BLOOMINGTON Shooting stars, wild geraniums and other spring wildflowers are starting to bloom in Illinois Wesleyan University's Multifaith Meditation Garden, just as the idea behind it is blossoming and taking root.

What started out as a senior seminar project became a blend of my passion for nature, people and faith in all of its forms, explained Nicole Chlebek, who graduated from IWU last year with a degree in environmental studies.

Speaking at a dedication ceremony, nearly a year after she planted the garden, Chlebek said it's a place for people to feel grounded and a retreat away from college and their busy lives.

In planning the garden, Chlebek chose native plants that will bloom while students are on campus. They include black-eyed susans and wild bergamot.

As part of Tuesday's dedication, 10 engraved stones were placed around a newly planted redbud tree.

The stones contain passages or meditations from faith-based and secular writings, including Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Bahai, Unitarian Universalist and pagan sources.

The stones were the idea of freshman Isaac Simmons, a religious studies and business administration major from Peoria who is part of IWU's Multifaith Ambassador Program. The quotations were selected by registered student organizations representing the particular faith or beliefs.

Simmons noted that there is a common respect for nature underlying various faiths and nonreligious believers. He said it is sometimes referred to as the Green Rule: Do unto the Earth as you would have it do unto you.

The Green Rule establishes a common ground for the common good, he said.

Multifaith ambassador Carly Floyd, a senior in sociology from Milwaukee, said it was important to include more than just the Abrahamic religions Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

Our university is committed to diversity, she said, which means more than racial, ethnic and gender diversity. Religious diversity is also important.

University Chaplain Elyse Nelson Winger said the Multifaith Ambassador program began in fall 2011. She described it as a student leadership program in which people with religious and secular beliefs learn about each others' traditions through weekly dialog, service projects and a variety of other activities.

My hope is that students who graduate will take these interfaith skills with them when they leave campus, she said.

The garden builds on a wonderful legacy of care and stewardship, said Nelson Winger. It is a place to appreciate and revere the beauty of creation that we might be renewed in spirit and action.

In her remarks at the dedication, Floyd said the garden is a welcoming spot for insects and individuals alike, adding, May it inspire action and advocacy for the Earth we share.

The garden is located behind Evelyn Chapel. Chlebek can see it from her office across the street, where she works as an admissions counselor. She frequently sees people sitting in the garden.

That's the thing that makes my heart the happiest, said Chlebek. I didn't build it for me; it's for others. I wanted it to be a space for anyone to come and feel accepted.

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Multifaith Meditation Garden follows the Green Rule - Bloomington Pantagraph

As you may or may not know, May is National Mental Health Month. And theres no better time to pick up meditation than right now. Here at SELF, we are big fans of meditation . Weve dabbled with apps, experiments, and even monthly get-togethers for the staff to try out meditation in our conference rooms.

Meditation can help with everything from falling asleep faster to preventing panic attacks to even moonlighting as couples therapy . An analysis of 47 studies published in JAMA concluded that mindfulness meditation was shown to have moderate evidence of improved anxiety, depression, and pain. (Meditation wasn't better than standard treatments such as exercise, medication, or behavioral therapy, according to the study. The authors also noted that meditation had no adverse side effects.)

The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), part of the National Institutes of Health, says that meditation can improve symptoms of several health conditions. "Many studies have investigated meditation for different conditions, and theres evidence that it may reduce blood pressure as well as symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome and flare-ups in people who have had ulcerative colitis. It may ease symptoms of anxiety and depression, and may help people with insomnia," according to the NCCIH . The NCCIH also cautions that meditation should never be a replacement for treatment by a health care professional.

If you're really looking to geek out over the benefits of meditation, researchers are currently exploring how meditation practices can change your brain's gray and white matter (the part of your brain that's in charge of all muscle control, sight, hearing, memory, emotions, speech, decision making, and self-control). A review of 21 brain imaging studies published in the journal Neuroscience and Behavioral Reviews found moderate evidence for changes to brain areas that regulate awareness, memory, and emotions, as well as communication between the hemispheres of the brain. One big limitation, however, is that the studies involved only about 300 meditation practitioners, partly due to the difficulty finding participants with adequate meditation experience.

As someone whos tried different forms of meditation, I am currently obsessed with Headspace , an app and Web site designed to get more people meditating. It specializes in 10 minute-a-day meditations, whether its focusing on building your foundation; or getting more specific and working your way through a series of meditations about relationships, performance, and even sport. The British voice behind the app definitely helps. So we reached out to Headspace to get tips from whoever voiced the soothing guided meditations, and it happens to be cofounder Andy Puddicombe, who has studied meditation and mindfulness in Asia and is now ordained in both the Burmese and Tibetan traditions. Here are his top 10 tips to get you started.

