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Active Meditation: Shake it up, to calm yourself down

heavensfield — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 15:21:12 +0000

Shaking meditation is an active technique which effectively releases the accumulated tension in your body allowing it to enter a state of relaxation. Here’s how you can shake away your stress . . .

The first thing you will need is some music which gets you shaking. Osho produces a Shaking Meditation CD, however you can find anything that will get you actively moving. If desired, listen to the sampler and locate music with a similar instrumental beat. Next, find a safe place to shake away your stress. Since you will be moving about, you’ll need to locate a setting where you won’t inadvertently knock something over, or bump into something while you shake.

Now you’re ready to relieve that stress.

Step 1: Start Shaking! Shake your arms, your wrists, your fingers, your legs, your gluts and anything else you can get moving. You’ll want to put your entire muscle strength into the process. Vigorously shake your entire body for a total of 15 minutes.

Step 2: Slow it down.Now that you’ve just shaken your body, you’re heart rate will be elevated and it’s time to bring it down into a healthier range. Put on some music that you like to groove to and twirl, dance, move about. This isn’t designed to be a vigorous activity, so you’ll want to select music that is somewhere in-between making you want to jump and shout, or fall asleep. Gently move for another 10-15 minutes.

Step 3: Lie down and relax. Let your body rest while lying on your back. Close your eyes and practice deep diaphragmatic breathing. This is the time to allow your body to take in the feeling of calm. There is no time limit to this part of the exercise. Just be in the moment and enjoy the state if relaxation brought on by movement.

This mediation may also be done with your friends, spouse or partner. However, I often recommend that you close your eyes while engaging in a shaking meditation as it can look or feel really silly (for some of us).

Gives new meaning to the phrase, “shake, rattle and roll.”

Create a Rejuvenation Board

heavensfield — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:46:14 +0000

Feeling run down? Doing the same repetitive tasks over and over again. Tired of it all? Maybe it’s time to create a rejuvenation board! A visual representation of activities which inspire you. Here are a few suggested categories for your board:

QUICK ME-UP ACTIVITIES (This is a list of activities that can be done in less than an hour). Examples:

Read a favorite book
Watch a favorite program
Phone a friend
Go for a walk
Play guitar hero

PICK ME-UP ACTIVITIES: (This includes activities that will take up the better part of a day or more.) Examples:

Get a massage or spa treatment
Rendevous with a friend
Linger the day away (yes it’s ok to take care of yourself by doing nothing)
Take a day trip
Engage in a favorite hobby

BUILD ME-UP ACTIVITIES (This includes activities that will push your growing edge.) Examples:

Sign up for a college class, workshop or seminar
Donate some time supporting your favorite cause(s)
Do something special for someone in need

WAKE ME-UP ACTIVITIES (These are novel, different, intriguing activities that challenge you.) Examples:

Take up Fencing
Enjoy a Nia Dance class
Take a zip-line adventure tour
Apply for a new job
Teach a continuing education class
Visit a new part of town

Post your board, chart, or list in a place that will serve as a reminder to rejuvenate yourself. Feel free to add new activities you learn about on a daily basis. Those items in life that we put before us often become acted upon. Although activities that promote productivity are highly regarded in American society, so too should time for rejuvinating oneself.

Cl UTt e R gets in the way

heavensfield — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 05:04:24 +0000

Think about the first sentence of this post. By scattering the word into sections using upper and lower case, the word becomes distracting. Clutter works in much the same way by creating distractions that add complexity to daily living. Simplifying your life allows you to focus on those matters that are of most importance to you. Even organized “clutter” is less distracting than disorganized “Cl UTt e R.”

Starting with this post I will be putting up random ideas on how to simplify your life.

Tip of the post: DE-CLUTTER!

Get rid of anything you haven’t used in the past 12 months. Start with one room, drawer or closet and branch out from there. Once you have gathered up unused items, donate or sell them. The main point is to rid yourself of excess clutter. A de-cluttered environment invites a sense of peace and calm to take up residence where clutter once dominated. With less “stuff” filling up your personal space, there is: less to clean, less to take care of, less to sort through, and less to manage. Leaving you with more space, more energy and more time to engage in the things that create lasting enjoyment.

A virtual life uncluttered

heavensfield — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 17:05:22 +0000

In contemplating the idea of decluttering to discover untapped energy and create movement, one area which is frequently neglected is our virtual lives. A few examples include our home or office computer files, emails, cell phone contact lists, and even our web presence. We get busy, quickly creating data without analyzing how the data should be structured. This chaos creates a web of disorganized information which can really slow you down. The benefit of of taking a “pause” and looking at the time spent on virtual tasks opens the window of awareness. Each time we work with archaic or disorganized technology, time is lost and productivity decreases. Technology was designed to increase our productivity rather than decrease it. Over time we can become oppressed by the very tools that were meant to free up our lives. (Ask me sometime why why I chose to leave the IT world behind in search of a fuller, more abundant life!)

With that said, I have made the decision to move from form to function as a means of allowing technology to be synergestically entwined with my life vision. In the past, our website was updated using MS frontpage and Adobe photoshop. This tied me to a particular computer in my home office. By moving to a content management system (CMS) website and wordpress blog, data can be posted on the fly from anywhere in the world. This mobility allows for faster accessibility and presentation of information.

I’m embracing the changes, and hope you will join me as I provide you with many new features in the coming months ahead.

Here’s to an organized and progressive virtual life!

Cosette