Meditation helping war veterans
Meditation helping war veterans |
- Meditation helping war veterans
- Set And Reach Your Goals With This Practical Guide To Forming A Habit
- Flooding the body with gratitude
- Censoring what you read
- Beautiful concentration: expressed in words and an amazing video
- Advice For Healthy Living: Get Off Your Duff
- Eating Healthy: When you absolutely must eat fast food are there any healthy options?
- Find Happiness with 5 Sure Fire Ways to Find Out Whether You're Truly Happy in Life
| Meditation helping war veterans Posted: 09 Jun 2013 09:00 AM PDT
Fred Travis of the Maharishi University of Management in Iowa has won a $ 2.4 million grant from the US Department of Defence for research on the use of meditation to help veterans from the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts cope with stress. Dr Travis, who is speaking in Sydney this week, believes its application with Australian Defence Force staff should also be investigated. Three US studies have shown that transcendental meditation can have remarkable results… Read the original article » Read More @ Source |
| Set And Reach Your Goals With This Practical Guide To Forming A Habit Posted: 09 Jun 2013 07:00 AM PDT  Writing is a huge part of my life. Whether it's writing life advice like I am now or copywriting to help a business' product appeal more to potential customers you can see me writing away. You know what though? Writing is something that you have to do A LOT if you want to become better. That is true for most things. That is exactly why I wanted to make it a point to write on a daily basis. Writing in a journal, Microsoft Word, or anything to get my writing muscle pumping was important to me and I knew it was a habit that would be incredibly beneficial to me.  Read More @ Source |
| Flooding the body with gratitude Posted: 08 Jun 2013 11:00 PM PDT
Today I want to turn that inward, by reiterating a favorite practice of mine, which is of giving thanks to our bodies for the service they give us. We have an odd relationship with our bodies. On the one hand we identify with them strongly. We tend to despair when they become sick, suffer agonies over how others perceive our appearance, take it personally when they show signs of aging, and sometimes spend large amounts of time and money trying to beautify them in order to look our best. On the other hand we neglect them, fill them full of unhealthy foods, and use them in ways that cause them long-term damage. Often, in fact, people resent their bodies, and get angry with them when they experience pain or illness. Right now I'm lying down because my back's sore. I strained my back a little over a week ago, and after a couple of days of apparently having returned to health it suddenly "goes" again. The truth is, I don't take good enough care of it. I don't exercise or stretch enough, and I'm not careful enough in how I use my body. I just take it for granted. I know I should exercise and stretch, but time always seems to be short, and there's always much to do. Having a sore back, though, gives me a good excuse to practice what I'm about to explain to you, which is the cultivation of gratitude toward the body. It's similar to the practice of noticing everyday blessings that I mentioned above, since our bodies are likewise taken for granted. And in fact I often do this practice of gratitude toward the body as an extension of that practice, flowing seamlessly from one to the other.
So the practice is simple. It's a body scan practice, where we become aware of the body, part by part, and notice the sensations arising there. The addition is that we say "Thank you" to each part of the body as we become aware of it. By saying "Thank you" we develop gratitude for that part of the body. So we notice the feet, and say "Thank you." It's important to articulate the words clearly in your mind. We can allow into awareness the fact that we are, in fact, fortunate to have feet. Not everyone does. And your feet are probably functional, and capable of getting you around. Again, not everyone has this. And if your feet are damaged or in pain, recollect that your feet are doing their best. They're trying to heal themselves. They do their best to function for you. Even if your feet are in pain, they still try to work for you and benefit you. I think of this as like having a friend who shows up to help you even through they're feeling below par. That's a sign of a true friend. It's the kind of thing only the best of friends would do. Regarding any damaged or painful part of the body like this — like a good friend who tries to help you even though they are in pain — helps me to feel extra gratitude, and to let go of resentment. My gratitude becomes a form of love and appreciation. As I experience these emotions I feel the body soften. It's as if the body likes being loved (surprise, surprise!). So I do this for other parts of the body: not just the feet, but the ankles, the lower legs, the knees, the thighs … all the way up to the crown of the head and even the hair. Notice any sensations that are arising as you focus on each part of the body in turn. Say "Thank you." And allow yourself to feel that you are blessed by even having that body part. And feel extra gratitude if the part of the body you're focusing on is struggling with pain or illness even as it tries to help you. I notice the body's functions: the heart beating, like a faithful old friend; the lungs pumping away, day and night. I notice the senses. How fortunate I am to have functioning eyes, ears, a sense of taste, smell, touch, balance! I notice the act of being aware — may ability to think, reflect, remember. Even the ability to pay attention in the way I am doing at that moment. My experience of doing this practice is delightful. Gratitude is joy. It also feels like a deeply healing practice, as I let go of any resentment toward the body. Flooded with gratitude, my body itself becomes grateful, seemingly relieved to be appreciated. PS. You can see all of our 100 Days of Lovingkindness posts here. Read More @ Source |
| Posted: 08 Jun 2013 10:00 PM PDT I hope this example will give The Zennist reader some idea of just how far Theravada Buddhists will go to censor what you read in an effort to push their benighted doctrine of anattavada (the doctrine that there is fundamentally no self/attâ). Here is one such example. This passage is a Pali Text Society translation.
Now, comes the Pali. Notice that the "self is dear" and the "great Self" in the Pali is attakâmena and mahattam which I have put into italics.
