I asked my friend and Straight from the Heart guest, Diana Lang, to write an article about meditation. Diana is an amazing meditation and yoga teacher and she is the author of a wonderful book and CD called "Opening to Meditation." Meditation helps us to enter a place within ourselves that is sacred and beautiful. It is a practice which teaches you to trust and come HOME to your SELF. Diana and I did a fabulous show on the topic called "Just Breathe!" In fact, you can begin right now. Start by taking five, slow, deep breaths. Ah, that's it. Nice and slow. I bet that you are feeling better already!

I hope that you enjoy the article.

Blessings and love,
Sheri

Meditation in Real Life

by Diana Lang

As we continue to move into the new millennium we are hearing more and more about meditation. It's everywhere. Goldie Hawn meditates. Sting meditates. Oprah is talking about it on her show. Richard Gere studies with the Dalai Lama. Our almost-president Al Gore meditates. Even the Beatles meditated!

In America, more than ten million adults have a daily meditation practice, and those are just the ones that participated in the poll. Many more of us are quietly meditating in our homes and offices.

Furthermore, scientific studies are showing, through tests of yogis and other mystics -- hooking them up to every kind of medical device you can imagine; measuring blood pressure, heart rate, skin temperature, neural activity in the brain, and more -- what has been long been known: meditation really works. It strengthens the immune system, lessens the effects of depression, and lowers blood pressure, just to name a few benefits. Meditating even improves the way we age.

Meditation is being used in every kind of setting, from hospitals to prisons. It is being used to help alleviate the effects of stress and chronic pain. Meditation is even being used to help people through the process of dying. Schools are using meditation to assist children with hyperactivity and keep them off drugs. It is being used worldwide by groups numbering in the millions to purposefully raise humanity's consciousness to a new level. Meditation is sweeping the Western world!

So what is meditation?
Most of us imagine someone sitting cross-legged on a mountaintop in India. But for most, meditation doesn't fit this stereotypical image. It is rather a simple daily practice, done at home sitting on the couch, or at the office on lunch break. We do it to keep our balance, to find our center and to stay present -- even when things are difficult -- especially when things are difficult.

Life can be so overwhelming. We can get distracted, distraught, confused and overwhelmed by the sheer volume of life. We are bombarded with information and stimulation. There's so much to do. We are trying so hard to make money, raise kids, be a good person; we get over-stimulated, over-amped and finally overwhelmed.
There's never been a time in history where ADD (hyperactivity) or all kinds of nervous disorders and immune system diseases have been more rampant. We eat too much, we work too hard, we try too hard. We swing from gung-ho exercise programs and massive dieting, to total lethargy and apathy. We are a bi-polar nation. We are desperately looking for meaning and simplicity. We are looking for a way to get back to ourselves -- to that part of us that is sacred -- and it's been right there all along.

Meditation reconnects us to that simplicity and meaning. It awakens that part of ourselves that is always connected. When we meditate we have the actual experience of inner peace and a deep inner calm. It's like the feeling after having returned from a long vacation; you return rested with a greater sense of well being, but also a broader perspective of your life, and for a while we have a whole new outlook. With a meditation practice, you can have that experience every day.

People by the thousands are turning to meditation every day, because we're just plain overwhelmed. We're stressed out and pissed off. We feel powerless, worried, unworthy, or worse, apathetic. All of these states are conditions of being disconnected -- which creates pain. We are in pain because we are disconnected.
Meditation helps us to reconnect to our higher knowing. It helps us know what to do and when to do it. We start to have perfect timing. We begin to know the love that is all around us -- all the time. We realize that we are worthy beyond measure.
And the really good news is that it's easy. It's simple to do and as normal as breathing. Meditation gives you back your most true and authentic self. When we meditate we begin to feel more and more calm and sure and guided in every moment. It takes you where you are, you, accepts you, and gently, lovingly and in perfect timing takes you back to yourself.

Life doesn't have to be hard. Life is a grand adventure, a kind of school, but not necessarily of hard knocks. Our inner guidance constantly is telling us what our next step is. All we have to do is listen to it.

So don't be surprised if you find out your accountant meditates or your next door neighbor. Wouldn't you love to know that the nurse that is caring for you meditates or your lawyer does? The more conscious we all are, the better the world will become. Where there's consciousness there is compassion -- there is love. Meditation is a return to love. It is a return to your deepest inner knowing and that place within yourself you have always been seeking. Meditation literally makes your world a better place and this world a better place.

Meditation will take you home. It creates a clear path to real peace and happiness. The place to start is exactly where you are and the time is now.

 

Based on the book and CD set" OPENING TO MEDITATION -- A Gentle, Guided Approach" by Diana Lang

Featured Writer Diana Lang has been a most welcomed and fabulous guest on Straight from the Heart.You can see her on: "Just Breathe" and "Yoga for Everyday Use" Diana is a “teacher's teacher” of meditation and yoga and a spiritual counselor who has taught meditation to thousands of people since 1980. Her new book and CD set, "Opening to Meditation" was released in November 2004 by New World Library. She has studied spiritual teachings from around the world and is able to easily explain abstract ideas in a way that is immediately applicable and easy to understand. She leads ongoing yoga and meditation classes, and spiritual workshops in the Los Angeles area. For two years, she has had a two-hour weekly radio show called "In Your Dreams", on KZLA with live dream analysis. Diana lives and teaches in Los Angeles. Visit her web site at: www.DianaLang.com.