Video: No. 1 Meditation Myth Busted by Tammy Mastroberte

There are so many myths out there about meditation, but there is one BIG one that not only stops people from meditating, but makes them think they are doing it wrong.

Not only do I want to bust this myth, but I also want to share with you why it’s actually a GOOD thing if it happens to you so you can stop worrying about it and stressing yourself out!

The top issue I hear from people who meditate regularly or have tried and claim they can’t meditate is that they can’t stop their thoughts. They can’t get into “the gap” because their mind won’t stop chattering.

Well, watch the video below on why this is not only completely normal, but why it offers you benefits when it happens!

Download a FREE 3 Minute Release Mediation Here!

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Dina Proctor: Using Mini-Meditation for Transformation

By Jennifer McCartney

Dina Proctor is a life and business coach with a specialty in mind-body connection. The bestselling author of “Madly Chasing Peace: How I Went From Hell to Happy in Nine Minutes a Day,” joined Tammy Mastroberte, founder of Elevated Existence Magazine, for the “Living an Elevated Existence Mind, Body & Soul Summit Season 2,” to reveal just how vital our mindset is in shaping our bodies, relationships and outer reality and how 3-minute bursts of focused meditation throughout the day can transform our lives.

Dina discovered 3 x 3 meditation (3 minutes of meditation 3 times a day) at a low point in her life when she was struggling with alcohol addiction, and tried meditation but found that sitting still for 20 minutes just wasn’t working. She found her body “maxed out” at around three minutes. Instead of being frustrated by this, she decided to listen to her intuition and instead of sitting for a full 20 minutes, she broke up the time throughout the day in three-minute segments.

“Our intuition always knows the best route for us,” she explained. “If we nourish our bodies three time a day why not nourish our soul three time a day?” And 3 x 3 meditation was born.

These short bursts can also be a good starting point if people are curious about meditation, she noted. “Just putting yourself into a relaxed state for three minutes is taking you out of your stress state. And putting yourself in a relaxed state has a huge effect,” she said. “I don’t doubt that if you’re going from zero to once a day that you’ll have a positive benefit.”

Effectiveness is not tied to the time period, but about taking that break to disconnect. It’s about what gets us into that space of “emotional gratitude,” said Proctor. “Whether it’s 5 x 5 or 3 x 3 or whatever. Even 10, 20, 30 seconds of uninterrupted focused mental energy…is way more effective than sitting there and letting your mind wander.”

The important thing is the function of meditation to interrupt negative thoughts, and to rewire the brain’s stress response. “You’re constantly interrupting your subconscious programming,” she explained. Our recurring negative thoughts about how we’ll never lose weight, or how we’ll never look as good as someone we see on television get disrupted. Eventually a switch will flip in our brain, and we’ll have escaped those negative programs, she said.

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Working in Cycles
To bring structure and intention to your 3 x 3 she advises working in seven-day cycles. Chose one intention to take into your meditations that week, and at the end of the week check in to see what has changed. “Within seven days you’re likely to see some kind of difference within yourself,” she explained. It could be that we are sleeping a bit better or feeling less stressed at work, or simply more aware of our thoughts.

You’re rewiring your brain pattern,” she said. What will manifest are feelings of emotional connectivity and feelings of creativity and inspiration. She compared meditation to gardening. “You have to weed the garden and till the soil. You have to create the space so that the flowers can grow,” said Proctor.

One of the challenges may be finding time in the middle of the day to make space for it. But the mid-day meditation in the 3×3 cycle is an important one because this is when mind chatter is at its loudest, said Proctor. That’s why it’s important to interrupt this chatter and do the meditation anyway.

“We think whatever we have going on is so amazingly important that we can’t take time for our higher self,” she said. “It’s believing the universe wants you to succeed. You’ll notice you have few minutes after your last meeting and before your next one.”

She also suggested popping out to the car or running to the bathroom in order to make the time. “It might feel overwhelming but realize that when you start one thing it may…have this trickle down effect. Set your timer. The universe is not going to sabotage you. The universe is setting us up for success,” she noted.

For more from Dina and the other 25 experts in mind, body and spirit topics, sign up FREE to Season 2 of the Living an Elevated Existence Summit.

