Continuing our series of meditations we get to karma meditation. This is being in the moment when doing anything. It can be practiced all the time.
Karma means action and karma yoga is one of the eight different yogas. Yoga means yoke or union with the ultimate reality (the Godhead).
In karma meditation or karma yoga you take whatever work you have to do and just do it and nothing else. You remain in the present moment concentrating on the action you are taking. It is an excellent meditation to do when you are doing your chores.
For example you have to wash the dishes or take out the garbage. Look at this action as an opportunity for spirituality and self improvement. When washing the dishes notice every movement your hands make. Feel the water running on you hands. What temperature is it? Does the bubbles from the dish washing liquid make the water softer on your hands.
See each spot of dirt as it washes off. Just stay in the present moment and enjoy what you are doing (your actions - karma). Like all other meditations sooner or later you’ll notice that you are no longer concentrating in the task at hand. You are thinking about this or that. Your mind is in the past or the future. You are glancing impatiently here or there.
As in all other meditations when you notice that simply return you concentration back to whatever you are doing….
Doing this mediation whenever you have to do something (perhaps you are stuck in a traffic jam) help make your life much easier and more enjoyable.
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In the seminal book Aging With Grace: What the Nun Study Teaches Us About Leading Longer, Healthier, and More Meaningful Lives 
the researchers demonstrated that the brain is like other organs. It’s a case of use it or lose it. In order to keep your brain young as you age you need to exercise your brain.
Common in our society today are the brain exercises designed to give our mental faculties the boost they need. There are games, activities and all other cranial calisthenics that claim to be helpful in maintaining our brains functioning superbly.
These exercises are not just for those who have mental problems, they are good for everyone who wants to keep his/her mind healthy and improve his/her brains. From senior citizens to the younger generations, these activities help to keep them all mentally fit.
Studies have proved that people who have exercised their brains regularly have improved their memory as well as their focus. The best brain exercises are those that use both hemispheres of the brain:
- Cross Crawls
Cross crawls is a type of exercise that is based on the principle that our nervous system works homolaterally. This means that the left portion of our brain controls the movement of the right portion of our body, and so on for the other half.
The principles of kinesiology are also applied in this exercise wherein rhythmic movements are suggested so that the brain’s lateralization can be improved further. You can do this simply by touching your right hand or elbow to your left knee. Do this for several times, and after one side, you may proceed with the other side, doing the same steps. A version of this is alternatively tapping each knee with the opposite hand.
This exercise, when performed by babies, are believed to realign the brain circuits in order for the left half of the brain to be able to connect with the left part of the body, and vice versa.
For the adults, on the other hand, when this exercise is done there is an integration of the different functions and tasks of the brain. This is the reason why this exercise is mostly recommended for people suffering from dyslexia. Aside from this, this exercise is also good for strengthening your immune system’s responses.
- Lazy Eights
Another exercise which can benefit both the left and right hemispheres of the brain is the “lazy eights.” This is done by drawing the number “8” on a piece of paper using your right hand for two minutes. After the right hand, you may proceed to draw the same sign using your left hand.
This should be done daily, and the result is that you will have better concentration and your hand-and-eye coordination will improve. Aside from these, another benefit is that you would feel a reduction of stress and an enhancement of your mood.
You may also do the “Rhythmic Eights” wherein instead of using paper and pencil, you can just create an imaginary eight in the air with your hands. This should be sufficient to coordinate the two sides of your brain as well. Another version of this draws tiny figure eights with your nose or large ones with your hips. All these rhythmic figure eight exercises help with homolateral crossover or the balancing of the brain hemispheres.
Try Different Exercises for A Change
Since there are already a lot of exercises designed to improve your mental functioning, it would be a better idea if you would alter your exercises so that your brain will not get used to just one routine.
By varying your brain work out, you are also able to exercise as many parts of your brain as possible. There are puzzles, crosswords, soduko and other brain games available; you just have to look for those which best fits you. Exercise your brain, better your brain’s performance.
Learning new skills especially another language, a new hobby, or going back to school for fun all help improve your brain functioning.
An important aspect of keeping your brain young is socialization and having a happy attitude toward life. To this end thinking games like bridge, and chess help a lot. Also looking after plants or pets keep your brain motivated and young.
Finally I wish to prescribe laughter. When you laugh a deep belly laugh you produce plenty of endorphins and serotonin and improve your immune system.
