Many people, though, don’t feel comfortable (understandably) using it in front of others.

Public energy work just seems kind of weird…

Some of the most important issues we can resolve with EFT involve other people, though… many blocks and challenges involve our relationships… what happens when we get “triggered” in public… or with friends and family?

We tap.

But we don’t necessarily have to make it obvious to everyone that we’re tapping.

Gary Craig (creator of EFT… EmoFree.com) encourages you to try EFT on everything.

I also encourage you to use EFT everywhere you go.

Tap Everywhere!

Now, if you are comfortable with tapping openly in front of others, I encourage you to… It helps to spread the word about this incredible tool… and those in your presence while tapping will reap some of the benefit as well… it also makes it easier to develop a sense of oneness and connection with open minded people.

But if you don’t yet feel comfortable with public tapping, you can still get some of the powerful effect of EFT:

Covert EFT

Note:  All the finger points are very easy to find.  They are on the sides of all the fingers and the thumbs… on the left sides of the fingers of the right hand, and on the right sides of the fingers of the left hand (assuming your palms are facing down).  Imagine a line that runs through the root of the finger nail in a circle around the finger.  If you follow that line 90 Degrees around the finger (or 1/4 turn)… you will be on the EFT point for that finger.

I offer you this technique because I want you to have access to EFT wherever you go.

In addition, I want to give you one more reason to let go of any excuse you might have for working through your challenges with tapping.

Finally, this is another good way to tap into deeper connections… when you are letting go of challenges while you are among others… you can experience powerful feelings of energy oneness… this is common in therapy settings and meditation classes… now you can begin to tap into it wherever you like!

A Quick Recap:

1. If you are standing in public, it is easy to leave your hands at your sides and subtly tap, and breathe deeply.
2. If you are sitting down, you can still hold your hands at your sides, or you can hold them in your lap (even under a desk or table).
3. If your pockets are loose enough, you can even tap finger points with your hands in your pockets!

EFT Without Tapping

You can also do this without tapping at all.

Simply hold the point while you breathe deeply from your diaphragm… this is also a wonderful way to meditate… feel your belly expand down and out with the breath as you hold the point.

When you add this into your meditation, you can more easily relax into the meditation, you can enjoy a deeper meditation, and if you pour a little of your focus into the point you’re touching… you will notice some profound effects… Try It!

keep smiling,

Ben

Hand Yoga: How to Awaken the Palms

This one takes the skills you are already beginning to develop a little bit further…

Once you feel strength and flexibility flowing back into your hands… you can notice the sensitivity build more and more…

Instantly Increase Awareness and Sensitivity

this is a simple but powerful drill

Practice it!

You can play with inducing different states of consciousness as you bring more of your awareness into your hands, and into the field around your hands.

This is also an excellent place to tap into energy oneness… when you bring focus to new areas you tend to temporarily step out of old ideas and beliefs… long enough to tap into powerful connections… long enough to step into something extraordinary.

Practice the drill!

Learn to notice the energies in and around yourself!

keep smiling,

Ben

I’ve wanted to come up with a simple resource for people who are interested in meditation, mysticism, mind training, personal growth/development, and cultivating consciousness.  I kept thinking about different ideal tools to create… what would be the ‘perfect’ tool… how can I create it, etc… but then I decided it’s more important to get started with something… and then you can build on it and improve it from there (which is one of the tips I’ll discuss later).

Having said that, in this series of posts I’ll be presenting you with 101 Proven Tips for Powerful Meditation that you can use throughout your practice of meditation as well as the rest of your life.

In this series, I’m going to explain the Master Keys of meditation, and then break them down into specific tips.

Many tips will relate to other tips… when you start to play with meditation and self exploration… you will begin to notice there is a certain holographic nature of consciousness… particularly when you begin to experience moments of energy oneness…

Besides… the more times you expose yourself to the information… even if it is basic information or variations of the same information… the more deeply you will understand the information and the ever expanding myriad of ways in which you can apply it!

I’ll start out by telling you what I’m going to finish with…

The most important piece… at least for most of us… is relaxation!

Starting with simple relaxation and carrying a little bit of it into the rest of your life will be incredibly powerful for you…

But I talk about relaxation all the time…

I’ve done tons of posts on it.  There are several videos on it.  If you follow this blog…

you should be well versed in relaxation…

so I will speak about it last.

