the zen of air travel

Flight delayed for another three hours? Just breathe deeply.

The San Francisco International Airport continues its quest to make itself its own destination. The airport has just opened a yoga room for harried travelers seeking a moment of peace following airport security.

In Terminal 2, serving Virgin America and American Airlines passengers, SFO’s “Zen Room” is reportedly the first of its kind. The space features dimmed lights meant to soothe weary spirits, a glass wall and door to act as a sound barrier from the busy noises of the terminal, and felt-covered rocks to add to the Zen garden atmosphere. The room will have plenty of yoga mats for travelers to use, and will be open from 4:30 a.m. to 12:30 a.m. each day.

zen mediation space in SF airport

Melissa Mizell, design director for Gensler, the architecture firm behind Terminal 2, said in a statement that the room “gives modern travelers a space that fosters and supports quiet and reflection,” MSNBC reports.

adapted from Time Magazine, January 2012

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.

Now & Zen’s Yoga Timer Shop

Yoga Timer and Alarm Clock Shop - Boulder, CO

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383

zen chime alarm clock and meditation timers

meditation calms the mindmeditation calms the mind

Wave Change

Even people meditating for the first time will register a decrease in beta waves, a sign that the cortex is not processing information as actively as usual. After their first 20-minute session, patients show a marked decrease in beta-wave activity, shown in bright colors, top.

BEFORE meditation –Frontal lobe –Parietal lobe –Occipital lobe

AFTER meditation –Frontal lobe –Parietal lobe –Occipital lobe

Inside the Meditating Brain

Frontal lobe This is the most highly evolved part of the brain, responsible for reasoning, planning, emotions and self-conscious awareness. During meditation, the frontal cortex tends to go offline.

Parietal lobe This part of the brain processes sensory information about the surrounding world, orienting you in time and space. During meditation, activity in the parietal lobe slows down.

Thalamus The gatekeeper for the senses, this organ focuses your attention by funneling some sensory data deeper into the brain and stopping other signals in their tracks. Meditation reduces the flow of incoming information to a trickle.

Reticular formation As the brain’s sentry, this structure receives incoming stimuli and puts the brain on alert, ready to respond. Meditating dials back the arousal signal.

Meditation Training

meditation training

After training in meditation for eight weeks, subjects show a pronounced change in brain-wave patterns, shifting from the alpha waves of aroused, conscious thought to the theta waves that dominate the brain during periods of deep relaxation

Relaxation increases… Power of theta waves as a percentage of total EEG power –Meditation group –Control group –Sessions

…conscious thought decreases Power of alpha waves as a percentage of total EEG power –Meditation group –Control group –Sessions

Source: Dr. Gregg Jacobs, Harvard Medical School, author of The Ancestral Mind.

adapted from Time Magazine, Aug. 2003

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 bowl chime

Now & Zen’s Meditation and Yoga Timer Shop

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383

Perfect Gift Alarm Clock - Zen Chime Clock

“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 if the perfect gift for those who are hard to find presents for…

Perfect Gift Alarm Clock - Makes Waking a Soothing Experience

Now & Zen Headquarter Store

1638 Pearl Steet

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383

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

Deep sleep can provide much needed rest after a difficult day, but a new study suggests it can also help decrease the emotional intensity of painful experiences.

Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley found that the more time spent in REM sleep, or the dream phase of sleep, may diminish the activity of stress-related chemicals in the brain.

“The dream stage of sleep, based on its unique neurochemical composition, provides us with a form of overnight therapy, a soothing balm that removes the sharp edges from the prior day’s emotional experiences,” said Matthew Walker, a  co-author of the study and an associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at UC Berkeley in a statement.

Their findings, the authors said, could help explain why people who have  with post-traumatic disorder  experience recurring nightmares.  One of the hallmarks of the disorder is less time spent in REM sleep.  As a result, the researchers believe they don’t experience the same emotional blunting brought on by adequate REM sleep.  REM sleep normally makes up about 20 percent of normal sleep hours.

In the study, 35 healthy adults were split into two groups.  Each group looked at 150 emotional images two different times, 12 hours apart, and an MRI measured brain activity.

Half of the participants stayed awake between each viewing, and the other half got a full night’s  in between each viewing.

Those who slept had a less emotional reaction the second time they looked at the images, and the MRI showed less activity in the amygdala, the emotion-processing part of the brain.

Tests that measure brain activity while the participants slept indicated decreased activity of stress-related chemicals, which had a calming effect.

