The National

A meditation chamber you can keep in your living room The National Yoga classes and meditation tapes are all very well, should you be able to find one that aligns with your exact specifications. But imagine if there were a space, open to you at any time of day, that not only provided colour and sound therapy, but also ... and more »

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A meditation chamber you can keep in your living room - The National

Neither at home nor at school do we learn to deal with negative emotions. One of the best things you can do to reduce levels of anxiety and stress overall and over time is to learn how to meditate, with a certified instructor and a proven technique.Sudarshan Kriya, a powerful, simple and ancient breathing meditation technique, is scientifically proven to increase #energy levels, bring#clarity, improve #sleep, and reduce #stress and #anxiety, leading to better quality of #life. It is practiced by millions of people worldwide.Join us for a FREE 90-minute introductory workshop to: Where: Madrone Room 1, 17000 Monterey Rd, Morgan HillWhen: 11th June, 3pm - 4:30pmContact: 408-359-7996RSVP: http://tiny.cc/itstimemhSession Contents#EXPERIENCE a live guided #meditation#EXPLORE the connection between meditation and #emotions#MEET certified meditation instructors who can answer your questions#LEARN next steps to incorporating meditation into your daily life, including how to learn Sudarshan Kriya*** This session is an introduction to the Art of Living Happiness Program. The cornerstone of the Happiness Program is the Sudarshan Kriya, a technique that has provided powerful benefits [1] to millions of people globally.Relevant Scientific Research[1] https://www.artofliving.org/us-en/research-sudarshan-kriyaContact Infocost

Breath & Meditation: Tools to manage stress & anxiety is a free event.

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Breath & Meditation: Tools to manage stress & anxiety - Gilroy Dispatch

Katy Perry hasRussell Brand to thank for a wellness practice that changed her life.

E! News' Zuri Hallsat down with the "Chained to the Rhythm" pop star to learn about how meditation has reshaped Perry's songwriting process, an activity first introduced to her by the English comedian she was married to between 2010-2012.

"[Russell] is an avid meditator and I learned when I was in India getting married," Katy explained, referencing famed meditation teacherBob Roth from the David Lynch Foundation. An admitted skeptic, Perry said that because of her conservative upbringing, she held many preconceived notions about meditation and its purpose.

"My parents are both born again Christians and I love them," she shared. "I love how I was raised and I don't regret anything. I'm not dismissing it. I respect all religions, but I did think that meditation was more of a religion. Transcendental meditation is not a religion."

Getty Images/Dave Hogan for One Love Manchester

The 32-year-oldcredited meditation as the "biggest help in my life" when it comes to disconnecting from the chaos. She added, "Life can get a little crazy, and I am always juggling a thousand balls at once."

"I'm just like anyone else. I'm addicted to my phone. I have my phone next to my bed. I would say that especially when I'm single, but even in a partnership, I'll look at my phone before I look at my partner," Perrywho last datedOrlando Bloomadmitted.

From a musical standpoint, Perry said that meditating aids creativity. "When I meditate, I get to the real well of creativity. It stirs up all of these creative juices and I get my best ideas," the chart-topper offered.

It also lifts the celeb's mood when she's feeling down. "I have been crabby many times and I'll just say, Look, I'm in a really bad mood. I need 20 minutes to reset,'" Katy recalled. "I come back; my mood has changed 100 percent."

For more about Katy's quest to reach spiritual enlightenment, watch the video above!

Katy Perry: Witness World Wide is streaming on YouTube. Pick up Perry's albumWitness out now before her tour kicks off Sept. 7.

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Katy Perry Credits Ex-Husband Russell Brand for Inspiring Her Passion for Meditation - E! Online

In this busy life for many, a weeklong retreat is offering people the chance to clear their minds.

Clarifying Meditative Work An Extended Retreat is weeklong retreat in the East Mountains from June 24 to July 1. Jay Cutts said the retreat is in its 12th year and gives people the space to practice meditation in a lightly structured setting.

While there will be points of time that participants can check in, the retreat is mostly about giving people a peaceful and quiet space for meditation. People can sign up for one day, several days or the whole week, but Cutts said the more time people give themselves to meditate, the more beneficial it will be to addressing issues that havent been dealt with before.

The basic thing is that youre taking time to just work on whats going on under the surface, he said.

Held at a lodge in the Cibola National Forest in Tijeras, fees range from $60 to $290, depending on the number of days participants stay. The fee covers the cost of lodging and other general expenses for putting on the retreat, Cutts said. Advance registration is required.

Each retreat day will include quiet sitting, group discussion, a short talk and some time to meet one-on-one. The day is held in silence, without talking, except for the morning talk, the afternoon discussion and one-on-one meetings. None of the activities are required and participants are free to find their own way. People can practice whatever form of meditation they choose Tibetan, Zen, Vipassana, Hindu, Western or meditation without a traditional context.

