Director X in the Q studio in Toronto. (Vivian Rashotte/CBC)

Julian Christian Lutz sometimes known as Director X, formerly known as Little X never thought he'd find himself on Canada's Walk of Fame.

The Brampton, Ont.-native is one of this year's nominees. He first shot to fame in the late 1990s and early '00s, becoming one of the world's top music video directors byworking with acts like Sean Paul, EPMD, and Redman. He's won a Juno and a BET Award, been nominated for a Grammy, and moved into both television and feature film. (He directed the hockey drama Across the Line, as well as the 2018 remake of Superfly.)

Q31:11Director X reflects on his path to Canada's Walk of Fame

Still, as he told Tom Power in a recent interview on Q, he said that as someone who comes from the world of hip hop, he was "very surprised" by the nomination.

"Hip hop and kind of 'institutional structure' awards normally don't go together so well," he said. "I guess I'm just used to being overlooked by these things like, 'Oh, of course, they're never going to recognize us. They're never going to recognize me.'"

Lutz started his career as an intern for MuchMusicbefore reaching out to Hype Williams. In the 1990s, Williams was the first hip hop music video director and one of the first music video directors period to become a celebrity in his own right. He adds that Williams showed him what it takes to be a truly great director.

What sets a great director apart, he says,is that they're conversant with every job on set. Williamsunderstands lights, colour, cinematography, everything that goes into making a music video. And while he's worked with other directors who don't have that knowledge, directors who "hire a bunch of people who know their things" and leave them to it, the truly great directors can talk to everyone on set from a place of equal knowledge.

In 1998, Lutz directed the video for "Northern Touch," the Canadian all-star posse cut that helped launch artists like Kardinal Offishal to mainstream fame. The song was the first Canadian rap single to make the Top 100 singles since 1991. Lutz says that looking back at it now, objectively "it's not a great music video we did it [for] pennies" buthe's still proud of the impact it had.

Prior to "Northern Touch," Canadian rap videos, and videos in many other genres, tended to look and feel "Canadian," by which he means substandard and done on the cheap. "Northern Touch" didn't. It showed that Canadian hip hop could compete with what was coming from New York and Los Angeles. By doing that, he says, he and the artists he was working with were able to set the table for the success of artists like Drake, The Weeknd and Nav.

"For my generation, [global success] looked impossible," he says. "[Music] sounded Canadian. It looked Canadian. Nothing looked like it was on the [U.S.] level then. My generation actually was doing things on the level. I'm on the other side of the border, working with these major artists. So for that Drake generation, that doubt wasn't there."

Right now, in addition to being added to the Walk of Fame, Lutz is focused on promoting two things.The first is his forthcoming TV series Robyn Hood, a modern retelling of the story of Robin Hood. In Lutz's version, the titular character is a woman, and her and her band of merry men (and women), known as The Hood, fight oppression and gentrification in the fictional city of New Nottingham.

"We shot [interiors] in Pickering; the exteriors are in Hamilton," he says. "It's just exciting to create this show. It's filled with music and fashion. The cast is gorgeous. I constantly look at the cast and go, 'Goddamn, they're beautiful.' It's what TV's supposed to be, right? It's going to be coming around in 2023 some time."

The other thing he's promoting is meditation. Lutz became interested in meditation after he was shot in a nightclub in 2015. He began looking for holistic solutions to gun violence, and discovered the value of meditation in changing behaviour.

He helped found Operation Prefrontal Cortex which promotes meditation in school, correctional facilities, among law enforcement, and in communities with the goal of helping reduce violence. Abuse and trauma shrinks the prefrontal cortex the part of the brain that deals with decision making and executive function and enlarges the amygdala, or emotional part of the brain. Meditation reverses that process. In study after study, he says, meditation has been shown to radically reduce violence in schools, in prisons, and amongat risk youth.