Mind Over Mood: Change How You Feel by Changing the Way You Think 
The Younger (Thinner) You Diet: How Understanding Your Brain Chemistry Can Help You Lose Weight, Reverse Aging, and Fight Disease 
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Recently I wrote about five fears which stop our success . One of the most important one of these fears is the fear of failure or fear of rejection. It is interesting to note that children do not suffer from such fear and that’s one of the reasons they learn so fast and achieve so much.
Fear of failure is quite common in adults for obvious reasons. Adults want success and yet having heard so many negative suggestions as they grew up have lost their natural persistence and are ready to give up at the first encounter with failure.
Yest, only those who face up to this type of fear are able to rise above their fears and achieve their goals. On the other hand most are paralyzed by fear of failure and are thus prevented from realizing their full potential.
The most destructive part of the fear of failure is one’s inability to accept criticism or feedback well. Instead, they tend to magnify their mistakes with negative self talk like calling themselves stupid or other denigrating words. There are also instances wherein the fear of failure is so immense that people procrastinate to the point of not trying for fear of failing. That way when they fail they can try that they were not trying to succeed.
Steps to Overcoming This Fear
Why must fear of failure be given attention on, you might ask. Unless you are able to let go of the fear of failure, then you are unable to achieve your desired result. Oftentimes, fear of failure produces negative thoughts that reduce your actual potential. You think you are incapable of achieving something when it fact you can.
Once you are brave enough to do something about this fear, then you are able to provide yourself more freedom to do what you need to do and succeed at it. Here are some basic methods you can try.
- Do Something About the Fear - feel the fear and do it anyway.
Fear of failure immobilizes you. You become so wrapped up with the fear that you will eventually fail that you rather not try. But when you don’t try, you neither fail nor succeed. Therefore, make that decisive action towards conquering your fear. If you should fail, then you will create awareness of the factors that will contribute towards your success. If you succeed, then you can reward yourself with that. The interesting thing is that the more you act, the easier action becomes and the less you’ll suffer from this fear of failure.
- Find Alternatives - do something new and different
There are several factors that contribute as to why you fail or succeed at doing something. Whichever it is, you need to look at your behavior towards something and the result achieved. But the most important step you can take is never to associate your failure with yourself . You are not your results. You can always get back up and try other alternative methods to achieve your goals. You can try doing things differently as the methods you use could be the reason why you failed in your attempt.
- Learning From Failure - understand there’s no failure only results
This is the best that you can take out from the experience and also one of the more effective ways to get rid of this fear. Instead of putting all the blame on yourself as to why you failed in your endeavors, take it as a learning experience instead. This will enable you to prevent failing in the future yet again.
Consider the following questions as they can provide the answers in your need to conquer the fear of failure:
- Where did you commit mistakes?
- How could you prevent the mistake from happening?
- Where can I make improvements?
Failures must always be translated into a learning experience. That way, you have more opportunities to learn and do better. After all, if you have not experienced any type of failure, then you would not have the means towards changing for the better. Learn from Edison who when asked if he was dejected when he failed thousands of times to create the light bulb the great inventor replied, "I never failed. I succeeded in discovering so many ways which would not work. I knew that I would eventually run out of things which would not work and find the one which would."
In terms of conquering this type of fear, it is important that you learn how to confront and overcome them. Or else, you could end up repeating the same mistake or worse that your fear of failure could prevent you from following your goals.
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Continuing our meditation series we get to swimming meditation. Basically when you swim alone with your head under the water you enter an altered state of consciousness.
This is caused by the aquatic mammal diving (head under) water reflex. This something that all aquatic mammals (whales, dolphins. seals and so on) share with human beings and one or two other land mammals. When we put our head under water (just nose and eyes is enough) our metabolic rate slows down so we can spend more time under the water.
So to do the swimming meditation we swim the crawl alone and just concentrate on the water, the sounds, the light bouncing on the pool bottom (I have not done it in a sea or ocean but I’m sure it would work). Again like all other meditations soon your mind will wonder. You’ll notice that you are thinking. Gently bring back your concentration on the water and the swimming.
Concentrate on the sounds and the sights under the water. Soon you may notice seeing the inside of your own eyes. You see little things floating in front of you (they appear a few inches away from you). This seeing inside your own eye happens because the water has a different reflective index than air and it’s reflective index is very similar to that of the fluids inside the eyes so you notice the slight flaws inside your own eyes.
