When I see a zit or two or more like, ten on my face, there's usually something at play. I'm either about to get my period. Or I'm feeling crazy stressed. For the past few months, I've been consistently dealing with the latter and I just couldn't seem to chill out.

For weeks I wasn't sleeping, I was constantly tense, and I just wasn't being kind to my body. I wasn't eating the healthiest things and I was skipping workouts pretty regularly. Plus my new blemishes were giving my seemingly calm exterior away.

No matter what I tried, my zits were not going away. After a few quick Google searches into the connection between stress and acne I realized my lack of chill was making my stress hormones turn on my skin. Obviously I needed to find a way to relax.

I reached out to Dr. Liana Ashenden, dermatologist and founder of the natural skincare line Nudu, to find out if this was something that could actually help me out and it turns out, it is. She recommends meditation, exercise, or whatever gets you to ditch your phone for a hot second and focus on yourself to anyone dealing with stress-related skin issues. She told me that stressors, big or small, trigger survival responses that produce hormones like adrenalin and cortisol, the number one hormone that can wreak havoc on your skin. These hormones are supposed to temporarily spike when we need them to, you know for survival. But when you're juggling a busy schedule, crazy deadlines, and whatever else is causing stress, you can end up feeling these effects 24/7.

"We are not supposed to feel like we're being chased by a lion every Monday morning!" Dr. Ashenden says. "Chronic stress and feeling overwhelmed can be deeply disruptive to our sleep cycle, digestive process, inflammatory response, and other delicately balanced internal systems that keep us happy and healthy." So it's important to find ways to slow down and pay attention to your body and mind.

I've tried guided meditation apps and videos in the past to calm myself, but I never stuck with them. And I'd been to the MNDFL Mediation studio in New York City once before for a work event. A teacher there explained that mindfulness is just the practice of being aware of the present moment. It seemed pretty in tune with what I neededa break from worrying and obsessing about daily life stuffso I figured I'd give it a try.

Lodro Rinzler, the co-founder and Chief Spiritual Officer at MNDFL, suggested coming to classes regularly over the course of a few weeks to really notice a difference. "Some may think, 'Ugh I tried it once and I dont feel immediately peaceful,' which is about the rough equivalent of I went to the gym once, I didnt lose ten pounds,'" Rinzler says. "Over time, around the 3-week mark, doing any kind of positive habit like meditation actually begins to become habitual."

So I made a goal: Meditate for an entire month and see what it does for my skin.

My meditation classes focused on mindfulness, which thankfully isnt just emptying your head for 30 minutes. Instead, you focus on the present by using things like your breath or an intention. And if other things pop into your head, you just acknowledge them and move onno pressure.

I started taking a 30 minute class every morning at 7:45am. And, of course, waking up an hour earlier was brutal at first, but after a week I started naturally waking up earlier and looking forward to going to class. And while some days I left class feeling like a zen rockstar, other times I'd beat myself up as I sat on my cushion because instead of slowing my mind down, I was making mental to-do lists.

But as the days and weeks went by, I felt so much better. I was more motivated to work out, I wasn't so engrossed in my phone, and I didn't want to scream whenever my train was delayed. After a couple weeks I remembered why I started this in the first placemy skin. When I really looked at it, it was more radiant, less dry and irritated, and my zits had finally cleared. It also helped that I looked more at ease.

Here I am, feeling like a zenned out rockstar with clear skin.

PHOTO: Emily Kemp

"Since one of the most wonderful benefits of meditation is that it helps us to modulate our response to daily stress, this may have a direct impact on our stress hormone levels," Dr. Ashenden says. Because my hormones weren't totally raging, my sleep was more peaceful, even my digestion was improving, and my skin was looking pretty awesome.