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Sarah McLean: Meditation Tips and Awakening

Meditation can increase our creativity, happiness and fulfillment, and is known to have many positive effects on the physical body. It is often the foundation of many spiritual practices and teachings, and assists in calming the mind, enhancing intuition and awakening the soul to connect us with our higher self.

Sarah McLean, bestselling author of the book “Soul-Centered: Transform Your Life in 8 Weeks with Meditation,” and founder of the McLean Meditation Institute in Sedona, Ariz., joined Elevated Existence Magazine founder, Tammy Mastroberte, to kick off the new year as part of the Living an Elevated Existence Mind, Body and Soul Summit, and revealed her 5 Essentials for meditation, sample mantras to use when first starting out, and so much more.

She started by explaining there are a variety of forms meditation can take, including two overall types – Open Awareness, which is where you focus on sights or sounds – and Focused Meditation, where you use a mantra, or focus on a candle flame, sound you chant or movement. The most highly researched form of meditation is mindfulness meditation, also known as insight meditation or breath awareness meditation, and there is also meditation for transcendence.

“Meditation that allows for transcendence is transcendental meditation, primordial sound meditation or other forms of mantra meditations,” said McLean. “When you start the mantra you are aware of where you are and what you are doing, and then you transcend body awareness and breath awareness. You transcend time and even who you think you are and your ideas about yourself and the world.”

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However, meditation only works if you do it and if you choose one that you like to do, she said, explaining there are a number of myths that come along with the practice. The first is looking for a mystical or spiritual experience to happen during meditation.

“When we are looking for an experience like that in meditation, it can really inhibit the natural unfoldment of your spiritual awareness,” she said on the call. “The true mystical and spiritual experiences happen as we are living our lives. When your intuition is so strong and you know that you are suppose to go and talk to that person, or you know you are suppose to take a left and you do and it takes you into a magical experience.”

Another myth is meditation is only done correctly when the mind is totally clear. Meditation does help one to clear the mind, but the benefit of the practice often happens when you are not on the meditation mat, said McLean.

“What we learn to do in meditation is to create a different relationship with our mental activity. We learn that it is going to go on anyway because it’s the nature of your mind to think, just like it’s the nature of your mind to see,” she explained. “Your job in meditation is to shift without too much effort, to the focus of your meditation, whether it’s a mantra, the candle flame or breath awareness, and just keep coming back without judgment. Without adding more thoughts to it. There is a coherence created and a clarity created. Even if you sit down and all you do is have thoughts, as long as you keep coming back and refocusing on your meditation with a gentle awareness, then you transform that reactivity center of the brain.”

There is so much research available now showing the amygdala – the part of the brain that is reactive – is where benefits of meditation can be seen. This part of the brain starts to loosen its hold on us in terms of our reaction, and by retraining the brain to go back to the mantra or the breath, we are creating more spaciousness, she said.

“Sometimes we get an impulse in meditation to get up and send that email or make that phone call or go have some food, but if you sit through it, you are transforming your response, you are changing the habits, the neuronal pathways, so that you shift that reactionary response,” McLean noted.

She also shared her 5 Essentials for Meditation, which are:

1. Treat Yourself Well, and Be Kind to Yourself
2. Have No Expectations about What Should Happen
3. Have a Beginner’s Mind Open to Possibilities
4. Don’t Try Too Hard (less is more in meditation)
5. Don’t Give Up 

Stress Relief From Meditation
Often when we are the most restless, we feel the least like sitting to meditate, but often that is when we need it most. And when we are in the midst of a meditation and become restless, this is actually a sign we are releasing stress from the mind and body, said McLean.

“Meditation is the perfect antidote for stress,” she said. “As the mind settles down and the body settles down, you start to create this coherence. What happens is this coherence helps to eliminate any built up stress in the nervous system. There is a purification process that goes on, and impurities start to move out as you are sitting there saying your mantra. They start to generate movement, whether it’s movement of the mind, movement of the body or movement of the emotions.”

One key point to remember is when our mind becomes active with thoughts during a meditation, it is often of our to-do list or current, mundane issues we have to do. But these thoughts have no relationship to the stress we are releasing, said McLean.

“The fact that you are having thoughts, the movement of the thoughts, is an indication you are releasing stress, but the content of the thoughts has no particular correlation to the stress you are releasing,” she explained.

