What meditation is may differ from what has been sold to you. The more you may try various methods, the more difficulty you may have meditating at all. You may have given up, have gotten frustrated, or may now cage yourself in jail of belief that you cannot meditate at all. If this is you, keep reading.

Meditation is not about clearing your mind, and they cannot be guided. Meditation is not a trance though people may use trance states to do it. Otherworldly Imrama or Echtrae are not meditations either.

Meditation is the act of just being while turning your mind toward itself. Its turning the mind toward itself with which people have the most trouble.

Meditation is a breakage of the cycle of doing to provide a moment of non-doing and just being.

Out of the parts of the self, the interaction between the mind and body seem most interesting to meditation and right-living. The body is flat seeming structural because it has one fickle will that goes to and fro. When we feel fear, for instance, we group the flat phenomena of a certain set of physiology into a hierarchy of feelings and emotions.

The best way to meditate is to simply close your eyes and watch your internal phenomenon without trying to do anything. Close your eyes, breathe, watch your breath. Listen to the sounds, feel the pain in your feet or back. Give attention to each new phenomenon or thing that happens to you. Thats it. As simple as it sounds, it isnt easy.

The self will defend its normal existence, it doesnt want to quiet down. Itll introduce thoughts, pain, itches, make you fall asleep. The important thing is to not let the will of the body win. If you fall asleep, meditate again upon waking. If you itch, scratch it until gone and start again. Youre trying to beat your horse-mind into submission. The real trick is accepting the difficult path of winning. I have severe adult ADHD and I won against my horse-mind.

People try to play whack-a-mole with their thoughts to get them under control, but you cannot relax or focus the racing mind as required in magic and druid practice by doing more racing.

If you get caught up in your thoughts, return to watching and listening. The more of these returns you make, the more successful youll become.

The breath is the key. It sits at the crossroads between watching and doing. It is something you do, but at the same time, it is something that happens to you. Here is a seam in the self from which to start rooting deeper awareness.

When you deeply meditate, and your focus and awareness become greater and greater while doing it, your breath will control itself. There is no need to control it when youre not going after trance states. In fact, let it run out and let your body fill your lungs, do not voluntarily inhale, let it occur to you.

The breath and watching the five senses in introspection is the road to Segais.

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Three Secrets About Meditation that No One Told You - Patheos

Kiley Jon Clark rings the Tibetan bell and the Buddhist meditation practice begins.

Sitting cross-legged on red cushions placed on the floor of Ayres House, a residential facility for youth leaving the correctional system, seven young men seem a tad skeptical. For them, Buddhist meditation is probably about as normal and comfortable as trying to breathe air on Mars.

But Clark is low-key, funny even. This is simply about calming your mind and being in the present, he tells them.

Meditation changed me, he said. My mind used to always race. I had anxiety and depression. Now Im able to sit back and watch things unfold, without having to react out of fear and worry.

For the next hour, Clark and fellow members of Woke-House, a San Antonio Buddhist meditation group, take the young men through various Buddhist chants.

Then they focus on their breathing for eight minutes. They walk slowly around the main room of Ayres House, being mindful of each step. They dialogue about the practice of meditation. At the center of the circle is a vase with dried flowers, electric candles, a figure of the Buddha, a stick of incense.

Clark makes it clear theres no such thing as a dumb question.

So, is this like what those people who shave their heads and wear robes do? one young man asks at the beginning.

Yes, those are monks and nuns, Clark replies. We dont have to do that, were just practitioners. I just shaved my head because Im going bald.

Clark, a Tibetan Buddhist, first brought meditation to San Antonios homeless population in 2007, through a street program. Now a peer support specialist at the San Antonio Clubhouse, a place for adults with serious mental illness, he realized in March that a second-floor room, unused on the weekends, would make a great meditation space.

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio Clubhouse helps members cope

In early March, he and others opened Woke-House, where they hold meditation practice on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to noon. Its open to people of all faiths, or no faith. Clark quips its for the Buddhish.