Rinzler suggests integrating meditation into your life by jumping in all at once like I didevery day of the week (with the odd skip day, of course). You can find a mediation studio, download an app, or just watch MNDFL's guided mediation videos. He says sitting for ten minutes a day will make a noticeable difference. And if you don't have time, you can do a quick body scan starting at your feet and scanning up through your legs and spine, noticing where your tension lies while you're waiting for the train or taking the elevator. "Thats such a short little practice that we could actually do regularly throughout the day," he says. "And it goes a long way in countering some of the stress we carry around with us."

Taking these extra few seconds to just be throughout my day feels great. It reminds me that I don't have to rush around all the time and I can just focus on what I'm doing. I came to meditation for the possibility of clear skin, I stayed for the mind- and heart-calming benefits. The age-old practice may seem buzzy right now, but there's no way I'm giving it up.

See original here:

What a Month of Meditation Did for My Skinand My Entire Life, Honestly - Glamour

Editors Note: This article was first published in the April 24, 1987, issue of National Review, featured in Mr. Manos The Gimlet Eye column. Despite the title, it makes for appropriate reading before Easter.

And he said unto them,Behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water; follow him into the house where he entereth in.

And ye shall say unto the goodman of the house, The Master saith unto thee, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples? And he shall show you a large upper room furnished: there make ready.

Luke 22: 1012

There is a strange agency at work here. The Scripture might be haunted. That pitcher-bearer. This goodman. They spook me. Who are they, what special order of grace do they belong to? And, elsewhere, those men who surrender the colt whereon yet never man sat. Nameless, equivocal shapes. Hey, they shout, why loose ye the colt? The Lord has need of it,His disciples explain. Oh, well. In that case. Why didnt you say so? Take our expensive animal. And has their free will been taken also? It is as if a casual, weird cast of accomplices inhabited Jerusalem. Men or suchlike who know, often better than fumbling Peter or over-literal Thomas, just how to ornament the Passion.

Were they perhaps made of some angelic stuff? I dont think so: it is the Lords habit, thank God, to enlist men wherever convenient. He has an economical disposition. And Man was, after all, what this grand enterprise had been about from the first. But how then did Jesus, so to speak, make His room reservation in advance? Were these men sensitized by dreams? Did the Holy Spirit, foraging like a quartermaster sergeant, requisition their possessions through sign and vision? It is possible. The Lord had been known to trouble sleep. And being warned of God in a dream... Was there fitfulness before the Passover?

Again, I think not. God prefers, when He can, to conserve terrestrial order. He has a dramatic instinct. And His own peculiar unities. The Passion is as naturalistic as frail wrist tissue shredded by a spike. Jesus could ferment water. He could infinitely divide the loaf and the fish. But here He had need of a furnished apartment. His colt might have come about providentially, as Abrahams ram came about, caught in some thicket. But God wanted a known colt: one that had memorable references in Jerusalem. It was His purpose to leave a clear and historical track behind evidence that might stand up in court. The presence of transcendent power among modest instruments is more persuasive than any bullying miracle could be.

I suppose it this way, then. That these pitcher-bearer and goodman and colt-owner, these first acolytes of the Eucharist were men given sudden and heightened perception. An abrupt seeing Into. Spirit came upon them as Jesus came upon Matthew sitting at the receipt of custom: Follow me. And he arose, and followed Him. Simply that. Next Window Please. We are so habituated to reason and a precious carefulness that Christs people seem, well, irresponsible. But grace is first the law-breaker. It can be brutal: Let the dead bury their dead. Brutal and rash and unfair. Because there is no ground whatever for believing that these were righteous men. They didnt earn their cameo roles in the Passion through good work. I suspect they were chosen rather for an openness to potential. They were, above all, ready men.

Simon of Cyrene, recruited by grace and some Roman to lug Jesus cross, is my paradigm in this. He had, it would seem, no previous experience for the work. No moral credentials that we hear about. Just a man who passed by, coming out of the country. To trade, to sightsee, to window-shop: another tourist in the Big Fig. And, all at once, he is absorbed by that rubbernecking mob. Elbow to the front what have we here? And its you, yes you. Bozo, pack that wood. We know nothing about Simon, except that his children, Rufus and Alexander, became Christians. On Good Friday, Simon was what we all are, a passerby. And shanghaied by the Holy Spirit. I take comfort in this thought, whose life otherwise does not much recommend itself to God. That I may be granted, through His fierce randomness and my mere availability, a walk-on moment of redemption.