For now…

Meditation Master Key 1:

Always Make Time for Formal Practice

I know, I know.  I’ve said too many times, that you don’t have to engage in formal practice in order to get better at meditation… and you don’t.  But you will get much better, much faster if you do!

Meditation Tip 1:  Start with short formal practice, and build from there. I encourage you to start with 5 minutes, and gradually build up to 30 minutes, an hour, or however long you like.  If you need to, you can start with as little as 1 minute, and build up from there.  Just like physical exercise… you ease your way into it.  The more you practice, the easier it gets to practice more and more.

Meditation Tip 2:  Be consistent! Practice everyday.  No exceptions.  Make the time, and stick with it.  It is easier if you pick a certain time to meditate every day.  Morning, afternoon, or evening… take your pick… just stay consistent with it.

Meditation Tip 3:  Be Forgiving! If you do miss a practice session… it’s okay.  Let it go!  Just be sure to make your session the next day.  A big learning challenge for many people is too much resistance and back-peddling when mistakes or missteps are made along the path.  Learning from mistakes is how we grow!  Stumbling hardly even slows you down if you relax, accept it, and keep going.  Forgive yourself.  No big deal.  And then get back to your practice.

Meditation Tip 4:  Enjoy It! This one is simple.  If you don’t enjoy it, you probably won’t do it regularly.  Find a way to enjoy your meditation.  Find a meditation you will enjoy.  Learn to enjoy a still mind.  Be sure you are smiling beforehand, and smiling after.

Meditation Tip 5:  Keep It Simple! Pick a simple object of focus… and stick with it.  Inducing higher consciousness starts out with simple drills for focusing.  I encourage you to start by focusing on the breath… or your sensations of relaxation throughout the body… or the sensations in your hands.  The important thing, is to pick one and stick with it.  When your attention drifts… gently bring it back to your object of focus.

Meditation Tip 6:  Keep your spine straight! It is entirely too easy to fall asleep if you don’t sit up straight.  In fact, it is best if you don’t put your back against the chair (I’ve fallen asleep that way as well).  I’ve met a few people that could stay alert and focused while lying down… but it has only been a few… and I know I’m not yet one of them.  With a straight spine it is much easier to stay awake and alert… and that is how you deepen your awareness.

Meditation Tip 7:  Find an appropriate posture! This goes hand in hand with the last tip.  It is important to find a comfortable but upright posture that you can hold for the duration of your practice.  If you are that flexible, you can definitely sit in full or half lotus.  I never have, and never plan to.  Typically I sit on the edge of chair with my spine straight and my hands in my lap.  I’ve played with many positions seated on the floor, using pillows, zafus, etc… but none of them really work for me.  I can stay in a silent sitting posture for much longer using a chair.  The important thing is to find a position that works for you.  There is nothing wrong with making yourself as comfortable as possible… so long as you remain upright, and continue to bring your awareness back to the object of meditation.

Meditation Tip 8:  Accept whatever comes up! No matter what it is… just let it be.  Joyful thoughts, bliss, fears, failures, frustrations, peace, discomfort… whatever it may be.  Accept.  Allow.  Continue to bring your awareness back to the object of meditation.

Meditation Tip 9:  Start out with still, silent sitting. Your environment is crucial!  The fewer distractions, the better.  An important aspect of meditation is reducing sensory input as much as possible.  Find a quiet place.  Be sure you won’t be interrupted.  Turn off your cell phone (and/or house phone).  Wear comfortable, loose fitting clothes.  Sit still.  Once you have silence outside, it is much easier to allow yourself to become silent on the inside.  Once you are able to easily and quickly enter a state of profoundly peaceful stillness… you can move on to other practices.

Meditation Tip 10:  Once you are comfortable with sitting, you can move on to standing. Standing meditation has quite a few interesting additional benefits, such as strengthening the legs, and increasing balance.  One of the most useful benefits is it makes slipping into a meditative state (while waiting in line, or just standing around) much easier.  It is key that you get comfortable with silent sitting, first.  We want to eliminate distractions as much as possible, and there is more to pay attention to in a standing meditation.  Once you can easily still and quiet your mind while sitting, you can begin to do the same while standing.