To hear more from Sarah McLean, including simple mantras to get you started, register for the FREE Living an Elevated Existence Summit, and get 4 FREE bonuses just for signing up! You will have access to 26 top experts on a variety of mind, body and spirit topics.

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Learn to Meditate: Elevated Existence Editor Latest Picks

The many benefits of meditation continue to pour in from clinical studies and scientific research, and every issue of Elevated Existence Magazine features a “Meditation Room” column with the latest research, resources and products to help you find the silence within.

Here are three of the latest resources we uncovered to help both new meditators and those who have been practicing for years, including a guided meditation CD.

“How to Meditate: A Practical Guide to Making Friends with Your Mind,” by Pema Chodron
Learn the basics of meditation, how to stabilize the mind, the six points of posture, working with the breath, and how to cultivate unconditional kindness from the bestselling author and Tibetan Buddhist nun, Pema Chodron.

“The Healing Power of Meditation: Leading Experts on Buddhism, Psychology, and Medicine Explore the Health Benefits of Contemplative Practice,” by Andrew Fraser
Sharing insights on meditation and the mind, the book offers the latest scientific evidence on the array of benefits to the practice from a variety of contributors including Jon Kabat-Zinn. It also covers mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy.

“Indigo Dreams: Adult Relaxation-Guided Meditation/Relaxation Techniques Decrease Anxiety, Stress, Anger” by Lori Lite
Filled with guided meditations for decreasing stress and anxiety, this CD teaches four stress management techniques, and includes diaphragmatic breathing, affirmations, progressive muscle relaxation and visualizations set to relaxing music.

Headspace Offers Daily Guided Meditations Online & On the Go

Looking for some regular guided meditation assistance either at home or on the go? Then check out Headspace, a new online membership site offering guided meditations on the computer or the mobile phone for only around $5 a month.

The company refers to it as a “gym membership for the mind,” and members simply login online or via an app available for both iPhone and Android platforms. The meditation guide “Andy” will walk members through a guided meditation – with a new meditation every day! There is 365 days of content to calm the mind, increase creativity or improve relationships.

Watch the introduction video below to understand how Headspace works:

New Mindfulness Meditation Program Online and Mobile Phones

NOTE: Elevated Existence readers get a 20 percent discount on a one-year subscription to the online/app program. See below in bold type!

Following the successful release of its Mindfulness Meditation app, featuring guided meditations by Stephan Bodian, an internationally celebrated meditation teacher and licensed psychotherapist, specializing in stress management, Mental Workout released its new Mindfulness Meditation program – the first in a series of program launches utilizing the company’s new technology platform.

The program features six guided mindfulness meditations of different lengths; brief introductory mindfulness exercises; body scans; relaxation exercises; instructions on how to meditate and improve on practice; eight short teachings on the integration of mindfulness into everyday life; and an eight-week intensive meditation plan.

The new Mindfulness Meditation program is being introduced as one of the first two programs on Mental Workout’s new technology platform – the other is Freedom from Stress™, which was also created with Bodian and includes stress-reducing strategies that go beyond mindfulness meditation.

“My primary motivation since I began teaching meditation more than 30 years ago has been to help people reduce their stress and discover greater happiness and peace of mind,” said Bodian, who is the author of several books, including the bestselling “Meditation For Dummies,” and is also the former editor-in-chief of Yoga Journal.

“By teaming up with Mental Workout, I have already been able to bring the benefits of mindfulness meditation to many more people. With the new program, we can do even more to motivate, inspire, and support people in integrating mindfulness into every moment of the day,” he said.

Users can access their program subscriptions and profile information seamlessly across a growing range of mobile devices – including on iPhone and Android devices – as well as on the Web.

Mindfulness Meditation is available for purchase at Mental Workout’s online store, and inside Mental Workout’s upcoming mobile app for iPhone (later this month) and Android (January 2013). These mobile apps will be free to download, and by using the same account details, program subscriptions as well as profile information will be in-sync across all devices.

Each program costs $17 for a one-year subscription, but Elevated Existence readers can get a 20 percent discount this month by using the promo code “elevatedexistence2012.”

To redeem the discount:

1. Go to http://www.mentalworkout.com/redeem/

2. Enter the code “elevatedexistence2012”

3.Follow the instructions