Return to the Passion now. Imagine, say, a man in his workshop room alone. For best effect, Id fancy him preoccupied: revising some device of his craft, in thought, whatever. Suppose it hot and ordinary out. Then, all of one rush, as weather can change, there should be an importance in the air. Let that cheap pitcher interpose itself across his attention here. For this instant it should have more pitcherness. The way common objects astound and please when we are full of joy. This is, you know, not his regular time to fetch water in. But the thought of pitcher, the very surprising idea that it can hold water, contains aptness and fascination for him. It has been infused by grace. And he rises at a call not from God as such, nor from any impending event but to honor the perfect nature of one created thing. There is elevation all around.

Returning from the wellhe happens upon two men. After that, unaware, they will become a procession of three.

It is not through war and celebrity that God has most advanced His will. It Is through the commonplace: room, colt, manger, fisherman thunderous Easter, atrocity and miracle, are prepared for in them. Open a window. Pick up anything. Inhale. These are moments and incidents without moral import except for this: that reverence and special shining can inhere. We are admonished to be alert. And certainly we have lost just that measure of openness and heightening and expectation. This is, I suspect, what those shadowy men are about. If they didnt know, they felt, felt at some proper instant, that even in the filling of a pitcher one might lead great strangers to magnificence.

D. Keith Mano was a TV screenwriter and author of ten books, including Take Five, the recipient of the 1987 Literary Lion award, and a columnist at National Review magazine for 17 years.

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A Meditation after Easter - National Review

I think that one of the hardest and most beautiful parts of being human is saying goodbye. All of us, it doesnt matter who you are, say goodbye to dreams and expectations weve held for our livesgoodbye to places that hold meaning and ground usand, goodbye to people we love. When we say goodbye, whatever the circumstances of that parting, there is this unique moment of opportunity to look back on all the joy and pain of that human relationship and say some final, important things. These goodbyes are magnified moments of human living, where we feel again our failure, our joy, and the wonder of loving and being loved, and we say thank you: for the ways in which your life has helped me live my life.

As they gathered around the table that night for their last meal together, Jesus broke the bread and poured the wine and looked at each of his disciples. Imagine what his goodbyes must have sounded like: James and Johnsometimes both of you are way too intense; youre always fighting over who is the teachers pet. But I admire your deep devotion, and I long for your tenacity and commitment. In the tough days ahead, hang onto that. Peter? Peter. I love you brother. I mean: youre crazy and impetuous, always getting us in trouble in well-intentioned ways, but I do love you. Dont forget it. Judas, Im praying that I can remember you carry so much pain that you cant let yourself recognize love, cant even let yourself be part of this ragtag community that wants to embrace you. I want you to remember that God will never leave you, no matter what.

Tonight its you and me around this table. Were remembering that meal, as Jesus told us to do. And perhaps we may consider what Jesus might say were he looking across the table, straight into my eyes or yours. Dont let your fear direct your lifeit will only lead you bad places. Stop trying so hard to get the world to love you. I wish for you that you would let go of the anger. Your heart will not feel like its breaking into a million pieces forever; I promise, it will get better. And, most of all: I love you. I will always be with you. Please dont forget.

As a matter of fact, we are invited to experience around this table a magnified moment of human living, where we feel again our failure, our joy, and the wonder of loving and being loved, and we remember: theres a place for everyone at the table tonight. Everyoneas we come to say our goodbyes to a Savior who showed us what love means, and as we look toward him and say perhaps something like: Thank you. Thank youfor the ways in which your life has helped me live mine.