Before you even begin, youll want to think about what you want to get out of your meditation sessions. Want to sleep better? Want to feel less stressed or anxious? Want to improve your focus at work or on a sport? Overwhelmed with parenting? In physical pain?" asks Puddicombe. "The reasons to meditate are so broad and subjective, but its important that you enter this practice by being clear about your intention and having the right attitude of mind."

Once you know what you want to accomplish, it can be easier to find the meditation thats right for you, plus youre able to constantly revisit your goal, so the end result can take care of itself, Puddicombe says.

We all know that the early bird gets the worm, but does that help with meditation, too? Puddicombe says yes. Meditate first thing in the morning if possibleits a great way to begin the day starting on the right foot, with the right mental attitude. It also means youre more likely to be mindful throughout the day.

If youre more likely to hit the snooze than roll out of bed to sit in stillness, thats okay. Just be sure to set aside time for your meditation at some point. Schedule it the same way you would any other meeting. Youre making an appointment for your mental well-being. What could be more important?

In reality, youre not going to meditate once and immediately feel calmer or more Zen. You might! But just like anything, it often takes practice and patience.

Your mind isnt going to stop whirring just because youve started to meditate. Take it session by session, day by day, moment by moment," Puddicombe says. "The magic only happens when you sit down and close your eyes regularly, or even better, daily.

While it may seem counterintuitive, you dont have to try really hard to meditate. Just setting aside the time to do it and completing a session is worthy of a high five. The biggest obstacle for most people when learning to meditate is trying too hard. But this is the one skill where you dont have to strive to achieve something; its a place where no effort is required, Puddicombe points out. All you need to do is sit there and see what happens.

The easiest way to calm your mind during those initial moments of your practice is to pay attention to your breathing. Make no effort to change it, simply observe the rising and falling sensation in the body. Notice where these sensations occurbe it your belly, your chest, your shoulders, or anywhere else, Puddicombe explains.

It can be helpful to try to count your breaths. One, as you inhale; two, as you exhale; three, on the inhalation, and so on, up to 10. And then start again at one. The breath is what anchors us to the moment whenever distracting thoughts or emotions arise.

A common myth is that meditation is all about stopping thoughts, when its actually about learning to step back and witness them, Puddicombe says. Its normal for your brain to be all over the place when you first start, since its not used to having all that free time. In the same way we cant train a roped wild horse to be still overnight, we cant expect a busy mind to find a restful place just because we sit to meditate. Were teaching it to be still. Its why we practice.

One of the main aspects of meditation that can be hard to wrap your brain around (pun intended) is the process of stillness. Theres more time for you to sit and focus your attention on everything that is going on in your life, which might be difficult if its the first time youre letting yourself think about that criticism from your boss, or the hurt you felt when a friend ditched you.

Remember, you are trying to sit with the mind as is, no matter what arises, Puddicombe says. Watching where your mind goes when you sit still is a learning experience. No matter if you spend the 10 minutes thinking about your day, or focusing on your breath, its all good. There is no good or bad meditationthere is only awareness or non-awareness. Wherever your brain goes, just redirect your thoughts back to your breath each time.

One thing Puddicombe promises is that youre going to encounter obstacles as you meditate because youre just sitting with your feelings. When those obstacles arisefeeling out of control, uncertain, overwhelmed, scared, sad, tearful, anxious, bored, sleepyyou now know you are not alone. Such obstacles are extremely common, and many Headspacers sit through them and happily come through the other side. Just keep breathing!

Having a partner in crime to sit down and meditate with you can help you to not skip any days of practice. The Headspace app knows that, which is why they created the buddy feature. You dont have to meditate together, or at the same time. But when using the app, you can select up to five buddies and track each others [journeys], allowing you to give encouraging nudges to strengthen each others commitment.

You may find that its easy to squeeze in 10 daily minutes of meditation , but whats harder is keeping those vibes that you feel during the session going throughout the day. You might start the day in total Zen mode, but then your boss needs 10 ideas yesterday, your partner cant cover childcare duties, the washing machine breaks down, and all hell breaks loose.

The idea is to carry this awareness with us. This is meditation in action, otherwise known as mindfulness, Puddicombe says. Touch base with yourself throughout the day to try and re-experience those moments of clarity and focused attention, when on the train, in line for coffee, or when sitting at your desk.

Now youre prepped and ready to take on that first 10 minute meditation, no matter where you are sitting (or standing!).