A native of Floresville not exactly a hotbed of Buddhism Clark, 47, came to the practice after he was diagnosed with anxiety and depression. Hes also in recovery from alcoholism through the 12 Steps, he said.

Patty Garza, community and family relations coordinator at Ayres House, heard him speak at Celebration Circle, a spiritual group she belongs to. Then she visited Woke-House and realized it would be beneficial for the residents of Ayres House.

On ExpressNews.com: Celebrating in a circle

Our kids have all been through tons of trauma, she said. Theyve been away from their families for a long time. Theyre in pain, theyre angry, theyre sad. A majority of our youth have a hard time managing their emotions.

The home provides housing and services for males ages 10 to 19 most are around 16 or 17 whove done time in high-restriction facilities for various crimes, such as drug possession, burglary, robbery and other felony offenses.

They need a place to transition before returning to the community, where they will be on juvenile parole, Garza said. Some residents are foster kids, who may end up getting stuck at the halfway house until the state can find an approved home. Some may stay at Ayres House until they age out of the foster care system.

While at Ayres, they do community service, continue their education, earn GEDs, take vocational courses. Some have jobs. They also receive trauma-informed therapy and group therapy, and learn independent living skills. Some receive drug and alcohol treatment or sexual behavior treatment.

The facility houses up to 24 youth, who typically stay about a month.

On Sunday afternoon, a football game on the widescreen TV in a spacious main room was switched off so everyone could plop down on the red cushions.

This was the second time members of Woke-House had visited Ayres. As before, the young residents seemed a bit tentative at first, smiling shyly when Clark rang the bell three times and asked them to bow to the Buddha figure which, Clark told them, was purchased at Ross Dress for Less.

We dont worship the Buddha, he said. Hes just a dude who woke up.

After the session was over, a few of the young men seemed surprised by how much they got out of it.

I was kind of stressed out sitting there, but then I kind of opened up, and the stress went away, an 18-year-old said. Im gonna add this to my social skills.

Another young man, 17, said the meditation made him feel calm as well.

I realized I dont need to do drugs to handle my issues, he said. I can just put my mind to it.

At the start of the session, one young man sat on the opposite side of the room, warily watching the proceedings.

By the end, when it was time to talk about the experience, hed wandered over and sat down on a cushion.

To learn more about Woke-House, visit http://www.woke-house.org

Melissa Fletcher Stoeltje is a general assignment reporter covering breaking news, cultural trends and interesting people and goings-on around San Antonio and Bexar County, as well as all across South Texas. Read her on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | mstoeltje@express-news.net | Twitter: @mstoeltje

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Bringing meditation and calm to youth leaving the correctional system - San Antonio Express-News

If you are forgetful or you tend to make mistakes when in a hurry, this new study from Michigan State Universitythe largest of its kind to datefound that meditation could help you to become less error-prone.

The research, published in Brain Sciences, tested how open monitoring meditation or, meditation that focuses awareness on feelings, thoughts or sensations as they unfold in ones mind and body altered brain activity in a way that suggests increased error recognition.

Peoples interest in meditation and mindfulness is outpacing what science can prove in terms of effects and benefits, said Jeff Lin, MSU psychology doctoral candidate and study co-author. But its amazing to me that we were able to see how one session of a guided meditation can produce changes to brain activity in non-meditators.

The findings suggest that different forms of meditation can have different neurocognitive effects and Lin explained that there is little research about how open monitoring meditation impacts error recognition.

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Some forms of meditation have you focus on a single object, commonly your breath, but open monitoring meditation is a bit different, Lin said. It has you tune inward and pay attention to everything going on in your mind and body. The goal is to sit quietly and pay close attention to where the mind travels without getting too caught up in the scenery.

Lin and his MSU co-authors recruited more than 200 participants to test how open monitoring meditation affected how people detected and responded to errors.

The participants, who had never meditated before, were taken through a 20-minute open monitoring meditation exercise while the researchers measured brain activity through electroencephalography, or EEG. Then, they completed a computerized distraction test.

