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Strengthening the Connection With Reiki and Meditation

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By Ryan J Bell

People who are just beginning to learn how to use Reiki to heal themselves and others can gain practical momentum through meditation. Regardless of whether you’re earning your first degree or have already become a Master after graduating from a third degree course, meditating pushes you to the next plateau. In fact, many practitioners who have faithfully adhered to the practice’s underlying principles claim they began to see a new level of progress only after meditating regularly.

Below, we’ll explore the ways in which finding quiet and solitude on a regular basis can strengthen the connection you feel with the Reiki energy. I’ll explain the fundamentals of meditation and how you train yourself to schedule time for it. I’ll also describe a 3-week program that you can use to contemplate your goals and seek answers.

What Does It Mean To Meditate?

Many people confuse prayer with meditation. It’s worth clarifying the difference. Prayer is speaking with God. To meditate is to embark on something entirely different. It is the act of quieting your mind and listening to what God has to tell you. Many Reiki practitioners prefer to begin each day by meditating on how they should use the universal energy into which they tap.

But, it’s a mistake to think that meditating must be done according to a schedule. In truth, many of the most revelatory moments are experienced during spontaneous meditation. A lot of Reiki devotees find themselves tapping into hidden stores of spirituality even while doing mundane things like driving, washing the dishes, or exercising. The key is to appreciate the meaning behind meditation and how it fortifies your connection with the Reiki energy.

Finding The Time

There will always be reasons to procrastinate meditating. Our lives are busier than ever and time is a valuable commodity. It’s too easy to keep telling yourself that you’ll meditate later in the day after you’ve accomplished everything on your “to do” list. But, that seldom happens. Other things will continue getting in the way.

This is one of the reasons why many Reiki Masters devote time during the early morning to their meditation. They realize that spending time alone and communing with God is critical to being able to focus on their spiritual growth. In doing so, they gain a better understanding about the healing nature of Reiki and the relationship they share with the universe.

A 3-Week Program To Strengthen The Connection

To be sure, there are many approaches to developing the habit of meditation. The program that follows is used by many practitioners because it helps them build the habit while strengthening their focus and spiritual empowerment. It is a 3-week process through which you can open your mind to your connection with the universe’s healing energy.

Week 1 – During the first week, you’ll concentrate on the Usui symbol of power. Each day will start with a specific question. Find a quiet, secluded place and meditate on the symbol for 20 minutes. Keep a small legal pad nearby to write down any notes that form in your mind during your session. They can include words or symbols. It is not important that you understand your notes; rather, it is important that you record them.

Week 2 – The second week will focus on the mental and emotional symbols of Usui. Each day will begin with another question. As before, meditate on the symbols for 20 minutes in a secluded area where you will not be disturbed. Keep your legal pad nearby and record any thoughts or images that appear in your mind.

Week 3 – The last week focuses on the distant healing symbol of Usui. You’ll spend the entire week meditating on this symbol for 20 minutes each day. Write down any notes on your legal pad.

Ideally, the above program should be used by students and practitioners who have passed the second degree of training. Those who have become Reiki Masters can add to the program by including additional symbols. Remember, the first step is building the habit. Only then can you truly connect with the universe and explore that connection with the Reiki energy.

About the Author: This article was provided by Programs of Light, a provider of reiki training courses and animal reiki programs. Check them out online at http://www.ProgramsOfLight.com

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Mindfulness Meditation by Jon Kabat Zinn

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By Ben Sanderson

One thing that many people have in common is the fact that they’ve been told to live in the future rather than the moment. You’ve more than likely heard it growing up: “Look ahead! Plan for the future! Know what you want!” Okay, knowing what you want might be a good idea, but if you ever find yourself planning conversations with people in your mind rather than actually having the conversation with them, you might have a bit of a problem.

So how do you go about living in the present? The future is important, but you need to understand that the way the present plays out today will affect how the future unfolds tomorrow! Mindfulness Meditation is a course that will teach you to live your life as it unfolds rather than living in the future! There are a few misconceptions regarding meditation, one of them being thee fact that mediation is intended to ‘blank’ the mind. In Mindfulness Meditation by Jon Kabat Zinn you will find that meditation can be used to experience life to the fullest, and change the way you perceive your problems.

