I am not a chill person, but I would like to be. Its why I keep trying various meditation tech, breathing in and out as abstract graphics or disembodied voices guide me to a higher state of being. Or thats what would happen if most meditation tech worked for me. So trust me when I say I expected nothing from Headspace XR.

When the pandemic struck, meditation and mindfulness apps like Headspace were everywhere. Totally makes sense. Yet meditating in VR? It sounds ridiculous. Why would I breathe in a headset when I could just... not. But you never know! Things could surprise you! Thats why I, the meditation skeptic, agreed to try a demo of Headspace XR. Walking into Metas New York office, I thought Id stick on the headset and nod politely while strangers mulled around watching me wear a Quest 3 and breathe deeply. Technically, that is what happened, but I was surprised that I actually enjoyed what I was seeing inside the headset.

Headspace XR is what youd get if you took the Headspace app and turned it into a virtual playground. You walk around as an abstract, gender neutral avatar and there are different locations you can go to and... play. Theres a bunch of fountains where you pick up colorful orbs and throw them at walls or breathe and inhale the colors into your avatar. Theres a place called the Energy Dome where you go and wave your arms around while tracing shapes. The best I can describe it is if Beat Saber and tai chi had a baby. Im sure I looked goofy from the outside, but inside the Energy Dome I was having a good time.

You can also pull up a little map to view all the areas within this mental health playground. A giant mood stream, where six balloons with faces representing various emotions await you. Touching one will tailor the experience to whether youre feeling happy, sad, bored, anxious, angry, or lonely. Theres a mural with slingshots lined up in front of it that you fling virtual balls of paint at that eventually uncover a message. (At my demo, it was Be present.)

Theres actually a lot of slingshots. At one point, we were encouraged to just fling balls through giant shapes in the sky breathing in when you pull back and exhaling when you let er rip. You can also invite friends to come hang out with you in various public spaces and club houses. The most traditional experience I tried was visiting the Boxy Treehouse. Its a virtual tree house at sunset where you can see a visualization of box breathing, a deep breathing technique to calm the nervous system.

The whole thing felt like a pill pocket for meditation. But instead of hiding medicine in a treat for your pets, youre learning meditation skills through playing games. Thats by design.

There are five pillars of mindfulness that we talked about specifically at Headspace. Theres meditate, move, eat, sleep, and play. Play, to me, is something that we could really, really access in the world of VR, that was tough to access in the world of 2D, says Sara Cohen, vice president of content creation at Headspace.

Another feature launching in Headspace XR is more mixed reality experiences. I didnt get to try this during the demo, but I was told that theyre designed to let you interact with your actual surroundings. For example, one lets you draw a window in your room and a guided visualization lets you see positive energy bubbles fly through that window and into your space.

The idea is to bring the practice into your everyday life. Because its not so much about techniques and exercises. Mindfulness is really a lifestyle, says Kessonga Giscombe, one of Headspaces mindfulness and meditation teachers. Its the same thing with the XR experience.

Thats a good sentiment, though Im still skeptical about meditating in VR overall. Last week, I tried the Mindfulness app in the Apple Vision Pro and that typical Look at these shapes and breathe gratefully experience never resonated with me. So as a meditation skeptic, theres something to Headspace XRs approach that feels fresh. I would try it again. Thats even though a part of me knows Im being fed something good in the guise of a game. But if its good for me, and I enjoy it, does it really matter how I get there?

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Headspace XR made me forget how much I hate meditation tech - The Verge

The route leading to Son Tra peninsula restricted visitors that afternoon for the special visitors attending the tea meditation session at the height of 700 m above sea level.

Two days before, two of Gates's assistants flew to Hanoi and went to the house of Vietnamese tea artiste Hoang Anh Suong to discuss every detail about the tea meditation session.

Suong, with over 20 years of organizing thousands of tea meditation sessions, was present at the top of Ban Co early in the afternoon and brought with him two ancient tea sets that he often uses to serve heads of state, along with lotus and ancient snow shan teas.

Two staff members from a travel company carried a set of ancient tables and chairs up hundreds of stone steps to the top of Ban Co. In Vietnamese culture, especially the old wealthy class, it is common to sit and drink tea on ancient tables and chairs.

The tables and chairs were placed next to a fairy chess board, thus named because the board lies next to a fairy statue, with a layer of mist below.