CHECK OUT: How to Follow Negative News Without Getting Depressed

The EEG can measure brain activity at the millisecond level, so we got precise measures of neural activity right after mistakes compared to correct responses, Lin said. A certain neural signal occurs about half a second after an error called the error positivity, which is linked to conscious error recognition. We found that the strength of this signal is increased in the meditators relative to controls.

While the meditators didnt have immediate improvements to actual task performance, the researchers findings offer a promising window into the potential of sustained meditation.

These findings are a strong demonstration of what just 20 minutes of meditation can do to enhance the brains ability to detect and pay attention to mistakes, said study co-author Jason Moser said. It makes us feel more confident in what mindfulness meditation might really be capable of for performance and daily functioning right there in the moment.

MORE: This Man Climbed Mount Everest in T-Shirt and Shorts and He Believes Most People Can

While meditation and mindfulness have gained mainstream interest in recent years, Lin is among a relatively small group of researchers that take a neuroscientific approach to assessing their psychological and performance effects.

Looking ahead, Lin said that the next phase of research will be to include a broader group of participants, test different forms of meditation and determine whether changes in brain activity can translate to behavioral changes with more long-term practice.

Its great to see the publics enthusiasm for mindfulness, but theres still plenty of work from a scientific perspective to be done to understand the benefits it can have, and equally importantly, how it actually works, Lin said. Its time we start looking at it through a more rigorous lens.

Reprinted from Michigan State University

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How Meditation Can Help You Make Fewer Mistakes, According to Largest Study of Its Kind - Good News Network

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There's no place like om.

Meditation retreats are becoming more popular as our world becomes increasingly hectic and busy. These days many travelers are looking to incorporate wellness in their vacations to maintain optimal health and emotional well-being. These retreats can offer you the guidance and inspiration you may be looking for in order to unplug, decompress, and find peace and harmony. Some of these programs occur in one day while others span a week or more and may even incorporate a training program. Each of these meditation destinations offer something unique to help you achieve a state of om.

Ontario Vipassana Centre

Vipassana, first taught 2,500 years ago, is one of Indias oldest forms of meditation. Ontario Vipassana Center offers practical methods of self-awareness and teaches you how to find life balance in its ten-day meditation retreat. This program includes nine days of silence where you also refrain from any actions that are considered harmful to yourself or anyone else. You will observe your breath and calm your mind while practicing Anapana meditation and then move into Vipassana, which is the meditation of mental purification by insight. The retreat is located about an hour from Toronto in Egbert, Ontario.

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Wat Suan Mokkh International Dharma Hermitage

If a trip to Thailand is on your radar, Wat Suan Mokkh International Dharma Hermitage offers a ten-day silent meditation retreat on the first of each month. All talks and instructions are given in English, and registration is in person only. If this schedule doesnt work for you, its possible to visit the main monastery at Suan Mokkh between retreats and do your own practice. People attend from all over the world to experience various aspects of the Buddhas teaching. The retreat offers simple living conditions in close proximity with nature.

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Bali Eco Stay

Over the years Bali has become a favorite destination for travelers looking to unwind and surround themselves in paradise off the beaten path. Bali Eco Stay is a green sanctuary located in the heart of Bali where you can truly connect with nature. There are stunning open-air overwater bungalows with views of rice paddies, mountains and stunning forests. If you are already part of a retreat group this is the ideal location to book, and they can be reserved for exclusive use for up to 25 people.

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Kripalu

If you love yoga then Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in the Berkshires may be your dream come true. It is situated on 100 peaceful acres in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, in the middle of the stunning Yokun Ridge. You can sign up for a course or presenter-lead program including Spiritual Practice and Meditation. The center offers day passes so you can arrive super early and stay until dusk, or sign up for their accommodations that are simple and comfortable in keeping with the tradition of retreat-style housing.

