The Center moved to a new location!

 

This weekend the Center for Mindfulness moved to Niuka owned by Cythe, she owns the Center now and will be managing everything for you ♥ The calendar (check the top of our blog), meditations and guides stay the same but the immersive nature of this sim makes the Center even more stunning, all event spaces are now simwide at same level. Even your most favorite Dreaming Buddha scene is up all the time. A teleporter at the landing spot makes it easy to visit all spots if you don't like walking, but exploring all the paths and places adds to the experience. New now is the little coin store (slightly north of the landing spot) where you can see the rewards you get for meditating with us, you also find our group gifts there!

Latest one added a beautiful wooden printer tray with a collection of 60 different stones!

Come check it out! 

 

Isha Kriya: Guided Meditation by Sadhguru | 12-min

Isha Kriya is a 12-min guided meditation by Sadhguru. Watch this video for the guided instructions from Sadhguru and experience this powerful spiritual process in the comfort of your own home.

Yogi, mystic and visionary, Sadhguru is a spiritual master with a difference. An arresting blend of profundity and pragmatism, his life and work serves as a reminder that yoga is a contemporary science, vitally relevant to our times  #MeditateWithSadhguru

Wim Hof Teaches Mikhaila and Jordan Peterson His Breathing Method

Wim Hof, also known as The Iceman, is a Dutch extreme athlete noted for his ability to withstand freezing temperatures. He has set Guinness World Records for swimming under ice and prolonged full-body contact with ice, and still holds the record for a barefoot half marathon on ice and snow. He attributes these feats to his Wim Hof Method (WHM), a combination of frequent cold exposure, breathing techniques and meditation. Hof has been the subject of several medical assessments and a book by investigative journalist Scott Carney.

In the video below, Wim Hof teaches one of the breathing techniques in the Wim Hof Method to Jordan B. Peterson, a Canadian clinical psychologist and a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto, and his daughter Mikhaila who is the founder of The Lion Diet. This is just a short excerpt from a longer episode that appears on Mikhaila Peterson’s youtube page.

The full episode along with health and safety tips can be found here: The Mikhaila Peterson Podcast #36 - Wim Hof with Jordan Peterson

 You can find out more about Wim Hof and his breathing methods on his website here: Wim Hof Method

 

Change Your Brain: Neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Huberman | Rich Roll Podcast

The Science Of Why We Talk Too Much

 

Our brains are wired to reward us for talking about ourselves. You probably talk too much. And there is a good reason for that. Science says that humans, being social animals, are programmed to use communication as a vital tool to survive and thrive.

Our favorite subject to discuss is ourselves. People spend 60% of their conversations talking about themselves, 80% when chatting on social media. The reason, researchers found, was that it just feels good. In combination with our dwindling attention spans, which have been measured between as many as 59 seconds, to as few as 8 seconds, thanks to an overload of information from both verbal and digital sources, most of us may enjoy hearing our own voice more than we do listening to what others have to say.

The ideal conversation should be a give and take, with each person speaking about 50% of the time. That means staying quiet half the time.  

Silence is a greatly underestimated source of power. In silence, we can hear not only what is being said, but also what is not being said. In silence, it can be easier to reach the truth. 

However, listening requires discipline. It also involves being in the moment and not merely remaining silent and waiting for one’s turn to speak, it is important to give the other time to speak, to pay attention to what is being said, to stay in the moment and have a genuine, and reflecting engagement with the other. 

We all go through our own troubles and drama and some of us share and can talk openly and others are quiet, it is time for me to learn and be a better listener so I can hear what is being said and hear what is not being said ♥

Bhagavad Gītā

Some beautiful music shared by Bronus in discord:

 

The Bhagavad Gita, often referred to as the Gita, is a 700-verse Hindu scripture that is part of the epic Mahabharata (chapters 23–40 of Bhishma Parva), dated to the second century BCE. It is considered to be the primary holy scripture for Hinduism, the world's third largest religion.

You can read more about Bhagavad Gītā here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhagavad_Gita

Master Shi Heng Yi – 5 hindrances to self-mastery

 Shi Heng Yi belongs to the 35th Generation of Shaolin Masters and is the headmaster of the Shaolin Temple Europe 歐洲少林寺 located in Germany.

"To bring meaning to your life, to bring value into your life, you need to learn and master yourself and don't let the hindrances stop you."

Jon Kabat-Zinn 9 Attitudes of Mindfulness

Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, talks about the 9 Attitudes of Mindfulness, how to use them in our Mindfulness practice and daily life.

Jon is the founder of the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He is also the founder of it's renowned Stress Reduction Clinic. He teaches mindfulness and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) in various venues around the world.

