Were living and working during some pretty challenging times. In our culture, stress is the norm. Too often, our working lives are typified by long days, late-night emails, and unused vacation time. But, more and more, were beginning to understand the positive impact of wellness and mindfulness practices. It seems that an awful lot of successful folks make some kind of mindfulness practice a part of their daily routine.

Meditation, one of the most popular of these practices, has many benefits. Maybe thats why 8 percent of adults in the U.S. are meditating these days. Incorporating a daily meditation practice into your routine could make a big difference in your life and your career.

There are proven health benefits of meditation. Researchers have found that it reduces existing stress, helps us better deal with new stressors, manages pain, and helps us sleep better. Meditation has also been found to be associated with fewer sick days and fewer doctors visits. When we meditate, we give our bodies, and our minds, a chance to rejuvenate and heal.

The body is either in fight or flight or rest and digest, said Keina Bryant Worrell, bodymind practitioner and owner of Thoughtful Therapy in Jacksonville Florida, which offers meditation instruction, massage therapy, body talk, and hypnosis, and the exercise of meditation puts the body in the habit of rest and digest where healing and restoration happen.

We all have so many tasks to manage in our chaotic lives. Meditation gives us some practice with doing just one thing at a time. The effects last beyond the act of meditation itself, improving the way our brains process information, focus, and solve problems. Also, researchers are yet to find any negative side effects of meditation. How often do you land on a therapy or treatment these days thats totally risk-free?!

Meditation supports our happiness and can improve our mood. It shifts our perspective. With less stress, and more calm, focused, attention, were allowed more of a birds eye perspective. Its something that takes time, yes, but meditation also saves time down the road.

You can make better decisions for yourself and for someone else. And, you can respond more appropriately to anything that comes up, good or bad. We can be less impulsive or reactionary because were better balanced with our mood, Worrell told me. The improved mood and focus allows you to make better decisions. When youre working from a less stressed or anxious place youll make better decisions because youre not just acting from that moment, you really do have a better big picture understanding of the situation.

Meditation gives us the ability to step back and see the bigger picture, so were less attached to our own perspective, or even our own negative emotions like anger. When these thoughts and feeling are kept more appropriately in their place, were better able to access information about the best course of action going forward. Once that balance and stability is achieved, it allows for a different kind of clarity. And, that leads to actions that are based more in intuition and in a wiser, more balanced perspective.

The balance is being in the present moment. Thats the only place where you can effect change on the future and not be holding on to the past, Worrell said. You learn from the past to make better decisions in the present. And you plan in the present so as to not be worried about the future.

Our brains are actually capable of changing and learning new things when we meditate. The practice supports something scientists call whole brain thinking. Meditation, it turns out, is sort of like exercise for the brain. Because of this, a daily practice can also make it easier to achieve flow state, which in turn allows you to be your most creative and innovative.

Do you have 10 minutes a day that you can sit still and think? In those 10 minutes the brain has neuroplasticity. It can grow and it can change and it can learn new things, Worrell said. So, in that 10 minutes you spend each day, your creating new neural structures that allow you to live a better life in the long term.

Has meditation helped you in your career? We want to hear from you! Leave a comment or join the discussion on Twitter.

creativity innovation meditation problem solving productivity

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5 Ways Meditation Can Help Your Career - PayScale Career News (blog)

Mediation is an amazing thing. It lowers blood pressure, decreases stress, improves relationships, and so much more. If all these benefits are true, why do we have such a hard time getting started? Its like anything else. We know exercise is good for us, but we dont do it nearly as much as we should. We know we shouldnt smoke, yet so many people do. Fried foods, too much drinking, drugs, etc. there are so many things that we do which are bad for us. Im here to tell you how to do something good. Its easy to start and you dont have to be a monk or in any weird cult.