You might also like: 5 Shocking Things No One Tells You About Your Body After You Have a Baby

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10 Meditation Tips from the Soothing Voice Behind the Headspace App or - SELF

New York Times

How to Be Mindful While Gardening New York Times Caring for your garden can be a great form of mindfulness meditation. By connecting with the earth and with the practice of gardening, you can cultivate a healthy mind and feel calm and connected. Simply planting a seed with intention, or touching ...

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How to Be Mindful While Gardening - New York Times

Wearing a luminous robe, the Venerable Andrew Tikkhaviro led students and faculty in a state of meditation.

With 14 years of experience and with a master in computer engineering, Venerable Andrew has led meditation sessions around the world.

I have to traveled to many places to teach; I have gone to Cuba, Malaysia and India where hundreds of people attended in one session, said Tikkhaviro. I hope to reach more people and more places.

Tikkhaviro is now at Cal Poly Pomona every Tuesday during U-Hour to lead a weekly meditation group in building 41, room 11.

According to the National Center for Complementary Health and Integrative Health, meditation can help improve psychological distress, anxiety, depression and increase relaxation and overall health.

Meditations are held in an intimate room where participants can practice in a judgment-free space in the hopes to improve in meditation and be able to practice on their own, as well as live a heather lifestyle.

This has been the result as students and faculty participating meet, take their places on the floor or chairs in a circle and close their eyes as Tikkhaviro guides them.

Within the two months of the group running, students have been able to see the changes in their own personal meditation practice.

I am better able to focus when I meditate at home, said Carlo Brito, a fourth-year biotechnology student. Meditating in a group setting with an experienced teacher really does make a difference, and the positive effects carry over.

Brito has only been attending the meditation group for three sessions and is happy there is space available for students to take time off from school life and take a moment to focus on themselves.

The meditation group is free to all students and faculty members and is being offered through the Department of Kinesiologys Health Promotion in the Mind and Heart Research Lab.

At the Mind and Heart Research Lab, students can use other resources such as emWave Pro, a training system to monitor heart rhythms, AA meetings and if students or faculty are not able to make it on Tuesdays, the lab has 15-minute meditation sessions with guided audio recordings.

According to the Mind and Heart Lab website, they aspire to educate people about stress, how to train in relaxation and control of thoughts to gain control of their emotional and physical wellbeing.

This echoes the purpose of the meditation group as well.

There is no experience needed to participate in Meditation Group; Tikkhaviro will guide participants in meditation as he instructs the steps, so any student with any level of experience is welcomed.

Dont think you need to be good at meditation or anything in particular to do this class, and please dont feel intimidated by a monk dressed in Buddhist robes, said Neal Golub, a professor in the department of mathematics and statistics.

The meditation group will also be held during finals week.

For more information, contact Alane Daugherty or Kristine Fish.

Students can also set an appointment for any of the Heart and Mind Lab services through the website: http://www.mindandheartlab.com.

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Meditation group aims to improve health - The Poly Post

Teaching users to live a more conscious and mindful life, Zenify Premium App offers a variety of mindfulness meditation exercises delivered to a smartphone. These assignments help users experience a heightened state of awareness in the present moment.

Throughout the day, users can choose chosen intervals for the Zenify app to chime with assignments to teach mindfulness meditation techniques. It allows one to take breaks throughout the day to return to the present moment and strengthen the neuronal connections between the part of your brain responsible for consciousness and awareness (prefrontal cortex), according to the app developers.

Suggested exercises take five minutes or less, and are relatively easy to complete. The app is available for iTunes and in the Google Play store for Android for $1.99.

Correspondent for ABC News and the co-anchor for the weekend edition of Good Morning America, Dan Harris book 10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works, chronicles his quest to make changes in his life after having a panic attack on the air. His route to stress relief was meditation.

In August, he launched a new app called 10% Happier: Meditation for Skeptics, which offers a 2-week course teaching users how to meditate with Dan Haris and his meditation teacher Joseph Goldstein. It includes daily video lessons that teach meditation and mindfulness essentials, without any woo-woo, and guided audio meditations to walk listeners through the practice, and an actual coach from Change Collective.

Its free to download in the Apple iTunes store, and after three days, users can purchase the course for $19.99. For those who dont have an iPhone, the program is also available online here.

Each day there is a short video, a guided meditation, and people can exchange texts with their one-on-one coach from Change Collective, Harris explained on air during a GMA segment .

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Oprah Winfrey and Deepak Chopra are launching their eighth Oprah & Deepak 21-Day Meditation Experience titled Manifesting Grace through Gratitude, starting July 13.

Register for FREE here: Oprah.com/meditation.

This all-new, free 21-day meditation experience will help participants stop chasing the things they think they need to be happy and start finding true joy in each present moment. Simultaneously, it aims to help alleviate stress and revitalize mind, body and spirit.