Meditation Tip 11:  Once you are comfortable with standing, you can play with moving meditation. This is the same principle taken one step further.  Once you can really still your mind during moving meditation… you will be on the verge of being able to keep your mind still at all times… while you move about your day to day life.  Once you can easily still and quiet your mind during your formal standing practice, you can begin to do the same with moving.

Meditation Tip 12:  Once you are comfortable with silent meditation, you can play with mantras. I am personally not the biggest fan of mantras.  I have noticed much more benefit from silent sitting… but this might just be me.  I do occasionally play with them… just to see.  “Om Mani Padme Hum” works fine, and so does the simple “Om”.  Anything can work as a mantra (although specific mantras may have specific benefits).  If you use a mantra in a language you understand (or if you just understand the meaning of the mantra), you want to repeat the mantra at the same pace enough times to forget what it means…  Again, the same principle applies.  You want to become quiet and focused with the most simple of activities… and then you can add complexity a little bit at a time.

Meditation Tip 13:  Remember Tip 5! It is a lot of fun to play around with a variety of meditations, but it is key that you learn to pour your focus into a single object.  Switching from meditation to meditation is a bit too much like standard entertainment… monkey mind (or wild horse mind)… it encourages distraction and a general lack of focus.  Make sure you get good at silent stillness before standing or moving to mantras.

Meditation Tip 14:  Find a local meditation group!…And attend regularly.  Any city (even some very small ones) will house at least one meditation group or class.  Usually you can choose from several options.  Find a place that matches your interests.  Much of what I teach on this site comes from a Vipassana - Mindfulness approach, but I’ve studied and enjoyed several different approaches, and you can take any approach you like… most approaches start out with a certain degree of mindfulness anyway.  I see mindfulness as a basic that should be continually practiced along your path, regardless of what other exercises or drills you adopt.  The real value of a class comes from the gentle social encouragement to be consistent.  We are likely to experience some degree of “peer pressure” no matter what we do… so we might as well find a way to use that peer pressure that encourages us along our path.

Meditation Tip 15:  Attend a Retreat! There are a real variety of retreats out there now.  Pick one and go!  Give yourself a day or several days to practice as much as you like.  Everything that applies for attending a class applies doubly for attending a retreat.  There is a very interesting group dynamic that can take place at classes but is more likely at retreats… you can really much more easily begin to tap into Energy Oneness… and when you have that much time to spend inducing consciousness, you can really achieve some deep and powerful states… and once you get there, it is easier to bring a little bit of that state back with you into your daily practice and your daily life!

That’s all for now… we’ll continue with more Meditation Master Keys and Tips in future posts.

Play with these tips when you meditate… and you will begin to enjoy much more powerful meditations that will begin to filter peace, power, and happiness into the rest of your life.

keep smiling,

Ben

I want to discuss and explain what I consider ‘real’ Yoga… but that will likely be a thread that flows through many articles… for now, to keep it simple, I feel that Yoga is primarily concerned with cultivating consciousness… building deeper levels of awareness… and connecting with all that is (achieving Energy Oneness).

So while we’re creating deeper connections and inducing higher levels of consciousness… where does simple physical healing come into play?  What about getting rid of those aches and pains?

Yoga does this as well.

How can we make these work together?

It’s relatively simple…

We just pay a little more relaxed attention to what we’re doing…

As we inject a little more awareness and acceptance into our movements and postures… they become our ‘Yoga’… whether they began that way or not.

There are any number of simple still or moving exercises to make the body healthier, stronger, more flexible, more relaxed… they often have many other side benefits such as increased energy and decreased pain… but they don’t become Yoga until you begin to cultivate your consciousness through them…

There is definitely benefit to practicing some specific movements from many systems of Yoga as well… some of these movements simply pull the practitioner closer to mind-body-spirit unification (I really enjoy a few movements from sun salutations)…

But while there are benefits to these specific postures and movements… they are not required… and it is much easier to find some movements that relieve pain or just make you feel good in general… and then add some awareness and acceptance to them.

In addition, there’s nothing wrong with starting out to get healthier, relieve pain or stress, and simply feel better, and then worry about cultivating your consciousness later… that’s how I got started…

I’ve had some challenges with my ring finger on my left hand… I had it kicked out of place at the 2nd knuckle in a karate class…

I’ve also had some trouble with my wrists…

But I never have trouble with either when I remember to practice some simple exercises:

Hand Yoga… Layer 1

Learning to pour your awareness steadily into a single object of focus is an excellent way to develop a greater level of skill at anything… at a more advanced level, it is also the beginning of inducing ‘higher’ states of consciousness.