I can tell you from personal experience that when I meditate I am less irritable. I feel a state of calm throughout most of the day. I let frustration and anger go a lost easier and I deal with stress more gracefully. I usually meditate in the early morning and when I have a client or teach a class later in the evening, I still feel relaxed if Ive meditated. Its a subtle difference, but a profound difference. My main reason for meditating is to stay calm and relaxed. Here are a few ways I get there without the rigamarole of sitting cross legged with my fingers in a mudra.

Take a deep breath. Thats it. Just stopping what youre doing and taking a deep breath is going to give you pause. Its going to allow you to focus for a moment. And that moment is really all you need to feel better and reset your mental attitude.

Close your eyes. Dont do this if youre driving, but a simple moment with your eyes closed and a deep breath brings you a sigh of relief. Go ahead, do it now. Feel what I mean. Its amazing, right?

Pinch somebody. Or yourself. This is the easiest way to get present and after all, meditation is about being present and in the moment. Were distracted when were thinking of too many things at once. One of the best ways to get present is to feel whats around you. Touch your desk, pinch your own arm. Jolt yourself, in a loving way, out of the moment and into the present. This is just another technique to help you become more present.

Clap. A loud clap is another way to shock yourself into the present or out of confusion. When were thinking too much and stressing out over what may or may not happen, a loud noise is a perfect way to bring us back.

Nap. One of the best ways to find that sense of peace and calm is to take a nap. Seriously. You know when you really allow yourself an afternoon nap. If youre a regular person who works during the week, do this on the weekend. Notice how you feel just as you nod off. Its quite a freeing feeling to be completely relaxed. No meditation needed, just a simple shut eye.

Obviously, these are simple techniques to bring you into the moment. Once you have enough self control, youll actually find way more benefits in extended meditation. When you get there follow three simple fundamentals. Sit up with a straight spine, have a smooth even breath, and a single pointed focus. Thats all there is too it. The mind is always the toughest thing to wrangle which is why I teach people to pick a place that is peaceful like the beach or the top of a mountain. Focus on that point and when youre mind is distracted, accept the distraction, and come back to your focal point. Its that simple. You will experience benefits and I look forward to hearing how. You can always reach me @teddymcdonald. Until then, may you have inner peace my friends.

Originally published on the authors website.

Ted McDonald is a yoga teacher, fitness trainer, endurance athlete, entrepreneur, philanthropist and modern day adventurer. A former Lacrosse player at UCLA and Elite Adventure Racer, he has been an athlete his entire life. He began teaching yoga and meditation over 14 years ago while he continues to compete in marathons, triathlons, endurance mountain bike races and ultra marathons.

He is the founder of Adventure Yoga Retreats, a company that organizes premium travel adventures that enrich lives and inspire people to live life at their highest level. Ted co-created Tony Hortons p90x:2 yoga DVD and is featured in p90x:3 Yoga, p90x:3 Isometrix as well as Tonys yoga expert for his one-on-one video series. He is a long time lululemon ambassador and is the designated yoga teacher for the Tour de France winning pro cycling BMC Racing Team. He is a featured teacher on YogaVibes.com , Curious.com and created the yoga program at The Ranch at Live Oak Malibu which was named in Travel & Leisures Worlds Best Spas for 2012 & 2013.

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5 Easy Ways to Feel the Benefits of Meditation - The Good Men Project (blog)

VAIL Your brain is complex, but meditation makes it work better, says neuroscientist, Marjorie Hines Woollacott, Ph.D.

Woollacott is a research scientist and university professor who was certain that the brain was a purely physical entity controlled by chemicals and electrical pulses. Consciousness, she used to assert, was what she and her highly trained brain could perceive.

Meditation taught her to think outside the box, and the box is our bodies and physical perceptions. Her scientific research about meditation found that consciousness extends beyond the brain.

brain activity

She has been conducting scientific research for 10 years.

Her sister meditated and introduced her to it. Woollacott loves her, but dismissed her was one of those "Woo-woo" people.

"My boyfriend called her a bubblehead," Woollacott said.

Her sister invited her to a meditation confab in upstate New York. Woollacott was skeptical but wanted to visit my sister, so she went. The yogi touched Woollacott's head and she felt an energy flow through her head and down to heart. She was amazed, but still a scientist.

"There were no scientific findings about this," Woollacott said, so she started her own study. "The scientific mind in me thought this was too way out there."

'neurons in your brain'

In a controlled laboratory setting, people strapped on gear that attached 256 electrodes on their heads. Woollacott measured the amount of attention they were giving complex tasks, and found that meditators had twice the mental acuity of sedentary adults. Meditation quiets the mind and trains the brain to focus on the task at hand, she said.

"When your mind is quiet and it's not distracted by a million thoughts," Woollacott said.

"As a scientist, consciousness is solely the product of neurons in my brain," Woollacott said. "But because I've had experiences in meditation that tell me otherwise, I've now done research to say it's much more, and that consciousness can exist without the activity of neurons in my brain and that we have a connection with a vast consciousness that we are part of. That more vast consciousness contracts down into our own awareness. In certain moments, it can expand back outward that connects us with other parts of reality."

Woollacott herself meditates, which is how she started down this road. She will speak about her findings in a Vail Symposium Consciousness Series program today at Colorado Mountain College in Edwards. She's also conducting a workshop Friday morning.

The Friday morning workshop will be less of a lecture and more experiential, as Woollacott leads participants in an in-depth exploration of the nature of consciousness from both the scientific perspective and that of direct experience, discussing how each contributes to a complete understanding of the topic.

Woollacott has been a neuroscience professor at the University of Oregon for more than three decades and a meditator for almost four. Her research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. She has written more than 180 peer-reviewed research articles, several about meditation

Staff Writer Randy Wyrick can be reached at 970-748-2935 and rwyrick@vaildaily.com.

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Neuroscience proves meditation makes your brain work better - Vail Daily News

News By Ashley Gibbard | April 18, 2017

Information provided by Allison Abrams

Information provided by Allison Abrams

When thinking of meditation people usually imagine sitting with their legs crossed, eyes closed and humming. Depending on the type of meditation, that may still ring true, but meditation has come a long way and is now being used as a natural treatment for ailments.

Psychotherapist Allison Abrams said there are more and more people out there turning to meditation instead of medication.

Numerous studies over the years have shown the positive effects of meditation on pain and anxiety among other ailments, Abrams said. There are no side effects, it is usually more cost effective and it doesnt lose its effects over time like medication can.

A study conducted by National Institute of Health in 2016, reported that individuals suffering from chronic pain who practiced meditation reported 50 percent fewer symptoms than those who did not.

Meditation is about focusing on your breath and not being overwhelmed by the thoughts in your head. A person can direct their own meditation, follow a guided meditation or take a class if they have a specific need they are focusing on.

Susan Fraser deals with chronic back painand recently completed an eight-week meditation course to see if it would help.

I was tired of the side effects from my medications and having to keep changing them, Fraser said. I wanted to try meditation to see if I could get some relief without causing other problems.

Information provided by Allison Abrams

Abrams said that ultimately meditation cannot be a substitute when medical treatment is necessary, but it does help you become more aware of the present situation and what you are feeling.

Despite its many positive effects, meditation is not a cure-all and should not be used as a replacement for professional medical care when needed, Abrams said.Meditation does help in moments of high stress or anxiety. What it does is shift your focus to the present moment, as most forms of mental suffering, such as anxiety and depression, are brought on by our thoughts- thoughts of the past or worries about the future.

After her class, Fraser intends to keep going with it.

Im looking forward to sticking with the program they taught me, it did actually help, Fraser said. It has helped me to focus on what is in front of me and not dwell on my pain.

We may be Americans, Michiganders and Spartans but what does that really mean? The Spartan Newsroom special projects team takes a look at some of the characteristics that shape our community and make us who we are.

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Meditation is growing in popularity as a pain killer - Spartan Newsroom

Wednesday, April 19, 2017 at 7 a.m.

Adam Tendler lives in New York City and serves on the faculty of Third Street Music School Settlement, the countrys first community music school.