Originally launched in 2013, the Oprah & Deepak 21-Day Meditation Experience now features a catalogue of eight different programs with over 4.1 million participants from hundreds of countries around the globe.

This meditation experience will be a heartfelt journey of discovering the grace already present in our lives through the eyes of gratitude, said Deepak Chopra.

Manifesting Grace through Gratitude, led by Oprah Winfrey and Deepak Chopra, will offer a 20-minute audio meditation each day anda series of thought-provoking reflection questions designed to anchor the teachings with a centering thought and mantra. Througha private, interactive journal feature, meditators are able to record and view their progress, giving them an invaluable picture of their personal growth and development.The meditations areeasily accessible from a tablet, computer, or the mobile companion app available in iTunes or Google Play.

Below is an overview of what participants can expect throughout this experience:

Week One: How Gratitude Changes Our LifeWeek one will focus on transformation. Meditations feature learning about the power of positive emotions, being grateful for your life, finding and connecting with the source of your gratitude and bringing it alive in the present.

Week Two: Beyond Emotion to Higher GratitudeWeek two delves deeper into the nature and meaning of gratitude, highlighting the importance of the mind-body connection. These lessons will focus on changing your personal reality and tapping into the power of gratefulness in all aspects of your life.

Week Three: Complete Life in GratitudeThe third week focuses on transforming your life into a state of grace an effortless, more enjoyable and more vibrant way of life. This final week of mediations will teach participants to open their hearts and minds and start on a path to accepting and embracing not only the good that life has to offer, but recognizing the resources and support that are there when we are met with challenges.

Register for FREE here: Oprah.com/meditation.

Seven spiritual teachers and authors share their morning routines to start the day in peace instead of chaos.

For many people, the morning equates to rushing, chaos and building the days to-do list in their mind from the moment they open their eyes. Rather than connecting to our higher self, welcoming the voice of our intuition, and beginning the day from a point of power, we are setting ourselves up for disaster when we begin our day in a stressful way.

Not only does this routine usher in stress and anxiety, but it also activates the bodys fight or flight response, doing damage to both the brain and body over time. The good news is we have the power to change the way we start our day, and it doesnt have to be as difficult or time-consuming as one might think. Plus, the rewards far outweigh the effort

In the Chinese book, the I-Ching, there is a saying, The way it begins is the way it ends. So if you begin in your left brain, and your fight or flight, ego and fear, that is the tone you will set for the day, bestselling author Sonia Choquette tells Elevated Existence. But if you set it connecting to a nurturing prayer or receiving, then that sets the tone that you are listening, available and open.

In his book, The End of Stress: Four Steps to Rewire Your Brain, author Don Joseph Goewey recommends starting the day in quiet by waking up 15 minutes ahead of the rush, connecting with the heart, feeling appreciation for another day with people we love, and setting the intention to have a productive and rewarding day, committed to remain calm and peaceful within no matter what occurs outside of us.

Morning routines are important because they set the tone for you taking charge and responsibility for your day, and not giving away your power to outside influences, says Doreen Virtue, bestselling author of Healing with the Angels. Practicing a set morning routine makes it more likely we will stick with other healthful processes, she notes.

Just like eating a healthful breakfast gives you more energy during the day, so does taking excellent care of yourself in the morning set the tone for your day. Its all about keeping your promises to yourself, and being your own best friend, she tells Elevated Existence.

The goal is to start the day in a peaceful way, and carry this energy into our daily life, and there are a variety of ways we can choose to do this. Elevated Existence spoke with some top authors and experts to see what their morning routine and spiritual practices consist of to help our readers create a morning spiritual practice that works for them.

SONIA CHOQUETTEAuthor of Trust Your Vibes: Secret Tools for Six-Sensory Living and Walking Home

I have a very committed spiritual morning practice. The very first thing I do when I open my eyes is to say the Our Father, which I learned is a prayer to align the chakras. Then I say the prayer, Use me this day for the highest good that I can possibly live out today. I am available. My second prayer is Move me. Move me toward my highest good. Move me out of my own way. Move me toward where I can be of greatest service and live my most authentic self.

Then I do the breath of life for three minutes. It gets my breath cleared, and I do it to music and dancing. Next, I do what is called sourcing. I sit and hold my hands up like Im receiving, and for 10 minutes to some very beautiful music, I just receive blessings, nurturing, connection to my higher self, and love from my ancestors and guides. Its like my energetic feed, and I ask to nurture the seeds of my own potential, my authentic self. I really am big on receiving and opening up yourself to something bigger than your personal willpower to nurture and support you.