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

“We know that during REM sleep there is a sharp decrease in levels of norepinephrine, a brain chemical associated with stress,” Walker said. “By reprocessing previous emotional experiences in this neuro-chemically safe environment of low norepinephrine during REM sleep, we wake up the next day, and those experiences have been softened in their emotional strength.  We feel better about them, we feel we can cope.”

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.

Now & Zen – The Soothing Alarm Clock Store

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383

orders@now-zen.com

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

Meditation - Utamaro Woman

I have always been intrigued by the idea of meditation. I would love to be able to sit quietly, relax and let my mind wander into a trancelike rest, all at the same time.

There are reported medical benefits to regular meditation too: you can bring down your heart rate and blood pressure. Meditation has been shown to help insomniacs sleep, nervous Nellies relax and those withchronic pain breathe more easily.

Meditation sounds like a perfect dream, actually, but who has time for that? As a television producer, I would say my daily list of things to do can run longer than a pilgrimage to the Ganges. Would it be worth adding meditation to my to-do list? I needed to be convinced.

So I went to Avery Fisher Hall in Manhattan for a group meditation led by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, a spiritual leader and founder of The Art of Living Foundation. “The Guru,” as he is called, traveled from southern India to kick off the “I Meditate NY” campaign, designed to introduce stressed-out New Yorkers to the powers of the ancient practice of meditation. Gathered in the hall normally reserved for plays and operas were nearly 2,700 people ready to follow the spiritual teachings of the master on stage.

The preparation began with ancient Sanskrit chants from the folk group Bakti and soulful vocals from the Grammy-nominated singer Chandrika Tandon. But before long The Guru took center stage, sitting in the lotus position on a regal loveseat.

With a creeping smile on his face, he began to explain the three platinum rules of meditation. The first, he said, was to say to oneself, “For the next 10 minutes, I want nothing.” Sounded simple enough, but the truth is I did want something. I was a little hungry, even though I had a pretty big cheeseburger a few hours earlier. It even had all sorts of extras on it. My mind started to wander: Why was I hungry when I just had a big meal? Maybe it wasn’t as big as I thought? Oh man, that means that cheeseburger must have clearly been full of empty calories.

But The Guru had already moved on to platinum rule number two: “For the next 10 minutes, I do nothing.” Just then, my foot started to itch. I reached down to scratch it immediately, figuring the clock hadn’t yet started.

Rule three: “For the next ten minutes, I am nothing.” Now he was on to something. I liked that idea. It made me feel as if I had permission to float away, let my spirit drift into oblivion, all the while surrounded by thousands of people.

Meditation - Choose a Gong Meditation Timer

Sounds of Silence

The group was full of Om’s and ready to sink into silence… or so we thought. Just then, The Guru reached into the pocket of his caftan for hiscellphone. The crowd burst into laughter — no doubt, this was a 21st-century guru. He promised it was only to time our imminent meditation, which he has said would last about 10 minutes.

Now we were on our way. He asked everyone to keep still and be quiet. If you didn’t think you could do so, it was now time for you to leave. He said nobody should leave in the middle of the journey, as that would not be fair to others around them. Parents with children were asked to leave now. It was time to begin.

The room fell silent, but not silent enough. There were coughs, bodily noises, feet sliding, and yes, a cell phone. I thought, it’s going to be tough to concentrate on doing nothing. The coughs seemed ceaseless. I wondered, well, we are heading into allergy season, is that why there are so many coughs? Or is this just how people always are? It isn’t often I’m in a room with 2,700 people.

But then something happened. I don’t really know what happened, because it’s as if I wasn’t there when it occurred. I mean, I was there, but I was nothing more than just there. Sitting. Breathing. Not hearing coughs. Not hearing feet shuffling. Not even hearing silence. I was awake. I was conscious. It wasn’t that hard. I was peaceful. I was meditating.

There we were. An auditorium full of silent people, together, effortless, releasing our minds from daily stress, buried in peace, meditating.

Meditation: Struggling to Do Nothing

And then it was over. The Guru woke us up — and then he gave us a jolt. He told us in his gentle meandering voice that we had been in this “amusement paradise” for 22 minutes. Not 10 minutes as he had suggested, but more than double that. The entire room gasped. We had disappeared for nearly the length of an evening news broadcast.

And, even though it felt counterintuitive to do something so seemingly solitary with so many others, it actually now made perfect sense. Later, The Guru told me, “Group meditations help in creating a positive energy in the atmosphere.” Meditation was all about vibrations, he said. Just as we “catch anger” from angry people around us, we “catch” positive energy from positive people around us. The room was surely full of positivity.

meditation timers with gongs

So there you have it. A frazzled New Yorker with a Ganges-long list of to-dos may have just peacefully and willingly made her list longer.

