Our newest app! Enjoy the best of our music for meditation, relaxation, yoga.

Music Oasis for Meditation, Relaxation, Yoga

Music Oasis for Meditation, Relaxation, Yoga

At last -- we have compiled the best of Richard's music in our latest app -- Music Oasis for Meditation, Relaxation, YogaIf you enjoy the music in the background of our guided meditations, then you will love this app. It gives you the ability to listen to a piece for any length of time with a Timer feature. A Playlist feature allows you to create your own playlist, as well as including some preset playlists. You can also choose from 5 nature sounds to mix with the music if you like. Enjoy this uplifting instrumental music whenever you need calming, relaxation or soothing.

Needless to say, I am a great fan of Richard's music. As a long time practitioner and teacher of meditation, his music is imbued the very essence of the meditative experience and helps others to experience it. We have already received some inspiring feedback: "This is a beautiful app with wonderful music!" 

The app is available in the Apple app store.

Deep Centering Guided Meditation

Are you feeling scattered or ungrounded? Is your mind going in many directions at once? Do you feel you've lost your center? This latest podcast episode - "Deep Centering Guided Meditation" - should help. As you listen, you will be guided to relax, and then to let your mind sense a center point in your body. Allow this to happen easily, just letting the awareness of the center come to you. It could be anywhere -- in your abdomen, heart, head. Let it be whatever naturally comes. If it shifts during the meditation, that's fine. It's can be just a vague sense of a center. This center will be the reference point you return to when you realize your mind has wandered. This meditation is a recording of the meditation I did with my meditation group. We all enjoyed it. Leave a comment and let me know how it went for you. As always, I am happy to answer your questions.

NOTE: Please go to our Podcast page to listen to the this and other podcast episodes.

Do our meditations contain "mixed messages"? (How to listen to our meditations!)

I just responded to an email with a great question -- in fact, I'm surprised I've never gotten this question before. It's an opportunity to remind everyone how to listen to our guided meditations. Here's the Q&A -- Q: I like the app (Simply Being) but what the guide is saying there is somewhat confusing : on one hand it's "open awareness to whatever is happening right now" and on the other hand "easy, there is nothing to do". These are 180 degrees different states of mind, as far as I interpret it.

A: Great question! The words are meant to help you experience a relaxed, meditative state. It is impossible to do that through precise instructions, so the instructions can seem like mixed messages or a paradox if they are taken too literally. The phrases are really just gentle prompts to allow the mind to do what it can naturally do -- let go. "Open awareness to whatever is happening right now" is not so much an instruction as a description of a natural state. If there isn't openness -- if you notice resistance to what is happening or some attempt to change it, you can let that go. The phrase "easy, there is nothing to do" is to encourage that letting go. (Resistance to and manipulation of what is naturally happening involves effort, "doing".)

You can just listen easily to the meditation, not trying to make sense of all the words. That's why we say in the instructions, "just let the words wash over you".

For those of you who do not have our apps -- I am copying our How to Listen instructions below. These instructions apply to all of our meditations, whether they are on an app, a CD or in the podcast.

"Listen easily to the guided meditations, allowing the words to 'wash over you'. You don't need to understand, or even hear, all the words. The words and phrases aren't instructions that are meant to be followed precisely. They are just gentle prompts to the mind."

Non-resistance in Meditation

Comment from Kathy -- "I have trouble meditating in general. I can relax completely but then the slightest things disturb me. Things like my eyelids fluttering or an itch. My limbs become restless. Can you advise any strategy to help deal with that so I can stay in that relaxed state?" ----------

11-19-2011 -- Meant to add my comments before publishing this post yesterday. So here they are now -- better late than never!

The obstacle to staying in a relaxed state is TRYING to stay in a relaxed state. You can feel restless and have fluttering eyelids and still be relaxed. The key to remaining relaxed is non-resistance. Let it be OK if you feel restless or your eyelids flutter. Go ahead and scratch an itch. Although some meditation styles may require that you stay perfectly still, we don't subscribe to that approach. Naturalness is the key. Learning to let go of resistance to what is happening is the essence of the practice. Take it as it comes, and when you find your are resisting that, let it go. Even the resistance when it comes up, is part of the process. In our approach to meditation, you can't make a mistake. Everything is part of the process of meditation!