Tag: #meditate

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Have you heard of Binaural beats?

Emy Minzel

I was introduced to binaural beats, several years ago from my friend Bobby, who is a spiritual teacher. It was a wonderfully relaxing experience, but for some reason, I never kept it as a spiritual tool in my toolbox until lately. One-night last week, I noticed my headphones dangling from their spot before bed and I thought to myself. “I am going to listen to a guided meditation before sleep.” I joked to myself “This must be how tired and busy people cram in self-care. They do it while sleeping!”

From what I knew, binaural music was safe, and I really was not concerned about side effects. (I did read one caution. It said do not use binaural beats if you are prone to seizures.) That does not pertain to me, so I felt safe. What is the worst that could happen?! I mean, who doesn’t want to have a spiritual experience when sleeping or is that just me? Truthfully, I was not expecting to have an awakening during slumber, I was just hoping for a good night’s rest while letting the peaceful sounds relax my mind.

When you pull up YouTube, they have literally thousands of beat choices to choose from and it took me a bit to settle on one that sounded right to my ears. I experimented with a few and let my intuition tell me which one I needed that night. There are several ranges that are said to help you sleep, reduce anxiety, help with depression and negativity as well as increase creativity.

According to Medical News Today some research findings have even proven a 70-80% decrease in cortisol, the stress hormone that keeps us from losing weight, when using the correct range. The recommended frequency for weight loss is 295.8Hz. I tried it, and while it wasn’t my favorite tone, I listened anyway as I drifted to sleep. I will try it for a week and see if it has any effect on my weight or my thoughts about my diet.

I’ve also tried other tones that are quite pleasing to my ear. While listening to this music, it seemed to have the same effect on the body as meditation, and all you must do is lay there. I have also been wearing my headphones and listening while I write, work or sleep, letting my brain do the rest. I like the flexibility of not having to pay complete attention yet knowing that at a cellular level I am encouraging self-healing.

This experiment has led to some good sleep, and at first, some crazy dreams. One night I used one tone at 741Hz to clear toxins and release negativity, a spiritual detox of sorts. Maybe it pulled those innermost negative thoughts to the surface of my dream world for me to be aware of? But wow! I believe our dreams are full of messages from our higher-self, doing its best to communicate with the waking our version that does not like to pay attention to our inner world. But our dream world is another conversation for another blog!

This has been a fascinating experiment that genuinely does seem to be relaxing my mind. That is why I wanted to share my findings with you. If you feel called to try, make sure you wear headphones because it works better sending slightly different tones to each ear. I am including some links below but feel free to experiment with the sounds that your intuition pulls you too!

I’d love to hear about your experiments and experiences. Wishing you love, light, and healing!

Love and blessings,

Emy Minzel

https://emyminzel.com

@EmyMinzel

 

YouTube links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEhZ9vv35k4 – Music for weight loss

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZenGWoURv6s – Detox

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94tp6DIFy4s – Inspiration

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifxmvbUf7ls – positive energy and creativity

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6 Alternative ways to Meditate

Emy Minzel

Many of my friends are curious about meditation and its benefits. Who doesn’t need a little mental health break occasionally?! Yet, many are intimidated by the thought of trying not to think. This is nearly impossible for most of us to do but I am about to tell you a secret; you do not have too! There are many ways to mediate and you don’t even have to do it cross-legged on the floor while listening to ocean waves and pan flutes.

For those of us who have a hard time ‘sitting still’ or quieting our mind for an extended amount of time. Here are some alternative ways to get the same relaxing benefits of traditional meditation by just using intentional mindfulness. The best tip I can offer, for keeping your mind in the here and now, is to focus on your breathing. Make sure you are taking in deep belly breaths, then notice and relax any and all areas in your body that feel tense.

Walking Meditation: Getting out into nature and fresh air helps to clear our minds. It is also almost automatic that we become more alert and in the here and now, when outdoors. The whole point of meditation is to be here, right now. Most walks are pleasant, if you aren’t thinking of something that happened in the past or will in the future. Try to only focus on where your next footstep will fall and how beautiful that sunset is, your mind will be at peace.