When you work this Yoga specifically with your hands… you can quickly begin to awaken the energies in your palms as well!

You can practice these exercises at virtually any time.  I encourage you to see what works best for you, but I usually do the exercise until I feel a light warmth, tingling, or pressure in and around my hands.

In this way, I can let go of the pain in wrists and finger before it ever happens… and I enjoy increased sensitivity as well!

I’ll be posting the video for Layer 2 in the next couple of days…

keep smiling,

Ben

I’ve heard all these terms to describe this experience… and many more.

That point where you let go of limiting concepts of self, and enter connection (communion) with something greater than yourself… and eventually all that is!

This video came straight out of left field…

Or perhaps more accurately, it came directly from my right hemisphere…

In my experience, we all have varying degrees of longing for a very wide range of connections:

• Personal connections
• Group connections
• Connection with Earth
• Connection with Job
• Connection with Hobbies
• Connection with who you perceive yourself to be

But the one that in some way pervades all the others, is to be able to

Connect with all there is…

The expression and experience of this is one of the most powerful blessings that people can achieve…

The more we accept and honor this drive, the more powerful all the other connections we experience in life can be…

Many of the processes I teach (Mystic Compassion in particular) make use of this connection… and deepen it.

The methods that are traditionally used to get there are meditation, breath work, and energy work.

There are many contemporary methods which can help speed up and refine your results:  EFT, NLP, Brainwave Entrainment, Energy Medicine, Modern Mysticism, etc.

This is one of the few places I know of that you can approach learning these skills with powerful mental strategies added to energy techniques that can help you start to recognize a shift in experience very quickly… sometimes right away.

I’ve done the first in a series of videos on this… Are you ready to take a step on your path toward the all that is everything and the everything that is all…:

Energy Oneness

This, of course, is just a start…

To sum it up:

1. Relax, using any method that works well for you
2. Imagine your relaxing the area or field around your body… imagine you are expanding it out further from your body and that your feelings extend with it
3. Practice ‘feeling’ inanimate objects by slowly moving closer to them without seeing them (close your eyes).
4. Practice ‘feeling’ the energy field of another person (a friend, family member, or someone else similarly interested in this).  Use the hands to feel the field around their hands, head, and chest.  Notice if you can feel the field from their head in your hands, while they notice if they can feel the field from your hands in their head.  Play with directing thoughts and feelings through this field to one another.
5. Practice ‘feeling’ the energy field of people you don’t know in a setting where you can try many different people (a mall, a busy restaurant, an event, etc.).  Notice what you feel.  Try to notice what you feel in the field before noticing their body language, tone, etc.  See how well the vibe you get matches what you see and hear from body language and tone.  Keep in mind, many of us are excellent ‘actors’ (or at least ‘distractors’) when it comes to hiding emotions.

Ultimately, you can allow this new awareness to just be part of the background… and you can extend it out, or bring it in as appropriate.

I’ll be covering a several more layers and aspects of Energy Oneness in the near future.

Play with these drills, and leave a comment on your results or your questions!

keep smiling,

Ben

EFT in the Shower…

When you practice meditation and a little tapping, it is amazing what you can bring into your awareness; it’s amazing what you can choose to quickly accept & balance out!

The process of acceptance that began in that post is not yet complete…

And quite a bit of it isn’t happening in the shower, but I think it’s worth mentioning anyway… ;^)

I’ve noticed that frequently the events that are popping back up to be accepted, aren’t automatically being resisted and shoved back into obscurity…

Several times in the past few days… some challenging memory will come up somewhere in my life… and rather than the immediate resistance/avoidance/suppression  … it’s okay… I might not love it immediately… but it’s okay!

It seems that on a deep level, I have begun to accept more of my shadow… more of the aspects of me that I don’t want to admit or realize…

One of my favorite quotes is from Carl Jung:

That which you resist, persists!

But it seems the EFT and meditation have allowed me to

Let go of the resistance!

The more you accept… the more your life can begin to flow…

The tapping has been an incredible addition to my personal development.

This isn’t a ‘one-shot’ process, and I have been working to reduce resistance through meditation for quite some time.

The addition of EFT, however, seems to be vastly speeding up my results.