"Meditation needs to be in our school system top to bottom, all the way through," he says. "They need this mental exercise. Not just for the kids that are coming from traumatic traumatic environments, but even for the kid that doesn't. It doesn't just fix the trauma. Once you get past repair, you get into the all these amazing benefits."

He adds that meditation has changed his life for the better, and that not giving the benefits of meditation to children is neglectful.

"For us to know what meditation does in a school environment, and for us not to implement it, is neglect," he says. "It's negligence. It's incompetence. Whoever is listening that's in the education system: you're neglecting your duty. You're incompetent right now. But you can change [that]."

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Director X on his Walk of Fame star, the power of meditation, and the legacy of Northern Touch - CBC.ca

Dr. Nena Nimit guides her PCEC audience through some practical exercises about how to use mindfulness and meditation to relieve stress and burnout.

The benefits of Meditation to deal with stress and burnout was the topic at the Pattaya City Expats Club meeting on Wednesday, November 30. The guest speaker, Dr. Nena Nimit, M.D., has been meditating for over 15 years. In addition to being a child psychologist.

Dr. Nimit underwent a 3-month residential training and is a certified Mindfulness and Meditation Trainer. She helped to co-found and volunteer at a non-profit organization, the Meditation Center of Alabama, for over 10 years as well as helping to co-found the University of South Alabama Meditation and Mindfulness Club. She is also a Life Coach with the iRetreat group.Dr. Nena began by explaining how she became more interested in meditation. During her undergraduate studies, she did not really know what she wanted to pursue. She became friends with those that were not a good influence. Her mother, who practiced meditation a little each day, encouraged her to go to Thailand and learn how it could help. She did, it did, and when she returned, she was more motivated in pursuing a degree in medicine which she obtained in the field of child psychology. Through this experience, she learned firsthand what meditation can do to help deal with stress and burnout.

Dr. Nena described three levels one may be in; Calm (a state of tranquility), Eustress (healthful, stimulating kind and level of stress), or Distress (strain, anxiety). She noted that distress is brought on by over engagement, while burnout is characterized by under engagement. When you are stressed, your emotions are overactive, but when you are burned out, they are blunt. Stress creates hyperactivity, but burnout leaves the individual feeling helpless and hopeless. Burnout is a loss of motivation and ideals.

Her talk focused on how meditation and mindfulness can be beneficial. She noted that mindfulness is paying attention in a particular way; on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally. To accomplish the reducing of stress, you need to understand how the brain works. You can train your mind to be more calm, clear away mental chatter, and see more clearly. Every problem in your life has a solution. You need to step back, do not focus solely on the problem.

To illustrate the benefits, Dr Nena, offered a guided practice for the audience to follow. Doing this for 5 minutes at the beginning and end of the day can be very helpful to reduce/remove stress from your life. She first suggested stretching, finding a comfortable position, and then letting your mind relax, clear the cares and worries from your mind which may take repetition relax, clear, relax, clear until you mind is clear and free.

In conclusion, Dr Nena invited everyone to attend iRetreats Road Show Doing What Matters in Times of Stress. It is free and will be held at on two dates at Pattayas Siam @ Siam Hotel from 9am to 11:30am. More information is available at https://iretreat.co/iretreat-road-show-in-pattaya/.

For more information about the PCEC, visit their website at https://pcec.club/. Dr Nenas presentation, is available on the PCECs YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dWb75AYEbo. The guided practice begins at about the 26 minute mark.

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Pattaya City Expats Club: Meditation to relieve stress and burnout - Pattaya Mail

One of the things which keep me going is a positive attitude towards life and seeing the best in each situation and most people, says Vikaas M Sachdeva - Managing Director - Alternates.

In an interview with ETMarkets, Sachdeva who manages about Rs 4500 cr and has almost 30 years of experience, said: Being physically fit is one of the key tenets to being mentally fit. I believe a regimen of regular workouts and disciplined eating had kept me going through life, Edited excerpts:

With 3 decades of experience under your belt in corporate and leadership roles. How do you keep yourself mentally fit and energized at all times?One of the things which keeps me going is a positive attitude towards life and seeing the best in each situation and most people.