I end with a few yoga stretches, which is very important to me to be flexible because I sit a lot all day. Then I pick a song and I sing it. It takes about 15 minutes total. I call it the breakfast of champions, and I do it every day. I get my breath going. I say my prayers, and then I sing my song. Its a happy morning experience.

ARIELLE FORD Author of The Soulmate Secret and Wabi Sabi Love

A long time ago, I used to do mantra-based meditation every morning. But I discovered that it stressed me out. I would sit, repeat my mantra, and then my mind would start feeding me thoughts about all the things I needed to accomplish during the day, and I would feel like I needed to write it all down so I wouldnt forget. I eventually gave it up and started exercising in the morning (usually a walk or time on my elliptical machine) followed by a long, relaxing bath.

While in the tub, I still get lots of thoughts, but they dont stress me out, they inspire me! Also, I take a little time each afternoon to do Heart Lock-Ins. This is a technique from the Institute of HeartMath where you focus on the feelings of love, appreciation and gratitude while your attention is on your heart. They even have great technology to use so that you know you are doing it correctly and getting into Heart Coherence. Its called the EmWave, and I just love using it! You can learn more at http://www.heartmath.org.

SUNNY DAWN JOHNSTON Psychic Medium & Author of Invoking the Archangels and The Love Never Ends: Messages From the Other Side

I have four steps to my morning spiritual practice that I find absolutely necessary for my physical, mental, emotional and spiritual wellbeing. First, I meditate. I meditate for the amount of time I feel guided to on any given day. My meditation consists of taking the time each day to connect with Spirit. For me, it isnt a time I intend to receive guidance or direction. Instead, it is a time that I honor and appreciate the connection to Spirit that I have, and is my morning thank you to the Divine.

Second, I pray. I do a short invocation of the Angels, specifically calling in Archangel Michael to help me to hold my own energy and vibration as I have a tendency to be empathic and take on the weight of the world. Third, I open my arms to the Universe, and I set an intention for my day by saying an affirmation. I use a variety of different ones, but the message is always something similar to: I am open and receptive to all the Universe has to offer. Finally, as I get out of bed, I ask Spirit: How may I serve?

MASTIN KIPPAuthor & Founder of The Daily Love

First of all, I get really good sleep because that is so important to me. I think getting good sleep is probably one of the best spiritual practices we could do. The way that I do that is I black out the room, and keep the temperature between 60 and 68 degrees. I have earplugs in and a facemask on, and I use a supplement called Tryptophan, which deepens my sleep.

Also, I like to write in the morning. That is when I write The Daily Love and that is my spiritual practice its my meditation. I feel of if I dont do it. Recently, Ive been doing about a half hour of Hemi-Sync meditation, which is really powerful, and I get very relaxed. Its nice to enter the day in a state of relaxation.

I also have a really quality breakfast. I have a shake from a company called FYCNYC, which stands for Find your Center. Its an alkalizing shake and is easy on your digestive system. The morning is also when I exercise. I do all those things, and it starts my day off right.

SARAH MCLEANAuthor of Soul-Centered: Transform Your Life in 8 Weeks With Meditation and Founder of The McLean Meditation Institute

Its usually twilight when I wake up. I stretch and slowly arise. When I do, I go to my open window and gaze toward the horizon, or if Im really inspired, Ill go outside in my pajamas and look at the sky. I sometimes say Thank You, or simply listen to the silence. I feel a deep interconnectedness with the natural world.

I head to the bathroom and my dogs follow me in and sit with me. Its a love fest with them. They are so happy, and I am so happy. I splash my face, and go into the living room. There, I sit on the sofa, my dogs at my feet, and enjoy the breaking dawn. I light a candle and enjoy the stillness. I am lucky to live in Sedona, Ariz. The views of the majestic red rocks are spectacular, and as I sit, I often read a passage from an inspiring book. I am reading one by Alan Watts now. Then I set my meditation timer and sit in meditation for 20 minutes.

Usually its a simple mantra practice or breath awareness meditation. My husband sometimes sits with me, but hes already been up for a while, so he might be off doing something else. We meet in the kitchen for coffee or tea. Then after breakfast, we head out with the dogs into the backyard, which is adjacent to the wilderness.

GARY RENARDAuthor of The Disappearance of the Universe and Love Has Forgotten No One

Shortly after awakening, I make it a point to put the Holy Spirit in charge of my day. I want to be connected to that higher, all-knowing place that understands and sees everything. I become still and meditate with the purpose of joining my mind with the beautiful white light of Spirit. Then I will be silent for five minutes and literally become one with the light, which is not a partial attribute, but joined with all creation. Ive stuck to this for most of the last 22 years, ever since I started doing A Course in Miracles, and it has served me very well.

