Shortcuts to Inner Peace Anyone?

Ok we know we should meditate don’t we? I know I ought to (isn’t ought to much nicer than “should”) I think so anyway). There are so many benefits, it helps health and well being on a mental and physical level, clearer thinking, less anxiety, good oxygenation etc . Despite this and the fact that we know it can be as simple as a few minutes a day of being peaceful and mindful we don’t seem to get around to it. By that I mean I don’t. That’s one of the reasons I enjoy yoga, the mindfulness gives you a sort of moving meditation (although of course you ought to be meditating in your asana practice too…not always happening here though.) Tai Chi and probably knitting provide a similar benefit but still, we should be comfortable with being still and quiet in the mind.

It can be hard. I have tried on and off over many years to establish a regular meditation routine but it seems to slip away from me unnoticed until the monkey chatter in the mind becomes overwhelming and I start again. The last few days I have had chattering mind due to the fact we are moving (not  to the house, gee get with the program I am moving to Hobart CBD now! Yes I know how quickly plans change but this deal is done!) and popping out of bed before I am awake to check on the baby (always fine) or see if it is time for an early morning Yoga class (not for another three hours- go back to bed woman!).

It can be hard to get back to sleep so I have resurrected something a thing I used to use when our first son was a baby but had forgotten it. Listening to audio which helps your brain waves get into Theta pattern (bear with me here) which is apparently what your brain does when you are meditating. The advantage here is you can just pop in your headphones and lie down and away you go. I have uploaded mine to my mp3 player now and keeping it next to the bed it has worked like a charm. Even if I need a nap (realllly need a nap, you know- eyes hanging out of the head tired) listening to one of these tracks (around 24mins runtime) is amazingly refreshing. I have Yoga Nidra as well but they seem to take a lot of concentration whereas there is benefit in these tracks as long as you are listening through stereo headphones, you don’t even need to breathe in  special way or clear your mind.

You may have seen advertisements for similar things. It’s called Brain entraining I believe. It’s a thing. One product was heavily advertised in the late 90’s/early 00’s promising to have you meditating deeper than a Zen Monk and offering a sample CD. I tried the sample Cd which had sort of bells bonging in your ears and subliminal brain wave altering messages. It seemed to work quite well and I felt very refreshed but I was stuck on the price Which is around $180 USD. I would want to be pretty convinced for that money. Instead I found a cheaper substitute from Imramma Institute which offered a CD for meditating (or lying down and listening- do not drive whilst listening, OK?) and a couple of CDs for focusing whilst concentration (which I suppose I should really listen to at some stage in my life, like maybe when I am writing instead of checking Twitter all the time!) They cost $30 altogether.

So anyway, years down the track I have them on the mp3 playera pair of $1.85 and I am revisiting the whole thing. So far so good, I am not going to pretend it is a deep spiritual experience akin to years of meditating but I would like to bet that if I had my brain waves monitored you would find at least some of the claims are true; the time flies too, you know when you close your eyes and it feels like a second later but you have been asleep for hours- just like that.  The rest leaves me much more refreshed than normal naps too. I am amazed that when I am so tired I literally feel sick and cannot go on I listen to one of the Insight tracks (which just sound like rain by the way, no bonging bells).  Such good results for a reasonable price. WHY ISN’T EVERYONE LISTENING TO THIS? Maybe it is because the claims sound unlikely? Too much? I don’t know- they sound more realistic than many of the magazine diets to me and lots of people go for them! Ah well. I am interested to see that the Immramma Institute are offering audio to increase your intuition and problem solving.

I haven’t examined the science yet but the Insight audio has and is yielding good results for me. Maybe I will listen to the focus audio when I am writing and working and see how that goes and report back!

It probably warrants some more in-depth exploration really. It looks like there might be quite a few different products from different places online.  I will check this out too.

Oh and you ought to be meditating!

Have you tried any shortcuts to quieting your mind? What have you found that works for you?

Image credit here

Yes You are Very Clever, But are You Happy?

I spend a fair bit of time on social media. There are a lot of intelligent and educated people many of whom have a pet cause, perhaps it is politics, feminism, equal rights, environmentalism, disability awareness etc. All very noble and worthy causes. I don’t argue that any of these issues should be ignored but I have become increasingly aware that those who are most vehement about furthering their cause are the ones who seem to be giving themselves over to it. I see people who only view the world through the eyes of feminism meaning anything that doesn’t have an equal amount of female representation is a deliberate attack on the concept of equality for women. Sometimes it’s just the way things pan out but being worked up about it seems to have limited benefit for the person’s happiness and effectiveness as a whole.

Impotent rage would be an unkind but descriptive term for the sorrow and anger I see online, people pushing their cause seem to conclude that keeping it in the public eye will make the problem one people have to deal with, whilst there is no actual action on the lobbyists behalf. I hesitate to dismiss this as slacktivism which seems to be more in the realm of “click this is if you agree with marriage equality”, the people I speak of are genuinely involved with it on an emotional level but not actually doing much more than allowing themselves to get upset and making the rookie mistake of arguing with people online.

