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New Spirit Guide Meditation CD

Just wanted to let you know that my new Meditation CD Spirit Guide Meditation is now available for sale on Amazon.com.

I’ve had a Spirit Guide CD available on my web site for many years and it is my most popular title. But it’s ages since I recorded it, so I thought it was time for a makeover. I developed a brand new script and added some background music in order to deepen the relaxing effects even further.

I received my proof copy the other day, which I needed to check before giving the go-ahead for publication, and I was really pleased with it. It looks good, sounds good and will most probably do you good – when you listen to it that is.

The CD version is only available from Amazon.com, but you if you want an MP3 then you can download a copy of Spirit Guide Meditation directly from my website.

The idea behind this meditation is that we all have within us a source of knowing. Some people might call that intuition, inspiration, or luck. Others see it outside of themselves and may think in terms of a guardian angel or spirit guide. Whatever you call it is right for you, but for this meditation I’ve chosen to call it Spirit Guide because that’s what I am most familiar with (see my books Mirror Mirror – The Looking Glass Self and Mirror Mirror – The Deeper Reflection). Once I’d made that connection myself, I was amazed at how much I suddenly knew that I didn’t know, and the questions that I could answer when I didn’t know the answer.

Now if that sounds a bit gobbledegookish, I quite understand, but it’s something you really have to experience in order to get. It’s a bit like your mind opens up and has access to information even though you haven’t encountered that information before.

The problem that most people have is finding a reliable method for connecting with this inner wisdom, this source of guiding knowledge that turns your life around and helps you to understand why things are the way they are. It also guides you to an understanding of how to use what you see around you to free yourself from your chains.

Hence this meditation CD. Its purpose is to make it easy to make that connection. The common reasons that the connection is difficult to establish is inner resistance to what might happen, and mental noise, or thoughts that won’t quieten down so you can hear that wise whisper more clearly. The CD cuts through both of those problems and within it contains the solution so that when you arrive at the meeting place your mind is receptive and clear.

I’ve designed it so that you not only enjoy a deeply pleasureable relaxation, but your mind is also lulled into the perfect state to connect with your Spirit Guide in whatever form is most comfortable to you.

This is a way to access information and receive advice that’s tailored perfectly for you.

Get hold of a copy of Spirit Guide Meditation, and start enjoying its benefits now.

I hope you enjoy it.

Michael

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Seven Quick Stress Reduction Tips

Everyone suffers from stress or anxiety at times. For some people though it seems like life has taken a dislike to them and the problems start to pile up. Then the stress begins to take its toll. Each day becomes more and more difficult to get through, and the mind is filled with anxious thoughts.

At such times frequently all that’s needed is a short respite, a few minutes peace. For in that peace, solutions begin to emerge and the body has a chance to recover physically from the damage the stress is causing.

If you use these tips regularly you will find that you start to become master of your mind and that you discover the ability to direct its energy to something more useful than worrying. Despite what you may think, worrying is never helpful, and never changes anything. Action changes things. So take action now. Just pick the one you most like the sound of and do that as soon as you finish reading about it.

Breathing

Move your awareness to your breathing. Then gently allow your breath to deepen. Push your abdominal muscles out to pull air into the lower parts of your lungs. Then pull those muscles in to expel that air. Do this slowly to a count of four in and four out, and as that becomes comfortable increase to a count of 6. If it feels comfortable hold the breath for a count of 2, and then 3. Do this for at least a couple of minutes.

Laughter

Bring to mind a humorous memory. Find some jokes on facebook. Watch a DVD that makes you laugh out loud, and if you don’t have one, buy one.

Norman Cousins, a journalist, was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis. His doctor estimated his chance of survival as 1 in 500. Cousins did three things. He checked himself out of hospital because he didn’t want to be in that negative atmosphere. He took high doses of vitamin C. Finally he hired a movie projector and loads of films that made him laugh (this was back in 1964 so home video hadn’t been invented yet). Blood tests before and after his bouts of belly laughter showed a significant lowering of markers for inflammation.

Within just a few weeks he was back at work and continued to recover as he laughed his way back to health. So please do not dismiss the therapeutic power of laughter.

