A very centering principle for self-guided visualizing is to imagine nature because our bodies and minds sympathize with the healing aspects of nature. Whether sitting on a mountain we have seen, by a stream, or lake or forest, by engrossing all five of our senses deeply in nature, we stimulate the parts of our brain that really respond to these stimuli.

How To:
Sit in a calm, dimly lit place. Consider some calming music, a candle, or incense.
Breathe deeply, and smile to relax the facial musculature.
Imagine your favorite natural spot. Recall the little details and try to see what’s in your mind’s world around you: the more you ‘look’, the more the vision will grow.
Imagine a breeze, the smell, the sun, or the moon shine…
See the air around you as the most brilliant light, entering your body as you heal and releasing negativity, doubt, and fear, as you exhale.
Imagine from the base of your spine a thread connecting you to the magnum of the earth. As you sit up straighter, let the thread run through you to the sky.

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One way to practice active listening is during a conversation. While listening to what is being said, begin to focus on the sound quality and words being spoken. As you continue to focus in, you will tune out outside noises. Your attention on the words will shift how you relate to the person speaking, it creates a space for presence, strengthening your connection with who you are speaking with.

It is also possible to practice actively listening as a way to slow down. By reassigning your attention to a singular sound at a time, your mind and body begin to feel more grounded. Once you feel that shift, focus on another sound, from the busy streets to the sound of the wind, and so on. Stripping down sensations to individual elements brings a sense of awareness that opens up a sense of place and embodiment.

Another way to practice active listening is with music, which for many can become a form of active meditation.

Listening to music or making music, alters your senses and mood. Whether you are dancing or sitting down, close your eyes and “feel” the music, listen to all of its elements and notice the sensations that flow through you.

It is a particularly potent practice when dancing because the body becomes an active rhythmic meditation, allowing the senses to hear music, keeping the mind engaged on the elements of the sound while a flow state emerges.

No matter which one you choose to try out, practicing actively listening is a powerful way to connect with yourself and others.

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Our minds work so fast; thoughts and ideas flood through all day and night, sometimes hiding the voice of the Gd-given intuition that is possible. Keeping memos, a journal, or diary, allows us to track our small daily genius, and reflect on them in times of inspiration.

Happiness chemicals like dopamine flood the brain when reminiscing. We know from chatting with old friends, how we respond to fond memories. Those who are journaling, know the experience of going back to old recollections and feeling the energy of the memory, and its counterpart in our soul, flood through with positivity.

We can remember our dreams and make small observations that could compound and help us achieve them. Our daily repetition of a dream, while awake, helps us intend truly, and harmonize with our universal factors, that can make the dream manifest into reality, as long as it is in our highest good.

Journaling how to:

Pick your medium: whether an app on your phone or in a notebook, find a solution you can bring anywhere and always have handy.

Organize: When we begin journaling, we sometimes make the mistake of diving in with chaotic thought. Take a moment to breath; organize your thoughts, then record. You will be happier coming back to it if the entry is clear and concise.

Inspiration: As we are, all is. Gd is creation, and sometimes we just don’t feel inspired; but shifting our focus outside of ourselves, from the greatest artist in the world to a baby, inspiration comes in waves. Wait for the proper moment, at the beginning, middle, or end of your day.

Manifesting: Writing down intentions should be approached with a calm mind. Try lighting a candle or incense and meditating for a while before starting writing.

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Being mindful can happen at all parts of the day.
Here are a few tips to come into the present moment whenever you feel the need.

Body Scan: Whether standing, sitting, or lying down, we often position ourselves in ways that are not aligned. A body scan is an internal check, going from bottom to top, to assess our comfort. Often a body check will result in a change of stance or proper posture.

Sensation: We have five core senses, and arguably more less sentient. Checking into one, or all five, is a good way to enter the present moment. Smelling an essential oil, listening to good music, tasting a candy, feeling something smooth, or repeating a mantra, allow us to still our mind with concentration on the sensation.

Self-Massage: Our hands and feet are incredible maps of pressure points that represent the rest of our bodies including all of our major organs, and our jaws hold the tension of our hips. Kneading, pressing, or just holding our sensitive parts helps to nourish the body and bring the mind into awareness. There are plenty of self-massage videos on YouTube- but it’s intuitive, find what feels good. Here’s one that shows the 10 most helpful acupressure points.

Stretch: If you know any form of yoga, you know how gratifying it can be to take a few moments in an asana. Stopping whatever you’re doing and taking time to stretch is a good break to still the mind. Breathe deeply as you stretch, visualizing white light entering your body.

Gratitude: Look around you: really notice what is surrounding you. What is beautiful? What is happy and helpful? Say a few words of thanks for the particulars in your surroundings.

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During REM (rapid eye movement), or deep, dreaming sleep, the brain is emitting a much higher frequency wave than what goes on in normal day to day functioning. Moving from Delta to Theta brain states, the mind is busy conjuring images, producing a film for the sleeping mind.