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Shamballah Yoga Retreats

If you have always wanted to combine meditation with surfing you need to visit Shamballah Yoga Retreat in Sintra, Portugal. The Surf, Yoga and Meditation Retreat includes surf lessons, yoga classes, guided meditations and delicious healthy meals.Their meditation sessions are aimed at anyone who is seeking balance, peace, clarity and happiness. Accommodations are included and located just a short walk from the exquisite coastline in Sintras National Park. Guided walks, forest therapy, sound journeys and Pilates are also available. The closest airport to Shamballah is in Lisbon, some 25 miles away.

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Lama Zopa blesses dogs at Tushita Meditation Centre.

India is of course a natural fit for meditation and Tushita Meditation Center is perfect for the study and practice of Buddhism.The philosophies originate from the Tibetan Mahayana tradition. If you want to learn the teachings of the Buddha and put them into practice, courses here aim to set you on this path. The center also offers group retreats and drop-in sessions. Tushita Meditation Centre is located on a mountain slope surrounded by forest and the Dhauladhar range near the town of McLeod Ganj. Their meditations are based on the tradition of Lama Tsong Khapa of Tibet.

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Vipassana Hawaii

The Buddha teachings at Vipassana Hawaii stem from the Pali Canon of the Theravada Buddhist tradition. The aim is total happiness and peace through mindful presence as it relates to your life. The retreat is located on 30 acres in the district ofbeautiful North Kohala, which is at thenorthern tip ofthe island. They offer several programs in accordance with Buddhist Theravadic teachings including Sunday meditation sittings in North Kohala where all are welcome, just bring a cushion.

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The Best Meditation Retreats In The World - Forbes

Before my husband Monte and I moved to Boulder a few months ago, we lived for a year on New Yorks Upper West Side. There were tons of great restaurants, music at Lincoln Center, and plays on Broadway to keep us busy. But even with the great eats and culture all around us, some of our most meaningful time was spent on meditation cushions during group sits at the Manhattan JCC. Every weekday morning and evening, people would gather to learn, meditate, and connect. Many of the participants were regulars, folks who had been coming day after day for years. But there were also new people, like us, and we were always welcomed with open hearts and arms.

As we settle into our new lives in Boulder, we have already come to love hiking at Sanitas and our great meals at restaurants like Jaxs and River & Woods. What we were missing were the group meditation sits with a Jewish vibe, as a way to nurture our evolving practices, and to be a part of a community with a shared mindfulness intention.

Starting this week we are excited to have the opportunity to launch two new weekly sits, both of them happening on Tuesdays.

Monte and I will facilitate the sits, which will begin with a brief Jewish mindfulness teaching, then an 18-minute silent meditation, followed by a few minutes of voluntary sharing. Feel free to come once, once in a while, or come weekly and be part of an evolving meditation community. Beginners and long-time meditators are welcome!

Congregation Nevei Kodesh1925 Glenwood Nursery (second floor) Tuesdays4:15 to 4:45 p.m.

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Boulder JCC 6007 Oreg Avenue Reb Zalman Library (second floor) Tuesdays9:15 to 9:45 a.m.

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2 New Weekly Drop-In Meditation Sits on Tuesdays - Boulder Jewish News

As a retired spine surgeon with many years of experience, I was often referred complicated spine problems that required complex surgeries. Sometimes those surgeries resulted in complications for the patient. Although I was committed to having no complications from the first day I walked into the operating room, there was a point a few years ago when I faced up to the fact that I hadnt been able to eliminate them. My own thoughts were interfering with my work.

The most common interferences I felt during surgery were frustration, anxiety, distraction, complacency, and, especially, being in a rush to finish. They all detracted from the consistency of my performance. This led me to develop a somewhat defensive mindset. If I could get through the week without a surgical complication, it was a huge relief.

Things changed when I decided to enlist the help of a performance coach to help me reduce any mistakes in surgery. That was a major turning point in my professional life. I brought my coach into the operating room and clinic so he could better understand my world. For 18 months, he and I underwent regular debriefings and coaching. I began to use active meditation in the operating room.

This meditation model is not based on suppressing interference for instance, if youre frustrated, you dont pretend otherwise rather, you face these frustrations and then detach from them. Using tools and approaches that have been employed for centuries in the practices of meditation and mindfulness, I learned to identify any interference either before or during surgery, and then let go of it.

