Health and Wellness Resources
Tried and True.
Below you will find meditation methods, meditation and holistic wellness history, books, meditations, people, and so many more resources pertaining to wellness, healthy living, and the Blue Wellness Community.
One Minute Breathwork Exercise Methods
- Inhale for 4 seconds, hold your breath for 4 seconds, exhale for 5 seconds. Repeat this process as many times as needed
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- Inhale holding your left nostril closed with your finger, swap sides and hold your finger over the right nostril as you slowly exhale, inhale on the same side, and then move to the other nostril and continue the process as needed. [You can add an essential oil inhaler to make this feel more like a self-care breathwork ritual]
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- Inhale love, wrap your arms around yourself, and embrace yourself in a big hug. Exhale stress and tension that lingers in your shoulders, face, and body. Inhale love, feel love spreading from your heart out across your whole body. Exhale stress. Repeat.
Looking For Healthcare That Fits You?
HUED is an organization created by Kimberly Wilson. Hued is a healthcare website for people of color & indigenous folks to find healthcare providers who understand them and their cultural, physical and mental needs. https://huedco.com
Metta Meditation
Origin: Buddhism
Metta is a concept that comes from the 4 virtues in Buddhism. Metta translates to "loving-kindness." Metta involves having an interest in others and thinking patterns of amity, goodwill, benevolence, friendliness, and kindness.
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Metta Meditation Steps
(1) Choose a comfortable location
(2) Sit in a pose that fits your current situation and needs, such as being cross-legged, or a yoga pose (Savasana, Child's Pose, Pigeon, etc)
(3) Repeat mantras of love and kindness to yourself
(4) Start thinking benevolent thoughts towards others (Starting with those closest to you who you love most, then begin to expand that net out further. Covering acquaintances, neighbors, coworkers, enemies, and strangers [This process can take years]).
(5) Check your thoughts to ensure you are thinking about total goodwill (staying centered in your heart).
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Metta Meditation Benefits: increasing your happiness level, increasing your ability to care for others, expanding your empathy, growing to be less critical of yourself and others, improving your physical well being, stabilizing your emotions, changing your motivation levels, having clearer mental concentration, overcoming social isolation, expanding your self-awareness.
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The four virtues are used to help with daily life and meditation.
Virtue 1: Loving-kindness (goal: to develop an acceptance of others' individual differences)
Virtue 2: Understanding compassion
Virtue 3: Having the feeling of empathetic joy
Virtue 4: Developing a balanced state of mind
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Source: Aura Wellness Center
[Meditation Teacher Certification Course]
Visualization Meditation
Imagine a bright yellowish-white light surrounding your body and enveloping you in a bubble of light energy. Like the sunshine, this light warms you. The light spreads from the top of your head, all the way to your toes. As you breathe, the light energy goes into your body, illuminating you and energizing you. The light grows brighter with your continued focus and protects you in this present moment.
Guided Meditations
The Honest Guys
https://www.youtube.com/user/TheHonestGuys
The Honest Guys are one of the best creators of guided meditations available! They are my go to when I am looking for a guided meditation to follow. Their videos are anywhere from 7 minutes to an hour. They have a wide array of meditations, including storytime meditations, bedtime meditations, Lord of the Rings meditations and more.
Power Thoughts Meditation Club
Power Thoughts Meditation Club have powerful guided meditations, like the LET GO one linked above. They also produce calming meditation music. They can be found on Youtube and on Spotify.
Breathe and Flow Breathwork
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LWi8oTZ8ew
Breathe and Flow teach yoga, guided meditations, breathwork and movement classes. If you have hear of breathwork (or if you haven't) you have to check out their ancient breathwork session, it is about 18 minutes of powerful healing! This is a total game-changer, and breathwork is an amazing tool to add to your wellness kit.
Books
Meditation
Mindfulness by Bhante Gunaratana
This is the perfect introductory book on mindfulness and meditation. It is an easy, interesting read, filled with tidbits of knowledge to help you on your journey. The history of Buddha and his teachings set a strong foundation for your personal meditation journey.
Lifestyle
The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz
The four agreements are: be impeccable with your word, don't take anything personally, don't make assumptions, always do your best. This book is 'A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom'. In this book, Don Miguel Ruiz teaches you how to rewrite all of the rules that you live by, and he helps you to liberate yourself from illusion.
Adventure Fiction
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
The Alchemist is the story of a man who goes in search of treasure. It's an international bestseller and for good reason! This story is amazing, heartfelt, transformative, and it is deeply spiritual. The Alchemist is a must-read, it will forever shift the way that you look at this world.
Zen/Mindfulness
The Little Zen Companion by David Schiller
Zen is a little flip book of different quotes about zen, mindfulness, Buddha and more. It is the perfect book to flip through and read one quote a day.
Scientific/Medical/Mindfulness
Becoming Supernatural by Dr Joe Dispenza
Becoming Supernatural is an amazing collection of personal stories, case studies, and scientific research surrounding meditation. Joe Dispenza tells the raw stories of many individuals who transformed their lives from painful to prosperous, by training their minds.
Waterfall Visualization Meditation Method
Focused Attention Method
I have been using this method for maybe a few years now, it's perfect at times when you have anxious thoughts or just a lot of different thoughts jumbling around.
What you're gonna do is imagine a waterfall. The details of it are up to you, you can envision the surrounding landscape if you'd like, but it's definitely not necessary.
Remain focused on the water, as if it is the only thing that exists. If a thought enters your mind, gently, imagine the thought drifting in the water, down the waterfall, away, and out of your mind. This makes it so easy to release self-judgment! It takes the blame off of yourself and keeps your attention where it counts- the present moment.
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This falls under the category of focused attention meditation because you are focused on a single object, the waterfall. This makes it easy to track when your thoughts have wandered, because you realize you are no longer thinking of the waterfall.
