soup

This nourishing soup bolsters immunity and helps ease cold and flu symptoms, says herbalist Rosemary Gladstar. Fresh burdock root (also called gobo) and dandelion root are available in some grocery stores. Dried burdock, astragalus, and dandelion root are available at herb stores or online.

Directions

1. Bring 3 quarts of water to a boil and reduce heat. Add astragalus, dandelion, burdock, ginger, and sea vegetable; set your Zen Alarm Clock and Timer for 45minutes to an hour and cover and simmer. Strain, return broth to pot, and keep over medium heat. In a saute pan, heat olive oil over medium heat; add onion and mushrooms, and saute until tender. Add garlic; saute for a few more minutes. Add entire mixture to broth. Turn off heat, and stir in miso paste.

Bamboo Zen Timer

adapted from Body + Soul, November/December 2006

“The Zen Alarm Clock & Chime Timer’,  uses soothing acoustic chimes that signal it’s time –  gently and gradually.

Rather than an artificial recorded sound played through a speaker, the Zen Clock features an alloy chime bar similar to a wind chime.  When the clock’s alarm is triggered, its chime produces a long-resonating, beautiful acoustic tone reminiscent of a temple gong.

How to Use your Zen Alarm Clock and Timer to time Soup

Now & Zen

– The Zen Timer Store

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383

create a sacred place to be mindful

Is there a place in your home or yard where you can let go, relax, and renew your awareness of transcendent, loving oneness? It doesn’t take much to create such a place.

Your can create your healing retreat —a garden, a teahouse, a room—or you can claim one that already exists—a window seat, a rock by a stream. Your haven can be a balcony with potted plants and a wind chime, a hot tub surrounded by lavender, a bedroom where you have banished all distractions, or a comforter you roll up in like a cocoon. It needn’t even be a particular place; it can be an experience you recreate each time you need it, like a candlelight bubble bath with fresh flowers and Mozart.

There are no rules about how to create a personal haven, but consider incorporating some of these features (let your heart and your gut guide you):

• A gateway or marked entry to set it aside as sacred

• Privacy (freedom from interruptions and demands)

• A place to rest (a bed, hammock, comfortable stool)

• Calming colors

• Curved shapes

• Soft textures

create a sacred space in your house

• Plants

• Objects of beauty

• Simplicity, absence of clutter

• Soothing sounds (birdsong, moving water, music, wind chimes)

• Sunlight or soft, warm electric light

• Pleasing scents

• The four elements: air, earth (the ground, stones), water (in a bowl, fountain, or body of water), fire (sun, candles, a fire)

• A long vista, if there’s a pleasant one available

• Symbols of calm, transcendence, love, nourishment (hearts, stars, sun, moon, angels, personal treasures)

You deserve it

If you are like most people, the hardest part isn’t finding or creating a sanctuary; it’s believing that you deserve to spend time there. We tend to be so overwhelmed with demands that time taken away from meeting them feels like time wasted. We somehow learned that doing something just because it feels good is detrimental to others. Question these assumptions.

In fact, great inspiration, beautiful works of art, and profound love arise from the experience of unstructured time. In quiet, we can hear our muses and feel our passions. Here we can dream freely and drink from the deep well of our source. The peace we find carries into all our actions and relationships. What better gift can we give the world?

Although meditation can be done in almost any context, practitioners usually employ a quiet, tranquil space, a meditation cushion or bench, and some kind of timing device to time the meditation session.  Ideally, the more these accoutrements can be integrated the better.  Thus, it is conducive to a satisfying meditation practice to have a timer or clock that is tranquil and beautiful.  Using a kitchen timer or beeper watch is less than ideal.  And it was with these considerations in mind that we designed our digital Zen Alarm Clock and practice timer.  This unique “Zen Clock” features a long-resonating acoustic chime that brings the meditation session to a gradual close, preserving the environment of stillness while also acting as an effective time signal.

Bamboo Meditation Timers and Alarm Clocks

adapted from Natural Home Magazine, January/February2004 by Carol Venolia

interiors that create well-being

Now & Zen

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383

yoga can help you relax and sleep

Put away your pills and roll out your yoga mat. These yoga poses help relieve insomnia.

When was the last time you had a good night’s rest? According to the National Sleep Foundation, sleep deprivation is on the rise: As many as 71 percent of Americans get far less than the recommended eight hours.

There are two primary categories of sleeplessness, says Judith Hanson Lasater, Ph.D., P.T., author of Relax and Renew: Restful Yoga for Stressful Times. One is physiological (too much coffee or alcohol, hormonal changes, illness, jet lag); the other is psychological (stress, worry, unresolved conflict).

“You may hold your thoughts at bay all day long,” explains Lasater, “but when you sleep, they’re still spinning in your mind.”Yoga helps slow the spin, she says, adding, “It’s not that you go to sleep and then relax—it’s that you get relaxed and then go to sleep.”

Poses that support you completely with props are the key to creating a relaxed body and mind. “When you feel supported, the only response is relaxation,” Lasater notes. This sleep-enhancing set includes Side-Lying Corpse Pose, which teaches “total release, total softening,” she says: “It’s the ultimate form of letting go.The focus is directed inward to shift you from doing to being.”

Do these 3 poses one after the other. If you wake up sleepless in the middle of the night, leave your bed and do any of the 3 you choose.

Supported Reclining Pose

1. Place a pillow on your mat,along with a folded blanket to support your head. Roll 3 additional blankets.
2. Sit in front of the pillow with your tailbone at its edge. Bend your knees and place a blanket roll underneath.
3. Lean back and rest your torso on the pillow and your head on the folded blanket. Let your heels rest on the mat. Place each forearm on a rolled-up blanket, both palms turned up.
4. Take several long,deep breaths. As you exhale,allow your belly to drop into your pelvis. Feel the tension melt away. Stay here for at least 15 minutes.

Simple Supported Backbend

1. Stack 2 blankets, one folded around the other,and place them horizontally on the mat.
2. Sit on the mat with your back to the blankets, your knees bent, and your feet flat. Lean back and place your elbows on the blankets for support and balance.
3. Slowly roll backward until your lower back is completely supported by the blankets and your head is on the mat. Bring your arms out to your sides, palms turned up. Close your eyes.
4. Breathe slowly and evenly, allowing your body to soften. Stay here for 1 minute, then gradually increase your time in the pose.

Side-Lying Corpse Pose (Caution: If you are more than 3 months pregnant, lie on your left side only.)

1. Sit on your mat with your props—2 folded blankets and 2 king-sized pillows—nearby. Lean on one arm, then lower yourself to the mat so you’re lying on your side with your knees bent.
2. Place one blanket under your head and the other between your knees, shins, and ankles.
3. Place one pillow lengthwise in front of you and the other behind you so you’re lying between them; hug the front pillow as you relax into both. Close your eyes and take several slow, easy breaths. Relax your jaw and eyes. Stay here for 20 minutes.

Use our unique “Zen Clock” which functions as a Yoga Timer.  It features a long-resonating acoustic chime that brings your meditation or yoga session to a gradual close, preserving the environment of stillness while also acting as an effective time signal. Our Yoga Timer & Clock can be programmed to chime at the end of the meditation or yoga session or periodically throughout the session as a kind of sonic yantra. The beauty and functionality of the Zen Clock/Timer makes it a meditation tool that can actually help you “make time” for meditation in your life. Bring yourself back to balance.

Chime Yoga Timers and Alarm Clock

adapted from Natural Health Magazine, by Nora Isaacs

Natural Wake Up Clock with Chime

Now & Zen – The Yoga Timer Store

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383

tea solutions

What it is
A member of the mint family, lemon balm has a distinct lemony flavor and aroma, which makes it a popular garden herb. Although it’s mild enough to use for treating children’s ailments, lemon balm is a powerful herbal healer for adults as well.

