I hope all of my dear readers are well and your awareness grows every day

You’ve probably noticed that a short rest from any intensive activity clears your mind and gives a different perspective of the same situation, whether it is a work problem or a personal question. Depending on your involvement and the depth of emotions, you may need just a few minutes.. or several days to calm down and reach deeper relaxation. In our daily routine we often need to “reset” our mind, become fresh and more active. Diversify our doings.

Depending on the way you perceive the world, you will find music or visual relaxation fitting you better. I am suggesting several methods to let everything be for a moment. To realize the value of every second; to realize what is really important for you. Don’t miss a chance, this life is so short.. Small daily meditation may become your refuge and change your life for better.

Web relaxation tools

Tools available online are amazing - you can simply sit back and relax a little, letting your mind travel somewhere else and meditate, concentrating on a beautiful video or sound.

Here are my favorite relax-videos from different sources. They are short and light. Don’t forget to turn on the music or wear headphones. I wish you all could leave problems and hard situations aside and simply relax. Let it all go. Just be present for a moment.

Flower meditation

Tender flowers, smell of spring and great sounds.

Water meditation

Water drops and sound of the ocean.

Zen meditation

Zen symbols, Buddha statue, simplicity of a flower, - accompanied by theme music. My favorite.

Forest meditation

Murmur of the forest. Green grass and spikelets, ancient trees.. You are almost standing there.

Space meditation

Galaxies and planet pictures with beautiful ambient music.

Winter meditation

Amazing piano music, cold and bright winter pictures. Remember your cozy winter evenings?

Music compositions

Sounds may be very touching. Most religions use specific sounds during ceremonies to set our mind to a proper state. The impact of nowadays music is a personal experience, but there are some compositions and technologies that can touch anyone.

Have you heard about binaural recordings? Here’s what Wikipedia says about it:

Binaural tones are apparent sounds, the perception of which arises in the brain independent of physical stimuli. Two tones at a slightly different frequencies are presented separately, one to each of a your ears, using stereo headphones. The brain produces a phenomenon resulting in a deep relaxation and health benefits.

This is interesting. I first met binaural tones on Holotropic Breathwork seminar where we used tones for meditation experience. I remember growing awareness and a crystal state of mind. I tried to gather several albums you could listen to try this sound technology. Please use headphones when listening.

Brainwave Suite by Jeffrey Thompson.

Dr. Thompson managed to create amazing tracks combining Tibetan bells, guitar and flute with nature and space sounds. Here are several albums.

Hemi-Sync by Robert Monroe Institute.

This sound technology is believed to synchronize activity of two hemispheres, resulting in a deep relaxation and altered states of mind.

I recommend to try a short track called Spirit’s Journey first. Hemi-Sync has many projects enhancing quality of your concentration, relaxation and sleep. Some more tracks available here.

Mantras are primarily used as spiritual conduits, words or vibrations that instill one-pointed concentration. They say that mantra works even in the case you don’t know the meaning, or don’t believe in it. Mantras are believed to come from ancient Indian practitioners who discovered them during meditations.

I stopped listening to regular and pop music quite a while ago. Indian, Nepali and Tibetan chanting now form my playlists One reason is my devotion to Eastern culture and music, and the other is the state of mind I get listening to mantras. You too can use these melodies for relaxation, yoga, concentration. I have posted my favorite mantra list in one of previous posts.

Nature noise and sounds can be a great way to relax. During shavasana, the relaxation posture in Yoga, I often use ocean and rain sounds to help people reach deep quiescent body state.

Here are several links with nature sounds. I enjoy falling asleep with these

Some people also enjoy classical music as a relaxation technique.

Meditation

I’m reading a book called “Living Dharma” by Yeshe Losal Rinpoche. Lama Yeshe calls meditation a healing pill, Lama - a doctor and all the students - sick patients. He asks us to take meditation daily as a healing medicine, in accordance to our Teacher recommendations. 15 minutes a day can bring great change to your mind, and to whole your life as a result. It’s so disappointing that most people say they don’t have these 15 minutes.. and continue complaining about life, work, other people.

I always recommend to start with a simple breath meditation. Try to sit down with a straight back, relax your body and mind, and watch your breath flow with the inner smile. Your mind will continuously run away, and you should remind yourself about meditation again and again. You can select one of three arias to focus on: your chest, throat or nostrils. Watch them move slightly with every breath. Try to notice when and where inhalation ends and exhalation starts. Turn all your mind to the flow of natural breath. Relax.

In next posts I will try to collect unusual movies leading to meditation and growing awareness. Hope this post was useful : ) What methods do you use to relax?

If you found this post useful.. I would be grateful for adding it to Stumble or Digg. The more people start working on own personality and awareness.. the faster we will change this world =]

More to read:

The art of turning difficulties into practice

Inspiring Yoga videos

Yoga reading: 5 books that work

How to start Yoga healing

Pictures from Flickr creative common galleries: gnaharro, cata13-es, aussiegall, nattu, matalyn, joka2000 and darkpatator