Free Online Meditation Resources

The Internet is contains an almost endless selection of resources to help you on your meditation journey. Because meditation is so simple, free and accessible, millions of people have found its benefits have borne fruit in their lives.

What we are sharing here is just the smallest sampling of what you will find without having to look very far.

Meditation instruction
The following websites contain practical instruction in meditation and how to develop your own meditation practice that is suited to your intentions, desires and lifestyle.

wildmind.org/meditation

meditation.org.au

anmolmehta.com

Guided meditations
These websites offer free guided meditations that you can download and listen on your computer, or upload them to your ipod or other .mp3 player so that you can listen to them wherever you happen to be.

brainsync.com/shop/free-guided-meditation-online

learningmeditation.com/room.htm

meditainment.com/free-meditation-content/

Meditation Music
For those who prefer to listen to soothing, mellow, ambient music while they meditate, there are many free sources of meditation music available to download. You simply quiet your mind and focus on the music and your breath.

writespirit.net/resources/free-meditation-music-downloads

poetseers.org/lin/free-meditation-music-downloads

last.fm/music/+free-music-downloads/meditation

Meditation Videos
There are dozens of video sharing websites on the Internet where you will find free meditation videos. You can find instructional videos, guided meditations, guided visualizations and videos where people are talking about the benefits of meditation.

Just use the website’s search box and type in what you are looking for such as, “guided meditation,” or “how to meditate,” and you’ll get dozens of options to choose from.

Meditation timers
It is nearly impossible to attain or maintain a quiet, meditative state if you are watching the clock. When you only have a fixed amount of time into which to squeeze your practice, you can download one of these free audios that include a bell at specifically timed intervals.

http://www.wildmind.org/meditation-timers

http://www.audiodharma.org/timer/timer.html

There are also meditation timer iPhone apps available in the iTunes store.

I hope that you found these resources to be helpful to you. Please feel free to share your favorite free meditation resources in the comments. Namaste.

Be sure to sign up for our email updates at: http://www.stressfreemindblog.com/News

Think You Can’t Meditate? 3 Simple Practices to Get You Started

If you think that you cannot meditate you are not alone. Countless people have given up in frustration saying, “I just can’t seem to quiet my thoughts!” Well, please take a deep breath and relax because trying to quiet your thoughts is not the goal. This can only end in frustration. The purpose of meditation is to achieve a state of pure awareness.

One of the first things that meditation will teach you is that you are not your mind. If indeed you were your mind you could control it completely. When you say, “silence,” it would become silent. But when at first you sit or lay down with the intention of meditating, your mind will have other plans and you will find yourself almost breaking a sweat trying to quiet that “monkey mind.” So don’t even waste your energy trying.

Try one of these beginner meditation practices. You can begin at five minutes and then slowly work your way up to 45-90 minute sessions.

1. Simple Breath Counting Meditation
This meditation has its origins in the Zen tradition. It helps to train your mind to focus on one thing at a time improving concentration and your powers of observation. It calms your mind and lowers stress levels.

1. As you inhale notice the feeling of the breath as it moves through your nostrils.

2. Count ONE as you exhale.

3. Follow step one and step two until you reach exhalation number four.

4. Begin again with step one.

2. Mantra meditation
With this meditation you choose a mantra, which a simple word or sound to repeat while you meditate. The traditional sound for mantra meditation is OM, but you can choose a positive affirmation, such as “I am peace,” or a sacred phrase from your own faith tradition.

Simply repeat your chosen mantra either out loud or silently in your head. Focus your attention on the sound and allow your breathing to fall into a deep, rhythmic pattern. Repeat your mantra for however many minutes you have chosen. Start with just a few minutes and then slowly work your way up to longer meditation sessions.

3. Object gazing meditation

This meditation exercise is done with eyes open with a relaxed but steady gaze at a particular object. You can choose a tree, a flower a candle or whatever stationery object you choose.

Gaze at the object without thinking about the object. When your thoughts begin to wander away gently bring your attention back with no judgment to focus on the object.

So, you see there are all kinds of meditative practices available to you. Try one of these simple practices and set aside a time each morning and/or evening to do your practice. If you can do it in the same place at the same time each day you will find that you are forming a positive habit and soon you will not quite feel yourself when you miss a meditation session.

Reference:
Integrative Meditation: Towards Unity of Mind, Body and Spirit, James Wyche Green, Ph.D. Self Published

The Elements of Meditation

Written By: Elizabeth Alleyne

Meditation is the practice of being still for the purpose of relaxation and healing.
The purpose and goal of the meditation offered here is to be still and get to know God. God is where our ego thoughts are not. Meditation can be the ultimate relaxation tool once the practitioner is totally forgiving of self and the world as he sees it.

Conscious breathing is an important part of being able to relax the body for the practice of meditation. Conscious breathing is when we pay attention to our breathing and learn to breathe correctly. Most of us are shallow breathers. Our bodies benefit most when we can learn to breathe more deeply and consistently.

A disciplined mind is essential to the practice of meditation. It is a process that will take some time so relax and enjoy the ride. Being on purpose is what will help us to overcome our ego’s control of the mind. An anchor will help to bring your focus back to the meditation process.

When you begin a meditation session have a goal in mind, a focus for your meditation. Relaxation is a good beginning goal, or some idea or ideas you want to embrace – a passage from a book, or verse from a Bible.

Environment is important when beginning to meditate. Find a place with as few distractions as possible. Choose a comfortable chair, or sit on the floor against a wall for support. Ask any people around you to allow you a specific block of time with no interruptions. As you grow comfortable with the practice of meditation you may want to fix up a permanent area in your place of residence or have a special place in your yard that you design as you special meditation place.

Please feel free to share your meditation practice, tips, books, teachers or guides.

3 Simplest Meditation Techniques – Mindfulness, Breathing & Guided Meditation

By Katie Hoffman

Meditation has been known to relieve stress and tension and promote well-being. It relaxes your body and mind and heals the soul. It rids the mind of conflict and soothes the spirit. Regular meditation helps one cope with everyday pressures without falling victim to them. Meditation can be practiced in several ways. There are many techniques that help you get in touch with your inner self and bring relaxation to mind and body. Some of the simplest meditation techniques are mindfulness meditation, breathing and guided meditation.

Mindfulness Meditation

Mindfulness implies awareness. So, mindfulness meditation aims at being aware of one’s inner self and the surroundings while touching on a higher level of consciousness. With mindfulness meditation all thoughts, feelings and emotions are acknowledged without making an attempt to suppress them. You have to play the part of a detached observer. In other words, you have to live in the moment without getting involved in it. There are several ways to practice mindfulness meditation. Most of them involve focusing on a certain object or a process. This could be focusing on your breath, performing a recurring exercise or simply chanting a mantra. There’s no specific posture that you need to take while doing mindfulness meditation. You can sit comfortably but you have to make sure that your back is upright in order to remain relaxed and alert. This is a very simple form of meditation and can be practiced at any time since all you have to do is sit and do nothing.

Breathing Meditation

Breathing meditation aims to clear the mind of distractions and make it calm and peaceful. Select a serene place to meditate and sit comfortably. You can take up any posture as long as you keep your back erect. Sit with your eyes slightly closed and focus on your breathing. Breathe through your nostrils and gain an awareness of how each breath enters and leaves your nostrils. Concentrate on this alone and make an effort to stop your thoughts from wandering. If your mind strays from the breathing process, bring it back to the task at hand. Do this as many times as is necessary. With constant practice, this will bring a sense of calm and peace to the mind. Even though breathing meditation is often considered as a prelude to other forms of meditation, it is a very effective technique to experience peace and contentment from within.

Guided Meditation

The deeper the level of meditation, the greater healing it brings to mind and body. Guided meditation aims at taking you to a whole new level altogether. Either your guru can guide you and bring you to this new state or you can use an audio tape to achieve a similar effect. You have to keep your mind free of all thoughts and focus only on the guiding voice in question. Here, you touch your inner self and unleash old resentments and emotions to create peace and harmony within. There are many audio tapes available over the internet that can be used for this kind of meditation. All you have to do is unwind and follow the instructions. Guided meditation is used to instill feelings of self-confidence and release feelings of insecurity.

All these three meditation techniques have a common purpose: To bring peace and reduce the conflict within yourself. Regular meditation will enrich your life and make way for a healthy and wholesome lifestyle.

Katie Hoffman lives in an apartment that uses a large wall mirror in the living room to expand the space and bring in some light. She also loves the large antique wall mirror in her entryway.

Article Source: 3 Simplest Meditation Techniques – Mindfulness, Breathing & Guided Meditation

What are the Health Benefits of Meditation?

Meditation has many unexpected health benefits. Who knew that simply sitting in peaceful silence would have such a healing effect on the body? The body’s desire is to be in a state of homeostasis – in balance with everything running like clock work. The practice of meditation can help to get your mind and body in a state of harmony and balance. If you want the body’s state of health to change you must first change your state of mind.

Correct breathing is an important component of the meditation exercise and that goes quite a ways towards bringing the body into balance. Correct breathing brings more oxygen into the system and helps it to circulate throughout the entire body. Every system in the body needs oxygen.