Why it’s used
Herbalists today primarily use lemon balm for easing insomnia, anxiety, stress, and digestive upsets. It is also used to ward off insects and heal bug bites. The recent discovery of the herb’s antiviral compounds has made it popular as a topical treatment for oral and genital herpes.

History and folk remedies
Lemon balm has been cultivated for more than 2,000 years as a medicinal plant. As early as the tenth century, Arab physicians recommended the flavorful herb for easing nervous tension. In medieval Europe, extracts of lemon balm became a fashionable sedative; the emperor Charlemagne decreed that the herb be grown in every monastery garden in his domain. Throughout the Middle Ages, herbalists prescribed lemon balm for insomnia, headaches, nervous stomach, anxiety, depression, and menstrual cramps. From the time of ancient Greece, lemon balm was also used to help heal minor wounds and to treat bug bites and stings.

How it works
Researchers have identified a variety of compounds in lemon balm with mildly sedative properties that relax the nervous system. Other compounds, including fragrant essential oils, help to relieve indigestion. The plant contains polyphenols, compounds that fight infection-causing bacteria; this supports the traditional use of lemon balm for healing wounds. Laboratory studies also show that lemon balm has antiviral properties. Scientists theorize that the herb prevents viruses from attaching to cells.

Scientific support
In a German study, lemon balm combined with valerian (Valeriana officinalis) was found to significantly improve sleep quality when compared with a placebo (Fitoterapia, 1999, vol. 70, no. 3). Another study showed that the same herbal formula was as effective as the pharmaceutical tranquilizer Halcion but without the negative side effects typical of sedative drugs (Therapiewoche, 1992, vol. 42).

lemon balm

The botanical name Melissa comes from the Greek word for bee, because bees love this flowering herb. German researchers have also proven the effectiveness of lemon balm as a herpes treatment. In a recent study, 116 people with herpes sores (oral and genital) were given either a cream containing 1 percent lemon balm extract or a placebo. Those using the herb had a significantly better recovery rate than those using the placebo (Phytomedicine, 1994, vol. 1, no. 1). Another study followed 66 individuals just starting to develop a cold sore. On day two, those using the lemon balm cream were healing more quickly, had less discomfort, and exhibited fewer and smaller blisters than those not taking the herb (Phytomedicine, 1999, vol. 6, no. 4).

Dose
To make a lemon balm tea, pour 1 cup of boiling water over 2 teaspoons of dried leaf (or 2 tablespoons of fresh leaves). Set your Zen Timer with Chime for 15 minutes. Cover, steep for 15 minutes, strain, and drink. For insomnia, drink 1 cup 30 minutes before bed. For stress and anxiety, drink up to 3 cups throughout the day. If you prefer using a concentrated liquid extract, take 1/2 to 1 teaspoon diluted in a small amount of warm water up to three times a day.

adapted from Delicious Living, July 2004 by Laurel Vukovic

“The Zen Alarm Clock & Chime Timer’,  uses soothing acoustic chimes that signal it’s time –  gently and gradually.

Rather than an artificial recorded sound played through a speaker, the Zen Clock features an alloy chime bar similar to a wind chime.  When the clock’s alarm is triggered, its chime produces a long-resonating, beautiful acoustic tone reminiscent of a temple gong.

Digital Zen Timer with Chime, a good timer for lemon balm tea

Now & Zen’s Chime Timer Store

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383

yoga to recharge

Flick on your energy switch and get centered with this ancient 10-minute yoga routine.