When you are under the guidance of Spirit, you can be led to what is best for everyone. Thats where the word inspired comes from. It comes from the words in spirit. When you are not guided by Spirit, you are disconnected, and in disaster. The word disaster comes fromaster, which means astral. Dis-aster means you are not connected to the astral or higher, all-knowing place. If you run the show on your own, it will usually lead to unhappy things, but Spirit will lead you to what is best for everyone, including you.

DOREEN VIRTUE Author of Healing With the Angels and Assertiveness for Earth Angels

My morning routine consists of, first, meditating and listening for divine guidance that came during the night during my dream time, and making it a conscious awareness. We receive so many messages while we are sleeping, and listening to them is essential. I do this by lying in bed for about 45 minutes before I get up.

Secondly, I engage in stretching in the morning. Four days a week, I do a yoga class at 8 a.m. before I have a chance to get busy with everything else. On the other mornings, I do Pilates. Ive also found going outdoors in the morning and connecting with nature is very energizing.

For breakfast every morning, I have an extremely green smoothie made with organic apple juice, organic kale, spirulina and carob powder.

These morning routines have allowed me to be completely caffeine free since 1996 by getting natural energy from the divine, mother nature, meditation and yoga. I have been embracing this morning routine for many years. When I am traveling, I still take charge of my mornings and always keep them sacred.

There is a new way to meditate by logging online!

MultiMeditation.com offers a range of meditation videos, including those designed to cater to specific needs such as depression, stress and anxiety relief and users can try one of the channels for free!

MulitMeditation is a technique combining traditional and modern meditation techniques and therapies, including knowledge of the Mandala a spiritual symbol representing the Universe that is used in both Hinduism and Buddhism; contemplation meditation, concentration meditation, chromotherapy, sound therapy and fractology (the science of healing through energy).

We use color, music, nature sounds, videos, the Mandala, and fractal art to create a technique that produces the desired effect on several levels of perception through sight, hearing, and vibrations, the website states. MultiMeditation combines all of these various methods to provide a synergistic effect. Using a combination of meditation techniques works faster and more effectively compared with using each technique separately, enabling participants to achieve their desired changes more rapidly.

Sign up to try the main channel for free, and view the various subscription options here.

Meditation is key to any spiritual practice, whether looking to connect with ones higher self or the divine, sharpen intuition, alleviate stress or slow down the mind. Below are Elevated Existences latest picks for new meditation resources, including books and new CD.

Holy Shift: 365 Daily Meditations from A Course in Miracles, by Robert HoldenAfter studying A Course in Miracles for more than 20 years, Robert Holden chose 365 of his favorite passages to serve as daily, reflective meditations in this new book.

Yoga Meditation: The Supreme Guide to Self-Realization, by Stephen SturgessThe author demonstrates how to use a variety of yoga meditation practices to connect one to a higher consciousness, including meditation postures, had positions or mudras and more.

Angel Prayer Meditations: Harnessing the Help of Heaven to Create Miracles, by Kyle GrayAngel communicator and medium Kyle Gray guides the listener through meditations to connect to their guardian angels and the Archangel realm to get messages, invoke the presence of angels to start the day, find restful sleep at night, and clear the mind of unwanted thoughts and challenges.

Read the rest here:

Guided Meditation | Elevated Existence

Wall Street Journal (subscription)

A Cure for One of America's Most Difficult Workplaces: Meditation Wall Street Journal (subscription) NEW YORKDuring a recent meditation class, Justin von Bujdoss, a 42-year-old Buddhist lama dressed in a tie and navy windbreaker that read Chaplain von Bujdoss, instructed his 19 students to close their eyes. Imagine a sphere of light above your ...

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A Cure for One of America's Most Difficult Workplaces: Meditation - Wall Street Journal (subscription)

Forbes

Meditation for Anger (or Tough Meetings) Forbes We've all been there. You want to feel happy. Glowing. Full of life. But someone has said something that makes you angry. It might be a boss, investor or direct report. And perhaps now you need to walk into a meeting and face them. There is a ...

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Meditation for Anger (or Tough Meetings) - Forbes

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The Calm app - known for helping people relax on a daily basis - has a new feature to help you fall asleep.

We all know how important it is to wind down at the end of a busy day. If you have kids, you know that bedtime stories are a vital part of the process. Now an app which is known for helping you relax is helping you fall asleep, too.

Follow KTLA Tech Reporter Rich DeMuro on Facebook or Twitter for cool apps, tech tricks & tips!

Recently, I met up with Michael Acton Smith. He's the co-founder and co-CEO of Calm, a meditation app on Android and iOS already used by 8 million people to relax.

