Category: Wellness

Recalibrate Your Stress Response: Bounce Back with Ease

1/9/2024

January 2024
By Lorraine Alexander

A few months ago, I happened on the book The Stress Prescription by Elissa Epel, PhD, the co-author of The Telomere Effect, a New York Times best-seller that discovers how stress influences our clock-on-aging. With a generous 4.7 Amazon review, I found The Stress Prescription to be a worthwhile read.

Here's a brief overview:
The Stress Prescription: Seven Days to More Joy and Ease, by Elissa Epel, PhD
Professor, Psychiatry, UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, School of Medicine
Reading this book, I found it remarkably user-friendly, and learned new insights on stress. Open the book to almost any page and indulge in bits of wisdom. The point made most helpful, was learning that traumatic life experiences create a new stress threshold or baseline; this threshold dictates how well or how poorly we cope with stress.

Epel explains thoroughly how stress uniquely affects each of us. The goal is to work toward lowering our baseline to a healthy standard of relaxation. We facilitate this process through daily self-care and mind-body wellness.

Additionally, she suggests that we retrain our brains to think differently about potentially stressful situations and outcomes by using acceptance and mindful techniques. Otherwise, our thoughts can turn to negative rumination.

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Evolve Into Vibrance

12/15/2023

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By Lorraine Alexander

With a new year just around the corner, it's the perfect opportunity for a fresh start. There are many beneficial practices that can be incorporated into your routine, to improve your overall health and wellness. We've included a wish list of suggested practices to begin your journey for optimal health, higher awareness, and a more joy-filled life.

Evaluate, Rethink, Evolve in 2024
Shift your focus away from the holiday 'busyness' toward simplicity, peace, awareness, and wellness. The magic of the new year is about to begin, and this is the opportune time to plan a monumental shift in your health and well-being.

Do you feel in sync with the perfect life path or journey? If the answer is yes, you will feel it at your core. And if you are unsure, take steps to bring stillness and balance back into your life. It will offer clarity and direction.

Sometimes we need to stop thinking about what we want—to find exactly what we need.

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The Rejuvenating Power of Gratitude

11/1/2021

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Image credit: Motoki Tonn

The Rejuvenating Power of Gratitude

Article courtesy of DASA Meditation
Estimated read time 2 min.40 sec.

"In positive psychology research, gratitude is strongly and consistently associated with greater happiness. Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships." -- Harvard Health

The simple sage practice of gratitude can cultivate our happiness and satisfaction in life.

Long-term studies support the effectiveness of a gratitude practice, suggesting that a positive and appreciative attitude contributes to higher success in the workplace. Additionally, these studies indicate gratitude improves health, peak performance in athletes, accelerates healing after surgery, and deepens our sense of well-being.

While we acknowledge the benefits of gratitude, the practice can be challenging to sustain, because so many of us dwell on what's lacking in our lives. And for gratitude to meet its full healing potential, it needs to become more than just a Thanksgiving word. First, we can begin by looking at life with fresh eyes and then put the word gratitude into practice.

A daily practice of gratitude makes so much sense. When we practice giving thanks for all we have, instead of complaining about what we lack, we give ourselves the chance to see all of life as an opportunity and a blessing.

Gratitude offers balance and hope.

Remember that gratitude is not blind optimism, in which the bad things in life are whitewashed or ignored. It's a simple matter of refocusing our attention. Pain and injustice exist in this world, but when we focus on the gifts of life, we gain a feeling of balance and hope. By doing so, we naturally uplift others.

There are many things to be grateful for: the color and crunch of autumn leaves, good health, friends who listen and hear us, dark chocolate, fresh eggs with homemade bread, the warmth of down jackets, a deep belly-laugh with your best friend, reading a treasured book, a pet that snuggles up when you need it most, and butterflies that remind us to stop to appreciate the gift of life and the awe of nature. What might be on your list?

7 Ways to Practice Gratitude

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The Vedic Way: Transform Your Life Path to a Place of Balance with Meditation

7/4/2019

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Image Pricilla Dupreez

The success of a student in their meditation practice may have everything to do with two single factors, the commitment of the student, and the awareness of the teacher.

By Lorraine Alexander, July 4, 2019

In today's complex and uncertain world, meditation is an essential daily ritual used to enhance personal stability, reduce stress, and preserve a balanced lifestyle. According to the Mayo Clinic, meditation ranks in the top three "must-do list" to improve health, along with eating healthy and exercising. Learning to meditate is like having a dose of the perfect health elixir, offering a blend of unparalleled benefits. And best of all, the practice can enrich one's life by improving self-awareness. The bottom line is this, life with meditation can feel amazing.

Americans paid attention to this ancient practice once meditation hit the cover of Time Magazine and Scientific American. Then, America's top CEOs, famed actors and actresses, and NFL football team members all came forth to proclaim their health and personal success was credited in large to their daily Vedic meditation practice.

The mind-body wellness of meditation
Meditation is a vehicle that can transport you from frenzied to calm, taking you back to your center, a position of balance. For creatives, the meditative state is the point of pure inspiration. To layer even more benefits, there is an absurdly long list of medically-backed health benefits for the mind and body, such as heart health, brain health, deeper sleep, lower stress, and the ability to flex easily with the occasional curveball that life may throw.

