Benifits of Meditation

100 Benefits of MEDITATION

Physiological benefits:

1. It lowers oxygen consumption.
2. It decreases respiratory rate.
3. It increases blood flow and slows the heart rate.
4. Increases exercise tolerance.
5. Leads to a deeper level of physical relaxation.
6. Good for people with high blood pressure.
7. Reduces anxiety attacks by lowering the levels of blood lactate.
8. Decreases muscle tension
9. Helps in chronic diseases like allergies, arthritis etc.
10. Reduces Pre-menstrual Syndrome symptoms.
11. Helps in post-operative healing.
12. Enhances the immune system.
13. Reduces activity of viruses and emotional distress
14. Enhances energy, strength and vigor.
15. Helps with weight loss
16. Reduction of free radicals, less tissue damage
17. Higher skin resistance
18. Drop in cholesterol levels, lowers risk of cardiovascular disease.
19. Improved flow of air to the lungs resulting in easier breathing.
20. Decreases the aging process.
21. Higher levels of DHEAS (Dehydroepiandrosterone)
22. Prevented, slowed or controlled pain of chronic diseases
23. Makes you sweat less
24. Cure headaches & migraines
25. Greater Orderliness of Brain Functioning
26. Reduced Need for Medical Care
27. Less energy wasted
28. More inclined to sports, activities
29. Significant relief from asthma
30. Improved performance in athletic events
31. Normalizes to your ideal weight
32. Harmonizes our endocrine system
33. Relaxes our nervous system
34. Produce lasting beneficial changes in brain electrical activity
35. Helps cure infertility (the stresses of infertility can interfere
with the release of hormones that regulate ovulation).


Psychological benefits:

36. Builds self-confidence.
37. Increases serotonin level, influences mood and behaviour.
38. Resolve phobias & fears
39. Helps control own thoughts
40. Helps with focus & concentration
41. Increase creativity
42. Increased brain wave coherence.
43. Improved learning ability and memory.
44. Increased feelings of vitality and rejuvenation.
45. Increased emotional stability.
46. Improved relationships
47. Mind ages at slower rate
48. Easier to remove bad habits
49. Develops intuition
50. Increased Productivity
51. Improved relations at home & at work
52. Able to see the larger picture in a given situation
53. Helps ignore petty issues
54. Increased ability to solve complex problems
55. Purifies your character
56. Develop will power
57. Greater communication between the two brain hemispheres
58. Respond more quickly and more effectively to a stressful event.
59. Increases ones perceptual ability and motor performance
60. Higher intelligence growth rate
61. Increased job satisfaction
62. Increase in the capacity for intimate contact with loved ones
63. Decrease in potential mental illness
64. Better, more sociable behaviour
65. Less aggressiveness
66. Helps in quitting smoking, alcohol addiction
67. Reduces need and dependency on drugs, pills & pharmaceuticals
68. Need less sleep to recover from sleep deprivation
69. Require less time to fall asleep, helps cure insomnia
70. Increases sense of responsibility
71. Reduces road rage
72. Decrease in restless thinking
73. Decreased tendency to worry
74. Increases listening skills and empathy
75. Helps make more accurate judgments
76. Greater tolerance
77. Gives composure to act in considered & constructive ways
78. Grows a stable, more balanced personality
79. Develops emotional maturity

Spiritual benefits:

80. Helps keep things in perspective
81. Provides peace of mind, happiness
82. Helps you discover your purpose in life
83. Increased self-actualization.
84. Increased compassion
85. Growing wisdom
86. Deeper understanding of yourself and others
87. Brings body, mind, and spirit in harmony
88. Deeper Level of spiritual relaxation
89. Increased acceptance of one self
90. Helps learn forgiveness
91. Changes attitude toward life
92. Creates a deeper relationship with your God
93. Increases the synchronicity in your life
94. Greater inner-directedness
95. Helps living in the present moment
96. Creates a widening, deepening capacity for love
97. Discovery of the power and consciousness beyond the ego
98. Experience an inner sense of Assurance or Knowingness
99. Experience a sense of Oneness
100. Leads to enlightenment