Hoang Anh Suong prepares a tea table for Bill Gates on top of Ban Co Mountain in Da Nang, next to a fairy chess board, on March 6, 2024. Photo courtesy of Hoang Anh Suong

At 5 p.m., Gates and his girlfriend arrived at the foot of the mountain and walked together to the top, while his representative and bodyguards stayed down.

A nun from Da Nang joined them on top of Ban Co that day.

Suong said that when he met Gates and his girlfriend, he was surprised by their simple style, with T-shirts, jeans, and sneakers.

(From L) A nun from Da Nang joins Bill Gates, his girlfriend Paula Hurd, and tea artiste Hoang Anh Suong for a tea meditation session on Ban Co mountain peak in Da Nang on March 6, 2024. Photo courtesy of Hoang Anh Suong's Facebook page

Suong guided the couple on how to meditate, with the nun's help, because "Western people are now very interested in meditation," he said.

He added that atmosphere on top of the mountain was so peaceful he could "clearly hear Gates' breathing."

After 10 minutes of meditation, Suong brewed two types of Tan Cuong tea marinated with lotus flowers.

"The first cups of tea I offered, Bill Gates and Paula Hurd drank them down very quickly. I asked them if the tea was too strong because most Westerners are used to drinking black tea, with a light taste, while lotus tea usually tastes acrid, I got the answer 'very delicious'," Suong said.

Tan Cuong tea is a famous brand in Vietnam's northern province of Thai Nguyen.

"Paula Hurd explained that at home she also drinks green tea," Suong said.

Gates and Hurd were also surprised as they listened to Suong speak of the sophisticated and elaborate art of marinating lotus tea among Hanoians. A kilogram of lotus tea needs to be marinated five to seven times, each time with around 200 lotus flowers from Hanoi's West Lake, he told them.

Hurd turned to Gates and joked, "You and I now become king and queen! (for getting to drink such precious tea)" Suong said.

Suong also spent time talking about how to brew and enjoy tea the ancient royal way, introduced tea making tools and how to choose a pot, cup, water and how to brew, pour and how to serve or enjoy the first sip of tea for 5-6 seconds, then purse your lips and swallow gently to feel the aroma of the tea.

Bill Gates (L) and his girlfriend Paula Hurd sit opposite to tea artise Hoang Anh Suong at a tea ceremony on Ban Co mountain peak in Da Nang, as a nun observes from a distance, March 6, 2024. Photo provided to VnExpress

Suong explained to his guests that Vietnamese people always choose quiet places to drink tea: Ancient masters often went to the mountains or to their study rooms. In a quiet space, people have the opportunity to understand themselves.

"The foundation and essence of the tea ceremony is a matter of understanding. When you understand each other, love is true love," Suong recalled what he told Gates.

He also explained that with tea meditation, tea was not just to enjoy but a way to cultivate the mind.

"When I talked about love, both showed their love right in front of us. This made me very happy," Suong shared.

They were so engrossed in talking about tea that they forgot to look at the clock and thus the tea ceremony lasted 20 minutes longer than the one-hour schedule, he said.

Suong took the initiative to end the conversation, as Gates and Hurd told him that they would return to Vietnam with their families.

The couple left Da Nang on their private jet Thursday night.

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Bill Gates, girlfriend spend 80 minutes enjoying tea, meditation on Da Nang mountain peak - VnExpress International

Insisting on getting 14 hours sleep a night and bathing at any hour because she finds that 'water is really grounding' - Dakota Johnson lives in a wonderful Hollywood world where she is now preparing to become the next Mrs Chris Martin.

The Fifty Shades of Grey actress, 34, was proposed to by the Coldplay singer, 47, 'a while ago' with the full blessing of his ex-wife Gwyneth Paltrow, 51, and their children Apple, 19, and Moses, 17.

Their news comes six years after their relationship started as a source told the Mirror it was 'inevitable' - because the famous couple had beenbesotted with each other from day one.

But behind their romance Dakota puts sleep as her 'number one priority', as she meditates twice a day to manage anxiety.

And the Madame Web star has revealed the gentle ways in which her now-fiance helps to ease her out of a 'low day'.

'I dont have a regular [wake-up] time. It depends on whats happening in my life. If Im not working, if I have a day off on a Monday, then I will sleep as long as I can. Sleep is my number one priority in life,' she told the WSJ.

'Im not functional if I get less than 10. I can easily go 14 hours.'

The Persuasion actress also revealed she will 'get in a bathtub at any time of day' saying: 'If in the middle of the day, Im like, "Oh God, what is this world?" Ill get in the bathtub. I find water really grounding.

'I meditate every day, twice a day. I do transcendental meditation. I've been really into breathwork recently and thats been helping me a lot with anxiety.'

Dakota, who has suffered with depressionsince she was 15, revealed her coping mechanism is to use humour to 'deflect'.

Her parents, Hollywood stars Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith, entered her into the world of therapy at a young age amid their public divorce in 1996 - when Dakota was just seven years old.

Griffith has a host of major blockbusters to her name including Lolita, Working Girl and Roar, while Johnson has starred in films Miami Vice, Knives Out and Django Unchained.

The Miami Vice star later married Kelley Phleger in 1999 and the Working Girl actress tiedthe knot with Antonio Banderas in 1996. They divorced in 2015.

Dakota is also the granddaughter of actress Tippi Hedren, who starred in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds and Marnie.

Hitchcock's obsession with Hedren is well-documented, with the actress revealing in recent years that after she refused his sexual advances he threatened to ruin her career.

Speaking candidly about her mental health struggles as she was honoured for her depression advocacy work at the 17th Annual HOPE Luncheon Seminar in December, Dakota recalled one telltale sign the Yellow singer knows to look out for.

'A few weeks ago I was having a low day,' she began. 'My partner said to me so kindly, "Are you really struggling?". I said, "No".

'He said, "Baby, you're wearing a Cats T-shirt". Like Cats, the musical. It turns out I was really struggling.'

She continued: 'But that moment lifted my heart, and it pulled me out of it.'

Dakota, who has been dating the British singer since 2017, continued: 'I think most of the time I speak about depression or anxiety in a very self-deprecating way. Perhaps it is easier to look it in the eyes if I wear the mask of comedy.

'Covering my pain or anxiety in comedy is a lifelong tool and I don't think it's a bad thing. It works. It helps me because sometimes if I don't laugh, I'll cry.'

Elsewhere in the speech, Dakota explained: 'The biggest thing I've learnt about depression is learning to become okay with there never really being an immediate answer, never really being an immediate end.'

The actress has also described herself as a 'sexual person' - after becoming a household name when she starred in 2015 movie Fifty Shades of Grey, with sequels Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed following in 2017 and 2018, respectively.

Speaking to Vanity Fair in 2022, she said: 'I'm a sexual person, and when I'm interested in something, I want to know so much about it.'

'That's why I did those big naked movies. I signed up to do a very different version of the film we ended up making.'

Chris Martin was formerly married to Iron Man star Gwyneth Paltrow, who is well known for her own wacky lifestyle - including famously launching a candle that smells like her vagina.

The This Smells Like My Vagina candle was first released back in 2020, and admitted the geranium, citrusy bergamot, and cedar scented candle was initially created as a joke.

But following her first candle's success, Gwyneth's brand then released a second titled, This Smells Like My Orgasm.

Gwyneth - who founded the website in 2008 - is no stranger to sparking controversy on her lifestyle website by previously advising readers to purchase a $15,000 24k gold vibrator and vaginal jade eggs.

She has also turned her attention to the world of BDSM, selling a nude underwear set alongside a black whip, which promised to fulfill consumers 'fantasies'.

Dakota also complained of the making of Fifty Shades of Grey as 'psychotic' and insists the trilogy lacked the sexual intensity she envisaged when agreeing to take on her starring role as Anastasia "Ana" Steele.

She explained how making the trilogy became complicated in part because the author of the books, E.L. James maintained creative control over the film adaptations.

And although she doesn't regret working on the racy franchise of films, the Texan born star said that the original film she signed on to wasn't exactly the one they ended up doing.

Chris and Dakota met through mutual friends and have 'never really left each other' since, the actress told Vanity Fair in June 2022.

She was seen wearing an emerald green ring on her wedding finger at her 34th birthday in Los Angeles last October.

They were first spotted together in 2017, the year after the musician's divorce from Oscar-winning actress Gwyneth.