Photo by Ben Tran

Pianist Adam Tendler doesn't just play the instrument he manipulates it. True to form, Thursday's upcoming performance at the Rothko Chapel won't be a run-of-the-mill concert. Instead, the musical mastermind's selections will require active listening, audience participation and maybe even some meditation.

For this show, Tendler plans to manipulate the very conventional piano to produce music and sounds in a nonconventional way.

"One of the pieces that starts the show requires a manipulation of the keys...Its all about fingertips tapping the keyboard. In terms of sound, its almost microscopic," says Tendler. "Another piece of the program requires the piano lid to be closed, and it has music boxes tapping on the piano."

Other twists come throughout the show. One piece will featurepre-recorded elements on tape, while another will feature the piano as a soloist against the sound of drones.The audience participation comes during an Earle Brown composition via cell phones.

Regarding the Brown piece, Tendler says, "There are four parts, and Ill be playing one of them. Im going to make it so people in the audience can trigger the other piano parts. They can choose which part they want to play using their phones. Well have several sounds floating around the room depending on where you sit."

Tendler has worked with the Rothko Chapel for nearly two years to plan this event, and the music selected was chosen to reflect the space in which it will be performed.

"The space totally formed the program...It fits emotionally and acoustically," he says. "I wanted to create [a] program that was rather still, almost like a prayer program. Something very meditative that would not be super-extroverted."

The full program includesBrown's"Forgotten Piece" (1954) and "Home Burial" (1949),Nico Muhly's"Drones & Piano" (2010),Marina Poleukhina's "for thing" (2013),Morton Feldman's "Palais De Mari" (1981) andPhilip Glass' "Two Pages" (1968).Though the event starts at 7 p.m., Tendler recommends people arrive early for the pre-show performance of Charlie Sdraulig's "collector" (2014-15).

Tendler describes the music as a mix of experiences. He says it will be subdued yet intense. The quietness of the music coupled with the required attention to the smallest of details will make each individual's experience as different as the black and white keys he'll be playing.

"It requires your attention at all time, but not in a bombastic way. Its a lot like a meditation. One piece is 30 minutes long, and its quiet and slow," said Tendler. "Its like having someone give a powerful speech in their quietest voice. It can be kind of overwhelming."

Previous recordings provide a glimpse into the abstract, artful type of music of which Tendler has come to associate himself. The handsome maestro, wearing a sleeveless shirt that highlights his nicely toned arms and shoulders, shows us his emotional as well as analyticside while also fully committing to the music and the journey it explores. At times the music is nuanced and incongruent; at others it shows beautiful combinations of chords and musical phrases.

Tendler is no stranger to the Rothko Chapel. He played a sold-out show there five years ago, and his connection with Houston goes back even further. While on a 50-state tour, he played at MECA (Multicultural Education and Counseling Through the Arts), where his presence made an impact. Listeners in the audience fromHoustons Foundation for Modern Musicwere so impressed they gave him a position asartistic director.

He also spent almost two years working as an announcer at KUHF now part of Houston Public Media and his taste in music was sometimes a hit, other times a miss.

"It was definitely a cool experience," Tendler says. "I would tend to get complaints from listeners because some of the music I was playing, they would think something was broken."

Although playing in Houston is not a first for him, this will be Tendler's first time to perform a selection of contemporary pieces meant to be a trippy and meditative experience on 4/20.

Is the date a coincidence? It seems the answer falls somewhere between a "yes" and a "no."

"We were looking at April dates, and because of scheduling, 4/20 looked like the one," he says. "We immediately started making jokes about it, but really, its kind of perfect. [The show] is about surrendering and leaving expectations at the door...Its ironic, but it actually kind of works."

And there you have it, pot smokers, music lovers and meditation enthusiasts. Here's your chance to unite during your favorite hobby - whichever it may be - while also supporting the arts.

"If [people] come totally high, theyll have the best time. This program, in a funny way, really fits that situation," he said.