In the high peaks of the Himalayas, there are spiritual seekers known to have extraordinary endurance and youthfulness, not to mention that ever-elusive inner peace. Their secret? A centuries-old series of daily yogalike postures known as the Five Tibetan Rites of Rejuvenation. “The monks found this routine to be a key to their age-defying vitality and inner fulfillment,” says Carolinda Witt, a teacher of the rites and author of The 10-Minute Rejuvenation Plan (Three Rivers Press, 2005). Thanks to Witt, who has adapted the rites for those who can’t travel to the Himalayas, you can experience the power of these five exercises in your own home. The moves target the chakras—the spinning energy centers that extend from the base of your spine to the crown of your head—and get them to spin rapidly, and in unison. “The rites rev up your chakras to their fullest potential,” says Witt. “It’s like turning on an inner power switch.” Besides a boost in energy, flexibility, and core strength, Witt’s students report handling stress better, feeling more focused, having a stronger sense of purpose, and experiencing an overall feeling of connectedness.

THE FIRST RITE
SpinningIncreases energy flow; improves balance and coordination; enhances circulation.
EMOTIONAL BENEFITS: Creates a sense of joyfulness and freedom.

A. Stand with your feet hip-width apart and your arms straight out to your sides at shoulder height, palms facing down. Relax your shoulders and gaze forward. Begin spinning in place, clockwise.

PHYSICAL BENEFITS:

B. Pivot on your right heel (but keep your right foot pressed into the floor—you’ll be sliding your toes in a clockwise circle) and step your left foot next to your right foot. Move at a speed that’s comfortable, and breathe normally through your nose. Avoid taking short, choppy steps with your left foot-the goal is to spin as smoothly as possible. Keep count of every turn by softly focusing on a stationary object, like a door or piece of furniture, and noting each time you pass it.

TO FINISH: When you’ve completed all your repetitions (for your first week, do three), stop and place your hands on your hips for balance. Close your eyes and take three deep, cleansing breaths.
TO PROGRESS: Turn on both feet instead of anchoring yourself with your right foot, and increase your speed.

THE SECOND RITE
Modified Leg Raise Strengthens the core, hips, lower back, legs, and neck.
EMOTIONAL BENEFITS: Promotes mental clarity and inner confidence.

PHYSICAL BENEFITS:

A. Lie on your back on a yoga mat with a folded towel under your lower back. Keep your legs together and straight and place your hands behind your head, fingers interlaced. Contract your abdominals and press your pelvis toward the mat; keep your abs tight throughout this exercise. Inhale and lift your head and shoulders off the floor slightly. Hold your breath as you bend your right knee and bring it directly over your right hip, keeping your lower leg parallel to the floor.

B. Straighten your right leg and flex your foot, pointing it toward the ceiling.

TO FINISH: Exhale and bend your right knee until your lower leg is again parallel to the floor. Then bring your right foot to the mat and slide it down to meet your left foot as you lower your head and shoulders to the mat. Repeat the move with your left leg. When you’ve completed all your repetitions (for the first week, do three), take three deep, cleansing breaths.
TO PROGRESS: Instead of raising one leg at a time, raise both legs. And instead of bending at the knee, use your abs to lift your legs straight off the mat and bring your feet toward the ceiling, keeping your lower back in contact with the mat.

THE THIRD RITE
Kneeling Backbend

PHYSICAL BENEFITS: Opens the front of the body; relieves muscle tension; stretches the spine.
EMOTIONAL BENEFITS: Helps connect you to your emotions; gives you full access to your creativity; allows you to go with the flow.

A. Kneel on a yoga mat with your legs hip-width apart, your knees in line with your hips (contract your abdominals to keep your hips from pushing forward), your toes curled under, and your hands on your buttocks, fingers pointing down. Keep your back straight.

B. Keeping your abdominals contracted, inhale as you lift your chest (without puffing out your ribs). Arch your back slightly and look up, gently squeezing your shoulder blades together, keeping your neck long. (Rather than bending back, focus on lengthening up and opening your chest.)

TO FINISH: Exhale and return to start position. When you’ve completed all your repetitions (if this is your first week, do three), take three deep, cleansing breaths.
TO PROGRESS: Deepen the stretch in your back: Press your shoulder blades together more firmly while lengthening your spine up. Squeeze your buttocks to keep your hips aligned over your knees.

