Meditation Secrets Revealed

Book Review: Astral Dynamics by Robert Bruce

For those who are seriously interested in developing their awareness of subtle energies and wish to practice astralprojection or out of body experience, I highly recommend the book Astral Dynamics by Robert Bruce. This comprehensive book gives specific techniques on how to go about leaving your body and has several extremely helpful chapters on energy work. Bruce also presents his theory of astral travel, how it works and potential dangers.

In order to achieve out of body experience consciously, Bruce says it is helpful to develop the energy body. The first stage is to become aware of energy and learn to sense where it is, which direction it is moving and guiding it through the body. Second, each minor energy center such as the hands and feet must be awakened. One may discover energy blockages in the body and those must be undone, similar to massaging a tight muscle in order to release it. Once energy is able to move freely, a circular pattern is established from the toes to head and back down again. Specific techniques are then introduced to aid the process of separating the energy body from the physical body.

I practiced the exercises in this book diligently for several weeks and saw amazing results. I began to sense energy not only in my own body but also in other people’s energetic fields which greatly informed me about their personality and character. I almost succeeded in having an out of body experience at the end of the first week but the experience was extremely frightening and exhilarating at the same time. Since then, I have given up on attempting to leave my body but I still practice the energy exercises that I learned from the book. They are intuitive, simple, and extremely effective. For anyone interested in this topic, this is a must read.

We have all experienced stress and tension at one point or another in our lives. It is the feeling of our thoughts racing a thousand miles a minute that keeps us up at night. It follows us no matter where we go. And just when that stress becomes unbearable, as we prepare to break – a magical epiphany appears. A resolution to the tension becomes clear. This stress and tension is actually part of the resolution, it is the motivator and the force behind the need to change.

Tension can also form around the unknown future, leading to anxiety and stress. In the grips of fear, the road ahead seems dark and long, yet in this darkness we may find our greatest motivation. The law of tension and resolution will work in creating this tension and inevitably manifest the energy and drive necessary to change, grow, and progress.

Frequently, people see these situations as unpleasant, frightening, and anxiety provoking. We run, we hide. Avoiding even the mundane uncomfortable moments of uncertainty we miss the lessons and opportunities to grow and learn. Instead, we can look ahead and embrace these experiences as a necessary step towards personal growth. Embracing our fears, we become resilient and strong, both mentally and emotionally.

Take a rubber band for example, while it is still and laying on a table it is a plain and static object. But, put to use, this rubber band can be stretched and tightened to perform amazing feats of agility. It can propel objects, spring across rooms, and create momentum energy where there was non before.

Look at your life and find the places where there is tension and stress, and ask yourself, “how can I creatively utilize these moments? Where can I propel my future? Am I avoiding this situation for the wrong reasons?” As a catalyst for growth and change, moments of high tension and uncertainty are most important and even necessary. Treasure them for they are gateways to the future you!

Working at a computer all day can be difficult and puts strain and stress on the eyes leading to blurriness, redness,reduced vision, and headaches. Our modern lifestyle reduced the natural freedom of eye movements to a straight and short laser-like stare, aimed at our screens for hours at a time. To undo this strain, our eyes need exercise just like our bodies and minds. Here is a quick eye movement exercise to reduce stress, sooth, relax, and promote healthy eye motion.

Begin by getting into a comfortable sitting position. Taking a few deep breaths, get centered and focus on your eyes. Moving your gaze upward, begin to make gentle up and down motions with your eyes, tracing a nearby wall or just focusing on the movements themselves. Repeat this up and down motion approximately ten times then bring your eyes to center and close them for a moment.

To make the motion smooth, you can imagine your eyes tracing a straight and unbroken line. After the completion of each series of directional movements, bring your eyes to center and close to give them some rest.

Opening them again, begin to move them left to right, repeating this motion another ten times. Opening, look to the upper left corner of your vision and trace a line down to the bottom right, and back diagonally to the upper left. Do this ten times, center, close, and repeat the diagonal motion in the opposite direction.

