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”

“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