Heaven Earth Natural Therapies Clinic

 A Balance of Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine

 Acupuncture - Herbal Medicine - Lifestyle Counselling - BodyTalk - Kinesiology

Our next meditation class starts.....

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Meditation Class.

Lesson 1 Introduction

Welcome to my Meditation class. Below are the notes that I give out in the class.This is the first 2 weeks of a 4 week class. The notes aren't every word that I say, look at them as useful ideas to help the student remember what we discussed.

If you like what you read and would like to have the last 2 lessons please email me at contact@heavenearthheaven.com

I’m not out to teach you to become solid ‘meditators’. What I plan to do is to introduce you to as many different ways of meditation as time allows. And that you also understand the many ways the Brain, Body and Mind work.

My aim is to help you discover the way best suited for your personality and to help you find the way most comfortable for you. Now ‘comfortable’ is an interesting word. Because if you are comfortable all the time with meditation then you aren’t getting the best results out of your meditations. So if we aren’t after comfort - what are we after?

You have to decide beforehand what is your goal? Is it Peace, Love, Inner Wisdom, Good Health or Vitality. You need a goal to discern if you are moving, so that when the weather gets bad and you get lost, you have something to hold on to, a map. Meditation is all about finding your own personal map.

In this first week, work out what your goals are going to be - why are you here? Now understand that if you are doing it right you will at times feel ‘uncomfortable’ because what blocks you or what mind pattern you use to protect you will begin to be revealed. To go deeper into yourself you must pass beyond your normal constructs, pass your normal way of seeing, hearing, feeling, living and thinking. The mind will need to move from what is comfortable to being uncomfortable, so that it can have greater comfort at a higher level. With each breakthrough, the mind will have reorganised itself into a greater wholeness.

Think of your mind as a jigsaw puzzle with only certain parts of the picture formed. The rest is separate and mixed up. You have to find the right pieces and build the picture (your goal can be the picture you are looking to create). You will know how jumbled your mind is, by how separate you feel from the rest of the world.

If our aim is Oneness, wholeness, inner peace, true love and inner wisdom then anything that is not these things is our negative self/ego. Our Ego mind creates separation. If the brain has learnt separation then it will see the world in the same way. In fact it will also organise the body, emotions and itself into separate compartments. My aim is to help you begin a journey that will bring you to an inner Oneness with ‘Self’, with the world and with Divine Grace. Of course you already have these things because it is who you truly are. The problem is your separate parts don’t believe it. They can’t see the greater picture of you.

We get trapped in the separation, the dualism, the polarities of life. Yin/Yang; yes/no; up/down; Female/Male; We organise life into separate compartments and label them depending on our belief systems. Men are good; men are bad; women cry a lot; kids are too noisy; you need money to be happy; you can’t trust people; there’s not such thing as a good polititian; etc. etc. All our images/beliefs of the world are learnt behaviours taught in those early years of childhood.

0 to 4 years - 50%; 4 to 8 years - 30%; 8 to 14 years - 10%. So by 14 years of age we have 90% of our basic beliefs, habits and attitudes laid down as electicial patterns with the brain.

Now we create a world that reflects what we decide, choose or judge ‘choice produces results’. We are a 100% successful at furfilling our brains blueprint. So by meditating we begin to let it all go, change the electrical blueprint and start to bring the jigsaw together. Meditation helps us to expand our view, we lift up out of the grasslands of desire where we see only one blade at a time, until we see the field, the district, the state, the country, the world, the solar system, the Universe.

At each level our awareness grows, we begin to realise we are a Divine Being having a Human experience and that there is no where to really go. You are already here, now and eternal. Remember it’s all okay, it is just practice and you have eternity to get it right.

Meditation Exercise I - Physical Body.

The Body Scan (Shavasana meditation - a meditation lying down)

This is one of the most important poses in yoga, because its' purpose is to release built up stress and bring the body/mind into total conscious relaxation.

The best way to practice this exercise is for someone to take you through it. The next best way is to slowly read this onto a tape/cd and play it back to yourself. Also have some relaxing music playing in the back ground.

The exercise needs to run for at least 20 minutes, 30 is even better. Give yourself breaks or time to process on the tape so you have time to practice and focus on what is being said.

So let us begin......

Begin by lying in the shavasana position, that is flat on your back on the floor, arms slightly out from your body and palms up, legs apart and relaxed. You can place a cushion under your knees to relax your lower back..

Breathe in and out slowly and deeply. Focus on the feeling of gravity relaxing and pulling down on your spine, feel your whole body sinking into the floor.

On each of the following contractions, hold your breath in for a slow count of three.

• Bring your awareness to your feet. Flex your right ankle and tense your foot. Hold the tension and count to three, then release, letting all the tension flow from your foot.

• Flex your right calf muscle and hold, then breath out and release, letting all the tension flow out through your foot.

• Tense your right knee just slightly and contract your thigh muscle tightly. Tighten your whole leg. Then, release and feel the tension flowing down your leg and out of your toes, Give your leg permission to relax, let gravity take over, let your leg go compelety. Notice how your right leg now feels compared to your left leg. Does it feel heavier and more relaxed than your left leg?

• Repeat this procedure with your left leg, give your legs permission to relax. Notice how both legs now feel feel equally relaxed. If there is any tension breath deeply into your legs surrendering them to gravity. Remember always to breath deeply and slowly breathing out any tension remaining.

• Now squeeze your buttocks one at a time and then together as tightly as you can. Release and feel the tension flowing away.

• Move up to your lower abdominal muscles and squeeze them as tightly as you can. Release, breath out and feel the tension flowing down into the earth.

• Contract your upper abdominal muscles, up to your rib cage, draw your navel back toward your spine as far as you can, then breath out and release, allowing all the tension to drop away.

• Bring your awareness to your back muscles. Tense your back muscles and then as you breath out let your muscles sink down into the floor. Visualise your body being carried by the earth, give it all over, relax and let go. Nothing to do, no where to go. 'Just be here now'. Feel each muscle and bone becoming heavier and looser, sinking into the floor.

• Contract your chest muscles as tightly as you can, then release, breathing out the tension as you let go to gravity.

• Next, bring your awareness to your shoulders. Tighten your right shoulder muscle. Then release, letting the shoulder sink into the floor. Feel your arms become very heavy and relaxed, give your arm over to gravity.

• Tense your upper arm muscles as tightly as you can, lifting your arm slightly off the floor. Then release, and feel the tension flowing down and out your fingertips.

• Tense your lower arm, lifting it slightly off the floor. Release, and feel the tension flowing down and out your fingertips.

• Make a tight fist with your right hand. Squeeze, then release, letting the tensions flow away.

• Now, spread the fingers of your right hand wide and hold. Release, then feel your whole arm become very heavy, let it go, give your whole arm over to gravity. Notice the feeling of heaviness and relaxation in your right arm.

Does your right arm and shoulder feel more relaxed than your left arm?

• Repeat the procedure with your left arm. Then notice how both arms feel heavy and relaxed. Give yourself permission to relax and breath.

• Your whole body is now feeling heavy and relaxed, your breathing is deep and relaxed. Breath into your body feeling how gravity helps your muscles let go, soften and relax.

• Focus on your neck and head. Tense the muscles of your neck and throat. Release, and imagine the muscles letting go. Feel your breath moving in and out through your throat. With each breath out your whole throat and jaw are relaxing and letting go.

• Clench your jaw tightly and scrunch up your whole face, then release. Open your eyes and mouth as wide as you can. Hold, breath out and release.

• Your whole head and neck have now become very heavy and relaxed.

• Each breath you take gives your body permission to let go and relax.

• Visualise with each breath out, a wave of relaxation flowing from your head down through your body to your toes, and as you breath in, this wave flows up through your body relaxing each muscle, giving your body permission to relax, let go and surrender to gravity. You let your body be carried by the earth, you don't have to do anything for the next 20 minutes but breath and relax.

Where ever you sense tension, tense the area again, then breath out and release, continue to do this until all tension is gone.

Remember it takes practice.

Each time you do relax you are teaching your body how it feels to let go. If you have been holding tension in your body for along time then it will take time to teach your body a new way of being. We know from research that when you practice relaxation you are causing your brain's electrical circuits to change and are increasing the production of postive chemicals to be formed.

Remember it is ok to smile and have fun with this exercise. The message we want the body and brain to get is, that this is a time to rest and recharge. That is safe and can take time out to Relax and Enjoy. Recreation is re- creation.

So be patient and give yourself some time to fully feel the results of your practice. Remember it takes between 10 to 30 days for the body to go through one complete blood change and over 2 years for the bones to compelety change.

Be patient and gentle with your expectations. Your will feel the benefits from each relaxation exercise

This type of Relaxation exercise has measurable physical benefits on the body. - calms the nervous system - lowers blood pressure - improves blood flow to the heart -lessens fatigue -increases energy - improves the digestion - balances the hormones - Opens the energy channels(meridians) to free the flow of vital energy (chi/prana/ki) and most importantly relaxes and calms the Mind- Body-Spirit.

contact us
Shauna & Robert Kendall @
HeavenEarth Natural Therapies Clinic
Phone (07) 5522 0411
1/12 Classic Way, Burleigh Waters.

Queensland. 4220

Australia

Meditation Classes

Just before the Buddha reached Enlightment he heard a music teacher telling his student how to play the lute.

The teacher said,"if you tighten the sting to tight, the string will break and if you have the string to lose it will not play" In this moment the Buddha recognised the path to enlightment was through the middle way.

The class includes discussion time followed by Relaxation and Meditation.

FEE is $12, or a hug depending on what you feel comfortable with.

4 week classes on a Tuesday night > 7.00 pm till 9.00pm.

Classes are run depending on the demand.

We discuss the many styles of meditation.

Covering the 4 levels of awareness -physical, emotional, mental and spiritual.

Essential to book, please call 5522 0411