Talking to people from various backgrounds and skill sets is quite an energizing experience. My association with the India Fintech Forum, for example, has introduced me to highly intelligent people with different skill sets and a technology-backed solution mindset which, in turn, has made me evolve further as a leader

I enjoy mentoring students and my junior colleagues helping them learn from my experiences and sharing life hacks. Equally, it is a pleasure being reverse mentored by them and understanding the dynamics of the world from their perspective.

One of the advantages of being a voracious reader is that it keeps your thinking agile and your perspective contemporary. I enjoy reading books from various walks of life and am into two books simultaneously at any point of time

Being physically fit is one of the key tenets to being mentally fit. I believe a regimen of regular workouts and disciplined eating had kept me going through lifeWhat is your way of dealing with stress?

Planning much in advance, while trying to anticipate potential situations which I might have to deal with, helps me play out multiple alternatives. This helps me handle situations more objectively and consequently, less stressfully.

Having conversations about what stresses you out, either with the person or with people in the know of the situation, helps you find a more lasting solution to the problem.

Sports, reading, running, meditating, movies, time with near and dear ones all are life hacks for me when it comes to handling stress.

I have read that you also do Acupressure. How did that come along? What is the story?Indeed, this is one of the life skills I picked up quite by chance after meeting Dr Ketan Shah, a very renowned acupressure practitioner.

Someone I know was suffering from tinnitus, which is usually supposed to be something which is non-reversible. He was the only person who told me with great confidence that if done right, acupressure would relieve this person in 3 months.

Seeing it actually work, convinced me of the utility of this skill. I have since kept trying to improve my technique and can help with mitigating some basic health issues like migraines, stomach disorders, anxiety and back pain. The more I learn, the more I realize how profound the wisdom of the ancients is.

Being physically fit is one of the key tenets to being mentally fit. I believe a regimen of regular workouts and disciplined eating had kept me going through life, Vikaas M Sachdeva - Managing Director - Sundaram Alternates, said.

A course in voice modulation interested me and I went ahead and enrolled for it.

Over the last few months, I have had the chance to host a few shows digitally and my training as a voice modulator did help me.

The most amazing part of the journey has been to meet people behind voices I admired, as well as people who could literally act with their voices.

What about sports? Any sports you like to play?I am a high-energy sports enthusiast, a big cricket aficionado, and a hockey supporter, I play decent lawn tennis and TT and am a runner to boot. Give me a high-energy activity any day and I will be up for it!

I also plan vacations and trips around major sporting events that I have always wanted to see. I have seen the French Open, The Asian Games in Jakarta, the inaugural F1 races in Kuala Lumpur and Bahrain not to mention the world cup cricket in India, the inaugural NBA Basketball tour in Mumbai, and of course, some games of the IPL each year ! In 2023, I hope to start the year by seeing the FIH hockey world cup early next year in Odisha

What is your message to our viewers for the year 2023? Will it be as stressful as 2022?Our generation has probably seen the maximum change, but at a pace at which we have been able to adapt to, and master.

Change is happening too fast for the conventional human mind, and hence stress happens when we try to adapt and control as fast as it happens.

Social media also manifests picture perfect (Pun intended) people's time which stresses out those who want the same. So yes, stress is now part of our lives

The way forward is to not ride the tiger but sidestep it. One needs to adapt rather than control. Maturity is realizing that you are not answerable to anyone but yourself.

Hence, enjoy what you doseek out experiences rather than material stuff. Meditate, pray and keep fit.

You live only once, so live your life rather than trying to live out someones expectation of what it should be

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)

More here:

Mind Over Money: Meditate, pray and keep fit is the mantra for this Rs 4,500 cr money manager with 30 year - Economic Times

Mindfulness in the Museum is an event series with several different activities throughout the semester, all with the goal of teaching students how to care for themselves and their mental health, no matter the challenges they may face.