Now for the comparison, let's look at Bhikkhu Bodhi's translation of the very same Pali text (The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha, p. 408).
We can easily see that this translation doesn't match the original Pali. So is this a good translation? No it isn't. And I would guess that when it comes to pushing their benighted doctrine of anattvada, Theravadins are not academically neutral. |
| Beautiful concentration: expressed in words and an amazing video Posted: 08 Jun 2013 09:00 PM PDT This morning I picked up a slender book I hadn't looked at for a while, "Practical Taoism" (translated by Thomas Cleary). I liked how the translator's preface started out. Taoism, the original wisdom tradition of ancient China, may be rendered in English as "Wayfaring." In this manner of usage, the Way is classically defined in these terms: "Humanity follows earth, earth follows heaven, heaven follows the Way, the Way follows Nature." In the final sense, therefore, Taoism, or Wayfaring, refers to the pursuit of natural laws. These natural laws are reflected in the body (earth), the mind (heaven), and in the order of the universe (the Way of Nature). The practice of Taoism, therefore, takes place in the cultivation and refinement of the natural capacities of the human body-mind continuum and its relationship with the social milieu and the natural world. Then I read: When there is something to strive for, don't give rise to ideas of gain and loss. Whether there is something to do, or nothing to do, let the mind always be at rest. ...When there is no intention to concentrate and yet one is never unconcentrated, that is called stable concentration. Control without obsession, relaxation without indulgence, no aversion in the midst of clamor, no vexation in the midst of events -- this is true concentration. ...Since ancient times, those who forgot the concrete have been many, while those who forgot the abstract have been few. To be insightful but not exploit it is forgetting the abstract. ...The Way of absolute nonresistance has power that may be shallow or deep. When it is deep, its effect includes the physical body; when shallow, it only extends to the mind. Those whose bodies are affected are spiritual people. ...Just go on responding to what is most immediately urgent, peacefully and calmly, without agitation or ignorance. This is what is called always being responsive while always being serene. After reading those words I watched an amazing, inspiring, beautiful You Tube video called "The Incredible Power of Concentration -- Miyoko Shida." I came across it somehow or other: Facebook or Twitter's naturalistic grace. Keep your scriptures. Keep your holy places. Keep your godly saints. I'll take whatever Miyoko Shida has. Here's the inpiring video.
Here I learned that her performance was on a Spanish television program called "Tú Sí Que Vales" ("You Can Do It"). For sure. She can do it. Whatever "it" is. Seems like we all have it. It just shines more evidently in some people, places, and things than other. And within us, it waxes and wanes mysteriously. The Taoism book I read this morning says: But even though you cannot see it when you look, never are you not seeing it; even though you cannot hear it when you listen for it, never are you not hearing it. It is like the wind shaking trees and raising waves -- you can hardly call it nonexistent, but when you look at it you cannot see it, and when you grasp for it you cannot apprehend it, so you can hardly call it existent. |
| Advice For Healthy Living: Get Off Your Duff Posted: 08 Jun 2013 07:00 PM PDT  The New York Times reported on a study from the journal Circulation, which found that for each additional hour of television a person sat and watched per day, their risk of dying rose by 11%. According to the Harvard Business Review article, Sitting is the Smoking of Our Generation, "After 1 hour of sitting, the production of enzymes that burn fat declines by as much as 90%. Extended sitting slows the body's metabolism affecting things like (good cholesterol) HDL levels in our bodies." Read more » Read More @ Source |
| Eating Healthy: When you absolutely must eat fast food are there any healthy options? Posted: 08 Jun 2013 06:00 PM PDT  Many of us find it fairly easy to eat healthy when we're at home and can cook, but what about when you're traveling by plane or car and all you can find is one fast food restaurant after another? Most of us would like to make it home from vacation without gaining ten pounds or having to go on high blood pressure meds! While fast food joints make most of their money off the items highest in calories, fat and sodium, there are healthier choices available if you just look for them. Here are some of the least lethal menu items from major chains. Alas, the healthiest item at any restaurant is never going to be the double cheeseburger with large fries! |
| Find Happiness with 5 Sure Fire Ways to Find Out Whether You're Truly Happy in Life Posted: 08 Jun 2013 05:00 PM PDT  They feel like they're drifting through life, trapped in a sea of indifference. "Life's okay I guess," they might say, attempting to reason out their circumstances. But deep inside, they don't really know if they're happy at all. Maybe they feel like they shouldn't be complaining; they've got a big house, a nice family, a good paying job, basically all of the things that should make them happy. Perhaps they believe that happiness is nothing more than having financial stability and a full stomach. Maybe they've forgotten what it is to even be happy, and unknowingly assume that being indifferent is the same thing as being happy. These people are at risk of living an unsatisfying, passionless life, and they might not even realize it. Read more » Read More @ Source |
Tim Barlass,The Syndney Morning Herald: Veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder can be treated with transcendental meditation, says a leading US expert on the practice.
The other day I suggested the practice of noticing our everyday blessings — things like having electricity, running water, shelter, a relatively law-abiding culture — and saying "thank you" for these things. I stressed the importance of actually articulating these words in our minds (although saying them out loud could be even more effective) in order to overcome the mind's negativity bias, where we tend to pay attention to that which we think is going wrong and take for granted and ignore that which is going right.
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