This is how it worked: Each surgical morning, I woke up and assessed how I was feeling. Like everyone, my feelings ranged from calm and relaxed to tired and anxious. Then, I immediately started sensing every smell, touch and taste possible. I felt the water on my back in the shower. I smelled the coffee. I also reminded myself that although that days surgery is just another case for me, its one of the most important days of my patients life.

I continued this process in the operating room. I carefully arranged the room, talked to each member of the surgical team, and reviewed the imaging studies. I was focused and immersed in whats right in front of me, when previously Id rush into the operating room at the last minute just before making the incision.

During surgery, awareness allowed me to perform my next move at an optimum level. I felt my grip pressure on each surgical tool; noticed the shape of the contours of the anatomy; felt my shoulder and arm muscles stay relaxed; and just watched the flow of the case.

If I felt any disruptive emotions intrude into my state of mind, I quickly practiced my environmental awareness techniques in order to re-focus. I learned to be more fully engaged on a higher percent of cases, so I could program myself into the zone.

Since I started practicing active meditation, my complication rate in surgery noticeably decreased. For instance, from 1999 until 2003 I had an acceptable 9% rate of inadvertently entering the dural sac (a sack of fluid surrounding the brain and spinal cord). After I started using meditation, I made this mistake only two or three times a year, which is less than one percent.

Surgery became a wonderful experience for me. I eagerly looked forward to Monday instead of Friday. I committed to getting a good nights sleep before my surgeries. If I woke up wired and uneasy, I slowed down until I felt relaxed, no matter how many things were on my to-do list.

I continue to practice active meditation daily. Environmental awareness is more difficult outside the operating room, in the less controlled areas of my life, but it is still my go-to active meditation.

One tool I use to practice awareness is my to do list. I remind myself that this list is an expression of my life, and so I practice being aware as I go about each item. For instance, when I have an appointment with a patient, I listen to myself talk to him or her. I feel the pen on the paper as I jot down notes. I also practice meditative techniques. such as watching the disruptive thoughts of need to finish up here, I have other things to do enter my consciousness and then leave.

I remember that my goal is to engage and enjoy every second of my to do list. It doesnt always work, but its surprising how often it does.

Environmental awareness engages me in the present moment regardless of the circumstances. It is not positive thinking, but just switching the sensory input. With repetition, it has become somewhat automatic. It is a simple strategy that can help the quality of your life, regardless of the level of your pain.

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How to Control Anxiety and Pain Through Meditation - Pain News Network

Taft Museum of Art exteriorPhoto: Provided by Taft Museum of ArtHead to the Taft Museum of Art for an after-work happy hour and house party, co-hosted by the Civic Garden Centers Young Professional Green Team.

Think calm and lean into green with soft jams by DJ Mowgli, spiked hot apple cider, food from the Cheesecakery, a chance to create your own light-up peony and a guided meditation session in the galleries.

The CGC will present a talk on current exhibit Poetry of Nature: Hudson River School Landscapes from the New York Historical Society, a collection of paintings that reveal natural wonders that sparked the first artistic movement in the United States, says the museum.

5-8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 14. Free admission. Taft Museum of Art, 316 Pike St., Downtown, taftmuseum.org.

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The Taft Museum's After-Hours House Party Features Spiked Cider, Guided Meditation and a Glimpse of 'Poetry of Nature' - Cincinnati CityBeat

Research shows that veterans are at an increased risk of mental illnesses such as PTSD, anxiety, and depression as a result of deployment and combat. To treat it, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs National Center for PTSD (NCPTSD) recommends trauma-focused psychotherapies, including prolonged exposure, cognitive processing therapy, and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy. Medication is also used to treat symptoms of mental illness. But these therapies focus on the trauma, which veterans may want to avoid. The stigma of traditional psychotherapy approaches might also deter veterans from seeking help, as one study published in March 2016 in Annals of Behavioral Medicine found.