Adam Tendler plays the Rothko Chapel (3900 Yupon)at 7 p.m. with a pre-show performance beforehand. Tickets are a suggested $10 donation and can be purchased at rothkochapel.org.

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Pianist Adam Tendler Mixes Music And Meditation In Rothko Performance - Houston Press

When she was in college, Kristen Radtkes uncle died suddenly, from what she describes as an inscrutable heart defect that threaded though [her] family.

Her relatives moved on, reminiscing about her Uncle Dan at holidays. But Radtke found herself fixating on her own health, on the particularities of the gene mutation that ran in her family, on the heart palpitations she sometimes got, and on death more generally the way its acknowledged, celebrated or ignored in different societies.

The resulting story part travelogue, part memoir is told in Radtkes book Imagine Wanting Only This, out this month. In turns personal and expansive, its a visual and written exploration of loss, and how it resonates through our public and private lives.

The first pieces ofImagine Wanting Only Thisbegan as a handful of disparate prose essays, Radtke told The Huffington Post. It took me a long time to realize that they were a part of the same project, and longer still to realize that the project would be graphic.

But shes long been a fan of the medium; she says her book wouldnt have been written if it werent for Alison Bechdels Fun Homeand cites a slew of other recent favorites in the genre, including Tom Harts Rosalie Lightning, Amy Kurzweils Flying Couch, Ellen Forneys Marbles, and Mira Jacobs forthcomingGood Talk: Conversations Im Still Confused About.

The author also loves superhero comics, which introduced her to certain graphic storytelling conventions.

There is a different set of rules for a graphic memoir or literary graphic novel, Radtke said. Visual literature offers an immediate grounding that can be helpful for a narrative that may jump around in time and space. We can convey certain things to the reader very quickly the age of a character, the way she may change through time, the particular and specific elements of place.

Plotting and structure is the hardest part of any project for me, she continued. In the end it all feels like magic that it comes together at all.

Magic or not, Radtkes book is enchanting. Read a chapter-long excerpt below:

You can buy the book on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.

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This New Graphic Novel Is A Stunning, Honest Meditation On Loss - Huffington Post

BY: SHAWNTAE HARRIS

The hustle of a big city makes it almost impossible to relax sometimes. Hearing the loud cars go by and running to catch the train as the doors nearly close around you can be exhausting.

The only moment you can really take a second to breathe is in the back seat of the Uber that you ordered to avoid driving through rush hour on your own.

But now the minutes spent in the back of an Uber, walking down a crowded street or on the packed subway train can be spent relaxing.

Sway is an app designed for big city living. It helps people meditate on the go with a sensor that tracks users movements. The app is a collaboration between PauseAble, a meditation app, and Ustwo, a digital production studio.

The app was created byPeng Cheng and Ustwos Malmo studio who created the two-year updated app. Cheng created another meditation app two years prior called Pause, which allows you to meditateby continuously moving a bubble on a phone screen.

How can we help people distress, refocus and recharge anywhere, anytime as part of their normal lives? saidMarcus Woxneryd, head of Ustwo Malmo to Wired.

All you need is a pair of headphones and an iPhone(its currently not available for androids). The sound fades in and out with a slight build up until you reach complete serenity.

The Sway app acts as a yoga instructor as well. It tells you whether to take longer breaths or shorter breaths. It uses the phones rotation tracker and accelerometers to measure the attention span of a person, and suggests things to do with your body like do small controlled movements.

The app will know when relaxation is over. It notices whenever someone moves around too much that they are not focusing enough.

This new approach is called interactive meditation, which, according to Sway, is supposed to detecthumans attention through slow and gentle movements that thrive during noisy and active environments.

Sway is developedfrom the movements of the sixth sense. The last sense is the control of body movement. This occurs when we have complete control of our body and complete control of our movements and we have control of how our movements will play out.

This then allows focus, clarity and complete relaxation. The only way to achieve this is when the person directs and pays attention to the repetition of a word, sound, phrase, prayer, or muscular activity, according to Ustwo. The person passively disregards everyday thoughts that inevitably come to mind and returning to your repetition. The meditation is supposed to be done for 20 minutes every day to get the full effect.