Video playlist of Major BK Shivani's TV Series


Video playlist of Major BK Shivani's TV Series

Going Beyond Episodes :



38 episodes of "Soul Connection"



28 episodes of Happiness Unlimited :

 
 
30 episodes of Self Management :
 


30 episodes of Happiness Index :


GOING BEYOND - Synopsis of Episodes 1 to 25 ( BK Shivani & Suresh Oberoi)






'AWAKENING with Brahma Kumaris' 

GOING BEYOND - Synopsis of Episodes 1 to 25

Episode 1
Every time we say our feelings are because of situations or people, we are  blaming them for our state of mind.
Discipline people and get work done but without fluctuating your state of mind, which means work needs to be done but our happiness is not dependent on it.
Each one of us is responsible for our feelings. People are not responsible for how we feel and we are not responsible for how others feel.
We can take care of our thoughts and actions, but finally others will create their own feelings and we should not feel guilty if others are
creating pain.
Nothing and no one is in our control, other people's mind may not do what we want, we only have control on our own mind.

Episode 2
Irrespective of things happening outside, we consciously choose our feelings inside. We are shifting from blaming to personal responsibility.
Become aware of typical situations or personality traits in people like dishonesty, laziness, being late etc which cause irritation, anger or hurt.
Now consciously choose to remain stable in response to people's behaviours.
Even if something has happened in the past, we cannot blame the past for our feelings today. Our feelings today are entirely our choice and our responsibility.
Everything outside is a stimulus – past experiences, present situations, planetary movements. Irrespective of the stimulus, the response is our creation.
I the soul am already peace, love, contentment. Nothing outside needs to be perfect for us to experience our own qualities, we already have them.

