Mindfulness, Visualization & Energy Building

Dr. Conor Logan DACM, LAc guides the listener through a practice on how to be mindful of the body. Instructional in nature but then turning toward deeper visualization, this practice teaches you how to bring energy into the body at a moment's notice through entrainment techniques.

Recorded live to a wonderful audience, brought home and set to music for your enjoyment!

Transcript

So you you Hello and welcome to another meditation from the living point I'm Connor Logan doctor of acupuncture and Chinese medicine accompanied by composer Trevor Wayne Howard you So welcome to your mind-body healing meditation The techniques I'm here to teach you are to help you relax and energize These exercises are meant to be repeated regularly and hopefully some of what you learn here today is something you can take away and When applied daily they become ingrained and easier to achieve the level of relaxation that you'll feel today quicker and quicker and With a reliability that you may come to count on They can be formed whenever you need a lift kind of like a energy on tap Once again,

Just make sure you're feeling quite comfortable uncross your legs and arms if they are And now simply close your eyes There's a big reason why we close our eyes Block out our vision It's because vision is quite the profound sense.

Take in a lot of information with it When we block out vision we automatically and more easily begin to focus on our inner self As you go through this experience you may find that your mind wanders This is perfectly natural and expected When you realize that your mind is wandering just gently and easily bring it back to the sound of my voice Take a moment here.

We're going to breathe in through our nose Purse your lips slightly and breathe out through the mouth Let's do about three or four of those and if you do it deeply and it becomes audible that is totally fine Audible that is totally fine Focus your mind on your feet and Allow them to feel whatever they feel when I say to you the word relax Relax Maybe lightness heaviness maybe a perceived change in temperature or a numbness or tingling or Perhaps at first you may not feel anything at all Be assured that relaxation is beginning to take place Deep in your mind and body even if it happens to such a small degree that you do not consciously perceive it at this time Rest assured that with practice The relaxation will become an easily perceivable way of life Allow the relaxation to flow through your feet and ankles Think of your feet very three dimensionally here Think of the webbing between your toes The muscles between the bones of your middle foot and arch The muscles you use to push down the gas pedal The Achilles tendon Your heel The edges around your heel And the areas leading up to the bony bones of your ankle The hinge that allows you to bring your toes up and down Breathe into these areas Especially areas that you note that feel tense Permit the relaxation to move into your calf muscles To the area where your ankle joins your calf The larger body of your calf muscles The larger body of your calf muscles The shin bones and the muscles supporting that The tendon connecting your shin with your kneecap Again like with your foot think three dimensions Again like with your foot think three dimensionally about your knees The inside The back The kneecap All areas around as you breathe into your knees and out of your mouth Allow every breath you take to allow you to feel more comfortable And allow every sound you hear to allow you to become more comfortable Allow every moment of time that passes to enable you to feel more comfortable Let this relaxation move into your upper legs,

Your quadriceps,

The muscles of your inner thighs that allow you to keep your legs upright as you sit in a chair Your car,

The outside,

The hamstrings Think of where the hamstrings connect into your sacrum And let this relaxation flow into your hips allowing your legs to completely relax And settle in to wherever they feel fully comfortable Let the relaxation flow into your abdomen Into the lower part of your rib cage,

Your low back Into the areas between your shoulder blades Scan slowly from your tailbone into your sacrum to where it meets your spine Breathe in deeply and think of your lower back Sinking easily towards the ground Your spine feeling comfortable and allowing every part along the way to relax deeply Allow your shoulder blades to relax and let your shoulders sink down closer to the floor Let this wave of relaxation into your breathing that had become comfortable to this point But now can become even more comfortable,

More relaxed,

More satiating Each deep breath in three,

Two,

One More satiating,

Each deep breath in through your nose brings clean,

Clear energy and oxygen to your body And each breath out of your mouth allows you to disperse what your body no longer needs Allow the relaxation to move into your shoulders,

Down through your arms,

Into your elbows Into your elbows,

Forearms,

Wrists The base of your thumb,

The palm of your hand The knuckles where your palm meets each finger and your thumb The knuckles in the middle of each finger and thumb The far knuckles of each of your fingers Your cuticles,

Your fingernails,

Your fingerprints Allow each breath you take to relax you a little more Each sound you hear to continue to relax you even more And each moment of time that passes to relax you even more That same three-dimensional view we had of our ankles and knees,

Let's apply to our necks Think of your Adam's apple relaxing pleasantly towards the floor The soft space below it opening and breathing easily outward with each exhale The muscles along your spine getting some reprieve and falling towards the floor The muscles between your ears and your shoulder blades that help you turn left and right and keep your head high Relax.

You may want to take a moment and move your head ever so slightly around on your neck To breathe into any areas that feel tense.

