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Archive for Meditation

Accessing Your Self-Healing Wisdom

By Misa Hopkins · Comments (0)
Wednesday, March 21st, 2012

Do you ever feel like other people seem to have an innate wisdom about what they need to do for their self-healing, but you don’t? It can be a pretty common experience, but the greater truth is that everyone has access to their self-healing wisdom.

Many of us have simply had little education about how to do it. We have gotten so used to the concept of taking prescribed medications or having surgery done, where we perceive the healing is happening to us, that it can be a stretch to understand we are playing a role in our healing progress.

Whether we choose to be actively engaged in our healing or not, our beliefs and feelings are part of the process. If the mind is busy or feelings are overwhelming, we have a difficult time actually hearing or recognizing our own inner wisdom.

If you want to access your self-healing wisdom, at some point you’ll discover that you need to quiet your mind. Clear intentions have a difficult time getting through mind clutter. It is difficult to create a state of allowance, where you literally allow your body to heal, if your fear is running high.

Self-healing wisdom comes through when the mind is quiet and the heart is open. Allowance and intention are the two energies that need to be clear and in balance for healing to happen. And in both cases, inner stillness is required.

My thirteen-year-old nephew caught on to this the first time he did energy healing on his own body. He was in the hospital, and expected to be there for a week, as the doctors treated his blood. His white blood cells were attacking red blood cells with markers in them. The markers were basically telling the white blood cells that these were invaders and needed to be eliminated. Ultimately he didn’t have enough healthy red blood cells in his system so he was growing weaker and more toxic by the day.

I sat down on the edge of his bed and asked him if he understood what his cells were doing. He explained it to me, so I asked him if he was willing to come up with a way to visualize a different scenario for his cells.

Being a thirteen-year-old, he created a kind of mental computer game that he could engage in with his cells. I watched and felt him become very still inside, as he got ready to play the game in his mind. In the stillness, his mind went into laser-sharp focus.

I held space for his best healing through my sounds as he visualized. Minutes later we stopped together and I left him to rest for a while. The next day the doctors expressed their delight with his rapid progress. They held him one day for observation and sent him home—five days early.

What struck me was his ability to quiet his mind and focus. This is not easy for everyone to do, particularly when you are afraid. The mind has a way of racing, imagining all the worst possibilities. The mind racing in fear is counter to healing. When the mind becomes quiet, there is peace. In peace, you see all of the potential outcomes with clarity, particularly your healing and how to achieve it.

This state of peace also allows you to become the space in which healing can occur.  With inner peace, prescription drugs, surgery, herbal or homeopathic remedies, natural treatments and energy healing can serve you better.

Quieting your mind is one of the best ways to facilitate your healing. Even if you are not a meditator, notice how a walk in the park, having a quiet cup of tea on your porch, or engaging in a craft that you love help to quiet your mind and allay your fears.

In a serene and quiet mind, insights about your healing can come through. Insights might surprise you, as they seem to come out of nowhere. A little, but persistent thought might continue to be on the edge of your thoughts—more noticeable because your mind is still.

This is how self-healing insights find their way to us—through stillness of a quiet mind that can finally notice them.

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How to Create Safe and Quiet Space to Enhance Your Self-Healing

By Misa Hopkins · Comments (0)
Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011

The greatest mysteries to healing in life are right here in front of us, part of us, each and every day. The reason we do not recognize them is because we are so busy surviving. We rarely slow down long enough to notice the spirit of life hidden within every living thing.

You do not have to wait for a healing miracle to magically occur. Healing moments and miracles occur as you dedicate time and space to simply be in the presence of life. By creating quiet moments of reflection and meditation, you increase the odds that intuitive wisdom, insights and healing energy can actually get through to you.