The Theta brain state is also associated with deep visionary meditation, also called the ‘twilight window’ in which the principles of manifestation are most charged, and the Universe is in harmony with the frequencies of our thoughts and dreams. When we are dreaming, we are attracting our needs and desires to us through the brain’s charged activation and resonance.

In Tibetan Buddhist practice, there is a form of yoga, called yoga nidra, or dream yoga, in which the yogi slips into the state in between sleep and dream called lucid dreaming. The yogi calls to mind the image of deities to be with them in their visions, and then embarks on a quest of the soul.

Tips for active / lucid dreaming:

Intention: Before falling asleep, as you are lying in bed, set an intention for your dream. This may be a question, a person, or a task you are focusing on, or it may be totally individual to your desires. Repeat the intention out loud or in writing and visualize it with your mind’s eye until you fall asleep.

Visualizing: Employing the mind’s eye to see cues about your intention will spark the mind’s attention to reaffirm your intention.

Write it down: It is tremendously important for dream recall to keep a diary of your dreams, recorded as soon as you wake up from them. We all know the experience of waking up and suddenly totally forgetting our dreams. Making notes of people, places, and occurrences helps us recall the dream later, where clues might be found to trace patterns and uncover answers to questions to which we’ve been seeking answers.
Herbs: Drinking certain teas and tonics, like Blue Lotus, Kava Kava, Kalea sacatechichi, among others can boost your dreaming abilities.

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Thoughts of beneficence carry a positive vibration. The word love is one of the most felt words in existence, radiating likewise love to those who engross themselves in the feeling. Negative thoughts carry a negative vibration, which is why thoughts of hate and worry usually return the negativity back into the life of the sender.

The same theory applies to spoken word, as is easy to see from typical conversation. When we interact with peaceful, happy intentions, it is returned to us by our conversing partner. When we argue, it is typically reciprocated.

The universe is listening; as everything is, Gd is, and it is always processing and interacting with our thoughts and words, receiving, awarding, and denying us what we desire depending on our behavior. Words in an active voice and present tense are more potent to interacting with the currency of the universe than worry and fear of future or past or would or could. Words with a positive intention are rewarded with action, and negativity is given passivity.

How to begin to change your thoughts:

The opposite game: When you think or say a negative thought, immediately think or say the opposite, to counterbalance and train your mind into the positive.
Breath centering: When thinking negative thoughts, we tend to reel from worry to more severe panic quickly. Coming back to an attention of the breath, while realizing the worrying feeling is inside, and only inside, can distract us and return us to an equilibrium.
Wonder: If breath centering is hard, when having negative thought streams, as soon as possible find another sensation. Whether a soft fabric, a beautiful color, or a favorite song, enter the realm of the present, and give your attention to sensation. Stop the flow of sadness and invite gratitude.

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Alpha: This is a baseline, slow, light sleep, or calm brain function state, often found in between sleep and dreams, in which one can have creative ideas or visions. Also found when conversing.

Beta: Normal waking consciousness, known as the arousal state because the mind is active.

Delta: Deep sleep, non REM, with no awareness of the physical body. If awake in the Delta state, one can have visionary experiences.

Gamma: The highest frequency brainstate, emitted when intensely focused.

Theta: The brain state during REM sleep when we’re dreaming. Also possible during trance, leading to visionary experiences.

It is possible to entrain brain waves using sound. When two inconsistent sounds are combined and heard by each ear at inaudible levels, the brain emits a pulse of electromagnetic energy, which can be measured in one of the brainstate ranges. Often bass lines, particularly in electronic music, are an easy and quick way to entrain brain waves, moving from Beta, or normal consciousness, to the higher intensity brainwaves, inducing a flow state.

In meditation, holistic practitioners and scientists have found the use of binaural beats to affect the brain’s state. Using headphones, the brain hears two different sounds at once, coming from different ears, and produces a third sound in resonance to the sound’s frequency. This effect can be measured by a medical instrument called an EEG.
The simplest way to adjust your brain state is to close your eyes. Switching from attentive beta, to relaxed alpha; and if one is able to bring to mind calming images, the brain may transition to an even higher state such as theta.

The brain may be entrained not only by sound but also by light, called photic driving. Caused by rhythmic light emissions, the brain convulses to match the light, accompanied by a surge of brain chemicals that emit signals.

While humans entrain to music and light through the vibration of brain chemicals, we also entrain to each other. Feelings of harmony and discord can be measured in the frequencies we emit, either matching and providing happy brain chemicals, or in discord, vibrating negatively to each other.

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Mindfulness has been shown to improve connectivity between our frontal lobes. The region of the prefrontal lobe that mediates attention and working memory has enhanced connectivity with the right hemisphere, the area that controls our feelings and thoughts, joining the default and executive attention networks.

In most people, the brain is constantly becoming inactive with age, slowly losing all the synapses and networks. Mindful practices help the neural networks by re-establishing the brain’s interconnectivity.
Mindfulness also creates an open field of attention, allowing higher thoughts from spirit to enter and manifest.

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