“Mindfulness” is the spiritual practice of being aware of your present moment.

A new study shows what we knew all along: Meditation can boost immunity.

If you want to strengthen your immune system, just quiet your mind and breathe deeply. At least that is the implication of a new study published in Psychosomatic Medicine; it found that people who participated in eight weeks of meditation training had a stronger immune response to a flu vaccine, and possibly more positive thoughts, than those who didn’t meditate.

The study followed 48 healthy male and female coworkers ages 23 to 56. Half (chosen randomly) participated in weekly three-hour sessions of mindfulness meditation training at work. They were also encouraged to meditate on their own for an hour a day, six days a week, with the help of instructive audiotapes. The other half were told they were wait-listed for the meditation training.

Researchers then measured brain electrical activity in the meditators and those in the control group. Why measure electrical activity in the brain? Because the front left portion of the brain becomes more active when a person experiences positive emotions and low levels of anxiety. The activity was measured while participants were resting and also while they were writing about positive or negative emotional experiences; the measurements were taken before and immediately after the eight-week trial, and then were taken again four months later.

It's exquisite sounds summon your consciousness out of your meditative state with a series of subtle gongs.

To test immunity, all the subjects were given a flu vaccine at the end of the eight weeks. The research team tracked their immune responses by measuring the level of antibodies produced by the vaccine at the four-month point.

The results of both parts of the study indicated that the brains of those who meditated had significantly more activity in the area of positive emotions and that their bodies produced more flu-fighting cells, meaning they were better prepared to fight illness. What’s more, the subjects whose brains registered the most electrical activity in the front left portion also had the greatest immune response.

Just how meditation increases immunity is still unclear, although a key aspect seems to be deep, rhythmic breathing. Deep breathing stimulates the circulation of lymph throughout the body, a process that removes toxins from tissues and organs.

Despite the fact that this study was conducted using a small number of participants who were asked to meditate for only eight weeks in the confines of their demanding work environment, it strongly suggests that a short-term training program in mindfulness meditation can have positive effects on brain and immune function.

adapted from yogajoural.com by Linda Knittel is a nutritional anthropologist and freelance writer in Portland. She is the author of The Soy Sensation (McGraw Hill, 2001).

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.

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.

Now & Zen – The Meditation Timer Shop

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383

orders@now-zen.com

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.

Focusing your attention on the everyday gifts that nature gives can help you cultivate reverence for the earth.

Sit quietly as you take in a few deep inhalations and then let them out very slowly.

Allow the breath to return to normal; observe it as it slowly flows in and out.

Bring your awareness to the light in your heart, where the divine spirit resides.

With each inhalation, observe the light in the heart brighten.

On the exhalation, allow that light to flow out to the earth as love.

Allow the light to expand until it becomes the size of the heart… the whole body… and then let it fill the entire room.

As you inhale, the light brightens; on the exhalation, light flows to the world as love.

Allow the light to expand beyond the room and embrace each flower, tree, plant, and animal.

Let your love fill the streams, lakes, rivers, and oceans, until it merges with the very core of our Mother Earth.

Absorbing this love offering, she makes this healing energy available to all, soothing the entire world.

Now slowly and gently begin to bring your awareness back to your own heart.

From now on, with every heartbeat, light and love are sent out as a wish of peace for all.

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.

adapted from yogajournal.com by By Nischala Joy Devi

Now & Zen – The Meditation Timer Store

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383

orders@now-zen.com

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.

It's exquisite sounds summon your consciousness out of your meditative state with a series of subtle gongs.

Quieting the mind doesn’t have to mean shushing your many inner voices. By letting them have their say, you can discover the all-encompassing stillness of Big Mind.

In the 13th century, the great Zen master Eihei Dogen wrote, “To study the Self is to forget the Self.” Meditation practice allows us, through the simple act of awareness, to disengage our long-standing belief in a fixed identity. When we follow our breath, for example, through inhalation and exhalation, we are simply breathing, nothing more. Our thoughts no longer rule the roost. They cease to be the foundation of our identity, and our awareness expands. In this way, we begin to forget the self—that false construct of thoughts we’ve taken for reality for so long—and start to identify with a larger universal awareness.

As we progress in our practice, we naturally have strong insights. We might get a juicy taste of clarity; we might see all of our fears disintegrate. Unfortunately, when we get a taste of this “freedom,” we often develop a new set of ideas about what our meditation should be. Enlightenment becomes something outside of ourselves that we need to attain. We try to leapfrog over all that’s messy in our lives—the anger and jealousy, the hatred and fear, the weakness and petty acts. But we end up missing what meditation and enlightenment are truly all about.