Episode 3

People don't insult us, they give their opinion. We take their words and make them our identity and then use that identity to create hurt.
Mood created in one situation, if not corrected, gets recorded in our subconscious. Any trigger will bring the pattern from the subconscious to the conscious and very soon this becomes our prevailing mood.
Do not make the emotion your identity, like I am sad, I am aggressive. It is a creation, it will pass. If we identify with it, we expect it to come and accept it when it comes.
Face the emotion. Do not try to escape it by distracting your mind with movies, alcohol, working, holidaying or talking to people.
Time cannot heal us. We choose how much time we take to heal ourselves.
Face the emotion and find the tool of knowledge to heal it, do not leave it to time.
Episode 4
Desires are scenes which we create on the screen of our mind. When the scene in reality is different from the one on the mind, the mind perceives it as a loss, and we create pain.
Unfulfilled desires create pain. Let's reduce our desires, and give everything the liberty to happen the first time in reality, as it is meant
to be.
When talking to family and friends about our emotions, focus should be on healing the emotion not discussing the problem and the emotion.
Anything done repeatedly becomes a habit. It is our creation and we can change by creating a new habit. Focus on creating the new habit rather than finishing the old one.
Morning meditation silences the conscious mind and implants the seeds of new habits in the subconscious mind.
Episode 5
To change any habit we take care of 4 aspects. Gyan – Knowledge, Yog – Meditation, Dharna -Inculcation of qualities and Seva - Sharing.
Meditation means to check your emotional blockages, see the thoughts behind it and then replace those thoughts with the truth. For eg. No one loves me is the blockage. Replace it with, I am a Loveful soul, I will give love and acceptance to everyone.
Rajyoga Meditation means connecting to the Supreme Power, God and taking His powers and love to heal our blockages.
Episode 6
Success inside i.e. stability, comfort, happiness inside will have an influence on getting success outside.
When two people are in conflict inside, they cannot create harmony in the relationship. Harmony inside, i.e comfort, stability inside flows into a relationship and creates harmony.
We always thought if the relationship is beautiful, if we get along well, then we will be very happy. The truth is if we are happy then the relationship will be beautiful.
Knowledge is not to be used only for reading, listening and feeling nice, but to be experimented and implemented in daily living.
Early morning the absorption capacity of the mind is high, fill it with pure powerful information i.e. spiritual knowledge and keep the newspaper for later in the day.
Episode 7
When we take knowledge shared by others and implement it, we silence our noisy mind, then our own innate wisdom will emerge and this will change our deep belief systems.
Study knowledge in the morning and then attention in the day on its application in situations, this is Dharna, inculcation of values. We shift from reactive behaviors to consciously responding from our original qualities of peace, love and respect.
When we respond with stability in smaller situations we conserve energy. When there is a crisis we have the energy to face it with calm and stability.
The knowledge we learn, we share it with the other, this is Seva. When we share we benefit first because we churn the knowledge while sharing. Sharing can also be radiating vibrations of purity.
Episode 8
To make transformation natural and easy begin the day with meditation. As far as possible at the same time daily and in a dedicated place which is preferably not the bed, where there are vibrations of sleep.
Meditation silences the mind. Then study of knowledge implants seeds of new way of thinking and behaving deep into the subconscious.
A minute of reflection after every hour to check the quality of thoughts and change consciously towards the right way of thinking.
At night review the day. Any action which was not right, we reflect on it and see how we could have responded in a different manner and visualize ourselves doing it a different way.
Episode 9
We need to check our internal comfort zones of habits and behaviors created due to past experiences or affirmations made by people around us. We may be comfortable being that way, but it is damaging if it is depleting our energy.
Self talk that we create has a deep impact on our sanskars and behaviors. Like we talk positive loving words to others to help them
to change, we need to be positive and loving to ourselves.
Other people's opinion about us should not stop us from breaking our comfort zones. Goal is to have harmony inside. Easiest way to break a
comfort zone is to start doing the opposite, even if it appears to be difficult.
Each of us is a powerful soul and all of us have the same amount of will power, we choose how much to use. The more we use it, the more we will experience it.
Episode 10
Subtle way of controlling people is when we change our behavior, like getting angry, hurt, sulking, not talking to them, till they do what
we want them to do.
When we ask people to do things in a particular and they do it our way, we feel we control them and they feel they are being controlled,
both are not true and it makes both weak.
The one who feels they can control will always have the fear of what if they lose control. Their happiness will always be dependent on the
other person doing things their way.
The one who is listening to others needs to be aware that they are choosing to obey for certain reasons.  Important is they are making
the choice, they are not being controlled.
A powerful being is not the one who is able to control others, but the one who is able to control themselves.
Episode 11
When people don't do things according to what we want we start being judgmental and critical. This is creating resistance towards them. At that moment we don't love them, we reject them.
 Resistance is not because of what the other person has done. Resistance is because of how we start thinking in response to what they have done.
Our judgmental thoughts will travel to them and they start creating similar thoughts, and the process of conflict has begun.
Each one is different, no one is right or wrong, we are just different. Acceptance means we accept the difference.
Acceptance means we are comfortable with their present sanskar and way of working and ready to work on it from the next moment i.e. future.
Rejection is focused on the past, the mistake they made.

Episode 12
Criticism depletes the energy of the one being criticized and also of the one criticising. The criticiser creates emotions of rejection,
anger, and fear of what if they don't listen to me.
Criticism creates hurt in the one who is being corrected. When someone is hurt they can follow our instruction but they are not feeling nice and hence we cannot say – it was for their good.
Critique is giving feedback for the deed and criticism is thinking negatively for the doer. Separate the action from the person and give
suggestion only for what they have done.
Appreciate the person's qualities and the other tasks that they do, build their self confidence and then give them feedback on the task
which has gone wrong.
When we are hurt or angry the feedback goes with the negative vibration and therefore not comfortable for the other. When we are
stable and give the same feedback, it is only a feedback.
Episode 13
Give advice and corrections to others only after we are doing it in our own lives.
Each soul is carrying sanskars of many births, created due to cultures and situations in every birth.
Sanskars which are not comfortable need to be changed, else we carry them into our next birth too.
Criticism deepens their wounds and sanskars get stronger. Compassion helps them to heal their sanskars.
Correcting people means empowering them to do it better in the future.
Punishment was for what had happened in the past.
Shift from control, discipline, authoritative, punishment to being compassionate, facilitate, guide, empower and heal.
Episode 14
Habits change only when we know WHY we need to change and we really WANT to change.
MIND creates thoughts, INTELLECT evaluates and decides, comes into action, repeated action becomes a HABIT or SANSKAR.
Once it is a habit, the mind does not create too many thoughts and the intellect does not evaluate, the habit comes into action
automatically.
To change a habit, first we have to create a new way of thinking.
Shift from automated way of thinking to consciously choosing a new thought.
When the new thought is created, we will start feeling better. Now bring the new thought into action. We are consciously creating a new
habit.

