
- Pre-Surgery Diet Linked to Survival Odds, Study Finds
- Moral Courage
- UK Customers are Fifth Happiest in World; Second Happiest in Europe
- Beauty Spa – Various Treatments to Relax and Rejuvenate
- The wonders of meditation CD
- Music And The Mind
- 5 Tips to Avoid an Embarrassing Yawn
- Weight Loss Reducing Stress
- Can I Be Spiritual And Still Be Rich?
- Super Mind Power: The Gateway to Humankind's Aspirations
- Losing the taste for dumb
- Who is the Ultimate Spiritual Master?
- Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 1/25/2012
- India Nepal Buddhist Tour: Absolutely Divine
- A New Meditation
- Meditation
- Spiritual Nobility, You Tube, and New Consciousness Thought
- humor And Religion
- Feel Relaxed with Cotton T Shirts Women
- 7 Essential Purposes for Studying Spiritual Counseling
- Cheapest Home Have Happiest Owners
- Reprogram Your Mind - Your Gateway To Success
- Buddhism says I'm a soul-less Heraclitean river. Cool!
- Healthy Longevity and Taoism
| Enjoy the outstanding benefits of Yoga Posted: 25 Jan 2012 01:00 PM PST Article by Patresia Adams The physical activity to bring the body, mind and spirit together is known as Yoga. No one can deny the therapeutic benefits of yoga. Yoga is quite famous for creating awareness among people about their body's alignment, posture, and movement. This good old form of exercise is in use since ages. People are now becoming closer to the activity of gaining flexibility and relaxing mind. It's the best possible thing to remove stress and anxiety. Yoga has been practiced in India from thousands of years and its now getting the acceptance of the western people as well. The health benefits of yoga are truly remarkable. Several yoga postures including breathing, and meditation were proven to be helpful in several categories: psychological, physiological and biochemical. Add on to it, Yoga increases a person's endurance and grip strength and helps in improving sleeping habits. It also enriches the amount of Vitamin C and hemoglobin in the body. More over it improves mood, sharpen memory, and even increase learning efficiency. If we talk about best benefits of yoga, then nothing is more fruitful then it. It boosts up immune system, reduces stress, and helps in detoxification of the body. Yoga has the capability to stimulate the tissues, organs, and the muscles, which is very beneficial in reducing stress. Yoga's healing power and benefits have totally captured the world of health. Even doctors and practitioners suggest practicing Yoga for curing different illnesses. Yoga is a gift to the women, as it decreases the chance of acquiring breast cancer. A research has shown that even a terminal illness, such as cancer, also benefit from the practice of yoga.The weight losing thirst is also satisfied by practicing the good old form of yoga. If you are suffering from emotional crises, then yoga is a good remedy for you. Divine Wellness is an interactive health portal which provides useful encyclopedia on Ayurvedic history and the ultimate benefits of yoga. Here you will get ample of ! informat ion on natural health remedies. Visit our website for more information on Benefits of yoga and Ayurveda history. About the AuthorPatresia Adams is a healthcare consultant working with Divine Wellness. This interactive health and wellness portal offers Live online yoga classes through high-definition video conferencing. Anaahat Yoga In Hindi - Viparita Karani Mudra For Brain 
This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | |||
| Pre-Surgery Diet Linked to Survival Odds, Study Finds Posted: 25 Jan 2012 01:00 PM PST
Avoiding foods that contain the amino acid tryptophan might help prepare the body for surgery, a new study suggests. Mice that ate a tryptophan-free diet for a week or two prior to a surgical procedure, or that were treated with a drug that blocked tryptophan's effects in the body, had less damage to their kidneys and higher odds of survival than those that ate a normal diet. "We're excited about the possibility of simple, brief dietary interventions to reduce susceptibility to surgical stress, and anxious to see if such treatments will work in people in clinical trials," said study researcher Dr. James R. Mitchell, assistant professor of genetics and complex diseases at the Harvard School of Public Health. However, because the study involved mice, it is still unknown whether the results would apply to humans. "We don't know how or if this will translate to humans, but we are hopeful," Mitchell said. Ultimately, the researchers would like to find an optimal diet to prepare the body for the stress of surgery, he said. The study was published today (Jan. 25) in the journal Science Translational Medicine. What not to eat Prior studies of fruit flies found that a protein-restricted diet extended lifespan more than carbohydrate restriction, Mitchell said. And because the researchers already knew that calorie restriction helped mice to heal, they wanted to see what role protein in the diet played. For two weeks, the researchers fed mice either a regular or protein-free diet, and then mimicked surgery in the mice by blocking blood flow in and out of the kidneys. Afterward, they monitored the waste products in the blood to gauge how well the kidneys were working (normally, kidneys eliminate waste). The stoppage of blood flow that occurred in the mice, known as ischemia, is a common effect of stroke and heart attack in humans, Mitchell explained. Human surgeries can increase the chance of having a heart attack or stroke, but currently few preventative measures exist. Some cardiovascular surgeries have a 10-percent risk of stroke during the procedure. The researchers found that the mice on a protein-free diet had far less waste in their blood, meaning they had better kidney function after the surgery. In addition, 40 percent of the mice on a regular diet died, but all the mice on the protein-free diet survived. "If our results in mice translate to people, the possibility exists to use brief dietary interventions to reduce incidence or severity of complications associated with surgery, such as heart attack or stroke," Mitchell said. The researchers repeated the experiment, feeding the mice for six days instead of two weeks, and achieved the same results. Next, the researchers set out to find what component in protein, when eliminated, protected the mice from kidney damage. The researchers eliminated specific amino acids, which are the building blocks of proteins, from the mice's diet, and found that a diet free of the amino acid tryptophan was as effective in protecting the kidneys as a protein-free diet. Finally, they tested a drug to see if it was as beneficial as dietary changes. They injected mice for three to six days with halofuginone, which mimics the effects of being deprived of tryptophan, and found that it protected the kidneys as well. Human benefit "Right now, there aren't adequate ways to protect the body" from the risks of surgery, Mitchell said. A specialized diet "would be a potential way to mitigate this risk, so we need to test this in humans," he said. Other researchers in the field of dietary restriction believe the study has substantial findings. "The work contains high-impact data. They have linked these changes in diet to stress resistance in a major way, something many of us have been working on for years," said Dr. Holly Brown-Borg, a professor at University of North Dakota School of Medicine & Health Sciences, who was not involved with the study. Mitchell said the researchers will next focus on how to achieve maximal stress reduction, and if protein or amino acid restriction protects other organs, such as the heart and brain. "We want to know what the optimal diet and optimal timing is," he said. The study noted that Mitchell has worked as a consultant for L-Nutra, a company that develops medical food to fight diseases. Pass it on: A mouse study suggests that avoiding foods containing tryptophan might improve the results of surgery, but studies in humans are still needed. Follow MyHealthNewsDaily on Twitter @MyHealth_MHND. Find us on Facebook.  Read More @ Source 
| |||
| Posted: 25 Jan 2012 12:00 PM PST Article by Bruce Boyd Courage, what is it? Everyone wants it, but nobody seems to know for sure what the word means. To me, a definition of courage without a spiritual basis is useless. My guru was certainly the most courageous person I have ever known. He dedicated his entire life to his ideology and proved that he was ready to sacrifice his physical existence at any moment for that ideology. From my observations he seemed to be without fear. Furthermore, his writings provided insight into the very meaning of the word courage that was astounding. It seemed he considered fear to be a fundamental block to spiritual progress and warned seekers against "worshipping" their fate out of fear. "A man must be bold. He must boldly face all troubles, all reactions to past actions!" is but one small example of his take on the importance of moral courage. Normally, we think of bravery as something involving confrontations with other people or at least some emergency that pops up suddenly and separates the "men from the boys", but my guru used the concept in reference to facing day to day events large and small, in stark contrast to being subjugated by them. Why would we worship fate? For the same reason that primitive people worshipped volcanoes; fear. I remember an old song with the line: "As we lick the boots of death out of fear...." Ultimately what do we fear? Death, pain and related unpleasantries, disease, poverty... So, I suppose the courageous are more willing to face these things than most. Are the courageous free from fear? Or are they just willing to undergo fear for the sake of some greater ideal? And what ideal might that be which could inspire them to face the ultimate loss, physical death? Something more substantial than our physical existence perhaps. So, is risking one's life for something proof of a belief in God? Not necessarily. During the depression folks were committing suicide because they lost their fortunes. They were Intentionally losing their lives, because they felt life was too painf! ul witho ut money. So people will probably risk their lives for the sake of money and a variety of other things which they value more than their own physical existence: money, romantic partners, friends, family. Not only that but we often hear of folks killing themselves not over loss, but out of aversion to something in their lives, or something soon to come: disfiguration, incapacity of some sort, public humiliation, painful disease. So, there are apparently lots of things that people fear more than death; lot's of stuff folks don't want to do, or have done to them to the point they will face almost certain death. So, suffice it to say that courage is tough to nail down. It's got to be something strong enough to help us to face things even worse than death! Myself, I try to live by certain ideals. I believe there is a God, a benevolent entity that created this universe we live in, and one who maintains contact with his creation in a way that has profound importance to us. A way that invites us to participate in a practical process whereby we achieve personal joy and fulfillment on the one hand and the ability to provide great benefit to our fellows on the other hand. OK, so that is what I do. I am involved in this relationship with God project, and that largely dictates my daily activities. Most of those activities are very pleasant, but if it were all that easy, we would be bumping into enlightened beings at every corner, and that is hardly the case in my neighborhood anyway. So, many of these activities (let's call them 'yoga' in the larger sense of the word) require discipline... AND I would go so far as to say many of them require what I would call courage. So