Gentle Chime Alarm Clocks with Gradual Chime Sequence

Feature:  Wakes you gradually and gently over 10 minutes with a Tibetan bell-like chime.

Benefit: A beautiful way to wake up at home or traveling.

Feature: A countdown timer perfect for meditation, yoga, or to end meetings on time.

Benefit: Makes yoga, mediation and meetings more relaxing and fun.

Feature: Chimes on the hour, lighted dial, AC or battery powered, beautiful yet portable.

Benefit: A timepiece for a progressive lifestyle.

Feature: Hardwood case, acoustic chime.

Benefit: Aesthetic pleasure.

Feature: An interval timer that will chime repeatedly at any set sequence.

Benefit: Sets the pace of practice with a beautiful sounding chime.

Chime Alarm Clock Store - Boulder, CO (800) 779-6383

Now & Zen’s Chime Alarm Clock Shop

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383

Toyohara, Kunichika, 1835-1900 Saruwaka-cho Kogiku

Too frazzled to focus at work? Meditation may help hone your attention — even if you’re new to the practice. In a University of Pennsylvania study, a group of 17 beginners showed great improvements in focus after meditating for a half-hour, five times a week for eight weeks. Regular meditation also enhanced their ability to manage tasks and stay alert while working.

To ease into a practice, find a quiet place every day, set your Zen Meditation Timer and simply focus on following your breath. “Even if you’re doing five minutes, three times a day, it can help a lot in getting your body accustomed to slowing down,” says Vandita Kate Marchesiello, director of the Kripalu Yoga Teachers Association. For more guidance, she recommends picking up a meditation book, CD, or DVD, or attending a local class.

Our Mindfulness Clock & Timer, called The Zen Clock  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.”

adapted from Body + Soul, October 2007

Black Lacquer Zen Alarm Clock and Meditation Timer

Now & Zen’s Mindfulness Clocks and Timer Store

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383

Utamaro Kitagawa, Bijin Combing Her Hair, 1750-1806

The key to create a wind-down period before bedtime is to create some space between your busy day and sleep time.  “You can’t just work until 9 at night, and then stick your head on the pillow and fall asleep,”  Khalsa says.  So turn off the television, computer, and radio.  Cut down on or eliminate evening classes and exercise that leaves you feeling amped up.

When you come home, honor this transition by playing relaxing music, lighting candles, or putting on your favorite pajamas and set your Zen Alarm Clock.  Think of the yoga precept of pratyahara: Withdraw your senses in order to turn inward.

Our 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.

adapted from yogajournal.com ‘Sweet Slumber’ by Nora Isaacs

Zen Alarm Clock for a Gentle Awakening with a Bowl Gong

Now & Zen’s Chime Timer

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

Utamaro Kitagawa, A Mother Dozing While Her Child Topples a Fish Bowl

A recent poll at the McGraw-Hill Companies posed this question to a few thousand employees: if there were more hours in the day, would you work, sleep, relax, socialize, or play? For the overwhelming majority, the answer was a no-brainer:  sleep.

This is serious news: the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences reports that sleep-related fatigue costs U.S. businesses $150 billion annually in absenteeism, accidents, and lost productivity. Charles Czeisler, M.D., a professor of sleep medicine at Harvard Medical School, has found that pulling an all-nighter or sleeping as little as four to five hours daily for a week produces the level of cognitive impairment experienced by a person who is legally drunk. Yet we glorify people who sacrifice sleep.

The U.S. is not the only sleep-deprived nation. As globalization takes its toll, cities in Spain are seeing the disappearance of the siesta due to long commutes that make a midday trip home impractical.

The problem even has Japan taking snoozing seriously. High school teachers in some areas are dimming the lights to give students a power nap. And in Bangkok, Thailand, last November, civil servants were encouraged to take naps at lunchtime in a room where cell phones are banned.

Sara Mednick, Ph.D., author of Take a Nap! Change Your Life, says that napping is also catching on in New York City, where MetroNaps, with its space-age-style sleep pods, offers respite at its location in the Empire State Building, and Yelo, a sleep salon on West 57th Street, provides hexagonal sleeping pods.

Meanwhile, the Medical Journal of Australia sang the praises of the 10-minute power nap, and the Australian organization SIESTA (Society for the Introduction of Extra Sleeping Time in the Afternoon) quotes specialists from the Adelaide Institute of Sleep Health on the mental and physical benefits of the nap. They join Harvard and Columbia studies suggesting that napping helps the brain process information and reduces accidents at work and on the road.  Just tell that to the boss when you doze off!  Be sure to set your Zen Alarm Clock to waken you gradually and gently so you can get back to work refreshed and altert.

