The Silent Mind – A Course in Self-Help Meditation
Meditation has been practiced throughout history in almost every known culture. It is an effective way of stilling the mind through simple techniques.
In the meditative state we can transcend the limitations and habits of the mind and become aware of what we are that is more than our thoughts, more than our habits, more than the roles we play.
What is meditation good for?
Meditation is vital mental hygiene. Some of the profound benefits are;
a peace of mind that spreads to the world around you; a healthy mind and body; deep relaxation and release of stress; better concentration and memory; increasing confidence; improving relationships; spontaneous and independent happiness; a deep and joyful appreciation of life and much more…
Generally speaking, all regenerative body functions improve during meditation and as result self-healing and self-rejuvenation are greatly enhanced. The connection between mind and body deepens and even weight control and stopping smoking become easier as a result of meditating.
What happens during the course?
The Silent Mind is taught in two three-hour modules on two separate days. Come to this mind-opening course and learn how to:
- Identify the style of meditation that suits your mind’s natural preferences.
- Effectively prepare your mind and body for meditating to ensure success.
- Discover the joy and peace and other profound benefits of meditation.
This course has been designed specifically to ensure success for beginners and also to enhance the practice of experienced meditators with a new and effective combination of techniques.
The fact that you can practice meditation in the comfort of your own home and as often as you like, makes it easily available and amazing value for money.
How to book a place
For information about course dates, times and fees, please go to www.reiki-meditation.co.uk where you can use the secure online booking facilities. If you wish, you can speak to Michael Kaufmann directly on 07801 284073.
To read more about Michael Kaufmann, visit his practitioner page from the menu above.
Latest News
- Meditation courses September 15, 2010
The “Silent Mind” self-help meditation courses are taught in two parts on two Saturdays.For more information, course dates and to book a place, please go to www.reiki-meditation.co.uk, call Michael Kaufmann directly on 07801 284073 or The Wren on 020 7283 8908.
The course fee is still only £129. Course manual, Audio CD and support after the course are included.
This course has been designed specifically to ensure success for beginners and also to enhance the practice of experienced meditators with a new and effective combination of techniques.
For a free article about the benefits of meditation, please go to www.reiki-meditation.co.uk/reiki_newsletter.asp
Clear - Meditation Lowers Heart Disease Risk In Teens, Study Shows June 20, 2012
For the study, which was published in the journal Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, half of the teens were trained in transcendental meditation and asked to meditate for 15 minutes with a class and 15 minutes at home for a four-month period. The other half was exposed to health education on how to lower blood pressure and risk for cardiovascular disease, but no meditation. Among the group that meditated, Barnes and his team found that left ventricular mass was significantly decreased.
- Integrative Medicine Classes Help Breast Cancer Survivors Recover April 2, 2012
The term “integrative medicine” didn’t exactly roll off people’s tongues when UCSF established the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine in 1997. UCSF Chancellor Emeritus Haile Debas, MD, then dean of the UCSF School of Medicine, with support from the Bernard Osher Foundation created a center that would test the effectiveness of complementary medicine through research, as well incorporate the best of these strategies into professional education and patient care.
UCSF’s Osher Center for Integrative Medicine combines conventional medicine with evidence-based practices from other healing traditions, including meditation, yoga, tai chi and qigong. This approach has become a popular way for cancer survivors and others who are recovering from debilitating illnesses to regain strength and balance after chemotherapy and surgery. Others benefit from stress-reduction programs like laughter yoga.Read more here
- Meditation Fights Cancer and Promotes Longevity March 23, 2012
“Meditation Fights Cancer and Promotes Longevity” (Market Watch, The Wall Street Journal)
Calmly meditating produces exciting, beneficial effects on your body. It can protect your DNA against cancer-promoting genetic developments and free you from everyday stresses and distractions.
That’s why meditation is one of the most powerful, but often neglected, tools for maintaining optimal health.
Read more here: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/meditation-fights-cancer-and-promotes-longevity-2012-03-20
- The Effects of Spirituality in Medical Treatment January 23, 2012
The National Cancer Institute stated that in a large survey of cancer survivors, 61 percent reported using spirituality and prayer as a complementary treatment.