 

Resource: Minds Unlimited / Mindfulnessgruppen

2021 Calendar Positive Thinking in Second Life

 Who doesn't like a good group gift in SL? ♥

CHEZ MOI ♥ 2021 Calendar Positive Thinking

Generalized Anxiety Self-Help Resources

Shared by Tat in our discord group: 

Self-help resources for generalized anxiety disorder, written by clinical psychologists at the Centre for Clinical Interventions in Perth, Western Australia.

https://www.cci.health.wa.gov.au/Resources/Looking-After-Yourself/Worry-and-Rumination

Goodbye rumination

Have you ever found yourself unable to sleep or relax because unwanted thoughts and worries fill your mind?

The video 'Micro Lesson' below describes some techniques for displacing unwanted thoughts with different thoughts that are more productive or pleasant.  It requires fine tuning to find what works for you but provides the general framework to get you started.

I used to be good for three hours of rumination before I could fall asleep.  Now, I tell myself that repeated worrying is not productive and to save thinking about problems for a better time.  One of the things I fill my thoughts with is visualizing a favorite route for a bike ride.  It has actually been years since I rode my bike along that route, but as I remember it in great detail the worries fade away, replaced by nice memories.

https://scottadams.locals.com/upost/338260/a-micro-lesson-on-getting-rid-of-unwanted-thoughts

 

New Rewards for your CfM Coins!

 We start the New Year with new rewards for your CfM coins (you get them for joining our meditations and events, yes, that easy!) Remember the Christmas gift from the Center? Now you can earn this wonderful HUD to change the textures of your Meditation Corner

8 beautiful versions and I included matching textures for the rug. Hope you like it!  I also added the Futon bed, the dreaming swan, the wishing tree and...

Tadaaa! Cyrile the Worry Eater, on touch you tell him your worries and he takes care of it! And you can get him for only 1 coin , yes, you read that right, only 1 coin! 

Have no idea what to do? Read here

 

The beginning of life

Yesterday I was looking at a documentary on Apple+, The beginning of life (Netflix link). Breakthrough technology allows neuroscientists to research how environment and caretakers have a huge influence on young children and how that shapes that not only their future but also ours. 

Babies always make me melt so I watched and learned a few wonderful things (if you have a baby, talk to it as much as possible ♥) About 3/4 into the documentary they film this little girl in the slums of India, no parents, perhaps 8y old, taking care of her little brother and sister, as all Westerners I can stomach all of that, I mean we see it so often yet we don't care at all. 

 

But then the interviewer asked her: What is your biggest dream? And with a smile on her face she said: 

I don't have dreams...  and then that smile faded as she possibly became aware of the hard reality of what she just said. I burst out into tears and cried for two hours, the unfairness of this poor girl hit me so hard and I felt like I need to help her. Made a clip of it for you:

 

The documentary was made in 2015 and a quest to find who she is led to nothing but I did find a site to help children in poverty: Sponsor a Child in Need

I found a child and payed the first amount for him, Prince 3y old and awaiting his picture and package to get to know what he needs

 

 

 I will continue to try to find the little girl in the documentary and find a way to help her and her siblings. Please if you can afford, consider helping one of those children too, or find a family near you that needs help. No child deserves to live in poverty.

I usually don't make New Year resolutions, I am fairly good at planning what I want in my life and do what is needed to reach my goal. This year I do to honor this little girl.

 From now on I will be grateful for all I have and not complain. No more whining and moaning about futile things, feeling down for things that don't matter. Enough with the selfishness and the greed. A ray of sunshine, the smell of grass... everything is a reason to be grateful, specially for us Westerners. 

I will keep all my wishes for her, that her life gets better and maybe one day this child has a dream again ♥

 

 

 

Mindful eating

 Shared by ZadigFrost at Cythe's Mindful eating meditation class.

Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life

 

This week at Share & Care

 A quote and wonderful reminder shared by Lancelost:

“If you are depressed you are living in the past.

If you are anxious you are living in the future.

If you are at peace you are living in the present.”

-  Lao Tzu

♥

 Something to read shared by Cyntia Grainer:

The dark nights of the soul by ThomasMoore

 

 ♥

Something to watch shared by Raeven:

 ♥

 

Do you suffer from Anxiety and/or Depression? Share & Care is a weekly, informal gathering held at The Center for Mindfulness in Secondlife at 4pm SLT (PST) where you can share your experience, what helps you cope and what not, find or be a shoulder, make new friends or just sit and listen...

If you have something that you find useful, helpful, or interesting regarding anxiety, depression, or is mindfulness related, please share it in our Discord. You can also pass it directly to me inworld so I may also post it here on the blog.

_人_ Namaste ♥