Money and work seem to be the leading factors of stress for Americans. The Paychexsurvey looked at 2,000 full-time employed Americans aged 18-79.

The survey found that Americans are stressed for 60 per cent of the work week. Most people turn to television, social media, and getting into comfy clothes as a way to destress at the end of the night.

Working out is another great solution to destress since it releases endorphines. But the stress can lead to anxiety and depression with some people.

Meditation can improve decision making, creativity, personal and work relationships. Taking 20 minutes out of your day to devote to meditation can make a huge difference in improving your mental health, and subsequently your overall happiness.

Continue reading here:

Sway meditation app taps into our 'sixth sense' - The Plaid Zebra (blog)

There is a sanity and brilliance to mindfulness and meditation, from awakening inner strength, kindness and fearlessness to inviting radical change.

As an activist in a Chinese jail, Kiri Westby used meditation to maintain her peace amidst the hardship. Seane Corn used yoga and mindfulness to work with teenage prostitutes in LA. Play therapist Megan Cronin Larson says meditation has deeply influenced her work with children.

But sitting still can easily appear boring, the mind longs to be entertained! In fact, past or future can become so engrossing that being in the present moment may seem somewhat lackluster in comparison. So instead of stillness, we fill our minds either with what-could-have-been, what-might-have-been or if-only, or with what-could-be, what-will-be or what-might-be.

Luckily, present-moment awareness frees us from this endless cycle of what if and is immensely liberating. Theres nothing going on but this very moment, nothing more is required of us than to just be here, now. What a relief!

When we are present then the world becomes quite extraordinary, as if being seen and heard for the first time without preconceived ideas or desires. There is just the experience. And, like a child exploring the unknown, we are impelled to understand and know it more intimately.

Present-moment awareness takes us out of the logical or rational mind, which doesnt mean we step into nowhere or nothingness; we dont become disconnected or cast adrift. Rather, we step into sanity and even greater connectedness. This is the extraordinary and delightful part of presence. It is innately natural, as if we are back in a deeply loved but forgotten place.

When I was 15 years old, my mother took me on a residential meditation retreat in the English countryside, recalls Deb. My siblings were all elsewhere and my mother had no intention of leaving me on my own in London. As I already knew some of the people who would be there, and as she was only going for three days, I reluctantly agreed.

As it was, my mother stayed for three days and I stayed for ten. I didnt really understood what I was doing, but sitting in silence gave me the feeling that I was exactly where I was meant to be. I sat for hours. I didnt want to leave. I didnt want to be parted from this place of belonging. I was home again, even though I didnt know that I had ever left.

Simply being still, without thought of before or after, encourages a deep sense of completion, that there really is nowhere else we need to go. It is impossible to think of somewhere else as being betterthe grass is vividly green exactly where we are.

For instance, we were in England visiting with Debs mother, Anne. We had been invited for tea at the House of Lords in London to discuss a meditation center with one of the Lords. In a rush to catch a train we were quickly downing breakfast when the toast burned. We watched in amusement as Anne took a deep breath and said, Oh dear, burned toast, then calmly tossed the offending item in the trash and put a fresh slice of bread in the toaster.

Few of us have such a calm reaction to burned toast, especially when we are in a hurry. Rather, we usually wish things were different to how they are. But we can make a song and dance about whatever is wrong, like burned toast, and get even more stressed or we can take a deep breath and put a fresh slice of bread in the toaster.

If I accept burnt toast as a fact, somehow that takes away the irritation I normally feel and replaces it with a wry admiration for the splendidly black crusts, says author Anne Bancroft in The Unexpected Power of Mindfulness & Meditation. It doesnt stop me changing the setting of the toaster but it seems to make the whole situation easy instead of annoying.

So the equation is simple: as mindfulness and meditation become an intimate part of our lives, so we evolve and change. When we evolve and change then we move into a more wakeful, aware, and loving state. And all that we have to do for this chain of events to occur is learn to be still. Beneath our dramas and conflicts there is a quiet place within; mindfulness and meditation encourage us to abide in that stillness.