maybe we are talking about some sort of stuff that is variably referred to as discipline, will power, hutzpah, guts, courage etc etc. Where does discipline end and courage begin? Probably that is a moot point; just different amounts of the same stuff, though I suppose few are going to salute us and exclaim "that took guts" when we ge! t out of bed and brush our teeth in the morning. So, perhaps a working definition of courage might be action performed against resistance of some sort, and we might add the particular that some risk is present. Now the "moral" part; maybe this will separate us from the suicides and folks facing danger to save their financial empires. This leaves us with facing danger for the sake of an ideology (some sort of higher belief system). At this point, I would like to descend from the theoretical to the mundane quite suddenly. I've noticed in my life lately the presence of two distinct forces, both trying to get me to behave in a certain predictable pattern. Let's call them the the "low road" and the "high road". I've already mentioned that I try to live by a certain set of ideals. That would be the "high road". The low road is an amalgam of crude but quite normal tendencies: hunger, lust, greed, pride, and these two roads are often if not always in conflict with one another. Both forces have a life of their own with rewards and punishments at their disposal, and treading either road therefore requires some sort of courage in order to make progress. Let's take a look at the "low road" for a moment. Maybe it's not really all that "low"; let's just call it the "normal life", "unexamined life" or something like that. You get up in the morning, you eat, you make money, you reproduce your species, you fill up your free time with entertainment. As long as no-one interferes with these activities, life goes on comfortably, but if someone gets in the way, what happens then? Probably you want to annihilate him, no? In any case, a conflict occurs and you have to choose between fighting and walking away from the conflict. Probably neither of these two options is very inviting. OK, now let's look at the "high road." How does it differ? There is an interesting Zen saying: "Before Zen, chopping wood and carrying water. After Zen, chopping wood and carrying water." So, you still get up, you eat, you go to! work, y ou get married, you fill up your free time, but now you do it for the sake of your ideology. Not as a means of accumulating stuff, but as a means of achieving a spiritual goal, getting enlightened. OK, cool, but what happens now when someone tries to interfere? Now things get interesting. If you have spent most of your life in "low road" modality, your gut is going to tell you to waste the guy, but now there is this "high road" voice beckoning and so you stop and think. Do you just let the guy take your stuff now that you are all spiritual and everything? Maybe he even wants to kill you. I spent some time in India over the years, and I noticed one peculiar thing: there are no Buddhists: lots of Hindus, lots of Muslims, lots of Sikhs, but no Buddhists. Now how can that be? Buddha was born in India and spent his entire life there. What happened to all the Buddhists? They were exterminated by various invading armies over the centuries. In some cases, they just lined up in an orderly fashion while they were beheaded one by one. Is that moral courage? Not if you think that Buddhism is good for the world. OK, facing danger is courage, right? But what if a man is drunk? What if a guy gets blind drunk and starts a fight? Is that courage? No, of course not. What about drugs? No, that isn't courage either, is it? Then what about anger? What if a man is in a blind rage and punches someone. Is that courage? I don't think so. I'm not striking an idealistic pose here. This is science. I just don't think it is of any value for us to consider an angry man courageous. The rage might serve to intimidate others, but it isn't courage in my book. It's no different from any other drug. There is a well-known scripture in Hinduism called the Bhagavad Gita. It is particularly appropriate to a discussion on courage, because the entire book consists of a conversation between a warrior and God immediately before an enormous battle. A battle which actually took place about 3500 years ago in India. The convers! ation is initiated by the warrior, Arjuna, because he has decided that fighting this battle is not the right thing to do, and the rest of the book/conversation is about courage, ideology, the nature of God and the universe; stuff like that. Arjuna is without fear, without anger, and considers the obvious moral issue of warfare and after taking God's counsel finally decides he should and must fight. He survives and guides the human civilization of that era on to a new and brighter era. Now my life seems very small in comparison, but it is all I have to work with, and I reckon I might as well take it seriously anyway. Despite it's size, it bares a striking resemblance to the life of Arjuna however, in that I have lost my taste for fighting over the table scraps of this worldly existence in favor of the pursuit of more spiritual pleasures if I may be so bold as to say that. I find myself wanting to walk away from "battles" that I used to routinely wage out of anger and the fear of embarrassment. I get some sort of slap in the face challenge, yet figure I really don't need the contested item, and prepare to walk away from the conflict. For better or worse, it just doesn't work like that. I get this feeling like I'm supposed to take some sort of action for the good of the equilibrium of the cosmos, but in that moment, I have a hard time figuring out where the heck I am going to come up with the strength to fight "the good fight" as we used to say in Aikido in my Japan days. I've gotta say though, that some magic often happens in these moments. It doesn't come easily, but it comes and brings with it a new found peace and strength. Dare I call it courage? Peace and Love to youall. Copyright 2007 Bruce Boyd and BabaNam.com About the AuthorBruce Boyd has been a spiritual seeker since the early 70s and spent most of his life overseas (Japan, India, Nepal, China, Ireland, Germany and Thailand), studying and teaching yoga and martial arts, and playing music. He now lives in Eugene, OR with his wife and three kids. http://babanam.com 
| |||
| UK Customers are Fifth Happiest in World; Second Happiest in Europe Posted: 25 Jan 2012 12:00 PM PST LONDON, January 25, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- New Customer Satisfaction Index from Zendesk reveals most satisfied customers by country, based on 65 million consumers in 137 countries Zendesk, the cloud-based help desk support platform, today released an early look at its new Customer Satisfaction Index, showing that UK customers are the fifth happiest globally and second European wide, with the service they receive, with an 83% satisfaction rating. The index measured customer happiness across 65 million consumers in 137 countries. Zendesk creates the Customer Satisfaction Index by analysing data from 65 million customers via the Zendesk 'Customer Satisfaction Rating' feature. After a customer service request is solved, Zendesk enables companies to automatically contact their customers to collect feedback on the service that was provided. Not only is this a quick and easy way to track customer satisfaction and reduce customer churn, it also provides tremendous insight into comprehensive customer satisfaction. Considering countries with high gross domestic product (GDP), Australians and Canadians share joint first place as the most satisfied customers in the world, coming in at a high 93%. This is followed by Germany at 88%, the United States at 87% and the UK finishing off the top five at 83%. From a European stand-point, the UK is second only to Germany in happy customers; Spain and Italy follow close to the UK at 81% each. France, however, trails behind, coming in bottom of the table at 57%. 2011 was a banner year for Zendesk with the company tripling its year-on-year revenue and opening new offices in London, Copenhagen and Melbourne to help support its customers around the world. This announcement comes on the heels of Zendesk's news that it has signed its 15,000th customer. "The UK is an important vocal market for consumers. The proliferation of smartphone and tablet users has seen an increasing number turn to social media as the main means of customer support. As such, offering good customer service to this very public audience is imperative," notes Mikkel Svane, Zendesk's CEO. "Zendesk helps its 15,000 customers to deliver superior customer service to more than 65 million people in 137 countries and so we decided it's time to use this wealth of data to produce our new Customer Service Index." This listing provides an early look at the type of information that readers can expect from Zendesk's Customer Satisfaction Index. The full document will be published on a quarterly basis and will report on additional data such as customer service efficiency and quality in various industries, geographies and, company size. Those who wish to subscribe to the upcoming complete Customer Satisfaction Index can register at http://www.zendesk.com/index. Customer Satisfaction by Country
Zendesk also produces a real-time map that visualises where customer inquiries are taking place, as they happen. This can be seen at http://www.zendesk.com/map. About Zendesk Zendesk is the leading provider of proven, cloud-based help desk software. For growing organizations, Zendesk is the fastest way to enable great customer service. More than 15,000 Zendesk customers, including Adobe, Sony, OpenTable and Groupon, trust Zendesk with their most valuable assets: their customers, partners, and employees. Founded in 2007, Zendesk is funded by Charles River Ventures, Benchmark Capital and Matrix Partners. Learn more at http://www.zendesk.com. Media contact Read More @ Source 
| |||
| Beauty Spa – Various Treatments to Relax and Rejuvenate Posted: 25 Jan 2012 11:00 AM PST Article by Rizvana Abdul Ours has become a spa-crazy generation where both males and females have begun to visit a wellness center every time they find themselves with a day off. People have begun to take vacations to exotic spas because they believe it is the best way to relax and rejuvenate their body, mind and senses. Apart from health, a spa also focuses on the physical beauty of a person. Here are the various treatments that can be undertaken at a beauty spa to re-define your looks and step out stylish. Facials feature right on the top in the list of beauty services offered at any wellness center. There are so many different types of facials, each catering to a different need and purpose. A good facial massage not only helps to boost circulation but also helps to remove the dead cells, clean the skin and remove fine lines and wrinkles. An exotic facial that can be undertaken is the tropical fruits massage in which fresh fruits are used to cleanse and polish your skin cells and give a youthful glow to your skin. Body scrubs are another hot favorite among those visiting a beauty spa. Masseurs use a variety of rich and exotic ingredients like chocolate, honey, fresh coconut, fruits, vanilla extract, Dead Sea salts and aroma oils to massage the body. There are many benefits that you can get out of a good body scrub. It helps to boost circulation and also address the aches and pains of your body. Rough and dead skin is removed leaving it super soft and polished; regular scrubs can also help in flushing out harmful toxins out of your system leaving your relaxed and refreshed. Pedicures are another luxury treatment to relax your tired feet. There is nothing more pampering than putting up your tired feet for a heavenly massage. You can find all your stress ebbing away at the hands of your masseur. A pedicure is also beneficial for those who have calluses and dead skin under their feet. The feet and nails are also deeply cleansed, scrubbed and polished leaving you with super soft baby feet. Apply a coat ! of your favorite nail paint and you are ready to step out in style. A manicure is quite similar to a pedicure except that it is the hands and fingers that receive the royal treatment in this favorite spa procedure. So the next time you get a holiday, head out to the nearest beauty spa for a complete relaxation and refreshing experience. About the AuthorIf you are feeling tired and stressed out, then the best way to relax and de-stress is by pampering yourself at a beauty spa. You not only get to spend quality time with yourself but also get to enjoy the various beauty treatments that will keep you looking young and fresh. For more such beauty treatments and spa information, visit www.mylocalsalon.com.au Cosmic Spirit relaxing meditation music 