Darren Chen

The sign for Mindfulness in the museum is seen at the Stanley Museum of Art, in Iowa City on Friday, Dec. 9, 2022. The event happens every Friday

Student Wellness at the University of Iowa is partnering with Koru Mindfulness and the Stanley Art Museum to teach students stress management and relaxation techniques through meditation.

The museum will host the event series called Mindfulness in the Museum scheduled every Friday.

With reopening the museum, we wanted to connect with students, as they are our primary audience here on campus, Kimberly Datchuk, Stanley curator of learning and engagement, said. We wanted to offer programs that would be interesting and useful to them.

As well as hosting several Koru Mindfulness sessions, which uses teachings to give students stress management techniques through meditation, the museum also hosts drop-in sessions for students to connect with the museum and relax, including the Chill and Create session. It allows students to draw in the galleries and attend a meditation led by an art therapist. Students can also drop-in on any Friday to participate in self-guided meditations, a drawing activity, and more.

Were constantly readjusting that program to fit the needs of students and take feedback into consideration, Datchuk said.

Datchuk added that the event is supposed to end at 4 p.m., but it always goes late.

The students come, and they are just getting so much out of it that they dont want to leave it, Datchuk said. Seeing that it is something that they are really connecting to has been the most awesome part of any of our programs.

The goal is to help students develop healthy mindsets. Spending time around art, creating art, and learning how to be more present creates healthier mindsets for students when they are overwhelmed by the all-work attitudes that follow them throughout the world, especially on a college campus.

I think its important to introduce mindful habits, student gallery host Josie Duccini said. Especially to college students, I think that things can get really stressful, and I think that with the museum opening weve been promoting it as a space to come and relax and take a break between classes.

She went on to share that mindfulness offers a similar attitude, promoting taking a break and the importance of relaxation.

Ive attended mindfulness through the rec center, and Ive always really enjoyed it, Duccini said. The instructors are super knowledgeable, and I think its always useful to take care of yourself in that way.

Visiting Stanley is just one opportunity to attend a mindfulness event, and Koru Mindfulness practices also take place through Student Wellness.

Karen Grajczyk-Haddad, UI Student Wellness senior behavioral health consultant, said while turnout at latest events has not been what they hoped, they are continuously working to make the event better for students.

The whole practice of mindfulness is pretty great, Grajczyk-Haddad said. I wish every college student knew about it and practiced it.

While most places on campus will not be open during winter break, mindfulness sessions will still happen over Zoom to help students even when they are not on campus. These virtual sessions will occur on Wednesdays over winter break.

Weve promoted it pretty widely, but there are still students who have never heard of it, Grajczyk-Haddad said. Sometimes students are like, Oh Im too busy during the semester, and were like, Well can you do it over winter break?

After winter break, mindfulness events will continue in the spring, as they did during the fall semester.

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Stanley Museum of Art partners with Student Wellness and Koru Mindfulness to bring students 'Mindfulness in the Museum' - UI The Daily Iowan

Why does stress surface? Why does my mind perceive something as a threat to my security, something that I would consider beyond my capability to handle, causing me stress? Well, it may appear that outside situations or circumstances are the reasons; office colleagues got me upset, the workplace environment is such and so on.

However, know that stress is an internal response to an external stimulus. Why do I get triggered in the first place? It is the result of internal preparedness and the degree of preparedness that the mind says, I can handle this or I cant.

What determines the degree of preparedness? My own feelings, belief-system, and unprocessed, suppressed or repressed emotions. The essential nature of stress is emotional and belief-based. If I feel vulnerable to the fact that colleagues dump work on me, then I ought to check if I have a pattern of people taking advantage of me. And whether I have had to courage to say no. If I utilise the inner resource of healthy boundary, say no, stress will not play me up.

Overcoming stress is a practice, a learnt behaviour. It is an internal cleansing process too. Whether a victim of stress or a perpetrator, below six practices when carried around, will relieve both from stress.