Perhaps find the position that allows that to open And then come back to your relaxed position Let this wave of relaxation come up the back of your head to the bony part Where your neck meets the back of your skull Let it enter your scalp,

Your hair,

And come around the crown of your head Spilling towards your temples and again three dimensionally entering and encircling your ears Allow your ears to fall towards the ground Think of the outside of your ears,

The backs of your ears,

And the ear canal going in In the area as you perceive it that receives what you hear Let this relaxation touch your forehead and allow your forehead to completely relax Spill down through the bridge of your nose,

Your cheekbones,

Cheeks,

Upper lip,

Your upper gums and teeth,

Your tongue,

Your chin Your eyebrows Your eyelids And allow your eyes to simply soften towards the floor Allow each breath you take to continue to relax you Each sound you hear to continue to relax you And each moment of time to continue to relax you Now,

While you are in this relaxed state And each time you do this,

You actually change the way your body works That is,

It's physiology To a state exactly the opposite of stress This state of relaxation helps eliminate the adverse effects of stress And lets you experience the high energy potential that you have inside you While you are in this relaxed state,

We would like you to learn a few skills and techniques that will be useful to you Even during your usual waking state These skills and techniques when practiced in this state of relaxation become intertwined With the idea of relaxation at the deepest levels of your mind With that practiced or experienced During your usual waking state by just repeating these techniques Even without going through the deep relaxation that we did Relaxation indeed will take place As with any skill,

The more you use it and the more you practice it,

The more effective they will be The quicker you can enter it and the more reliable it will become as a tool You can rid yourself of excessive stress and feel safe from unwanted events And develop a place to literally pull yourself together By imagining a place of safety Athletes,

Musicians,

They use this device to develop what they would say as a cocoon around themselves or a zone To protect them and to give them strength and energy during their performances You can use this similar technique Think of the words Peace Safety Comfort Happiness Peace Safety Comfort Happiness Think of a place that means as many of those characteristics as possible to you It may be a place you've visited often or one that you've only been to once or perhaps it's something completely imaginary But allow the first place that comes to mind to be that place a hundred percent Put yourself in this place as vividly as you can,

Using all your senses In your mind's eye,

See or visualize everything there is to see about this scene In your mind's eye,

Look up,

Look down,

Look to the left and the right Notice what's in front of you,

What's behind you,

What's very near and what is very far away Look at things and in things and through things Appreciate the sounds,

The sounds naturally emitted by this place as well as the sound you make as you move around in this place Touch and feel objects and things in your surroundings If you are outside,

Feel the wind if there is any Feel textures and temperatures If there are any aromas,

Appreciate these If there is anything to taste,

Do so Put yourself as completely into this place as possible Studies and myriad experiences have shown that when you vividly image something,

Your mind and body interpret it as being real and act accordingly The more vividly you imagine yourself in this place,

The more your mind will believe it is real and will associate this place with peace,

Safety,

Comfort,

Happiness And the word relax Now spend a few more moments fully appreciating this place as vividly as you can Return to your deep comfortable breathing Allow each breath you take to continue to relax you Each sound that you hear to continue to relax you And each moment of time that passes to relax you In addition to the mental technique of the place of safety and comfort that we've just experienced We can also add in physical cues which act as shortcuts to experiencing this energy and this level of relaxation And is also quite helpful in putting yourself to sleep at night While you're in the state of comfort and relaxation,

The state in which you are building up a tremendous amount of energy To bring back to when you return to your day Take your non-dominant hand,

Which is the one you don't write with,

Typically the left one And choose your thumb and any position on one of your four fingers Bring that thumb and that part of your finger together Spend a few moments touching your thumb and this part of your finger together and don't let them come apart until I instruct you to do so Feel how it feels to have your thumb pressing against that finger As you spend these few moments in this physical position with your thumb and finger touching Your mind interprets this physical maneuver to be a signal of the way you feel at this time,

Relaxed and comfortable Continue practicing this cue so that in the future you can simply touch this thumb and finger together While you're in your usual waking state and bring on a degree of comfort and relaxation instantly Eventually with practice and use,

This degree of comfort can become as profound as the degree of relaxation that you're experiencing at this time Continue to breathe comfortably and let each breath relax you Each sound you hear to relax you and each moment of time to relax you Now relax the hand in which you had your thumb and finger touching Again studies have shown that imagining an event vividly has interpreted your mind as if you were really experiencing that event It's also shown that imagining something extremely vividly can set your mind into action and that you can actually realize what you've been imagining This is not idle daydreaming,

This is telling your mind precisely what it is that you'd want and trusting your mind to lead you wherever it must to accomplish that goal Our goal here now turns to developing energy to go along with this level of relaxation Picture in your mind what high energy means to you Imagine yourself in a situation,

One that is reasonable for you to be in,

In which you are unmistakably feeling and behaving in a way that could only be possible if you were feeling vigorous,

Energetic and strong Just allow that place to come to mind If that's somewhat difficult,

Perhaps imagine that you're watching yourself in a movie or on television Again,

Just like with the previous exercise,

Use all your senses