Download audio file (EFT in the Shower.mp3)

keep smiling,

Ben

I just did a new video, and the technique is incredibly fast and easy way to relax, relieve stress, and get back into control of your mind-body.

Any time you don’t feel quite as relaxed as you would like to… give this technique a shot!

You can also use it to begin or end a session of meditation.

You can even use it when you want people around you to relax a bit more… just take the deep breaths, exhale out of your mouth, and say ‘Ahhhh’ in your mind… as you build the direction of looseness and relaxation, it will begin to flow out of you into other people…

I know you’re going to love playing with this technique… if you have an interesting experience, leave a comment below to tell me about it!

Keep smiling,

Ben

P.S.  Stress relief is an excellent start for the development of any skill… when you can deeply relax into something, it makes everything much easier!

The Swine Flu ‘Outbreak’!

First of all, if they wanted it to be taken seriously, they should have given it a more frightening name like:

PIGGY PARALYSIS!

or

THE SAUSAGE SICKNESS!!!

(notice by adding all caps and a couple of exclamation points… anything can seem a bit more dramatic…)

But have we been given any significant reason to even pay attention?

I think not.

Are we ever given any good reason not to ignore the latest big scare?

Again, I think not.

So here are several (7… or more, depending on how closely you look) great reasons to completely ignore the swine flu ‘epidemic’… and  find your focus on something else entirely…

1. It’s no fun! The magic in life is all based on our focus.  If our focus is on the latest out of millions of ways to suffer and/or die… then you can’t enjoy life as much as you could, otherwise.  If, on the other hand, you focus on your next vacation, your next meditation (or playing with EFT, Radiant Circuits, or other energy work), your kids coming home from school, getting home from work, your significant other coming home, the subtle (or obvious) perfection of this moment, or anything else you can think of that you absolutely love… your happiness and satisfaction will be much better served.  Put simply:  Why not focus on fun stuff?
2. It’s just the latest epidemic fad. These have been going on forever.  There is something new and interesting to be afraid of at least every year… and usually several times a year.  I remember the SARS scare several years back… I ignored it, too.  I guess there’s not much problem with paying attention to ‘epidemic fads’ if you follow them the same way I used to follow professional wrestling… I didn’t take it seriously… I just found it entertaining.  But eventually I realized… there are better place to direct your awareness… there are more useful things to focus on… which leads me to my next point…
3. Isn’t there something positive to focus on? I know I can think of a few things.  First and foremost, I like to focus on my own personal development & transformation (personal alchemy).  As a very close second, I like to focus on how my transformation can begin to positively change others and the world around us (become the change you want to see in the world).  But there is always plenty of positive going on all around us already… if we choose to look for it!  Americares still does all that it can to help in disaster relief and several other humanitarian missions around the world.  There are millions of people out there (much like me) who are blogging to make a positive difference in the lives of their readers.  And there is much, much more.  But you will only find it when you choose to look for it…
4. Don’t you have real challenges to resolve? Finding an enjoyable way to focus on doing what you love.  Reaching a weight which feels right to you.  Controlling habits that you don’t care for.  Making as much money as you deserve (or learning how to feel like you deserve more so you can enjoy making more effortlessly).  Creating more positive relationships throughout your life.  These are all areas where people have real challenges.  These are all areas where people greatly benefit from appropriately applied focus and positive solutions.  What do we get from focusing on the Swine Flu ‘epidemic’?  How does it help us create the life we desire?
5. The Placebo Effect. Typically the placebo effect is described in a positive fashion… you think you are going to get better or feel good… so you do get better and feel good!  Many people have ‘thought’ themselves well from sickness (I think it is more than thought, but it can definitely begin with thought)… the unfortunate inverse of this is that many people have ‘thought’ themselves sick… reading, listening, and watching news about the swine flu ‘epidemic’ can’t make you sick… but how you think about it and how much you think about it can… all the more reason to focus your energies in a useful direction…
6. We really have to change the media. Even if you follow the advice here, I can almost guarantee you that you will hear about the swine flu again.  The use of the terms ‘outbreak’ and ‘epidemic’ may not be used as much anymore, but it is only a matter of time before the next big scare.  This cycle will continue as long as we support media outlets that like to do ‘big scare focus’.  There is nothing wrong with reporting reliable information (which can be challenging to say the least).  But we have to be mindful of the ’spin’ that we place on information, as well as the ’spin’ placed on the information by the media organization that is reporting it.  The best way to eliminate this challenge is to drain its funding.  Media outlets make money from you purchasing their product and/or from the money advertisers pay them.  There are positive media publications out there.  If you are going spend any focus on ‘news’ at all, I suggest you find a positive, optimistic, useful source (magazine, paper, show, internet site, etc.), and spend your money and attention on it… now this is a very valuable investment!
7. We really have to change ourselves. The media is really only a reflection of us… but it also has the power to guide us… yet that is only the power that we have given it… we must be cautious who we allow to guide our awareness.  There are highly trained experts (of meditation and other arts) out there who can teach you to direct your awareness in a very powerful way… in such a way that you know what results you are getting, and you know exactly how you guide them… If any trained experts of this caliber are working in the media, then I would love to be introduced to them (seriously… if you know of someone who truly holds a higher criteria for reporting important information, then post a comment and let me know!).  When we change ourselves and our lives… we can begin to change the rest of the world as well…

so let a Positive Focus be the beginning of your self-change today!!!

Long term, the swine flu is virtually meaningless.

On average, over 100 people die every day in the U.S. in car accidents.

On average, over 800 people die every day in the U.S. from cancer.

So far, only 3 people in the U.S. have died of the swine flu.

Cancer is old news.  Auto fatalities are old news.

But the swine flu is new and interesting, right?

And frightened people will empty their pockets to learn more about the object of their fear and how to make it go away.

Here’s how to make it go away (completely free):

Pay Attention to Something Else!

We have a simple decision.  Control our focus, or have it controlled.

You already know where I cast my vote…

keep smiling,

Ben

(all stats gathered from wiki.answers.com)

But here is what has been going on with me lately:

Occasionally I get spontaneous ideas.

Even more occasionally, I act on them…

So this past Sunday (5-10-09), I had the thought that I shouldn’t eat anything for the rest of the day… I decided I would take a very miniature version of a fast.

I had already eaten a sandwich, so I didn’t go the whole day without food… yet it was incredibly difficult!

(what really strikes me as odd is that I have been over two days without food in the past)

I set my intention:  I’m not going to eat anything else for the rest of the day

Usually I get what I’m after pretty quickly once I decide

Where I’m Going…

And this case was no different on the surface… I didn’t eat anything for the rest of the day.  I drank water, juice, and a little milk, but I didn’t eat anything.  What was interesting in this case was how difficult it was for me to follow through on this.  I didn’t notice any pangs of hunger in my stomach.  But I did notice an incredible urge to eat… it almost seemed to coincide with setting the intent.

Had it not been for meditation, I would have never noticed this in the first place… but I don’t think I’m going to overcome it with meditation alone.  My plan is to develop some specific applications of EFT which include meditation as well as the use of some of the other techniques and principles of self change I have learned.

I know there is much more for me to learn here…

Although I fully intend to keep information on Peaceful Prosperity that can be applied to any aspect of your life… I will be spending more time on a couple of specific goals… and I encourage people who are serious about their own development to participate.

Where We’re Going…

How to Lose Weight Quickly:  and more importantly, how to overcome the core drivers that tend to cause weight problems, eating disorders, lack of exercise, etc.  I appreciate this is an incredibly powerful place of personal development for a variety of reasons:

• This is a where a lot of people get started in self help/personal development (a lot of us have challenges with our weight)
• There are a lot of great, simple ways to make weight loss much easier, that aren’t commonly known.
• It is a great starting point for powerful change.  Issues with weight are virtually always rooted in cravings for food (and overcoming craving in one area of your life begins to dissolve it through out your life)
• This is an area where I’ve had quite a bit of success, but I haven’t completely resolved all the deeper issues myself, yet… I would like to share my successes and challenges as I work through my issues as an inspiration for you to continue to work through your own!
• I have wanted to begin a membership site for a while, and I think this is an ideal place to start

How to be Wealthy and Financially Prosperous:  This is also an issue I am still working on, and I want to share my challenges and experiences in this as well.  I’m not certain what format will be best for this… but I will let you know what I find as I discover it…;^)

And remember…

The best is yet to come!