There’s no way around it: The way to liberation points inward through the personally mundane, profane, and sacred. All of those voices in our head—no matter how scary, boring, distasteful, lascivious, or holy—must be recognized and accepted. If we deny or repress them, they only become more distracting, and our meditation practice suffers. This does not mean that we have to let them run amok; we can develop the capacity to contain a multitude of opposing voices without buying into any of them.

We can learn to recognize and accept these voices—and get a taste of emptiness—through the simple practice of Big Mind, a technique developed by Dennis Genpo Merzel Roshi, abbot of the Kanzeon Zen Center in Salt Lake City. The Big Mind process works within a familiar Western psychological framework, using the therapeutic tool of Voice Dialogue (created by Hal and Sidra Stone in the 1970s) while simultaneously pushing us through the door of Buddhist insight and wisdom. Big Mind uses a series of questions and answers that enable us to access and explore our different “personalities” and eventually transcend them.

Calling All Voices

Integrating Big Mind into your meditation practice (whatever its form) or daily life is quite easy. If you already have a regular meditation routine, do a minute or two of it to get grounded and comfortable, and maintain your usual posture. If you’re new to meditation, find a comfortable upright position (sitting in a chair is sufficient), take a few deep breaths, and relax as much as you can. Set aside 25 minutes for the entire practice.

The process of Big Mind entails consciously giving voice to different aspects of yourself. When you first hear a voice—you’re acting as your own facilitator in this process, but it can also be done with another person—ask that voice, preferably out loud, who it is and what its job is. The first one to connect with is your Controller. From your relaxed meditation position, ask yourself to speak with your Controller. Of course, you’ll probably feel a bit strange speaking to yourself this way, but you’re simply giving voice to the running dialogue that already exists inside your head.

The Controller is essentially your ego. Its job, as its name implies, is to control—your actions, your attitude, and whatever else it can wrestle into submission. You’ve likely met and probably struggle with this aspect of yourself. Ask the Controller about its job, then probe further and ask what it controls. My Controller controls everything—or, at least, wants to control everything: my actions, my thoughts, other people. It certainly tries to control all of my other voices. But this is neither good nor bad; the Controller is just doing its job. A key component of the Big Mind process is gaining the Controller’s—the ego’s—cooperation and not threatening it with annihilation, as spiritual training often does.

Just acknowledging that a voice exists and letting it have its say helps you develop a more open and trusting connection with it. Once you gain the Controller’s trust, you can ask it for permission to speak with your other voices; the ego is usually glad to temporarily step aside if it has been consulted. Next up is the Skeptic. Before asking the Controller to speak with the Skeptic, however, take a deep breath; when you shift into another voice, it’s good to give the mental movement a physical correlation.

The Skeptic’s job, of course, is to be skeptical. Of what? Essentially, everything: this Big Mind process, things you read in magazines, meditation, enlightenment… you name it. Let the Skeptic be what it is. It’s OK that a part of you is skeptical; it’s actually a good thing. If you didn’t have a skeptical voice, you might find yourself continually being hoodwinked. Ask the Skeptic what it has doubts about.

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.

Now take a breath and ask to speak with Seeking Mind. Shift over to this new voice. What’s Seeking Mind’s job? My Seeking Mind is constantly searching for something better: enlightenment, peace of mind, a healthy body. (Sometimes it seeks sweets, greasy food, and alcohol.) It will never stop seeking. Meditators often have a problem with Seeking Mind; they want to get rid of it, because it creates so much desire. But Seeking Mind is doing what it’s meant to do. It’s helpful to remember that without it, you might not be meditating in the first place.

Take another breath and shift to Nonseeking Mind. What’s its job? Explore Nonseeking Mind; ask it if it ever seeks. Nonseeking Mind is the state of meditation. There is nowhere to go, nothing to do. Again, this is neither good nor bad; Nonseeking Mind simply doesn’t seek. Take a moment here to notice how easy or hard it is to shift from one voice to another. Moving among your different selves helps you realize the empty nature of the self—that is, you have no static identity; you are continually changing. You might think your identity is set in stone (I am shy, I am angry, I am spiritual), but these are just voices floating in space; they’re not you. You’re much bigger than you think.

Now take a breath and shift into Big Mind. This is the voice that contains all the other voices. It is known by various names: the ground of being, Buddha Mind, Universal Mind, God. By its very nature, it has no beginning and no end. There is nothing outside of Big Mind, but Big Mind is a voice inside of you. Big Mind’s job, you could say, is just to be. Ask it what it does and doesn’t contain. Does it contain your birth? Your parents’ birth? Your death? Can you find its beginning or end? Does it contain your other voices? How does it see your daily problems? Stay in Big Mind for as long as you can. In this state, you have surrendered your personal ego (with its permission) to your true and universal nature. Becoming a Buddha is as easy as that, although letting go of your ego is often difficult.

Next, find your voice of Big Heart. Explore what it does for you and others. Its job is to be compassionate. How does it respond when someone or something is hurting? Does it take the form of tough love or tender nurturing or both? Does it have any limits when faced with suffering? Sit with this voice for a while.

Now shift back into Nonseeking Mind and stay with it for a couple minutes to end the meditation. Though you might want to stay in Big Mind forever, the simple fact is that no single voice is the stopping place; there is no stopping place. Continually working with and accepting all of your voices will, in turn, help you accept the myriad voices of others.

The Buddha at Home

The above exercise is a short example of working with internal voices and accessing Big Mind. There are, of course, an infinite variety of selves within you; working through the Controller, you can explore the ones you find personally resonant. Which voices you acknowledge depends on your life circumstances; perhaps you contain the voice of Damaged Self, Angry Self, or the Holy Father. Experiencing Big Mind is like taking an X ray of your true nature, your Buddha-nature, and projecting it onto a screen. The process gives you the clarity to recognize various aspects of yourself and the ability to move easily among your many voices without getting bogged down in or attached to any one voice (even Big Mind). When, with practice, you develop that mobility, you become free to respond with ease to anything that arises. This is meditation in action.

Once learned, the Big Mind process can be used at any time during meditation practice or throughout the day. If you’re feeling particularly angry during meditation, you can connect with Angry Self, let it have its say, and move into Nonseeking Mind or Big Mind. Play with your various voices and see what you can find.

Many of us spend countless hours in meditation trying to fix ourselves so we can attain spiritual knowledge. But the truth is, there is nothing to fix. We—all of us—are already Buddhas. There is nothing to add, nothing to subtract, and nowhere to go. By working with the very intimate voices of our own minds, the Big Mind process lets us “stay at home” while simultaneously acknowledging that our “home” includes a lot more than we think. After all, “To study the Self is to forget the Self.” Studying the voices in our heads is a good way to start.

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 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.

adapted from Yogajournal.com by John Kain has written for Tricycle, Shambhala Sun, and the Web site Beliefnet. A meditator since the early 1980s, he lives near Woodstock, New York. For more on Big Mind meditation, visit www.zencenterutah.org/bigmind.html.

It's exquisite sounds summon your consciousness out of your meditative state with a series of subtle gongs.

Now & Zen – The Gong Meditation Timer Store

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383

orders@now-zen.com

reduce stress

If checking your email has become as vital to your wake-up and bedtime routines as brushing your teeth, it’s time to unplug. “Starting and ending the day in stillness is essential to stress reduction, so it’s absolutely critical not to jump into email during either of those times,” says Joan Borysenko, Ph.D., author of “Your Soul’s Compass.”

In the morning and at night, turn off your computer (and TV) and pick up a book — or simply delight in the rare pleasure of doing nothing. A little nature therapy can also ease the stress of too much computer time. A stroll through a park or on a trail counteracts overstimulation and can also boost your mood and energy.

adapted from wholeliving.com, Dec. 2011

soothing chime alarm clocks

Now & Zen

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383

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

Dreams are more than just the mini-dramas of your sleeping mind.

Dr. Edward O’Malley, who studies sleep disorders at Norwalk Hospital in Connecticut, says dreaming helps us to process and even memorize information we have encountered throughout the day.

“Even though the situations may be bizarre, there’s a certain logic behind the dream,” he said.

Dreaming also helps to relieve stress and clear the cobwebs from our brains so that we wake up clear and alert.

According to O’Malley, dreams contain a surprising amount of very important content and meaning. He says we should pay close attention.

“While there are general archetype images in dreams like fire and water that mean generic things across the human species, there are very specific cues in your dreams that can give you information that can help you function in the daytime,” he said.

In fact, new research shows dreams help us to solve problems.

“If we have certain conflicts or problems that we may be trying to solve during the daytime,” said Dr. Eric Nofzinger of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, “these problems become reactivated in dreams at nighttime and may get played through.”

Nofzinger’s dream research uses pet scans — an imaging technique — to view the brain’s activity during dream sleep. Remarkably, he has found that the brain’s same emotion centers that are active during the day become active when we dream. Some researchers believe that while we are dreaming, our brains are still working through the emotional conflicts of the day. It is one of the reasons that doctors tell patients to make sure they get enough sleep.