Collective Energy

While it is true that being receivers and transmitters of vibrational energy, we get impacted by others energy, however, there is a way to come back to ones own alignment. This again, is a matter of practice, that keeps one insulated from the outside triggers.

At workplaces it is the collective energy of several individuals. A work culture is nothing but a mirror of peoples dominant energy. If an individuals dominant energy field is unsteady, stress-prone, it will set up that vibrational mood/ current within the work environment. The work actually begins at the individual level.

Outside triggers will always be there on which you will have no control. The only control is over self, and hence, tuning ones own vibrational energy to navigate the externals is the answer. This is not an opinion but Cosmic Laws at work. For example, the principle of as within, so without, dictates that ones outside world is an exact reflection of ones inner world. Not to forget the law of oneness which is about creating bridges, honouring our own humanness and acting as such. Or, the law of what you sow is what you reap; every thought, deed bounces back.

1. Cooperate: Move with the feeling of cooperation. Honour the differences in people.

2. Smile: Smile at people, issues, tough situations. This will take the edge out of the difficulty. How? You become a witness instead of getting embroiled and getting played by situations.

3. Move your body, still your mind: Body stores a lot of stress evident in aches, pain and inflammation. A mindful movement of the body and barefoot walk on Mother Earth restores alignment.

4. Breathe mindfully: Harmonise breath with body movement. Utilise yoga postures and yogic breathing techniques. Whether sitting at your work desk, or standing in a queue, one can breathe mindfully and maintain clarity over mental lowdowns.

5. Appreciation: appreciate and congratulate people on their achievements. Good intention lifts the spirit of people and places. Places are conscious. Whether you desire to work at a place or not, irrespective, bless the place and people. It will answer back.

6. Humanness: Dont lose ground with your humanness and heartfulness.

Disclaimer: Urmila Rao is an emotional healer and a forgiveness teacher. All the ideas expressed herein are her own, and not professional advice or medical prescription. Her website is: http://www.karmicwellness.in Email: hellokarmicwellness@gmail.com

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Meditate with Urmila: Stressed at work? - Gulf News

WE ARE NOT IT. BUT IN TRUTH. IT IS US. IT IS YOU. IT IS ME.

James Ishmael Ford

A Facebook friend invited people to share their favorite brief quote from scriptures. Something that touches the heart deeply. While he is a Christian minister, he explicitly made sure the invitation extended to the wider company of faiths. He was reaching for sayings that were deeper into the bones than memorized. For him it was For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son. And whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. As he said he knew this line from before he could memorize. It was a truth that was identical to the molecules in his body.

Of course, he is a Christian, and perhaps a larger majority of his social media friends belong to that lovely family. So, pretty quickly passages from the Hebrew and Christian scriptures were posted. Its a progressive crowd and there felt to my read to be a tilt toward action. Among those, It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you at liberty to neglect it. And, bridging the heart and the body, What does God ask of you? Only to do what is just, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.

Another popular one was Jesus own apparent summation of his way putting together passages of the Hebrew Scriptures, Love the Lord God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.

Others were visceral and ecstatic. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Another, Blessed are you, Divine, life of all worlds. Another, God is love. And somehow, I was especially touched by All who are hungry, come eat.

So, what was the first thing that popped in my mind. A sort of unbidden citation? I wrote, Form is emptiness, emptiness is form.

And I pretty much immediately realized it just sat there. To a crowd unformed by the literature of Mahayana Buddhism, or specifically Zen, it is two abstractions juxtaposed. While those other citations got all sorts of love, those emojis, mainly of hearts, or hugging, or whatnot, the minister dutifully gave me a thumbs up. Basically, the attendance prize of social media posting.

I mentioned this to a friend who immediately said her choice would be, We are not it, but in truth it is us.