Episode 15
Life is not a competition. Each one is on their own journey, live according to your choices, capacity, values and principles.
The output of our actions is in proportion to our inputs. Inputs could be circumstances, health, resources, and value systems. Our output is not dependent on the output of others.
Past Karma is a very important input factor. Even if all the present input factors of two people are the same, their past karma are different, therefore output will be different and therefore no competition.

If we compromise on our input factor – values or interfere with the inputs of others, we are creating deep karma and this will influence our output today and in the future.
 
Episode 16
Negative thoughts like jealousy, hatred, anger, criticism are toxic and large in number. They make us feel heavy.
When someone is jealous of us, we need to empathise with them, they are insecure and they feel they have not got what they deserve to be happy.

The one who is jealous is not feeling nice and they may not speak nicely about us, but we do not need to justify ourselves by talking badly about them.
Continue to create beautiful clean thoughts of understanding and love for the person who is jealous of us, these pure thoughts will help them to heal themselves.

Episode 17
Very often our behavior is only a reflection of the way others have behaved with us, and in the process our own personality is lost.

Irrespective of environment and people, let us retain our original qualities, so that we will be comfortable and we will spread the fragrance around.
Values are our strength, even if no one around us is using it and even if others think they don't work, we should not give up.

With values we need humility to accept others around who may not use the same values, and power to face the challenges that might come because of living by our values.
Let's choose one value and then use it with everyone, everywhere and every time.
Episode 18
To take control of situations first take control of yourself.

In every situation instead of checking what is right for the situation or the other person, first take care of what is the right way for me to be in this situation.
Going out of control means disconnected from your natural self of purity, peace, love and happiness.

One wrong has no right to correct another wrong, and no power to change them. We have to be in the right before inspiring others to change.
If family or friends are in pain, hurt or anger, we have to first take care of ourselves, remain stable and then help them to come out of it.

When we use love as the way of working, our internal strength, makes people - want to respect us for our inner power, rather than - have to respect us for our position.
 
Episode 19
Our negative emotions have an impact on the mind, body and relationships. Physical disease is easier to heal, but emotional hurt and relationship conflict is a deeper impact.

Sanskars of this birth are easier to change, sanskars being carried for many births need more attention.
Assertiveness is stability inside and focus on the act, not on the person who has made the mistake.

Assertiveness retains the respect for the person and corrects the task. Anger is an attack on the person, and also brings up the past.
A silent mind silences other noisy minds. If parents and teachers have silent minds, they will help children to concentrate.

Episode 20
In any situation, control your state of mind, then look for an alternate way of thinking and delete the emotional baggage held against people.

If we hate someone, when we leave the costume we carry the imprint of hatred, and when the two souls meet again they experience hatred.
Every time we carry forward the unpleasantness, the magnitude and complexity increases. To change the quality of the interaction right now is only one thought away.

If someone has cheated or betrayed us, one option is to create hatred and carry it forward. Other option is to create forgiveness and change the quality of interaction.
Whatever others are doing to us is a return of our past karma, they are not wrong. The response we choose now will create our present and decide our future.
Episode 21

Our thoughts, words and actions are the energy we send to people, which is our karma. Situations and people's behaviors are the energy on the return, which is our destiny.
If God wrote our destiny, it would be a perfect destiny. Our destiny is created by our karmas, our free will, not by the will of God.
God can never get angry with us. God can never curse us. God will only bless us, forgive us and give us the strength to correct our mistakes.
God gives the knowledge of right and wrong karmas, the strength to create good karma and the power to face the consequences of our past karma.
When we are performing rituals they need to be done with the intention of purity and love for God. Not an intention of fear of God or to appease God so that life is smooth for us.

Episode 22
1. When we do something for pleasing others, we do the act, but we create a lot of negative thoughts of stress, anxiety, unwillingness which reach the other person.
2. We say yes to people only for their approval. We think when they approve of us, they love us, if they love us we will be happy. We do everything for pleasing people but we are still not happy because of the unwillingness we have created.
3. Due to our low self esteem we are dependent on others Approval, Acceptance and Appreciation for feeling good. We are then ready to do things to please people so that we do not face rejection.
4. Approval, acceptance and appreciation is like a drug, dependency goes on increasing and our vulnerability increases so we feel rejected by a single word or gesture.
Episode 23
1. We need to be prepared we will lose people's approval when we do something different from what they expected, but that does not mean we are not right or not good.
2. When we choose to do something for others, it is because their happiness matters to us, it is important for our relationship, so we are actually doing it for ourselves. Always do it after we understand we are doing it for OUR happiness not for them.
3. If we feel we are doing it for them, then we may do it without being happy, and then neither us nor they will be happy.
4. If we give what we want whether it is love, acceptance or appreciation, we will experience it before we give it. This makes us a master who gives, not a slave who is dependent on others.

Episode 24
1. Trust should be the first thing to come in a relationship and the last thing to go and actually should never ever finish.
2. When we say we cannot trust someone again, we actually fear the hurt we will create if they do something which we did not expect. We do not fear trusting them, we fear our getting hurt.
3. They have done something which is not right for us, but the hurt we create is totally our responsibility and we have a choice how much and for how long to remain hurt.

4. Every time we create hurt we are getting weaker and then we create hurt even in simpler situations, because getting hurt is becoming our sanskar, and then trusting people becomes difficult.
5. When we start healing our selves, we do not fear getting hurt, and then we are able to trust people because even if they do things differently, we will be able to take care of ourselves.

6. When we doubt people around us in society or at the work place then doubt becomes our sanskar, and then it becomes difficult to trust family and friends.
Episode 25
Expectations means we have already decided the outcome of a situation or a person's behavior and according to us that is the RIGHT way.

We want the outcome to be only OUR WAY for us to remain stable. If it happens any other way we will get disturbed, even if it is a better way.
When we get disturbed, we hold them responsible for our reaction and we even feel that they have let us down by not meeting our expectations.
Not having expectations does not mean that we will not give instructions or corrections. It means whatever may be the outcome we will be open to being in the present moment and respond proactively.
Give instructions and opinions, but do not expect that they have to be followed the way and at the time which we think is right. If we have expectations we react negatively. If we do not have expectations, we will accept the outcome and respond positively.
If we get hurt and react often, very soon we label them saying – they NEVER listen to us, they ALWAYS let us down.

Amazing Nature Photographs



"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson





       "Nature always tends to act in the simplest way." 
                                                                                              -Bernoulli



   "Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life   

     lasts."
                                                                                     -Rachel Carlson





                "Come forth into the light of things. Let nature be your teacher."
                                                                                      -William Wordsworth



   "Nobody sees a flower really; it is so small. We haven't time, and to see takes time - like to have a friend 

     takes time." 
                                                                                                -Georgia O'Keffe




                         "We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. "
                                                                                           -Navajo Proverb




    "Our ability to perceive quality in nature begins, as in art, with the pretty. It expands through successive   

     stages of the beautiful to values as yet uncaptured by language."
                                                                   -Aldo Leopold - A Sand County Almanac




     "In wilderness I sense the miracle of life, and behind it our scientific accomplishments fade to trivia."
                                                         -Charles A. Lindbergh, Life, 22 December 1967




                          "We do not see nature with our eyes, but with our understandings and our hearts. "
                                                                      -William Hazlitt "On Taste" (1859)




     "Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the wind longs to play with your hair."
                                                                                         -Kahlil Gibran



    "If you want to learn about nature, to appreciate nature, it is necessary to understand the language that   

     she speaks in."
                  -Richard Feynman - Speaking of mathematics in The Character of Physical Law (1965) Ch. 2.



