Holistic Health And Wellbeing Advice from Holistic Health Experts
Meditation
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A variety of yoga gift ideas, yoga Christmas gifts for your family or friend who loves yoga.
Aromatherapy Diffuser
Aromatherapy diffusers are a safe way to diffuse essential oils in any private or public space.
The Chi Aroma Diffuser from NYR Organics has beautiful zen like design globe diffuses up to 6 hours of calming aromatherapy mist, perfect for any meditation or yoga space. It is so nice it would look great in any yoga studio or holistic spa.
The Chi Aroma Diffuser kit contains
Mist duration of up to 6 hours with two settings
Soothing breathing light with three different breathwork practices (Balance, Release and Clarity)
Ambient relaxing light
Night mode
Remote Control
Bonus built in ‘breathwork coach’ to guide you through a series of three breathwork sequences.
Blankets and Meditation Blankets
During something like hot yoga or yoga stretches our body temperature increases.
When we begin to relax our body during more relaxing yoga such as Yoga Nidra or other meditative poses our body temperature drops.
That is why every yoga student and meditation student should have a warm comfortable yoga blanket, and yoga towel.
The organic cotton yoga blankets and organic cotton yoga towels from Ekotex Yoga are of high grade quality and make a lovely gift for yogi friend.
Candles
A beautiful candle never goes wrong with meditation and yoga lovers especially those with 100% natural fragrance with essential oils and organic wax.
Both candles are 190 grams and have approx 36 hours burning time and are made of essential oils, beeswax and plant oil.
Cushions And Yoga Bolsters
Yoga cushions and yoga bolster cushions help provide support and comfort for stretching, deep breathing and attaining certain postures.
The best yoga cushions tend to be of a very high quality cotton or organic cotton. Check out this gorgeous colours in these organic cotton yoga bolsters filled with buckwheat or spelt.
Yoga bags and yoga straps are another great yoga gift for the yoga fanatic who loves to take their yoga mat everywhere they go. These range of yoga bags are made of organic cotton, lightweight and portable designs for easy convenience.
Yoga Mat
Every yoga student needs a yoga mat. There is so many different types of yoga mats to choose from but the main things that most students look for is a yoga mat that has a good grip, is eco friendly and has good cushioning. You can choose from jute yoga mats, cork yoga mats, organic yoga rugs and those with Oeko-tex grade PVC.
Yoga Mat Refresher & Mat Cleaner
This is such a great product to make cleaning your yoga mat simple and easy. This natural mat cleaner and refresher contains 100% natural ingredients. Developed to help keep your yoga mat fresh and clean from surface stains and dirt without the nasties used in other cleaning and refresh products.
If you are a yoga lover, what would be your favourite yoga gift idea, we would LOVE to know.
My Top Recommended Pure Essential Oils For Meditation. The best essential oils to help you get into deep stages of meditation, calm, and peace. grounding and Sacred Essential Oils To Help You Achieve Deep Meditative States.
Benefits Of Essential Oils For Meditation
As both a Meditator for 30 years and a qualified aromatherapist I understand how highly effective high-quality pure essential oils can be in helping meditators achieve deep meditative states. For anyone who struggles to relax, switch off, is new to meditation, or for those who think they cannot meditate, these right incense or essential oils during meditation can help set the scene, create the right atmosphere, and help you get more centered and grounded.
Most people underestimate the power of certain essential oils on the mind, body, emotions, and spirit and how much scents can change our mood and mental state.
These 3 Pure Essentials Oils are grounding and Sacred Oils used by Meditators worldwide.
3 Of The Best High-Quality Pure Essential Oils For Meditation
These 3 Pure Essentials Oils For Meditation are grounding and Sacred Oils used by Meditators worldwide.
Frankincense For Meditation
Frankincense (Boswellia sacra) is a resin oil that has been extracted from the gum of the Frankincense Tree typically grown in Africa.
Frankincense has been used for centuries for religious, spiritual, and therapeutic practice. It is known by some as the “King Of Oils” for its wide versatility, its physical and spiritual value, we know Frankincense was given to the baby Jesus. Frankincense is used as an incense, perfume, skincare, and embalming due to its preservative properties as far back as the Ancient Egyptians and today.