That was it. Form is emptiness, emptiness is form is a metaphysical foundation. Something to be known. But, in the living of it all, in the heart experience of it all, You are not it, but in truth it is you. My dream heart captured a line within the poem Jewel Mirror Samadhi. I find it captures the vitality of our experience, it suggests just how alive it is and with it, us. Me. You. We are constantly veiling and unveiling mysteries.

The poem is commonly attributed toDongshan Liangjie, a 9th century Chan master and founder of theCaodong(Soto in Japanese) school. Dongshan is also credited with the poetic map of awakenings faces, theFive Ranks.

The Jewel Mirror is commonly chanted in contemporary Japanese Soto temples and monasteries. Ive recited it thousands of times. For me that line jumbles with a number of things. Questions. Intimations. What is nonduality? What is it not? And what does it mean for us as spiritual practitioners, as people walking the intimate way?

For Reiho Masunaga the line goes: You are not him; he is actually you. For William F Powell the line goes: You are not him, but he is clearly you. For Thomas Cleary the line goes: You are not it; It is you. And then from the recesses of my dream life the official Soto translation: You are not it, but in truth it is you. Echoed for me in my friends slight adaptation, We. We are not it, but in truth it is us.

It is impersonal in the same way as form and emptiness and their identity. Pointers to rhythms of the universe. And, it is intimate as our jugular vein, we, you, I.

On the spiritual way, at least as it is taught within the Zen schools, and captured in the ten Ox Herding Pictures, we come to the loss of all our ideas about ourselves and the world. We tumble into the great empty. Then we find a reconstruction, a rebirth. It manifests first as nature itself, just the world, or rather the worlds, and stars, and all the great mess of the universe. Then we return as a part of this great play of things. We are ancient and we are new. We are the same as weve always been. Caught up in our wounds and longings. But the healing is also found. Found as nothing other than the being we are. That is you. That is me.

Visceral, visceral.

I am not it. My ideas. My desires. My hurt. My longing. My joy. I feel I own them. But Im wrong. They own me. They play out as me, and my part of the great web of things.

But, in truth. A line that does not occur in most English versions, but which Ive been told is there in the Chinese original. I find that important. Even if it becomes a comma or a semi-colon, in truth is a moment of turning. A realization. The great lacuna within which all things birth and die. Truth. A lovely word. Even if its not there. It is felt. It is there. Here.

It is you.

Voltaire once said God is a circle whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere. Another line that could be added to that collection if we take our word scripture as widely as it should be taken.

That. This. You are not God. But, in truth, in truth, God is you.

The secret of the nondual. The secret of our lives. In some as true as can be way I knew this line from before I could memorize. It is a truth that is identical to the molecules in my body.

Of course, this is the invitation of the spiritual way, in all its different flavors. The hidden and constantly revealed universalism. We may wander for a lifetime in quest of this intimate thing. Far away or nearer than near, if were just a little lucky we find it. And then when we find this intimate truth as ours, we immediately return to the world. Like Dorothy waking from a dream into a dream.

Now we wander freely. As freely as a fox living its five hundred lives. We bring a good word to this hurting world. We reach out a hand as we can. We are the infinite itself. But we are just this moment, with all the limitations being a moment brings with it.

We are not it. But in truth. It is us. It is you. It is me.

Excerpt from:

WE ARE NOT IT. BUT IN TRUTH. IT IS US. IT IS YOU. IT IS ME. A Zen Meditation - Patheos

When a fire broke out at the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris in 2019, the British composer Julian Anderson was devastated.

Seeing a precise and beautiful and precious structure like that dissolving almost into the fire was very, very traumatizing, he said in an interview.

Anderson soon began channeling some of his despondence into Litanies, a 25-minute meditation for cello and orchestra. In the second movement, a series of chords emerges then melts away, echoing the disaster.

On Monday, Litanies won the 2023 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition, one of contemporary musics most prestigious prizes. The Grawemeyer, which is administered and was announced by the University of Louisville in Kentucky, comes with $100,000.