However, it was not initially clear if the couple were dating, or just close.

In June 2019, the pair had a wobble, rumoured to be a result of the Coldplay frontman pushing for them to have children.

This was a leap as Dakota, in her professional prime, was reportedly not enthusiastic about. However, before summer was up, they were back together.

They will be extra glad for that having seemingly got matching infinity sign tattoos in 2018.

Dakota has recently said she loves Chris and Gwyneth's two children 'like my life depends on it'.

In an interview with Bustle, the actress, 34, opened up about being a stepmom to Apple and Moses, the teenage children Coldplay singer Chris shares with Gwyneth.

'I love those kids like my life depends on it. With all my heart,' Dakota said of Apple and Moses.

As a member of a large blended family herself, Dakota - who was recently spotted in Malibu - has learned to embrace connections that aren't blood-related.

When the reporter brought up a photo Gwyneth posted of her and Dakota, she said: 'I grew up in a family that was so big, and I just believe in the saying "Blood is thicker than water,"' she explained.

'The actual saying is "The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb," which means that the connections with people you choose are more solid than the connections to the people you're actually born to.'

Now, Dakota is open to having children of her own.

'Im so open to that. Ive gotten to this place where I really want to experience everything that life has to offer. And especially being a woman, Im like, What a magical f*cking thing to do.

'What a crazy, magical, wild experience. If thats meant to happen for me, Im totally down for it. Ive been really tripping out recently like, were not here for very long.

'Theres so much to eat up and learn and grow from and experience and feel. That includes all the pain and the suffering and feeling so helpless about the world. Most days I feel like the most useless piece of sh*t.

'Im sitting in this dumb*ss chair, talking about this dumb*ss movie, and there are people in excruciating catastrophes, and what can I do? I do have that incredible friction in myself.

'And then Im like, "Were not here for very long, so if Im meant to be a mother, bring it on". '

The actress has been dating Coldplay frontman Chris since 2017 but watching him perform on stage never gets old.

'I love watching him. I could watch him every day. I dont know how to explain it. I feel like, I dont know... Im watching my most favorite being do his most favorite thing,' she explained.

The couple have lived together in a multi-million Malibu beach-house for some years now.

The singer is into his surfing, and the actress likes to swim, making this a perfect location.

Dakota also enjoys whizzing around the area in a 1965 Mustang bought for her as a birthday present by her partner.

They support each other professionally, with Dakota appearing at Chris' gigs, and Chris at Dakota's premieres.

In June 2023, the vocalist even serenaded his girlfriend at his band's visit to Naples.

They have even worked together once, with Dakota the director of Coldplay's 2020 music video for the song Cry Cry Cry.

Originally posted here:

Sleeping 14 hours a night, 'grounding' water and meditating twice daily...and we're not talking about Gwyneth! - Daily Mail

Mar 07, 2024, 10:56pmUpdated 1d ago

By: News 12 Staff

Three men are wanted for allegedly stealing money from the donation boxes at a Buddhist meditation center in Westbury.

Police say the suspects forced their way into the facility on Hicksville Road Sunday afternoon and stole the cash.

Anyone with information is asked to call police.

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Police: 3 men stole money from Buddhist meditation center in Westbury - News 12 Long Island

The first time I heard about the jhanas, they sounded too good to be true. These special mental states are described in the sacred texts of an ancient school of Buddhism. Today, advanced meditators usually access them by concentrating on something: a flame, their breath, the sense of loving kindness. The meditators unclench their minds bit by bit, until they reach a state of near-total absorption. If they direct that focus in just the right way, a sequence of intense experiences ensues, beginning with bliss and ending with full-body peace. The jhana bliss state is not like the little uptick in well-being that comes with mindfulness meditation. It is not like a runners high. This stuff is really powerful, says Matthew Sacchet, the director of the Meditation Research Program at Harvard Medical School. An orgasm is said to be tame by comparison. Tears of joy will sometimes stream down a meditators face.

The early Theravada Buddhists put no restrictions on the jhanas, but some later traditions taught that they were extraordinarily difficult to attain. Over the past 20 years, a small group of teachers has introduced the jhanas to a new generation of advanced meditators in the West, and a tech-adjacent subculture in the Bay Area has recently taken them up with gusto. Perhaps unsurprisingly, a tech start-up is now trying to make the jhanas accessible to almost anyone, at almost any time. It is called Jhourney, and according to its founders, Stephen Zerfas and Alex Gruver, the combination of artificial intelligence and EEG recordings of the brain will give novice meditators bliss on demand.

I recently joined a video call with Zerfas and Gruver. They were pulled over to the side of the road, on the way to one of the jhana meditation retreats theyve been leading as they develop their proprietary technology. (Attendees pay up to $3,000, they said.) Zerfas did most of the talking, and communicated almost entirely in founder-speak. He told me that Jhourneys goal is to teach 100 million people how to enter the jhanas. I asked how hed arrived at that number. He said that he was pretty sure that the Headspace meditation app had tens of millions of subscribers, but that otherwise he had pulled it out of thin air.

Zerfas first experienced the jhanas while he was navigating two different breakupsone with a girlfriend and the other with a co-founder at an earlier start-up. After reaching emotional rock bottom, he went on a meditation retreat, where he unexpectedly stumbled into the first jhana state. With time and coaching, he learned to enter the jhanas at just about any moment. He said that he still does a jhana meditation every morning and intimated that I wouldnt want to deal with the version of him who didnt. Learning the jhanas was one of the most important things that ever happened to him. It gave him a feeling of emotional abundance and imbued him with a particular kind of tech-world evangelical fever: Why isnt this happening at mega-scale? he remembers wondering.

Read: The app that monetized doing nothing

Zerfas learned to enter the jhanas the old-fashioned way, with sustained practice at lengthy meditation retreats, but he and Gruver want to fast-forward that process. They insist that by presenting students with real-time biofeedback from sensors attached to their scalp, they will soon be able to foster bliss within a single day. Afterward, they want their students to be able to reenter the jhanas anytime, in as few as 15 to 30 minutes. Terje Sparby, a philosophy professor at Rudolf Steiner University College, in Oslo, Norway, who studies the phenomenology of jhanas, told me that it usually takes him multiple days of meditation at a retreat before he enters one. The idea that someone could get there every morning in the time it takes to watch two episodes of Bluey struck him as unusual.

For the past year, Zerfas and Gruver have been collecting data by attaching EEG electrodes to experienced jhana teachers while they meditate. They want to use it to train an algorithm that determines whether someone is experiencing a jhana state in real time. They imagine their future teachers presiding over a class of novice meditators who are all wearing EEG headsets. (A tennis instructor can see whats wrong with your stroke, but todays meditation teachers cant look inside your mind.) If Jhourneys algorithm could track your progress toward entering a jhana state and display it outside your headset, the teachers could give you tailored real-time instructions. Youre on the right track, keep going, they might say, or, if things werent going well, Lets take a minute to relax before returning to focus.

Eventually, Zerfas said, the algorithm itself could do the teaching, by playing the same sort of instructions through speakers in a consumer helmet that Jhourney eventually hopes to manufacture. I pointed out that there are already EEG-based meditation headsets on the market, but they tell you only if youre in a general, meditative stateand none seems to work well enough to have transformed meditation practice. Those products are a good idea, Zerfas told me, but they arent targeting life-changing experiences. If his product is successful, he said, it would be the most important intervention in human well-being in a generation. He sent me a document that explained more. Imagine if Biden and Putin shed tears of joy and gratitude for 30 minutes every morning, it read. There would be all kinds of cascading effects. The implication seemed to be that Jhourney would help bring about world peace.

Read: An ode to not meditating

No one should disband their armies just yet. Jonas Mago, a neuroscientist who has consulted for Jhourney, told me that the companys algorithm has not been able to achieve enough precision at classifying neurological states. When I asked Zerfas and Gruver how reliably their software can identify whether a person is having the intense experience of being in a jhana, they would say only above chance. So far, theyve primarily collected data from expert meditators. Kathryn Devaney, a neuroscientist and co-founder of the Alembic, a nonprofit body-mind center in Berkeley, California, has also advised Jhourney. She told me that whatever brain data Zerfas and Gruver are able to record from advanced meditators may not generalize to other people. Even if the EEG sensors could reliably detect jhana states, that might not be enough. For the product to be useful, it would need to recognize the intermediate states that precede the jhanas, and then deliver the sort of feedback and instruction that could coax a person across the finish line.

EEG data are also notoriously difficult to collect and isolate. Extracting bona fide neural activity from the noise created by muscle movements and other sources is tedious work, even for experts. When I asked Zerfas if Jhourney has a full-time EEG scientist on staff, he said no, but added that hed read a bunch of textbooks, and taught himself with the help of a tutor. The current state of EEG research coming out of academia underwhelmed him, he said. And in any case, he saw this as more of a machine-learning problem than a neuroscience problem.

Academic research into the jhanas has indeed been pretty thin, but it is ramping up. Michael Lifshitz, a psychiatry professor at McGill University, in Montreal, recently led an EEG study of an experienced jhana meditator. His group chose a respected Western jhana teacher named Shaila Catherine because she belongs to a strict traditionjhanas, for her, count only if they are extremely prolonged states of absorption. Lifshitz hasnt yet published his results, and he stressed that theyre still preliminary. But he told me that when Catharine entered the deepest states, her brain still seemed to be having sensory experiences, yet the neural signals that might be associated with complex cognition about the sensations were reduced to the point of being nonexistent.

Lifshitz hopes that more scientists will take up bliss as an object of scientific study. He and Josh Brahinsky, a researcher at UC Berkeley, have been studying evangelical Christians who report having an intense blissful experience while speaking in tongues. Their ecstasies look quite distinct from those of your average Buddhist monk: Tongue-speaking Christians are physically active to the point of being spastic, and they churn out streams of nonsense syllables. They also have a very different worldview from the meditators, with very different metaphysics. But they might be hacking the same feature of the human brain to produce a very similar inner state, Lifshitz said. Maybe instead of accessing it by being really quiet, theyre becoming so loud that they drown everything out. It could be a different way of flattening the landscape.

Last fall, Sacchet, the director of the Meditation Research Program at Harvard Medical School, published detailed brain-imaging data from a meditator entering the jhana states, with the help of an MRI machine. A fuller understanding of these brain states could have incredible potential for humanity, he says, so long as the science is done with rigor. I worry about a move fast, break things approach when it comes to the mind and these deep states of consciousness.

There may not be reason to worry: Zerfas and Gruver arent moving that fast. Before we hung up, I asked them when they could imagine the first headset-aided retreats happening. As soon as 18 to 24 months from now, Zerfas told me, while granting that it was an optimistic assessment. He then detailed for me the consumer-headset development plan that would follow. (The final stage: Then we SpaceX it!) Gruver was more circumspect. I would love it if it was working in two years, he said, but it might also take five or 10. A lot depends on how seriously we take this as a society. Society, in this case, meant investors. I told him that I would expect his pitch to be quite welcome among Silicon Valleys venture capitalists. It brings together a lot of their interests. There are a lot of people in Silicon Valley who like to say that they are countercultural risk takers, he said, but very few actually are.

I get what Gruver was saying, but Jhourney doesnt seem all that countercultural to me. When Id discussed the jhana states with Sparby, the philosopher, he reminded me that they were not cultivated as ends in themselves, but rather as way stations on a longer path to wisdom and enlightenment. Jhourney is trying to extract the bliss from that path, and to optimize and productize it in a gadget for the mass market. What could be more mainstream than that?

The rest is here:

The Meditation Start-Up That's Selling Bliss on Demand - The Atlantic

Weekly Vipassana mediation sessions are held from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Sundays at Art at the Cave, 108 E. Evergreen Blvd., Vancouver. This type of meditation encourages self-observation by focusing on the inner self in a non-judgmental way. Theres a $1 to $10 suggested donation to participate but no one will be turned away.

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Weekly Insight Meditation at Art at the Cave Gallery Events - events.columbian.com

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'Meditation' is key to early success for Cam Smith and FSU baseball in 2024 - Palm Beach Post

Home TRAVEL EVENT NEWS Unlock Your Inner Peace: Meditation Workshop with Sarah Vie This May in Kimpton Rowan Palm Springs

Saturday, March 9, 2024

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Kimpton Rowan Palm Springs is delighted to offer an invitation to explore the transformative power of meditation in a special workshop led by Sarah Vie, a renowned lifestyle designer and expert in manifestation. The workshop, titled A Journey of Transformation Meditation Workshop: Releasing, Harmonizing and Embracing Purpose in Natures Tranquility, is scheduled for Saturday, May 18, and Sunday, May 19, 2024, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Participants will be treated to a handpicked selection of meditative practices focusing on themes such as acknowledging and releasing negative emotions, overcoming personal barriers, and discovering ones true life calling.