Shower/Tub Meditation: Water is a very healing element. When you step into the shower or tub, do your best to keep your mind in there with you. Don’t think about what you are going to have for breakfast later or all you have to do today. Just enjoy the blessing of indoor plumbing and hot water; while thinking thoughts of gratitude. This is one of my favorite ways to start the day and to ‘fit’ meditation into my schedule.

Guided Meditations / Yoga Nidra: To be honest, I sometimes prefer guided meditation over regular meditation, when I am trying to clear my energy. It takes the pressure off when trying to keep my thoughts in check, because it keeps your mind busy listening to instructions. Stacy recommended to try Yoga Nidra last year on a very particular hard day I was having and I have been hooked ever since. It helps me get into a deep sense of relaxation by suggesting you focus your energy on different areas of the body.

Cleaning: Believe it or not, cleaning is an excellent mediation. Doing dishes, vacuuming and dusting; demands our focus. When doing an activity, that is not too challenging, we tend to pay attention to our task at hand and this allows us to stay in the present. Plus you get instant gratification results, which is always nice!

Massage/Acupuncture: Any practice that leaves me feeling like I am in an alternative universe for an hour or two is much like meditation. Some people fall a sleep on the massage table (sleeping is not meditation) but most people slip into a state of Zen; if they feel like they don’t have to fill the silence. Some people like to talk and that’s okay, but the ones that do not seem to get more than physical relief, they get mental relaxation. Feeling warm, safe and completely relaxed is a form of mediation that leaves us feeling blissful. 

Coffee and Car rides: Believe it or not, even a quiet cup of coffee in the morning or a car ride can feel like a short meditation, if you can stop yourself from mentally running through your list of daily chores, just for a bit. Try instead to give thanks for the day you are about to embark on. You will be amazed at the peace it can bring. Turn off the noise and just breathe.

These are just a few tips and tricks I have learned on my journey to heal. I realize that we cannot be healthy without the body, mind and spirit connection flowing together as they should. So, to all of us who have a hard time with traditional ways of meditation, please do not give up! There are many ways to go within and give yourself time to destress!

I hope some of these suggestions will help you see meditation in a less intimidating way! Wishing you a blissful state of mind and a relaxing state of being in the here and now. Namaste!

With love,

Emy Minzel ~ I am love.

https://emyminzel.com

@EmyMinzel

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Flawed perfectionist

Emy Minzel

One week into this 90-day meditation challenge, and I am not failing. Though I am not doing as well as I hoped either. I am doing things to manage my stress in healthier ways then I was a week ago. I’m not meditating like a monk yet…

Do I really think it would be possible to learn to mediate like a monk in a week? Why do I set such unrealistic goals for myself? I mean, Monks dedicate their lives to live in spiritual practice, and I seemed to have thought I could master it in 90 days or less… (insert eye roll here.)

This is not unusual behavior for me, yet when I choose to let the world know what I am up to; like weekly reporting on how I am progressing on the meditation challenge it becomes clear. Things that I didn’t see, are blatant and suddenly coming into my perception.

Hello, my name is Emy and I am a flawed perfectionist. I don’t like being so particular all the time, it makes my life more difficult than it has to be!

Today I had a meeting with a wonderful woman I met on the campaign trail. It was about a thirty-minute drive to meet her, so I took the opportunity to turn the radio off and not meditate of course but relaxed and focus on my breath work. I OM’d down the road for fifteen minutes.

It worked, I felt calm when I got the meeting, and we had lovely conversations. Today is not a stressful day. It was very nice actually, yet as I write to report back about my meditation experience, I feel like I could have done better. Not because I am stressed but because I missed a day or two over Mother’s Day weekend.