This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | |||
| Posted: 25 Jan 2012 10:00 AM PST | |||
| Posted: 25 Jan 2012 09:00 AM PST Article by Cozad Spaziani What is the connection between music and the brain? Is it attainable that music may help you assume better? The analysis says sure, and after telling you about a few of it, I am going to allow you to in on an excellent sooner way to boost your brain energy with music. Music And The Mind - The Research The research shows that music really trains the brain for greater types of thinking. Listening to, and participating in music also creates new neural pathways in your mind that stimulate creativity. An article in a Newsweek (2/19/96) reported on a research from the College of California. Within the examine, researchers followed the progress of three-year-olds, cut up into groups. The first group had no particular coaching in, or publicity to music. The second group studied piano and sang day by day in chorus. After eight months the musical three-yr-olds had been much better at solving puzzles, and when examined, scored 80% larger in spatial intelligence than the non-musical group. Mind Music A research on music and the mind, achieved at UC Irvine's Center for Neurobiology of Learning and Reminiscence involved 36 students. They were given three spatial reasoning exams on a standard IQ test. Just earlier than the first check, they listened to Mozart's sonata for Two Pianos in D Major, K. 448 for ten minutes. Earlier than the second check, they listened to a leisure tape. Earlier than the third, they sat in silence. The common scores for all 36 college students: 1st test: 119. 2nd take a look at: 111. 3rd test: 110. That is an average improve of 9 iq factors from listening to Mozart. It's assumed that their intelligence did not increase, however that the music put them in a state that gave them better access to the resources of their brains. Nonetheless, other studies do show that repeated exposure to gradual music can completely increas you IQ, so play that Mozart! Mind Wave Entrainment Your mind wave freque! ncies va ry in accordance with the state you're in. For instance, daydreaming and meditation usually happen within the "Alpha" vary of frequencies. Alert focus is within the "Beta" range. "Mind wave entrainment" products have beats, often embedded in music, that your brain starts to follow. For those who hearken to music containing beats at a frequency of 10 Hz (in the Alpha vary) it would feel very relaxing. This is because your mind will begin to comply with this frequency and reproduce the rhythm within the music. You'll generate more brain waves at a ten Hz frequency and enter a relaxed Alpha mental state. That is the thought behind mind wave entrainment. This may be why some varieties of music have sure results, but not all mind wave entrainment Cds use music. Some use the raw "binaural beats" as they are sometimes referred to as, embedded in white noise, or in sounds of nature. (I have used these products and discover them to be pretty powerful , especially the ones for relaxation.) Whether or not you utilize "binaural beats," or just pop a Mozart CD into the player, you can increase your mind energy easily. Attempt it today. It is doubtful that Mozart will harm you, so why watch for more analysis to be performed on music and the brain? About the AuthorIf you want other information with respect to ages free beats, swing by Ted Befotheog's web site at once. JOHN SOKOLOFF - Espano Russo (Relaxing music) 
This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | |||
| 5 Tips to Avoid an Embarrassing Yawn Posted: 25 Jan 2012 09:00 AM PST
 Last week, while my daughter was in the middle of telling me a very important story, I did something very rude. I just couldn't help it. I opened my mouth and inhaled a giant involuntary yawn. Was I bored with her story? Heck, no. But it definitely created an awkward moment. The best I could do was explain what a yawn really meant. According to a 2007 study in the Journal of Evolutionary Psychology, yawning increases blood flow to the brain, which helps move heat away and cools the area. In essence, those unexpected yawns are likely the result of a slightly overheated brain, according to the study. The study consisted of two experiments on "contagious yawning," in which people yawn after seeing others yawn. One experiment compared yawning between participants breathing through their noses, as opposed to their mouths, and the other experiment tested yawners in cold versus warm temperatures. Researchers were not able to invoke contagious yawning at all with the nose-breathing group. On the other hand, 48 percent of mouth breathers yawned after watching video of others yawning. In their study, the researchers pointed to evidence that the blood vessels in the nasal cavity send cool blood to the brain. Breathing through your nose cools off those blood vessels, so you're less likely to feel the need to yawn, according to the study. In the second experiment, patients who held a cold pack to their heads responded with contagious yawning only 9 percent of the time, whereas participants with warm or room temperature packs yawned 41 percent of the time. Researchers concluded that the cold packs reduced brain temperature enough to ward off the yawn in most cases. Yawning is a good thing. It's one way we can keep the brain awake and alert. But, there are definitely times when an unexpected yawn can be embarrassing. It gives the impression that you're less-than enthused, and that's definitely not something you want while you're in the middle of a deep conversation, or an important board meeting. Here are a few tips to help keep you from yawning at those inopportune moments:
Healthy Bites appears on MyHealthNewsDaily on Wednesdays. Deborah Herlax Enos is a certified nutritionist, and a health coach and weight loss expert in the Seattle area with more than 20 years of experience. Read more tips on her blog, Health in a Hurry! Read More @ Source 
| |||
| Posted: 25 Jan 2012 08:00 AM PST Article by Roseanna Leaton <h2>Stress has a major impact upon your eating habits. To lose weight easily you have to discover new ways to deal with stress as well as altering your eating habits. Stress in fact may be one of the biggest barriers to weight loss.</h2> Weight loss becomes easier as you reduce stress. This is a fact which some of us are more aware of than others. We all know that you have to eat fewer calories and change the types and combinations of food which we eat to be able to lose weight. Similarly we know the benefits of increased exercise upon weight loss. But we don't tend to focus as clearly upon the connection between stress and being overweight. All of us are aware that feeling under stress and pressure makes us feel pretty uptight. Our bodies become tense and more rigid. We can really feel these physical effects of stress. We also find that our spirits drop and we feel "low" when suffering from stress. Stress and depression often come hand in hand. What has this got to do with weight gain? Or, rather, how does this stop us from losing weight more easily? When we feel stressed our bodies automatically produce a cocktail of hormones which are intended to assist us in dealing with threat. Centuries ago these hormones helped us to run fast or fight more powerfully against the dangers which were prevalent then. This adaptive characteristic has become part of our automatic physiology, but the types of threat we encounter have changed. In the modern day world the threats which we perceive are very different. Our bodies become poised to flee but there is no point in running away. This cocktail of hormones is thus activated and then not put to good use. What happens to it instead? The American Journal of Epidemiology has published information which links higher levels of unresolved stress with weight gain, as this hormonal reaction can lead to inflammation, metabolic changes and alterations to our body's immune response. Weight loss becomes far more difficult when this is ! happenin g to our bodies. And so we can see that ongoing unresolved stress causes physical changes within our bodies which affect the way in which we metabolize food and this can lead to weight gain. There are also psychological effects of stress which alter our ability to maintain our weight or to lose weight. When stress makes you feel uptight, tense, low or depressed you are not always in the right mood to do what's good for yourself, and eating habits are frequently the first things which change. In fact when you feel low you tend to instinctively do that which is bad for you, and this includes eating what is bad for you. You reach for the wrong types of food (fatty foods, high carbohydrate, and sugary foods), you get into bad eating habits such as constantly snacking or surfing the fridge, you can't be bothered to cook proper meals and reach for fast foods instead. Added to this, who can be bothered to exercise when you're feeling low in yourself? Ironically, exercise would at least use up some of that hormone cocktail and make you feel a whole lot better, and thus place you in a better frame of mind to lose weight. If you are reading this, you have probably been there, done that. You know what I mean, and you can feel the extra weight around your belly. There are many, many reasons why every weight loss program should include stress reduction techniques. Most approaches to weight loss do not do this. People who want to lose weight just tend to look at their diet and do not step back to look at the matter of weight gain and weight loss from a holistic viewpoint. Everything you do and all the habits you have (eating habits and exercise habits included) are based upon you as a person living the life which you live. Eating isn't a stand-alone element. Eating is intricately interwoven into your thoughts and feelings and your day to day perceptions and reactions to what is happening in the world around you. This is why hypnosis weight loss programs are so very incredibly power! ful. Hyp nosis is a state of relaxation and a natural way in which to reduce stress. Hypnosis also allows access to your subconscious mind and this enables you to examine and change automatic thought patterns, beliefs, habits and expectations. And so hypnosis weight loss programs allow you to reduce stress and get your mind around weight loss, making it far easier for you to change your habits and lose weight successfully. Roseanna Leaton, specialist in hypnosis weight loss mp3s to reduce stress and lose weight easily. P.S. Discover how to get your mind working for you. Grab a free hypnosis download from my website now. http://www.RoseannaLeaton.com About the AuthorGrab a free hypnosis mp3 from http://www.RoseannaLeaton.com and check out her library of hypnosis downloads and weight loss hypnosis mp3 downloads. 