Spiritual healing includes intercessory prayer, also called distance healing and distance prayer. With intercessory prayer, the person praying asks a higher power to intervene to help a person, who may or may not be known by the prayer.
Read more: - Biofeedback to Reduce Stress October 24, 2011
Very simply put, the science behind guided biofeedback has to do with heart rate variability, or the variation in the beat-to-beat interval of your heart rate. Researchers have found a significant link between reduced heart rate variability and a decreased quality of life, including greater stress, pain and worry, and a host of other conditions. Higher heart rate variability is associated with better overall physical and emotional health, as well as with a reduced risk for stress-related illnesses. Guided biofeedback devices may help increase heart rate variability — and possibly benefit a host of other physiological functions, like keeping the blood pressure constant and less reactive — by calculating and establishing optimal breathing patterns. According to Paul Lehrer, a psychologist and psychophysiologist from UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, “In biofeedback, heart rate variability is about five to 10 times higher than if you’re just sitting there breathing normally.”
- Meditation increases happiness October 9, 2011
Meditation is an interesting method for increasing one’s sense of happiness because not only has it stood the test of time, but it’s also been tested quite extensively in the lab. Part of the effect of mindfulness meditation is to quiet the mind by acknowledging non-judgmentally and then relinquishing (rather than obsessing about) unhappy or stress-inducing thoughts.
New research by Judson Brewer, MD, PhD and his group at Yale University has found that experienced meditators not only report less mind wandering during meditation, but actually have markedly decreased activity in their DMN (= “default mode network”, the part of the brain that is active when our mind is wandering and flitting from one life-worry to the next).
Last year, a Harvard study confirmed that there’s a clear connection between mind wandering and unhappiness. Not only did the study find that if you’re awake, your mind is wandering almost half the time, it also found that this wandering is linked to a less happy state.
- Turkish doctors call the tune with traditional musical cures September 13, 2011
Standing by the bed of a Cypriot patient who has just undergone vascular surgery, Dr Bingür Sönmez consults a screen monitoring pulse and blood pressure.
Then a colleague pulls out a flute and starts playing a popular Turkish tune.
If that appears an unusual approach to modern medicine, then it is. But according to doctors at the reassuringly modern Memorial hospital in Istanbul, it is producing results.
Here, Sönmez and his colleague, Dr Erol Can, are reviving traditional Islamic music therapy, a form of medical treatment that is almost 1,000 years old.
And they are convinced that, if used as a complementary therapy, ancient Arabesque scales and modes can produce significant psychological and physiological outcomes.
- Psoriasis: Complementary and Alternative Treatments May Be Beneficial August 22, 2011
Many people use medications to handle their symptoms. An increasing number of people are turning to complementary and alternative medicine in their search for relief.
There are a number of CAM options for psoriasis. Among them are mind-body practices, dietary supplements and topical treatments (applied to the skin), according to About.com.
Yoga, tai chi, qi gong and meditation are mind-body practices that may be beneficial for many chronic conditions. While clinical studies have not assessed these activities, there is an abundance of anectodal support for them.
Read more at: http://www.empowher.com/psoriasis/content/psoriasis-complementary-and-alternative-treatments-may-be-beneficial
- Music Calms Anxiety, Boosts Mood for Cancer Patients August 15, 2011
The field of incorporating music into medicine has grown over the past two decades, and music therapy has now been linked to decreasing anxiety and distress of patients on mechanical ventilators; decreasing anxiety of heart disease patients; decreasing tension during chemotherapy or radiation; improving mood and quality of life; and improving immune system functioning.
For the current study, a team of music therapists led by Joke Bradt, PhD, of the Department of Creative Arts Therapies at Drexel University in Philadelphia, performed a literature review of 30 trials with a total of 1,891 cancer patients who underwent music therapy interventions as part of their treatment.
The researchers reviewed 17 trials that involved a medical professional merely playing pre-recorded music for the patient, which is referred to as “music medicine,” and 13 trials that involved “music therapy” in which trained music therapists actively engaged the patient in a personally-tailored music and therapy experience, which may have included listening to live music or playing an instrument.
They found that both music interventions appeared to be more effective at reducing anxiety than no music or white noise or nature sounds delivered through headphones.
Read more at: http://www.medpagetoday.com/HematologyOncology/OtherCancers/27995