The field of psychology is really pushing cognitive and behavioral psychotherapies that involve talking and thinking about what happened as well as challenging maladaptive thought processes, says Bret A. Moore, PhD, the vice chair of the Boulder Crest Institute for Posttraumatic Growth, as well as a former active-duty army psychologist and Iraq War veteran. These are effective interventions for a portion of veterans, but not all.

Dr. Moore says that his field should focus on nontraditional interventions like meditation that are easy to engage in outside of the therapy room and avoid placing the veteran in the patient or sick role that is often associated with traditional treatments for PTSD.

And research finds a benefit to this approach. In a study published in December 2018 in The Lancet Psychiatry, researchers found that meditation worked as well as exposure therapy to ameliorate symptoms of PTSD in veterans.

Dan Libby, PhD, a licensed clinical psychologist, yoga teacher, and the founder of the Veterans Yoga Project an educational and advocacy organization dedicated to improving the health of veterans through the practices of yoga and meditation who was not involved in the study, said that the symptoms of PTSD can often feel as if youre trapped in a moving car without brakes.

When you really look at whats happening for someone whos dealing with trauma, their mind has become an unsafe, unpredictable, and uncontrollable place, Dr. Libby says. And the external world seems unsafe and unpredictable, too. He believes that many veterans could benefit from a more holistic, mindful approach to PTSD treatments. As a clinical psychologist working at the VA, I found that veterans who also had a practice, whether it be meditation or mindful movement, had better outcomes, he says.

RELATED: PTSD in the Military: Statistics, Causes, Treatments, and More

Meditation is a technique or set of techniques that can help a person to focus their mind and bring it back to the present moment. According to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, its been shown to help alleviate a number of health issues, from depression and anxiety to menopausal symptoms and even high blood pressure.

Heres what the research has to say on how meditation may also help veterans manage PTSD.

Compassion meditation involves the repetition of phrases designed to increase empathy and compassion toward others.

One common phrase used in the practice is: May I be happy. May I be peaceful. May I be free from suffering. Once you feel you have internalized the message, you can then move on to wishing the same positive thoughts to others: family members, friends, and even strangers.

Small studies show that practicing compassion meditation can lessen the symptoms of PTSD. An article published inApril 2019 in the Journal of Traumatic Stress found that practicing compassion meditation for 90 minutes weekly had a greater effect on the symptoms of PTSD among veterans than a program consisting of psychoeducation, relaxation training, and sleep hygiene. Another study published in April 2019, in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, found that veteran participants self-reported a significant decrease in their PTSD symptoms and a high degree of satisfaction with the compassion meditation program. Yet another study examined the effects of loving-kindness meditation (a specific kind of compassion meditation) on veterans symptoms of PTSD and depression. Published in the Journal of Traumatic Stress, it found that veterans who practiced a 12-week loving-kindness meditation course experienced a moderate reduction in symptoms of depression and a high reduction in symptoms of PTSD at a three-month follow-up.

Transcendental Meditation, or TM, is a form of meditation in which a person silently repeats a given sound, word, or short phrase in their mind for a set period of time in order to focus the mind and bring about a state of peace and relaxation. This word or sound is known as a mantra, and it doesnt need to have any meaning at all its only important insofar as it helps you to focus your mind on the sound of the mantra.

The Maharishi Foundation, which trademarked this form of meditation, recommends practicing TM twice a day for 20 minutes at a time once in the morning, once in the evening. The foundation offers courses that can cost hundreds of dollars and stipulates that mantras can be assigned only by TM practitioners.

Studies seem cautiously optimistic about the role of TM in reducing symptoms of PTSD. For example, a study publishedJanuary 2018 in Military Medicine found that TM helped reduce PTSD symptoms without causing veterans to reexperience their trauma. Another study, published November 2018 in Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, found that veterans who practiced an eight-week TM course reported increased mindfulness and quality of life, along with decreased symptoms of PTSD and depression. While the results seem to indicate TM is effective for veterans, most researchers agree that this specific area of study is still relatively new and merits further research.