The inner stillness that creates the opening for healing doesn’t just happen. You must be willing to create time and put effort into becoming still. In the stillness you become witness to yourself, your guidance and to the gifts that life is offering you. In order to assist you in slowing down, one of the very first things to do is to create safe space for yourself. Here are some ideas for creating safe space:

Make Privacy a Priority
In order to create deep and meaningful experiences, you will find it helpful to attend to your needs for privacy. It is difficult to engage in the depths of stillness when you surround yourself with multiple distractions, so I recommend creating space where those are at a minimum if at all possible. For example turn off the stereo and the telephone. If you are meditating, you are not answering the phone, so you might as well spare yourself the disturbance of it ringing.

Create a Quiet Space or Incorporate Background Noise
If you are living in a metropolitan area, where it is nearly impossible to escape loud noise, then it is probably best to practice meditation in such a way that you allow those sounds to become part of the background. With practice, your senses will become more attuned to nature and your inner landscape and less attuned to human-made sounds.

Notify Others
When living with others, you might want to post a note on your door or notify your family or friends that you are taking some private time and need to be left undisturbed fora certain period of time. Unless there is an emergency, it is probably best not to give into the temptation to respond to any outside interruptions. Your relationship with the Divine is an integral part of your journey in self-awareness, deserving your complete and uninterrupted attention.

Choose a Consistent Time of Day and Amount of Time
You may want to set a timer for a specified period of uninterrupted time. In this way, you and everyone in your home knows that this is your private time, until the timer goes off. Consider setting your sacred time for a specific time of the day, every day. Consistency will help you learn to let go of the mental distractions that usually, naturally arise, and it will make it easier on friends and family to know when to expect you to be needing privacy.

Start Out Slow
Start out slow. If the longest you can be still with yourself is 5 minutes, that’s great. Begin there, and slowly add more time. The idea is to increase serenity, not become frustrated with yourself about what you can’t do yet in terms of being in the stillness with yourself. If it is helpful to listen to a soothing or sound medicine CD for 20 minutes or so, incorporate that into your stillness practice. If your mind gets quiet while taking a hot bath, pour that hot water into a tub and sink in. If you prefer to be out in nature, find a place to be and go there. If it helps to gaze at a candle or follow the movements of your breath, do what works.

This is your time for stillness and there is no right or wrong way to approach it. Do what works for you. Once you get used to having this private time for quieting your mind, you can become present to the mind itself. In time, you will discover how to witness the mind itself and day-by-day invite it to become more and more quiet. In this quietness, there is opportunity for you to receive the guidance you need to be led to healing choices and options that are optimal for your healing.

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Women’s Rhythms and Healing Autoimmune Diseases

By Misa Hopkins · Comments (4)
Thursday, March 10th, 2011

Over the years I have met a number of people that have been challenged by fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and MS. The vast majority have been women. Those seem to be the most common conditions I encounter with people, and I wondered if that was reflective of who I attract or rather universal. So I did some research. First, I explored some statistics and clinical information, then I meditated to discover if there is a common emotional and spiritual root.

According to Salyn Boyles research for an article in WebMD in 2007: Women with multiple sclerosis (MS) now appear to outnumber men with the disease by a ratio of four to one in the U.S., new research shows.

From a Science Daily article from 2008, we learn that: Fibromyalgia may affect as much as 3-6 percent of the U.S. population. It is more common in women than in men, but the reasons for this difference are unclear.

Mary Shamon, respected patient advocate, author and guest on ABC World News, http://thyroid.about.com/bio/Mary-Shomon-350.htm, states: The majority of diagnosed cases of CFS occur in women, most of whom are 25 to 45 years old.

The three conditions I mentioned are considered to be autoimmune diseases. So what is an autoimmune disease?  Here is a brief description from Auto Immunity Research: ‘Autoimmune’ is a name frequently given to diseases characterized by the presence of Th1 inflammation. Patients are still often told there is no known cure, while they are given palliative medications intended to reduce symptoms, without changing the outcome of the disease.