The idea of course is to ensure that your fears and your problems do NOT control you. Rather you should be in control of THEM, and you should have the ability to transform your relationships, understand life, and strengthen your creativity. Another misconception you might have at this point is that you are using this method to run away from your problems. Running away is never the solution, and Mindfulness Mediation is more about facing your problems, and ensuring that you can transform them into something useful.

With Mindfulness Meditation you will be able to access your own deep inner resources for learning, enrich your day to day experience, and even reduce stress levels. As you probably know, stress is responsible for a number of different problems which range from trouble with relationships and even issues with job performance. Do you feel you have limitations? Do you believe they are keeping you from performing your job? If so, then there may be a way to fix them, but for now you can learn to work within those limitations, ultimately creating a better environment for yourself.

Finally, you can reduce or even completely overcome addictive behaviors that are holding you back! This is the control over your live that you’ve always wanted. You can operate far beyond automatic reactions, and you can find yourself growing like never before! These are revelations and advancements that many people will only DREAM of, and with Mindfulness Meditation you can take hold of those achievements and run all the way to home.

Are you ready to live a better life? Do you have what it takes to be the person you’ve always dreamed you could be? If so, then now would be a great time to take a look at this course and determine what it can actually do for you. It may not be too long before you’ve finally carved a path into the great unknown, ready to start this adventure called life.

About the Author: Please visit The Personal Development Company if you would like to learn more about Mindfulness Meditation by Kabat Zinn

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Permanent Link: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=781572&ca=Self+Help

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Exploring Mindfulness And Meditation

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By Roy Thomsitt

In our every day lives, we are all guilty of neglecting our minds, allowing our brains to be lulled into a lazy, neglected, and unaware state. It is as if we are allowing ourselves to be sculpted by bland and repetitive consumerism, our individuality being chiselled away by a tedium we cannot even be bothered to challenge with any will.

Life need not be like that. We are each blessed with a powerful mind; but normally people have forgotten or, most likely, never even knew how, to use it. It is such a waste of our own greatest resource.

One way to start to extricate ourselves from the mindless quicksand is to gently exercise our minds, using mindfulness and meditation as a way of bringing ourselves more emphatically into the real world, and start the process of exercising control over our minds and our lives.

Creating a mindfulness meditation is a gentle but powerful exercise. But how do you go about it?

A Simple Mindfulness Meditation Exercise

As with any meditation session, you need to get into a relaxed and comfortable position, eyes closed, and then commence with deep nasal breathing, focusing your thoughts on the breathing to ease yourself into a meditative state.

Once you feel that you are calmed by your breathing and that your breath is under your rhythmic control, then you can move on to focusing on your own body, a part at a time. I was first taught this at yoga class, where we were taught to concentrate first of all on the left foot, focusing on it from a position above ourselves. Then move up the body slowly, left ankle, knee, thigh and so on. When reaching your head, you then do the same in reverse on the other side of the body: right shoulder, right elbow, right hand and so on.

Once you have completed your tour of your own body, as if you were someone else examining it, then it is time to open your eyes and increase your mindfulness of your surroundings.

To do this, focus on any object in the room; it does not have to be anything special: a cup on the coffee table, a vase, a plastic flower, anything. Try to maintain that focus for half a minute, and then move on to any other object. You can repeat this several times, always maintaining a focus on your own body and your own breathing, creating a triple harmony with each object on which you focus.

By using this simple mindfulness meditation you are increasing awareness both of yourself and your surroundings, in a very gentle and easy way. It can serve as a prelude to some mental task, as well as being part of an ongoing mindfulness campaign to strengthen and expand the use of your own mind.

For example, most days I write, but sometimes I just do not seem able to concentrate on what I am supposed to be writing about. I find this type of exercise, even just for 10 minutes, will snap me out of that inexplicable malaise, and I can get right on and write what I should have written earlier.

About the Author: This meditation and mindfulness article was written by Roy Thomsitt, owner and part author of the Routes To Self Improvement website.