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Archive for the 'Bamboo Chime Clocks' Category

Using Meditation to Calm Down Any Time, Any Place – Choose a Meditation Timer for Mother’s Day

It's exquisite sounds summon your consciousness out of your meditative state with a series of subtle gongs. Once you experience the Zen Timepiece's progressive tones, you'll never want to meditate  any other way.  It serves as the perfect meditation timer.

It's exquisite sounds summon your consciousness out of your meditative state with a series of subtle gongs. Once you experience the Zen Timepiece's progressive tones, you'll never want to meditate any other way. It serves as the perfect meditation timer.

Think meditating requires the patience, dedication, and endless free time of a Tibetan monk? Here are three simple ways to work this mind-calming, heart-strengthening discipline into your daily routine, no matter how confirmed a type A you are.

Walking Meditation Focus on your breathing; count your steps. Become aware of how your feet and legs move. Celebrate each movement as a miracle of silent communication between your brain and your body.

Mindfulness Concentrate all your energy on whatever you’re doing now, even something as mundane as washing dishes. Consider each element of the activity as if you were moving in slow motion. If other thoughts interrupt, gently bring your mind back to your task.

Mantra In Sanskrit, man means mind and tra means deliverance. Repeating a mantra–a word, phrase, or sound–creates a sound vibration that could deliver you from worldly cares. Choose a prayer, word, or sound that invokes a spiritual feeling. Sit comfortably and breathe deeply as you chant it silently.

adapted from Prevention by By Sara Altshul

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.  The Digital Zen Clock can be programmed to chime at the end of the meditation 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.

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.

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.

Posted in Bamboo Chime Clocks, Meditation Timers, Meditation Tools, mindfulness practice


Now & Zen Customer Testimonial

peaceful alarm clock with chime

peaceful alarm clock with chime

Zen Alarm Clock Review

This is the most perfect alarm clock I have ever owned or operated. This particular alarm clock doesn’t  look like any others alarm clock available on the market!  Basically, it is what it claims to be,  a soothing Alarm Clock, I would recommend it simply because a its functions are real acoustic chimes!  If you’re sick and tired of setting your clocks over and over… try this one. You will not be disappointed. You’ll have a much better start to your day, as well as create more peace and pleasure around you!
The dimension is excellent; not too large, not too small. Numbers are great and large, and never noticeable when trying to sleep through the night. Additionally the numbers are just right, enough to read out the screen for those who, like me, wakes up during the night time and want to quickly check on the time. The design and style are elegant, I really like the slight angle when it’s sitting flat. And also the wood case is an added bonus wonderfully created and will protect it perfectly during travel.
Sound quality is great because it is acoustic!  The chime alarm starts slow and then increases to chime every 4 seconds. This is not the loudest alarm that I have heard, and so if you are the type that needs some extra volume to wake up it isn’t really the one for you.
This chime alarm clock runs on batteries and is a much needed feature for a alarm clock – since we have frequent electrical power outages.  I prefer that the alarm clock comes with an indicator light for when the battery runs low.  It’ll never stop functioning without having warning me having first.
I would recommend this particular alarm clock to those people who are searching for a good, simple alarm clock. You’ll have a better start to your worktime!

Zen Alarm Clock Review

The perfect alarm clock I have ever owned or operated. This particular alarm clock looks like any others available on the market, But, you will dsicover the big difference once you have it. There’s a lot to like relating to this alarm for the cost. Basically, it is what it claims to be, Alarm Clock, I would recommend it simply because a lot of its functions can be modified to meet your requirements or choices. If you’re sick and tired of setting your clocks over and over… try this one. You will not be disappointed. You’ll have a much better start to your day, as well as create more peace and pleasure around you!

The dimension is excellent; not too large, not too small. Numbers are great and large, and never noticeable when trying to sleep through the night. Additionally The Numbers is just right, enough to read out the screen for those who, like me, wakes up during the night time and want to quickly check on the time. The design and style are elegant, I really like the slight angle when it’s sitting flat. And also the case is an added bonus wonderfully created and will protect it perfectly during travel.

