To be inspired means to be filled with spirit. This would seem to be an acknowledgment of the connection between all creative processes and the universal energy that some call ‘source energy’ and others refer to as ‘God’ or Yahweh, or Brahman and so on. Whatever we call ‘that’ thing we can all acknowledge that there are some of us that are, at some point, inspired and inspirational, else we would not have any invention or charismatic leaders.

Respiration or to respire is to breath and exchange gases through inhalation and exhalation. The word respire really means to ‘re-spirit’ or to refill with spirit. So that again we make the connection with spirit or ‘that’ thing and our self, our experience and our life.

It is said the the first thing that we do in life is to breathe in and, the last thing that we do in life is to breathe out. It is the breaths in between these two that are what we call our life, when we stop breathing this life comes to a close.

We do not realise the importance of breath. I know that if we do not breath we die, that is not what I mean, it is more to do with the quality of our breath, it depth, it speed and repetition, because there is something that you should understand about breath. It is this, we all get the same amount or breaths. Life ‘time’ is not counted in years it is counted in breaths and heart beats. There is a direct correlation between breaths and heart rate. The faster the heart the quicker the breath, the faster the breath the quicker the heart.

If we assume across the world human life expectancy is an average 65 years, while a hamster has an average life expectancy of three 3 years and, amazingly a whale is around 150 years, but the number of breaths and heartbeats for each species will stay the same, in fact all amphibians, birds, fish, mammals and reptiles live life spans of the same average heart beats and breaths. The heart rate of a whale is around 10 heartbeats a minute and hamsters is 450 per minute. Yet for both, during their life they will both have the same number of beats averaging about 1 billion.

On average, humans breathe about 960 breaths per hour that equates to 23040 breaths in a day and 8409600 in a year. If you were to live to 80 you will take around 672,768,000 breaths, based on your average respiration rate at rest. If you exercise your heart rate and respiration will increase while under exercise, but will drop back to a slower rate after the exercise. The other things that will increase respiration and heart rate is stress and anxiety

Considering all this the process of breathing is the focus of meditation and mediation techniques. Almost all mindful meditation techniques begin with breath focus, and in meditation and relaxation heart and respiration rates drop significantly.

The punch line is that those people who breath slower live longer. People who remain physically fit will breath slower when at rest, and the most efficient breathing comes from the meditators who are taking control of their system and are leading clam and relaxed lives. It is always true that in life we do not need to slow down, we need to calm down.

So you see calmness, relaxation, meditation, and a long life all go together.

Enjoy your meditation

Be happy

Sean x

Picture credited to http://f-journal.ru/kak-uluchshit-obmen-veshhestv-v-organizme/

When you water your garden or wash your car with a garden hose you can turn the end nozzle to vary the way that the water flows from the end. If you close it down the beam of water become tighter and more concentrated until it is like a single line directing all of its power onto one spot. If you reverse the process and open the nozzle the bean of water becomes wider and wider. The more you open it the wider the beam until it becomes like a fountain with water splashing everywhere.

It is the same with your mind. When the beam of your thoughts is open and uncontrolled your thoughts are all over the place just like a fountain. Your thoughts will dash from one thing to the next. Often the next thought is in your mind before the previous one has completed. Mind and thoughts become like the fountain splashing every where.

In meditation, whatever the technique, you begin to turn the nozzle of your mind, concentrating your thoughts, closing the fountain, until, in time with some practice your are able to concentrate your mind and begin to focus.

Meditation is both a state and a technique

The technique of meditation leads to the state of meditation. The technique is the daily practise that enables you to learn to concentrate the beam of your thoughts, until, in the state of meditation all thoughts have ceased, the hosepipe nozzle is completely closed and there is a movement from doing to simply being. This void of thoughtless peace I call ‘The Knowing Silence”. It is that space where there is no beginning and no end, a place where time ceases to exist. So that when you enter the void you might be there for seconds or hours, it is as though no time has passed at all.

Meditation is the tool that enables you to take control of your mind

In my yogic/ayurvedic training the language of Sanskrit uses the the word ‘Chit’ to mean pure thought. When we use Chit our thoughts are concentrated and pure, it is the moment just before the nozzle closes and we enter the void. The word ‘Chittam’ describes the state of mind when the nozzle is fully open and meaningless thoughts are spraying all over the place. Chittam is all the gossip, news, television and radio programmes, described by my teacher as ‘rats droppings’. It is a certain truth that the more we develop Chit the less Chittam there is in our lives.

Meditation is the tool that enables you to take control of your mind and close you mental nozzle stopping it from a spraying a fountain of non productive thoughts to become a focus and effective beam of thought and energy. When you invest the time in meditation you do more not less, you become more effective more of the time, and you stand a better chance of achieving all that you desire from your life.