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.

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.

adapted from WorldNewsReport.com by Gitka Ahuja

Gong Meditation Timers for Your Stillness Practice

Now & Zen – The Gong Meditation Timer Store

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383

be calm for your health

High blood pressure is not something you’d expect to see in kids, but the incidence has risen dramatically in the last few years along with their obesity rates. And there’s plenty of reason to be alarmed, since the condition can lead to heart disease later in life.

Luckily, there’s an easy way to treat it that doesn’t involve nagging kids to get up and exercise (not that being active is a bad thing, of course). Meditation, a proven blood pressure-reducer for adults, turns out to be useful for hypertensive children as well.

In a recent study at a middle school in Augusta, Georgia, 73 11- and 12-year olds were randomly assigned to either a meditation group or a health class where they learned about exercise and nutrition. After three months, the meditators, who practiced for 20 minutes twice a day, saw a significant drop in their blood pressure. The other group got no such benefit.

“If they keep it up, the meditators could substantially reduce their risk of dying from heart disease or stroke,” says Vernon Barnes, coauthor of the study. Some kids also got relief from headaches and asthma attacks, he adds.

A safe, and free, solution to some serious health problems: What more could you ask for?

adapted from Natural Solutions Magazine

Zen Timepiece, a natural sounding timer with bowl/gong

Now & Zen’s Clock and Meditation Timer Store

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383

meditating may change your brain

Apparently, people who meditate are a bit thickheaded—in a good way of course. A new study led by Massachusetts General Hospital shows that the regular practice of a particular form of meditation appears to thicken areas of the brain associated with attention and sensory processing.

Brain scans of experienced, frequent meditators showed thickening in the insula, an area of the cortex involved in the integration of emotion with thought. Most of the structural changes occurred in the right hemisphere of the brain, in the prefrontal cortex, which regulates memory and attention. This area tends to thin as we age, and yet the thickening was more pronounced in older practitioners. According to Sara Lazar, PhD, the study’s lead author, this evidence suggests that meditation may slow down the atrophy of certain areas of the brain that typically occurs with age.

Perhaps even more interesting, you needn’t don robes and retire to a cave somewhere to achieve these results. Instead of scanning the brains of Buddhist monks who devote their lives to meditation, researchers enrolled 20 people who averaged nine years of experience and about 40 minutes a day meditating. (Fifteen people with no experience in meditation formed the control group.) Those participants who meditated most deeply—as measured by breathing rates—showed the greatest changes in their brains, which suggests that meditation caused the thickening, as opposed to the thickening indicating a predisposition to meditate.

Tibetan Bowel Meditation Timers

adapted from Natural Solutions Magazine, August 2006 by Megan Keough

Now & Zen’s Meditation Timer Store

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383

Choose a Gentle Wake Up in the Morning -- The Z E N Alarm Clock

A Sleep in America Poll released by the National Sleep Foundation in 2008 reported that 65 percent of Americans have trouble falling asleep, wake during the night or wake feeling unrefreshed at least a few times each week. (On average, individuals need at least eight hours of sleep, but a recent finding that genetic makeup may play a role in how much sleep each person needs was published by UCSF researchers last week.)

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.

adapted from SFgate.com by Carolyne Zinko

Gentle, Soothing, and Elegant Sounding Alarm Clocks -- No Beeping Electronics

Now & Zen – The Zen Alarm Clock Shop

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383

orders@now-zen.com

Do you want an alarm clock with real, acoustic sounds - choose The Zen Clock from Now & Zen

Are you and your partner at odds over your sleeping arrangements? Does one person snore in bed and the other hog the covers? Do you hate your spouses radio alarm clock?

If sleeping next to your partner is a struggle, you’re not alone. One in fourAmerican couples sleep separately, according to a study by the National Sleep Foundation. Often the problem is not intimacy, but the seemingly simple act of sharing a bed with a spouse.

The Wall Street Journal reports that while many couples have learned to compromise in other areas of their lives, they can’t find common ground on sleeping together.

Couples often have different sleeping habits and preferences — like room temperature, watching TV in the bedroom or when to turn the lights off — and experts say it takes communication and compromise to share the sack.

Alarm Clocks with Real Sounds - No Electronic Sounds - Boulder, CO

Now & Zen – The Zen Alarm Clock Store

Alarm Clocks with Chimes – no Electronic Sounds

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383

orders@now-zen.com