Cutts said the spirit of the retreat should appeal to people who enjoy the writings of Pema Chodron, Toni Packer, Thich Nhat Hanh, Eckhart Tolle, Byron Katie, Adyashanti, and Krishnamurti, among others.

Meditative work is, in its deepest sense, not theoretical, not goal oriented, not a matter of time or progress, Cutts said. It is the direct opening, fully complete in this moment now, to a simple, compassionate, open awareness that allows the myriad fears, clingings, confusions of the mind that we all suffer from to be revealed in a new way and at the same time brings us intimately, undividedly and lovingly in touch with the wide universe in all its profound stillness. I feel that, in our deepest hearts, it is the possibility of this openness that we come together to clarify.

He said both experienced sitters and those newly interested in meditation will have a chance to explore directly what meditative work is and how it sheds light on the concerns of our lives. The retreat does not focus on teaching techniques or spiritual theory, although Cutts said it will be fine if these topics come up for discussion.

For those new to meditation, it is a way to calm the nervous system in order to become more aware, Cutts said.

We have all these thoughts that are fighting each other, he said. This is an opportunity to clear away all the stuff that builds up in life.

For reservations or more information, or to be on the mailing list for future workshops, call Cutts at 281-0684 or visit meditationnm.wordpress.com.

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Retreat opens up time to meditate more deeply - Mountain View Journal

No question about it: meditation can be challenging. For many people, sitting calmly and letting go of negative thoughts comes totally naturally. But for others, clearing the brain of daily chaos and stress can be nearly impossible. If you fall into the latter category, you may want to consider using a mantra.

A mantra is a word or phrase that helps you stay centered and refocus your attention. Watch this video as Suze Yalof Schwartz, CEO and founder of Unplug Meditation and author of Unplug: A Simple Guide To Meditation for Busy Skeptics and Modern Soul Seekers ($23; amazon.com) demonstrates how to use a mantra to boost your daily meditation practice.

Watch the video:A 5-Minute Meditation to Help You Find Your Calm Now

For this specific technique, she asks you to begin by closing your eyes and thinking of a single word that describes how you want to feel in that moment. As you inhale, silently repeat to yourself the phrase I am. And as you exhale, say whatever mantra youve chosen. Then slowly let it slip away as you fall into full meditation mode.

Any time you notice that your mind begins to wander, use your mantra to re-focus the meditation. Try doing this for three minutes to start out. With practice, this technique can gradually increase the duration of your meditation.

Read more from the original source:

How to Use a Mantra to Make Meditation Way Easier - Health.com

1. HARRY CHAPIN TRIBUTE: 8-10 p.m., June 9, Amazing Things Arts Center, 160 Hollis St., Framingham. Harry Chapins incredible storysongs come to life, including Taxi, WOLD, Better Place to Be, 30,000 lbs of Bananas, Circle and more. This show features Howard Fields, an original member of Harrys band, on drums along with members of Satinwood performing fully arranged versions of Chapins legendary music. Satinwood is a unique seven-piece group that serves up the best tunes of the 1970s ala Harry Chapin. For more information, visit amazingthings.org.

2. COMEDY NIGHT WITH STEVE SWEENEY: 9-10:30 p.m., June 9, China Gourmet, 1583 Worcester Road, Framingham. Sweeney, a well-known Boston comedian, performs at the restaurant's weekly comedy show. Tickets cost $35 and include admission to the dinner buffet. For more information, call 617-771-2668 or visit larryleelewis.com.

3. THE POWER OF MEDITATION: 10-11 a.m., June 10, Framingham Public Library, 49 Lexington St., Framingham. Please join us for a discussion of the book "Real Happiness: the Power of Meditation." A short meditation will follow the book discussion. Participants will discuss the best way to incorporate meditation into, and perhaps beyond, the book group. eBook and downloadable audiobook versions of "Real Happiness" are available through Hoopla.

4. BALL IN THE HOUSE: 8-10:30 p.m., June 10, Amazing Things Arts Center, 160 Hollis St., Framingham. Following in the path of classic harmony groups like Boyz II Men, The Temptations, and Take 6, while incorporating the pop and neo-soul influence of artists like Bruno Mars, Daft Punk, and Pharrell Williams, five-member vocal band Ball in the House moves audiences with its music. Over the years, the group has performed with The Beach Boys, Gladys Knight, Kool & the Gang, KC & The Sunshine Band, Jessica Simpson, and Smokey Robinson. Tickets cost $23, $22 for seniors and students and $20 for members. For more information, visit amazingthings.org.

5. SESSION AMERICANA: 8-10 p.m., June 15, Amazing Things Arts Center, 160 Hollis St., Framingham. If you havent heard, Session Americana is a rock band in a tea cup, or possibly a folk band in a whiskey bottle. This band/collective of talented musicians craft a musical experience unlike any other. On stage is a collapsible bar table wired with microphones, a vintage suitcase recast as a kick drum, an old Estey field organ, a pre-war parlor guitar, a mandocello and all of its smaller siblings. For more information, visit amazingthings.org.

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5 things to do in Framingham: Harry Chapin tribute, meditation talk, Ball in the House - Wicked Local Framingham

How to find happiness? Raja Yoga Meditation teacher will give insights at workshop Fresno Bee A free workshop on happiness will be held 3 to 5:30 p.m. June 18 at the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual Organization, 7319 N. Fourth St. Mohan Jain, teacher and practitioner of Raja Yoga Meditation, will speak on happiness: what happiness is, how it can ...

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How to find happiness? Raja Yoga Meditation teacher will give insights at workshop - Fresno Bee

You all remember that 1973 rock classic by Brownsville Station, right?

Well, Ubers bad-boy chief executive Travis Kalanick has added his own version:

Call it Meditatin in the Lactation Room.

Arianna Huffington, the journo-celeb and Uber board member whos helping the San Francisco-based ride-hailing giant lower the testosterone level of its corporate culture, has some exciting news to share:

And since Ubers headquarters dont yet have quelle horreur! a designated meditation room, the boss is getting all mindful in a lactation room. Thats right: a room where breastfeeding moms can pump breast milk for their babies.

Literally, it was an amazing moment last week when we were in the office and he said, I really need to go meditate in order to be in a place to make good decisions right now,' Huffington told a crowd this week at the iCONIC conference in New York City.And literally [he] went into a lactation room that happened to be open, because they dont have meditation rooms yet. This is part of the change coming.

In other words, not only can Uber employees look forward to having meditation rooms in the future, but they can still use the lactation rooms as they wish, unless, of course, the boss is in there meditating, which he may well be.

Literally, said Huffington, Travis returned and you could see the change in the way he was and the way he could process making decisions.

Kalanicks embrace of the meditation gospel, so to speak, should please Huffington immensely, since her own startup, Thrive Global, is all about promoting health and wellness in the workplace and beyond.

Hopefully, a mellower CEO will translate into a mellower company, as opposed to the one that earlier this week had to fire 20 employees after an internal investigation into complaints around discrimination, sexual harassment, bullying and retaliation.

I believe every company soon is going to have a meditation slash nap room, said Huffington. They are going to be as common as conference rooms.

Or, for that matter, lactation rooms.

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Uber CEO takes up meditation and guess where he does it? - The Mercury News

Under the Affordable Care Act, most employers must provide women a designated, non-bathroom space for breastfeeding. Photograph: KidStock/Getty Images

There was a lactation/quiet room sign on the door and the room had been reserved for that purpose on the company calendar. So Hannah was surprised when she walked in to discover a male co-worker using the lactation room for a phone call.

I had to stand there with my sore, full boobs and explain to this dude who was mad at me for interrupting him that I needed the room to express milk to feed my kid later, said Hannah, who works at a public health policy not-for-profit and asked only to be identified by her first name.

Her story is far from unusual. Travis Kalanick, the embattled CEO of Uber, it was revealed this week, uses his companys lactation room to meditate.

Literally, it was an amazing moment last week when we were in the office and he said, I really need to go meditate in order to be in a place to make good decisions right now, Arianna Huffington, an Uber board member, told a CNBC conference. And literally [he] went into a lactation room that happened to be open because they dont have meditation rooms yet. This is part of the change coming.

Huffingtons anecdote appeared designed to promote her two current hobbyhorses: corporate wellness initiatives and her belief that Kalanick, who has been widely criticized over his management of the company, is actually a suitable CEO.. But if Huffington thought the story would boost the reputation of the male executive of a company that on Monday fired 20 people amid an investigation into allegations of widespread gender discrimination and sexual harassment, well, she was wrong.

I have walked in on an exec having sex with an intern in the lactation room

Lactation rooms, for the uninitiated, are private rooms where nursing mothers can pump breast milk, preferably with comfortable seating, a refrigerator, a lock on the door and electrical outlets. While once new mothers were forced to huddle in a bathroom stall, the Affordable Care Act requires most employers to provide a designated, non-bathroom space.

But not all co-workers see it that way. I have walked in on an exec having sex with an intern in the lactation room, said one women working in tech.