Here is a more detailed medical description from Professor Trevor Marshall’s website on autoimmunity: Th1 Spectrum Disorder refers to the group of chronic inflammatory diseases, which are hypothesized to be caused by the Th1 pathogens, a microbiota of bacteria which include L-form, biofilm, and intracellular bacterial forms. Although the exact species and forms of bacteria, as well as the location and extent of the infection, vary between one patient suffering from chronic disease and the next, the disease process is common: bacterial pathogens persist and reproduce by disabling the innate immune response.

Further, according to Professor Trevor Marshall’s website: Although patients who become infected with the Th1 pathogens are given a variety of diagnoses, there are often no clear cut distinctions between one disease and the next. Rather, symptoms frequently overlap creating a spectrum of illness in which diseases are more connected to one another than mutually exclusive disease states.

I bet you could add a few more conditions to this list that women seem to be experiencing in unusually high numbers, with symptoms that cannot be easily attributed to a single medical condition. So what is going on with these debilitating, life-altering conditions? And why are so many women affected by them? As I got still and listened within, this is what I came to understand. I suggest you be with this quietly yourself and see if this aligns with your own inner wisdom:

Women are at war within themselves. We are in a great internal conflict between achievement and the call to stillness. During this time on our planet, there is an urgent need to experience more of the feminine and yin nature of ourselves—to become more compassionate, quiet, able to listen with understanding, move more slowly and with greater consideration, and to heed our intuitive insights.

On the other hand, many women are providing, caring for and raising their children; progressing in their careers; planning for retirement; and making their mark in the world. With a more immediate and pressing need to achieve, women soon find themselves out of balance and disconnected with a vast and significant part of their nature. The sacred and still place within them must also be honored in order to enjoy mental and physical health, and is required for spiritual awakening.

As a result, the toll of being out of balance emotionally, spiritually and physically often results in a cellular attack that we know as an autoimmune disorder. It forces a woman to slow down and to engage her yin nature in order to survive. It forces a woman to step back from her insistent instinct to take care of everyone else, and to consider more carefully when she places another’s needs over her own. It requires she take care of herself. In effect, it is a demand from the soul to create greater balance.

Creating balance is not an easy task. The house might end up being a mess a lot of the time. The kids might have to do more on their own. Partners might have to get used to assuming more responsibility at home. Most of all, as women, we have to let go of the habits and choices we make that allow ourselves to become depleted. If no one picks up the slack, then there are some things that just won’t get done, if we are choosing to be true to our inner call for stillness.

I know this personally, because I healed myself from the early onset symptoms of MS. When I asked a spiritual master to help me better understand what this meant energetically, he took me into a vision in which I was racing, without pausing or stopping. That was when I realized my energy body was on a race course that would eventually stop me altogether. That’s when I changed my life, dramatically.

I took my meditation practice into my active life, by learning how to pause within the moment, as I felt my anxiety rise. I put my healing first and all other activities second. (If I had been a mother to some very young children, certainly there would have been times their needs would have taken precedence, but I understood sacrificing my needs consistently was part of the cause of the illness.) Some chores just didn’t get done, until my husband offered to help me. I created resting times with my sound medicine that were not interrupted.  I committed to the stillness within me that restored my inner balance.

Then, as I was finishing up this portion of my healing journey, I created a non-profit organization, that is now dedicated to the Sacred Feminine and the inner loving, stillness that is the very essence of the Sacred Feminine http://www.NewDreamFoundation.com, because I recognized how vital it is for us as individuals and for the planet to establish balance for that wonderful and powerful drive to achieve. It is a magnificent energy until it consumes us. Then it ravages our bodies, minds and spiritual bodies. Fortunately, there is an energetic cure that any of us can begin accessing right now—inner stillness.

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Breathing Meditation for Centering and Self-Healing

By Misa Hopkins · Comments (3)
Friday, November 5th, 2010

One of the first things you need to do when you are choosing to fully engage in a self-healing practice is to quiet your body and mind, bringing your body into a relaxed state that allows healing to occur. Getting to this relaxed state is the challenge and the opportunity. As I discuss at greater length in my book, The Root of All Healing, you cannot heal by will alone. In other words, you can’t make healing happen. You open to healing by allowing it to happen. You use your will to stay true to your commitment to heal by engaging fully in whatever discipline (treatment, practice or therapy) you have chosen to further your wellness.

