Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Whos Among Us..

I found this pretty cool site (stat tool) Whos.Amung.Us which tracks the visitor statistics of your blog. I use both Google Analytics and Feed Burner for my blogs which obviously are quite detailed and exhaustive but the best part I liked about this site is the tracking of visitors "hour wise".
So it gives u a widget (scroll down the right bar of my blog) that displays the number of users currently viewing your webpage and clicking on that takes you to their site where you get a detailed report of the users online per hour, a map pinpointing the location of the users down to their city, and a monthly statistics report.

To top it all, u dont even need to register to use all these features, it starts tracking right from the moment you link it to your blog......its free and simple! :)

Sunday, September 27, 2009

"Every event has a purpose and every setback its lesson. I have realized that failure whether of the personal, professional or even spiritual kind is essential to personal expansion. It brings inner growth and a whole host of pyschic rewards. Never regret your past, rather embrace it as the teacher that it is".

- The Monk who sold his Ferrari by Robin Sharma

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Om Mani Padme Hum...

All of us have heard of the mantra "Om" which is considered as the universal sound, made of 3 basic sounds A, U, M.... Each sound creates a different vibration; so it is used to cleanse the mind and body and its one of the most powerful sounds to meditate on. I've noticed that just playing the Om chanting in my room it has a very calming and cleansing effect...


That being said, not many of us would have heard of "Om Mani Padme Hum" (Hail the jewel in the lotus). It is derived from Sanskrit and the originations are traced back to Buddhism and associated with Dalai Lama. I read a couple of books by Thich Nhat Hanh a few months back and that's when I had come across these words but never bothered to find out more. Yesterday a friend of mine told me the meaning of this and I immediately read up more about its benefits and also found a link to the chanting in Youtube....


Just listening to it for 10 mins had such an amazing effect! It's incredibly peaceful & calming and the tune used is so soothing that it takes just a few mins to relax your mind and body... It's purpose is to generate positive, peaceful vibrations and mainly vibrations of compassion.

OM (Ohm) - symbolizes the pure noble body, speech and mind
MANI (Ma Nee) - the jewel, symbolizes factors of method, compassion and love, the altruistic intention to become enlightened
PADME (Peh-d-May) - means lotus and symbolizes wisdom. Growing out of mud, but not being stained by mud, lotus indicates the quality of wisdom, which keeps you out of contradiction.
HUM (Hum) - means inseparability; symbolizing purity & can be achieved by the unity of method and wisdom

More details here if you are interested:
Wiki Link

Meaning and Pronunciation


Now I play it in a loop even when I am browsing, reading a book or sometimes just in the background and the whole atmosphere feels rejuvenated and peaceful... Try it, to experience it! You can even meditate on this by just closing your eyes and listening to it and focusing on the words or reciting it yourself....


There are different versions, but I liked this the best...

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Pranic Healing

I was introduced to Pranic Healing 2 years back by a friend and just a few sessions had immense benefits on me. Right from that day I've been wanting to learn this myself and explore the fascinating subject further...to create a good mental, physical and spiritual health.

Over the weekend I attended the Basic Pranic Healing Course for beginners (Level-1 Certification) which is a 2 day course conducted by the Pranic Healing Foundation Center in Bangalore. With this basic course itself you actually learn all the techniques to heal your own self as well as others, starting from minor physical ailments like headaches to major ones like Cancer, strokes, tuberculosis etc. This includes distant healing as well (the patient can be in any part of the world). You can also heal to a certain extent, psychosomatic ailments related to emotional stress, anxiety and tension. But the Psychotherapy by itself is a Level-3 course, before which the Advanced Course needs to be completed.

For the benefit of those who haven't heard of this term, first of all Pranic Healing (PH) is NOT the same as Reiki. It is based on the same principle of energy and life force, but the technique is completely different and more advanced and powerful than Reiki. Surprisingly, I came across this article on Natural Healing in TOI today & it clearly describes the essence and the basic principle of PH as below-

We all have a subtle body made of energy. This subtle body is made up of life force energy; it runs through subtle pathways or meridians and centres of energy, also known as charkas. One of the main ways that a skilful healer helps the body to heal is simply by stimulating and unblocking the meridians so our natural energies flow freely bringing mental, emotional and eventually physical balance and well being. This is the main way that most natural healing therapies work. Life Force Energy is the subtle foundation of all life, a sort of cosmic soup that supports, nourishes and sustains the cycle of birth, life and death of all forms of life....

The real meaning of natural healing is to restore a person to wholeness and having a healthy body is only a small part of this. A good natural healing treatment has the effect of restoring openness to our energy system so we can receive a well balanced flow of Universal Life Force Energy that is often cut off or restricted by illness. Being cut off from this life force is often the cause of much illness

So fundamentally it is based on "Life force" or "Prana" or "Breath". The same principle is used in Yoga and Pranayams. By regulating the breathing and making it rhythmic you can activate the different energy centers (chakras) in your body which in turn control the health of different organs (see image below)...That is why yoga is both a spiritual as well as a physical exercise...It works on the subtle energy layer (aura) which is invisible to the naked eye and nothing mystical. (The concept is scientifically proven - these energy centers/chakras are nothing but the points where a large group of nerves join together which when activated send signals to the organs that they control....)


The 2 days workshop was truly an amazing experience. We not only learn the theory but also perform healing on each other in the class so that by the end you are confident of using the techniques. You will learn how to sensitize your hands to feel the energy layer and the experience was mystical. You will be amazed to feel something that is invisible to the naked eye! It's performed completely by non-touch, scanning only from the distance without touching any part of the body and I was surprised to see some of my minor pains like headache and cramps disappear within a few minutes of self healing on the very first day of the class (without taking any pain killers!). I've also tried healing my mom thru distant healing and she could notice the relief significantly....

You also learn the "Twin Heart Meditation" which is the basis of PH which energizes your body with prana (divine energy) and it can increase your psychic, intuitive and healing abilities, leading you towards spirituality. It is one of the most powerful forms of guided meditation techniques that I have come across and doing it just for the last 4 days has helped me immensely. (Will write a separate post on this soon...)

PH is not a substitute to medicine...especially when its a chronic problem. PH is more of a parallel healing method which helps in increasing the body's natural ability to heal itself faster. Some of the top hospitals in Bangalore now have a separate department for PH and they do recommend patients to try this and some of them have been cured miraculously even when the doctors had completely given up.

PH works mainly on faith. If you have faith in the technique, you can heal; if not, u won't see an iota of difference! The person being healed should at least be neutral/receptive even if he/she doesnt believe in it... a complete mental block prevents the healing...

Last but not the least PH is a skill and needs to be mastered gradually (just like driving). You cannot acquire it in few days or give up hope. It is said that healing comes only by practice & sometimes it takes years to develop the skill. But just following the basic steps does give you the desired relief, till u master it!

Looking forward to doing the Advanced & Psychotherapy Courses (level 2 & 3) in the next couple of weeks...


Tuesday, September 1, 2009

The Paradoxical Commandments

Someone forwarded a mail today on this ... felt good reading it and had a strong urge to share it here... Sounds so simple and paradoxical of course! But quite difficult to implement for sure..


People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.

by Dr. Kent M. Keith