Next, moving your gaze up, begin to trace a smooth clockwise circle, including as much of your peripheral vision as possible. Once completed, repeat in the counter-clockwise direction. After doing both directions, center and close the eyes. Keeping them closed, bring your hands together and rub them vigorously until you feel heat between your palms. Bringing the palms to your closed eyes, cup eyes and let the heat and darkness sooth and relax your eye muscles. Take a few deep breaths here to finish the practice.

In summary here is the order: up and down, left and right, diagonal, and finally circular in both directions. Rub hands together and cover. Enjoy and practice whenever your feel strain or pressure building up in the eyes. Done often, this exercise will keep your eyes healthy and strong!

Hi everyone, I just completed an extensive FAQ the responds to common concerns raised by people interested in learning more about meditation and those that have just begun to meditate. In this meditation guide, I cover burning questions such as: What is mediation, what are the benefits, different types, do I need a guru, how do I know I am doing well, how long should I meditation for, and much more. Not to mention some really cool pix!

If someone you know is interested or could benefit from this information, feel free to pass the link along. You can navigate there by clicking the Meditation FAQ tab above, next to About Me.

In the science and philosophy of yoga it is said that, “whether pain or pleasure, both are the product of the mind.”  A friend related his sad and inspirational story bringing this axiom to life. He is going through a tough time in his relationship, experiencing much pain and anguish. As I listened and comforted him in his pain, I realized that he is looking at the situation as a means to remain motivated and focused on his life goals.

In Kriya Yoga there is a notion of tapas which literally means to burn or purify. While it is easy to to run away from pain, and the mind tries to do so constantly, what would happen if we were to accept it and learn from it? Performing tapas means to see that pain as a burning fire, consuming our inner impurities and weaknesses, purifying our spirit and making the mind stronger. In doing so, we can practice acceptance welcome these “negative” emotions with open arms and the warm embrace of a long lost friend. Tapas provide us the means to practice mental discipline and self-restrain in situations where that choice is the hardest and most challenging.

Sometimes, a thing can be pleasurable but eventually lead to something painful, however in this practice, we are taking something painful and turning it into something positive and good. This form of yoga can only be achieved in the active state, in our daily lives and through our interactions with the outside world. May we all strive to see the deeper lessons and practice a little yoga in our lives.

When we are kids, our mind is in its early stages of development, extremely pliable and relatively unconditioned. For many it is their happiest time. Not because there is a lack of responsibilities, but because the mind has not yet taken control of us. Have you ever observed kids playing? One falls or hits the other, “ouch that hurt.” They cry, and they cry, and soon they get distracted by a fluttering butterfly or a rolling ball and they are off, happy as a bird, completely forgetting that they were crying and upset just a moment ago. That is the power of the mind, or should I say the lack of control of the mind over us at that tender age.

Now let’s go forward in time to a similar situation. We are hurt, we are in pain, a loved one said something hurtful or painful to us and we cry. No ball or butterfly will bring us out of this state. What has changed? We may think to ourselves at this point, “Aha, we are adults now, our lives are much more complicated and we have so many responsibilities. Life is not so simple anymore!” The truth of the matter is that although we do have more responsibilities as adults, this does not mean that life has gotten more complicated. Rather, we have allowed our mind to steering us, and now it says, “I want all emotions: negative, positive, hurtful, and joyful. It does not matter. Give me anything and I will cling to it.” That is the current state for many people. If only we could get that pesky mind to stop for just a moment, how wonderful would that be! How peaceful would we feel!

As we grow up, we begin to identify ourselves with the mind deluding ourselves into thinking that we are our minds. Through meditation and constant self observation we can reach the realization that we are not our mind. We are something different. In yoga it is called the seer. We are the seer and the mind is a pool of water which reflects that seer. Through some blunder we have associated ourselves with the reflection instead of the original image. It is like staring at yourself in the mirror and thinking that the image in the mirror is the real you.