Meditation

Meditation, even just ten minutes twice a day, is incredibly powerful. There are many techniques you can use. You can meditate in silence focused on your breath, repeat a mantra, or listen to a guided meditation on Cd. Personally I either listen to a guided meditation or use Kirtan Kriya meditation.

Music

Whatever your favourite music is, play it through headphones loud enough to drown out your thoughts, and if it moves you to move or dance then let it happen. Just be mindful of your hearing with the volume.

Now

Just ask yourself this question. “Am I alright NOW?” Now being the very moment of asking the question. Not the moment, the minute, the hour, the day, the week, before. Not the moment, the minute, the hour, the day, the week, after. The exact moment of asking the question.

Answer the question either yes or no, and then ask the question again. Keep repeating this until your mind has quietened down. Don’t get into a debate. Ask the question. Answer it. Ask the question…

A variation on this is to ask yourself “What am I aware of NOW?” Then in the moment of asking the question allow yourself to become aware of whatever it is that you are most aware of. It could be a sound, a sensation, something in your visual field… anything at all. Then let that go and ask the question again. Repeat until peace returns to your mind.

Walking

Walking is great exercise, but as you walk, look at the beauty that surrounds you. Just notice what you pass – the small as well as the large. On my walks I will stop to smell a flower, enjoy a vista, visually explore an interesting piece of architecture, listen to the birds, feed or stroke a horse, make friends with a dog. Last night a friend pulled up next to me and we had a pleasant chat for half an hour or so. It wouldn’t have happened if I’d stayed indoors.

Yoga

Yoga is a discipline that has huge psychological and physical benefits. Quite a few years ago now I attended three classes a week and I’ve never been as fit and flexible in my life as I was then. But attending a class isn’t really what I have in mind. Get a DVD, or do some online research and find a simple five or ten minute routine that you can do each day. My favourite is the Hymn to the Sun (Sun Salutation, surya namaskara) performed each morning. It incorporates several postures and really lifts the spirit for the day.

 

These are simple things that anyone can do, all it takes is a desire to move away from the endless cycle of worry and consequent build up of stress and stress symptoms. As I mentioned earlier, there will be no change until you take positive action. Above you have seven simple things you can do that will make a difference instantly. When you do these things on a regular basis your life will begin to change, until eventually you start to get a taste of Freedom.

Let me know how you get on.

Michael

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Meditation – Is This The Key To Anxiety Control?

I don’t know about you but when I hear the word meditation I get pictures in my mind of Buddhist monks, monasteries, and very uncomfortable crossed-legs. I get those pictures and I’ve been a regular meditator for nearly two decades. I’m neither a monk nor capable of sitting in the lotus position.

I started meditating because I suffered from chronic anxiety. The meditation was a significant factor in healing that problem. I do it nowadays because of the benefits it continues to bring.

You see meditation is quite amazing in how, over time, it brings about powerful beneficial changes to physical and mental health. The problem with meditation is that you can’t get it in a bottle or a blister pack. Unfortunately, in order to obtain the benefits, you actually have to do something that takes up some of your valuable time. You need to set aside some me time when you are left alone and refuse to respond to interruptions.

Then you have to do something really boring like focusing on your breathing, or repeating a word or phrase (mantra) over and over again. It’s so dull that much more interesting thoughts keep on wandering across your mind to try to liven up the proceedings. So it can seem really difficult – at least when you first start. But this isn’t a how to meditate so I won’t go into that. This is more about a why to meditate.

So let’s look at some of the benefits.

  • Blood pressure reduction (without medication)
  • Reduces pre-menstrual symptoms
  • Helps you lose weight
  • Slows down aging
  • Boosts serotonin (so no need for prozac or other SSRIs)
  • Boosts sense of intimacy
  • Improves tolerance
  • Reduces stress
  • Boosts immune system function
  • Harmonises mind body and spirit

It also has no negative side effects, unlike many of the drugs that only help with some of these problems.

So if you want to get started then all you need to do is to decide that you are going to meditate regularly and decide on the time. One of the easiest ways to get started, which removes a lot of the difficulties encountered by beginners, is to actually use a Guided Meditation. With a guided meditation you listen to a recording and are guided as to what to focus your mind on. I find that when I listen to a guided meditation I can relax to a much deeper level because someone else is in charge. It’s a bit like going on a coach tour. Someone else has done all the work and found the best places to visit. Someone else does the driving – all you have to do is sit back, relax and enjoy the ride. Then, at the end you feel so much better.