Sound quality is great not audiophile, however this is just an alarm clock. I do not expect to have much from a small little clock. It is a lot more than good for alarm purposes, yet. The alarm starts slow and then increases. This is not the loudest alarm that I have heard, and so if you are the type that needs some extra volume to wake up it isn’t really the one for you.

When you click the snooze switch it’ll snooze for 10 min’s. An additional feature I have grown to adore is when you immediately hit the snooze once again it’ll include another 10 min’s for each time you hit it. The display will reveal your total snooze time. This will come in handy if you had excellent inspiration at night to say get up early and go workout, but when morning comes you decide you’d rather get to sleep.

As well the battery is a good feature for keeping your time even if you have a electrical power outage. I prefer that the alarm clock comes with an indicator light for when the battery runs low. It’ll never stop functioning without having warning me having first.

I would recommend this particular alarm clock to those people who are searching for a good, simple alarm clock. You’ll have a better start to your worktime!

Posted in Bamboo Chime Clocks, Natural Awakening


Meditation As Medication – Choose a Singing Bowl Meditation Timer

It's exquisite sounds summon your consciousness out of your meditative state with a series of subtle gongs. Once you experience the Zen Timepiece's progressive tones, you'll never want to meditate  any other way.  It serves as the perfect meditation timer. Available in 5 wood styles, including bamboo.

It's exquisite sounds summon your consciousness out of your meditative state with a series of subtle gongs. Once you experience the Zen Timepiece's progressive tones, you'll never want to meditate any other way. It serves as the perfect meditation timer. Available in 5 wood styles, including bamboo.

Meditation as medication.

A federally funded study on hypertension conducted in West Oakland yielded positive results for the practitioners of transcendental meditation, a technique used to relax the body and the mind — and much, much more, say hardcore adherents.

Findings of the study were published Friday in the American Journal of Hypertension, a publication of the American Society of Hypertension Inc. The study was the work of a medical team led by Dr. Frank Staggers, a longtime Oakland physician who now works as a senior detox physician at the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic in San Francisco. Research for the project was conducted over a period of 10 years, starting in 1994.

The study comprised 150 people, whose average age was 49, who were divided into three separate groups and used separate techniques to try to reduce stress levels and lower blood pressure. One group practiced meditation, another used progressive muscle relaxation, and the third used conventional health and education techniques to lower blood pressure.

“I was working at the West Oakland Health Center in the 1980s when I made my first observations during the course of my patient examinations,” Staggers said. “I told my patients with hypertension to close their eyes, relax and take deep breaths.”

When Staggers began to notice a difference in the stress levels of his patients, he started digging a little deeper into relaxation techniques.

He contacted Dr. Robert Schneider, a colleague from Maharishi International University in Fairfield, Iowa, and the two put together a research team and sent a funding proposal to the National Institutes of Health. The NIH responded with a grant from its national Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

Blood pressure, which is disproportionately high among African Americans, was monitored for a year in all three testing categories, Staggers said.

Transcendental meditation was chosen over other practices, such as Zen and religious meditation, because there were varying techniques and not nearly as much research data as had been collected on TM over the years.

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.

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.

“These techniques had a long track record and had been studied at some of the largest research universities in the nation, but they had never been studied with respect to treating disease,” Staggers said.

“As a practicing physician, I didn’t want to take a technique that no one has ever used, because you don’t know what will happen. TM has been studied since the 1960s.”

Of the three groups that participated in the study, meditation practitioners witnessed the reduction of 6 millimeters in diastolic pressure and a 3-millimeter drop in systolic blood-pressure readings.

There was also a 23 percent reduction in that group in the use of antihypertensive medications used to treat the disease.