THE FOURTH RITE
Tabletop Builds strong arms, wrists, shoulders, and legs; improves balance and stability; invigorates the circulatory and lymphatic systems.
EMOTIONAL BENEFITS: Initiates feelings of stability, balance, and order; enhances self–discipline and improves productivity.

PHYSICAL BENEFITS:

A. Sit on a yoga mat with your legs about hip-width apart, your knees slightly bent, and your feet flat on the floor about two feet away from you. Place your hands behind you near your hips, palms flat on the mat and fingers pointing toward your toes. Pull your abdominals toward your spine.

B. Inhale as you press down through your hands and feet, and lift your hips off the floor until they’re at the same height as your knees. Slide your knees forward until they’re aligned over your ankles. Bring your head back slightly and gaze toward the ceiling, keeping your neck long. Your posture should look like a flat tabletop with your torso parallel to the floor, arms straight, wrists aligned with shoulders, and knees aligned with ankles.

TO FINISH: Exhale and lower to the starting position. When you’ve completed all your repetitions (if this is your first week, do three), take three deep, cleansing breaths.
TO PROGRESS: Start by sitting with your legs extended in front of you rather than bent; this will further strengthen and stretch the arms, wrists, and shoulders.

THE FIFTH RITE
Pendulum Relieves fatigue and stress; improves flexibility and overall strength.
EMOTIONAL BENEFITS: Promotes insight, passion, and expansion.

PHYSICAL BENEFITS:

A. Come onto your hands and knees on the yoga mat, with your hands under your shoulders (fingers pointing forward) and your knees under your hips. Keep your arms straight and move your hands forward three to five inches. Contract your abdominals and tuck your pelvis toward your spine. Curl your toes under. Inhale and lift your knees off the mat. Lift your tailbone toward the ceiling and straighten your legs as much as possible without locking your knees until your body forms an inverted V. Press your heels toward the floor. Keep your neck in line with your back and your head between your upper arms. Gaze toward the mat.

B. Exhale, contract your buttocks, come onto the balls of your feet, and lower your hips toward the mat while shifting your weight to your hands, keeping your arms straight. Slide your head forward and up, open your chest, and gaze up slightly. Press your shoulders back; your body should be parallel to but not touching the floor.

TO FINISH: Return to start position. When you’ve done all your repetitions (if this is your first week, do three), take three deep, cleansing breaths.
TO PROGRESS: Contract your abdominals throughout the entire move to further strengthen your core.

Use our unique “Zen Clock” which functions as a Yoga & MeditationTimer.  It features a long-resonating acoustic chime that brings your meditation or yoga session to a gradual close, preserving the environment of stillness while also acting as an effective time signal. Our Yoga Timer & Clock can be programmed to chime at the end of the meditation or yoga session or periodically throughout the session as a kind of sonic yantra. The beauty and functionality of the Zen Clock/Timer makes it a meditation tool that can actually help you “make time” for meditation in your life. Bring yourself back to balance.

adapted from Natural Health Magazine, by Holy St. Lifer

Tibetan Bowl Clock with brass bowl/gong , a perfect yoga timer with gentle gong

Now & Zen – The Yoga and Meditation Timer Store

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383

meditation guide

With practice, this beginner meditation will hold the mind steady even during periods of stress.

A well-trained, stable, and focused mind is an asset in every sphere of life, and essential for any spiritual endeavor. The practice below will develop your concentration, clarity, and inner stability, by providing a single object as the resting place for your mind’s awareness—the universal mantra soham. Practice daily at about the same time, set your Meditation Timer by Now & Zen for 10 minutes, starting with 10 minutes, and gradually increasing to 20–30 minutes, or longer.

Step  1.