In choosing Anderson, 55, the prize paid homage to a prolific composer known for his vivid imagination. His music draws on a variety of traditions blending folk, for example, with more modern sounds. He has won commissions from top orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

The composer Marc Satterwhite, who directs the award, praised Litanies for its exploration of virtually every sound a cello and orchestra can make together. Anderson wrote the piece for the cellist Alban Gerhardt, who premiered the work in 2020 with the National Orchestra of France.

It spans a vast emotional range and is constantly inventive, Satterwhite said in a statement, but always toward an expressive end, never for the sake of novelty.

Anderson completed Litanies in 2019, several months after the fire and a year after the death of his close friend Oliver Knussen, the influential composer and conductor.

Knussens death also influenced the work. There is a sense of time running out, Anderson said of a cadenza that gradually dissipates.

The Grawemeyer has been awarded to some of the most important modern composers, including Gyorgy Ligeti, John Adams, Tan Dun, Thomas Ads, Pierre Boulez, Kaija Saariaho, Olga Neuwirth and Esa-Pekka Salonen, among others. Anderson will accept the prize in Louisville in the spring.

Anderson, a professor of composition and composer-in-residence at Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, said that he hoped the award would help bring attention to the importance of contemporary music and live performance.

There is nothing that replaces the live experience, he said. The joy, the pleasure, the revelation, even, of hearing wonderful music played actually in the room with you, not just on a computer screen with headphones.

Link:

Music Inspired by Notre-Dame Fire Wins a Top Prize - The New York Times

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Millions around the world are enjoying our free meditation since it was started by Shri Mataji in 1970. Her meditation promotes mental, emotional, physical and spiritual wellbeing.You cannot know the meaning of your life until you are connected to the Power that created you.H.H. Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi

Try one of our meditations below or visit a free class.

Follow a guided meditation by Shri Mataji (founder of Sahaja Yoga meditation) to experience inner peace and silence. It takes only a few minutes and really works! You can sit on a chair or on the floor, with your shoes removed.

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Collective meditation sessions with clearing, balancing, talks and discussions on a topic of the day. Suitable for complete beginners and regular mediators. Zoom sessions are interactive so youll be able to chat privately with our presenters if you have any questions.

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SESSIONS DURING THE WEEK FOR BEGINNERS & REGULARS

MONDAYS 5.30pm (Sydney time), hosted by practitioners from New Zealand: Join on Zoom 6pm (Sydney time), hosted by Lyn & Gulshan from Canberra: Join on Youtube or Zoom 7.30pm (Sydney time), hosted by Kannan & team from Sydney: Join on Zoom

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SUNDAYS 10.03am (Sydney time)- radio program, hosted by Caroline from Sydney: Join on 89.1 FM or online 5.30pm (Sydney time), hosted by practitioners from New Zealand: Join on Zoom or Youtube

MONDAYS, WEDNESDAYS & FRIDAYS 7.30pm (Sydney time), hosted by various practitioners: Join on Facebook 10.30pm (Sydney time), hosted by practitioners from Singapore/Malaysia: Join on Zoom

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Many times over the course of her illustrious free-skiing career, Angel Collinson stood atop mighty mountains looking over slopes that went thousands of feet down. On many occasions, the routes had never been attempted before. In Alaskas Neacola Mountains she scored a run that made her the first female athlete to win the coveted Best Line award from Powder Magazine. But before shoving off and flying through mounds of untouched snow she was able to find moments of calm through the practice of meditation.

You dont need to be facing extraordinary circumstances for meditation to be a powerful tool. The mind is one place that we can never escape, so its worth putting in a little work to make it a pleasant landscape. As Collinson notes, meditation can bring you clarity, calm, and focus in all sorts of moments from mundane to massive. This summer her story is spotlighted in Jimmy Chins Nat Geo series Edge of the Unknown which you can stream on Disney+.

Below you can find Uproxxs conversation with Collinson about her personal path to peace, as well as a few tools that will help you start your own.

How did you first hear about meditation?

