Mindfulness meditation is an excellent way to relieve stress and anxiety. When you are mindful, you are focused on the present moment and on what is happening now. Stress and anxiety are usually a result of thoughts about what is going to happen or thoughts about the past, not actually what is happening in the present moment. The entire stress response caused by stress and anxiety is a result of your thoughts about it.  In this mindfulness meditation, we will focus on using the breath to stay in

For this qigong exercise, we will place our attention on the shoulder, neck and upper back area. So many individuals hold tension in this area. With this qigong exercise, you will be relaxing into the area and thereby opening up your energetic channels. When you open your channels, you increase the flow of healing energy to that area. In qigong, the intention is to focus on the coordinated movement with your breath in a relaxed manner.

Instructions

1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and arms at your

How do I meditate? This is one of the most frequent questions that I am asked and also the most challenging. While it may seem simple to be able to just give you instructions on how to meditate, I feel that if you really want to incorporate meditation into your life, then there are some important aspects you may want to consider.

Meditation is beneficial for so many aspects of our lives. It can help to improve your physical health, it can relieve you of stress and

In my opinion, there is no right way to meditate because meditation is a personal inward journey. What I mean by this is that as you practice meditation, you begin to notice there are certain aspects that will make it easier for you to practice it. For instance, sitting erect with a relaxed spine, makes a sitting meditation easier to do. If you started practicing a sitting meditation with your spine tense, then it is more challenging to do. Having said this, you should "come as you are"

Life Lessons from Stroke Survivor and Author Erica Tucci

Today, I have the great pleasure of being the host on Day 11 of Erica Tucci’s Virtual Blog Tour. Erica’s book Radiant Survivor: How to Shine and Thrive through Recovery from Stroke, Cancer, Abuse, Addiction and Other Life-Altering Experiences is celebrating its big Amazon launch on November 19th, 2013 at http://www.radiantsurvivor.com/book-launch/pages/pre-launch.php. 

Erica Tucci had a full life as a corporate manager of a Fortune 500 company, a healing arts business owner and an author of three

For today's Monday Meditation we will cultivate our awareness of the present moment with this mindful eating exercise.

Mindfulness is about the awareness that you bring to each present moment. Anything done with mindful awareness and focus, such as eating, driving and washing dishes can be considered a meditation.

Being mindful is very helpful because it relieves stress and anxiety. This is due to the fact that your awareness is in the present moment. You are not focused on the past or worrying about the future. 

Stress and anxiety are related. Many times they are a result of a perceived threat or negative thought. As a result, you undergo a stress response. You releases all types of stress hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol. These stress hormones have profound effects on your body. Your blood pressure rises, your immune system gets suppressed, along with a whole series of reactions.

Meditation affects the body in exactly the opposite ways that stress does. It restores the body to a calm state, helps the body to

If you are falling asleep during meditation, then there are several things you can do to prevent it.  Below are a list of ideas to try that should help you meditate properly:

1. What type of position are you doing? Chances are you are in a position that lends itself to falling asleep. For instance, the corpse pose (lying on your back) is a perfect example. Try meditating in a sitting position like the burmese or half-lotus pose. If you must lie on your back, then modify it to

New Meditation Forum

Are you a beginner at meditation and need some assistance? Do you seek advice on how to improve your meditation practice? If you need answers about meditation or about the meditation services offered at Seek Within You, then please visit our new meditation discussion forum.

Click on the link above or scroll down to the User Menu at the bottom of the page to find the link. Thanks and I look forward to being able to assist you with your questions.

The best time of day to meditate will be the best time for you. This, of course, will vary from person to person. If you choose a time that is best for you, then you are more inclined to meditate on a regular basis. This is key to reaping the benefits of meditation, which are many. Meditation has been shown to relieve stress and anxiety, enhance concentration, improve your health as well as manage pain.

Keep in mind though, that although your initial schedule may not accommodate

If you are finding it challenging to sit comfortably in a meditation posture for more than a few minutes, then it is possible that you need to relax certain areas of your body. There are two regions, I suggest you focus on. They are the hip (pelvic region) and the lower back. 

Goddess Pose

The goddess pose (supta baddha konasana) is an excellent restorative yoga pose for both opening the hips and relaxing the lower back. Practice the goddess pose 2-3 times a week for several months and

Question

What are some ways to raise my vibration to relieve anxiety and stress?

Answer

Meditation is one way in which to raise your vibration. It raises your vibration because you let go and allow higher vibrating (source) energy to flow through your body by releasing your thoughts. You let go of the mental chatter and thereby allow energy to flow through your body. Conversely this means that your thoughts can curtail the amount of energy that you allow into your body.

Let's look at this another

Your mind is a garden.Your thoughts are the seeds. You can grow flowers or you can grow weeds. Have you realized the seed thoughts that are floating around in your head on a daily basis? Are the majority of these negative or positive thoughts? If you are experiencing anxiety, then a majority of them are negative in nature and they directly affect your anxiety level. Negative thoughts increase anxiety levels and positive thoughts decrease anxiety. This is due to the fact that negative thoughts cause a release of

What do you do when you start the meditation for anxiety and stress process and start to release "energies"(emotional and/or physical) faster than you have the time to adjust? Well this is known as a healing crisis. When a healing crisis occurs, you have several options:

1. Do more of what you are doing in order to move the "energy", which can manifest itself emotionally and/or physically. For instance, your daily qigong practice of 20 minutes may have "released" an old emotional wound you had carrying around for

Yesterday I was reminded of the beauty of being present by a movie, 50 First Dates. For those who have not seen it, in the movie, the main female character played by Drew Barrymore has a memory problem. Her short-term memory is only good from the time she awakens until the time that she falls asleep. As a result, every day is a new day for her. Every day she wakes up and forgets about what happened yesterday. Of course, there is more to it in the movie,

If you are falling asleep during meditation, then there are several things you can do to prevent it.  Below are a list of ideas to try that should help you meditate properly:

1. What type of position are you doing? Chances are you are in a position that lends itself to falling asleep. For instance, the corpse pose (lying on your back) is a perfect example. Try meditating in a sitting position like the burmese or half-lotus pose. If you must lie on your back, then modify it to

Based on the zen story presented in the tea meditation article, I received a question on how to explain emptying a cup to a person who has not started meditating.

Answer

That question has many levels to it. It all depends on your level of consciousness. How does a beginner start to understand this? As stated in the story "You are full of your own opinions and assumptions and must let them go. How can you learn truth until you first empty your cup?" In relation to

Mindful Eating

How can mindful eating help you with anxiety, stress and emotional healing? Well, most people eat without thought to what they are eating. They are actively engaged in conversation, thinking about something in their head, watching tv, etc. All of these activities can be stressful, cause one to become anxious or exacerbate your anxiety. If you spend the time to focus on what you are doing, you will quiet the mental chatter. When you quiet the mental chatter, you reduce stressful hormones, you become less

Tea Meditation

This is a simple way to bring mindfulness into your daily routine. It will calm your mind and bring you into the present moment. Create a ritual for when you drink tea. For instance, you could drink tea while sitting at your desk before you start working or during a 15-minute break at work to calm and center you. This is also good for an after-meal meditation or as part of your nighttime bed ritual.

Type of tea

You may want to choose a tea

The following is a simple meditation technique for anxiety and stress relief. This meditation technique will help to bring peace into your life, help to quiet your mind, and you will learn to be mindful. The basic premise of the meditation is to gently and continuously gaze at an object of interest, in particular nature. If any thoughts come to your mind, notice them without thoughts or judgments and return to looking at nature.  Keep your attention on the object even with thoughts such as “this is so amazing”