There are loads of guided meditations available. I’ve got one that takes you through your chakra energy centres, and I’m in the process of creating another that has a more spiritual than physical focus. I’m not suggesting that my guided chakra meditation is better than anyone else’s. The best advice I can give is to choose one that appeals to you.

I’ve had some really positive feedback about the benefits of my chakra mediation. Here’s one email I received:

“Michael

I have a very close relative who is very ill. This CD has been a like a gift from heaven. Thank you so much for creating it.

I love the Chakra Meditation CD! Listened to it five times and always drifted off into a hazy dream-like state within the first few minutes. I woke up relaxed, refreshed and hopeful each time. Today, I was determined to hear the content of the CD in full. I managed to stay awake and found myself tearing up (crying actually) during all three chakras above Anahata. The CD is both rejuvenating and relaxing. The message on the CD resonated more strongly each time I listened to it. I will continue to listen to it daily. I am very happy to have found your remarkable CD. It has been a wonderful meditation experience..”

Alex Dubrovsky

 

Becky enjoyed it too:

“…it’s really good. I was listening closely and then all of a sudden I was waking up as the music finished at the end. I felt really relaxed and positive. I was also wide awake which considering I’d just played rugby and was practically nodding off just before I listened was amazing.”

Becky Hindley

 

I strongly encourage you to try this out, and don’t forget to let me know how you get on.

If you go to my Chakra Meditation web page you can purchase the CD or imediately download the MP3 version and enjoy the benefits for yourself – it’s as close as you can get to meditation in a blister pack.

Check it out.

Michael

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The Making of a Guided Chakra Meditation CD for Chakra Balancing

Inspired Action

One of the things I keep intending to do is to expand my range of cds and mp3 downloads. At the moment I think I’ve got two hypnosis CDs and just today I’ve increased my range of more spiritual recordings to three by adding my guided chakra meditation to my list.

But, as they say, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. So since I’m in the self-help and personal development business I thought it might be a good idea if I stopped intending and started doing. And that was it, pretty much, until I woke up one morning filled with the inspired idea (don’t you just love the way inspiration makes you feel?) that I needed to create a chakra meditation CD. I don’t know if you know the feeling that’s part excitement, part knowing. I usually ignore it, not because the ideas aren’t good, but because I’ve got bills to pay and so I need to think about what will serve my customers best. When I serve my customers best I make more sales and so everyone benefits. I mean where would we all be if we just did what we enjoyed?

So I lay there filled with this enthusiasm and also a debate about who would want this. In the end I gave in and said to myself, ok, if it’s that important I’ll do it. So as soon as I’d finished breakfast I got started. But first let me give you some background.

Chakra Balancing

Quite a few years ago I discovered I had some skill as a healer. I also read tarot cards and used to attend Mind Body Spirit fayres and festivals. One year I decided I’d set up my stall as a healer, rather than a reader, just for something different to do so that I could enjoy the challenge of how to make it interesting for the show visitors. I decided to focus on chakra balancing. I used a pendulum to detect health or otherwise of those energy centres known as chakras and then I used my healing skills to restore to good health any chakras that were out of balance.

guided chakra meditation, chakra balancing, mp3 download, chakra location

What I quickly discovered was that, without being given any information about the health, or otherwise of my patient, my pendulum would quickly identify problem areas that my patient then confirmed. Let me give you an example. When a chakra is healthy my pendulum would mark out a circular path at a reasonable speed. When the speed of rotation was much slower then I knew there was a problem; or when the shape of rotation was not circular there was also a problem. No movement at all meant a completely closed chakra, and so the chakra required opening before balancing could commence.

I was testing the Third eye chakra (Ajna) on one patient and the pendulum described a distorted oval path – pulling over to the right. I asked my patient if she had any problems with the right side of her head and she reported suffering from persistent headaches. A few minutes healing and when I retested the chakra it was operating normally and my patient reported that the pain had gone.

The brilliant thing about doing healing this way is that the pendulum gives a very real demonstration of the state of the chakra so it is easy to tell when the healing is complete because the chakra is restored.

Chakra balancing is working in this way with all of the chakras in turn until they are all operating energetically at the same level and the size of the vortex (diameter of the circle described by the pendulum) is also matched. I always start at Muladhara (root chakra) for grounding and then work up the body until we reach Sahasrara (crown chakra). I found that during this process my patient would quite often drift into a deep state of relaxation.

Guided Meditation

Then move forward a few years and I had a patient coming to see me for help with IBS. IBS generally requires a long period of treatments. I used a hypnotic version of chakra balancing with her. I put her into a trance and then asked her to visualise the opening of the chakras while at the same time visualising a rainbow of colour moving up through her body. She always loved this and found it created instant relief and good feeling whenever I used it with her.

Fast forward to today.

All Mixed Up

The first thing I needed was a new script, so I sat down and wrote that in the morning. In the afternoon I recorded it and mixed it with a background music track. Then came the fun part. All of my other Hypnosis Cds and mp3 downloads are only available from my own website. My intention this time was to sell through Amazon using their Createspace publishing programme. My commission is considerably smaller selling this way but I hoped I might be able to reach a much bigger audience than my own website attracts.

And that was when the fun started.

Createspace’s upload facility is a bit primitive. I record on my laptop because I produce much better sound quality than I can on my pc, so I was uploading from there. But every time the screensaver turned on (it was a 90 minute upload – and although I do have fast broadband, this was CD quality and so is a big file) Createspace lost its place and restarted the upload.

I had to go rooting around in Control Panel to turn off everything that might turn the screen off or send the laptop to sleep, I turned off all of the unnecessary stuff running in the background and still it would drop the connection at around 20% uploaded. After 5 hours of this frustrating activity I put the file on a USB flash card and plugged it into my pc. Again I had to switch off all the switching off but this time it loaded. So a simple job took around 7 hours. If only they provided FTP upload it would be so much easier.

I called it a day.

A Picture’s Worth…

The following morning I had to design all the bits of paper that go into a CD case. I hadn’t realised there was so much. The booklet which serves as the display part in the front of the case had four pages – all of which needed images and text. The tray insert that goes underneath the CD and is visible through the back of the case also needed images and words.

guided chakra meditation, chakra balancing, mp3 download

So I went trawling through the stock libraries looking for suitable images. Then I had to make up some words to make it seem attractive to purchasers, without making any outlandish claims that I can’t prove. It’s difficult not to be enthusiastic about something you believe in and know that it has the power to bring huge benefits to people, but we aren’t allowed to make claims unless we can prove them. The fact that I’ve experienced it, and my patients have experienced it, is just not good enough for the advertising standards people.

The trouble, it seems, is that not everyone is honest and some people just want the money without giving something of equal or greater value in return. So those of us who just want to make life a little easier for others find it difficult to get noticed.

Approval is always nice

Anyway, artwork completed and uploaded, Createspace approved of my artwork within 24 hours, even though they said it would be 20 days. I assume their approval means the quality is sufficiently high to grace the pages of Amazon alongside Cds from big publishers who pay graphic designers and artists huge amounts of money to produce the artwork for their cds. Then I had to buy, yes buy, a proof copy, pay lots of postage because they make them in the US and I live in the UK and wait four to six weeks for it to arrive.

Chakra Meditation Completed

You can imagine that after three days of hard work I’m not too impressed at having to wait four weeks to get hold of a copy, so I created an mp3 version and put it on my mp3 downloads page.

I’m looking forward to seeing the finished product, but I’m thinking I need to get started on the next one. So if you have any suggestions about what would be helpful for you, or just what you think might help a lot of people then please post them below. I’d love to hear your ideas.