See also: Meditation Techniques: How to Master Your Mind

Meditation is like a vast unexplored continent, the further you travel the more splendor and beauty you will see. To begin the great adventure, one must prepare for the journey and bring appropriate equipment, clothing and fuel. A well equipped expedition will ensure minimal setbacks and determine the success of the journey. Here is an inventory list of some “equipment” you will need on your meditation journey in order to establishing and maintaining a successful meditation practice.

1. Set the intention: Be clear and realistic with your expectations. Ask yourself, what are you willing to sacrifice in order to set aside the time necessary to meditate?

2. Creating the atmosphere: Dedicate a little corner, mat, or chair for meditation, use it only for this purpose. Put on some music, make some tea, develop a meditation ritual. This does not mean you must be sitting there on a cushion, with lit candles and an incense stick, but it does mean that there should be a special place where you go only for meditation.

3. Set aside a time: This may be obvious to some, but have a specific time of day when you know you will be alone and in relative quiet. Be selfish in maintaining your inner peace and don’t let anyone disturb you.

4. Unplug: Turn off your phone, the computer, and the T.V. Without these distractions, you know you can have some peace and quiet to dedicate to your meditation.

5. Stay Consistent: Consistency is the major stumbling block for any practice and developing a good habit is crucial. How do you develop a habit? It takes three weeks of doing the same thing over and over again for your body and mind to adjust and then it becomes easy and natural.

6. Keep a journal: After every meditation session, take a few minutes to write down your experiences, thoughts, mental imagery, or bodily sensations. You can look back and check on your progress and its a great way to share your experiences with friends. Keep a record of the date, time of day, and duration of the meditation.

7. Experiment: There are many different types of meditations and you never know which one will work best for until you try them. Amongst the many types, the most common are: guided visualizations, music, no music, sitting, walking, slow repetitive movements, mantras, and watching the breath.

I am frequently asked by people for advice regarding their personal and professional lives and I usually start with questions such as, “What happens in your mind? What do you see, hear, feel, and think?” It is shocking how few people are able to answer these relatively straightforward questions, yet the answers are the key to overcoming many people’s challenges. The good news is that it is fairly easy to develop this self awareness.

A simple, yet powerful, meditation technique is to create a silent watcher over your own mind. Its a simple practice that you can begin to develop into a daily habit. Take a small part of your attention and assign this part the task of watching everything that flutters through your mind. Imagine this part as a video camera that records everything, to be stored and analyzed almost immediately after it occurs. Stop reading for a few brief moments, and try this RIGHT NOW! As you begin to develop this ability, you can notice thoughts, stories, narratives, emotions, reactions, and many other processes going on in your mind. By watching and then analyzing yourself at all times, in all situations, you can discover what kinds of thoughts are going through your mind, which will quickly bring realizations and epiphanies about your own beliefs, motivations, actions, and reactions.

The only way a fish can understand water is by getting onto the shore, and looking back down into the water. You are the fish and the water represents your thoughts. In order to understand, analyze, and ultimately steer your mind, you first need to watch yourself from the outside, as a passive observer. At first, this may seem to be strange, or daunting as the self now how has to pay attention to the self, but it quickly becomes second nature. I want to make it very clear that the watcher or observer must not participate or be in any way involved in what is going on in the mind. This means that it should not make comments or judgments on what is seen, but simply observe passively and report, similar to a surveillance camera.

Be patient and do not become discouraged if you forget or become distracted, this is completely natural. Keep with it, and in time you will develop the ability to keep mental track of the chaotic landscape of the mind without becoming distracted from daily activities. If I could recommend any one meditation technique in the world, this would be it. It is crucial key to opening the door to self awareness, personal growth, stress management, mental clarity, and peace of mind.

