How can I love to be in the present moment, when there is so much going on in my life?

I had the privilege of addressing this question in the latest issue of Wellness Woman, 40 and Beyond online magazine. Here is my response:

Before you can love to be present, you must first understand the concept of presence. Being present to me is being grounded and rooted in the present moment. You are out of your head, and literally in your “body”. You are rooted enough

Today, I have the great pleasure of being the host on Day 1 of Clifton Meador’s Virtual Blog Tour.

Clifton’s book Fascinomas is celebrating its launch from February 17th to March 3rd, 2014.

Clifton K. Meador, MD has a gift for filtering through tales and ‘can you beat this one’ stories that are passed around doctors’ lounges and operating rooms and coming up with succinct but extremely entertaining stories. A ‘fascinoma’, as Meador defines, is medical slang for an unusually interesting medical case. He has gleaned

• Meditate with your mate and begin the process of healing. 
• Designed to open your heart (heal your heart chakra).
• Simple, easy and fun to do and is less than 15-minutes.
• Sit facing each other (preferable), sit side-by-side or lie on their back and hold hands.

Audio Excerpt

Cultivate the relationship you desire by making a commitment to meditate with each other. Surrender and allow your heart to heal. Your current relationship maybe suffering from the "baggage" of your past relationships. Learn to surrender, release

While doing a meditation for anxiety or stress relief, it can be challenging to maintain a relaxing posture when your joints, muscles and body are stiff. When you are uncomfortable, your mind tends to focus on being uncomfortable or you wind up shortening your meditation practice. As a result, whether you are doing a sitting meditation or a moving meditation, warming up your body, joints and muscles is a great way to relax beforehand. It allows your muscles and joints to loosen, blood flow to increase and

I had the pleasure of being a guest on HippyFitMom's show, The Skinny. On The Skinny Episode, we talked about health, meditation and holistic lifestyle skills. It was a wonderful conversation and a great way for me to introduce myself and express what I love to do, which is teach meditation. Check out the short video below for an uplifting and engaging conversation with Amber Turner of HippyFitMom.

Discussion Topics

0:50 - What I do.
1:42 - Explanation of mind/body connection.
2:00 - Finding your strength

What is Reiki?

Reiki is a Japanese technique for stress reduction, anxiety relief, relaxation and it also promotes healing. It is based on the idea that an unseen "life force energy" (qi) flows through us and is what causes us to be alive. If one's "life force energy" is low, then we are more likely to get sick, feel stress, or feel anxious and if it is high, we are more capable of being happy and healthy.

A Reiki practitioner acts as a "conduit" in directing this

Music is an excellent way to relieve anxiety and stress by helping you to relax and become more mindful. When your mind is stressed or anxious, it lowers your overall vibration. From a law of attraction perspective, this means at a lower vibration, you are attracting people, situations, environments, etc. that are also of a similarly low vibration.

The more you can relax and allow, the more your vibration raises. At a higher vibration, you are attracting similarly higher vibrational situations, people, environments, etc.

Take at least a couple of

As I used to teach college human anatomy, I found myself telling this to my students all the time: repetition, reinforces, retention. Learning anatomy just required repeating, repeating and repeating. Now as I am teaching the law of attraction and meditation, on the other side of the spectrum, I still find this to be true.

Repeating pattern

If you want something to “stick”, you have to repeat it, repeat it and repeat it again, until it becomes natural for you. Repeat it until you form habits. Now this

I love using acupressure. It is a great way to stimulate the flow of qi (energy) that has been blocked or stagnated in an area because of stress. Some of my favorite points are Pericardium 8, Kidney 1, or directly on the area that is causing discomfort. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), it is believed that acupuncture points work by regulating the qi (energy) of the body to create balance and health. When there is a blockage, there is a disruption of qi (pronounced chee) and disharmony in

Shawngela Pierce, owner of Seek Within You, was a guest on the radio show Living with Hope with Host Trudy Thomas. She appeared on January 24, 2014 at 12pm EST. The radio interview was 45 minutes in duration and was filled with insights on topics such as the benefits of meditation, the importance of a regular meditation practice, meditation for stress relief, Sedona energy vortexes, the mind-body connection and how a beginner can get started. Shawngela also discussed her Meditation for Health Program, which she offers to help

Sedona, Arizona is located 125 miles north of Phoenix in beautiful Red Rock Country.  Sedona is world-famous for its energy vortexes and is considered one of the strongest energetic places in the world.  Thousands of people travel to Sedona every year to experience the energy of the healing vortices. Now having said that, what is a Sedona Vortex?

