Calming Alarm Clocks for a Better Mood - Takeuchi KeishÃ

To control mood swings, says Selby, we need to sidestep the negative thoughts that generate our moods by shifting attention instead to sensory experiences. This breaks the free fall into an anxious or depressed emotional state. “This attention shift gets you out of past-future fixations and into the present moment,” he explains. By practicing this first step, you’ll get more adept at stopping a bad mood in its tracks.

Now that you’ve temporarily halted the downward spiral, expand your awareness to include the breathing experience in your torso. Say to yourself: “I’m also aware of the movements in my chest and belly.” Don’t make any special effort to breathe; rather, feel the natural flow of your breath as it moves in and out.

Waking up in the morning should be as pleasant as falling asleep at night. The Zen Alarm Clock's gradual, gentle awakening is transformative.

Our Zen Timepiece’s acoustic 6-inch brass bowl-gong clock is the world’s ultimate alarm clock, practice timer, and “mindfulness bell.”

It fills your environment with beautifully complex tones whenever it strikes. In the morning, its exquisite sounds summon your consciousness into awakening with a series of subtle gongs that provide an elegant beginning to your day. Once you experience the Zen Timepiece’s progressive awakening, you’ll never want to wake up any other way. It also serves as the perfect meditation timer. Available in 5 wood styles, including bamboo (shown).

adapted from body + soul, Jan/Feb 2007

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

Now & Zen’s Bowl/Gong Alarm Clock & Meditation Timer Store

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383

Utamaro Kitagawa, Dojoji Dancer - Using Meditation Timers in Your Stillness Practice

Feature: Ends your practice gradually and gently over 10 minutes with a Tibetan bell-like chime.

Benefit: A beautiful way to end 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, beautiful yet portable.

Benefit: A timepiece for a progressive lifestyle.

Feature: Hardwood case, acoustic chime.

Benefit: Aesthetic pleasure.

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

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

meditation timers for your meditation practice

Eisen Keisai, Woman Getting out of a Mosquito Net - Soothing Sounds Alarm Clocks by Now & Zen

Power Hara Breathing Exercise:

The yogis understood the connection between breath and power. This energizing breath combines a spinal twist and vocal sounds to release tension and build energy. For an even more invigorating experience, try this breathing exercise outside first thing in the morning.

1. Bring your hands to your shoulders with your elbows pointed out. Stand with your feet slightly wider than hip width.

2. Twist to the left as you inhale, filling your lungs halfway, and then twist to the right as you complete the inhalation.

3. Twist left as you exhale, making a powerful “ha” sound as you extend your right arm forcefully to the left, like a punch.

4. Twist right to finish exhaling, again with a “ha,” punching your left arm out to the right. Make the vocal sound from deep in your gut, not just from your throat.

5. Practice 10 full rounds, then relax, arms by your sides. Close your eyes; feel your awakened energy. Breathe normally.

Body and soul in balance - Choose a Soothing Sounds Alarm Clock by Now & Zen

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.

Soothing Sounds Alarm Clock with Chime

Now & Zen’s Soothing Sounds Alarm Clock Headquarter Store

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383

Harunobu Suzuki, Beauty at Shrine in Rain - Eliminate Your Snooze Button Clock for a Longer Life...

The Walnut Digital Zen Clock’s long-resonating Tibetan bell-like chime makes waking up a beautiful experience – its progressive chimes begin your day with grace. 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.”

Digital Zen Clocks feature a “high” and “low” chime strike volume control, which allows you to adjust the sound of the chime to suit your needs. The Digital Zen Clock runs on 2 AA batteries (not included) and can also be plugged in with the included AC jack. The clock includes a lighted digital display (which can be set to be lit full-time when plugged in).

Zen Alarm Clock with Gentle Chime Sequence

Now & Zen’s Chime Alarm Clock Store

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383

Banish Your Snooze Button Alarm Clock - Choose the Alternative Zen Alarm Clock

Do you know that having a wonderful day starts from your bed and with the first sound you hear when you wake up? Yes, your morning mood affects your day and it could start right when you calmly and peacefully wake up to the beautiful sound of your Digital Zen Alarm Clock.

Now & Zen, Inc. – has taken one of life’s most unpleasant experiences (being startled awake by your alarm clock), and transformed it into something pleasant. “The Zen Alarm Clock,” uses soothing acoustic chimes that awaken users gently. When the clock’s alarm is triggered, its chime produces a long-resonating, acoustic tone. Then the clock remains silent until it automatically strikes again three minutes later.  The frequency of the chime strikes gradually increase, striking every five seconds.

Digital Zen Alarm Clock with Chime

Now & Zen’s Digital Zen Alarm Clock Shop

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383

chime alarm clocks with soothing elegant sounds

Bravo to the makers of the Zen Alarm Clock!  This clock is both visually beautiful and extremely functional.  It wakes me with a series of chimes instead of my old alarm clock which sounded like a missile hitting my bedroom each morning.  I can’t believe it took me this long in life to discover this ingenious clock!  Working people who have to rise early~you will love this!!!

from an actual Now & Zen customer…

Chime Alarm Clock Showroom, headquarter store in Boulder, CO

Now & Zen

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383

Inner Stillness - stone path of a labyrinth

The Philokalia (“love of the beautiful”) is a collection of texts written between the fourth and fifteenth centuries by spiritual masters of the Christian contemplative, ascetic and hesychast tradition.

Prayer as a form of meditation of the heart is described in the Philokalia—a practice that leads towards Theosis which ignores the senses and results in inner stillness.

Inner Stillness, a Mindfulness Practice adapted from wikipedia.org

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.