Luckily for those who dont want to spend hundreds of dollars learning TM, there is another form of meditation that focuses on repetition of a mantra its called mantra meditation. According to the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation, its purpose is to redirect the energy you may spend on negative thinking toward the repetition of a simple and meaningful mantra. Research on the topic is limited, but one study of 173 veterans published in 2018 in theAmerican Journal of Psychiatry found that mantra meditation therapy was generally more effective than present-centered therapy for reducing some of the symptoms of PTSD.

This type of meditation encourages participants to simply be aware and mindful of the present moment, allowing thoughts to come and go without judgment or reaction. Theres a particular emphasis on deep breathing, which may help to ease the symptoms of anxiety and depression, according to one study published June 2015 inApplied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback. A study of 116 veterans, published August 2015 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that mindfulness meditation had a modest effect on the symptoms of PTSD, but a greater effect overall when compared with present-centered group therapy. And a review of a variety of mindfulness-based treatments for PTSD, published in the Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience in January 2018, concluded that thus far, the practice is moderately effective in reducing PTSD symptoms, and definitely merits further study.

Of course, as with many medical conditions, theres no single cure for the symptoms of PTSD among veterans. Treatment for this disorder should always be discussed with a doctor, and where necessary, adjustments to sessions or dosages should be made.

These [meditation] practices are an important and necessary complement to treatment for PTSD, not necessarily an alternative, says Libby. Its all about which tools work for you.

Moore also believes that the existing cognitive and behavioral psychotherapies can be useful along with complementary and integrative practices and he emphasizes that getting the right treatment can lead to deep personal growth for veterans.

Veterans with PTSD are not broken, he says. They are not dangerous. They are not unstable. They are brave men and women who are learning to manage some very difficult life experiences. They are individuals who are trying to make meaning out of what happened during their military service and take the lessons they've learned in order to improve their lives and communities.

RELATED: 5 Ways to Practice Breath-Focused Meditation

If you or someone you know is a veteran living with PTSD and wants help to manage the condition, there are a number of websites and resources you can use for help.

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Here's How Meditation May Help Veterans With PTSD - Everyday Health

Ben Turshen Meditation: This month, Cleveland will be home to its first meditation and self-care studio collective. Opening in Ohio City at 3219 Detroit Avenue, Ben Turshen Meditation and SLFMKR will offer one-on-one and group meditation opportunities, plus personal wellness products and clean living experiences.

About Ben Turshen Meditation: Meditation teacher, Ben Turshen founded his practice in New York City, where he built a strong reputation both locally and nationally as an expert in the field of wellness. Ben's practice has been featured in The New York Times, The Huffington Post, CBS News, Fast Company, and more.

He recently brought his renowned practice to the Northeast Ohio community and launched his new accessible meditation program, Access Meditation.

About SLFMKR: Kait Turshen is the founder of SLFMKR, a self-care dedicated studio helping others to take action in improving their health with the belief that self-care has a place from head-to-toe, inside and out. The shop features personal care brands that are committed to optimal and holistic wellness, sustainability, non-toxic and cruelty-free practices, including Akron-based clean beauty brand OY-L; non-toxic nail care from New York, Sundays; all-natural oral care by Keeko and Twice; and holistic anti-aging tools from LanshinUpcoming events at the studios include:

Open House with Ben Turshen MeditationTuesday, November 19, 20196-8 p.m. Come for a fun and casual evening to celebrate the opening of Cleveland's first meditation and self-care studio.

Personality Portraits with Little BobosSaturday, November 30, 201910-2 p.m.Join lifestyle and family portrait photographer Caroline Seiffert for a day of personality portraits with your little one!

Holiday Shopping Pop-up with Emily RoggenburkFriday, December 6, 20195-8 p.m.Stop by SLFMKR for an evening of holiday shopping with Cleveland designer, Emily Roggenburk.

Non-Toxic Holiday Manicures Pop-upSaturday, December 7, 201910-4 p.m.Come by for a non-toxic manicure featuring Sundays 10-Free formulated nail polish.

