Memorial Day Meditation from Pema Chodron and Richard Reoch

This amazing Meditation comes from Pema Chodron & Richard Reoch.

Their Memorial Day Meditation from 2007 is a good way to honor those who have served, but still holding true to values of a peaceful existence.



Other Memorial Day Meditations

From Bellaonline, a Memorial Day Prayer and a Memorial Day Prayer and Meditation Ceremony both from Susan Helene Kramer. For the ceremony they start with this lovely prayer:

We show our thankfulness in prayer
This honor you deserve
Giving all for freedom's call
That we may live without reserve.

Another more reflective Memorial Day Meditation comes from the blog, "An Innocent Okie Lost on the Potomac" written by Unbleached Brun.

The Remember on Memorial Days lens on Squidoo is one that I wrote last year, to honor and remember those who have served.

Exercise to Improve the Mood and Aid with Depression

A video clip from Baylor Health looking at the benefits of exercise in treating depression.

In this video from Baylor Health Care System, experts take a look at the studies that show that exercise can also help us to not only trim down, but also to "psych up" as part of the "relaxation response."

Another Loving Kindness Meditation

Another variant of a Loving Kindness Meditation that can be used when you want to practice Loving Kindness.

May I live in safety.
May I be happy.
May I be healthy.
May I live with ease.


May you live in safety,
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you live with ease.


May all beings live in safety.
May all beings be happy.
May all beings be healthy.
May all beings live with ease.


May all beings everywhere live in safety.
May all beings everywhere be happy.
May all beings everywhere be healthy.
May all beings everywhere live with ease.

Source Adapted from: Rink. R. (2009). Buddhist Belief - Metta Meditation - Loving Kindness. Buddhist Belief Blog.

Benefits of Exercise for Physical and Mental Health

This knowledge of the benefits of exercise has been known for centuries.

Lack of activity destroys
the good condition of every human being,
while movement and methodical physical exercise
save it and preserve it.

Plato

In this video clip from Dr. Michael McKee of the Cleveland Clinic on "Exercise for physical and mental health," he explains how exercise can not only benefit your physical well being, but your mental well being as well.




Dr. McKee discusses how he uses exercise as a prescription to help his patient feel better.

A Healing Blessing for Kristiina

A Healing Blessing was written when my youngest daughter was hospitalized.

This version of A Healing Blessing was created as a Vodcast Episode for an introductory course on Vodcasting for Teaching and uploaded so other instructors could more easily access the video file.



This Healing Blessing expands on an Episode 4 from the NICU Parent Support Audio and Podcast. In this Vodcast Episode the Blessing has been set to photographs to create a video.

• Episode 4 - A Special Healing Blessing - Version 1 With Tibetan Bowls, Bells & Chimes
• PDF Transcript for Episode 4 (Version 1)

Dyer KA. A Healing Blessing. Squidoo.com
Dyer KA. Creating a Circle of Healing and Support. NICU Parent Support Site.

Quote for the Week - Subtle Mind

A quote on the Subtle Mind for this week, from the Buddha:

All living beings,
and all sorts of
illusory events,
are all born
in the completely awake
subtle mind
of those who
realize suchness.

Buddha

Image: miamiamia. Meditation. Royalty Free Use.

More Resources, More Versions Loving Kindness Meditation

This week you've already seen a couple of video posts on Loving Kindness Meditation, the first, a Loving Kindness Meditation Podcast, and the second, "How To Practice Buddhist Loving-Kindness Meditation."

Both of these resources have slightly different versions of the words used for a Loving Kindness Meditation.

Four additional resources have good information on Loving Kindness Meditations.

The first comes from "The Center for Contemplative Mind in Society" and is entitled, "The Tree of Contemplative Practices - Loving Kindness Meditation."

The second is a PDF File of a Patient Handout used by the University of Wisconsin's Integrative Medicine/Department of Family Medicine entitled, "Loving-Kindness Meditation"

The third is a series of links to MP3 audio files to different Mindful Meditations from MARC or the Mindful Awareness Research Center at UCLA. One of the resources includes a link to a Loving Kindness Meditation. (MARC is a part of the UCLA Cousins Psychoneuroimmunology Institute.)