Staggers said meditation has shown promise in helping reduce the symptoms of numerous physical and mental ailments, including asthma, depression, anxiety, cancer, diabetes and arthritis. He also said the technique can be an effective tool in the fight against drug dependency and addiction.

Joyce Muse-Harris, a nurse practitioner and Oakland resident who suffers from hypertension, took part it the study and heaps praise on how meditating for 20 minutes twice a day affects her health and outlook.

“I wanted to be in the meditation program because I’ve always believed in alternative medical techniques and haven’t always agreed with the techniques used in Western medicine,” she said.

The meditation sessions helped her reduce stress and “get a handle on some of the things that were happening in my life,” she said.

Muse-Harris used the techniques to deal with a colleague with whom she had a conflict. “After doing the meditation for a while, that person didn’t bother me anymore, because I decided I would not add to their stress,” she said.

Muse-Harris has gotten better at the technique and says she can now meditate just about anywhere — riding in a car or even on a BART train.

“At first it was difficult to do, but if you sit quietly, and let your mind relax, it will start running through all the errands you have to do, a shopping list, but if you don’t fight, those things fade away and your mind becomes clear,” she said.

Muse-Harris still takes hypertension medication but says the meditation provides her with an inner calm that keeps a lid on stressful reaction to challenging situations.

I must admit to a little skepticism about some the claims made by TMers over the years, particularly their description of mental-flying when a person achieves the highest state of the art.

The “yogic fliers” who sit in the lotus position and begin to hop around on foam cushions once they’ve reached a higher mental state always looked pretty suspicious to me, but this is a bit different.

If calming the mind in order to heal the body can be achieved through meditation instead of medication, I say go for it.

adapted from Sfgate.com by Chip Johnson

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.

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.

Now & Zen – The Singing Bowl Meditation Timer Store

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383

orders@now-zen.com

Posted in Bamboo Chime Clocks, Meditation Timers, Meditation Tools, mindfulness practice


Sleep – Choose a Gentle Sounding Alarm Clock to Wake Up

Wake up with gradual, beautiful acoustic chimes. The Zen Alarm Clock transforms your mornings and gets you started right, with a progressive awakening

Wake up with gradual, beautiful acoustic chimes. The Zen Alarm Clock transforms your mornings and gets you started right, with a progressive awakening

When you’re awake, the electrical activity in your brain is varied — slow, fast, strong, faint. But when you fall asleep, your brain waves slow and synchronize. You initially enter a doze, known as Stage 1 sleep, from which you can be easily awakened. Falling asleep should take at least 5 minutes; tonight it took you 2. According to experts, that’s a sign of a problem — it means you’re overtired. “One of the major misconceptions is that it’s a good thing if you fall asleep as soon as your head hits the pillow,” says Kathryn Lee, Ph.D., a sleep specialist and nursing professor at the University of California at San Francisco. “Actually, it means you’re a sleep-deprived person.”

Over the next hour or so, you transition into increasingly intense slumber. Next comes Stage 2. This is “baseline” sleep — over the course of the night you’ll spend half your time in this state, but not all at once. Right now you spend just 15 to 20 minutes here before entering Stages 3 and 4, known as slow-wave sleep, the deepest and most restorative kind. You’re breathing evenly and slowly, the very picture of serenity. Then everything changes. You shift into REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. Your brain emits a cacophony of electrical signals — it’s as active as when you are awake. But you’re not awake, of course. REM sleep is the phase when most dreaming occurs. Your eyes dart back and forth, and the muscles in your arms and legs are paralyzed. Sleep researchers believe this inertia may have evolved to prevent us from acting out our dreams.

The time between now and your alarm — the last few hours of sleep — may be especially important: Recent research suggests that this is when your brain rehearses what you learned the previous day. And “sleeping on it” does more than help you remember new things — it may make you better at them. In a 2002 study, scientists asked people to type a sequence of numbers over and over. The volunteers got faster with practice, then plateaued. Tested later in the day, they performed no better, but the next day, after the benefit of a good night’s sleep, they sped up an additional 20 percent. Curtailed sleep eliminates those sorts of gains.