Group Meditation with Ben TurshenTuesday, December 10, 20196-8 p.m.Join us for a meditators only event that will include a full group meditation!How to Detox Your Life with Abby Taft, RDN, LDNTuesday, January 14, 20206-8 p.m.Join us for an evening with Abby Taft, RDN, LDN to learn about how exposure to toxins and your diet affects your skin and overall health. Abby will outline what toxins are and most importantly, how to identify and avoid them in your food and beauty products.

To see all events and to learn more about SLFMKR and Ben Turshen Meditation, please visit benturshenmeditation.com and slfmkr.com.

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Meditation Studio To Open In Ohio City - Patch.com

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Bhajan is a powerful technology for personal transformation which helps people to live their excellence. Kundalini Yoga works with the endocrine system to stimulate glandular secretions within the body, producing profound systemic effects. The glands are the guardians of our health. When they are secreting properly, we are vital, energized and feel well.

Kundalini Yoga has existed for thousands of years, passed down from teacher to student with great care to preserve the effectiveness of these practices. Kundalini Yoga is a Raj or royal Yoga, in that for a large portion of history it was only accessible by royalty and the nobility. It is only within the last fifty years that these practices have been made available to such a wide audience, breaking with tradition, to meet the needs of people living in this era. We live in an age where we are constantly bombarded with information. This can wreak havoc on our nervous systems.

Under persistent stress, the body spends less and less time in the parasympathetic nervous system, which is all about rest, repair and rejuvenation. These practices and meditations stimulate the parasympathetic response and help to restore balance. We can also strengthen our nervous system through the conscious application of stress, experiencing the growth edge that exists around our perceived limitations, literally retraining the mind to better handle stress and stressful situations.

Join Luke at Resonance Costa Ricas next event:

Strengthening inner vitality to conquer stress with Kundalini Yoga and Meditation, the yoga of awareness.

This retreat and workshop series will contain practices and meditations which vastly improve our ability to handle stress and stressful situations. We will breathe consciously, move the body and sit in stillness. This retreat is available to absolutely anyone, regardless of physical condition, and will meet everyone where they are at, providing gentle alternatives and visualizations as an option, while offering plenty of opportunities for people to rise to mental and physical challenges, should they choose to do so.

Stress occurs when our inner vitality is unable to match an exterior stressor. Using this as our fundamental understanding of stress, we will engage in ancient transformative practices to strengthen our inner vitality and to calm the fluctuations of the mind. Kundalini Yoga is a powerful technology for personal transformation that brings forth an individuals full potential and helps them to live authentically. Specifically, we will be using:

Kundalini Yoga has been called the fast track to enlightenment for its capacity to quickly deliver profound experiences to the practitioner. Whereas some yogic paths focus on strengthening the physical body, Kundalini Yoga works directly with the Prana (life force) of the body, encouraging greater circulation of life energy to all cells of the body. Hundreds of Kriyas (specific sets of exercises intended to bring about a desired effect) exist within this technology and can be applied to ones own experience to meet the desired area of growth for that individual.

Click Here to find out more: https://www.facebook.com/events/457337294906211/

By: Luke McKim, KRI Certified Level 2 Kundalini Yoga & Meditation Teacher

Luke is an ever-evolving man of integrity. A KRI certified Kundalini Yoga and Meditation teacher, Luke is passionate about helping people to empower themselves through these transformative practices so that they can live authentically as their True expression. Certified as a recovery coach with Recovery 2.0 and Tommy Rosen, Luke is dedicated to helping people to uncover the unconscious patterns driving their behavior and thoughts, helping them to cultivate awareness of their conditioning and to step into greater freedom and ease of being. Having trained in Yoga with various Indian and International Yogic masters, including Anand Mehrotra, founder of Sattva Yoga, and Kia Miller, founder of Radiant Body Yoga, Luke is a constant seeker of Truth who embraces all paths and modalities which help to move a person from darkness into light.

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Scientific Understanding of Kundalini Yoga Kundalini Yoga and Meditation as taught by Yogi The Costa Rica News - The Costa Rica News