Continue to swim and do nothing. Swimming is one of the best sports and uses all your muscles which puts you in the present moment. It changes your relationship to gravity and that too changes your state of consciousness. One of my Tai Chi teachers once told me that it is the nearest thing both from physical and spiritual point of view to Tai Chi.
So swim, enjoy the altered state of consciousness and meditate by staying in the moment and remaining present….
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Continuing our series on meditation , this is a very powerful meditation. It is so powerful that I do not recommend doing it on a daily basis but that’s the way it is for me and it may be different for you. I keep emphasizing that you should try the different meditations for yourself and decide which one or ones are useful for you.
This is how you do the mirror meditation :
Sit down comfortably in a darkened room opposite a mirror. The mirror should be at the right height so you can see your face in it by looking straight forward. I do it sitting on a chair opposite a full length mirror at night or just before dawn.
You may light a single candle to give a little light if you cannot see yourself. The candle can be placed to a side so it lights you but does not come directly in your visual field.
Now just look into your eyes in the mirror image. Your face becomes the point of concentration. Again, no commentary. No thinking I’m this or that or I look this is that - just look.
At times you’ll notice that you are thinking or that you are looking at other things. When that happens simply bring your concentration back to your face.
This meditation is most powerful when started just before dawn and ended after a littke light comes up . Then I go for a little walk and watch the sun rise.
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When you desire to change, take action, or improve yourself in any way, there are five fears which hold you back:
- Fear of the unknown - this is why we do things the way we have always done them. We go to the same restaurants, eat the same foods, and never take safe risks. Practice going for the unknown by taking a different route, eating a different meal, going to a type of restaurant you have never been to, reading a magazine new to you….
- Fear of failure - this pernicious fear stops more people from achievement than any other fear. Imagine if a child had a fear of failure when learning to walk….
This fear also shows itself as fear of rejection . In order to have the fear of rejection you must care a huge amount about the outcome. A friend who wrote film scripts told me about his experience with acting. He was taking acting classes so he could improve his writing.
He had a great amount of fear of rejection about his writing and would not risk sending his scripts out, but as far as his acting was concerned he would go all out even though he knew his acting was not much good. He just was not bothered since he knew that he was taking the class purely as a way of improving his writing.
He told me that he realized that is he had the same attitude of just going for it in his writing he would have been much more successful. At the same time he noticed that his fellow acting students who wanted to be actors would freeze and get anxious in scenes even though they were much, much better in acting.
The difference was that they cared about acting, and he cared about writing. So if you go for it one hundred percent without caring about the result (the journey is the thing) you’ll overcome your fear of failure and rejection.
- Fear of commitment - this produces lack of focus and concentration to a single goal.
- Fear of disapproval - this is different from fear of rejection. An example is that in the bad old days people would continue smoking because when they would try to stop their smoking friends would tease them and offer them cigarettes.
- Fear of success - thoughts like "If you are successful people will dislike you." Actually you don’t need friends like that. Good friends will share your victories with you and be happy for you.
Finally I want to tell you that FEAR stands for "False Evidence Appearing Real."
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Continuing our series on different meditations we get to a very simple meditation. Sit down somewhere comfortable and make sure you will not be disturbed for the duration of the meditation.
Close your eyes. Take a few deep breaths and exhale slowly allowing your mind/body/soul/spirit to relax. As you relax allow your consciousness of your hearing to expand.
Listen - just listen without any commentary. By commentary I mean without calling any sound any name ("birds singing, car driving past, airplane") or characterizing the sounds as harmonious or disturbing.
As in all other meditations at times you may notice that your mind is wondering - perhaps you notice that you are thinking - when you notice your concentration is not on the sounds you here simply and gently return your mind back to the sounds.
Blaise Pascal (French philosopher, scientist and mathematician) once said that all human evil comes from a single cause, man’s inability to sit still in a room for half an hour. In this meditation as well as many others you learn to site still….
Other posts in this series include:
A couple of recommended books on meditation:
The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment 
by Eckhart Tolle.
The Mindful Way through Depression: Freeing Yourself from Chronic Unhappiness 
by Mark Williams.
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Continuing our various meditation series - this is a simple but powerful meditation that puts you in touch with your body.
First stand up and stretch your body. Next lie down on a bed, carpet or some place where you can have your arms a few inches away from your body. Make yourself comfortable. Fidget a bit and move your body until you find a most comfortable position. Open your mouth slightly to relax your jaws.