My mother was really into Buddhism and as I was growing up I learned about meditation through her. There were books lying around the house that I picked up and studied. But I grew up and forgot about it for the most part. I was into my skiing career and it came back to me. I was hearing about it from some friends and my boyfriend at the time was a mindful person.

What was your personal starting point?

I was told that I could start off slow, with the idea that all meditation has to be is one breath in and out. I think that was good advice. From there you can grow at your own pace, like perhaps focusing on two or three breaths instead of one. Next thing you know you are meditating for 30 seconds and then a minute. There is the term Kaizen which I think applies putting these small incremental steps towards success or a goal so it doesnt become overwhelming.

How did you use meditation when it came to your sports and what do you think it brought to your ability to grab onto opportunities?

I believe that meditating has had a profound effect on how successful I have been able to be. It allowed me to be present and to focus on what was happening on the mountain with no clutter. I use meditation as a self-check, it gives me the keys to really find out how my body and my mind are feeling.

There is no outside distraction in those moments and those can be the moments when I first realize that Im tired or not really able to focus. If thats the case, I might be really saving myself from a bad situation up on the mountain.

Did it help you see your way into the results that you wanted?

One of the big ways that I meditate is to visualize the goals that I wanted to realize. I would picture myself going down the mountain absolutely crushing it. But not only that, I would also visualize what if something went wrong in my performance or in nature. I wanted to be prepared for every single outcome.

The only times that I got really worried is when I couldnt visualize it at all. That meant that something was really wrong or off, and perhaps I shouldnt attempt it.

Once you realized that you were benefiting from meditation how did approach elevating the practice and leaning into it?

I started doing it every morning, but beyond that small focused approach, I didnt have any kind of greater practice that I was doing at first. I was probably meditating for ten years with no specific practice or teacher that I was following. That was pretty similar to the way that I approached the big mountains that I skied. I never attempted to take one on until I was sure that it was well within my abilities. There would be the time that people would say that I was ready, and I would add on a year to that.

Once it was time to meditate more, and dedicate more time to it, I was doing it in the morning and in the evenings. The next step was to get certified in Transcendental Meditation.

How does breathwork fit into your practice?

I am a huge fan of breathwork and was doing all sorts in the beginning. I thought they were working but that was until I was taught how to really do it. I was invited to this special camp by Red Bull since I was one of their athletes. They bring in all of these experts like Navy SEALs and coaches to run you through a gauntlet of programs. They have a heart rate monitor on you the whole time and they gave us different practices to try to see how they helped us deal with stress and fear.

One of the other tools that they gave us that really helped me was focusing on small moments in the present. I would focus on buckling up my boots, then zipping up my won jacket, and so on. These small actions that helped you be more present. The next thing I know I am flying down the mountain, focused in every single turn.

Why would you say its important to practice often if you are able?

The reason that I feel like it is so important to practice often is so you can find your space quickly. In an ideal world you are able to jump into that place of calm, and everything will slow down for you. That comes a lot easier once you have been done the road a few times, and even gotten there down a few different roads. It doesnt always work for me, and I think its that way for a lot of people. You arent always going to be able to get there, but that is a part of the process. I use it when I need it like Im nervous about a particular situation or Im having a hard time focusing. You dont always get to pick and choose those moments, so being able to unlock that space quickly is helpful.

Basic Breath Work Exercise: Breathe in for four counts; hold that breathe for four counts, breathe out for four counts, and hold that for four counts. Repeat.

Biet Simkin, who is a world-renowned Spiritual Teach and best-selling author of Dont Just Sit There!, has some sage advice for those looking to get in the door.

There are a lot of teachers out there, and its important to find one that really speaks to you, she says. Rather than just typing meditation into YouTube or Spotify, ask people in your circles for recommendations. Like Collinson, Simkin agrees that starting with small steps is the best way to make it in the long run. Meditating, even for just five minutes, is a great way to level up the way you experience this life.

Continued here:

Why This Athlete Practices Meditation And You Should Too - UPROXX