This event is crafted to inspire peace and enlightenment, encouraging attendees to develop a deeper understanding of themselves, adjust their inner vibrational energy, and find greater happiness in their day-to-day lives. Sarah Vie will share insights on starting and enhancing a meditation routine and each participant will receive a special manifesting keepsake as a gift.

Event Details:

Additionally, for those seeking a comprehensive experience, consider the Meditation Bliss package. This offer includes a stay at Kimpton Rowan Palm Springs, daily breakfast for two, a welcome gift, and access to Sarah Vies meditation workshop with a manifesting keepsake. Prices start at $576 per night for double occupancy, available from Tuesday, May 14, to Tuesday, May 21, 2024, with a required stay on Saturday, May 18.

Kimpton Rowan Palm Springs stands as a serene oasis at the heart of downtown, offering stunning views of the San Jacinto Mountains. Its an ideal venue for experiencing mindfulness and rejuvenation.

Sarah Vie has made significant contributions to the field of mindfulness, self-help, and manifestation, with a substantial YouTube following and several best-selling books. Her work spans from personal development to lifestyle design, including her upcoming release, Sacred Kitchen: Abundant Plate, a collection of vibrant and healthy recipes. Vie also offers luxury travel experiences and design services, enhancing physical spaces and personal well-being.

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Unlock Your Inner Peace: Meditation Workshop with Sarah Vie This May in Kimpton Rowan Palm Springs - Travel And Tour World

Bert,

I trust your judgment here: What are your thoughts on marriage? And love? How can I know when I found the one? Is there really just one? Im nearly 20 and Im thinking about it more Im not stressed yet but Im getting more curious. Why is the world structured this way and why do I have to devote my life to a single person in the name of love? And possibly reproduction. Parenthood. Then all of a sudden Ill be a grandparent. Bert!! This is crazy to think about. Help me out here please buddy. Ease my scattered mind.

Dear Scattered Mind,

Thank you for writing to me, and congratulations on being the first official entry in my column. You have given me quite the complex paragraph to tackle, so Im going to divide your inquiries into sections just for the ease of our readership:

You ask for my thoughts on love? I love love. I think love can solve all of our worlds problems. I love to give love and to receive love. I think love is a renewable resource, and we should treat it as such. We should be giving love whenever we feel it. We should be making our friends four-layer cakes to celebrate even the smallest victories. We should be writing sonnets and mailing them from across the country. We should be giving long hugs and hand squeezes and shoulder rubs. We should be loving people slowly, and quickly and perhaps even riskily. Throw your heart out there! See what happens! Isnt that what life is all about? It may be the best decision youve ever made. Or you may get hurt (but fear not, hearts are great at healing, especially with the medicine of time). As Kelly Clarkson says what doesnt kill you makes you stronger. The world needs less regret and more love. If you have love to give, then I urge you to give it and give it freely. Heck, love doesnt necessarily need to be directed at people either! The love you feel for a good book or hot cup of coffee on a cold day, while maybe not romantic, certainly has the same aura of gratitude and cherishment to it.

Lets just make this clear, there isnt just one person for you. Theres just no way that in a world of 8.1 billion people, there is only a singular person that you are meant to be with. Every romantic relationship has a combination of these factors: compatibility, timing and proximity.

As per all the romance books ever, when you find the one, youre supposed to just know. That can be daunting, especially if your gut has led you astray before. So forget about the one! Its an overromanticized concept. If you really want a set list to consider if your partner is the one, fine, Ill appease you. Here are some questions to ponder:

This is not a set list, I lied. But its good food for thought.

So whats all the fuss about marriage? Its often cited as the most important experience in a persons lifetime. Thats in no way to stress you further, Scattered Mind, but to illuminate the value that we place on marriage as a society. Part of your stress, I theorize, may be the same hesitance you feel about the one or a soulmate. What happens if you are married to someone who is not the one? Fear not, for I, as an ever-wizened and ancient bobcat, have seen where this practice of marriage originates, and perhaps learning about it, and what came before it, will ease your troubles.

