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How Hollywood is using meditation for charity

There are two new endorsers of meditation out of Hollywood, but it’s not quite who you think.

Well-known filmmaker David Lynch (Mulholland Drive, Elephant Man, Dune) profiled the importance of meditation in a new film, Meditation Creativity Peace, which “follows the director during his 2007 visits to film schools in 16 Middle Eastern and European countries to talk about meditation, art and peace.”

On stage, Lynch was joined by Russell Brand, comedian, and fellow meditation devotee.

Lynch and Brand have teamed up to bring meditation to over one million schoolchildren who can implement it into their daily lives.

It’s good to see Hollywood embracing meditation–and not just in their own lives–but using their influence to spread it around the world.

Don’t stress! How meditation can help chill you out

There’s something meditation devotees have always noticed about meditation—it’s a real stress-reducer.

And now, there is a study that backs them up.

A UC Davis study shows that “focusing on the present — or being mindful — can lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol.”

In the study:

[i]ndividuals who scored high on the mindfulness questionnaire also had low levels in cortisol, both before and after the retreat. Subjects whose mindfulness score increased after the retreat also showed a decrease in cortisol.

Finally, it’s been proven that stress can literally be reduced by meditation. It also explains why doctors, especially cardiologists, are asking their patients to embrace meditation as a form of stress treatment.

So if you’re stressed, if you find yourself constantly on the edge, if your loved ones are constantly telling you to calm down–give meditation a try.

How meditation changes your brain

One of the great things about meditation is that it can actually rewire our brains.

For those of us who suffer from difficulties with addiction, anxiety, and depression, “[m]indful awareness facilitates greater awareness of bodily sensations, thoughts, and emotions and leads to greater capacity for self-regulation and self-control.”

Neuropsychiatrists and Zen teachers agree on the benefits of meditation for healing your brain and allowing you the ability to change habits or behaviors that are negatively impacting your life.

It’s good to see that mainstream medicine is embracing the benefits of meditation to help people who are being failed by the current system.  As healthcare costs continue to rise, we have to look for reasonable alternatives.  After all–cures can’t always be found in a pill.

This doctor discovered the positive effects of meditation

Dr. Susan Bougher is a proponent of meditation after she found how well it worked in her own life:

I noticed a greater ability to stay focused and ‘on track’ in the middle of busy days where there’s a lot of multi-tasking going on. And compared with the days before meditating, I find that I am more aware of my emotions and feelings.

But meditation doesn’t need to be hours upon hours spent in solitary confinement. In fact, according to Gen Kelsang Nampur, a Buddhist nun in Australia, “[t]en to 15 minutes a day is enough. If you do that every day, your stress levels will go down, you’ll sleep better and you’ll have more patience.”

Meditation is now becoming more and more mainstream.  Instead of writing prescriptions for chill pills, doctors are starting to refer their patients to therapists specializing in meditation.

Just like exercise, meditation is something that can be done every day as part of a healthy, balanced lifestyle.

Why you should take that vacation to India NOW

When you think of meditation, you think India.

Which is why India is home to some of the world’s most famous and beautiful meditation retreats.

From Shreyas in Bangalore to Ayurveda in Coonoor, there are some spectacular options for meditation and yoga, from the glamorous on the water to the low-key tucked away in green tea forests.

It’s on many people’s bucket lists to visit, and if you get a chance to make the trip, it’s something that can truly take your breath away.

So why wait to take a vacation that can truly change your life?

The 4 simple meditation tricks they don’t tell you

Meditation, like many alternative medicine practices, is constantly subject to myths. In fact, the average person likely believes that meditation is crossed-leg chanting.

Here are four myths of meditation that keep many people in the dark:

1. You don’t have to turn off your brain.
2. It doesn’t have to take a long time.
3. You don’t have to tune out sounds.
4. Sitting up straight isn’t required.

Meditation can be done anywhere, anytime, as long as you’re able to focus and calm yourself. It doesn’t need to be strict. Find what works for you and go for it!

Iso tanks: hype or health benefit?

Isolation tanks, which originally were developed for scientific research, are gaining appeal as therapeutic devices.

They consist of large, dark water tanks filled with Epsom salts. You lower yourself inside them and float around for an hour or so, and the quieting effect is supposed to open and significantly calm your mind.

According to one user:

This is the closest you will ever come to having a drug-like experience without taking drugs. Though you will have no crazy hallucinations (at least, I didn’t have any—your hallucinatory mileage may vary), you will understand your brain in an entirely new way.

The effect is essentially a sensory deprivation technique, removing light and sound, two of your most powerful senses, from being used.

The result?

Your mind essentially goes through a short retinue of “things that have to be done” until it hits a dead zone—when your mind is simply open and empty. The ability for your mind to feel a certain kind of calm is said to be “one-of-a-kind”, so much so that many first time iso tank users end up buying them for their homes.

They’ve also been used for specific types of therapy, like managing chronic pain, to great success.

According to one tank owner:

We had a Zen master who visited my lab once, and he asked to go in the tank for an hour. Most of his life he had meditated every day for four or five hours or more. And he thought the depth of meditation he reached in the tank was on par with a level he reached maybe once a year in his normal meditation environment—which was not exactly the middle of Times Square. He was amazed.

If you’re looking for the deepest level of meditation—this may be your calling card.  Isolation tank centers are located in many large cities, and as will hopefully become more popular as they become more readily available.

Want to improve your poker game?

Meditation gets rave reviews for the payoffs it can provide for a lot of people.

It’s now being applied in a new arena—poker.

According to Mish Schaffer, of “Meditation with Mish”: “our thoughts can affect the experiences in our lives, the results that we produce, and even our physical being.”

And this is especially true for poker, where concentration and a clear mind are deeply valued at facilitating a good meditative state.

The best thing? It’s easy to practice meditation, even with a limited schedule, and the benefits are huge.

So leave your sunglasses at home next time you play Texas Hold ‘Em–you may be able to meditate your way to a Royal Flush!

Why haven’t you tried meditation yet?

Meditation used to seem like the practice of only the most devoted Buddhists and spiritualists.

Now, “[t]here are many free or low-cost downloads available and classes at meditation centers, universities and such sites as Kaiser Permanente, which offers meditation programs for members and employees.”

If you feel more comfortable doing it at home, try sitting still for just ten minutes. No sound, no interruptions, no sleep, just stillness.

If you can take ten minutes out of your day to do a few times a week, and then work up to every day, then congratulations!  You’ve established a healthy practice you can use the rest of your life.

So the only question is, why haven’t you started yet?

This Congressman wants everyone to meditate

Representative Tim Ryan, of Ohio, engages in a practice that helps him get through the tougher congressional sessions: meditation.

According to Rep. Ryan:

Properly used, he said, it could lower blood pressure, improve children’s test scores and help veterans returning from the war cope with post-traumatic stress disorder. He even cites studies indicating that it can help people speed recovery from psoriasis, a common and sometimes debilitating skin condition.

The Representative sees meditation as the key to helping out Americans. He’s since published a book on the subject, and hopes to encourage more to pick up the practice of meditation and find ways to infuse it into their daily lives.

So, whether on the floor of Congress or on the floor of a yoga studio—there are places across the country where meditation is being embraced.