The member’s only ‘lose weight quickly’ site is being developed now… I’ll let you know more soon…

keep smiling,

Ben

Mind-Body Exercises to Lose Weight Quickly

Then hopefully you have taken the time to:

1. Take Complete Responsibility
2. Forgive Yourself Completely
3. Establish Your New Intent &
   
4. Create an Action Plan

This can be done as a part of a simple meditation, and these steps are important… your progress will be much faster and easier when you choose to take these steps… so if you haven’t already, then I encourage you to do it now!

Once you have an action plan in place, and you have begun to take steps on it… you will occasionally notice there can be a significant pull to fall back into your old behavior…

How do you handle these temptations?

Let’s start with a simple understanding of human compulsion and human motivation.

Another important factor to mention is unconsciousness.

When we are aware of our drive toward pleasure and our movement away from pain, then we can be honest with ourselves about what motivates us.

When those desires are unconscious, we have not yet become aware of them… and thus we can neither be honest about them nor bring them under control…

We are at their mercy!

More and more people are taking the time to be aware of their motivation by pleasure and pain… the personal development field brings up this concept frequently.

The more you bring it into conscious awareness, the more you can enjoy it and direct it as you see fit!

There is another level of this to be aware of, though.

The craving and aversion mentioned in the video are still typically entirely unconscious.

Most of us aren’t aware of how we cling to pleasure and things we enjoy, and how that actually reduces the enjoyment and can create suffering.

Most of us aren’t consciously aware of how we resist and tighten up around pain… and how this magnifies and lengthens the effect of the pain… (how many people still feel bad about something that happened years earlier… it is rare to see someone who can relax completely around those painful memories… let the feelings flow… let the pain go…)

When we bring Craving & Aversion into our conscious awareness… we can begin to truly relax… this awareness meditation should gradually be brought into every aspect of  your life!

When we start to relax our aversions… when we release our craving to let our pleasure flow…

We Can Truly Be Free!

We must practice though… we must begin to notice these unconscious habits in our daily life.

Your habits around eating and exercising are no different.  If you have aversion to a certain exercise, it is almost impossible to do that exercise consistently.  If you have craving for a certain type of food, it is almost impossible to be around it without eating it.

When I quit smoking, for a while, I had to avoid my friends who smoked.  I also avoided going into gas stations… knowing that wall of cigarettes would be staring down at me.

So how do we translate this into an exercise to lose weight quickly?

Again, to oversimplify, there are two approaches to a solution.  The quick way is to work around it.  The more powerful way is to work through it….

Craving/Aversion Exercise to Lose Weight Quickly 1:

The Simple Workaround

1. Bring your cravings and aversions around food and exercise into conscious awareness (pay close attention to what comes up when you think about them or experience them).
2. Find an exercise that you have no aversion to (one you will truly enjoy).
3. Find a way to do that exercise consistently so you can lose weight (if you enjoy walking, it shouldn’t be too hard to walk every day).
4. Find a way to avoid the foods you have cravings for.
5. Remove the craved foods from your house.
6. Replace them with foods you enjoy, but don’t crave… if you crave twinkies and like bananas… then replace the twinkies with bananas (note:  this obviously isn’t a complete diet outline… there are plenty of resources for nutritional information out there… you still want to eat a balanced diet… you just want to avoid foods that you ‘crave’).
7. Continue performing the exercises you enjoy, and eating the foods you enjoy, while avoiding exercises for which you have aversion, and foods that you crave (note:  even the word ‘exercise’ causes aversion for some… you can use a different word… you can just call it ’something fun I like to do’ or ‘me time’… or whatever works best for you)
8. After spending some time doing this (a few months usually), you will begin to notice that your old cravings and aversions are somewhat diminished

This gives you the easiest method for getting results.  This can be an incredibly efficient mind-body exercise to quickly lose weight.

Using variations of this method, I have lost up to 50 lbs, quit smoking, and become much more consistent at many things I consider to be positive habits.

The only shortcoming of this method, is it only changes you at the level of habit… you might describe it as building a better robot… and though on some level it can be very rewarding, it doesn’t help you to permanently overcome the cycles of craving and aversion.

In my next post, I will outline the true seekers method… paying attention to and working through cravings and aversions…

This is real personal development…

Working through craving and aversion in one area of your life will loosen its grip in all areas of your life… the more you practice, the more you will see the craving, the aversion, and ultimately

The Suffering Will Melt Away!

See you soon…

Keep smiling,

Ben

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