One single question that begs to be answered about meditation
Over the years, I find people continue to ask me the same question over and over, "What is the best form of meditation?" There are many useful meditation forms; some are simply more effective than others. This article explains two fundamental approaches to meditation.

Directive versus non-directive meditation
Within the practice of meditation, there are two primary categories, directive and non-directive. The directive form requires focused attention, while the non-directive form allows the mind to wander. Although the origins of both forms emerged from religious roots, many contemporary versions have risen—free from dogma and religion, with a primary focus on stress reduction, health, and happiness.

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Meditation: Develop Seven Life Skills Worthy of a Jedi

12/15/2017

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Make meditation a priority; cultivate the seven transformative life skills.
Then, "Live life as if it's skewed in your favor." ~Rumi

Written in honor of the treasured Star Wars movie series.

Awaken the Force Within
By Lorraine Alexander

The actor Mark Hamill portrayed the beloved character Luke Skywalker the Jedi apprentice, in the hit movie Star Wars: The Force Awakens. As the story evolves, Luke grew to become a guardian of peace and justice. He dedicated himself to personal growth and the way of the Jedi. Once he developed these noble values, only then did he find the ability to tap into "the Force.”

Who wouldn’t love to wake up each day feeling that you are on top of your game like Luke? Backed by an abundance of medical studies, many experts concur that meditation delivers new levels of health, wellness, mood, and mental clarity. Consider this, let's say you invest 40 minutes (20 min. twice a day), and for that small investment of time, you receive a substantial return in health, clarity, and creativity. Most meditators agree wholeheartedly that after meditation they have greater focus and energy; they accomplish more in their day; they find their day is suddenly more enjoyable.

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Wisdom from Dogs

11/24/2016

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By Lorraine Alexander

There's a little measure of life's wisdom in each furry canine.

If you've ever owned a dog, or spent any quality time with one, you'll agree with one point. Dogs for the most part enjoy life by living in the moment - and there is a lot to be said for that. Yes, there's a little measure of life's wisdom in each furry canine. So what's the deep secret that we can learn from dogs? It's actually quite simple, when we live in the moment, as dogs do, we live a fuller, more rewarding life.

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Finding Balance with Meditation: Easy Natural Stress Reduction

10/23/2016

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Image©Racom/CanStock

Can we change our life experience?

By Lorraine Alexander

Americans have become accustomed to a stressful lifestyle. We know stress affects health, sleep, emotions and behavior. How can we change this pattern?

There is a quote by Charles R. Swindoll "Life is 10 percent what happens to you, and 90 percent how you react to it." Have you ever noticed that people often react to the same stressors quite differently? While one person is deeply affected by a stressful event, another may take it in stride. Why? The answer is simple. Some of us have found our way back to that place of balance.

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Meditation: The New Sustainable Practice

9/1/2016

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Sustaining the Body, Mind, and Spirit Through Meditation

NORTHBAY BIZ Magazine - September 2016
Meditation: The New Sustainable Practice
By Lorraine Alexander, DASA Meditation

Memory and learning naturally decrease as we age.
Meditation can help combat this trend.

During the past decade, I’ve heard the word “sustainable” used almost exclusively in the context of environmental issues. Yet the term simply means the ability to last or continue for a long time, without depleting resources. A personal resource is an available means that’s afforded by the mind, or by one's personal capabilities—a source of supply, support or aid, especially one that can be readily drawn upon when needed. Shouldn't health and brain function be considered a source of support?

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Comparing Meditation Methods? Consider DASA Meditation

8/6/2016

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Submitted by guest blogger "Grasshopper"

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe

Flipping a coin or using "eeny, meeny, miny, moe," or another random selection method is not the way you should choose your new method of meditation. You should be looking for a method that works for you, a method that fits you like a glove. There are many fine, effective methods to choose from. Take the time to understand the variables, and how the methods differ.

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Meditation and the Creative Mind

3/21/2016

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We've all seen the image of a light bulb associated with an original idea. But, what if many lights or original ideas came to us often - offering a constant stream of ingenuity. How might that change our life - our career?

By Lorraine Alexander

The Game Changer...When all the Lights Come On

Most of us feel fortunate to happen upon one great idea every so often. But what if your creativity was greatly improved? Would your life experience be different if you found that many ideas came to you with ease? What if you had access to these great ideas throughout the day? Maybe you would find a new approach to help your family or a better way to solve a problem at work. You might even dream up a more efficient and fun approach to your daily routine, to planning the perfect date, or a new approach to a client presentation. Could ramping up your creativity improve your personal life, your career, your enjoyment of life? Wouldn't that be a game-changer?

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<<Previous

Recalibrate Your Stress Response: Bounce Back with Ease

Evolve Into Vibrance

The Rejuvenating Power of Gratitude

The Rejuvenating Power of Gratitude

The Vedic Way: Transform Your Life Path to a Place of Balance with Meditation

Meditation: Develop Seven Life Skills Worthy of a Jedi

Wisdom from Dogs

There's a little measure of life's wisdom in each furry canine.

Finding Balance with Meditation: Easy Natural Stress Reduction

Can we change our life experience?

Meditation: The New Sustainable Practice

Sustaining the Body, Mind, and Spirit Through Meditation

Comparing Meditation Methods? Consider DASA Meditation

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe

Meditation and the Creative Mind

The Game Changer...When all the Lights Come On

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