                 "We inter-breath with the rain forests, we drink from the oceans.  They are part of our own body."               
              -Thich Nhat Hanh                                  
  

   "Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure 

    as long as life lasts."
                                                                    -Rachel Carlson


   "The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing  
    that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity ... and some scarce see 

    nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself."
                                  -William Blake (1757-1827) Letter to Revd Dr Trusler, 1799-08-23




"There is something of the marvelous in all things of nature.  "
-Aristotle


A Story of Appreciation



This is a powerful message in our modern society. 
We seemed to have lost our bearing & our sense of direction.


**Story of Appreciation**


One young academically excellent person went to apply for a managerial position in a big company.

He passed the first interview, the director did the last interview, made the last decision.

The director discovered from the CV that the youth's academic achievements were excellent all the way, from the secondary school until the postgraduate research, never had a year when he did not score.

The director asked,
"Did you obtain any scholarships in school?"
the youth answered "none".

The director asked,
 " Was it your father who paid for your school fees?"
The youth answered,
"My father passed away, when I was one year old, it was my mother, who paid for my school fees.

The director asked,
 " Where did your mother work?"
The youth answered,
 "My mother worked as clothes cleaner.
The director requested the youth to show his hands.
The youth showed a pair of hands that were smooth and perfect.

The director asked,
 " Have you ever helped your mother wash the clothes before?"
The youth answered,
"Never, my mother always wanted me to study and read more books.
Furthermore, my mother can wash clothes faster than me.

The director said,
"I have a request. When you go back today, go and clean your mother's hands, and then see me tomorrow morning.*

The youth felt that his chance of landing the job was high. When he went back, he happily requested his mother to let him clean her hands. His mother felt strange, happy but with mixed feelings, she showed her hands to the kid.

The youth cleaned his mother's hands slowly. His tear fell as he did that. It was the first time he noticed that his mother's hands were so wrinkled, and there were so many bruises in her hands. Some bruises were so painful that his mother shivered when they were cleaned with water.

This was the first time the youth realized that it was this pair of hands that washed the clothes everyday to enable him to pay the school fee. The bruises in the mother's hands were the price that the mother had to pay for his graduation, academic excellence and his future.

After finishing the cleaning of his mother's hands, the youth quietly washed all the remaining clothes for his mother.

That night, mother and son talked for a very long time.

Next morning, the youth went to the director's office.

The Director noticed the tears in the youth's eyes, asked:
" Can you tell me what have you done and learned yesterday in your house?"

The youth answered,
 "I cleaned my mother's hand, and also finished cleaning all the remaining clothes'

The Director asked,
 " please tell me your feelings."

The youth said,

Number 1,
 I know now what appreciation means.. Without my mother, there would not the successful me today.

Number 2,
 by working together and helping my mother, only I now realize how difficult and tough it is to get something done.

Number 3,
I have come to appreciate the importance and value of family relationship.

The director said,
" This is what I am looking for to be my manager. I want to recruit a person who can appreciate the help of others, a person who knows the sufferings of others to get things done, and a person who would not put money as his only goal in life. You are hired.

Later on, this young person worked very hard, and received the respect of his subordinates. Every employee worked diligently and as a team. The company's performance improved tremendously.

A child, who has been protected and habitually given whatever he wanted, would develop"entitlement mentality" and would always put himself first. He would be ignorant of his parent's efforts.
When he starts work, he assumes that every person must listen to him, and when he becomes a manager, he would never know the sufferings of his employees and would always blame others.
For this kind of people, who may be good academically, may be successful for a while, but eventually would not feel sense of achievement.

He will grumble and be full of hatred and fight for more. If we are this kind of protective parents, are we really showing love or are we destroying the kid instead?*

You can let your kid live in a big house, give him a Driver & Car for going around, Eat a Good Meal, learn Piano, Watch a Big Screen TV. But when you are Cutting Grass, please let them experience it. After a Meal, let them Wash their Plates and Bowls together with their Brothers and Sisters. Tell them to Travel in Public Bus, It is not because you do not have Money for Car or to Hire a Maid, but it is because you want to Love them in a right way. You want them to understand, no matter how rich their parents are, one day their hair will Grow Grey, same as the Mother of that young person. The most important thing is your kid learns how to appreciate the effort and experience the difficulty and learns the ability to work with others to get things done.