So as for that cake-decorating class you took yesterday: Right now, your brain is reviewing how to color the icing and choose the appropriate nib for the pastry bag. Thanks to tonight’s sleep, when you bake a cake for your mom’s party, you’ll fashion sugary roses more expertly than you did in class. “It will feel sort of magical to you, but your performance will have improved,” says Robert Stickgold, Ph.D., a Harvard Medical School neuroscientist who coauthored the typing study.

Wake up refreshed, love your alarm clock, transform your mornings with The Zen Alarm Clock's progressive awakening with gentle chimes.

Wake up refreshed, love your alarm clock, transform your mornings with The Zen Alarm Clock's progressive awakening with gentle chimes.

One 90- to 110-minute sleep cycle ends and the next begins. Each of the following cycles will contain a different proportion of light, medium, deep, and REM sleep.

Although experts don’t yet fully understand what sleep is for, they know it is crucial: Rats normally live 2 years or more, but when deprived of sleep they die within 3 weeks. If you stay awake for 24 hours straight, you will involuntarily begin undergoing regular bursts of “microsleep” — 2- to 3-second intervals in which you essentially lose consciousness. An Australian study published in the journal Nature found that people kept awake for 28 hours did as poorly on a hand-eye-coordination test as did people who were legally drunk (having a blood alcohol concentration of 1.0).

But you don’t have to pull an all-nighter to feel the effects of sleep loss. The past few nights, you’ve stayed up late — to work, pay bills, help your husband pack for a business trip. You think you do fine on 6 hours’ sleep, but you’re actually accumulating a “sleep debt.” Recent research shows that spending just a couple of hours less in bed each night for a week or two — basically your normal schedule — lowers your spirits. “Sleep deprivation has significant impacts on mood in healthy individuals,” says J. Todd Arnedt, Ph.D., a University of Michigan sleep specialist. “People get more depressed; they may get more anxious.” Sleep loss also slows your reflexes and impairs your memory, judgment, and mental acuity. In a landmark 2003 University of Pennsylvania study, people who were limited to 6 hours of sleep per night for 2 weeks did significantly worse on tests of alertness and reasoning than people who got their full 8 hours.

But get this: The subjects in the Penn study had no idea how impaired they were. They reported an initial increase in sleepiness, but as time wore on they did not complain of additional exhaustion, though their test scores continued to decline. “One of the first things that goes in our brain is our insight,” says Joyce Walsleben, Ph.D., a psychologist at New York University’s Sleep Disorders Center. “A sleepy person generally does not perceive how badly they are functioning.”

adapted from Women’s Health Magazine, by BY EMILY LABER-WARREN

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.  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.  Then, as the ring tone gradually fades away, the clock remains silent until it automatically strikes again three minutes later.  The frequency of the chime strikes gradually increase over ten-minutes, eventually striking every five seconds, so they are guaranteed to wake up even the heaviest sleeper.  This gentle, ten-minute “progressive awakening” leaves users feeling less groggy, and even helps with dream recall.

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.”

The luxurious awakening provided by the Zen Alarm Clock is part of the growing preference for things natural—natural foods, natural fibers, and now, natural acoustic sounds.  Like organic tomatoes in your salad, the organic sounds of the Zen Alarm Clock’s sweet acoustic chimes are truly a gourmet experience.

Zen Alarm Clocks, made by Now & Zen, Inc., come in a variety of shapes and sizes.  The company markets its products internationally through third-party retail stores and catalogs, and also sells directly to consumers through its website and Boulder headquarters store. The company’s philosophy is expressed by its tag line: ‘quality of thought, stillness of being.’ Now & Zen’s complete line of natural lifestyle products can be seen at: www.now-zen.com, or by calling the company to request a catalog.