Chime Alarm Clock with Soothing Sounds

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.

adapted from Spirituality and Health Magazine, May 2007 by Swaha Devi

Zen Chime Clock with Japanese Maple Leaves in Honey Finish

Now & Zen’s Soothing Alarm Clock Store

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

The Plum Orchard by Hiroshige (1857), ukiyo-e woodblock print

Chai Tea recipe from Beth Baker, principal cook at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, California:

1 1⁄2 teaspoons coriander seeds
3 tablespoons fresh cardamom pods
1⁄2 teaspoon black peppercorns
1 cinnamon stick
3 cloves
1 dash allspice
3/4 teaspoon licorice root (optional)
Good-quality black tea

Grind the coriander seeds and cardamom pods in a spice grinder.

In a bowl, mix the ground spices, peppercorns, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and optional licorice root.

Pour the chai mix into a clean jar and the black tea in another jar.  Tie a note around them with the following instructions:To make an herbal chai you can sip all day, follow step 1 below, strain, and add extra hot water as necessary.

Chai mix
2 cups water
1/3 cup ginger, finely chopped
3 cups milk
2 or 3 tablespoons black tea leaves
2 to 3 1/2 tablespoons maple syrup, honey, or sugar

1. Bring the chai mix, water, and ginger to a boil.
2. Lower heat, add milk, and cook until it reaches a low boil.  Stir continuously so as not to scorch it.
3. Add black tea and simmer for 5 minutes, use zen timer by Now & Zen

Digital Zen Timer, good for timing tea

Now & Zen’s Chime Timer Shop

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383

Just Breathe

meditation, just breathe

Find a comfortable seated position and begin by observing your natural breath.  Notice the texture, length, and rhythm as the breath flows in and out of your body.  Feel the temperature of the air as it touches your nostrils.  Take note, too, of pauses between breaths.

As thoughts arise, note them, but then allow them to float by like clouds, gently bringing your attention back to the breath.  If you find it difficult to concentrate, try silently counting.  For example, inhale 1, exhale 1, inhale 2, exhale 2, up to 10, and then repeat the cycle.  After a while, you can stop counting and just focus on your natural breath.

adapted from Yoga Journal, ‘Presence of Mind’ by Janice Gates

Zen Alarm Clock with Progressive Chime

Now & Zen’s Mindfulness Timer Store

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

Soothe your little sweetie with a gentle massage

Empirical research suggests our appreciation of massage starts early—as tastes go, it’s one that needs little acquiring. That’s certainly the message behind the growing trend of infant massage, where mothers and fathers (and sometimes caretakers) bond with their wee ones through loving touch and improve their overall health. Parents, nurses, and doctors say that massage helps babies grow better, improves digestion, and eases colic. Studies conducted at the Touch Research Institutes at the University of Miami School of Medicine show that infant massage facilitates weight gain in preterm infants, decreases babies’ level of stress hormones, and balances out their sleep/wake cycle. “Nurturing touch is important for children’s physical, social, behavioral, mental, and cognitive development,” says Linda Garofallou, an infant and pediatric massage therapist at Children’s Hospital in Newark, New Jersey. She gives infant massage to patients and also trains others in the technique.

To do an infant massage, choose a time when your baby is well fed and rested. Set your Zen Timer for twenty minutes.  Put a towel in a quiet room for the baby to lie on, choose a natural oil such as coconut, almond, or avocado, and play relaxing music. Assess the baby’s receptivity by observing her response to your touch. If she is stiff or tense, then use your intuition: either hold her closely in your arms until she relaxes—or wait for another time. A gazing, quiet, yet alert state means she is ready to begin.

Mom and baby

A common stroke, called Indian Milking, entails holding one foot with your hand and then “milking” the leg from the ankle to thigh. Follow this by holding the thigh with both hands and gently twisting and squeezing your hands as you move from thigh to foot. (For more strokes, see Vimala Schneider’s classic book, Infant Massage: A Handbook for Loving Parents [Bantam, 1989] or visit the International Association of Infant Massage, www.iaim.ws/home.html, to find a certified infant massage instructor near you.)

Babes aren’t the only ones who benefit from infant massage. Experts like Andrea Kelly, ceo of the International Association of Infant Massage in Ventura, California say that giving a massage releases nurturing hormones for both the mother (oxytocin) and the father (prolactin).

In addition to bonding, infant massage helps kids born with addictions or serious health problems, says Joanne Starr, MD, director of pediatric cardiothoracic surgery at Children’s Hospital. She’s seen the positive effects of Garofallou’s infant massage on the tiny heart patients she’s operated on. “I think it’s a very important part of their healing,” says Starr, who adds that many of these infants can’t be held because they are hooked up to ventilators. “It’s such a helpless feeling for the parents, but massage empowers them to do something.”

adapted from Natural Solutions Magazine, October 2007

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 Digital Chime Clock, a calming timer and alarm clock made from natural materials like bamboo, walnut, and maple

Now & Zen – The Zen Timer Store

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383