| |||
| Can I Be Spiritual And Still Be Rich? Posted: 25 Jan 2012 07:00 AM PST Article by Melody Fletcher A few weeks ago, I was listening in on a teleconference hosted by a highly paid spiritual trainer. During the Q and A section, one caller asked the question: "If you're so spiritual, why aren't you giving this information away for free?" I thought this was an excellent question. After all, many of us struggle with this issue on a daily basis. Are we allowed to earn a living from anything to do with spirituality? Where's the line? Is it ok to earn just enough to scrape by, but not ok to become wealthy? Is it ok to be spiritual and rich? Many people who are spiritual carry a great amount of guilt around with them when it comes to money, as if money were somehow evil. For many, spirituality equals poverty, and some even take pride in the fact that they own only the bare necessities. Particularly those of us who want to dedicate ourselves to this work full time, often have a hard time reconciling our need to earn a living and our desire for things, with the belief that all spiritual value needs to be provided in the form of charity. But what is money exactly? Money is energy. Just like everything else. And energy is neutral; it's not good or bad. But let's back up for a second. The Universe exists in perfect energetic balance. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. It may not always seem like it, but Newton's Law of Motion applies to the vibrational world, just as much as the physical one. So, when you send out energy, you are going to get equal energy back. When you provide value, you are sending out energy. And Universe will provide you with an equal amount of energy or value in return. It must. It's a law. Of course, this energy or value can take many forms, and the Law of Attraction cannot bring you energy in a form which you will not allow. So, if you have a belief that a certain manifestation of energy is "bad", the Universe will find a different way to repay you. So, back to the money. Money is simply energy. Actually, it's a very convenient wa! y to bri ng energy into your life. It's much simpler for the Universe to bring money into your reality than to simply drop a house down in front of you. By the way, this isn't because it's actually more difficult for the energy to line up, but because it's so much easier for you to believe the idea of money being generated rather than a house just coming to you in some way. You can exchange money for anything you like. You can buy food, pay rent, go to a movie, or buy a car. Whatever it is that you want or need, the energy of money can provide it. It's a generic, convenient and utterly versatile form of energy. And that's all. Let's say you're a healer, and you provide an energy healer to a client who's a farmer. Would it be alright if that client gave you a sack of potatoes as payment? Most spiritual people see no problem with this. They have no resistance to bartering or receiving food. Food, after all, is a necessity. But there is no difference energetically or spiritually speaking between receiving a sack of potatoes and receiving the equivalent in cash. They're both just energy. It's only our judgment of one form of energy as "bad" that makes us reluctant to let it into our lives. There is no difference, energetically speaking, between creating value by spiritual means and building a house. They're both just different ways to send out energy, as well. We create value by sending out energy. You can send out energy in the form of love or healing, in the form of music, words, thoughts or physical action. It doesn't matter how you do it. When you break each one of these down to its base components, you are simply flowing energy. The Universe doesn't judge one form of energy - a coaching conversation that puts an end of years of emotional pain - as worth less than another form of energy - working in an office for 8 hours. This is a belief that we humans came up with all on our own. Many of us have been taught that to be humble, to be poor, to suffer, to accept without questioning is someho! w virtuo us. This antiquated belief is nothing more than a vibration which exists in this world. Even if our parents didn't teach us the actual ideas, we could easily have picked it up in childhood. Other's vibrations can affect us if we are not living consciously. But it's a false belief. It negates Newton's Law of Motion. This belief states that you should provide as much value as possible, i.e. send out vast amounts of energy, and get nothing in return. Not only should you not expect the energy to come back, but to go without it is actually something to strive for. Many of us have actually been taught to block the returning energy, in an attempt to be morally upright. This creates a vibrational discord. It doesn't feel good. If you are providing value, it is the natural order for you to receive value back. The more value you provide, the more energy you'll receive in return. Whenever I see a person who earns a lot of money, I always think "They must provide a lot of value to the world." If you just smirked at that statement, congratulations. You've just uncovered a limiting belief. At this point, I can hear a question coming on: "But what about those who are spiritual, but seem to be out ONLY for the money. They may have started off with good intentions, but along the way, they became greedy and stopped providing value. The money corrupted them." First of all, money doesn't corrupt people. Money is energy. When more energy flows into your life, everything gets bigger, including your negative beliefs. The "corruption" was always there, but as the energy increases, as there's more money, it just manifests in a bigger and bigger way. What's at the root is a belief system, not the money. Let's say a spiritual teacher starts off with good intentions. He provides a great deal of value, begins to earn a lot of money and more and more energy begins to flow into his life. He has an underlying fear that whatever money he earns, he will eventually lose. As the money grows, so does the fear, until ! all he c an focus on is the money. He takes his focus off of providing value and puts it onto his fear of losing his wealth. The first thing that's going to happen is that his fear based vibration will begin to attract a very different kind of student. These new students will be a vibrational match to his new vibration. They'll complain about the fees, make late payments, drop out of his programs early, and hijack his seminars with irrelevant and argumentative questions. His business will change. He will no longer be providing the same kind of value he was before. He'll see the change in his students not as evidence of his vibration, but as proof that his fears are valid, which will in turn, increase his fear. Eventually, if he doesn't clean up his vibration, the students will fall away, or some other kind of event will bring about a massive financial loss. But there's no need for you to worry about becoming a victim of someone like this. If you, as a student, are not a match to this new, fear based vibration, you will no longer resonate with that teacher. And, providing you pay attention to what you resonate with, you'll be compelled to go and find someone else. Do you see how the money, in and of itself, actually has nothing to do with this spiritual teachers' actions? It was his fear of losing the money, his underlying belief system that was at fault.What underlying beliefs do you have about money? Here's something to think about: As spiritual people, we are focused heavily on providing as much value as possible. Unless we are somehow blocking this energy from flowing back to us, and given that money is the most convenient way for the Universe to return that energy to us, it follows that spiritual people should actually be among the wealthiest in the world. What a wonderful, happy thought. About the AuthorDid you like this article? Learn more about how our beliefs influence our reality by reading Articles about Beliefs. Melody Fletcher writes about the Law of Attraction, Universal Energy and spirituality. Her main goal is to help those that resonate with her information to find the empowerment, freedom and happiness that every one of us truly deserves. She invites you to visit her website, at www.Deliberate Receiving.com. The Evolution of Indigo Children, Indigo Adults and Crystal Beings 
This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | |||
| Super Mind Power: The Gateway to Humankind's Aspirations Posted: 25 Jan 2012 06:00 AM PST Article by Leo Vegner Having a super mind power is not only defined by how much a person remembers a person but what exactly a person has in his/her head. For example, the power of the mind of Oprah Winfrey gives her cunningness which makes it easy for her to build a connection in the masses and in individuals. Having a powerful mind can also be seen in the famous Hollywood actors and actresses like Robert DeNiro, Meryl Streep, and Al Pacino who easily transform and mold themselves into the personalities of the characters they are portraying. Thus, the power of the mind refers to the ability of people to use their creative sides, alter their egos, and adapt easily to other moods and different people. The idea of having special mind powers has been appealing to us ever since because of all the superheroes and fantasy characters that we've been exposed to. If you will just look back and think, you will notice that it is not the physical powers that makes us interested before but the extraordinary power of the mind of our favorite characters. At present, the wide popularity of fictional shows that feature telepaths, aliens, and scientific fiction confirm that people are still enthralled with high intelligence, and the power of the mind. How many people do you know likes vampires, interested in crystal balls, fortune telling and black magic? Humans are naturally peaked by whatever makes us feel our minds have super mind powers that can enable us to move mountains and conquer galaxies. Fortunately because of this natural desire, we are now enjoying the many advantages of the different technologies and advancements that make our lives easier and more enjoyable. Have you ever imagined yourself living without television or internet? All of these were born due to the human's power of the mind. Maybe in the next few decades we will also be able to live in new planets or discover a time-traveling machine. Who knows? As they say, everything is possible now. Each person probably wants to have some secret techniques tha! t can he lp them enhance or give them some super mind powers. Though it can sometimes be a disadvantage when done in obsessive levels, for some people these are highly beneficial because honing the power of the mind can help them conquer and do new things. Mind power is even sometimes considered as the drive of people in their religious devotions. Seeing people in television who claim that they were able to regain their vision or ability to walk is not so normal nowadays. All of these are because of the power of the mind. Hindus, for example willingly underwent some painful trials and deprivation will just their mental powers to help them through the quest. These said powers of the mind are what bless them with the ability to make miracles. Individuals who can do hypnosis and fortunetelling are products of our confidence in our own minds. People believe and this gives them the urge to make things happen. About the AuthorReady to unlock the secret of controlling your super mind power to improve your life? I reveal all the secrets you need to know at www.secretofmindpower.com CJ Stone - Mindful Thinking (CJ Stone Mix) 
This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | |||
| Posted: 25 Jan 2012 06:00 AM PST As I did in the late 1960s, I hope always that someday the average Stress Reduction practitioner (it might be a Zennist or a Vajrayanist) will wake up enough to lose their appetite for dumbed down Buddhism of any kind. What keeps me enthusiastic as I write this blog is that a few people will see in Buddhism its essence—I mean what makes it stand heads above other religious traditions. (Nope, not all religious traditions are the same, and not every path leads to the same mountain.) Teaching dumbed down Buddhism, that is, Buddhism that lowers the spiritual content of Buddhism, glossing over its most important elements like nirvana, is easy to do. There is a whole world of dumbed down Buddhism out there including those who make a fair living out of teaching it. Those who follow this blog know that path to be one for the puthujjana vehicle or if you like Sanskrit (and mine ain't that good), prithagjana-yana. There is no use fighting it. Not even the Buddha,Gautama, could help the general lot of puthujjanas many of whom were monks and nuns. However, there is some hope. Not all is lost! There are two kinds of puthujjanas. There is one who lives in total darkness, the andha-puthujjana and one striving after his spiritual good, the kalyana-puthujjana. I guess you could say that most of us here started out as andha-puthujjana. Then one day we got tired of hanging around our andha-puthujjana buddies and became kalyana-puthujjana. It dawned on us that Buddhism is really about awakening, awakening, that is, to something profound and transcendent. This awakening even provides us with the key to unlock all those crazy Zen koans we have been struggling with over the years. Maybe dumbed down Buddhism offers a way of converting the andha-puthujjana to a kalyana-puthujjana. Still, it needs to be underscored that real Buddhism begins with a profound intuition of pure Mind which puts one beyond the reach of puthujjana-dom. Then this awakening is further expanded, requiring many years which, incidentally, is the perfection of prajñâ (insight/wisdom).