Frankincense inhaled and or applied as a massage blend with a carrier oil to the body is deeply calming, deeply grounding, and very relaxing. I find Frankincense one of the best essential oils for meditation it is so deeply grounding, so deeply calming, and centering.
Frankincense Scent: Frankincense has a warm woody resin scent.
Buying Frankincense: When buying Frankincense Essential Oil make sure you choose from a high-quality product such as NYR Organics or doTerra. For those in the UK, I would highly recommend NYR Organics for quality and price.
Myrrh Oil For Meditation
Myrrh (Commiphora myrrha) is a resin oil that has been extracted from the gum of the flowering trees of the genus Commiphora in Somalia, Arabia, and Ethiopia.
Myrrh has also been used for centuries, widely used by the Ancient Mediterranean and Middle Eastern countries, and was another gift to the baby Jesus. Myrrh used to be regarded as a very valuable commodity but no longer has the high financial value it used to have.
Like Frankincense, Myrrh has also been widely used for embalming, perfume, incense, and as an antiseptic throughout the ages.
Myrrh was widely used in many purification and religious rituals. And another one of those commonly used essential oils for meditation and sacred rituals.
Myrrh is mixed with Frankincense for many of the Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Oriental, and Eastern Orthodox Churches. Mentioned as a rare perfume in the bible by the Hebrews.
In Chinese Medicine, Myrrh is regarded as “blood moving” and in Ayurvedic has rejuvenating and restoring properties.
Myrrh is said to help support spiritual opening, when used in inhalation or an aromatherapy blend it is said to work directly with the hypothalamus, pituitary, and amygdalin glands to reduce stress and anxiety.
Myrrh Scent: Very Earthy, Liquorice Type Notes. It blends well with frankincense, marjoram, and rose.
Buying Myrrh: When purchasing Myrrh Essential Oil make sure you choose from a company that only purchases high-quality grade Myrrh Resin such as NYR Organics or doTerra.
Sandalwood (Santalum album) is extracted from the Sandalwood Trees and Roots, in the genus Santalum through distillation. The Sandalwood tree is regarded as one of the most worthy trees in the world.
Sandalwood is another one of my favourite essential oils for meditation, to help me get more grounded, and add it to my bath, and skincare products. I love the strong woody masculine aroma of Sandalwood. Sandalwood is the base note for many aftershaves and perfumes. It acts as a common fixative in perfumes for more volatile scents such as citrus, exotic, and floral scents to help increase the longevity of the scent.
The Australian Aborigines have used their local sandalwood trees for food; nuts, fruit, and seed kernels. Indian Sandalwood is regarded as extremely sacred and is known in Sanskrit as chandana in Hindu Ayurveda. East Indian Sandalwood is greatly used in Ayurvedic Medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine. Sandalwood is a popular meditative scent in certain Buddhist practices, and why Sandalwood Incense is a popular gift to Budda.
Sandalwood Scent: A deeply grounding, rich woody aroma that blends well with Frankincense and Rose.
Buying Sandalwood: When buying Sandalwood for therapeutic properties ensure you are buying your Sandalwood Pure Essential Oil from a high-quality distributor such as NYR Organics.
Want to learn more about Aromatherapy and Essential Oils?
Want more natural solutions for your family’s health and well-being?
If you want to learn how to stop overthinking and how to relax. It helps to understand why we overthink and why it is so detrimental to our health and wellbeing. And why the ability to relax is so important.
Overthinking usually refers to the act of ruminating, focusing on something for too long or too many times. In many ways, rumination is a by-product of our over-busy modern lifestyle. Especially obsessing over the negative or possible aspects of a situation, which is exhausting, unproductive and at times depressing
It is a developed part of our innate survival response, the healthy analytical mind helps us find solutions from danger. But the unhealthy ruminative mind is in a constate state of anxiety and stress. And when people suffer from chronic anxiety and chronic stress, the mind and body stops being able to relax.
How To Stop Overthinking
People who tend to worry a lot, tend to live their life in a state of fear are more likely to engage in overthinking and rumination. But the reality is most anxiety and stress is triggered by ruminating over what could go wrong. Or over what we believe will cause us pain or suffering. Because of that fear we feel the need to control as many outcomes as we can.