Decoding Dreams

There have been famous examples of people who have dreamed up solutions to problems, said Dr. Deirdre Barrett, a Harvard professor and author of “Trauma and Dreams.”

For example, dreams helped Otto Loewi conceptualize an experiment on a frog heart that later won him the Nobel Prize for medicine and biology. Friedrich August Kekule sorted out the structure of chemistry’s benzene ring in his dreams.

The Zen Alarm Clock's sweet acoustic chimes are truly a gourmet experience

“People are going to dream whatever their background and qualifications, and it’s going to be major scientists who have the Nobel Prize-winning dreams,” she said.

She said that there were some steps people could take to focus their dreams in the right direction.

“The best steps are to write the problem down as a brief phrase of a sentence and have a pad and pen by the bed,” she said.

While you are falling asleep, Barrett said, think of the work that you have done so far in solving the problem and form an image to represent it.

“Artists say they like to set up a blank canvas at the other end of the room to suggest I’m looking for an image to paint,” she said.

Barrett suggested telling yourself you want to dream about the image as you are falling asleep.

“The last step, and this is really important, when you first wake up, stay still,” she said. “Don’t jump up and think about something else because recall for dreams is so fragile that you want to recapture it.”

Know What Is Bothering You

Barrett said that people could help determine the outcome of their anxiety dreams by trying to focus on finding a solution to what is troubling them.

“When you’re trying to solve this kind of open-ended problem, you don’t want to script the ending,” she said. “The whole point is to say I want a solution to X but you want to leave it open for your dreaming mind to come through with the solution.”

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.”

adapted from abcnews.go.com

What makes this gentle awakening experience so exquisite is the sound of the natural acoustic chime

Now & Zen – The Zen Alarm Clock Store

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383

orders@now-zen.com

Woodblock print by Toyohara Chikanobu (1838-1912), dated 1896;Once you experience the Zen Timepiece's progressive tones, you'll never want to meditate any other way.

Meditation offers a number of benefits, but did you know it can also improve ALL, yes ALL of your relationships, whether romantic or purely business? Try this meditation tip to reduce relationship stress.

The below is reprinted with permission from The Best Meditations on the Planet by Martin Hart (Fair Winds Press, 2012)

Disputes with the people we know often arise from the judgments we’ve made about them. When we point fingers and judge other people to be wrong, we experience frustration, disappointment, anger, anxiety, or other unpleasant emotions We also set up an “us vs. them” situation. Our reactions generate stress and unhappiness in our relationships.

The following practice helps you become aware of the judgments you make every day. By paying attention to how you judge others, you can reduce the stress you experience when relating to other people and ease tensions with family members, partners, and coworkers.

• Notice each time you make a verbal or mental judgment about someone else. That idiot pulled right out in front of me! That woman is so fat, how can she let herself get that way? He’s stupid to believe that crazy idea…
• Notice each time you use these words: should, must, ought to, got to, have to, need to.
• Just observe what you say and think. Each time you catch yourself judging or criticizing someone, simple acknowledge it by mentally saying “judgment”.
• Don’t judge or blame yourself for having judgmental thoughts.
• In time, you’ll discover that you aren’t as quick to find fault with others. Your desire to change them lessens You can observe the people in your life without criticizing them or judging them to be wrong.
• You’ll also find that your own stress level diminishes, as does the tension between you and other people.
• Make this practice a part of your everyday life.

adapted from healinglifestyles.com

It's exquisite sounds summon your consciousness out of your meditative state with a series of subtle gongs. It serves as the perfect meditation timer.

Now & Zen – The Singing Bowl Meditation Timer Store

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383

orders@now-zen.com

Once you experience the Zen Timepiece's progressive tones, you'll never want to meditate any other way.

This simple yet profound meditation can ease emotional or physical tension.

Based on Taoist Meditation practice, the inner smile meditation is a simple yet profound meditation that is quite natural to many people. It is centered on generating the benevolent qualities of a genuine smile that we usually offer to others. The inner smile is an opportunity to offer a smile to oneself. It can be done in a seated meditation session or in the midst of daily life. The inner smile can also be integrated into hatha yoga practice and can be particularly helpful during intense poses.

To begin, find a comfortable posture for meditation (seated on a cushion or blanket, in a chair, or against a wall). It may be helpful to set a timer for 10, 20, or 30 minutes so you can sink deeply into your meditation without wondering about the time. You may also want to gently ring a bell at the beginning and end of your meditation.