These people are mostly extremely educated and intelligent people. There is no arguing that, but I don’t see any joy or happiness in their tweets, their posts or their articles. By focusing on the intellectual side, by drawing attention to the what they see as the bad stuff, the injustices in the world and ignoring the light or worse, denigrating it for being “unscientific” or “cultural appropriation”. There seems no regard for the fact that cultures other than the one people are born in can have much more to offer the health and well being of people around the world, can increase the happiness. I know my life would be a much grumpier place to live without Yoga* and curries but these are not from my Celtic/Germanic heritage. Neither is anyone from India being exploited due to my actions. Attacking things that don’t make intellectual sense purely on this basis isn’t clever. It isn’t helpful.  Too often I see unhappy people doing their best to tear down what people use to initiate their own happiness. Happy people are what this world needs, not raging intellectual tearing down of the ethereal.

Culture and the world as a whole are evolving and some of it is for the better. Yes we may struggle with other people’s choices such as not vaccinating their children (which I can’t find any solid argument for by the way- science is at its pinnacle here in my opinion- so many lives saved since vaccinations have become more prevalent) but I think if you want to change the world for the better you need to show the world what you can be. I certainly dismiss the opinions of those who appear to be so desperately unhappy with their lot that all they can do is argue and attack others, no matter how valid the point or worthy the cause. Do I want to be like them? No? Then I won’t take on their anger.  (I am not referring to people who reach out on Social Media during episodes of mental health problems but I do hope that they are talking to someone about their depression, anxiety, bi-polar etc).

I used to live in Northern NSW where there were a lot of people who appeared to be happy. Yes they were covered in dirt, yes their concept of democracy and the way society works and science was hazy at best but through the drum circles and the pyramid sitting tree worship there was an enviable simple happiness. Their lack of tertiary education and random cultural appropriation (belly dancing whilst, doing yoga with a Native American Headdress anyone?) didn’t appear to be hurting anyone and the lack of noise in their heads seemed most desirable (of course there were also those who had been stoned for twenty years and muttered about aliens, them not so enviable).

This is just a musing, I do not have citations to give, I am not writing about any one person in particular (and there are some amazing people I know who are tertiary educated and really walk the talk too!) but if this strikes a chord with you perhaps you can think of a way to bring a bit of positivity in your world that doesn’t have a peer reviewed study about its effectiveness. Walk barefoot on the earth, volunteer to work with the people whose cause you champion so much, try a yoga or mediation class (without even being Indian!) Sing and dance. Be joyful, positive and happy! I bet you can influence the world for the better if you do!

*Yoga is, by the way, almost unrecognizable these days as the spiritual pursuit that involved sitting naked in the dirt and smearing oneself with funereal ashes amongst other things. Oh and it was only for men. It has evolved and over time the current form has been rigorously studied by Western scientists who found it not only has amazing mental and physical benefits but that the outcomes are often counter to what the process is. Put simply, it’s not quite explainable yet. So they can go and study and explain it and I will just keep practicing and receiving the benefits and sharing them with my family who likes a happier me better than a cleverer one!

Photo credit of educated but rather miserable looking monkey.

Touchpoints and Personal happiness

Yesterday I was in an old graveyard wandering around with baby in carrier on front , husband to talk to whilst our boys climbed merrily in old churchyard trees (“Mummy I’m Lord Horatio Nelson!” “I am a piwate ARRGH!”) They were busy and didn’t need me hovering over them . Walking between the gravestones we spotted a Mopoke sitting on the edging. I found after a quick Google that it wasn’t ill, it was defending itself. By sitting still and closing it’s eyes. That’s the defence mechanism. Pretend you aren’t there and hope everything will go away. Needs work if you ask me although to be fair I have had moments like that myself except I call it an anxiety disorder! Gentle wandering in the Winter sun, children climbing trees and playing rowdy imagination games, random Mopokes, being with family these things have a very soothing effect for me and I found the whole thing very rejuvenating.
I tried cutting down on calories last week this did not have a soothing effect on me. It’s a switch that makes me feel extremely deprived and hangry* I don’t do well with feelings of deprivation or low blood sugar so I stopped it. I would rather feel content and tubby quite frankly, as long as my health is good. So Sunday morning I baked pumpkin gingerbread and chocolate granola, bread and biscotti. This also has a soothing effect.
Yoga has a soothing effect for me, all that breathing and stretching and gooey feeling calm. I am not going to go to an Ashram but everytime I get back to the smallest amount of Yoga I feel content and calm and it’s like coming home to myself, even a few minutes has this effect.
My beloved likes to pop on the headphones and listen to some Youtube-d music for a good while or play with an old car.
It’s a great part of growing older and wiser, getting to know yourself, what bits are really you and what can be discarded. Getting to know my own personal happiness touchpoints is a great step in a positive direction (although if there has to be Mopokes it could be tricky).
I think that we all would benefit from taking the time to observe what actually soothes our soul, the things that genuinely bring the warm flow of happiness into our hearts. The results can be surprising. What are your personal happiness touchpoints?
*hangry is of course being so hungry you feel angry.