Here is the original post:

Goodbyes: A Meditation for Maundy Thursday - Patheos (blog)

Guided meditations, fitness and meditation on the go, and a way to find the perfect workout buddy. Heres are ways to take it to the next level:

Monday was the kickoff for Hope in Uncertain Times, a 21-day digital audio meditation series offered by Oprah Winfrey and Deepak Chopra. Participants get access to a daily 20-minute meditation voiced by Chopra that segues from learning to identify false hope in the first week, to how to use hope to inspire others in the third. Each recording includes a mantra and questions designed to encourage reflective thinking. There is also an interactive journal that encourages participants to note their progress.

Info: Free on iTunes or Google Play. Oprah.com/meditation

::

FabFitFun known for its quarterly subscription boxes stuffed with beauty and wellness products (Summer and Rose Yoga Towels, grip socks by Toesox) is now in the business of streaming fitness videos.

Launched in March, FabFitFun TV is "a return to our roots," said the company's co-founder and editor in chief, Katie Ann Rosen Kitchens. "Health and fitness have been part of our DNA from the beginning."

The approximately 50 videos covering yoga, toning, boot camp and cardio represent the best content from in-demand trainers such as Simone De La Rue and Christine Bullock, said Rosen Kitchens. "We choose them in the same way we curate our boxes," she said.

Info: $180 annual subscription to FabFitFun TV includes four seasonal boxes of products. FabFitFun.com

::

Type in fitness videos on YouTube and 11.6 million options pop up. The confusion inherent in that led entrepreneur Jitesh Chhabria to come up with the Koach TV app. Through three questions (covering goals, preferred workout length and what part of the body the workout is for), the app offers up specific YouTube fitness content. Users can schedule their workouts, track their results and easily scroll through parts of the video. (A 13-minute abs and arms regimen is segmented into punches, standing inner-biceps curls and dumbbell uppercuts.)

"YouTube has all this great content but there is no tracking for goals, planning for commitments or community to motivate you," Chhabria said.

There are 120 workouts on the site, with more to be added. A Web-friendly and Android version is to be up in a few months.

Info: Free on iTunes. App.Koach.TV

::

Looking for someone to go hiking with in Big Bear or to share in tossing around a Frisbee on Venice Beach? The 5F app, launched last August, might be able to help. Described as "a dating app for fitness" by its developer, Urs Camenisch, it pairs people of similar interests whether that's Crossfit, dance or unconventional sports such as base jumping.

"Sometimes it's hard to find people to work out with who are at the same level and like the same sports," said Camenisch, a former ambulance pilot in Canada. Over 100 activities are represented on the app, which Camenisch said could also be useful among people traveling to other countries and hoping to train like a local (such as playing bandy, similar to ice hockey, in Scandinavia.)

"It's a good way to connect with others, instead of just working out in the hotel gym," he said.

Info: Free on iTunes. app5f.com

rene.lynch@latimes.com

Twitter: @renelynch

Health@latimes.com

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Oprah and Deepak want to teach you to meditate - LA Times - Los Angeles Times

This Holy Week, Filipino Catholics are again reminded to reflect, repent, and renew their faith.

This period also calls for meditation as a break from the daily stressful grind.

According to Fr. Aris Sison, meditation is a means for Catholics to be more in touch with God.

"Id like to think of meditation as a means to prayer. I think it is a tool to bring us in touch with God and its a very important practice most especially during Holy Week," he said.

Dr. Ma. Bernadette Arcena, a psychiatrist, noted that those who cannot stand to be alone by themselves without their companions and gadgets are the ones who are really in need of meditation.

"We have to allot in one day a few moments of silence with ourselves," she said.

"I think many people today need silence. We all need it but many people are afraid of it," Fr. Sison added.

Arcena said most people fear silence because of the realizations that they can have when they listen to their conscience.

"It is scary because there could be a lot of voices in your conscience and its so hard to silence yourself if youre so busy," she said.

-- ANC Talkback April 10 2017

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Why you need to set aside time for meditation - ABS-CBN News

For many adults and children with ADHD, two persistent daily challenges are paying attention and maintaining self-regulation. So it stands to reason that some kind of attention training that also hones self-control would be invaluable and incredibly powerful.

Well, it turns out one such treatment strategy has been around for thousands of years, and its a hot research topic at the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center (MARC). ADDitudes Carl Sherman, Ph.D., spoke with psychiatrist Lidia Zylowska, M.D., who heads the centers ADHD program.

Mindful awareness, or mindfulness, is part of many religious traditions. For example, Buddhism features a form of mindfulness meditation known as vipassana.

But mindfulness is not necessarily religious or spiritual. It involves paying close attention to your thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations; in other words, developing a greater awareness of whats going on with you from moment to moment. Mindfulness is a mental

It can be used as a tool to foster wellness, especially psychological well-being. Similar techniques have been used to lower blood pressure and to manage chronic pain, anxiety, and depression.

Unlike many tools for ADHD, mindfulness develops the individuals inner skills. It improves your ability to control your attention by helping to strengthen your ability to self-observe, to train attention, and to develop different relationships to experiences that are stressful. In other words, it teaches you to pay attention to paying attention, and can also make people more aware of their emotional state, so they wont react impulsively. Thats often a real problem for people with ADHD.

Researchers have talked about using mindfulness for ADHD for some time, but the question was always whether people with ADHD could really do it, especially if theyre hyperactive. The versatility and flexibility of mindfulness allows individuality in the approach, to make it work for you.

Weve tried to make the technique user-friendly. Our eight-week program consists of weekly two-and-a-half-hour training sessions, plus at-home practice. We start with five-minute, seated meditations at home each day, and gradually work up to 15 or 20 minutes. We also give the option to practice longer or to substitute mindful walking for the seated meditation.

We use visual aids, like a picture of a cloudy sky, to explain the basic concepts, because people with ADHD tend to be visual learners. The blue sky represents the space of awareness, and the clouds represent all the thoughts, feelings, and sensations that pass by.

Not quite. The meditation sessions are important practice, but the key is to use mindfulness throughout your daily life, always being aware of where your attention is focused while you are engaged in routine activities. For example, you might notice while you drive that your attention wanders to an errand you must run later that day. Lots of people practice mindfulness while eating. Once you get used to checking in with yourself and your body, you can apply the technique anytime you start to feel overwhelmed.

Yes, the basic practice is very simple. Just sit down in a comfortable place where you wont be disturbed and spend five minutes focusing on the sensation of breathing in and breathing out pay attention to how it feels when your stomach rises and falls. Soon, you may notice that youre thinking of something else your job or some noise you just heard or your plans for later in the day. Label these thoughts as thinking, and refocus your attention on your breath.

Do this mental training daily. Every couple of weeks, increase the length of time you spend on the exercise 10 minutes, 15, up to 20 or more if you feel you can. Try the same thing throughout each day, focusing on your breath for a few minutes as you walk from place to place, or when youre stopped at a red light or sitting at the computer.

You can actually practice mindfulness at any time, even during conversation with others. Turning on the mind-awareness state at any time during your day, even if only for a few minutes, is great training. Its essentially letting go of the busy-ness of your thinking, and bringing your attention to whats happening in the present moment in everyday life.

Its the nature of the mind to be distracted. Mindful awareness isnt about staying with the breath, but about returning to the breath. Thats what enhances your ability to focus.

And this emphasis on re-shifting your attention, of outwitting the minds natural tendency to wander, is what makes this technique especially helpful to someone who has ADHD.

In 2008, we completed a study involving 25 adults and 8 adolescents, half of whom had the combined [both inattentive and hyperactive] form of ADHD, and the results were very promising. We observed significant improvements in both inattention and hyperactivity.

In cognitive tests, the participants got better at staying focused, even when different things were competing for their attention. Many of them also felt less anxious and depressed by the end of study.