Wake up refreshed, love your alarm clock, transform your mornings with The Zen Alarm Clock's progressive awakening with gentle chimes.

Wake up refreshed, love your alarm clock, transform your mornings with The Zen Alarm Clock's progressive awakening with gentle chimes.

Now & Zen – The Alarm Clock Store with Acoustic Chimes

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383

orders@now-zen.com

Posted in Bamboo Chime Clocks


Meditation May Help Put Primary Insomnia to Bed – Choose an Alarm Clock with Gentle Sounds

The Zen Alarm Clock transforms mornings, awakening you gradually with a series of gentle acoustic chimes Once you use a Zen Clock nothing else will do - KOITSU -- Full Moon at Akashi Beach

The Zen Alarm Clock transforms mornings, awakening you gradually with a series of gentle acoustic chimes Once you use a Zen Clock nothing else will do - KOITSU -- Full Moon at Akashi Beach

If you’re tossing and turning and having trouble getting a good night’s sleep, you may want to consider meditation, researchers suggest.

People with primary insomnia reported that they slept better after trying meditation, according to a new study to be presented June 9 at SLEEP, the annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, in Seattle.

Primary insomnia is described as difficulty getting to sleep or staying asleep over a time period of at least one month, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

While most insomnia occurs along with another physical or mental illness or disorder, or as a side effect of medications or other substances, primary insomnia occurs on its own.

In the study, researchers divided 11 participants aged 25 to 45 with chronic primary insomnia into two groups. One group participated in Kriya Yoga — a form of meditation that helps an individual focus internalized attention and can reduce arousal — as well as health education.

The other group received information about improving health through exercise, nutrition, weight loss and stress management but did not participate in meditation.

After two months, the meditation group reported improvements in sleep quality, how long it took to get to sleep, total sleep time, total wake time, sleep efficiency and depression, the researchers reported.

Primary insomnia is believed to be a problem of hyperarousal, with high levels of arousal noted 24 hours a day, said lead study author Dr. Ramadevi Gourineni, director of the insomnia program at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Evanston, Ill.

“Results of the study show that teaching deep relaxation techniques during the daytime can help improve sleep at night,” Gourineni said in a news release from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

Wake up refreshed, love your alarm clock, transform your mornings with The Zen Alarm Clock's progressive awakening with gentle chimes.

Wake up refreshed, love your alarm clock, transform your mornings with The Zen Alarm Clock's progressive awakening with gentle chimes.

About 9.4 percent of U.S. residents, or an estimated 20 million people, try meditating during a 12-month period, according to a 2007 study by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. People reported using meditation for various health problems, including anxiety, pain, depression, stress and insomnia.

A 2007 review of the scientific literature found some evidence that meditation is associated with health benefits, possibly by causing heart rate and breathing to slow, improving blood flow and reducing activity in the sympathetic nervous system (the body’s fight-or-flight mechanism).

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.  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.  Then, as the ring tone gradually fades away, the clock remains silent until it automatically strikes again three minutes later.  The frequency of the chime strikes gradually increase over ten-minutes, eventually striking every five seconds, so they are guaranteed to wake up even the heaviest sleeper.  This gentle, ten-minute “progressive awakening” leaves users feeling less groggy, and even helps with dream recall.

Wake up refreshed, love your alarm clock, transform your mornings with The Zen Alarm Clock's progressive awakening with gentle chimes.

Wake up refreshed, love your alarm clock, transform your mornings with The Zen Alarm Clock's progressive awakening with gentle chimes.

More information

The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine has more on meditation and health.