Ed & Deb are the authors of recently released The Unexpected Power of Mindfulness & Meditation, available on Amazon.com. They have six meditation downloads/CDs. See more at EdandDebShapiro.com

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Link:

The Unexpected Power of Mindfulness & Meditation - Care2.com

Two local community groups hosted a meditation event at Civic Space Park on Friday afternoon in an attempt to dispel stereotypes about the homeless population who frequent it.

The group meditation comes on the heels of Arizona State University Student Ira Sanchez being mistaken for a homeless person last week and told not to lay down in the park. Stacey Champion, community activist and head of Champion PR, held the event along with Sutra Studios.

The meditation exercise was led by Rebecca Fritz, owner of Sutra Studios. She said the meditation was a visualization technique aimed at fighting stereotypes the participants may have about strangers they see.

We can create the visualizations around anything, Fritz said. This one was around acceptance and tolerance, and the technique that we used was an imagery where we imagined ourselves in such a way that we can recognize the similarities between yourself and everyone else.

Champion said she was warned by a security guard at the park prior to the start of the meditation.

[The security guard] said you need to be very careful because not everyone in this park is as they appear, so you need to be careful and keep your things close and your children close, Champion said. And as somebody who has been bringing their kids to this park since it first opened, I think its that attitude of fear which is why were here and why I asked Rebecca to come and do this today.

Fritz walked around the participants under the shade of a tree, guiding them with advice on what to do with their body and minds.

When you can live in the commonality we all share, you can let go of fear and judgement, recognizing that theres no place for that within ourselves Fritz told the meditators. And so therefore, no place for that toward anyone else.

Champion said another focus of the event was to show the importance of everyones enjoyment of public spaces without disturbance.

These are public spaces and public is public, not just forpotentially wealthy white people, Champion said. Everyone should have the ability to lay in the grass and close their eyes and meditate in the afternoon in a public park.

Immediately following the event a park security guard approached Don Maier, a homeless man who recently traveled from Nevada to Phoenix, and told him to stay awake.

He just said that I had to sit up and stay alert so that he could tell that I was alive basically, Maier said.

Maier, who turned 71 on Thursday, said he became homeless within the previous three days because his social security check is no longer enough for him to payrent. He said he is on a Housing and Urban Development (HUD) waiting list for housing in the Westward Ho. He said he was told by Westward Ho staff that his wait would be close to four months.

Maier said he received even worse treatment when he was homeless in Nevada.

One cop in Carson City actually kicked me. He said, Hey, wake up and get out of here! Maier said.

Maier said he is a former design engineer, and whilehe is only becoming used to getting homeless, its been difficult for him to adjust to the way people treat him now.

Contact the reporter at dmperle@asu.edu.

Visit link:

Community members hold meditation to dispel stereotypes of homelessness - Downtown Devil

With the hectic pace and demands of modern life, many people feel stressed and over-worked. It often feels like there is just not enough time in the day to get everything done. Our stress and tiredness make us unhappy, impatient and frustrated. It can even affect our health. We are often so busy we feel there is no time to stop and meditate! But meditation actually gives you more time by making your mind calmer and more focused. A simple ten or fifteen minute breathing meditation as explained below can help you to overcome your stress and find some inner peace and balance.

Meditation can also help us to understand our own mind. We can learn how to transform our mind from negative to positive, from disturbed to peaceful, from unhappy to happy. Overcoming negative minds and cultivating constructive thoughts is the purpose of the transforming meditations found in the Buddhist tradition. This is a profound spiritual practice you can enjoy throughout the day, not just while seated in meditation.

On this website you can learn the basics of Buddhist meditation. A few books are mentioned that will help you to deepen your understanding if you wish to explore further. Anyone can benefit from the meditations given here, Buddhist or not. We hope that you find this website useful and that you learn to enjoy the inner peace that comes from meditation.

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How to Meditate - How to Meditate