Marriage in the Americas (like many things) was forced upon the natives of this land, as a part of a deliberate effort to violently assimilate to the European way of life. Indigenous American culture around the family is something truly beautiful. Rather than constructing a family by blood or by law (as Europeans and Modern Americans do) many American Indigenous communities like the Cheyenne, practice kinship systems as a model of family. Friends, blood relatives and entire tribes see each other as beloved members of a family, without needing rings or paperwork to seal it. Consider then, dear friend, how your own life would look if you defined your family based on those you loved, rather than expectations, obligations or legal documents. In fact, you may feel this way already, chosen family is something commonly practiced in extended members: friends choosing each other to be uncles/aunts or even godparents. (To learn more about how indigenous peoples are continuing to break down the barriers of love, read this article: The Future is Indigiqueer)

This can apply to the sphere of romance as well! Monogamy is only a concept; a model that not everyone has to fit. Polygamous or polyamorous relationships have existed across history and cultures.These ways of loving have been wrongly stigmatized, but slowly, the monogamous model is one we are starting to see past. To say that a single partner is what constitutes a family or a relationship is far from the whole truth. What is more important is surrounding yourself in an environment where you can give love and receive it in turn. Note as well, dear reader, that there is a difference between polygamy and polyamory! Polygamy is often associated with marriage in specific religions that practice non-monogamy. Polyamory, which is the more recent term, has no expectation of marriage at all, only a shared romantic bond between multiple individuals.

On the topic of marriage, you must ask yourself, does marriage excite you? For many, this is the case. And what is not to be excited about? Marriage and finding love is a cause for celebration! But its important to remember that a marriage is so much more than a party with a cake. Its commitment, companionship and compromise. Looking past the day of the wedding, do the prospects of married life excite you? Moreover, do they excite your partner(s)? It might very well might, but if it does not serve you, theres no need to force your life into a shape it does not want to fit.

So whats the deal with marriage? Even a cat has to wonder what the fuss is. From my observations, explaining the economic facet of marriage culture may reveal why our culture seems to put such an emphasis on it. In a marriage, there is a lot of work being done: there is the job that you and your spouse perhaps have, that is something called social production essentially what you contribute to society monetarily. But, for you, and your partner, to fulfill this social production, there is the behind-the-scenes work: meals that need to be cooked, houses to be cleaned, children to be raised and so on. This is called social reproduction. The economy recognizes all production as labor, and thus we are compensated for it, but all of the reproduction involved goes unpaid. (For further reading, see Wages Against Housework by Sylvia Federici, about how housewives should be paid for their labor.)

In a monogamous, heterosexual household, this reproductive labor often falls upon the woman in the relationship, while the man is the one to produce for the world. This is one of the ways that the economy reinforces harmful and constricting gender norms and economic control. (Feel free to read here about how social reproduction theory is being applied to feminist philosophy.) But this is so far from what reality is now, isnt it Scattered Mind? Weve progressed so far past this Cult of Domesticity style of marriage, so why is there still so much pressure to be in one? In this day and age, women are working alongside men, yet on average still do a majority of the housework, according to a Pew Research Poll. In the nineteenth century, the idea of the Cult of Domesticity was so pervasive because it was idealized in American culture and media. Much of this subliminal cultural communication exists today, being reinforced by powerful men who want to maintain economic power. Power that would be challenged if the system of marriage as we know it were abandoned.The capitalist economy maintains this system because its easier to make women do the unpaid labor if they paint it as tradition.

So is that it? Give up on marriage entirely because its a scam? Maybe. However, you may want to consider the tax benefits.

As said prior, we are tearing down the walls of what marriage can be what a family can be every day. To exude love and absorb it is incorruptible, and love that is true and honest will always rise above what the world wants it to look like. We have expanded our horizons to love, in all its shapes and sizes.

So that is what I want to impart to you, Hopefully-Clearer-Mind! Let love in at every opportunity: big or small. Love the sun as it greets your window every morning; love your food as you taste and enjoy it; love your friends, the people you cherish; love what you do, what you contribute to the world; and most of all, love yourself. Its a crazy world, my friend! But leading with love will always find love in return.

I certainly love you.

Hope this helped,

Bert

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Ask Bert: Meditations on Love The Bates Student - The Bates Student

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