| |||
| Who is the Ultimate Spiritual Master? Posted: 25 Jan 2012 05:00 AM PST Article by James Renford Powell AWAKENING 
This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | |||
| Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 1/25/2012 Posted: 25 Jan 2012 05:00 AM PST  "Ambition is like love, impatient both of delays and rivals." ~The Buddha  Technorati Tags: Buddha Buddhist Buddhism Meditation Dharma  
| |||
| India Nepal Buddhist Tour: Absolutely Divine Posted: 25 Jan 2012 04:00 AM PST Article by Harry Carlin India which boasts of being the only country in the world which offers the garland of cultural extravaganza at its best continues to amuse the world through offering incredible bouquet of glittering tour packages. India which is well known for retaining its cultural heritage and blending it well with the modern infrastructure is attracting the travel freaks from all corners of the world. Keeping sync with the changing tastes of the travel fanatics; tourism industry as a whole is leaving no stone unturned to fascinate the travel freaks through offering spectacular array of travel packages and heavy discounts. The travel related websites are mushrooming in India like never before and hence, it only highlights that how in coming days India will emerge as a new tourist hot spot and will take world by storm. No wonder that marching along with travel companies; state governments are also providing adequate funds for the overall developments. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that why India has been ranked as one tourist destination that offers the best hospitality and moreover this also serves as the effective platform to showcase the rest of the world that India is a rising power. Travellers which are particularly inclined to the spirituality and especially to the Buddhism are coming to India in large numbers to visit the different Buddhist Place in India. With plenty of options travel freaks are definitely pampered for the choices and the icing on the cake is that they can avail some attractive packages and great discounts if they place the bookings of hotels through browsing some very popular travel websites. Of - late, tourism industry in India has witnessed increasing fervor among travel freaks to explore the adventures of seeping into spirituality. The Buddhist places in India are perfect blend of adventure and thrill that offer travel buffs an experience of life time. In a bid to increase the revenues, government has of late taken many concrete steps to boost the tourism in the co! untry. W ith the information boom, travel companies are also launching their own websites which felicitate travellers with interesting bunch of information that ultimately guide them to visit more places, in the least possible time. In last one decade, there is obvious surge in the number of travellers who are taking flights to India where they rejuvenate themselves through going on a spiritual ride. There are not many countries which offer such cultural diversities and no wonder that why India is continuously topping the chart of being one of the most sought after tourist destinations in the world. India has shown great promise, felicitating the travel buffs through offering best facilities that are of international standards. About the AuthorHarry Carlin is a professional writer of web content. For more information on Ajanta Caves and Buddhist Pilgrimage Tours. 
| |||
| Posted: 25 Jan 2012 03:00 AM PST Article by Huntly Reid So, being a thoroughly modern person you have decided that you want to find a meditation and you are thinking of starting your search on the Internet. Well you are in for a big surprise. Key in the word 'meditation' or 'yoga' and you are going to be overwhelmed by a multiplicity of choice. Patanjali's Ashtanga Yoga, Hatha Yoga, The Kabbalah, Tibetan Buddhism, Kundalini Yoga, Krishnamurti's Choiceless Awareness, Zen, Vippasana meditation, the Ramana Maharshi meditation or perhaps Sahaja Yoga. There are many more. Well help is at hand. Daniel Goleman has written a book called "Meditative Mind" in which he classifies all the different meditations in terms of the Vissudhimagga that was taught by the Lord Buddha. The Vissushimagga means the path of purification. There are two basic types of meditation: the path of concentration and the path of insight. Thoughts enter your mind in a random manner. There is no pattern to their entry. The path of concentration has you direct the flow of your thoughts, fixing them onto the object chosen for the meditation. By forcing your wandering thoughts back on to the object your mind will eventually become absorbed in it and your awareness will experience a feeling of oneness with it. This is called the "point of entry." The start of insight meditation is the practice of mindfulness. You are required to pay attention to your thoughts and senses as they arise and to merely register or note your observation of the thought or sense impression without further comment, reflection or judgement. You simply pay attention to what is happening in and to you. In the beginning as in the path of concentration your mind will wander until you reach the point of bare insight where your mind develops the ability to observe all that is registering in your mind without the interference of wandering thoughts. With the achievement of bare insight you realise that your awareness is different from the object of your awareness. Once you have reached the point o! f entry or of bare insight you then continue to achieve higher and higher levels of awareness until eventually you reach the highest state possible, which is variously called Nirvana, Nirodh, Moksha and various other names. This state indicates that you have achieved the point whereby you have acquired total self-knowledge and are freed from the perpetual cycle of birth, death and rebirth. What actually happens here is that your kundalini awakens and rises up the central subtle spiritual channel called the Sushumna. The kundalini is the dormant spiritual power within each one of us, which resides in our pelvic bone. The disadvantage with either of the two paths of the Vissuddimagga is that normally it takes a very long time to get your self-realisation. More than one lifetime is not unusual. Remember that the Vissuddimagga means the 'Path of Purification'. This refers to the fact that in addition to meditation the seeker has to purify his spiritual centres called chakras one by one. This is why the Indian yogis go to the Himalayan Mountains or the forests. They isolate themselves in order to concentrate on their spirit and not be interrupted by mundane life. In the modern world it is well nigh impossible for the ordinary seeker to achieve their self-realisation using the paths of the Vissuddhimagga. There has however been a change in the firmament and it is now possible to achieve your self-realisation through taking to Sahaja Yoga. As impossible as it seems you can now get your self-realisation simply by asking for it. Any Sahaja yogi can give self-realisation. It is like one candle lighting another. Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi developed Sahaja Yoga. She is a very high spiritual personality and can be described as a messenger from God. With the Vissuddimagga you have to be spiritually perfect before you can get your self-realisation. With the Sahaja Yoga you are not perfect but you can work on trying to become spiritually perfect. The point is that your kundalini does the work for you. All that y! ou have to do is to introspect on your self during meditation. What's wrong with me? The path of Sahaja Yoga is a much faster and easier method of achieving spiritual perfection than the two Vissuddimagga paths. It's like putting the roof on the house first and then building up the walls and windows etc rather than the conventional way around. The methods used by the Vissuddimargga meditation work by trying to subdue the mind. Sahaja Yoga says that instead of trying to subdue or control the mind, which is almost impossible anyway, why not ignore it and simply go beyond it. The Sahaja Yoga meditation is described as thoughtless awareness. Normally it is virtually impossible to do this but in Sahaja Yoga your kundalini simply takes you straight into thoughtless awareness. In their book 'From Here to Nirvana' Anne Cushman and Jerry Jones say that there are five types of yoga: Jhana, Bhakti, Karma, Raja and Hatha. Ramana Maharshi was a Jnana yogi who taught that thinking the thought 'Who am I' would eventually lead to self-realisation. This is the mind being used to distinguish between the real and the unreal. Bhakti yoga is the path of love, devotion, and worship. Karma yoga is the path of selfless service. The Karma yogi does not renounce the world but rather seeks to serve humanity in a detached, egoless manner. This leads to self-realisation. Raja yoga is the path taught by the saint Patanjali around the second and third centuries AD. It is a systematic eight-fold path, which works through the quietening of the mind. Raja yoga includes a moral code, positive breath control and a meditation akin to the ' path of concentration' talked about above. Hatha yoga is the classic 'exercise' yoga well known to people in the west. Raja and Hatha yoga are usually associated together. Sahaja Yoga includes elements of all the different types of yoga except Hatha Yoga. References.(1) From Here to Nirvana. 1998. Anne Cushman and Jerry Jones. Rider Books, London. ISBN 0712670610. (2) Meditative Mind. 1996! . Daniel Goleman Harper Collins Publishers, London. ISBN 07225 347 2 About the AuthorHuntly Reid is an experienced Sahaja Yoga practitoner. 
| |||
| Posted: 25 Jan 2012 02:00 AM PST Article by Dr. Robert Puff, Stress is probably one of the biggest problems working individuals face today. Most people are always on the go and always under a lot of pressure. While technology has made most jobs easier, it has allowed employers to expect more and more productivity from their employees. And with these, people have less and less time to unwind and relax. While a lot of us can get away with unwinding and going on vacation every few months, a lot of people need to relax a little bit almost everyday to be able to properly function the next day. And people have searched for alternate ways to unwind on a daily basis. A lot of people can settle for a couple of drinks at the bar down the block. Some can relax by spending an hour to a couple of hours at the gym working out. While a lot of people need to settle with prime time TV while eating dinner. Stress has become such an issue that there are even treatments for it. Even multivitamins have been labeled as anti stress tablets and capsules. But any effective stress relief options will usually require time and energy. And sometimes, you start asking if you really get relaxed with what you do or do you spend time stressing yourself out more. Now one sure way of getting relaxed is by meditation. Meditation is the process of training one's mind to self induce a mode of consciousness that can be beneficial to the person involved. This usually means finding a quiet place where the person can relax and focus his or her mind into one thing. You can also totally empty your mind and allow it to wander and totally relax the rest of your body. While most spas will provide you relaxing options like Jacuzzis and body massages and saunas, it is also one of the best places to learn meditation. Most spas will have meditation classes that you can enroll in and learn meditation from an expert. Spa massage rooms are also great places to practice meditation because of its ambience, ambient lighting and relaxing piped in music. Meditation may not be! for eve ryone but it can be very beneficial for people who really like to either get their minds off things or get their minds to focus on one thing. This can help you come up with solutions for problems or be the first step in finding a suitable solution to any problematic situation. About the AuthorDr. Robert Puff, Ph.D. has been studying and practicing meditation for over 30 years. He has a free weekly podcast where you can learn everything you need to know about meditation, whether you are looking to start your own personal meditation practice, have been meditating a long time, or are simply exploring the topic. To learn more, go to http://www.MeditationForHealthPodcast.com. 
| |||
| Spiritual Nobility, You Tube, and New Consciousness Thought Posted: 25 Jan 2012 12:00 AM PST Article by True Indigo © 2011 True Indigo A recent You Tube survey on the topics of human excellence and human excrement provides an interesting comparison for the social scientist interested in human excellence compared to another topic at the opposite pole of interest. The research data yields 714 first page hits on the subject of human excellence, and 281,821 first page hits on the subject of human excrement. The subject on human nobility yields 19,986 first page hits, but this raw data may be misleading as the majority of the searches are for a role-playing video game. Corrected for the actual subject, the total comes to a mere 198. A search of the word "party," in comparison, yields a total number of first page hits of 237,551,310. What might this tell us about our culture? What might it tell us about our actual societal interest in human excellence and human nobility as compared to human excrement and partying?When the word "nobility" comes into our awareness, more than likely the image brought to mind is of pampered aristocrats and elitists in crowns and tiaras, perhaps demurely waving their white gloved hands from gilded carriages surrounded by a retinue of uniformed riders upon horseback or some other such thing as this. And this is quite correct even as it is quite incomplete, as nobility is a dual-purpose word that carries two meanings, one a noun, and the other a verb. The noun version is exactly this first meaning and conveys the sense of an inherited status, while the second meaning surprises, as it means absolutely nothing of the sort. The verb version of the word nobility traditionally means "to attain to an exalted character," but as character is but one narrow aspect of the totality of the human experience, perhaps we might gild this word with the more holistic meaning "to attain to an exalted being." Then we have a more precise and encompassing definition entirely. To attain to an exalted being costs a mere nothing. It may be approached by any person, anywhere simply by deciding upon i! t as a l ife way. The noun version represents a material nobility, a nobility that depends entirely upon material possessions, inheritances, titles, and other such fancy window dressings upon what may in reality be quite ordinary or even quite dilapidated human real estate, while the second meaning, the verb, represents spiritual nobility, a nobility that depends entirely upon the spiritual stature an individual attains through force of character, and vibratory excellence, and radiance, and virtue, and compassion, and love, taken to their highest and most sublime state possible within the human vessel. It is entirely free. This form of nobility is the subject of this essay.The purveyors of this form of nobility are rare, and have nearly been made extinct as a race, but they are dedicated, and tend to give away more than they sell but profit nonetheless if the ledgers of the eternal truths are accurate. They believe we were made for more than merely buying and selling, but require participation in a more etheric marketplace where more precious commodities are traded, fine things, exquisite, invisible things upon which no market value can be placed. It is in this market where spiritual nobility is valued above all other things, and just as a gold coin is filliped to hear how it rings to know whether it is pure or merely gilded lead, so the truly noble are measured and estimated by history, and become as precious as diamonds and rubies, more so, as they are even more rare than even these glittering and valued treasures. This word, nobility, is the one word we have always been led to believe we may never, ever, reach out our unworthy hands and minds to touch, that it has been reserved for others holding heralds and majestic tax advantages and lives of excess. If this is what we have been led to believe, then we have believed a very, very, big lie. We may not only touch nobility, we may embrace it, surround it, and take ownership of it, a new nobility for a new age and a new civilization. Spiritual nobility is nothing! more th an the daily practice of human excellence on a journey without end, a journey as challenging, daunting, and rewarding as the path toward enlightenment, but which as a practice has been remarkably overlooked by the new consciousness as an adjunct to any spiritual practice. It is the Janus face of spirituality, the mirror of the spiritual journey. Spiritual nobility is the person who is no longer accepting of their own degradation, but who takes steps to live the only life they may ever have as glorious, exquisite, and precious things every day of their short and nonrefundable lives. The topic is a new one, and so is unfamiliar to most readers. What is this thing, spiritual nobility? How does one define it, and what is its purpose and relevance to daily living? These are all very good questions, as a thing should be valuable, and have practical applications to everyday life for it to be of any benefit to us. It should be a worthwhile journey at the very least.We enter into this world as mere lumps of soft clay, and the impress of many hands is upon this clay of our being, forming who we are generally speaking into the image of the owners of the hands themselves. Our parents form this clay into a facsimile of themselves, our friends, our teachers, our media, our society, all have their part in pressing into the clay of our lives, and in time the clay hardens into us. When this clay becomes hard and is no longer plastic, we become as human statues, and take the form of our makers, but when we retain our softness and plasticity, we may throw ourselves upon the potters wheel to recast ourselves into a more beautiful vessel with which to pour more love and beauty into the oceans of the human experience. The person who is most artful in this recursive process is the person who strives to become someone they could never have imagined until they imagine it, and strive to become it, a living phoenix arising from the ashes of their previous incarnation into another, more lovely form again and again and again in perp! etual re definition. It is this rare person who attains to spiritual nobility.Spiritual nobility is the congruent expression of both the etheric and the physical components of which we are all of us composed, the internal spiritual elements fused with and expressed by the external physical form as flawlessly as we are capable of expressing them. Spiritual nobility is a garden of fragrant flowers and nutritious, wholesome edibles weeded of hatred, negativity, greed, envy, pettiness, and selfishness, a carefully tended human garden whose sweet fruits come only through the greater embodiment of self, and not through the lesser embodiment of ego. The new consciousness is only partly aware of this idea but has not yet formed a critical mass of minds and expressions reflecting the attainment to this estate. The engine of this organism is being formed, in retreats, in workshops, in discussions sundry and various, but the transmission of new consciousness into the greater society may only be put to the test through the wholesale adoption of spiritual nobility as the defining characteristic of new consciousness thought in the widespread adoption of this vibration. Only then will the engine of all this valuable thought be translated into motion as action. Only then will this new consciousness dance upon the stage of the world to the thrall and applause of a human audience tired and weary of the same tired and threadbare performance of violence, and greed, and the domination of others through wearisome conflict and heartless economic competition. Perhaps the cost is too low for it to be widely adopted, as it currently languishes, forgotten, overlooked, and neglected as a life path. Why?A spark is but an incipient fire, and is liable to extinguish before it has any chance of alighting, but when it finds a good dry tinder is capable of a roaring inferno to burn out the old dead and decaying overburden, and bring in the fertilizing ashes of change a new verdure, and a new growth. The widespread practice of adopting spiritual n! obility as an emerging social gestalt, through new consciousness networks, is this tiny spark with which to burn out the old, desiccated and unhealthy older forms. One by one by one comes the change we wish to see in the world. It begins with our selves. No one else can do this work but us.Spiritual nobility requires first of all the establishment and maintenance of a quiet, but durable dignity, which in turn requires no longer participating in thoughts, deeds, or activities of self-degradation, those things that are corrosive to a higher, more sublime vibratory frequency. It requires a good weeding of negativity and ugliness. It requires a good fertilizer in the form of optimism and expansiveness. Most of all, it requires a competent and caring gardener who has decided that human excellence and human nobility are slightly more important to their fleeting and brief lives than video games and parties. About the Author True Indigo is a new consciousness author of A Personal Aristocracy: Cultivating the Power of Spiritual Nobility, the first book written in the English language on the subject of human spiritual nobility, self-ennoblement, and the spiritualization of form. His second book The Principle reverses the energetic orientation of law of attraction to a positive one based upon the abundance of gift and giving and not upon that of wants, scarcities, and unfulfillments. He is currently at work on The Architecture of Love to describe the underlying energetic structure of love, and The Perfection of Is, which locates absolute perfection in the universe. He can be found at trueblueindigo.com or the-principle.com. 
| |||
| Posted: 24 Jan 2012 11:00 PM PST Article by B.C. It used to be that Buddhism was the only religion that accepted laughter. He you ever seen a statue or a picture of the laughing Buddha? Have you ever wondered why he's laughing? What is it that makes Buddha laugh? Is it wrong to laugh at religion? Buddha believed that laughing is a religious experience. He believed that when you're laughing you're in good spirits, you're higher up in your house, you're on a higher plane; you're closer to God. So, when you laugh, you're getting closer to God. It's like a religious experience. You get into a higher plane when you're laughing. It's like a ZEN experience. That's why you feel better when you laugh. You don't feel pain; you don't hate anyone when you're laughing. You're just having fun and getting close to God. I believe we could all get a little closer to God, and if you don't like the name 'God', then change it to 'Good'. It's only one letter and it means the same thing. It took me awhile to realize this and I've been doing comedy for twenty-years. I never once saw it as getting closer to God. I never saw it as reaching a higher plane. I just saw it as laughing because it's funny and that's it. I found through meditation that laughter is so much more than just laughing because its funny. I now laugh to feel better. I laugh to make my relationship better. I laugh to make my job and the people who work with me better. Laughter truly is the best medicine. Volatire said that the art of medicine is to amuse the patient while nature cures the disease. Laughter is great medicine and it can take you to a higher plane. It can take you closer to God. About the AuthorBC is a professional humorist, author and recording artist. He speaks on Humor Therapy and How To Be A Daddy. 
| |||
| Feel Relaxed with Cotton T Shirts Women Posted: 24 Jan 2012 10:00 PM PST Article by Rayford Clark T shirts have always been making a style statement. T shirts have never faded out of style. Over a pair of jeans, there is nothing more convenient and comfortable to wear and they are offered with so many distinctive colors and designs. T-shirts can disclose a lot about someone's personality. It can reveal the causes one supports, their role models, where they come from and what music they listen to etc. For both men and women, T-shirts have become popular. Men and cotton t shirts women are one of the most loved casual apparel. About women cotton tees, the following are some of the stylish tips and trends. When shopping for women's clothing, keeping these tips in mind will help you make better choices. In cotton t shirts women, the v neck is one of the popular styles. V neck t-shirts can be worn for both casual and professional occasions and it can make you look slim. Than a fresh white v neck t-shirt, there is nothing classier. This style of women cotton tees is appealing for both men and women. You can choose a deep or shallow v neck, according to your personal taste. For those with heavier bust lines, shallow v neck t-shirts are perfect types of Women's clothing. For women, the baby doll cotton t shirts women are form fitting kind of women's clothing. To show off your waistline and a round neck, it is generally characterized by stretchable tighter fabric and smaller sleeves. With younger women, this type of women's clothing is extremely popular. These women cotton tees come in an assortment of prints and colors and they are worn only as casual wear. In the winter or summer, baby doll t-shirts can be worn. Most women, if they are wearing this type of women's clothing during the cooler seasons, prefer wearing a fitted long sleeve white or black shirt inside. As sports uniform, a ringer cotton t shirts women is the type of women's clothing is mostly used. In a different color around the collar and sleeves, it is fashioned with ribbed borders. In men's clothing as well, this fash! ion tren d can be found. You can wear this t-shirt as everyday casual wear. To the baby doll t-shirt, a crew neck t-shirt is very alike except it is a lot looser form of women's clothing. Women cotton tees have now become a suitable form of outer wear, although they were originally created for wearing inside your clothing. These are perfect women's clothing and it can be worn on an each day basis. It can be casual or formal wear, depending on the fit and the material. This type of t-shirt is generally made of cotton and has a round neck. You will find women's shopping a breeze, now that we have gone through the various styles of cotton t shirts women. To look for the exact style and characteristics of women cotton tees, you can browse through magazines and the internet. To see which style you find the most charming, it will give you a clearer picture. You will find it a whole lot easier to discover the clothes that are attractive and fitting for your body, if you explore a little on the internet before shopping for women's clothing. About the AuthorRayford Clark is an author who writes useful articles on organic clothing, cotton t shirts, women cotton tees, yoga clothing and other related topics on fashion products. For more information on organic clothing and cotton t shirts women, please visit http://www.douspeakgreen.in. Relaxing eye test video - softly speaking 
This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | |||
| 7 Essential Purposes for Studying Spiritual Counseling Posted: 24 Jan 2012 09:00 PM PST Article by Phillip And Jane Mountrose Do you want to move in a new direction? Do you want to help others in a deeply meaningful way and do something extraordinary with your life? Maybe you are drawn to spiritual counseling and questioning whether this is the right direction for you. Definition of Spiritual Counseling Let's begin with the big picture. There are differing concepts of the role of a Spiritual Counselor. Here we are discussing counseling that helps individuals to bring spirit into form in their every day lives. This level of awareness goes past the ideas of a single religion into the deeper truths that unite all of mankind's philosophical and religious cultures. The spirit that unites us all is our greatest source of love, power, healing, aliveness, and higher consciousness. With recent findings, modern science has now shown this to be a proven fact. Spiritual Counseling provides the opportunity to teach individuals to access this spiritual source and experience miraculous lives. You may sense that it is part of your life purpose, which is a primary motivator. Explore these purposes for learning to be a Spiritual Counselor and see if any of these sound like you. The 7 Purposes 1. You love life and you love people. You feel most fulfilled in the company of other individuals. You enjoy connecting with them and helping them to feel good about themselves. 2. You love to serve others through teaching. You always want to learn more and recognize life as a growth experience. You treasure sharing different perspectives and assisting others in exploring real solutions to their problems. 3. You seek deeper expression. You are self-directed and have a strong desire to be involved in a field that is spiritually rewarding to you. You want to transcend the routine and create an amazing life. 4. You feel drawn to follow your life purpose, . You are excited and passionate about life. You know that there is a deeper meaning to life. You ! want to experience your life to the fullest, and feel drawn to uplift people. 5. You understand the awesome nature of Spirit. You feel guided to help people to connect with their spiritual awareness, and develop a meaningful relationship with their higher nature. 6. You can overcome limitations. You know you can help people to free themselves of barriers that restrict them so they can experience the joyful and fulfilling lives they deserve. 7. You understand infinite possibility. You are on a mission to help people to live fully and expand their awareness of opportunities that they never imagined before. If these thoughts excite you, the positive news is that you are embarking on an extraordinary journey. Spiritual Counseling gets more and more amazing as time passes. As your awareness increases, your capacity to help others deepens. A Few More Ideas About Spiritual Counseling From a spiritual point of view, each individual is here to expand, grow, and live life fully. We are only limited by our beliefs about ourselves and what is possible for us. Each person has unlimited potential that is waiting to be discovered. At the highest level, spiritual counseling helps people to release perceived limitations and expand their awareness of their true potential. Imagine what being a part of this expansion of consciousness can mean to you. About the AuthorCLICK HERE to learn how you can become a Certified Spiritual Counselor or go to http://gettingthru.org/acertify.htm. Drs. Phillip and Jane Mountrose have been offering certification courses and programs in Spiritual Counseling, Holistic Coaching, Hypnotherapy, and energy healing with EFT for more than 15 years. Their methods are transformational. Also find out about EFT tapping, the energy healing method that many people regard as modern magic, at http://gettingthru.org/eft.htm. 
| |||
| Cheapest Home Have Happiest Owners Posted: 24 Jan 2012 09:00 PM PST People who paid the least for their homes are most satisfied with home ownership, while those who buy very expensive homes are the most disgruntled, or so it would seem. That's according to a new national survey of home ownership attitudes by the real estate blog HomeGain. However, there's a big grain of salt that needs to be applied to the results. The study found that buyers who paid less than $ 75,000 for their homes were the most satisfied with home ownership out of all price ranges surveyed. Those who paid more than $ 800,000 - the highest category surveyed - were least satisfied with home ownership. Well, yes but...Seems pretty straightforward, right? Well, there's more. The survey didn't find a straight correlation between price and home ownership, even though the most and least satisfied were at the top and bottom of the chart. The second-most satisfied were those paying $ 500,000-$ 800,000, the second-most expensive tier. And the survey found virtually no difference in satisfaction among the three pricing tiers that covered the range from $ 75,000-$ 500,000. The survey doesn't offer specific reasons for the differences, but one can imagine that someone paying more than $ 800,000 for a home would have pretty high expectations - expectations that may not always be fulfilled. Meanwhile, someone who pays less than $ 75,000 may be pretty happy about scoring a bargain, particularly if that some sold for considerably more a few years earlier. Falling values = unhappy ownersInterestingly, price gains played only a small role in homeowner satisfaction, although falling home values were a significant factor among those who were dissatisfied with their purchase. For homeowners who were satisfied with the purchase, only 24 percent said price appreciation was the primary reason. Among dissatisfied homeowners, however, 63 percent said declining property values were the main reason they were unhappy. Overall, 72 percent of those surveyed nationally said they were satisfied with home ownership, with 28 percent unsatisfied. Not surprising, those who bought their homes 5-8 years ago - near the peak of the market - were most unsatisfied, with only 59 percent satisfied, closely followed by those who bought 3-5 years ago, with a 62 percent satisfaction rate. The most satisfied buyers were those who bought just recently, during the last 1-2 years, when both home prices and interest rates were low. They expressed an 84 percent satisfaction rate, followed by those who bought more than 12 years ago, with 79 percent satisfied with home ownership. Youngest owners most dissatisfiedOn a another measure, younger buyers were the most dissatisfied with home ownership, with those in 18-25 year range expressing only a 45 percent satisfaction rate. That's well below the next lowest group, age 36-45, of which 65 percent were satisfied. The most satisfied owners were those in the 55-65 and 65+ ages groups, both of which had 76 percent of respondents expressing satisfaction with home ownership. The survey involved some 1,400 homeowners nationwide. The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. Read More @ Source Mora Piritha - මෝර පිරිත - 
This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | |||
| Reprogram Your Mind - Your Gateway To Success Posted: 24 Jan 2012 08:00 PM PST Article by Christian Hall Every human is heading towards a goal. This goal is defined by their subconscious mind. Unfortunately, not everybody is directing their subconscious, consciously towards these goals. Even worse, these goals may have been put in your subconscious by someone or something else. You have been programmed to strive towards something, and without being sure exactly why, you feel you should attain those goals. You need to reprogram your mind. The human mind is no different from a computer in that it can be programmed and reprogrammed, and it's response at any given time is a function of the prior programming performed. Like computer experts usually say, "Garbage In, Garbage Out", which simply means that if you input garbage into a computer, it outputs garbage back to you. Your mind is the same way. What you feed into your mind is exactly what your mind is going to project back out. Our subconscious mind is affected by experiences we've had, or by what people have been saying to us that defines how we interact with our environment. For example, a brilliant child who was brought up in an environment where he had no time to study and thus hardly had passing grades may be told over and over that he's stupid. As a result, his mind will be programmed to believing this even though it is a lie. Without understanding the source of that negative belief which was spoken into his subconscious mind by someone else, and without reprogramming his mind to replace that negative self belief with a truer, more positive belief, he will never achieve the potential that he was created to achieve. If you can relate to this, maybe even about your appearance or height, then you must reprogram your mind. Your mind may have been programmed subconsciously for you, but it's time you take up the challenge and do something about it. Do you want to go through life living out someone else's ignorant statements about you? You might be subconsciously striving to attain goals that the other person might not even ha! ve reali zed they set for you. Sometimes it can be intentional and cruel, but often the other person does not understand the intricacies of the subconscious mind and therefore does not realize the damage they are doing. But to reprogram your mind, you have to consciously decide what you are aspiring for, and then simply program your subconscious to aspire for that goal. There are lots of ways to consciously reprogram your mind, some involve mind power techniques. The easiest way is to decide on new goals you strive for, or to think of yourself in a new and positive way, then repeatedly and consciously keep thinking of yourself in that way. This will plant the new image of yourself in your memory, which is the privy of the subconscious. When the subconscious accesses your memory, it now sees you as the new image and then begins to transform you into that image almost effortlessly. If you chase goals that are not really yours to begin with, you will be struggling and may end up exasperated at your lack of success and satisfaction. About the AuthorYou can quickly absorb the guarded techniques which will allow you to easily reprogram your mind. Learn the secrets thousands have already learned to unleash their mind powers and create massive success in all areas of their life! There's still time! Go to http://www.mindpowerunleashed.info now! What is mindfulness And How To Practice It. 