In 2012, the study titled The Effectiveness of Mindfulness Training for Children with ADHD and Mindful Parenting for their Parents was published in the Journal of Child and Family Studies. This research trial evaluated the effectiveness of an 8-week mindfulness training for children aged 812 with ADHD and parallel mindful parenting training for their parents. They found a significant reduction in parent-reported ADHD symptoms after the 8-week training, as well as a reduction in parental stress and over-reactivity. However, the study found no improvement in ADHD symptoms after the mindfulness program on teacher-completed rating scales.

More research is still needed on the efficacy of mindfulness on ADHD symptoms, but the research is promising so far.

There seems to be a growing consensus that children can successfully practice mindfulness, although the program would have to be modified for young children. In fact, there is one mindfulness program thats designed just for preschool and elementary school children [InnerKids.org], and it has been quite successful. The program has yet to be used specifically for children who have ADHD, but we plan to do future studies with them, and with ADHD adolescents and adults.

Most stuck with the program, and, when asked to rate their overall satisfaction with it, they rated it an average of 9 out of 10. And the participants comments were mostly positive. Adults said things like, I feel that I better understand what goes on in my head, and Im less critical of myself, less reactive, and more forgiving of myself.

One teenager said, Now, whenever I feel my mind wandering, Im able to realize that its wandering. I can let go of the feeling and stop giving in to distractions.

Researchers have shown that, compared with people who dont meditate, long-time meditators have different EEG and MRI patterns, particularly in the brains frontal region the region that is involved with ADHD. Another study found a rise in the level of dopamine, the very neurotransmitter in short supply in ADHD brains, during meditative states.

We didnt specifically measure this effect in our study because we did not manage our participants medications. Only about half of our participants were taking stimulant medication, and the benefits they reported were similar to those reported by participants who were not taking stimulants. We hope that, by practicing mindfulness, one can learn to better self-regulate and, over time, lower the need for medication. But we need to study this question further.

A group of researchers began a study in conjunction with the National Institute of Health in 2016 to study mindfulness training versus stimulant medication in the treatment of childhood ADHD. The study is now ongoing, so these insights will be available in the near future.

If youd like an expert to guide you through the process, visit the Mindful Meditations page at UCLA.edu. There, you can download several guided meditations. In each, youll be lead through a mindful awareness exercise.

There are also several good books on mindfulness meditation. I recommend:

The Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts has been offering mindfulness-based stress reduction classes for more than two decades. You can find a directory of trainers on its Web site. The UMass program is designed for stress-related conditions and is not adapted to ADHD, but it has a similar eight-week structure and is a good way to learn the technique.

Visit link:

Mindful Awareness: How to Combat ADHD Symptoms with Meditation - ADDitude

What if, instead of another sad desk salad, you took back your weekday lunch break and used it as a time for self-care and spiritual centering? Thats just the question that wellness practitioner El Larson of Heare Remedies hopes to answer with her new series of mid-day sessions.

Larson specializes in sound baths, which are a big component of the monthly events that take place on the patio of Golden Folk Wellness in Silver Lake (she may soon expand to Downtown L.A. as well). The former DJ plays a combination of singing bowls and a synth to provide a soothing ambience and offers individual mini-sound baths in which she places bowls directly on a persons body.

Silent meditation, stretching, coloring and relaxation activities are available for those who wish to participate. You can also bring a notebook or other work to do on your own in the peaceful environment as long as you keep it quiet. Guests can come and go as they please duringthe two-hour period and are welcome to bring their own lunch to eat.

Its not a new age hippie fest, Larson says in an announcement of the session (though we wouldn't mind), which is open to all in the community on a suggested donation basis. What it is, however, is an opportunity to disconnect, relax and refresh yourself for the rest of your busy day.

Reclaim Your Lunch Break: Midday Sound Meditation with El Larson takes place on the last Thursday of each month from 11:30am to 1:30pm at Golden Folk Wellness, 1615 Lucile Avenue in Silver Lake.