Some years ago, when I was in immense pain—too much pain to even provide sound healing for myself—I asked the Divine for a means of healing that would help me alleviate my intense pain enough to employ a more robust healing solution. This is the meditation that came to me and I share it with you today.

If you would prefer to listen to this meditation, it is recorded it on the “Breathing Your Way to Physical Freedom” CD at http://www.spirittreasures.com/Breathing.html. I’ve asked for this Breathing Meditation CD to be significantly discounted for you.

Don’t let the simplicity of this exercise fool you. It is in the attention to your body, energetic expansion and oxygenation that healing is occurring. Many of us need more oxygen in order to heal. We tend to breathe in a shallow manner and as a result the cells of your body don’t get the oxygen they need for optimal functioning.

Breathe as though the breath is a feather.
This is another key to the exercise. When your body is in great pain, it often likes to be treated gently. So imagine that your breath is like the softest feather you have ever felt. That feather is gently caressing your cells as you breathe. Notice how quickly your body relaxes in response to this feather-light touch of breath.

Begin by noticing your breath.
Notice the air flowing through you and caressing you. Notice where it flows easily through your body and where it seems to stop. Do you breathe slowly, quickly, deeply, shallowly? Free yourself from any judgment about how you are breathing. Do not try to change or control it. Simply notice.

Breathe from the center of your body to just a few inches outside your body.
Fill everything with the breath of air. Feel your whole body engage in the process of breathing. As you do this meditation, if any place in your body feels tight and unresponsive, simply wrap those cells in breath, allowing them to absorb breath whenever they are ready.

Focus on the lungs and work your way down your body.
Bring your attention to the top of your lungs, where they attach at the shoulder blades. Breathe into the front of the top of your lungs, then add the sides, then the back. While still breathing into the upper portion of the lungs, focus into the lower half of your lungs, breathing into the front, sides and back.

Breathe into the solar plexus, while still breathing into your lungs, breathing into the front, sides, and back.

Take the breath further into the area of the digestive organs, breathing once again into the front, sides and back.

Now breathe down into the pelvic bowl, repeating the directional pattern. Take your awareness down into each section of your legs until you reach the tip of your toes.

Once you have reached your toes, travel up the spine to the shoulders.
Travel your awareness to the base of your spine, and slowly breathe up each vertebra until you have reached the shoulder area.

Breathe into your arms and hands, then return to the shoulders and travel up your spine into the neck and base of the skull, then fill the neck front, sides and back.

Last – breathe into the head. Breathe into your mouth, ears, nose, eyes, front, side and back, finishing with the top of your head.

Breathe into your entire body for several breaths, feeling every cell expand and open as you breathe several breaths.
Whenever you feel ready, surrender to the breath and allow the breath to breathe you.

When you are feeling nourished and relaxed, return your awareness to your physical body.
Once again feel the air moving in and out of your lungs. Take a few deep breaths and exhale through your mouth, blowing the air outward. Feel your body. Feel your body sitting or lying against a surface. Wiggle your fingers or toes and slowly bring your
consciousness to a greater state of alertness. When you are ready, slowly open your eyes.

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Quieting the Mind to Assist You in Your Healing

By Misa Hopkins · Comments (0)
Saturday, October 16th, 2010

Before you read this article, I suggest you read the article How to Create Safe and Quiet Space to Enhance Your Healing: http://self-healingsecrets.com/719/how-to-create-safe-and-quiet-space-to-enhance-your-healing/. This will prepare you to set your space for quiet contemplation.

In your healing journey, you may have heard about the importance of quieting your mind in order to receive intuitive insights and guidance to assist you in your healing. But if you have never meditated before, the thought of doing so can be overwhelming. And if you have ever sat down to meditate, only to become agitated and frustrated, as you experience the turbulent chatter of your mind and a body that it not used to being still, you may not be anxious to utilize quiet contemplation as a healing approach.