But when we try to control everything we are not in the flow, not living in a natural harmonious state of being. We are living in a state of resistance which actually is the source of most suffering and dis-ease. So the overthinker is not living in the moment, not trusting the moment.
I was a highly anxious overthinking child, the eldest of many siblings. Beinghighly empathic I worried a lot about the needs of others. And that impacted my mental, emotional and physical wellbeing from a young age. It took me many years to learn how to stop overthinking and how to just be.
How To Help Clients And Students Have Less Ruminative Thoughts
I spent 30 years studying many different mind, body, emotional and spiritual techniques. Yet despite studying different types of therapies, healing, mind techniques, psychotherapy. I found for myself and clients the most simple approaches were often the most effective if approached in the right order, the right way.
We all deserve to live a more calm, content and stress-less life. And I have found the most effective way IS NOT trying to change all your thoughts. There is a theory we have 40, 000 negative thoughts each day . So that is a lot of thoughts you would need to change. If we approach it from one step beyond our mindset. It is far more effective when we teach others how to reduce their attachment to our thoughts. Reduce the engagement in overthinking and help them learn how to relax and be.
4 Ways To Reduce Overthinking
Embrace The Here And Now –
The easiest way to reduce overthinking is to embrace the present moment. Stop throughout your day and notice where your thoughts and where is your attention is? Is your attention on the activity that you are doing? Is your attention fully with the people you are engaging with? Or is it in thoughts of the past, thoughts of what you have to do later in the day? We have lost appreciation and value for this moment. It is too easy to miss all the blessings that we are being given in this present moment. And when the mind, the body, emotions, and spirit and not in the moment, disjointed and out of balance. We manifest dis-harmony, dis-ease.
Meditation tools, when taught the right way, can be powerful ways to bring you into the present moment. Here in the west we are so conditioned into spending so many hours of our day doing, thinking and analysing. That most people really struggle to stop, struggle to relax especially relax properly. Now meditation helps because it encourages more space, more freedom between our thoughts. Meditation helps us connect with our own inner peace, our own inner calm, and our own inner guidance. It helps us reconnect with the self and less distracted by thoughts that are not facts. Less pulled in by the external distortion and manipulation of the world and media around us.
Develop Self-Compassion –
We can all be too hard, demanding and uncompassionate towards ourselves. Especially about decisions, we have made in the past or even in our present situation. Because we are so over-identificated with who we think we are or are supposed to be. This leaves us more empty and confused, and more likely to fall into jobs and roles that do not fill our souls. Self-compassion can teach us how to giving ourselves the same compassion and understanding we give to those around us.
Know You Are Enough –
When you know you are more than enough, it’s easier to disengage with those self-sabotaging thoughts. Our biggest self-destruction is our beliefs around who we think we need or should be. We live in a distorted society that has convinced us, that our value lies in what we do, what we earn, what we look like. The roles, status, and power we have or take on, but none of this makes us more worthy or more valued. This is a huge distortion and so far from the truth. We are all born into this world enough, all with individual unique traits, gifts, skills, abilities and what may be perceived as disabilities. But none of them define our worth.
So many people go through their day without stopping and taking a moment to stop, relax or rest. Tea breaks, lunch and afternoon breaks at work are not just about having a meal or a drink. But are there to remove yourself from your busyness and stress. When we work through our breaks and only try and switch off and relax just before going to bed or going on holiday.
The mind and body can really struggle to relax, because it is overstimulated, over-stressed. The mind and body needs periods of calm to restore balance. So breaks throughout your day, breaks at work, breaks at home, at school and college are important. If we skip time out, our mind and body forgets how to relax. It becomes more conditioned to be in the stress response instead of the relaxed response.
It is important to be aware and listen to your body, become aware of the tension in your body. When we are so in our mind, in our thoughts we are detached from our body, our emotions. It is important to be fully present with that tension without adding a story a reason why you are so tense.
Learn How To Relax And Sleep Deeply And Effectively –
The inability to relax is one of the biggest causes of physical disease, sleep problems chronic pain and tension. We are so mentally busy, so engaged in our thoughts we find it difficult to switch off or relax without any distractions.