If you are new to meditation then might I suggest you try my free Morning/Evening meditation mp3s? They have been downloaded hundreds of times and the feedback I receive is that they are very useful and a great starting point.

Be happy,
Sean x

Stress is a modern buzz word and although stress is real people often use the word to mean that they are busy, perhaps even very busy. It is rather like when people describe a common cold as ‘the flu’. But, it is true that stress is real and the more that we know about how our bodies, brains and minds work the idea of stress related disease is now common place. We all know someone who has been affected by stress.

Have you ever experienced Stress?

In Britain Public sector workers take an average 9.1 days sick leave a year compared to 5.7 days in the private sector, research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD) shows, and a leading cause of this absence is work-related stress. A large amount of people will require some form of support for stress related problems at some point in their life. Often these are described as emotional, or mental health issues. This can give something that is common place a stigma so that we are not easy talking about it. There is a joke in medicine that people don’t talk about things above their chin or below their waist, they are all taboo.

When visiting your physician or general practitioner commonly the first option, even now, is some type of anti-depressants rather than talking therapy. The strange thing is that we know that talking therapy is a million times more effective than medication, it is also non-toxic and completely biodegradable.

For all of us meditation is the ultimate self-therapy. The magical thing about the mind, brain, body system is that it is self regulating. Just as your skin is designed to self heal after it is cut or your bones to repair after they have been broken, you mind and emotions do exactly the same thing.

When you stop worrying or ruminating on the stressor it’s effects will go away. It does not matter if it is hurt, loss, grief, bereavement, anxiety, jealousy, anger, whatever, once we quieten the inner voice that repeats the stressful issue, then, it’s effects simply go away.

If we wire someone up in the laboratory so that we can monitor their heart rate, blood pressure, skin moisture, respiration, and so on, as soon as we put them through a meditation exercise all the dials drop as the system self regulates itself back to it ‘normal’ state of calmness.

The more that we learn to meditate, the more that we learn to still our system, the more the effects of meditation seep into the rest of our everyday life. This creates, within us, a peaceful easy demeanour that deals more effectively with stressful issues and problems and allows us to become more effective in what area of life we are operating.

As Bob Proctor put, “people don’t need to slow down, they need to clam down”. Effective people speed up and calm down and get a lot of stuff done. The easiest way to calm down is to learn to meditate.

If you are new to meditation then might I suggest you try my free Morning/Evening meditation mp3s They have been downloaded hundreds of times and the feedback I receive is that they are very useful and a great starting point.

Take care, be happy

Sean x

There were those that saw her as a hero who had survived some great ordeal, those that saw her as an idiot and were in total disbelief as to why anyone would want to do such a thing, and those that nodded with knowing and understanding. This question that comes up again and again is “why meditate?”

Well, there are a million reasons why people take the time and make the effort and, many of these are individual, but I can tell you why I do it and, what it is that I get from doing it.

The first is silence. The world is full of noise and very few people experience peace. From the moment that we wake there are radios, televisions, news, information, things to do, people to see and places to go. Each of us is required to process masses of information.

Consider the world of your grandparents and great grandparents: there were few or no cars, no computers, no mobile phones, one channel on TV and, three channels on the radio. The only news was the newspaper and news took time to arrive. All things took time and happened at a more leisurely pace.

In meditation we still the mind

Not so now. Information and information sharing is instant. When the planes flew into the twin towers we were all able to watch it happening in real time. In the Japanese tsunami we watched the waters rush across the land, destroying people’s lives, as it happened. We know about war and casualties the instant that they occur.

Is Stress Real?

The bottom line is that the physiologically of the human body that flies jumbo jet is little different to the one that drove the horse and cart several generations ago. When people ask me if stress is real and I explain about the amount of information that we now all process and I say “yes”, stress is very real. As with all things, however,  it is not what we experience that is the issue it is what we do with it that makes the difference.

The problem is that now we have so much to deal with and so much information to process that it is easy for us to forget who we are and why we are here. We cease to hear our inner voice and cease to attend to our own needs.

In meditation we still the mind, reduce the outside stimulus of everyday experience and create the inner peace and silence in which we begin to hear the answers to our problems. For many, it is the only time that we might even realise that we have any problems to face.

When I created the ‘Knowing Silence’ meditation programme many years ago, I was suggesting that the real answers to our deepest questions are found within us not without us, and that all the theoretical teachings of gurus are nothing compared to the hands on, mind off, silence of inner knowledge and understanding.

For us all taking just a little time, be it a few minutes or an hour of meditation, we create a magic space of calm and relaxation that we rarely find in our daily lives.

If you are new to meditation then might I suggest you try my free Morning/Evening meditation mp3s? They have been downloaded hundreds of times and the feedback I receive is that they are very useful and a great starting point.

I’ll blog again next week with Why Meditate?, Part 2.

