“Peace begins with a smile.” A very profound quote from Mother Teresa. Smiling is oftentimes overlooked as a simple way to bring peace into your life. Smile more often and you will bring peace to your heart. In part 2 of this series, I am going to introduce you to a simple "Smile Meditation" that you can do for at least 5 minutes a day for more peace. I term it "Smile Meditation" but in truth, it could just as well be termed "Peace Meditation". 

Preparation

Find

What is raising your vibration?

As a practitioner of qigong, I like to explain many aspects in terms of energy. Energy is all around us and it vibrates at a certain level. The level at which you vibrate is a reflection of the level of health, stress and anxiety you have in your life. When you are in a relaxed, uplifted mood and healthy state, then collectively you are vibrating at a level above the "I feel good" bar. (Please watch video below)

How does

Well everyone is different and as such their experiences will be different. Most people feel an immediate sense of relaxation.  This is due to many things, one of which is a quieting of the mind.  Many also begin to notice areas in their body they have never noticed before such as a particular tension* in an area.  This is due to a placing of your focus inwardly.  You are now beginning to notice areas of your body that have decreased energy flow and need to be opened.  In

You may be wondering how does gratitude relate to stress, anxiety, emotional as well as physical healing? Well it has a lot to do with it. It is important to remember that in addition to a regular meditation practice, it is important to have tools or skills that you use to help lift your mood or what I like to term raise your vibration. When you make a point to turn your focus to gratitude, you open your heart. You also divert your attention away from a stressful,

Think of the body as energy or better yet as a highway of energy with energetic routes. The energy that flows through these energetic routes can normally pass through at a high rate, however, when there is a blockage, the energy cannot flow. This leads to an imbalance of energies in the body. The flow of Qi or energy can be interrupted by several factors, including anxiety, stress, anger, fear or grief. When this occurs, disharmony in the body occurs. The only way to bring the body

Physical exercise is known to reduce anxiety. If you are curious as to how this occurs, a study published by a group of psychologists at Princeton suggest it is a result of the ability of exercise to inhibit the affects of stress on the brain. 

Now how much exercise do you need?

According to the Anxiety and Depression Society of America psychologists studying how exercise relieves anxiety and depression suggest that a 10-minute walk may be just as good as a 45-minute workout. Some studies show that

I read a post today that compared whether taking deep breaths or  shallow breaths were best during an anxious or stressful moment.  It is my opinion that the depth of the breath is irrelevant. It is focusing on your breath that helps to calm you. If you could turn your attention to focusing on the inhalation and exhalation of your breath, you will be calmed. This is a result of the fact that you are turning your attention inward, quieting your mind and releasing your focus on that

Have faith that if you just keep moving, you will find relief with anxiety.  The fact that you are searching is key.  The answers that you seek will come to you.

Here at Seek Within You, I teach meditation for anxiety and I teach it within a holistic perspective. Meditation is a natural way to relieve anxiety and stress and is wonderful to use in conjunction with other therapies to help you with your anxiety.  For instance, you can use meditation with herbal therapy or with

“Every morning we are born again.What we do today is what matters most.” Buddha #quote

Being present and in this moment is the key to happiness. What happened yesterday, happened yesterday. If you wish to recreate yesterday then continue to focus on it, however if you wish to create a new, ie. be born again, then focus on finding the joy in the moment. 

Be mindful of your thoughts and what you are doing in the present moment.  

visualization is also key 

The Mind/Body Connection

Your Thoughts Cause Physiological Changes

Your thoughts cause biological and physiological changes to occur in your body. For instance, when you have a "stressful thought" such as "My health is poor.", "I dislike my job.", "How will I pay this bill?" , "I have a meeting with my boss.", etc, your body undergoes physiological changes known as the "fight-or-flight" response. The purpose of the response is to give your body the needed resources to either fight or run. Some of the specific physiological changes that occur in

Have you ever tried to meditate and started noticing all of the thoughts roaming around in your head? You then came to the conclusion that you could not meditate.  You thought to yourself "How could I possibly meditate with all those thoughts roaming around in my head?". Well, I am here to tell you that you can meditate. 