Many people think relaxation is sitting in front of the television, or playing a game on their computer or smartphone. But these activities are not relaxing, they are distractions of the mind. That is why Relaxation Therapy is a powerful way to teach clients and students how to let go of long-term anxiety, chronic stress, and stress-related insomnia. Relaxation techniques re-teach the body how to not only relax and just be, but help reduce pain and tension.
Moving Into A State Of Being, Relaxing
As you can see how to stop overthinking and relax is very much about dis-engaging with unhealthy conditioning. It is about re-learning how to be, how to relax. A baby knows how to relax, knows how to be, knows how to appreciate the present moment. A baby usually comes into the world appreciated knowing it is enough.
Until that baby starts to become conditioned towards fear, pain, expectations, guilt, shame, other people’s ideas of what is right, wrong. A society’s idea of what is right, wrong, good, bad, expected and not expected. The more you learn how to be in the moment and detach from your conditioning and learn how to relax, relax deeply and effectively. Overthinking starts to dissolve, there is less overthinking, less anxiety, less stress and less depression.
Mental health benefits of meditation in our stressful modern world. Learn why the emotional and mental health benefits of meditation are one of the most powerful life skills you can teach a child, teenager, or adult.
Why traditional forms of meditation are becoming increasingly popular in our fast-paced world.
Meditation is all about the art of awareness, conscious awareness, and state of being. In a modern world where we are bombarded with distractions, brainwashed, and conditioned to be in a state of doing.
At a time when we are overwhelmed by information and stimulus, in toxic, plastic, manmade environments. We have become constantly overwhelmed; stressed, anxious, and confused. Disconnected from ourselves, so disconnected from nature, our natural habitat. On a conscious or unconscious level, we crave a much safer space of solitude, freedom, and spiritual connectedness. Something that meditation can give us.
Main Mental Health Benefits Of Meditation
Meditation has become a popular self-help tool to reduce many modern mental health issues it is used to help
Meditating has been demonstrated in clinical research to be highly beneficial in reducing stress. It is known to move on from the stress response, the “fight or flight response” to the relaxation response.
LOWER DEPRESSION:
Daily meditation is a helpful aid in reducing depression and other mental health issues when taught effectively. It helps reduce ruminative thinking because it helps loosen over-attachment to our monkey mind.
INCREASE CONCENTRATION AND FOCUS:
Meditation has been shown in different research to help increase concentration and focus—the ability to perform certain tasks more effectively.
INCREASES CONFIDENCE:
The art of meditation helps us move out of negative sabotaging thinking into a more natural authentic way of being. So we are naturally more confident.
Regular meditation encourages the body into a more natural rested state of being. Regular meditators witness an improved quality of sleep.
Health Benefits Of Meditation
IN THE REDUCTION OF HEART DISEASE: Regular meditation practice can be a helpful aid in reducing heart disease and stroke. And useful for lowering symptoms of high blood pressure.
PAIN MANAGEMENT: Daily meditation encourages the body of the inflammatory response caused by chronic stress into a relaxed response. It is a useful aid in pain management and muscle tension reduction.
Medical Research On Mental Health Benefits of Meditation
Meditation Infographic – Mental Health Benefits Of Meditation
Clinical and medical research on the benefits of meditation has been going on since the 1950s. Although, the study of meditation is a growing subdivision in neurological research. There is a variety of documented research on the physical and mental health benefits of meditation.
Benefits Of T.M Meditation
We know Transcendental Meditation has been one of the most clinically researched styles of meditation. Studies suggested that when T.M. was taught properly it not only reduced anxiety and stress it helped reduce PTSD in veterans.
Now as a meditator of over 30 years, who has studied a wide range of meditation styles including T.M. I have personally found other types of meditation alongside relaxation therapy are safer and suitable for PTSD.
But one thing is clear, meditation is a powerful life skill that I believe should be taught to everyone, taught in schools from a young age.
Meditation has been shown not only to reduce the fight or flight response but it helps to reduce inappropriate emotional reactions, a useful aid in anger management and PTSD.
Another study on the “Effect of mindfulness meditation training on anxiety, depression and sleep quality in perimenopausal women.”
Proved to be beneficial in reducing mental health issues specifically anxiety, depression, and sleep issues.
What other life skill, helps you experience inner calm, and peace amidst the chaos, sadness, and loss, in our crazy modern life?