A Sedona vortex is believed to be a place of high spiraling spiritual energy where the conditions are perfect for facilitating healing, meditation and prayer. They are also believed to

Take a Break! You deserve it.

Make yourself important in your life and take a break to do something for you. There are many options for taking a break. This is why I love the picture below, which shows 50 ways to take a break. I am sure you can find at least one that you can do on a regular basis to relax. Alternatively, if you like variety, switch it up. I personally like to keep 3 "go-to" methods that I use on a regular basis.

If you are questioning why you should meditate or are curious about the benefits of meditation, take a look at this infographic and maybe you will find the answer that you seek. As you can see, meditation decreases anxiety, stress and depression as well as a whole hosts of other benefits.

Let's face it, when you are having an anxiety attack, there is an explosion of thoughts going on in your head, making it very hard to focus on anything else. A great way to feel your way back from an anxiety attack is to do a grounding exercise. Keep in mind that in the beginning, it may be difficult to remember to do this but as you continue to practice this meditation, it will become easier and easier to ground and root yourself.

You see grounding is

All-Inclusive Meditation Retreat

7-day/6-night Retreat in Sedona, AZ

September 7-13, 2014
"A life transforming event"

This meditation retreat is designed to re-energize, rejuvenate and to have a life transforming affect on your life. This meditation retreat is for you if you are someone who:

• Wants to learn to relieve stress and anxiety with meditation and other holistic techniques
• Wants to get meditation and lifestyle coaching
• Wants to improve your physical health from a chronic disease
• Wants continued support and guidance in their meditation practice
• Wants to incorporate meditation

Many traditions have a form of prayer bead. Christians utilize rosaries, dhikr are used in Islam, and malas are used by Buddhists and Hindus. The word “mala” is Sanskrit and means “garland.” Malas often contain 108 beads, as 108 is often seen as a sacred number. There are many reasons for this, from the Buddhist belief in 108 feelings to the Hindu belief in the 108 Mukhya Shivaganas. Malas are made out of seeds, wood, glass, and gemstone.

In some forms of meditation, it is helpful to

A meditation affirmation is a great way to relieve anxiety and stress. It focuses your attention in the present moment and releases your mind from a borage of stressful and/or anxious thoughts. When you do this, you calm your mind and can relax.

For today's meditation, we will do a quick 5-minute breath meditation with affirmation. The affirmation for today is I RELEASE and - I ALLOW JOY". Start the cycle with a silent inhalation. Then upon exhalation, say the words "I RELEASE and". Say the

Using music during meditation for stress and anxiety is a personal choice. I personally find that using music during meditation can be very soothing and calming. It can even help to focus me at times. There are times, however, that I choose to meditate without music. Sometimes, I feel that the music is a distraction. It really depends on my level of consciousness at the time I go to meditate.

The type of music that I use is also different depending on my current vibrational level, i.e.

Shawngela Pierce, owner of Seek Within You, will be a guest on Hollis Chapman Radio Show at 12pm EST on January 3, 2014. Shawngela will be discussing the Meditation for Health Program she teaches at her company, Seek Within You. The Meditation for Health Program is a step-by-step holistic lifestyle program with meditation used as the foundation. The program is designed to teach students how to heal from the emotional and physical effects of stress and anxiety. Student learn stress management and anxiety relief techniques. They learn

Quick Meditation Tip

Meditation can occur anywhere. For instance, you can meditate while washing dishes. You can be so focused on feeling the hand sensations that occur while washing dishes that you are actually practicing a form of mindfulness meditation. Typically when people are asking this question though, they usually have a vision of a quiet, secluded space in which to do a seated meditation. For some people, this may be the best way to start a formal meditation practice. If this is the case for you, then