This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | |||
| Buddhism says I'm a soul-less Heraclitean river. Cool! Posted: 24 Jan 2012 08:00 PM PST Everybody wants to be something. That's so much better than being nothing. (Assuming "nothing" is something you can be.) It seems like I'm some sort of self. After all, I'm fond of saying stuff like "Personally, I think..." and "When I look within myself, I feel..." But Buddhism, along with neuroscience, see here and here, deny that us humans have/are some sort of unchanging permanent self. Or soul. Which religions consider to be the same thing as a self, just spiritual, immaterial, divine, eternal. Whatever we call it, self or soul, the big question is whether our essence is like a diamond, indestructible and unchanging, or like a river, flowing and everaltering. The scientific evidence points riverward. As does mainstream Buddhism, according to Owen Flanagan in his fascinating book, "The Bodhisattva's Brain: Buddhism Naturalized," where he seeks to understand what Buddhism is like without all the weird supernatural stuff. I should explain what a personBuddha is and is not, and how a personBuddha is possible given that there are no selves. Although Buddhists are said to deny that there are persons and selves or persons with selves, this is not really so. Or better, it is so, but the devil is in the details. When properly interpreted, Buddhists believe that there are persons, and that talk of persons and selves is harmless so long as we recognize that person and self refer to something, a pattern that is conventionally useful but that does not name anything "ultimate" or "really real." Some kinds of persons, eternal persons, and some kind of selves, indestructible transcendental egos or immortal souls, do not exist at all, but Heraclitean selves do exist. Heraclitean selves are like Heraclitean rivers where both subsist in a Heraclitean universe. So everything is changing. Including me, you, beliefs, brains, selves, Mt. Everest, ants, galaxies, subatomic particles, who is ahead in the latest presidential poll. Heraclitus sure seems to have gotten that right. If we hope to base our happiness, our well-being, our satisfaction, on something immutable, unchanging, and eternal -- that hope is going to be still unfulfilled on our death bed. Better to accept that we're all Heraclitean rivers in a Heraclitean universe. (Scholarly analysis follows) Here's Heraclitus' river quotes from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. ---------------------------------- 3.1 FluxBarnes bases his Platonic reading on Plato's own statement: Heraclitus, I believe, says that all things pass and nothing stays, and comparing existing things to the flow of a river, he says you could not step twice into the same river. (Plato Cratylus 402a = A6) The established scholarly method is to try to verify Plato's interpretation by looking at Heraclitus' own words, if possible. There are three alleged "river fragments":
Of these only the first has the linguistic density characteristic of Heraclitus' words. The second starts out with the same three words as B12, but in Attic, not in Heraclitus' Ionic dialect, and the second clause has no grammatical connection to the first. The third is patently a paraphrase by an author famous for quoting from memory rather than from books. Even it starts out in Greek with the word 'river,' but in the singular. There is no evidence that repetitions of phrases with variations are part of Heraclitus' style (as they are of Empedocles'). To start with the word 'river(s)' goes against normal Greek prose style, and on the plausible assumption that all sources are trying to imitate Heraclitus, who does not repeat himself, we would be led to choose B12 as the one and only river fragment, the only actual quotation from Heraclitus' book. This is the conclusion of Kirk (1954) and Marcovich (1967), based on an interpretation that goes back to Reinhardt (1916). That B12 is genuine is suggested by the features it shares with Heraclitean fragments: syntactic ambiguity (toisin autoisin 'the same' [in the dative] can be construed either with 'rivers' ["the same rivers"] or with 'those stepping in' ["the same people"], with what comes before or after), chiasmus, sound-painting (the first phrase creates the sound of rushing water with its diphthongs and sibilants), rhyme and alliteration.[1] If B12 is accepted as genuine, it tends to disqualify the other two alleged fragments. The major theoretical connection in the fragment is that between 'same rivers' and 'other waters.' B12 is, among other things, a statement of the coincidence of opposites. But it specifies the rivers as the same. The statement is, on the surface, paradoxical, but there is no reason to take it as false or contradictory. It makes perfectly good sense: we call a body of water a river precisely because it consists of changing waters; if the waters should cease to flow it would not be a river, but a lake or a dry streambed. There is a sense, then, in which a river is a remarkable kind of existent, one that remains what it is by changing what it contains (cf. Hume Treatise 1.4.6, p. 258 Selby-Bigge). Heraclitus derives a striking insight from an everyday encounter. Further, he supplies, via the ambiguity in the first clause, another reading: on the same people stepping into rivers, other and other waters flow. With this reading it is people who remain the same in contrast to changing waters, as if the encounter with a flowing environment helped to constitute the perceiving subject as the same. (See Kahn 1979.) B49a, by contrast, contradicts the claim that one can step into the same rivers (and also asserts that claim), and B91[a], like Plato in the Cratylus, denies that one can step in twice. Yet if the rivers remain the same, one surely can step in twice–not into the same waters, to be sure, but into the same rivers. Thus the other alleged fragments are incompatible with the one certifiably genuine fragment. In fact, Marcovich (1967) has succeeded in showing how a misreading of B12 could lead to an interpretation such as that embodied in A6 and B91[a]. It is possible to see Cratylus, a late follower of Heraclitus, supplying the wayward reading, and then adding his famous rejoinder that one cannot step into the same river even once (although the reading may go back earlier to Hippias: Mansfeld 1990: 43–55). Since Plato is alleged to have heard Cratylus' lectures, he may well have derived his reading from Cratylus' criticism. If this interpretation is right, the message of the one river fragment, B12, is not that all things are changing so that we cannot encounter them twice, but something much more subtle and profound. It is that some things stay the same only by changing. One kind of long-lasting material reality exists by virtue of constant turnover in its constituent matter. Here constancy and change are not opposed but inextricably connected. A human body could be understood in precisely the same way, as living and continuing by virtue of constant metabolism–as Aristotle for instance later understood it. On this reading, Heraclitus believes in flux, but not as destructive of constancy; rather it is, paradoxically, a necessary condition of constancy, at least in some cases (and arguably in all). In general, at least in some exemplary cases, high-level structures supervene on low-level material flux. The Platonic reading still has advocates (e.g. Tarán 1999), but it is no longer the only reading of Heraclitus advocated by scholars.
| |||
| Posted: 24 Jan 2012 07:00 PM PST Article by Stephen Lau Copyright (c) 2007 Stephen Lau TAOISM Taoism, cultivation of the self, provides guidelines to health and longevity. According to Taoism, you are in control of your own life, in particular, your healthy longevity. Taoism is a way of life. It encompasses everything - from the universe and nature to the human body. Essentially, it focuses on harmony of "yin" and the "yang." Zen (which I have mentioned in several of my previous articles) is a "practice" of Taoism, and is sometimes interspersed with Buddhist teachings. Unlike Buddhism, Taoism believes in the value of life, but does not focus on life after death. Taoism is not a religion. Taoism was initiated by Lao Tzu, a contemporary of Confucius (both were among the greatest philosophers in ancient China). Lao Tzu says, "The highest virtue is achieved through non-action. It does not require effort because virtue is natural to people." In other words, the wisdom in doing things is innate in every individual. You act without doing and work without effort. You prevent trouble before it arises. You put things in order before they exist. The giant pine tree grows from a tiny sprout (like the Biblical mustard seed). The journey of a thousand miles begins with your first step. Taoism offers a much broader concept of health and longevity than contemporary Western medicine. For example, most of the forms of sport and exercise practiced in both the East and West today are highly competitive. They emphasize strength and quick reflexes, with strenuous training (and sometimes reinforced with drugs) designed to increase strength and stamina for ultimate success. If you cannot complete successfully, you are out of the game. Taoism, on the other hand, offers spontaneity. You do what you can, and do the best of what you can. Another example, many people today tend to think of health only in terms of curing sickness, and longevity only in terms of avoiding fatal diseases. Taoism, on the other hand, focuses o! n the ar t of living longer and healthier, not merely surviving into old age. The Yellow Emperor of ancient China once asked his sage how he could live long. The sage replied, "There is nothing to be seen, nothing to be heard. Just hold your spirit in stillness, and your body will be healthy. You must be still. You must be pure in mind and spirit, not subjecting your body to toil, not disturbing your vital force. Then you may live for long." This succinctly expresses the art of living well according to Taoism. The Chinese have an ancient tradition that does not share the limitations of the Western approach to cure. Taoism health and practices, which affect all aspects of life, should be embraced at an early age, and healthy longevity is not just a problem for elderly people. HEALTH REJUVENATION FOR HEALTHY LONGEVITY Lao Tzu has this to say about the attainment of longevity through the process of rejuvenation: "The way of Tao is like a newborn baby....The baby's bones may seem weak and his sinews soft, yet his grasp is strong. He knows nothing about sexual conjugation, yet his penis may sometimes be erect, showing the perfection of his vital essence." According to Lao Tzu, when you were born, your body and mind were in natural harmony. However, as you grow up, you become subject to pressures and worries, undermining the flexibility of your body and the openness of your mind; as a result, there is disharmony. Healthy longevity is the attainment of harmony of the physical and spiritual aspects of human life. When you concentrate your attention on fasting the spirit to the body, as well as on correct and healthy breathing, your whole being becomes flexible - just like that of a baby. This flexibility and suppleness of the body and mind are achieved in Eastern forms of exercise and meditation, such as Tai Chi, Qi Gong, and Yoga. Lao Tzu also comments: "There is no mistake greater than that of being ambitious; there is no calamity greater than that being discontented; there is no fau! lt great er than the desire for riches. Therefore, true contentment is an enduring and unchanging happiness." Keeping up with the Joneses, attractions and distractions of contemporary society, personal ambitions and desires often create tension between your physical and spiritual aspects, making your body rigid and your mind unyielding. You begin to lose the original integration of the body and mind of a baby, and you deteriorate and die. This is the way of all flesh. Lao Tzu says, "When a man is alive, his body is soft and flexible; when he is dead, it is hard and rigid. So it is with all things. Trees and plants are soft and pliant when they are growing; when they die they are dry and brittle. Thus, to be had and rigid is the way of death; to be soft and yield is the way of life." Lao Tzu has shown you the wisdom of living a life of healthy longevity. It is all within your control. (More on Taoism and longevity living in articles to follow) About the AuthorStephen Lau is a researcher, writing synopses of medical research for scientists. His publications include "NO MIRACLE CURES" a book on healing and wellness. He has also created several websites on health and healing.http://www.longevityforyou.comhttp://www.zenhealthylifestyle.comhttp://www.chinesenaturalhealing.com 
|
| You are subscribed to email updates from BuddhaRocks ☸ To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