What other skill can be as simple and cost-effective to learn? That is why the mental health benefits of meditation practice are becoming increasingly recognized.
Meditation is becoming an increasingly popular life skill and form of therapy in modern medicine. Meditation apps are becoming more popular to help with pain management and as an emotional aid for life-threatening conditions like cancer.
Free Meditation Course by The Meditation Library. Learn how to meditate daily even if you think you can’t meditate. Learn how to build your meditation practice up in a more simple stressless way.
In this Free Meditation Course, you will not only get your own free meditation mp3 instructional track. You get a 5-day video course of free meditations to support your meditation practice. You will get daily tips on how to meditate and how not to meditate.
We will also help clear up some common myths and misunderstandings surrounding meditation like those below. Many misconceptions around meditation can leave beginners of meditation more stressed and frustrated than calm and relaxed. This course is designed to make meditation more simple, less confusing and more easy to apply to your daily routine.
Understanding Meditation
So what is meditation? Meditation is a skill that is used to bring us into present moment awareness. Meditation techniques usually use one object or sense as its point of focus. In any breathing meditation, the point of focus is your breath. In a Mantra Meditation your point of awareness is on the Mantra
Common Myths Around Meditation
Meditation Is About Controlling Your Thoughts- Wrong
This is a common myth about meditation. A by-product of meditation is you start to have more space between your thoughts, you lose attachment to your thoughts. You will become more disentangled by your thoughts when you start to make this free meditation technique part of your daily life. You become more of a witness an observer to your thoughts instead of getting carried with your thoughts. That is why meditation can be very helpful in reducing symptoms of anxiety, stress, and depression. But meditation is not about trying to control or stop your thoughts.
Meditation Is A Religious Or Spiritual Practice – Not Necessarily
Although different forms of meditation are used in some spiritual or religious practice and most meditation practice has originated from eastern Hinduism and Buddhism. Meditation today is most commonly used in the west as a stress management tool or aid for health and wellbeing. To meditate does not mean you follow any religious concept.
You Need To Sit Like A Yogi To Meditate – Wrong
No no-one needs to meditate like a yogi. You don’t need to sit in the Lotus, Half Lotus or Burmese position to meditate effectively. I have meditated for about 30 years and I usually meditate on a chair. As long as you are sitting upright with your back reasonably straight not slouched or lying down you can meditate.
Meditation Is A Way To Sleep – Not Technically True
When you meditate you are attentively aware, you feel more relaxed and at peace. But traditional meditation is about being fully present, conscious or even super-conscious. Many people confuse meditation with guided meditations that are really more guided visualisations. This is where a therapist will take you on a guided journey evoking different senses, especially imagery.
This often has a very different purpose from what most of us would say is the art of meditation. Some guided visualisations ( known as guided meditation) are designed to help one drift off to sleep. But traditionally meditation is about being fully conscious and about supporting us to let go of the stories. Rather than create a story in our mind what often a guided visualisation will do.
Meditation Is Difficult – It Doesn’t Have To Be
Some people come into meditation with high expectations, expecting all sorts of shifts or expectations in a short period of time. They often put pressure on themselves to achieve or experience something. Meditation is the art of full being, not about an end result. In a way meditation is a journey, not about a mere destination. You will get many benefits of meditation the more you practice meditation. But it is not a process that should be judged, compared or analysed.
Meditation Is Boring – It Doesn’t Have To Be
Again many people come to meditation with very distorted perceptions and expectations around meditation. If you are used to a very active and busy, fun or high adrenaline-packed life. Meditation can take a little bit of adjusting. In a modern world that has deluded us to believe we must do this, be this, have this at the push of an app. We are so used to doing, thinking we have forgotten how to just be. Something that as babies and young children we do so easily.
Meditation Has To Be Long – Wrong
Although generally the more time we spend in a meditative state the more it increases our mental, physical and emotional wellbeing. You don’t need to practice a traditional 20-minute meditation twice a day to reduce your anxiety and stress levels. It can be much easier and beneficial for many people to meditate in short bursts throughout your day. Now, technically in many ways, you can go through your day in meditation. Your day in conscious awareness but this is something that usually takes a lot of discipline and practice. to master. So that is why my Free Meditation Program For Beginners can really help you begin to slow down, be more in the moment.