Posted in Bamboo Chime Clocks, Meditation Timers, Meditation Tools, mindfulness practice


Meditate Like a Zen Monk – Feel Like You are Meditating in a Zen-Temple with The Zen Chime Countdown Timer

meditating like a zen monk

meditating like a zen monk

The Walnut Digital Zen Clock’s long-resonating Tibetan bell-like chime makes waking up and meditating a beautiful experience – its progressive chimes begin your day with grace.  You feel as if you have been awakened in a Zen-Temple. When the clock’s alarm is triggered, the acoustic chime bar is struck just once … 3-1/2 minutes later it strikes again … chime strikes become more frequent over 10 minutes … eventually striking every 5 seconds until shut off. As they become more frequent, the gentle chimes will always wake you up – your body really doesn’t need to be awakened harshly, with a Zen Clock you’re awakened more gradually and thus more naturally.  Unlike artificial recorded sounds coming out of a tiny speaker in a plastic box, natural acoustic sounds transform your bedroom or office environment.

The Digital Zen Clock also serves as a countdown and interval timer for yoga, meditation, bodywork, etc.; and it can also be set to chime on the hour as a tool for “mindfulness.”  This is the perfect zen tool for helping you to meditate like a Zen Monk.

Digital Zen Alarm Clock and Meditation Timer

Digital Zen Alarm Clock and Meditation Timer

Now & Zen – The Zen Chime Countdown Timer Shop

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383

Posted in Bamboo Chime Clocks


more Zen Koans

zen koans

zen koans

One day as Manjusri stood outside the gate, the Buddha called to him, “Manjusri, Manjusri, why do you not enter?” Manjusri replied, “I do not see myself as outside. Why enter?”

–from “Zen Koans” By Venerable Gyomay Kubose

Now & Zen

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302


zen alarm clock with soothing sounds

zen alarm clock with soothing sounds

Posted in Bamboo Chime Clocks, Now & Zen Alarm Clocks


Replace Your Wife’s Alarm Clock for Mother’s Day

are you tired of your wife's beeping alarm clock -- choose a gentle chime alarm clock

are you tired of your wife's beeping alarm clock -- choose a gentle chime alarm clock

Perfect alarm clock gift makes waking up a calming  and relaxing experience

Replace Your Loved Ones Alarm Clock, so that you don’t have to be awakened by their Frightening, Beeping Alarm Clock…

Are you tired of your wife’s alarm clock?

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.”

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.  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.  Then, as the ring tone gradually fades away, the clock remains silent until it automatically strikes again three minutes later.  The frequency of the chime strikes gradually increase over ten-minutes, eventually striking every five seconds, so they are guaranteed to wake up even the heaviest sleeper.  This gentle, ten-minute “progressive awakening” leaves users feeling less groggy, and even helps with dream recall.

Replace your wife's alarm clock, choose The Zen Alarm Clock
Replace your wife’s alarm clock, choose The Zen Alarm Clock

Now & Zen’s Gentle Chime Alarm Clock Store

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383

Posted in Bamboo Chime Clocks


Use Your Alarm Clock to Cue You To Get Ready for Sleep

Sleep your way to a better health with The Zen Alarm Clock

Sleep your way to a better health with The Zen Alarm Clock

A good night’s rest can help you lose weight, beat depression, and ward off heart disease.

People think sleep is a waste of time,” says James P. Krainson, M.D., director of the South Florida Sleep Diagnostic Center in Miami. “But they don’t realize that sleep will make them more productive.” It will also help you improve your memory, shed postpregnancy pounds, and stave off obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. Dozens of studies support the notion that sleep is just as important for maintaining good health as diet and exercise. For example, a study published in the journal Sleep found a relationship between short sleep and increased diabetes risk. Other studies found a lack of sleep can exacerbate pain, cause mood disturbances, and even increase the risk of gum disease.

Your wake-up call. If results from a 2007 Sleep in America poll are anything to go by, too many women are risking their health from lack of sleep. Conducted by the National Sleep Foundation (NFS), last year’s poll revealed that 60 percent of American women get a good night’s sleep only a few nights per week or less. Apparently, when women are pressed for time—which, let’s face it, is every day—sleep is usually the first thing to go.

