The timing pressure April 8, 2009

(image by me)

Stress is the one of the most popular words in this part of the world (apparently not so in Russia or India). People claim getting stress by everything possible, not only by work but also by taking care of their families. Life becomes a constant stress.

Leading basically relaxed and happy life, even I can confess using the word “stress” too often…Why? Trying to understand WHAT exactly stresses me, such a happy person, I came to an interesting conclusion: it is ONLY the time pressure! Because no amount of work and tasks outside my work can stress me otherwise, no problems make me feel hopeless and depressed, I easily see a way out of any situation…But this horrible need of being “on time” for everything puts a huge pressure over me. Coming on time to work, meeting deadlines, meeting people on time… The thing why I don’t want to take it seriously is simply because I see that efficiency – at least in my life -mostly does not correlate with this strickt discipline. Some discipline must be there, that is for sure. But trying to be everywhere on time is just too hard.

 I wonder if you share same experiences?

The best way to see how things can work differently is to travel to some other than Western country (say, India or Russia). The relaxed attitude towards work and duties can cut down the material comfort feeling, however things are still being done, and sometimes with much more love and attention than at places where timing is one of the top values… Ideally  one should reach a good balance between being on time and avoiding stress of it,  but obviously a human being can not completely avoid the timing pressure. I heard that some advanced yogis are able to reach the evolutionary state of being “beyond” time – I guess it means one is always on time without even trying it…May be one day I will reach this blissful state too 🙂

LOVE, axinia

Meditation: a placebo or a real thing? Interesting scientific results in a 9-year evaluation March 17, 2009

  (image by me)

Scientific studies have consistently found that meditation does not give better results than taking a short nap, listening to pleasant music or thinking pleasant thoughts. However, according to recent research, the application of a new definition of meditation involving “mental silence” appears to have effects substantially greater than this, especially with regard to the impact of stress.
Although more than 3,000 scientific studies exist on meditation within the major scientific databases, only about 4% are reports on randomised controlled trials (RCTs) ¾ the only way to reliably exclude the placebo effect.

Researchers who have systematically evaluated these RCTs consistently find that meditation, as it is practised and defined in western society (eg. relaxation, attention focusing and mindfulness), is little more than a sophisticated way of generating a placebo effect. Descriptions of the meditative experience that originated in ancient India, however, reveal that a key feature of meditation is the experience of mental silence. Western definitions have not emphasised this feature.

Currently, the Royal Hospital for Women’s Meditation Research Program (MRP) is systematically evaluating the mental silence perspective of meditation. Over the past nine years, a multifaceted evaluation program has been conducted to evaluate the effect of mental silence on a variety of health and behavioural factors, especially stress.

Vibrations is like a toy which is always with you June 24, 2008

 image by axinia

I met a child, a boy of 10 years who has got his realisation and enjoyed feeling vibrations. When i told him what actually one can do with vibrations, he got even more fascinated an exclaimed “I know now, vibrations is like a toy which is always with you!” – it was sooooo sweet and so much to the point 🙂 I heard many comments on vibrations but never such a candid and lovely one…

But what did I tell to the child?  – What can one do with vibrations?

Let me shortly remind you what vibrations are. Normally vibrations are being perceived like a sensation of a gentle cool breeze in one`s hands, on top of one`s head or sometimes around the body. Sometimes it can be warm or even hot. Never heard of that? You can try it out here (interactive presentation).

Vibrations is a kind of the genuine flow of your being, which can be easily felt on the central nervous system. To me it is like the physical manifestation of spirituality.

These are the things you can do with vibrations: