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There are many methods of meditation that can lead to channeling, mediumship, or simply a greater spiritual awareness. Here is the method I use:

I often meet people who say things like, “I’ve been working on mindfulness for over twenty years.”

My response is always this: “Oh, you poor thing! Have you tried *playing* with mindfulness? It’s very effective, and much more fun!”

They tend to look at me like I’m some kind of kook, and then ask the million-dollar question: “How can you play with mindfulness?” Glad you asked….

We tend to think of mindfulness as something that develops only after years of dedicated meditation. We must sit for hours, contemplate in silence for days, go on retreats for weeks, practice daily for years. Okay, that can work.

The unfortunate thing is that it IS work, and consequently, it’s about as appealing to most folks as lying on a bed of nails. Sure, they want to develop a clearer perspective on life. Yes, they want to become calm and contemplative. Of course they want to live more meaningfully and with greater joy. But does it have to be so hard?

Scientific research has shown that the most beneficial meditation technique is Transcendental Meditation ™. The striking reduction of stress and anxiety caused by TM are 3 times greater than the effect caused by most meditation and relaxation techniques.

Transcendental Meditation has been taught by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi since 1958. The first articles about the beneficial effects of TM were published around 1970 on important magazines and scientific journals such as

- Science (167, 1970),

- American Journal of Physiology (221, 1971) and

- Scientific American (226, 1972).

The basic research was conducted by two medical doctors from Harvard University, Herbert Benson and Robert Wallace. This research was made on dozens of American people who used to practice this technique regularly. These people were of any race, sex, age, job, and with different personal political or religious belief.

Later, a lot of research was made about this technique by several doctors and scientists, who wrote several articles on important scientific journals such as

- International Journal of Neuroscience,

- Psychosomatic Medicine,

- Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology,

- Journal of Clinical Psychiatry,

- Journal of Clinical Psychology,

and many more.

What are you likely to gain from meditating?

Simple:

? It improves the power of your concentration.

? Calms you down.

? And enables you to know what you want out of life and how to achieve it.

In our experience, we each have two sides of us, two YOUS if you prefer.

ONE YOU: wants to be successful and has the ability of giving you all the help and encouragement you need.

THE OTHER YOU: wants you to be an all so ran. Mediocre and that one will also give you all the help and encouragement you need to be mediocre.

The question is: Which of these have you chosen to work with? Which of these have you activated. Which of these have you given credence and credibility to.

Ask yourself:

When did you last say you would do something but never did?

When did you say that you volunteer for a task only to find that whilst you were procrastinating another person took the opportunity and made it?

When was the last time you broke a promise to your colleague, your partner or your children?

It is an unfortunate reality that society has inadvertently categorized the natural abilities associated with bio-etheric energy as a form of entertainment.

Classifying skills such as precognitive event recognition alongside amusement attractions such as stage illusion have undermined the acknowledgement of etheric energy itself, impeding the acceptance of a wide spectrum of very natural, very real capabilities.

Why, then, are etheric-related abilities seemingly so rare? The answer is multidimensional.

Identifying Your Etheric Energy

All human beings have the ability to recognize, embrace, and utilize their bio-etheric energy, or the energy produced and emitted by all living organisms. Once harnessed, bio-etheric energy can allow a being to:

* Gain a broader, deeper perception of physical and/or emotional surroundings

* Achieve greater use of the brain’s traditional and extra-sensory functions

* Increase knowledge absorption by participating in conscious bio-etheric energy exchange

* Attain a working knowledge of etheric-related capabilities such as precognitive event recognition

The easiest analogy to recognizing etheric energy is that of electricity. Had mankind never harnessed the natural phenomena of electrical current, entire civilizations would have evolved in the absence of telephones, computers, televisions, and an array of other technologies that now seem second nature in our daily lives.

Maybe learning to meditate intimidates you, and in any case it’s tough to find the time for daily meditation. The solution to both problems is an easy meditation you can learn right now, that will only take a minute to do each day.

An Easy Meditation Technique

Breathing through your mouth expands your chest, but if you breath through your nose you’ll notice how your abdomen extends. You see, nose-breathing causes the diaphram to pull air to the bottom of your lungs. This delivers a good dose of oxygen into your bloodstream and brain. It also tends to relax you.