Begin by training your body to be still and comfortable in a sitting posture. When the spine is erect with the pelvis, chest, and head vertically aligned, the breath becomes smooth, and the mind alert and relaxed. Sit on a chair, or cross-legged on the floor with a cushion or a folded blanket under the hips. Use enough support to lift the hip joints slightly higher than the knees. This minimizes the effort needed to keep the lower back from rounding.

Step  2.

Close your eyes and mentally draw a circle of light around yourself. The circle separates you from the world of daily life—both the outer world of perceptions and activities, and the world of your familiar preoccupations and thinking patterns. With this intention, see yourself sitting inside this circle of light. It delineates a space in which you can contain your awareness; let it protect you from disturbances, distractions, and mental dissipation.

Step  3.

Feel the entire body sitting comfortably still, release any unnecessary tension, and pay attention to the movement of the breath. Refine your awareness as you feel the breath become smoother and more subtle, expanding from the solar plexus into the limbs on the inhalation, and releasing back to the solar plexus on the exhalation. Be aware of the touch of the breath everywhere in the body.

Step  4.

Making sure the body and breath stay relaxed, focus your attention at each of the following energy centers, moving systematically through the body and inhaling and exhaling once at each point: eyebrow center · throat center · right shoulder · right elbow · right wrist · each of the right fingertips, starting with the thumb · right wrist · right elbow · right shoulder · throat center · left shoulder · left elbow · left wrist · each of the left fingertips, starting with the thumb · left wrist · left elbow · left shoulder · throat center · heart center · navel center · center of the pelvis · pelvic floor · center of the pelvis · navel center · heart center · throat center · eyebrow center.

Step  5.

Now rest your attention at the eyebrow center. Feel the ebb and flow of the breath through the inner space of the whole body, while maintaining your focus on the eyebrow center. Sense the vibration of a slow wave of breath. This vibration is the mantra soham (pronounced so-hum). Hear the sound so on the inhale, and the sound ham on the exhale. The breath is subtle and slow, so let your concentration be fine and sensitive, becoming more and more one-pointed, and gradually drawing deeper into the mind. Rest in this awareness as long as you like.

To finish the practice, gradually return your awareness to the flow of the breath in the body, the physical presence of the body, and the space around you. Remain aware of the breath and your inner connection as you release the body from your sitting posture. You may want to open your eyes into the palms of your hands, massage your face, and stretch your arms and legs before getting up.

Use our unique “Zen Clock” which functions as a Yoga Timer.  It features a long-resonating acoustic chime that brings your meditation or yoga session to a gradual close, preserving the environment of stillness while also acting as an effective time signal. Our Yoga Timer & Clock can be programmed to chime at the end of the meditation or yoga session or periodically throughout the session as a kind of sonic yantra. The beauty and functionality of the Zen Clock/Timer makes it a meditation tool that can actually help you “make time” for meditation in your life. Bring yourself back to balance.

Meditation Timers with Singing Bowls & Chimes

adapted from Yoga International Magazine, by Sandra Anderson

Zen Alarm Clock, Ukiyo-e Hokusai Wave Dial Face, mediation timer and clock

Now & Zen’s Meditation Timer Store

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383

Feng Shui your bedroom for a better rest

Use Feng Shui principles to set up your bed and you could wake up more rested.

Use Feng Shui principles to set up your bed and you could wake up more rested, according to Ellen Whitehurst, a feng shui consultant and author of the upcoming book Make This Your Lucky Day (Ballantine, 2007). The goal is to balance the energy in your bedroom so you can relax-to do this, start by placing the head of your bed against a wall, which will give you a feeling of stability (a headboard has the same effect). But don’t put your bed in a corner. “Leave space on both sides of your bed so energy can circle freely around you,” says Whitehurst. If possible, move your bed so you can see your door without being directly across from it-or in front of a window. This arrangement, called “the command position,” will subconsciously make you feel more secure by allowing you to see who is coming into your room without being startled.