Another woman, who also works in the tech industry, said that at her former company she was asked to pump in the server room. It was only after a male co-worker walked in on her (Thankfully, I was facing the wall, she said) that the company made arrangements for her to pump in a real room with a lock on the door.

A third woman, who worked for what she described as a well-funded food startup with a social justice mission, said that her CEO regularly used the lactation room to make phone calls or take naps.

I had to wake him numerous times, which was humiliating, she said. Once he told me: I need another 15 minutes.

While the CEO would laugh about his behavior, approaching her later to say Dont hate me! or I owe you one!, the woman said that his actions had a serious impact on her ability to continue breastfeeding her second child.

I didnt pump very long after I went back [to work]. I actually just couldnt produce enough for my baby, and I know it was because of the stress because I never had that issue with my first, she said. I am sad I wont ever get that back.

For companies hoping to attract and retrain female workers, a well-kitted out lactation room can be a selling point. When Elle canvassed major US employers in 2016, companies including Google, Facebook and IBM shared photos and details of their accommodations, which ranged from the utilitarian to the luxurious.

Google and Facebook require women to book the spaces in advance, then use their badges to enter, according to Elle. But at many companies, it seems the era of open office plans has turned the rooms into a coveted sanctuary, leaving the women who need them in an awkward situation.

A facilities manager for an advertising company changed the signage on the lactation room from privacy room to mothering room because, he said: A guy wouldnt stop using it to place long angry phone calls hammering out his ugly divorce/custody battle.

Frustratingly to the manager, the company actually had designated rooms for placing phone calls. The lactation room was just closer to his desk, he said.

It is not only men who abuse the lactation room. Writer and editor Jessica Wakeman once worked with a female editor who had at least two incidents with the company lactation room.

She was found by another nursing mom sitting down, her makeup bag and a mirror spread out all over the desk, putting on makeup in the middle of the workday, Wakeman said.

I absolutely abuse the lactation room, confesses another woman. I abused the lactation room so much they renamed it the quiet room.

Heather Kelly, a tech reporter for CNN, proposed one solution for taking back the lactation room.

If I ever found some dude meditating in the mothers room, she tweeted in response to the Kalanick story, I would blind him with my milk.

After all, Chris Rock taught us, No matter what a stripper tells you, theres no sex in the champagne room. And no matter what Arianna Huffington says, there should be no meditation in the lactation room.

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Sex, naps and meditation: men caught misusing workplace breastfeeding rooms - The Guardian

(This originally appeared in Pagan NUUS, Vol. 2 #2, Litha/Lammas 1988, and is redistributed by permission of the author who goes by Mountainheart.)

mountainheartnhand, photo by Mllownious ogo, (cc) 2013.

Welcome to our first tribal gathering. We have come together to form a community of kindred spirits to make interconnections and to celebrate our connectedness with the Earth and all her life of which we are a part.

We gather together to help heal ourselves from the sickness of separation from Mother Earth an unnatural separation which makes her sick also. We gather to heal ourselves, our Earth.

We gather to rediscover our tribal roots and to celebrate the Dance of Life weare dancers who have perhaps forgotten the steps that we knew as children but we crave the dance in our deepest beings.

We join to feel our hearts beat to know they are part of the pulse of the Earth.

We gather together to share our breaths to breath the air that is the breath of the Earth and to create the breath of the Earth.

We gather together to share the warmth of the Fire of Life to feel the tidal rhythms of oceanic blood coursing through our veins.

We join each other to affirm the goodness the sacredness of our bodies, and to celebrate our natural, good, wildness to shed our unnatural estrangement from ourselves and wilderness.

We come together to nuture each other as we grow and flourish.

In joining together to share and celebrate, groups like this usually create a special place a sacred space or circle in which its OK to be a child. A temporary place of reconnection with Mother Earth, the Great Spirit, the Goddess, the God of the Dance, the Spirits of the mountains and rivers and rocks, the Muses, the Elements a place for the suspension of disbelief. Usually these forces, beings, feelings, aspects, spirits, archetypes, symbols are invited to join us in the circle.

We meet in a circle and look into each others faces because thats where we find God in each other, in ourselves. A circle is a magic place where we can rediscover the enchantment of childhood. A sacred and joyful space where we are free to explore our deepest feelings without fear of ridicule. Where we can express joy, sorrow, fear, and immanent strength. Where we can express the express the connectedness with each other and with all of life. Where we can play. Where we can express wonder at the great mystery of ourselves, the cosmos, the cycles of being, beginnings from endings, life and death. We express these things through song, dance, poetry, meditation, chant, symbolic ritual or any other creative means. Or by just being.

Thank you for being here. Lets celebrate our coming together, our creation of a new tribe.

Continued here:

A Meditation - Patheos (blog)