"Theres so much baggage around the word meditation, I think people assume its spiritual and woo-woo.We'remore interested in the neuroscience than the incense of meditation," explained Acton Smith in a room at the vintage chic restored Hotel Normandie in Los Angeles.

Now, in addition to the calming landscapes and soothing sound effects the app normally offers, there is a new feature called Sleep Stories.

"Theyre anything from 10 minutes to an hour long - theres a little bit of music, a few breathing exercises and people rarely get to the end of them," said Acton Smith.

Some are read by familiar voices like Ben Stein. There are even a handful for kids!

Calm worked with a clinical psychologist to engineer the stories to help you drift off.

"Our stories start interesting - then they get gently more sleep inducing until you fall asleep," said Action Smith.

The app features a selection of stories you can access for free but to unlock everything - including a daily meditation - subscriptions run as low as $5 dollars a month.

"The science shows so many positive impacts on ones life from helping us sleep better to improving our attention, focus, creativity, lowering blood pressure," explained Acton Smith.

If you want to give it a try, use the link below to access a free 30-day trial of everything the app offers. There is no credit card necessary to sign up.

https://www.calm.com/richontech

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Meditation app Calm can now read you to sleep with grown up bedtime stories - fox4kc.com

GUEST MEDITATION

My times are in thy hand, Psalm 31:15.

The writer of Psalm 31 is David. We note that he used the word times, which is plural. Yes, life is made up of a period of time, but there are times within our time of life.

Briefly in Davids life there was a time that he kept his fathers sheep as a shepherd boy out on the hillsides of Israel, and it was no doubt a very peaceful time.

Growing up with seven older brothers would be an interesting and learning time of getting along as a family. Then there would be at time that David was anointed to take King Sauls place as King over Israel, but there would be a time between his anointing and when he would occupy the throne.

In the meantime, he would trust God to slay Goliath the giant, play music for the king he was going to replace, be successful in battle, experience King Sauls jealousy, experience rejection, and live among his enemies; but the time would come that David would sit upon the throne as the anointed king over all Israel.

After becoming king, there would be a time of success, a time of failure, a time of restoration, a time of disappointment in his own family, and finally there would come the time of his death.

David had said, In Thee, O Lord, do I put my trust, Psalm 31:1; and he knew that regardless of the time, he was in Thy hand.

Read also John 10:28-30.

Continued here:

Guest Meditation -- In thy hand - The Daily Progress

Chester Cathedral, England (image via Wikimedia)

We depend on our surroundings obliquely to embody the moods and ideas we respect and then to remind us of them. We look to our buildings to hold us, like a kind of psychological mould, to a helpful vision of ourselves. We arrange around us material forms which communicate to us what we need but are at constant risk of forgetting what we need within.

Alain de Botton, The Architecture of Happiness

The first church I ever loved was St. Bartholomews in New York, a 19th-century Episcopal parish on Park Avenue. In truth, it was one of the first churches I, an irreligious, halfhearted Jew, had ever entered. A beloved high school art history teacher led my class on a tour of some of Manhattans best-known churches: St. Thomas, St. Patricks, St. John the Divine. Since then, I have returned to all of them many times, but St. Barts happened to be first, and it has remained foremost in my mind. The paneled, gold-leafed chancel shone under the watchful eyes of plate-haloed saints and latticed glass. The light pulsed warm and steady up and down the pilasters flanking a broad Roman arch. The organ at St. Barts is world famous, but I dont remember if it was playing. I was lost inside myself.

What is a church? Is it a building or a religious apparatus in other words, is it defined by its structure or its function? The answer, of course, is an inexact combination of the two. Some churches, like St. Peters Basilica at the Vatican or Barcelonas Sagrada Familia, straddle the line nicely. They are in use to different degrees and in different ways. Tourists and worshippers inhabit these spaces for their respective purposes, but the groups cannot help but cross into each others territory. The worshipper is not immune to visual spectacle and historical significance; the tourist must adopt a posture of reverence to have the full experience or at least must cover her shoulders.

For most of its history, the church was a metonym for the Roman Catholic Church, just as the physical edifice embodied the institution. Throughout the history of man, secularism has been the exception, not the rule. The religious disposition has not waned because religious institutions have; if anything, a mass longing for order and communion has grown more clamorous in the absence of shared cultural outlets. Nearly all modern literature and art maps the edges of a gaping hole where God used to be.