Take back the night. With health benefits that important, you can’t ignore those eight hours of shuteye any longer. To help you get back in bed and waking up well rested, we looked at four sleep ailments—and discovered some surprisingly effortless solutions.

THE PROBLEM: No time
Recent research at the University of Pennsylvania, published in 2007 in Sleep, says our work-driven culture keeps us from getting the rest we need. Among the findings: The more time we spend working and com- muting, the less time we spend in bed. Even when we know that get- ting more sleep will make us feel better, it usually isn’t enough to keep us from burning the candle at both ends, says Michael Breus, Ph.D., sleep expert and author of Beauty Sleep: Look Younger, Lose Weight, and Feel Great Through Better Sleep (Plume, 2007). What’s required, Breus says, is a plan for making sleep a priority:

Set your ZenAlarm Clock for sleep. Set your alarm to go off an hour before you want to go to sleep. The alarm is your cue to start getting ready for bed.

Wind down for an hour. Take 20 minutes to shut down the house for the night and prepare for the next morning. Spend the next 20 minutes doing your usual evening ablutions like washing your face, brushing your teeth, and changing into your pj’s. For the final 20 minutes, relax and meditate in bed. That’s it. No work, reading, e-mails, phone calls, paying bills, or getting into a discussion with your partner about your health, finances, or relationship during your power-down hour, says Breus. “Avoid any activity that gets your mind revved up before you go to bed,” he advises.

Create a sleep sanctuary. “I’ve gone into bedrooms of people who say they can’t sleep, and they’ve got a computer in there, a TV, a huge pile of laundry on the floor,” says Breus. The question then becomes, according to Breus, not “Why can’t I sleep?” but “How could I sleep under these circumstances?” To transform your bedroom, Breus recommends moving the computer and the TV out of the room and clearing out the clutter. “You want to create an area that’s flowing and positive,” he writes in his book Beauty Sleep.

Adapted from Natural Health Magazine, July 2010 by Susan Hayes

Sleep your way to better health and wake up gently with a Zen Clock

Sleep your way to better health and wake up gently with a Zen Clock

Posted in Bamboo Chime Clocks, Chime Alarm Clocks, Goodness, Natural Awakening, Now & Zen Alarm Clocks, Sleep Habits


Alarm Clock Reduces Morning Grogginess

zen alarm clock reduces grogginess

zen alarm clock reduces grogginess

Gradual awakening with natural tones helps reduce morning grogginess

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.  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.  Then, as the ring tone gradually fades away, the clock remains silent until it automatically strikes again three minutes later.  The frequency of the chime strikes gradually increase over ten-minutes, eventually striking every five seconds, so they are guaranteed to wake up even the heaviest sleeper.  This gentle, ten-minute “progressive awakening” leaves users feeling less groggy, and even helps with dream recall.

Sleep sounder and reduce morning grogginess with zen clocks

Sleep sounder and reduce morning grogginess with zen clocks

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.”

The luxurious awakening provided by the Zen Alarm Clock is part of the growing preference for things natural—natural foods, natural fibers, and now, natural acoustic sounds.  Like organic tomatoes in your salad, the organic sounds of the Zen Alarm Clock’s sweet acoustic chimes are truly a gourmet experience.  And those who like organic food may also appreciate how the Zen Clock can be used as an aesthetically sophisticated timer for practices such as yoga or meditation.

Zen Alarm Clocks, made by Now & Zen, Inc., come in a variety of shapes and sizes.  The company markets its products internationally through third-party retail stores and catalogs, and also sells directly to consumers through its website and Boulder headquarters store. The company’s philosophy is expressed by its tag line: ‘quality of thought, stillness of being.’ Now & Zen’s complete line of natural lifestyle products can be seen at: www.now-zen.com.

tranquil alarm clock with gentle chime

tranquil alarm clock with gentle chime

Now & Zen Headquarter Store

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383

Posted in Bamboo Chime Clocks


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