The peace of mind and relaxation that is achieved during the practice of meditation also contributes to helping the body to achieve balance. The state of total relaxation of both the body and mind that is achieved during meditation allows the body to heal itself quickly. Taking our minds off of the chaotic circumstances of our lives for just a little while invites a tremendous amount of peace and well-being.

Some of the health benefits of meditation include:

• Improved concentration

• Increases energy

• Increased blood flow

• Normalizes blood pressure

• Reduces anxiety

• Decreases muscle tension

• Increases the production of serotonin, which improves mood

• Boosts immune system function

• Relieves allergies

When I first began the practice of meditation I had an experience that really surprised me. I had a very bad cold, and I hesitated to do the meditation that morning, but then I thought better of it and did in anyway. My nasal passages were so congested that I had to breathe completely through my mouth. When the meditation process was begun I became aware that my nasal passages were clearing up a little.

As I continued to meditate they cleared up even more to the point where I began breathing through my nose without even thinking about it. Then my entire body began to feel better. When the meditation time was done and I gave a good stretch and went back to my life in this world the cold was back just as it had been before I started the meditation exercise. There is a lesson in that experience that spurred me on to continue to meditate for years to come.

When in a calmed and meditative state it is possible for the practitioner to assess the entire body beginning with the top of the head and moving slowly down to the feet. This process can alert you to any problems that exist so that attention may be given to that particular issue.

When you have developed a daily meditation practice you may begin to notice that you feel calmer and more steady. You may feel less prone to emotional responses and your ability to focus and concentrate will be improved.

Soon you may begin to notice a marked difference in your demeanor and how you handle the circumstances of your life especially on the days when you don’t meditate.

Do you have a regular meditation practice? Please feel free to share if it has had a positive effect on your health or well-being.

Don’t Let Stress Win – Plan Your Relaxation

Stress is a part of life for too many people, and it really is not hard to see why when you look at the news or in magazines for long enough. The world is seemingly full of people who are angry enough with one another to cause wars in order to fix things. Financial worries are never far away from the front page, and only the very lucky among us are recession-proofed. At the present time, profound change seems to be around the corner no matter how carefully you walk the path. All of this plays into the hands of stress, and the problems that it causes follow in its wake as surely as night follows day.

In order to give yourself the best chance of beating stress and living a more relaxing life, you need to have a strategy that is easy to follow while being absolutely ruthless towards stress and its causes. Of course, planning is one thing that can lead to stress all too easily. Once you start to plan, you notice obstacles to your plans and before you know it, you’re back in the centre of a vicious circle. The solution to this problem is to plan with the time you know you have available. Combating stress does not need to be an expensive, time consuming process. It just needs to be suitable for you.

The most relaxing things for you will dictate how much time you need to devote and when you can take that time. If you like to read a book, for example, then you can do that in the evening after work, or even on your lunch break. Your lunch break, as a preference, should be taken off the premises because, for most of us, a major cause of stress is the pressure brought on by being at work. A change of scenery is always good in these cases – even if it just means going into a different room, leaving behind the scene of your work for a spell can see stress melt away. Just having time for yourself can make a huge difference.

Acupuncture – Pinning the Problem Down

Being stressed out is simply a recipe for poor health. You can be sure that if you have problems with stress they will make their way into your life in a physical, mental and very definite way. It is all very well and good trying to push it into a corner of your mind where you feel it can be ignored, but the end result is that the stress will build until it cannot be ignored any longer, and that is when it will do the most damage. Stress levels have been shown to be a major cause of several health problems, in some cases a primary cause – high blood pressure and heart problems – and in others a secondary cause.

As a secondary cause, stress can work on the sufferer’s physical health by affecting their sleeping patterns or their diet. If you are not getting the sleep you require, you will be a great deal more open to infections as your immune system does not get the repair it needs, that sleep allows it to get. Remember that while you sleep, your body is running repairs on the stresses and strains that it naturally sustains every day, so sleep is very important. And if you are not eating well, your body is deprived of the nutrients that fuel the body’s defence mechanisms against illness.

One way of combating stress that goes beyond the home remedies (which are still excellent) is acupuncture. An ancient Chinese form of medicine that acts on pressure points within the body by way of placing small pins into the skin at those points, acupuncture is world renowned for its stress-fighting properties and is used by a great many people. A qualified acupuncturist will be able to isolate the areas in which the stress is having the most damaging effects, and by judicious placement of the needles will be able to minimise its impact.

There are practising acupuncturists in most towns wherever you care to look these days. There are several licensed ones operating, and it is to these ones that you should go. Acupuncturists know what they are doing – its effects have been proven over hundreds of years – so if you are suffering from stress, going to an acupuncturist is a very good idea.