Breathing through your nose is healthier, and it’s the basis of this one-minute meditation. You simply close your eyes, let the tension go out of your muscles, let go of your thoughts (to the extent possible), and take four slow, deep breaths through your nose, paying attention to your breathing.

Is Meditation This Easy?

You’re not likey to get you into a deep meditative state with this simple exercise. You will get benefits, though. These will almost certainly include a clearer mind and a reduction in stress.

(Authors Note: Before reading this you should see my other articles on Breathing and Full Body Awareness)

Now that you’ve begun to develop the ability to move energy around in your body there are some things that you can do with it. The following exercises range from pretty simple to pretty complicated, but as you develop your abilities you’ll eventually find that you can do them all at once and effortlessly. It can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few years to develop this ability, so remember what I said about expectations.

You’ll eventually be able to remember how to do these exercises by memory, and then after that you’ll get to the point where you just do them without having to think about them. In the beginning it may be helpful to have a partner read the exercises to you or you can order the CD Set that goes with this book at www.windhavenco.org.

Grounding

Grounding will always be an important skill, no matter how advanced you become, so take the time to learn this now and to be able to do it effortlessly.

To put it simply, the act of meditation involves quieting the mind so you can open the heart. That’s it in a nutshell.

We often believe our hearts are open and we can feel much of what is going on in our lives. Yet to truly open the heart means we have to stop the thinking, the judging, the opinions, the analyzing, the questioning, the doubting, and just love. It’s all that unconditional stuff. The act of doing this, takes practice and patience. Learning to meditate means learning to love. To love our self. To love all others. To love the oneness of all. To love more.

The connection you feel when you ‘plug in’ to this oneness is the most irresistible state of love you will ever feel. Makes it sound like it’s worth the effort doesn’t it? Maybe you’ve had glimpses of this - moments when you felt it, and your heart expanded. The beauty of nature in a spectacular sunset or a magnificent rushing waterfall, a child’s innocent embrace, a long awaited accomplishment, an exhilarating sport or excursion, being with the one you love.

When you are unhappy what do you do? Do you go out for a meal? Go to the cinema? The theatre, perhaps? Do you go shopping? Perhaps you like a drink to overcome your unhappiness. Or do you get a buzz from jogging or going to the gym?

Whatever it is scientist are in the process of proving that internal change is the only thing that can give you health and happiness. Everything else is an illusion.

What does this mean?

Your brain is the only thing that can keep you healthy and happy.

Richard Davidson, a neuroscientist at the University of Wisconsin and Jon Kabat-Zinn from the University of Massachusetts Medical Centre have just completed some interesting research that can actually be of benefit to you and me and the way we run our lives.

They took a group of 41 stressed, but otherwise healthy, individuals working in a biotechnology firm in Wisconsin. 25 were taught meditation. In this case: mindfulness meditation. The group met for a 2.5 to 3 hour meditation class each week. After six weeks they all attended a seven hour meditation retreat. In addition each member was asked to meditate, at home, for one hour a day using a guided meditation tape.

I’d like to share a little secret about relaxation techniques for athletes (or health-minded people that workout) and anyone that wants to feel more focused, calm, healthy and peaceful.

But first, let’s define relaxation techniques, or more specifically, meditation. To begin, it’s not necessary to be a Zen master to learn meditation. Anyone can jump-in at any time and start meditating. You should put any expectations aside; do not try to force the outcome; don’t try to over-analyze “what meditation is”; and in general, just turn-off the brain and be in the moment. When meditating it is not necessary to blank out your mind or chase thoughts away. You’ll learn that as you progress with meditation, your mind will become quieter. Sit comfortably, with your spine reasonably straight. You can rest against a chair, a wall or headboard. Your hands can rest comfortably at your side or on your lap. Your legs can also be in any comfortable position (crossing them or any complicated pretzel position is not necessary). Overall, allow your body to sit comfortably so your body-mind-spirit can be open to relax.

There are different types of meditations that you can use in your daily practice. Here are a few: