This is really a plea from Jackie, conflicted by interests she wants to pursue and fears that the information might prove contrary to her belief in God and the teachings of her religion. Consequently, she is not satisfying her desire to explore– or doing so with great trepidation. Her heart is heavy and fearful of what she will discover.

These fears are quite common amongst people who have not had exposure to professionals or quality reading and instructional materials in New Age disciplines. Neither New Age nor metaphysics (one aspect of New Age) is a religion; they are not related in any way to the religion of witchcraft, cults or devil worship. Nor is belief in God synonymous with religion; a person can easily believe in God without engaging in religion. Religion is often a set of instructions or procedures, designed by mortals, to demonstrate an exemplary or particular way of living life in the company of others with similar beliefs.

New Age is a movement that explores alternative approaches to traditional Western culture with emphasis in spirituality (including metaphysics), environmentalism, and holistic methods of living and healing. Metaphysics is often called into question by religious zealots because it is based on abstract reasoning that studies the nature of the mind and how the mind can transcend time and space, or transcend what we’ve come to believe as the “laws of nature”. The mind is not the brain. Studying the mind does not interfere with religious beliefs and practices unless those beliefs are based on fear and the need to dominate or obliterate the beliefs of others. New Age principles and disciplines teach respect, tolerance and compassion for all God’s creatures.

To illustrate: A person who has had a “near-death experience” returns to the outer conscious world knowing there is more to existence than living on planet earth during one lifetime. Yet, scientifically speaking, it’s tough to prove; data has been unreliable in strictly scientific terms. And psychics I know (myself included) believe in “God”; although, maybe not as a male with a white beard and physical characteristics of humans— perhaps more an abstract, an energy or an entity that is the “Supreme Source” from which all life streams. New Age concepts embrace “God”, “Yahweh”, “Allah”, “The Almighty”, “The Supreme Being”, “The Source”.

Understanding reincarnation is a critical aspect of metaphysics. Yet, the concept is greatly feared and avoided by some people because they believe it is inconsistent with their religious teachings. For the most part, they simply don’t know enough about the subject to be able to make an accurate assessment.

“Reincarnation” relates to the progression of the soul through eternity, but is frequently confused with “evolution of the species”. They are not the same. I will briefly explain these terms that confound people.

Evolution of the species: Biological or genetic evolution is the change in the inherited traits of a population of organisms through successive generations. Living organisms adapt to environmental conditions over generations for survival of their species.

Evolution of the soul: The basic precept is that the soul, created by God, is eternal and enjoys free will. Most religions teach this concept. This next step is where reincarnation enters the scene and where people fear a conflict with their religion or their basic belief in God.

Reincarnation: As the soul journeys through eternity, it accepts challenges to work out flaws while it strives towards perfection. Souls may choose to come back time and again into physical body to learn certain lessons until they no longer need a physical body to resolve their imperfections. Souls having achieved a certain level of perfection can continue their path without physical body and may elect to advise and guide mankind. We call these out-of-body souls “universal mind”. Some people choose to call them angels. And there may be a distinction between angels and the souls we call universal mind. I have not chosen to study this aspect and cannot provide such specific advice at this time. And, no, we do not believe that souls cross over into other forms of animal life; that’s bad movie and fantasy book malarkey.

Clearly, by my descriptions above, no concept mentioned interferes with a belief in God or with most traditional religions. The concepts may stretch or take matters a plateau beyond religious teachings, but that doesn’t make them contradictory.

In Jackie’s question, she obviously felt that herbs belonged in the discussion. She’s right.
Herbs are one facet of the fast growing holistic health system that includes:
Organic natural foods, herbs, supplements, homeopathic remedies, acupuncture (China), acupressure (China), massage therapy, Ayurvedic medicine (India), meditation, chi gong, yoga, physical exercise, and many more healing practices.

There will be plenty of time and space to discuss these healing arts in later blog posts but for now, let it suffice to say that we have a responsibility to care for our own bodies, including our mental and emotional health. No one else is responsible for us if we are physically, mentally and emotionally capable of caring for ourselves. Our well-being is up to us. That doesn’t mean you never need the counsel of physicians, but western medicine is limited in its approach to health care. Our medical schools are simply not training traditional western health professionals in holistic methods.

It is up to us to learn how to operate and maintain our bodies so that we are in optimum condition for as long as we need our bodies. We have been given all the tools from the beginning of time, including a healthy planet and solar system within a greater universe in which to live. Unfortunately, since the beginning of time and since the beginning of our own lifetime, we have consistently destroyed and compromised these precious gifts. Everything and everyone is integrative and codependent. It is our obligation to restore, renew, cleanse and rehabilitate our inner and outer worlds.

A career is no more than a choice of vehicles that helps transport you to your destination.  A specific career isn’t the only vehicle to get you where you’re going.  Even if you find your preferred vehicle, you may need to experiment with alternate routes to get you to your destination.  Some routes may have been already mapped, but some may not be mapped.  You could be the explorer or adventurer that cuts the path where others will follow.  Perhaps you’re seeing beyond, sensing or feeling intuitively that there’s another way to get there– shorter or more scenic, or with less risk.

Yeah, but how do I know my destination? Forget the vehicles and the routes to get there.  I don’t even know where I’m headed or where I should be headed!

There’s no magic in the destination itself, the magic is in the fact that you got there at all by your own circuitous route.  So, stop fretting over where you should end up and get into the experience of the process– doing your best at what is before you today.

Don’t rationalize why you want to do something.  Do what you want to do, so long as it’s good for you and provided you won’t be ashamed or embarrassed to own up to it later.  Challenges you need to propel your soul forward will appear along the path, regardless what you do.  Whatever is before you is what you’re supposed to be doing.  Live in the present and don’t spend your time looking back or trying to skip ahead.

Where you’re going isn’t as important as the process. Process is more than methodology, more than a learning curve, more than a necessary or incremental step.  Process helps you to evolve, develops your personal conclusions, filters your preferences related to your personality and attributes.  Three individuals can go through the same process and arrive at three different conclusions, none being more correct than the other, but each contributing to perspective.  You are who and what you are to provide balance in your smaller and larger universe.  Without you, without what causes you to be unique, the world would be imbalanced.

The instructions on this page will at first seem like too much to remember without referring to the paper, but read it over at least three times, then, try the exercise.  It will get easier once you start practicing.  The instructions below do not represent the only way to get into a deep meditation level, which is why guided meditations are a helpful way to start practicing and demonstrate different techniques. People ask how do I know if I got there?  You’ll know.  You will be aware of crossing over into that peaceful state.

Don’t worry about doing it right or wrong, just do it. Practice this exercise once or twice a day for at least three days before you pass judgment.

You may want silence in your environment to practice the exercise or your may enjoy listening to a new age CD of environmental sounds playing softly in the background.

You don’t want it to overwhelm what you are doing.  Unplug or turn off your phone. Plan on setting aside 25 minutes or more.

Begin

Find a comfortable position seated in a chair with feet flat on the floor and spine straight.  Place your tongue at the roof of your mouth.

With head straight, elevate your eyes only up to the ceiling and wall joint ahead of you and fix your eyes into a stare until they want to close.

With your eyes now closed, project your vision beyond the spot where you had been staring and begin counting down from 10 to 1 while projecting those numbers on that spot.

Take deep breaths, inhaling through your nose and exhaling through your mouth.  Repeat this deep breathing process at least three times.

Now focus on just counting your breaths until they are regulated and natural, about 10 to 15 breaths.

With eyes elevated to the spot beyond your closed eyelids, see yourself in your ideal place of physical relaxation and study every element of that environment.  Take your time.

Begin to consciously relax every part of your body beginning with the top of your head, pay attention to internal organs.

With eyes elevated to the spot beyond your closed eyelids, see yourself in your ideal place of mental relaxation and study every element.

It’s okay to remain in this state to just experience the feelings and impressions.

When you are ready to return to the outer conscious level, slowly count from one to 10 and see yourself feeling wonderful when you open your eyes again at the count of 10.

Instruct yourself to recall everything you experienced and then simply consider your impressions.

End

If you would like to practice with guided meditations, listen to these samples of my three professionally produced guided meditations and see if they might offer you a more satisfying and rewarding experience than you imagined possible. Each technique is designed to provide a different experience and benefit to the practitioner.

Such a state allows your mind the freedom to explore. Meditating will help you communicate with your soul or Higher Self.

Daily meditation practice regulates or reduces the cortisol hormone and helps to restore balance. Meditation reduces blood lactate, a marker of stress and anxiety. Meditation increases the calming hormones of melatonin and serotonin.

All of these benefits and we have yet to introduce how creative visualization techniques can enhance your meditations to help you manifest the life you desire.

Whatever you focus on is what you get more of; whatever you put out is what you get back⎯ it’s the law of the Universe.

Why Does the Process of Meditation Work? And How Do I Know It Can Work for Me?

For century after century, Eastern cultures meditated to still their minds while they connected with their inner energies and higher power. In wasn’t until the 1800’s when western cultures, primarily the European scientific community, became more curious and started experimenting to find scientific methods of exploring the brain. The esoteric nature of Eastern culture meditation did not concern the western scientific community because Western societies still strongly embraced religious fervor and affiliations. There was no religious tolerance for unauthorized practices dealing with the mind or spirit. They feared witchcraft. Even the scientific study of the brain was clandestine.

The electroencephalograph (EEG) machine has been in development since 1875 when Richard Caton used monkeys as study subjects. In 1924, Hans Berger recorded the first EEG performed on humans to measure alpha brainwaves compared to beta brainwaves. Pavlov continued this work. William Grey Walter, influenced by Pavlov and Berger, further developed the EEG to discover delta waves during sleep in 1937 and theta waves in 1953.

The EEG machine measures the electrical impulses generated by the brain, known as brainwaves. Impulses are measured in cycles per second (HZ) which determines the brainwave frequency; amplitude measurement determines the volume.

There are four main brainwave patterns that create four levels of consciousness.

There are other brainwave patterns but we are primarily concerned with the following four.

4 Main Levels of Consciousness:

14 – 30 (Hz) cycles per second frequency of brainwaves

Beta Waves: A waking state, alert, working, a strongly engaged mind.

Beta is the most common form of brainwaves present during mental thought and activity.

When our thoughts are over-stimulated and we are unable to focus, we would experience high levels of beta waves.

Continuous high beta waves can cause an overproduction of cortisol, aka “stress hormone”. Too much Beta state weakens your immune system.

8 – 13 (Hz) cycles per second frequency of brainwaves

Alpha Waves: A relaxed state of awareness. Daydreaming, a reflective, absorbed or drowsy state occur in the lower levels. Easily produced when quietly sitting in a relaxed position with eyes closed. Mental activity blocks alpha waves.

Increasing your time in an Alpha state increases your performance. Peak performance occurs at the higher levels of this range. Alpha waves are predominant when focused on a single activity where body parts may be in motion but the mind is in a dreamy state. Athletes relish this state. Alpha waves are a prelude and pathway to deeper consciousness levels. Dreams may occur in the lower levels.

4 – 7 (Hz) cycles per second frequency of brainwaves

Theta Waves: A meditative state. Insight and intuition improve with regular exposure to this state of consciousness. Dreams occur in this level of consciousness. Not being able to remember driving the last few miles on a boring roadway would be a higher frequency of Theta.

Freeway drivers or runners may get a flow of ideas and creativity in this light meditative state at the higher frequency range. It can be a place where tasks are so familiar and automatic that your mind wanders to focus on something else and disengages from the activity.

.5 – 3.5 (Hz) cycles per second frequency of brainwaves

Delta Waves: A deep meditative state where total detachment and a profound state of peace is experienced. Delta waves occur during deep sleep or when in a comatose state. Dreams do not occur below 3 cycles per second. This is the level that accesses Universal Mind.

When a person is in a beta state, there can be fleeting moments when alpha, theta or
delta waves are experienced. An example would be when a thought escapes and
it is later suddenly recalled when least expected. It comes from a theta or alpha level of
consciousness. Falling asleep or gradually awakening can cause a person to
experience each state.

Worth mentioning are the Gamma waves with a frequency of 36 – 44 cycles per
second. Gamma waves occur with sudden sensory stimuli such as a shock to the body
or mind.

So, now you know how it happens and why.

The question is:
Are you willing to discipline yourself enough to enjoy the benefits and rewards of meditation?

It’s such a pleasant and relaxing place to be!

You can do it, but you may need help getting started.

“Meditation Trilogy” is a professionally produced set of 3 guided meditations by the author of this article.These guided meditations will help you establish meditation practices that will put you on track to achieve what you need and what you want. Click here for more information about “Meditation Trilogy”

Thoughts are things.  We are responsible for our every thought, and every thought has a life of its own. Where attention goes, energy flows.  Just as your body emits energy, so does your mind. Each thought is energy that does not remain within your aura but permeates and vibrates through deep space and back again into infinity.

Own your thoughts.  Own your actions.

Inaction is a form of action; it’s a conscious choice.  Maybe it isn’t a deliberate choice so much as the consequence to negligence, a lack of urgency or inability to prioritize and plan success. Think of anyone, maybe even yourself, who has a pattern of inaction or procrastination.  Does that person express a host of excuses for inability to act timely or at all? Is he convinced he’s a victim, perhaps blames or abuses others in his path to deflect ownership for his lack of success?

The amount of thrust employed to propel an idea and action plan determines the likeliness and timing of the desired results.  Should you choose to escalate the thrust, you will enjoy benefits sooner rather than later. Your level of personal commitment and follow-through boosts your chances for success because you have increased your stakes in the effort.

Pursue your objective diligently until you get what you want, provided what you want is good for you.  Don’t give up every time you come across an obstacle.

Achievement is About Removing Obstacles

Life and achievement is all about learning how to meet and remove obstacles one at a time.  Impediments cause us to rethink our approach and examine our motives. They grant us an opportunity to take corrective action. Modifications we are forced to develop along an obstacle course make us stronger, improve our judgment and lead to greater rewards.

Cause & Affect

Most underachievers don’t understand how their attitude or lack of follow-through contributes to a lackluster life.

Not everyone comes into physical body with the ability to see a glass half full instead of half empty.  But there are just as many people who have come into physical body with opposite visions and convictions.  We each provide balance.

Respect and recognize others for what they do well in place of criticizing or emphasizing what they don’t do well.  Help them in areas where you have an advantage and allow them to help you where they have an advantage.  We are all teachers and facilitators with contributions to be made that will help balance the universe by discovering common ground.