Take care, be happy,
Sean x

Think about the average day. Often we will wake to the noise of an alarm clock and, step straight into the busyness of family. In the shower we might have music playing, then over breakfast the television or radio is telling us the news, kids to school, us to work or where ever radio on in the car, and then the noise of the day. And so it goes on until our head once again hits the pillow, though often that time may not be silent either because the noises of the day are often still ringing in our head and may even infest our dream world as well.

I have been on many silent retreats and meditation courses. To begin with it was a shock. I found the silence difficult and needed to say things and have people say things to me, as if in someway it would prove to me that I did actually exist. It was as though I needed other people to validate my existence. In the silence, that is the rule of most programmes, I would begin to hear another sound, it was the sound of myself.

Once the noise of the outside world stops all that there is, is the inner noise. All the bits of me that I had been avoiding by filling my space with the noise of life or other people’s problems, suddenly assert itself and shout “me too”. Then the letting go begins. Often an emotional out pouring or abreaction

After a few days I would settle into the true silence, and some thing that I have come to know as “The Knowing Silence” would engulf me in a warm sea of energy. And in that peace of external and internal silence I would begin to hear the answers to my problems.

By the end of the programme, or course, when we were allowed to speak again, I would often feel like I didn’t really have anything to say. And, as I went back into the world I would have the heightened awareness of the meaninglessness of most sound, most conversation, and media. With it comes the realisation that for most of us external noise is the thing that we use to avoid facing up to and, dealing with our inner needs.

So how about today you find somewhere quiet, sit, close you eyes, relax, let go of the world and, just for a few minutes, listen to you. The voice within you might surprise you. Maybe you might even consider booking yourself on a Vipassana course at Dhamma Dipa! and really get to know yourself.

Be happy

Sean x

In Britain we are lousy at talking about sex. When it comes to thinking about it we are not too bad. Statistics suggest that men have around nineteen sexual thoughts a day which is twice as many than women. From my work I think that this might be an under estimate, especially where men are concerned. Some of the men I work with would be having thirteen sexual thoughts an hour, or maybe more.

I have a suggestion that we extend the day and perhaps we could make it ‘Talk About Sex Day’, because the sexual problems that exist between people in a relationship are not really what they think about, it is more about what they talk about, or really what they do not talk about. When did you last talk about sex with your partner?

Or, perhaps we could take it just a little further and make the connection between sex and love. It is not that sex has to be associated with love, it is often connected more to lust, but the idea of Valentine’s day is about love and relationships. We make the connection when we describe sex as ‘making love’.

So, my bid is that we make Valentine’s Day ‘Talk About Sex Day’, and then we might all just get a little closer. And, if in these discussions you raise issues that need to be dealt with get some psychosexual counselling and sort it out. The SAA details are below if you need some advice, or someone to talk to they may help.

Take care and have a good Valentine’s Day

Sean x

The Sexual Advice Associationprovides information and support on all things related to male and female sexual health. They even offer a confidential helpline to respond to queries.

February 14th is a celebration of love, happiness and relationships. Across the world people will be declaring and reaffirming love for each other in a tradition that goes back thousands of years. These different expressions of love will be as varied as the people who express them.Cards, chocolates, champagne and flowers seem to have been the staple gifts for many years. However, these days such gifts may not work too well with many women. Women tell me that they want romance, and more romance than there is in a bunch of flowers.

Believe it or not, many men want some romance as well.

It was always said that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. I think that applies to woman as well. Good food is sensual, and sensuality is foreplay and foreplay, when directed, leads to sexuality, and sexuality leads to orgasm. A good meal in a lovely setting may just be the aphrodisiac that leads you to an evening of passion. Better still why not eat at home and cook a special meal that you know your partner will love. And, if you like doing things together perhaps cooking together will get you in the mood and tune you in to each other.

Tuning into each other is the practise of Tantra. The word Tantra, much famed by Sting, with the promise of prolonged sex, means ‘woven together’. The act and purpose of foreplay is to tune into each other, this is the weaving of Tantra, that leads to sensual and sexual pleasure. When woven together two people become one, they merge together in sensual bliss.

If you are into getting really sensual, after your meal, you might enjoy a nice light oil, such as grape seed, with an essence, of perhaps lavender or geranium, a warm fire, a soft blanket, candle light, some nice sounds, and a deep massage. Perhaps taking it in turns. Most of all having some fun as you weave and tune into each others bodies and each others hearts.

For the Greeks the power of sexual love was embodied in Aphrodite, for the Romans, it was Venus, later the Christian world adopted St Valentine on his saints day of February 14th. If your interested in learning more about Tantric sex visit the site I set up for the book I launched last year.

Tantra, Sex, Orgasm & Meditation

Buy the softback

Buy for Kindle

Have a wonderful Valentine’s day and don’t forget ladies 2012 is a leap year and your chance to propose!

With Love,

Sean x

To the western mind, the dragon was always something to be feared, the fear of dragons living at the edge of the world, “there be dragons”.   Though the medieval knight, as a hero, would seek to fight the dragon as an honour.  This was as a moral victory, often set in a spiritual journey to spiritual perfection.  The myth was that of the knight slaying a dragon to save a maiden.  In psychology we would often use phrases such as “facing your dragons” as clients come to terms with their fears and phobias.  St George, the patron saint of England, was the quintessential hero and dragon slayer.

In Chinese folklore the dragon is respected and revered, honoured for bringing luck, success and ambition to those under its influence. As such, it is one of the most auspicious of the zodiac signs.  Related to leadership and success, bringing a dynamic year of energy.

The previous year 2011, was the year of the rabbit.  This was meant to be a calm and placid time, though I am not so sure that many of the workers in Britain, and around the world suffering the effects of financial meltdown, would agree with this.   The years of the dragon are said to be packed with energy, power and punch.  So, look out.  If the changes that have occurred during the reign of the rabbit could be so disruptive what can we expect from the dragon?

Well, if you focus on the negative the year of the dragon could be filled be apprehension and anxiety, fear and problems.  Alternatively, it could be a dynamic year of opportunity and good fortune.  A year when you could begin new projects, develop new ideas, and create success and happiness and a lasting future.

In the Chinese system dragon years bring good luck, and babies born under the dragon are said to possess great strength and leadership qualities.   In China, dragon years, are seen as auspicious.  Birth rates increase during dragon years.

Martin Luther King is a perfect example of a successful Dragon, who was a powerful leader with a powerful vision.  Other dragons include Rhianna, Orlando Bloom, Al Pacino, Rupert Grint (Ron from Harry Potter) and not forgetting Robert Orford!.

Loyalty is also a key trait of dragons, which is probably why they make excellent spouses. However, don’t expect your dragon to be too sentimental or romantic, their self determination might just leave you in the shade.

So, whatever your plans for this year why not make success one of them.

Take care

Sean x

Live in the Present published my first Tantra book, which has done so very well, the feed back and reviews have been amazing and the sales keep on growing, thank you to everyone who has purchased a copy.

We consistently appear in the top 10 on the Amazon Kindle Store including holding the number one position on a number of occasions. This has led me to write a second Tantra book that will be published in 2012. The ebook, in it’s variety of forms, a real revolution in action.

Taking inspiration from the Ten Steps programme we have written a new book Live In The Present which will be available very soon. This inspired our new site liveinthepresent.co.uk a hub of positive thoughts and ideas that will hopefully motivate and inspire all who visit.

Inspiring others in business took me up and down the country the most memorable being in Glasgow, speaking at the IPP annual conference. Rie and I once again visited Italy and had a wonderful time. We stayed in some fabulous hotels across Europe ending with a special visit to Moet & Chandon in Epernay.

The highlights of 2011 have to be Robert being settled in Chester University and the arrival of baby William to Ed and Bethan, another dynasty is born. Wonderful.

2012

Ed, Rie and I have lots of plans for 2012 including new books and audio visual recordings and the development of the new LITP site as a focus of positive energy and communication. Described as a site ‘under construction – and always will be’ because that is the way that we each approach our lives, as a never ending journey of self development and self discovery.

During this year we will be developing a new therapy and coaching programme called “The Mind Brain System” (MBS).

This is a unique approach to coaching and therapy that utilises the natural tendency of our Mind Brain System to create habits.

The ninety day programmes, that can be taken face to face or online, explain how to change old habits that do not serve us well, such as anxiety, lack of confidence and so on. Towards new habits of positive thinking, feeling, and acting, that do serve us well.

All in all a busy and exciting year ahead, with lots to do and achieve.

Keep an eye on my website, Twitter and Facebook for all of the latest developments. As ever, if you need help in anyway do get in touch.

Sean x

When I am working with people, I see it as so very important that they are able to let go of what has been, to enable them to move on to their desired present. Too many of us drag our baggage around year after year, long after we should have just let it all go. The bottom line is that baggage wears us down and stops us moving forward, and creates states of depression.

So my suggestion to you is that, before you step into the New Year, you review all that has happened in this last year, acknowledge it all, the good and the bad, do not question it or worry it, just let it go with as much love as you can muster. Even the worst possible disasters and traumas teach us things if we have ears to hear and eyes to see, and things that we learn are never bad. In that sense, nothing bad can ever happen to us, unless we allow it to.

So before you even think about New Year resolutions and what you will do in the future, how about you make a decision to let go of the past. Time to put it down? To coincide with the new year Live in the Present will be launched. Live in the Present may help you all be here now so drop by in the new year, exciting times.

Happy New Year. Let’s make it a belter.

Take care,

Sean x