If you have never been taught how to be still inside, the whole concept can be unappealing because it can be a huge challenge. That said, for many, it is a challenge worth meeting. If you are anxious, overly active, or stressed in any area of your life, you are taxing your body, and limiting your body’s capacity to heal. Quieting your mind is one of the time-honored means for finding serenity in your life—the kind of inner serenity that creates an environment conducive to inner and physical healing, while opening you to greater access to intuitive insight.

Here are some steps you can take to make quiet contemplation a more satisfying experience for you.

Taking Care of Your Physical Needs
For most people, there is a biological state optimum for quiet contemplation. For example, it can be difficult to sit still for any length of time if you are ravenously hungry or if your stomach is digesting a lot of food. You may find it best to make you’re your stomach is comfortably content. In the beginning, consider eating lightly an hour or two before sitting quietly.

You might consider not eating meat, caffeine or sugar before sitting quietly. Meat can take a long time to digest and can tend to make you sleepy. Caffeine, of course, can make you jittery or hyper rather than relaxed. Sugar or too many carbohydrates can affect your glycemic levels and cause you to experience an energetic crash. However, you may want to be fully hydrated or you may find that sipping just a little bit of water before beginning gives your body enough fluids to sustain for a while. Give yourself permission to try out some different eating and drinking habits prior to sitting quietly to discover what works best for your body.

You may feel that you are too restless to simply sit quietly.  I recommend you precede your quiet time with active time. Physical activity such as dancing, running, or walking may help you release agitation and pent-up energy in order to feel ready for your body and mind to become still.

Getting Comfortable
Typically, the closer you are to lying down, the deeper you will go into meditative state; however, you are also more likely to go in so deep that you fall asleep. If you are someone that has a very difficult time quieting, I suggest lying down, but propping your shoulders and head up at about a 30% angle from the surface you are lying on.

In a sitting position, you do not tend to fall asleep as easily, but you may find your
back tiring before you feel complete your meditation. Some people prefer to sit on the floor with their backs against something firm, cross-legged or with legs stretched out in front of them. If you are familiar with and can sit in a lotus position, by all means do so.

Energy moves through the body better if your spine is erect. However, use good sense
here. This is not a ballet class and no one is testing your ability to keep your spine
perfectly straight. For now, comfortably erect will be fine. As you become aware of
energy flowing through our body and your muscles become stronger, you will naturally increase your ability to remain erect.

Hand positions can become a cue to your subconscious, if you consistently use the same hand position every time you meditate. For example, you might begin by gently laying one hand inside the other, palms up. Try one hand on top for a while and then reverse their positions to understand the different effects they might have for you. If lying with your head raised, you might want to lay your hands, one on top of the other, over your heart.

There is no right or wrong position for your hands or your body that I am aware of. Your preference is what makes a position right for you. If you find yourself consistently falling asleep, try a new position–even standing.

Inducing a Contemplative State
Some individuals find it helpful to burn an herb or incense to help them prepare for their meditation. One of the benefits of using a scent is that once used, smelling the scent again creates a powerful cue to the primal center of your brain that it is time to become quiet and still. The scent can actually help you achieve stillness very quickly.

You might also discover there are certain times of day when your inner sense are more open and responsive to the world around you. You may discover that regular meditation times increase the likelihood of having mystical experiences. By doing so, you are training your mind and body to become open to the full experience of life through your direct attention to time and space.

In the beginning, listening to soft music might help you shut out the noises around you, and allow you to become immersed in the sounds. As you get comfortable, close your eyes and listen; the sounds will carry you on a journey, simultaneously quieting your busy mind.

I recommend experimenting until you find the combination of privacy, food, water,
scents, body position, time of day, music and regularity that works best for you. By doing so, you make your quiet contemplation time optimal for deep discoveries.

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