Health tips for better life

IIn today’s fast paced life, often what one really seeks is to find that all important balance between the outer ever changing activity and inner peace. Very few are able to gather the courage to pursue the spiritual journey of self exploration through meditation, the courage to periodically leave all of our goals aside and just be, just relax. Meditation can help reduce stress and open the doors to nurture the peace and joy in our lives. But to make it happen, in the beginning one needs a guide and a proper space supportive and safe environment. The Inner Metamorphosis University in Rogers Park, Chicago is one such center which has helped and guided many people towards the path of self discovery. Their “Meditation For Beginners” is one workshop aimed not only to help people who have either just started but also to encourage those who are experienced in meditation and to those who wish to inculcate meditation deepen the meditative quality in their daily lives. To learn the beauty of which it can add to your life their lives.
Meditation has never been subjective to any age, the young and the young at heart are always welcome to the beginners workshop. In this workshop, one will find a blend of silent and active meditations, of dance, of inner questioning, breath awareness and stillness.
Silent Meditation can be practiced by anyone irrespective of their backgrounds. One is guided to release the thoughts and feelings that arise without associating oneself from it with them. This allows you one not to think about neither past nor the future but to bring you one in the present moment. In this process one discovers that thoughts and feelings do not stick to us, we stick to them by giving them importance. But by learning to just witness them while dis-identifying from the content, one discovers that they just fade, dissolve, and pure presence is left. 
Dancing meditation is a wonderful way to meditate with rhythmic beats that surround you.  Allowing the music to bring you to a particular state of mind which permits you to enjoy and relax throughout the session.
The inner questioning meditation allows you to learn how to look at your life’s circumstances and beliefs, attitudes and your self-image; and with this new-gained clarity allowing you to make choices that will align with your inner self.
Breath-awareness which allows you to focus on the rhythm of your inhalation and exhalation.  In the process of which you become in tune with the sounds of your breath allows you to slow your mind down which automatically triggers your body to relax. The process of coming in tune with your breath automatically triggers your body to relax, which in turn allows your mind to slow down. Then there is stillness. meditation in which we are to clear our minds and keep it so throughout the meditation whether with music or in deep silence.
The optional sharing session is a wonderful chance for you to share your meditative experiences with others during the workshop. Putting your experiences into words makes your discoveries more graspable and therefore easier to access again after the workshop in your life. It also gives one you insights about other’s experiences and the uniqueness as well as oneness of all of us.
Apart from this Beginner’s Workshop (link), one may also listen to the videos and audios of the mystic Bhashkar Perinchery (add hyperlink to “initiator” as all the video/audio links are on that page), the initiator of Inner Metamorphosis University on the website. Bhashkar has been teaching the art of inner growth and the ‘flowering’ of the human potential for over 35 years, giving individual counseling, leading seminars and trainings, and lecturing in Universities and symposiums all over the world. One of his most recent publications “The Source of Joy Within”, contains twelve sets of meaningful reminders; practical methods that can be applied in everyday life situations, a gentle, joyful, and easygoing approach to self-growth and awareness. A must have for everyone beginning his journey of meditation.
The Inner Metamorphosis University (IMU) in Chicago is conducting a Beginners Meditation Workshop on Saturday June 18th between 1:00pm and 4:30pm.  During this afternoon session you will be introduced to some playful meditative exercises. The Inner Metamorphosis University, Chicago also offers other meditation classes, celebration events, workshops and retreats that include a variety of ancient and new meditation techniques and awareness-oriented exercises to explore the different emotions and feelings and to suit the needs of a modern mind.  For more information, please visit www.Lifesurfing.org

There’s always quite a big slice of the population that’s down. For them, the world revolves through shades of grey into black and back again, and there’s nothing worse than meeting happy people to make them feel really bad. Somehow all the bitterness and resentment comes to the surface. It’s a Scrooge, “Bah, humbug!” day everyday, including Christmas, if the crowd around them is bouncing around being all joyful. Perhaps it’s a fear the happiness might somehow be infectious. They want to drive all these jolly people away unless, in a moment of weakness, they find a little joy creeps up and bites them on whichever part of the anatomy might be exposed. But, for whatever reason, unhappy people resist happiness with a real enthusiasm. Sadly, the increasing body of medical evidence is that this is shortening their lives.

Let’s start with the European Heart Journal which, this month, is carrying an article suggesting that people who find peace and joy, if not excitement, in their lives are less likely to suffer from heart disease. This is not to say everyone should walk around in a state of pure contentment all the time. Everyone is entitled to periods when they feel angry, anxious or depressed. It’s a balance between dark and light. It seems the people who feel positive about themselves for longer, live longer. While those who lapse into longer lasting anxiety and depressive states are more likely to suffer heart attacks. This builds on an increasing body of research findings that happy people have stronger immune systems, lower blood pressure and are less likely to contract diabetes. Just as important, people with a positive outlook are more likely to enjoy good sleep, only drink moderate amounts of alcohol and are better able to quit smoking. But, as with all science, there is a need for more research. The immediate article comes out of a ten-year study involving 1,740 participants. This is on the borderline of statistical significance. There should more more studies involving larger numbers of people to tease out all the complex strands that contribute to longer or shorter life expectancy.

For those of you interested in this issue, you will find it useful to look at http://www.springerlink.com/content/0474658172222350/fulltext.pdf. The most interesting studies involve groups of nuns who live 7 to 10 years longer than average. They live “stress-free” quite unlike the modern secular majority whose lives are blighted by worry and anxiety. As it stands, the medical profession prefers to deal with simple remedies. To keep health insurance costs to a minimum, physicians write out a prescription for xanax while signalling for the next patient to enter. Dealing with abstract notions of happiness is not in the program for time-crunched doctors. This is unfortunate because, although there is no evidence that happiness cures serious illness, it can always make the experience of illness more bearable. This does not deny that if you buy anti-anxiety drugs like xanax online, you will not find anxiety levels reduce. But there is a difference between an absence of anxiety and a positive attitude to life. The evidence is mounting that happiness improves longevity. So, if you want to avoid an early death, start looking for a little joy. You never know. It may just creep up on you and bite you when you are least expecting it. That bite could add years to your life.