Now remain totally still until the end of meditation (at least five minutes - thirty minutes much better). The meditation is simple. You are just aware of the various sensations you have, You may be aware of parts of your body itching. You may notice pains, pressures, and your heart pulse in different parts of your body.
Do not do anything - don’t scratch, move - just be aware. Start scanning your body from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet. At times your attention may go to a specific part of your body. Allow it to do so. Just concentrate on your body. If you notice that your mind is wondering and you are thinking return your attention to your body.
Remember you are totally passive and only aware. You notice you are itching but do not scratch. Soon the itching disappears and perhaps in time you notice itching somewhere else. Same with other feelings. Just notice.
Another variation of this meditation is doing it while walking. This a walking meditation but not the typical walking meditation (there are many different meditation you may do with your eyes open while walking).
So walk while paying attention to your body. Walk normally but again do not scratch any itches but be aware of them. Walk safely while crossing the road but other than that you may defocus your eyes.
Observe what you are hearing without any specific recognition, comment or head movement. This if you hear a siren just hear it and do not look toward it.
Same with your visual field - do not specifically look at anything. You see a classic car - continue walking - do not turn your head to follow it.
At times you will follow a sound, or a sight. That’s perfectly OK - just bring your attention back to your body sensations. Same if you find yourself thinking just note that and return to your body.
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Treat your weight like a bank account which has to be balanced. A major difference between those who control their weight and those who let themselves go is a question of awareness and balance.
Awareness comes from knowing your ideal weight and what you weigh at this moment. Also a person who is aware of their weight management notices when he/she over eats and balances the situation either by cutting down on calorie input for the next few days or doing more physical activities.
For example yesterday I ate more than I planed to. I had no guilt about it but being aware of what I was doing I enjoyed the fod I was eating. Today, I’ll compensate and balance the situation by eating less and going for a longer walk.
Also people who manmage their weight well become uncomfortable if their weight (or better still if their clothes size) goes up by a certain amount (each person has his/her own level of comfort. For me I use my belt as the guage and if it becomes too tight I know it’s time to reduce my weight and since it’s never too much I can contrl my weight easily.
Another balance is to have a variety of foods in your diet. Eat plenty and plenty of high fiber - high bulk - high color fruits and vegetables. Cut down on meats especially factory produces meats. Drink planty of water. Eat more legumes and good nuts and your weight will go down.
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Arthritis is a disease where the joints are inflamed. It is common in most people of the world. Arthritis is as painful as prevalent and is incurable presently. However, there things you can do to reduce the pain and I’ll write about those later.
You can be at risk for getting arthritis and you may not even know it. Some of the conditions (such as your genetic disposition) cannot be changed (for now) but there are a number of things that you can do to prevent arthritis from happening to you later on in life.
Take a look at the risk in your life and what you can do to prevent arthritis from happening to you and causing great pain in your life.
Understand that arthritis can affect anyone of any age, gender or race. Even babies at a young age of six months can develop arthritis. The risks of arthritis increase with age especially after forty.
The following can increase your risk of arthritis as well:
- Sports injuries can often occur and it is necessary to continue treating your injury throughout your life to prevent more serious conditions later on in life.
- Weight is very important when it comes to having arthritis. If you are more than 30 pounds overweight, having this extra stress can affect your joints and create arthritis pain. Having a good healthy weight and exercising and eating right is very important when it comes to your health.
- Women are more at risk than men for getting different kinds of arthritis pain. This is because of the hormonal changes that a woman will go through. Keeping hormones in order by seeing your doctor regularly will put you at a lower risk for arthritis.
- African Americans are more likely to have lupus, which is an arthritic disease.
- Caucasians are at a larger risk for getting rheumatoid arthritis. There are certain groups of Americans that are at risk for getting certain type of arthritis.
Genetics will also play a very important part in the development of arthritis. There is not much that you can do to counteract it. However if you live a good and healthy life, you can lower the risk of arthritis conditions in your body at a young age.
Contrary to the old folks legend eating potatoes and other plants of the nightshade family (tomatoes, peppers, eggplants) will not cause or make arthritis worse. If this were true populations which eat lots of potatoes would have higher incidence of arthritis and epidemiological studies have proved this is not so.
If you are at a greater risk for arthritis, you need to take the right steps to reduce your chances of getting a disease. Having a healthy lifestyle by eating right and exercising well is going to keep you at a lower risk. Even though arthritis can be difficult to deal with, you can prevent it from happening.
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