Singing Bowl Meditation Timer and Clock

Meditation clock timer- Digital Zen Alarm Clocks and Timers

Now & Zen’s Singing Bowl Meditation Timer & Clock Store

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383

Sleep deprivation takes a heavier toll on the performance and alertness of people who are extroverts than it does on their introverted counterparts, according to results of a randomized clinical study.

Extroverts had lower scores on tests of alertness and wakefulness during 36 consecutive hours awake, including a 12-hour period of social interaction, researcher Tracy L. Rupp of Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Silver Spring, Md., and co-authors reported in the November issue of Sleep.

In contrast, 36 hours of sleep deprivation that included no social interaction had minimal effect on performance or alertness of extroverts or introverts.

The findings provide insights into interindividual differences in vulnerability to sleep deprivation, particularly interaction between personality traits and social conditions. However, the effect of the interaction was the opposite of what the investigators had hypothesized.

According to the theory, social gregariousness and sensation-seeking behaviors arise, at least in part, from lower levels of tonic arousal. Because of their presumed lower level of cortical arousal, extroverts seek out social contact and stimulation to increase brain arousal to optimum levels, the authors noted.

In contrast, introverts are thought to have relatively higher levels of cortical arousal and avoid socially active environments that would lead to more cortical arousal. Consistent with the theory, Rupp and colleagues previously reported that higher scores on a test of introversion were associated with greater resistance to sleep deprivation.

To continue their investigation of the theory, the authors recruited 48 volunteers for a study of the interaction among personality traits, social exposures, and vulnerability to sleep deprivation. All participants completed a personality inventory assessment that led to categorization of 23 participants as extroverts and 25 as introverts.

The participants were randomly assigned to one of two social experiences, which followed eight hours in bed and two hours to eat breakfast and get ready for the evaluation.

Participants assigned to the socially enriched condition could watch television, play games, read, or eat, and remained with laboratory technicians, who were instructed to keep the participants engaged socially throughout the exposure.

Participants assigned to the socially impoverished condition had access to the same activities as in the socially enriched condition, but had no interaction with each other or with technicians.

Both social conditions lasted 12 hours (10 a.m. to 10 p.m.), and was followed by 22 hours of sleep deprivation, during which time participants were tested hourly for alertness and performance. Technicians monitored participants continuously to ensure that participants did not fall asleep. All told, participants remained awake for 36 consecutive hours.

During sleep deprivation, scores for speed on the Psychomotor Vigilance Test (PVT) deteriorated in all groups but was more pronounced in extroverts assigned to the socially enriched exposure compared with extroverts assigned to the socially impoverished condition at 4 a.m., 6 a.m., and noon.

The socially impoverished condition had minimal impact on test performance or subjective sleepiness in any of the groups.

“The ability of introverts to resist sleep loss, on the other hand, was relatively unaffected by the social environment,” the authors noted.

adapted from abcnews.com

chime alarm clocks with real acoustic sounds

The company’s premier product, the Zen Alarm Clock, was originally launched in 1996 and has continued to sell well all over the world since then.  The Zen Alarm Clock wakes users with a series of acoustic chimes providing what the company describes as a “progressive awakening.” The Zen Clock’s natural hardwood materials and natural acoustic sounds (as opposed to artificial speaker-driven sounds) satisfy the growing demand for things “natural”.  According to company founder McIntosh, “as a result of cultural evolution, people are becoming more discerning about the real nature of quality, and this has resulted in a growing preference for natural foods and natural fibers. Our business strategy has been to create ‘natural’ versions of electronic consumer products that feature acoustic sounds and hardwood materials. We also reflect the sensibilities of progressive culture in the aesthetic designs and unique functions of our products.” The company’s philosophy is expressed by its tag line: ‘quality of thought, stillness of being.’

Bamboo Clock Dial Face

Now & Zen

1638 Pearl St.

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383

Mediative Snorkeling

I am, for lack of a better term, a meditation dropout. Oh, I’ve tried it all: the standard legs-crossed, deep-breathing variety (which made me stir-crazy after a few endless minutes); Pilates classes (where I managed to pull a muscle just learning to breathe properly); and t’ai chi instruction (which ended with gentle reprimands by my instructor that walking meditation was not a form of aerobic exercise). They all left me anxious and restless. I couldn’t let go and simply be present in the moment—a hallmark of my type-A personality. That all changed on a Caribbean vacation. There, I inadvertently learned even action-obsessed people like me can achieve satori.

Now, you may think that just being on a serene beach relaxing should help instill a meditative state. Not so for someone who every day had proudly recited the mantra “Go, go, go, faster, faster, faster.” But the morning I donned a snorkeling mask and submerged into the quiet, mystical world beneath the sea, my life began to change. I can still feel the magic of that first glimpse: a bright red starfish, a giant spotted ray gliding by like a bird in flight, and hundreds of silversides swimming in synchronized motion. It transported me to another realm.

Immersed in beauty, color, and silence, I was forced not to move too much or too suddenly, or the creatures around me would scatter. For the first time ever, I could be still. Minutes slipped away unnoticed, as the simple cadence of breathing in and breathing out became stronger and stronger. Lost in a dreamy world where parrot fish, barracuda, and even sea turtles swam by me as if I were invisible, I learned that submitting completely to silence brings an exhilarating, nerve-tingling rush.

Now, back in Pennsylvania, whenever I feel stressed, I lie down, set my Meditative Chime Timer by Now & Zen,  and visualize that moment when I place my face in the water and hear only the gentle waves breaking on the shore as I breathe deeply and glide ever so smoothly through warm, clear water filled with beauty. Breathing in and breathing out, I float and meditate while angelfish lead the way.

adapted from Natural Solutions, March 2007 by Vickit McIntyre

Meditation timers with chimes for a natural sounding end to your meditation

Now & Zen’s Chime Timer Shop

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383