There are many products out there, on the internet, that boast the ability to help you achieve a meditative state or teach you how to meditate, but non compare to the fantastically simple, elegant, and beautiful Mind-Lamp produced by Psyleron Inc. This product not only helps you learn how to attain a meditative state, it also allows you to get in touch with your unconscious and intuitive mind. Psyleron is a relatively new company, but it has deep roots that trace back to over 25 years of scientific research conducted by the PEAR Laboratory at Princeton University. Their kaleidoscopic lamp, sitting on my table in front of me right now, produces a beautiful spectrum of colors, and responds to my moods, thoughts, beliefs, and intentions. As shocking as this sounds, it actually responds to how I feel.

Frequently, the lamp reflects my feeling of joy or curiosity by displaying a rich and deep purple or magenta color, a stuck or annoyed mood will typically produce blues or reds. When I am deeply in thought, the color turns darker but when I turn to stare at it, trying to will it to change, it goes to white or produces a weak color that quickly fades back to white. From my experience, the more conscious attention I give the lamp, the less the effect, but when I am deeply engrossed and the conscious mind is completely occupied, the interaction becomes significantly stronger and much more striking. When someone else enters the room, the lamps “knows” by quickly changing to a color that I rarely see. It seems that each person has unique interaction with the lamp and the lamp responds by displaying that person’s color, or family of colors. Fascinating isn’t it? I have had the lamp for two weeks and I am totally attached to it, every night I am tempted to bring it upstairs to keep me company at night.

The magic is in the quantum-based technology and circuit board that sits at the bottom of the lamp; it was initially developed at the PEAR Laboratory and relies on random event generator to produce randomized bits of information. The PEAR Laboratory research statistically proved that over many trials, a person’s conscious intention has an effect and can interact and influence the data produced by the random event generator. Along with the Mind-Lamp, Psyleron also offers several other unusual inventions and technologies for unlocking your mind, you can find out more about their product, technical information, PEAR Laboratory research and much more by visiting their website.

Breathing is something so automatic that we frequently take it for granted. It is directly tied to our emotions and state of mind. Have you ever noticed that in a deep state of concentration, it is as if you are not breathing at all and, after a while, you give a long sigh to catch up. When we are in this frame of mind we tend to automatically hold our breath. The reverse happens when we are agitated or energized -we tend to take many quick breaths. In a relaxed state, we can experience and become aware of the slow deep breathing that happens automatically. By first watching our breathing and how it affects our state of mind and emotions, we can then learn to use it to our advantage. Here are a few simple meditation techniques for controlling and working with the breath.

Three- Part Breath: Inhaling slowly and deeply, notice which part of your body appears to receive the breath and where does the air move to as you complete the inhalation. As you begin to bring air into your body, the first part of the inhalation fills your abdomen. You should feel the abdomen expand outward a little, filling like a balloon. In the second part of the same inhalation, the air begins to move to the middle of the chest, and finally the upper lungs. You should feel three separate sections of the torso filling, expanding, and contracting as you inhale and exhale slowly. The reverse movement should happen on the exhale. This is a very powerful exercise and can be done to a count or with a  mantra addition.

Alternate Nostril Breathing: Closing one nostril, begin to draw in breath through the remaining nostril – start with a count of five. As you reach the five count, stop inhaling through that nostril, switch and close of the nostril you were just breathing through. Now, exhale with the alternate nostril also counting to five. When you are done exhaling, keep the hand on the closed nostril, inhale for another five count and switch to the other nostril for a five count exhale. Alternating this way back and forth until you feel comfortable switching to a 2:1 ration. For every five count on the inhalation, exhale for a ten count. Keep this ration, you can vary the inhale and exhale count as you become more adept and your lung capacity increases. Notice any difference either mental, or physical as you alternate this nostril breathing. People frequently find that the sides feel different, are able to breath in longer or shorter. This is fine and over time this technique will balance the two sides.

Fire Breath: Begin by drawing a deep breath in, exhale in rapid short bursts through the nostrils focusing on the lower abdomen. Placing your hand on the abdomen, you should feel a pulsing outward push with every exhalation. As the name suggests, this is a highly effective exercise for creating internal fire and heat and should therefore be practiced with caution.