Place your hands on your knees in Jnana Mudra (index and thumb touching), with palms facing up to open your awareness or palms facing down to calm the mind. Do a body scan and relax any tension you may be holding. Let your spine rise from the root of the pelvis. Draw your chin slightly down and lengthen the back of your neck.

Meditation Practice
Begin by generating a feeling of natural happiness as if it emanates from the backs of the eyes. This may happen naturally or it may take you awhile to drop into the poetic possibility needed to allow a smile to come from the backs of your eyes. If the feeling does not come immediately, remind yourself of any experience of natural joy-for example, the face of a joyous child.

Once you generate the feeling of this smile, let it radiate down the backs of your eyes like a waterfall. Visualize this meditative stream flowing down the center of your spine, to your heart and lungs, then into your stomach and spleen (under your left lower ribs), and liver (under your right lower ribs). Let it run down through the kidneys (back ribs), the colon and intestines (belly), down into your genitals, and out into your legs and feet. You can repeat the sweep from the backs of the eyes to the feet or do one long, slow sweep. The inner smile can be its own complete meditation or it may lead you into an effortless meditative absorption.

When you are ready, bring your hands together in Anjali Mudra (Salutation Seal) and complete your meditation with a moment of gratitude, reflection, or prayer to seal the energy of your meditation into your life. Remember that you can cultivate the inner smile anytime throughout the day to fill the heart with compassion.

It serves as the perfect meditation timer.

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 yogajournal.com by Shiva Rea

It's exquisite sounds summon your consciousness out of your meditative state with a series of subtle gongs.

Now & Zen – The Meditation Timer Shop

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383

orders@now-zen.com

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.

New research suggests that mindfulness meditation can help relieve pain and improve memory by regulating a brain wave known as the alpha rhythm, which “turns down the volume” on distractions.

In a small study, researchers found that those participants using meditation were better able to modulate the waves — when they were told where to direct their attention — after they finished an eight-week course, compared to a control group that did no meditation.

“Mindfulness meditation has been reported to enhance numerous mental abilities, including rapid memory recall,” study co-author Catherine Kerr, of the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Osher Research Center at Harvard Medical School, said in a news release provided by Massachusetts General. “Our discovery that mindfulness meditators more quickly adjusted the brain wave that screens out distraction could explain their superior ability to rapidly remember and incorporate new facts.”

The alpha rhythm plays a role in the cells that process senses like touch, sight and sound in the brain’s cortex. It helps the brain ignore distractions, helping a person to focus while many things are going on, the study authors said.

The findings “may explain reports that mindfulness meditation decreases pain perception,” Kerr added. “Enhanced ability to turn the alpha rhythm up or down could give practitioners’ greater ability to regulate pain sensation.”

The new research may also help explain how meditation might affect basic brain function, said study co-author Stephanie Jones, of the Martinos Center.

“Given what we know about how alpha waves arise from electrical currents in sensory cortical cells, these data suggest that mindfulness meditation practitioners can use the mind to enhance regulation of currents in targeted cortical cells. The implications extend far beyond meditation and give us clues about possible ways to help people better regulate a brain rhythm that is dysregulated in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and other conditions,” she said in the news release.

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.

The study was released online April 21 ahead of publication in the journalBrain Research Bulletin.

SOURCE: Massachusetts General Hospital, news release, April 21, 2011

. The Zen Alarm Clock can effect your awareness in a variety of positive ways, all of which require your participation.

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.

“Mindfulness” is the spiritual practice of being aware of your present moment.

Now & Zen – The Meditation Timer Store

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383

orders@now-zen.com

meditation prayer

Virtually every culture has a tradition of blessing food, cooking and eating mindfully, and giving thanks for the gift of nourishment, Alexander says.

Intention
To create a setting for nurturing and togetherness.

Materials
Festive table decorations, favorite foods, a candle.

Steps
1. Set a specific day and time for a weekly dinner. Every member of the family, even small children, should be in charge of contributing something — even if it’s just stirring the pot or setting the table. Focus your intention as you chop, mix, and blend.

2. Before eating, light the candle, then hold hands and acknowledge the gifts in your life. Create a special family blessing — recite a favorite short poem or say something like, “We thank mother earth, the sun, and rain for producing this food, the farmers for growing and harvesting it, and the cook for preparing it.”

3. Eat with mindfulness. Encourage silence as everyone savors the taste and texture of the food. Reflect on the journey from farm to table, and how lucky you are to be eating delicious, nourishing food.

adapted from wholeliving.com, Dec. 2011

zen alarm clocks and meditation timers

Now & Zen’s Alarm Clock Store

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383