The final resource is from Ron Rink of the Buddhist Belief Blog and is entitled, "Buddhist Belief – Metta Meditation — Loving Kindness."

How To Practice Buddhist Loving-Kindness Meditation

A How Cast video on Loving-Kindness Meditation. This instructional video has a lot of words to it, so do not listen to the video if you are hoping to relax.

How To Practice Buddhist Loving-Kindness Meditation on Howcast

Metta bhavana, or loving-kindness meditation, is one of the two simplest meditations in Buddhism. It helps develop positive feelings towards all other living creatures.

How to Put a PowerPoint Presentation in Your Blog using SlideShare

From The Edublogger, Sue Waters, a Slideshare presentation on "How to share a PowerPoint Presentation using SlideShare."

This basic presentation should give you the basic information on getting started, so you can include your PowerPoint presentation in your blogs.

How to share a PowerPoint Presentation using SlideShare

For more information you can watch the SlideShare quick tour, or visit their help desk.

Loving Kindness Meditation Podcast

Sylvia Boorstein of Spirit Rock in Marin County, California guides viewers through a loving kindness meditation:

May I feel protected and safe

May I feel contented and pleased

May my physical body support me with strength

May my life unfold smoothly with ease.

Sylvia Boorstein Teaches Loving Kindness Meditation - Daily Path Podcast From MyPath TV

This universal teaching has a 2,500-year lineage traced to the Buddha, who is said to have originally taught the practice.

Creating a PowerPoint Presentation

Unit 5's Project requires that you create a PowerPoint Presentation. The PowerPoint program comes as part of Microsoft Office and allows you to create slide presentations. 

Here are several resources that I've found that may help those who have not used PowerPoint prior to the course:

From Cabrillo College, "How Can I Make a PowerPoint Presentation?": http://libwww.cabrillo.edu/about/workshops/howmakepowerpoint.html

From the University of Wisconsin, Madison, "How to Create Accessible PowerPoint Presentations from Scratch": http://www.cew.wisc.edu/accessibility/tutorials/pptscratch.htm

From Microsoft, an Overview of PowerPoint:
http://office.microsoft.com/training/training.aspx?AssetID=RC100687671033

More from Microsoft, "Presenting with PowerPoint: 10 do's and don'ts":
http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness/resources/technology/business-software/presenting-with-powerpoint-10-dos-and-donts.aspx#Powerpointtips

Other options for creating a Slide Presentation are Google Presentations and Open Office. Both of these allow you to create PowerPoint-like slides.

Quote for the Week - Loving Kindness

Thoughts for this week on Loving Kindness:

The perfection of loving-kindness is the wish to provide for the welfare and happiness of the world, accompanied by compassion and skilfull means;
literally it means benevolence.

A Treatise on the Paramis

Dhammapala

Image: Microsoft Clipart

Mindfulness with John Kabat-Zinn

A lecture session on Mindfulness by Jon Kabat-Zinn at Google. This talk is focuses "Mindfulness Meditation" and was given as a Google Talk on October 11, 2007

Quote for the Week - Spiritual Ailments

Many wellness practitioners look at 'disease' as the process of dis ease, or a disruption in the normal homeostasis or ease state of the body.

This week's wellness quote comes from Nathaniel Hawthorne, famed author of The Scarlet Letter.

His quote underscores some of the research on the mind-body connection and how much the mind plays a role in the healing or the disease process.

A bodily disease
which we look upon as
whole and entire within itself,
may after all be
but a symptom of
some ailment
in the spiritual part.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Image: Clarita. Old Brain Model. Morgue File Free Photo.

Ken Wilber's AQAL as it Applies to Those Suffering from Addictions

A YouTube video with a explanation of the 4 Quadrants of the Ken Wilber's AQAL (All Quadrants All Levels) model and how the model applies to those suffering from addictions.

The video also shows how the Integral Model applies to an integral recovery approach.