To me, churches have always represented space outside of time. Perhaps this is because, by nature, they gesture to the ineffable, the unearthly, or perhaps its because the heyday of their social and cultural importance is long past. Their symbolism is, in a sense, frozen, conscripted to be forever what it once was. Whatever the reason, I find that crossing the narthex of a cathedral is like starting a great book: You simply arent in your home world anymore. Your body feels different here lighter to some, heavier to others. This land exerts a different gravitational pull on each visitor.

What does it mean to love church but not God? I have never been a theist, but I have always been a reader. A church is an object that is meant to be read, deciphered window to window by a trained eye. If you know how to read a church, you are in on a secret that comparatively few in the modern era spend any time with. In a painting, each brushstroke carries the intention of the artist, but the meaning of the sum is up for debate. Meaning within the architectural elements of a church is fixed. The nave and transepts make a cross, a crucifix. The front-facing faade is often divided into thirds, like the Holy Trinity. The vaulted roof inverts the hull of a ship, or an ark, which carries believers to Heaven. The altar rests high above congregants, evoking Biblical mountaintops. We enter and exit a church through the same doors, for in our beginning lies our end. An apse at each end of a square means an ancient Roman basilica; lancet windows and elaborate stained glass are Gothic. Imagine the power of these signs and symbols in our postmodern world of infinitely destabilized meaning.

But in my view, the truest kind of reader/viewer is not the intellectual, but the supplicant. To consume a work of art is really to be consumed by it: to surrender your will to the vision of the creator or, in this case, the Creator. In my experience, church people comprise a particular type, uncorrelated with religious or ethnic affiliation; their defining characteristic is a willingness to be obliterated by something greater. As French Neoclassical painter Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres said, It is on our knees that we should study the beautiful. The blessing of knowing how to read a church is that you can, for a little while, be done with knowing. You can rest in the comfort of the medieval illiterate that you know what all the pictures and panels mean, that this shared meaning holds you securely in place. You can move on to states of being deeper than intellect.

(Side note: Have I ever found myself in a synagogue that evoked a similar state of mind? I have not. I suspect a kind of somber austerity native to Judaism limits the Jewish temples reach toward the visual sublime. The Jews see God in a tradition of textual interpretation that is perpetually renewed no fixed meaning there. And the Protestants? They need not see God; they feel Him.)

Being in church makes me want to find the quietest, most passive part of myself and take up residence there. Its a state documented by hundreds of years of Western philosophy: what Freud called the oceanic feeling, what Kant called the sublime, what contemporary Buddhism-tinged practitioners might call mindfulness. In short, organized grandeur makes us feel small and powerless, yet connected to something all-powerful. I think of a line from T. S. Eliots Ash Wednesday: Teach us to care and not to care / Teach us to sit still. Church, if we take it seriously, if we give in to stillness, threatens to reorder what we care about.

But churches can only be experienced within space and time. We all live in bodies, bodies that we must maneuver through the world. Architecture, of all the arts, asks most directly that we consider the symbolic effect of the material. We can steer clear of museums, performances, and books, but we can never be nowhere. An extraordinary environment forces us into a confrontation with a striking somewhere, reminding us that we can and should take care in choosing where we place our bodies, for there we also place our minds. We know this intuitively think of the depressing office cubicle, which has spawned its own genre of literature, or the mind-numbing gray crisscross of highways but the pointless frenzy of modern life makes it frighteningly easy to forget.

I took a trip to Italy in the summer of 2015. My visit coincided with the great European heatwave that choked the continent through late June and July, sending even the most tenacious tourist scrambling for shelter on a semi-hourly basis. The symbolism was almost too precious: We creatures of the firmament finding respite from hell on Earth inside the marbled cocoon of Gods house, in Rome, a city at the precise juncture of pagan and Christian history. In a way, it was simple: We were hot, the church was cool. And in a way, the power of the church is that simple. Its a spiritual balm in a world that has ceased to prioritize pleasure and meaning above capitalistic production.

Church is a reminder that, if we are not careful, we may fail to seek what we most essentially and deeply need. Its easy for us to become mired in the material, the temporal, and miss those amorphous wells of meaning that the material and temporal are, after all, only meant to serve: beauty, goodness, connection with the infinite. The spear-tip windows of a cathedral lead inexorably to Heaven, even if only a heaven of the mind. Its ambulatory chapels pull us into separate worlds, belonging both to themselves and to the universe as a whole. The nave suggests the possibility of a single path through life, straight and true. Light through colored glass dapples the floor like spots of truth. And the organ? It swells the space with sound like water, clear and luminous, through which all the churchs visual glories are refracted, and which gestures beyond the seen and felt toward the far reaches of the senses, where suspecting a thing is as good as knowing it. This is the place I want to live.

Go here to see the original:

A Meditation on the Ineffable Grandeur of Churches - Hyperallergic