Boulder, Colorado—an innovative company has taken one of life’s most unpleasant experiences (being startled awake by your alarm clock early Monday morning), and transformed it into something to actually look forward to. “The Zen Alarm Clock,” uses soothing acoustic chimes that awaken users gently and gradually, making waking up a real pleasure.

What makes this gentle awakening experience so exquisite is the sound of the natural acoustic chime, which has been tuned to produce the same tones as the tuning forks used by musical therapists. According to the product’s inventor, Steve McIntosh, “once you experience this way of being gradually awakened with beautiful acoustic tones, no other alarm clock will ever do.”

adapted from Natural Health Magazine

Chime Alarm Clock, the original progression wake up clock with soothing Feng Shui Chime to awaken you gently

Now & Zen – The Peaceful Alarm Clock Store

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383

throat-soothing tea

For natural, reliable cough relief, try a tea recipe recommended by Tieraona Low Dog, M.D., director of education at the University of Arizona’s Program in Integrative Medicine. It features thyme, which alleviates chest congestion and supports respiratory function, along with throat-soothing honey, sage, and vitamin-C-rich lemon.

Cough-Control Tea
1. Pour hot water over 2 teaspoons organic lemon rinds, 1 teaspoon sage, and 1/2 teaspoon thyme. (Dried or fresh herbs can be used.)

2. Set your Zen Timer with Brass Gong  for 15 minutes. Cover and steep for 15 minutes.

3. Strain tea, then add juice of 1/2 lemon and 1 tablespoon honey.

4. Drink two to three cups daily for cough relief.

“The Zen Alarm Clock & Chime Timer’,  uses soothing acoustic chimes that signal it’s time –  gently and gradually.

Rather than an artificial recorded sound played through a speaker, the Zen Clock features an alloy chime bar similar to a wind chime.  When the clock’s alarm is triggered, its chime produces a long-resonating, beautiful acoustic tone reminiscent of a temple gong.

adapted from Body + Soul Magazine, May 2008

Zen Timepiece with brass bowl, a perfect tea timer with gong

Now & Zen’s Chime Timer Store

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383

meditation may increase compassion

Meditation might be your prescription for a happier mind and kinder heart, a new University of Wisconsin-Madison study shows. Scientists worked with 16 Tibetan monks and 16 meditation novices, giving the beginners lessons on compassion meditation two weeks prior to a series of brain-scan experiments. Those brain scans — taken while the participants responded to different emotional cues — revealed that the monks had more activity in certain brain regions involved in processing empathy. The findings, according to study authors, suggest that meditation may train the brain to increase feelings of compassion and happiness.

To start your own meditation practice, try this exercise created by “Untrain Your Parrot” author Elizabeth Hamilton:

• Set your Zen Meditation Timer with Gong for 20 minutes.
• Sitting with your spine erect, breathe deeply, placing your fingertips over the center of your chest if you like.
• As you inhale, picture a person to whom you want to extend compassion. As you exhale, silently say, “May compassion awaken.” Inhale and exhale for several breaths, focusing on the center of your chest.
• Recalling the person, silently say, “May whatever clouds compassion be healed.” Repeat this cycle with the phrase, “May this moment be experienced, exactly as it is,” and finally, “May compassion be extended to all.”
• Repeat the exercise for 20 minutes until your Zen Timer Gongs.

Use our unique “Zen Clock” which functions as a Yoga & Meditation Timer.  It features a long-resonating acoustic chime that brings your meditation or yoga session to a gradual close, preserving the environment of stillness while also acting as an effective time signal. Our Yoga Timer & Clock can be programmed to chime at the end of the meditation or yoga session or periodically throughout the session as a kind of sonic yantra. The beauty and functionality of the Zen Clock/Timer makes it a meditation tool that can actually help you “make time” for meditation in your life. Bring yourself back to balance.

adapted from Body + Soul Magazine, August 2007

Zen Timepiece, a brass singing bowl clock and timer for meditation and yoga

Now & Zen – The Zen Timer Store

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383