National Stress Awareness Day November 5, 2009
Posted by themindspa in Mindspa, meditation.Tags: anxiety, InnerPulse, Insomnia, Meditation, Meditations-UK, MeditationsUK, Mindspa, procyon, proteus, Sirius, sleep disorder, sleep problems, stress
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Yesterday was National Stress Awareness Day. The fact that such a day exists, and that it’s in its 11th year, says a lot about society – and the workplace – today. In fact, stress has become so prevalent that NICE – the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence – has launched new guidance for employers about how to improve mental well-being in the workplace.
The organizers of National Stress Awareness Day is the International Stress Management Association (ISMA).
Ann McCracken, chair of ISMA, says: “Stress, anxiety and depression accounts for over 13.5 million workdays each year, making it the single biggest cause of sickness in the UK. The aim of the campaign is to increase public awareness about the effects of stress, the treatments available and, most importantly, to help individuals suffering from stress to seek help.”
One of the best, natural antidotes to stress is meditation. And meditation is also one of the most effective forms of anxiety treatment. It can be the key to alleviating this problem as it will cultivate an overall calmness that eases anxious feelings and offers a sense of control, using the natural power of your mind.
Meditating whenever you feel levels of anxiety will help naturally to quieten your mind and relax your body. WIth regular meditation, your general state of mind will improve and you’ll find that you’ll feel less anxious about issues that previously caused you stress. The calmness and tranquillity that meditation brings will give you greater emotional stability and the ability to handle stressful situations in a controlled way.
And so If meditation is so good for you, why doesn’t everyone do it ?
The problem is that, using traditional techniques, learning meditation is very difficult.
In fact, using traditional methods, it can take many months – and probably years – of disciplined practice before you gain control of your mind and attain meditative states.
Fortunately, however, there are modern techniques, like the MindSpa, that enable you to take a fast-track to meditation. Isn’t it time that you benefited from the better sense of physical and mental well-being that deep relaxation and meditation can bring you ?
— Ivor Murray is the MD of MeditationsUK, an innovative company that sells technology-led aids to help you relax and de-stress. Their main products are Meditation Machines – small, portable machines that use natural light and sound to gently guide you into calm, relaxing states of mind and body, easily and automatically.
You can find out more about them at www.MeditationsUK.com or www.MindSpa-UK.com, or telephone 020 8371 0436
MindSpa in The Gadget Show’s Top 50 Xmas Presents October 20, 2009
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We’re delighted that our MindSpa system has been selected by The Gadget Show to be in their Top 50 Christmas Gifts.
You might remember that the MindSpa was featured in The Gadget Show’s focus group session and was unanimously voted ‘The Best Stress Buster’. You can see a video clip of the focus group session at http://fwd.five.tv/gadget-show/videos/focus-group/focus-group-stress-busters
The MindSpa has always been popular at Christmas time and many of our customers buy them as presents for friends and family. Last Christmas, one of our customers ( whose MindSpa had helped him with anxiety and sleep problems) bought eight MindSpas for his friends !
We’re starting the run-up to Christmas and according to a survey by the mental health charity Mind, one in five of us gets stressed during the festive season. Christmas is a time for parties, but not everyone enjoys parties, especially if they’re a bit shy. . Here are some quick tips to bear in mind if you’re feeling nervous about going to a party.
- Don’t worry about coming up with sparkling conversation. Just being a good listener makes you popular.
- To get the conversation going, ask open questions such as what someone is doing for Christmas or how their job’s going. Remember FORE – Family, Occupation, Relaxation and leisure, and Education – for conversation topics.
- We all get on with certain people at work or socially more than others. At a party, talk to them first to build your confidence.
- Breathing exercises will help you relax. Breathe in to the count of four, out to the count of five, relaxing your shoulders and tummy. Repeat four times.
- Don’t rely on alcohol to calm your nerves – it can make you more stressed.
— Ivor Murray is the MD of MeditationsUK, an innovative company that sells technology-led aids to help you relax and de-stress. Their main products are Meditation Machines – small, portable machines that use natural light and sound to gently guide you into calm, relaxing states of mind and body, easily and automatically.
You can find out more about them at www.MeditationsUK.com or www.MindSpa-UK.com, or telephone 020 8371 0436
Take a book with you ! September 18, 2009
Posted by themindspa in Mindspa, meditation.Tags: anxiety, Brainwaves and Meditation, Help with Stress, Mindspa
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I spent nearly 40 minutes waiting in a queue at the Post Office yesterday. Fortunately, it wasn’t a waste of time, because I had a book with me. It was a good book and the forty minutes seemed to pass quickly for me. The same can’t be said for most of the people queuing with me who spent their time grumbling and moaning.
I love this quote from Charles W. Elliot :
“Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers. “
Many of us would like to read more, but often it’s a struggle to find the time. In our fast-paced, busy lives the wonderful art of reading gets consigned to the back-burner. But it would be a great shame to give it up totally and banish books from our attention.
I read somewhere that the average person spends two years of their lives queuing in line. I don’t know how they worked that out, but whichever way you cut it, we all pass a lot of our time in queues.
And so make the most of it. Whenever there’s the slightest chance you’ll be kept waiting, take a book with you. While others are moaning, you’ll be using your time constructively to feed your intellect and inspire your spirit.
— Ivor Murray is the MD of MeditationsUK, an innovative company that sells technology-led aids to help you relax and de-stress. Their main products are Meditation Machines – small, portable machines that use natural light and sound to gently guide you into calm, relaxing states of mind and body, easily and automatically.
You can find out more about them at www.MeditationsUK.com or www.MindSpa-UK.com, or telephone 020 8371 0436
The MindSpa can help with anxiety September 7, 2009
Posted by themindspa in Mindspa, meditation.Tags: anxiety, brain waves, Brainwaves and Meditation, depression, Meditations-UK, mind machine, Mindspa, stress
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We get a continuous stream of emails from MindSpa users telling us how their MindSpas have helped them.
And often we get people who say that their MindSpas has literally changed their lives.
This is an email we received recently from a man whose life was being blighted by anxiety issues.
“At first I was a bit sceptical about buying a Mindspa. However, after reading the reviews I decided to give it a try. Before I started using it I had severe anxiety and was looking for the answer to my problems.
I don’t know how this has happened but I feel much better than before. My anxiety has been greatly reduced and I have been able to cope with stress much better. It’s also great to use before you go to bed because you sleep incredibly well.
Although the results have been amazing, I have to say it requires commitment and the changes don’t happen straight away. If you use it every day you will start to feel the changes gradually increase over time. U also do get some immediate benefits such as being deeply relaxed after a session and a better quality of sleep. I also recommend you use it alongside other positive activities such as exercise, and eating healthily.
As a conclusion I’d say anyone who is thinking about buying one just go ahead and give it a try! You won’t regret it. The customer service is also amazing so any questions you have will be answered in detail.
I’m very grateful to Ivor and the Meditations team for being so helpful, and I hope this feedback has been helpful…”
—– John Edmonds, London, UK
— Ivor Murray is the MD of Meditations-UK, an innovative company that sells technology-led aids to help you relax and de-stress. Their main products are Meditation Machines – small, portable machines that use natural light and sound to gently guide you into calm, relaxing states of mind and body, easily and automatically.
You can find out more about them at www.Meditations-UK.com or www.MindSpa-UK.com, or telephone 020 8371 0436
Start The Day Well. July 28, 2009
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The first 30 to 60 minutes after you wake up are the most valuable moments of your day and have a profound effect on the quality of every minute that follows.
If you have the wisdom and self-discipline to ensure that during this key period you take the time to connect to the power of the universe, then you will notice that your days will consistently unfold in the most marvellous ways.
Here are some ideas to ensure that your day gets off to a joyful and peace-filled start.
- Read from an inspirational book. Find some books that contain the timeless princples of successful living that are so easy to forget in the fast-paced world we live in. If you don’t have any suitable books at the moment, here are some suggestions:’The Success Principles’ – Jack Canfield’The Power of Intention’ – Wayne Dyer’Ask and It Is Given’ – Esther and Jerry Hicks
- Perform gentle exercise. It is important to get your body ready for the day ahead by engaging in some gentle exercise such as T’ai Chi, Yoga or Chi Gung. If you don’t know how to do these, then buy a book or find a course. ( T’ai Chi is difficult to learn from a book – you will need to go on a course to learn it). Performing exercise also helps to connect your mind and body together so that you will feel more integrated and centred during your day.
- Meditate. Meditation is a technique designed to train your mind to function the way it was designed to. The peace and tranquility you’ll feel after your morning meditation session will infuse every remaining minute of your day. You will be more patient in your relationships, more serene at the office and more happy when you’re alone.
You can learn to meditate easily using a meditation machine – see www.Meditations-UK.com
- Review your goals. Spend some time thinking about your goals. If you’ve written down your goals (and you should have ! ) read over them. Visualise your goals in your mind and imagine that you’ve already achieved them. Think positively about what you intend to do during the day and how it will help to bring your goals nearer to you.
Create a morning ritual that includes these ideas and you will soon start to feel and see great improvements in your life.
Meditation & Creativity June 26, 2009
Posted by themindspa in Mindspa, meditation.Tags: creativity, Meditation, Mindspa
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Meditation is a great way of accessing your inner creative potential. By spending a little time in meditation or deep relaxation, we can quieten the mental chatter that often obscures our creative thoughts. Meditation also helps to open up our inner resources so that flashes of insight and imagination can come bursting through.
When you meditate, there is greater cohesion and co-operation between the left and right hemispheres of our brain. Our right brain is responsible for emotions, images, non-verbal associations and so on, and these functions are often subordinated by a more dominant left brain that handles logic and rational thought. By equalizing the activity of the right and left sides of the brain, meditation can lead to the greater creativity that results from harmonisation of the left and right brain functions.
The more esoteric explanation of why meditation leads to increased creativity is that when we meditate we have access to a universal source of wisdom. This is what Deepak Chopra says about our true creativity : the more we open ourselves to the universal energy, the easier we can access its unlimited creativity.
It doesn’t matter whether you go along with the scientific reasoning, or the mystical explanation, the bottom line is that when we are calmer inside we are more creative. Take up the practice of meditation and bring your hidden creativity into the open.
— Ivor Murray is the MD of Meditations-UK, an innovative company that sells technology-led aids to help you relax and de-stress. Their main products are Meditation Machines – small, portable machines that use natural light and sound to gently guide you into calm, relaxing states of mind and body, easily and automatically.
You can find out more about them at www.Meditations-UK.com or www.MindSpa-UK.com, or telephone 020 8371 0436
If meditation is so good for you, why doesn’t everyone do it ? June 19, 2009
Posted by themindspa in Mindspa, meditation.Tags: biofeedback, learn to meditate, Meditation, meditation machines, mind machines, Mindspa
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Meditation is one of the most researched ‘alternative ‘ therapies and has been clinically proven to have a wide range of health benefits.
More and more doctors are recommending meditation as an effective stress buster and useful support for patients with many types of chronic and acute conditions
Research studies have shown that meditating for as little as fifteen or twenty minutes a day promotes improved mental and physical health and well-being.
Some of the benefits are :
- Lower blood pressure
- Boosted immune system
- Better sleep patterns
- Less anxiety and depression
- Greater sense of fulfilment
- Better emotional stability
And so the question is :
If meditation is so good for you, why doesn’t everyone do it ?
The problem is that, using traditional techniques, learning meditation is very difficult.
I think the meditation ‘industry’ has shot itself in the foot by making out that learning to meditate is easy.
It isn’t.
In fact, using traditional methods, it’s very, very difficult. It can take many months - and probably years - of disciplined practice before you gain control of your mind and attain meditative states.
That’s why so many people who buy books or go on courses give up with meditation. And that’s a great shame, because as mentioned earlier, relaxed states of body and mind can bring enormous physical and psychological benefits.
I believe that everyone should meditate – not only for their own good, but also because the world would be a much better place if more people spent a little time each day meditating.
If you’ve tried to meditate and given up, or if you would like to learn to meditate but feel that you don’t have the time or patience, I would urge you to look at modern ways of learning to meditate.
Light and sound devices and biofeedback systems can provide a fast track to meditation that is no less valid or effective than more traditional techniques. They’re just a whole lot faster and easier.
On the other hand, of course, you may decide to go the traditional route. And that’s fine as well. We’re all different, and we can all find our own path – if we bother to look for it.
For your own good, and the good of the world, find a method that suits you and put aside a little time for meditation.
— Ivor Murray is the MD of Meditations-UK, an innovative company that sells technology-led aids to help you relax and de-stress. Their main products are Meditation Machines – small, portable machines that use natural light and sound to gently guide you into calm, relaxing states of mind and body, easily and automatically.
You can find out more about them at www.Meditations-UK.com or www.MindSpa-UK.com, or telephone 020 8371 0436
Brain awareness week. June 11, 2009
Posted by themindspa in Mindspa, meditation.Tags: brain, brain waves, Meditation, Mindspa
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Did you know that March 16 – 22 was Brain Awareness Week ?
Well it’s a pretty big thing in the USA, but not very publicised over here in the UK.
I’m fascinated about the way our brains work. The human brain weighs about 3 pounds, looks like a cauliflower and many people believe that it’s the most complex organisational structure in the known universe.
Brain Awareness Week gives scientists an opportunity to educate people about the amazing advances in brain research and how you can keep your brain healthy.
For example, you’ve probably know that it’s important to keep your brain active as you get older – the phrase “use it, or lose it” is often applied to mental fitness, just as it is to physical fitness.
But recent brain research indicates that it’s important to learn new activities, rather than just repeating activities you’ve already mastered. Bearing this in mind, if you want to keep your brain alert and functioning in the best possible way, then you should try to engage in activities that :
- Teach you something new
- Are challenging and require your full attention
- Are progressive, so that they start easy but get progressively more difficult.
- Give you a sense of achievement
- Are novel and surprising in some way
It’s not difficult to find activities that meet these criteria. Learning a new language, taking up a musical instrument, trying to juggle, or trying your hand at cryptic crosswords are all examples of activities that fit the bill.
Maintaining a healthy brain requires a little work – but when you think about the alternative, it’s well worth it.
— Ivor Murray is the MD of Meditations-UK, an innovative company that sells technology-led aids to help you relax and de-stress. Their main products are Meditation Machines – small, portable machines that use natural light and sound to gently guide you into calm, relaxing states of mind and body, easily and automatically.
You can find out more about them at www.Meditations-UK.com or www.MindSpa-UK.com, or telephone 020 8371 0436
How meditation can help with weight loss June 8, 2009
Posted by themindspa in Mindspa, meditation.Tags: Meditation, Meditations-UK, Mindspa, mindspa-uk, weight loss
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How meditation can help with weight loss
It’s strange to think that sitting still in deep relaxation or meditation can help us to lose weight.
When we think of things that will help us with weight loss, we would normally think of changing our diet (so that we don’t consume so many calories) or performing physical exercise (so that we burn off surplus calories).
And of course it’s true that if we eat less and exercise more, we will lose weight. But the important thing to remember is that without the right mental conditioning, our attempts to lose weight will like be doomed to failure.
Meditation can help you to achieve the right mental state that is essential for successful and sustained weight loss. It can do this in a number of ways.
First, meditation can help you to build the discipline that is necessary for you to carry out your exercise programme and stick to your healthy diet. Meditation is like doing mental exercise. And in the same way as when you do physical exercise you become physically stronger, spending time in meditation each day, or even three or four times a week, will help you to become mentally stronger.
Instead of giving in to your urges to eat chocolates and biscuits, you’ll start to have the mental strength to overcome them. Instead of finding excuses to justify not going for a walk or jog, you’ll find reasons to motivate you to do your exercise.
Secondly, meditation can do even more than build mental resolve. Meditation will automatically lead you to a better state of physical and mental well-being and before long, your body will start to regulate itself and naturally aim for a state of optimal health. This means that over time, your desire for unhealthy foods will reduce and physical exercise will become something that you look forward to.
Thirdly, it’s long been known that that positive visualisation can play an important part in reaching any target, such as weight loss, and can help in maintaining a healthy lifestyle to keep the weight off. For example, you can mentally picture yourself at your ideal weight and enjoying your improved physical appearance. Or you can see yourself turning down high-calorie food and choosing healthy food instead.
Visualisation techniques are much more effective when you perform then in a deeply relaxed state of mind. This is because you’ll be programming your subconscious at a deep level which will then steer you towards achieving your desired goal. By changing your mind, it will result in changing your body.
There are many techniques you can use to meditate. However, many traditional meditation techniques can take a long time to master. At Meditations-UK, our Meditation Machines offer a fast track to deep relaxation and meditation that we believe is particularly suited to the fast-paced, stressful lives that many of us lead.
Whichever way you decide to meditate, the regular practice of meditation will play an important part in your weight-loss effort and will lead to a happier, healthier and more fulfilled life.
— Ivor Murray is the MD of Meditations-UK, an innovative company that sells technology-led aids to help you relax and de-stress. Their main products are Meditation Machines – small, portable machines that use natural light and sound to gently guide you into calm, relaxing states of mind and body, easily and automatically.
You can find out more about them at www.Meditations-UK.com or www.MindSpa-UK.com, or telephone 020 8371 0436
What’s the Best Time to Meditate? March 20, 2009
Posted by themindspa in Mindspa, meditation.Tags: best time to meditate, Ivor Murray, Meditation, Meditations Ltd, Meditations-UK, Mindspa
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I’m regularly asked about what’s the optimum time of the day for meditation. I understand, in people’s busy lives, they want to get the most out of any possible quiet time, so finding the best time to meditate is important to them.
Traditionally, it’s the early morning time that offers the best time for quiet and stillness. Not only is your home likely to be at its quietest, but you are calm from sleeping and the busy day has yet to fill your mind with distractions and demands on your time and thoughts.
Human beings have evolved to be at their most active during daylight hours, so beginning your meditation in the early hours of the morning will provide you with a point of departure to face your busy day. This is the ideal time for most people to meditate, BUT, it’s worth remembering how different we all are, and some people may find a different time of the day the most beneficial.
Many people like to meditate in the evening to help relax and refresh them after work. If you have the time, of course, you can meditate in both the morning and evening to increase the beneficial effects. Some people even fit in another session at mid-day as a way of energising themselves for the afternoon.
If you suffer from sleeping difficulties, then it can be very beneficial to meditate directly before you go to bed. Meditation will help you to relax physically and mentally and get your brain in the right state to trigger good quality sleep. That way you slowly merge the peaceful stillness and quiet of meditation with sleep.
Finding the right time to meditate is a matter of personal preference. You should try out different times that suit your daily routine. The best way to make anything a part of your day is to habituate the practice into your routine.
Find a comfortable place, somewhere quiet and cosy, whenever, wherever. You can enjoy the benefits of meditation at any time, and you should choose the time that suits you best rather than being dictated to by others.
— Ivor Murray is the MD of Meditations-UK, an innovative company that sells technology-led aids to help you relax and de-stress. Their main products are Meditation Machines – small, portable machines that use natural light and sound to gently guide you into calm, relaxing states of mind and body, easily and automatically.
You can find out more about them at www.Meditations-UK.com or www.MindSpa-UK.com, or telephone 020 8371 0436