I had company and a fun filled weekend that didn’t leave much time to meditate. I did still take a few minutes before I got out of bed in the morning to gather my thoughts and say thanks for the day ahead. This really does help me adjust my attitude for the whole day.

Yet I am having trouble taking the time for myself to ‘check out’ relax, or step outside to clear my mind. Behaviors that were cloudy now become clear. Now that I know I like to clear my thoughts while moving my body or being outdoors I can move forward with making sure I schedule these things in my day.

This realization that I don’t make time for myself, will change how I will be implementing my plan going forward into the second week of the meditation challenge. I am choosing to schedule time and take it. I will make sure I put it at a specific time that will work the best for me on that particular day, so I am more inclined to achieve my goal.

One day it maybe morning the other may be afternoon or evening. There is no right or wrong time or way to take a few minutes to clear my mind, relax my body and check in with my soul. I will release the thought of perfecting meditation or how I think it looks and just do what feels right for me.

I do feel less stressed then when I started, and that’s a good thing. No need to be perfect at all. Just present and aware of what I am doing and how I am doing it.

Wishing you an abundance of joyful blessings,

Emy Minzel ~

https://emyminzel.com

@emyminzel

 

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Meditation contemplations

Emy Minzel

Seemingly, I lost my meditating mojo… the last week has been fun and busy with campaigning. Yet, on Monday, I forced myself to lay down to quiet my mind even though I had a lot to do. Tuesday, I visited the state Capital and was out in the city most the day.

I did have some quiet time while sitting in the park at the capital across from the food trucks. I sat on a park bench, trying to breathe deeply while relaxing my mind. This worked for about one minute. I cannot relax in the middle of the city. Even though I enjoyed these meetings and activities, I am only human, and I do need some quiet time to myself or I feel anxious.

Wednesday I worked all day then had a great DFL meeting that kept me out past my bedtime. Wouldn’t you know it, even though I was tired as I crawled into bed, I could not fall to sleep until after 2am. As I lay there, meditating, breathing, tossing and turning like a rotisserie chicken, I thought “this is so weird, I know I am a professional at this sleep thing, get to it!”

When I have a ton of things to accomplish, I stay awake in bed thinking about them, so I don’t forget. Even though, I have seven lists on my desk… so I don’t forget. I know I am not alone on this.

I was lying in bed for hours, doing every meditation technique I could think of, I still could not calm my mind enough fall to sleep. This meditating the stress away is harder than I thought it would be. I have stress on top of my stress and now I feel stressed about not being able to release this stress.

Today I am going to try a different technique. I am going to do a walking meditation, and I am also going to spend some time in my garden freeing my asparagus patch from the weeds that intrude every spring. Spending so much time in front of the computer is starting to get to my spirit.

I realized that I like to move, it occurred to me that I like to move because it calms my mind.  I like to pick weeds, plant flowers, cook, walk the dogs because being out in nature is healing for me. Even if I sit on the porch with the laptop while I write, I seem to feel much more relaxed.

The point of meditation is relaxing so that you lower your stress level. I was trying to ‘fit it in’ when really, I found that, I do my best first thing in the morning when I wake up, if I take ten or fifteen minutes to give thanks for waking up and decide that I am going to have a great day.

This gives me the opportunity to decide how my day will look instead of absorbing the vibes of others throughout the day. When I decide today is going to be wonderful, productive and pleasant the moment I wake up. I then my brain responds to make it happen.

I will keep this habit for the rest of the challenge because it seems to work the best on my attitude about how I perceive the schedule of my day. If I ‘think’ it’s going to be stressful, then I manifest myself a difficult day. When I decide, I am going seize the day, I do. Things seem to fall in line; I get things done and my anxiety takes some time off.

I have learned what type of meditation or activity makes me FEEL the best. What I can do to effectively reduce the anxiety I feel during my day is not what I thought it would look like and that is great! The more you know the better you do, right?!

Namaste!

Wishing you an abundance of joyful blessings,

Emy Minzel ~

https://emyminzel.com

@emyminzel