Part of the process of meditation is an awakening awareness.  Since you have taken the steps to direct your focus inwardly, you are becoming aware of all of

What is Anxiety?

Anxiety is excessive worry, nervousness or agitation about a subject.  Many times it a result of thinking about something that is going to happen.  Anxiety is also a product of stress. When you are stressed, there is a tendency to worry.  Excessive worry that interferes with a person’s ability to sleep and normal ability to function is considered a problem. When it gets to this level, it is termed a disorder.

There are several types of anxiety disorders:  Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Panic disorder, Obsessive-compulsive

Stressful situations can cause your blood pressure to spike temporarily. When you are stressed, your body produces a surge of hormones and these hormones temporarily increase your blood pressure by causing your heart to beat faster and your blood vessels to narrow.

Stress and long-term high blood pressure

These temporary spikes in blood pressure could lead to long-term high blood pressure, however, there has not been a connection made that stress by itself causes long-term high blood pressure. It may be that other behaviors linked to stress —

Studies have illustrated a strong link between insomnia and chronic stress. According to APA's (American Psychological Association) Stress in America survey, more than 40 percent of all adults say they lie awake at night because of stress.

Stress can be defined as any uncomfortable "emotional experience accompanied by predictable biochemical, physiological and behavioral changes." When you are stressed you are worried about the future or dwelling on the past.  Thoughts are continually roaming around in your head, which is especially prominent when you are lying down trying

Are you too hard on yourself when you examine how you have handled a situation? Do you make a habit of forgiving yourself or do you continually go over and over in your head the mistakes you feel you made? When is the last time you forgave yourself?

Well it is time to learn and take some steps to forgiving yourself. Forgiving yourself is essential to healing because when you forgive yourself, you open yourself to healing. Lack of forgiveness, results in a contracted emotional state.  Learn

Introducing The Arkrealm Project

When Shawngela Pierce, from Seek Within You, asked me to create an article outlining The Arkrealm Project I thought, ‘that’s easy’. However, this dynamic program has more offshoots then a giant maple tree. If I were to give this project a mission statement I would say: The Akrealm Project is the Key to Living Your Destiny.

The Key to Living Your Destiny’

Most of us live in a whirlwind of seeking approval from everyone; this takes us up many paths, often

It has been a month since the turn of the new year.  Are you well on your way into building new habits for this new year or are you "stuck" in the same patterns? Well, if you want to change a habit, you have to build new brain neural connections.  Now how do you do this? Hmmmmm…let me give you a hint...focus. Watch this short movie excerpt from the film "What the Bleep" for a wonderful insight on building new neural connections in the

Using the Law of Attraction & Meditation for Health Improvement

The law of attraction teaches us that focus is key. If you want to improve your health, you have to direct your focus towards health. Meditation trains your mind to focus. The more you can focus on health, the more health and opportunities to improve your health will be brought into your reality.   For instance, you will be guided and led to situations that will lead you to a healthy lifestyle.  You were guided here my friend

In the Meditation for Health Program we apply the Keep It Simple concept.  We also relate to health in terms of energy.  In basic terms, when you feel good you are in a healthier state then when you feel bad.  It is as simple as that. 

Now there are ranges to feeling good and ranges to feeling bad.  For instance, for physical health, you could be experiencing a minor discomfort or you could be experiencing full blown chronic pain.  The latter is more in the lower range

Stress is analagous to constriction of the body. It is a disallowing of the natural flow of the energy in the body.  If you are looking to relieve stress and improve your health, then take these quick and easy steps in the process. By taking these steps, you are literally raising your vibration by allowing yourself to relax.  Relaxation is key to the healing process.

Smile

Laugh

Listen to Music

Exercise - Try this moving meditation

Breath - Deep breathing exercise

Raise your vibration

Meditate

Laugh