Want more? Sign up here to stay in the know.

Brittany is the associateeditor responsible forTime Out Los Angeles' blog and social media as well as the Film and LGBT sections. Her bloodstream is mostlycoffee. Follow her on Twitter at @britt_m.

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Reclaim your lunch break with this mid-day meditation series - Time Out Los Angeles (blog)

An Easter Meditation (and Tweet)

By Dr. Jerry A. Johnson, President & CEO

It is easy for Christians, even Christian leaders, to waste time and energy on the unbearable lightness of Twitter. Lets just say the idea of meditation and Twitter do not often go together. But, occasionally, some tweet turns out to be a nugget, even a jewel, that should be turned every which way in our minds as a matter to meditate upon. This is the week to be thinking about the resurrection. Yesterday on Twitter, the great Christian theologian Charlie Daniels wrote:

Almost 2,000 years ago, another great theologian explained the good news of the Christian Gospel in a similar way. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the Apostle Paul outlined the Gospel message in 1 Corinthians 15. Just a few quotes will go a long way.

Paul wrote, Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures (v.3). First, meditate on this title: Christaccording to the Scriptures. This name reminds us that Jesus wasnt just some random man or another religious leader. The Hebrew Scriptures predicted a Jewish Messiah thousands of years before the incarnation and Jesus fits those prophecies like hand in glove. In this sense, Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah.

Second, think about this act: Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. As the appointed Messiah, Jesus died a substitutionary death, like an Old Testament sacrificial animal. When Jesus took the sin of the world upon Himself at the cross it was a fulfilment of his mission as the lamb of God slain before the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8). So we wouldnt have to, the chosen Man paid for our sins.

Third, consider this fact: He was buried (v.4). All four Gospels record this. All the historic creeds state this. Why is it important? His burial proves that Jesus actually died, and that is important because He had to die to taste death for everyone (Hebrews 2:9). Knowing that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), we must also know that one man should die for the people (John 11:50).

Fourth, meditate on this surprise: He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures (v. 4). As certain as the Gospel is about Jesus atoning death and burial, the Gospel is equally certain about His victorious resurrection. The resurrection is the means of victory (v. 57). As well, it shows the payment for sin was accepted and that Jesus Christ has the power to save sinners. Additionally, His resurrection guarantees our own resurrection (v.22) and takes away the sting of sin and death (v. 56) for every believer as they cross the river.

To the contrary, Paul said if Christ did not arise from the tomb, our preaching is in vain (v.14), our faith is vain (v. 14), we are false witnesses (v. 15), we are still in our sins (v. 17), there is no hope for those who have trusted him in death (v. 18), we are of all men most to be pitied (v. 19), and we should just live for today, for tomorrow we die (v. 32). Yes, the resurrection matters.

Fifth, because it matters, Paul verifies the authenticity of the resurrection. Following Paul, consider the evidence. The risen Jesus appeared to Peter, to the Twelve, to more than 500, to James, then the apostolic witnesses when He ascended, and last of all to Paul in a miraculous visitation. Those who knew Him recognized Him after the resurrection. Those who deserted Him found their courage and faith after the resurrection. The main opposition leader Paul himself was converted by Jesus after the resurrection. The risen Christ changes lives this is the power of the resurrection, and one of its main evidences.

So, this Good Friday and Easter, remember the Gospel message: Jesus is the promised Jewish Messiah who died a sacrificial death for our sins, was buried, rose again, and was seen alive by hundreds of witnesses who were changed by this experience. No other religious leader and no other religion comes close to this claim or this level of evidence. Truly, the resurrection marks Jesus out as the Son of God with power (Romans 1:4).