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Hypnosis for Weight Control – Why Diets Can’t Keep the Weight Off for You

The trouble with diets is that you have to think about food all the time. Though “At first a diet can give you a sense of control. You are taking charge of your eating patterns. You may see success as the scale drops. But soon you are fighting cravings for forbidden foods, as well as hunger pangs and a lack of energy from the lower calorie level. Eventually you rebel against the diet and start “cheating.” If your cheats are small you can still be losing weight, although more slowly. But soon you may go into full rebellion and return to your old eating habits” Am Psychol. 2007

This is how the well known yo-yo effect starts. You get all enthusiastic, go wholeheartedly into the new diet, lose some pounds; then after a few weeks, or a few months, the enthusiasm starts to slip, you’ve done really well, and you want to give yourself a treat or a day off, then that day happens once a week, twice a week, three times a week and the treat happens once a week, once a day, three times a day…

The pounds slip back on, the clothes slowly tighten up again, and you look in the mirror one morning and think I was doing so well…

…or no matter what you do, how closely you stick to the diet, nothing much happens. Others lose pounds, you lose ounces, or even gain them. Life is so unfair…

…or you spend the whole ‘diet-time’ thinking about food, thinking about what you can and can’t eat, counting calories, or points, or syns. Until you get fed-up with the whole thing and give it up…

…for a while…

…and then, usually after Christmas, when you go try on the new summer outfits…  it all starts all over again.

The trouble, I hasten to add, is not with what the diets suggest you eat. The vast majority of them provide good healthy rules for eating that will provide you with a nutritious and balanced intake of food. And lots of people do lose weight using these tried, tested and very successful methods.But the weight doesn’t stay off. The reason is the reasons for weight accumulation are not being addressed. One of the assumptions made is that weight is purely the product of what you put into your mouth and how much energy you expend. Lots of energy expenditure i.e. active life, low calorie intake equals weight loss. Sedentary lifestyle, high calorie intake equals weight gain.

That’s simple maths and it’s perfectly true. You eat fewer calories than you expend and your body has to get those extra calories from somewhere. What you are told is that it gets them from the fat it has carefully stored away under your skin, for just such an emergency. But the truth is that it takes it from lean muscle tissue, because the body knows that lean muscle burns calories even when resting and the body is trying to conserve energy because food seems to be in short supply.

Another assumption is that it is about metabolism or genes. But the territory that is not normally explored is the territory of emotional eating. If it was explored you would find associations with food and being good buried in the subconscious. When you were good as a young child, sweets, candy, cakes, ice cream, chocolate, biscuits, cookies, were the reward for that goodness. When you pleased your parents, this is frequently the treat that was given. But very soon that got twisted and you assumed that if you didn’t get it, you had been bad. And so eating this sort of food gave your subconscious mind the message ‘I am a good and/or loveable person’. The only reason your subconscious would need to be re-assured about that is if it didn’t believe it already. But when you stop giving yourself these ‘treats’, then at a subconscious level, you feel you must have been bad and you are driven to eat something forbidden just to reassure yourself that you really are good.

Now, when hypnosis is used in weight control, the focus is not purely on changing your eating habits. The focus is on changing you deep down inside. Or more accurately, correcting a view of you (someone who is not loveable) that is mistaken, and bringing back to the front the more correct view of you which is that you are as special and as loveable as everyone else.

You will eat differently, and will eat less, but that is purely because hypnosis reconnects you with you, so you listen to your body and feed it when it’s hungry. What hypnosis doesn’t do is give you rules about what you can and can’t eat. By reminding you of the truth about you, we release a power, or an energy, that starts to work with you rather than against you. When you work purely to a diet plan, without addressing underlying subconscious issues (and I’ve only touched on one here – there are many more) there are two of you. One wanting to be slim, and one needing the re-assurance of treats. And the one needing the re-assurance of treats will work to sabotage the diet plan – because their needs have been ignored.

A hypnotherapist works on improving how you feel about yourself, they also install post-hypnotic suggestions that will make it much easier for you to not only have no desire to eat the foods full of calories, but also assist you in achieving a pleasure in eating foods that are good for you that outweighs any pleasure you ever obtained from eating sugary sweet sickly foods.

This control is short term and just to break the habit element of eating. For in truth, you can eat anything you want and stay slim. The emphasis being on want. Hypnosis retrains your mind so that what you want is to nourish a body you care for – easily, effortlessly. Once this is achieved it remains.

When you already feel good about yourself, you have no need to demonstrate that by eating foods that are bad for you. Wholesome, attractive, tasty, well-prepared food is what you deserve – always.

If you want to know more, or would like some help in easily and permanently losing weight and feeling good, then check out my website.

Author: Michael J. Hadfield

Source: Hypnosisiseasy