Of course, you have probably heard of Charlie Daniels, but not as a professional theologian. Indeed, he is not one. Mr. Daniels is a country music star. However, I stand by the statement that he is a great theologian, because Daniels believes and states a great theological truth, a multifaceted diamond of meditation. It bears repeating and retweeting:

By Dr. Jerry A. Johnson President & CEO, National Religious Broadcasters

Published: April 13, 2017

Read the original:

An Easter Meditation (and Tweet) - NRB Today

As Pite says in a fine programme note, Jonathon was interested in the relationship of trauma and addiction, and how these things very often go hand in hand, and this particular line of inquiry generates one of the shows masterstrokes. Before long, a gaudy, tawdry quintet of hoofers appear on stage, decked out like a cut-price Vegas act. Grimly incongruous in these stark, industrial surroundings, these graphically represent the temptation to seek flimsy, untenable solace in substance addiction. Though all their forced, high-octane gaity, its increasingly clear that they are in fact entirely sinister, a sense heightened by the meticulousness of their movements: these demons shouldnt, and dont, put a foot wrong.

The second, more contemporary-dance-filled half plays out on an opened-up but still oppressively murky stage. As in the first section, the microscopic synchronicity of the performers both with each other, and with the pre-recorded conversations that boom out across the stage is extraordinary: no verbal inflection is left unaccounted for in movement, and both Pites and the dancers attention to detail is magnificent.

By now, one gathers, Young has perhaps dared at least to venture outside his room, even if he is still lost in his own head. Repetitive thoughts are still ricocheting hither and thither, and there is of course no complete escape from his grief. By the tentatively optimistic end, however, you feel that he might, finally, have worked out a more functional means of facing the future. Or, put another way, that through sheer, herculean determination, he has finally found the keys to his own psychological prison-cell.

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An astonishing meditation on grief - Betroffenheit, Sadler's Wells, review - Telegraph.co.uk

The Chartered Financial Analyst Institute recently introduced a unique member resource: a meditation guide, intended to encourage members to understand and learn its benefits.

The Meditation Guide for Investment Professionals is hosted through a meditation provider, eMindful, and provides an online platform on the practice for CFA Institute members.

Practicing mindfulness can strengthen awareness of how our experiences and historical choices drive our present moment actions and decisions, eMindful Chief Digital Officer Zev Suissa said in a press release. This in-the-moment clarity allows you to recognize what might be undermining your positive intentions, and helps you make healthier and more effective decisions.

Judith Krauthamer, founder of Quietspace Coaching, said that other associations can similarly leverage meditationthe process of quieting your mind and bodyand mindfulnessthe state of being aware, present, and quietedto better their executives, staff, and volunteer leadership.

What happens in meditation is with the deep breathing and when its guided, you put people in a place of physical safety, theyre breathing slower, their bodies are getting a lot of oxygen, it quiets down the center of the brain thats agitated and it helps to excite the prefrontal cortex, the thinking part of your brain, she said.

She explained that CEOs and other executiveswho may lack feedback and feel isolatedcan particularly benefit from mindfulness, as it allows them to clearly understand their behavior and how it affects others in the organization.

[Executives] dont have a vision of how they sound. They dont have a vision of what other people are thinking, Krauthamer said. And mindfulness helps you do that because it quiets your brain, it gets you very present, and it teaches you how to listen to the other.

For these same reasons, meditation and mindfulness can help a board [login required] and other volunteer leaders better interact, dialogue, and make decisions.

If you look at the board, the board itself is simply a dynamic group of people that are exchanging thoughts and energy, Krauthamer said. And if theres going to be a real exchange, that means people have to be able to stop and listen to the other person without judgement.

Lastly, mindfulness can help staff positively and empathetically interact with each other and members, creating a comfortable organizational culture and excellent customer service.

Krauthamer suggests five ways associations can implement meditation in their workplaces:

For many of us, the truth is, all it takes is one guided meditation or one person to say, You can do this, and it shifts their life, and it shifts how they are at work, and it shifts how they interact with other people, she said.

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Quiet Your Mind: Implementing Meditation in the Workplace - Associations Now