There’s a pretty substantial number of references to research showing health benefits from the practice of Transcendental Meditation (TM), but a new piece of research is especially interesting. The Medical College of Wisconsin carried out a study of 201 African American men and women who had heart disease (average age, 59). They were randomised in two groups. One group were given lifestyle education (diet, exercise etc), and the other group was taught how to practice TM. After 9 years the TM group had a 47% reduction in deaths, heart attacks and strokes (20 “events” in the TM group, and 31 in the education group). The average blood pressure was also significantly lower in the TM group 9 years on.

It’s good to see studies of non-drug methods of improving health outcomes. It was interesting, however, to see how the BBC headed up the report “Meditation ‘eases heart disease’ ” – funny how drugs get reported almost as miracle cures but meditation reducing deaths, heart attacks and strokes by 47% gets described as “easing” heart disease!

…..some photos just suggest a story, don’t they? Inspired?

This isn’t a quiz….well, at least, not in the sense that I know the answer! I came across these strange marks on fallen trees in a forest recently. Have you any idea what makes this happen? Is it a fungus? An insect? A worm?? Look at the variety, it’s quite astonishing!

….under the forest floor, in a small earthy cave, this sparkling jewel of a web was woven……

come closer, for a better look…..

come closer, still….

see the colours of the forest reflected here?

now let your eyes just relax out of focus and see what appears….

One of the good things about a really early morning flight is that you have the chance to see the dawn from above the clouds. It’s beautiful to see them blushing pink as the sun rises over the horizon.

This reminds me, please go and look at this. It’s a movie by Yann Arthus-Bertrand. He takes the most amazing photographs of the world from the air. Now he has made this beautiful, awe-inspiring film about the Earth and the impact made by Homo Sapiens.

….never seen one of these before!

How does your day begin?

I took this photo of the sun rising behind the old factories on the other side of Stirling station yesterday, and it got me thinking about the start of the day. Every day the sun comes up (but we don’t always notice it). In some cultures and traditions this simple, daily event was/is marked with some kind of ritual or acknowledgment – some “salute to the sun”, or some contemplation or prayer. I guess it’s no surprise in a country like Scotland where its not likely you can actually see the sun every morning that we don’t have that kind of start to our day.

But how DO you start your day?

Do you start on auto-pilot? Some combination of washed/dressed/breakfast/out the door? If so, is there a point where you take over from the auto-pilot? At what point in the day do start to live more consciously?

Or do you start your day with some personal ritual of waking or beginning? Feel free to share if you’d like.

This caught my eye as I walked to pick up my car in Stirling Station car park last night……it’s the full moon through the spars of the new bridge. Snapped it with my camera phone.
I like it!

How often do you find yourself going over something upsetting? Something someone said or did which you found hurtful? Hurts have an impact. They make their marks on us. The bigger the hurt, the deeper, more long-lasting the mark.

Is there anything we can do reduce the impact? Or do we have to just stand and accept whatever comes our way, feeling the impacts deeply, and for the rest of our lives?

Whatever builds up our resilience, both reduces the strength of any impact, and increases our ability to bounce back, to stand back up, to find a way to go forward.

One aspect of resilience is equanimity. Balance. Stability. A kind of strength. Over centuries in many traditions and cultures people have practiced meditation to gain this kind of strength. One of the goals of meditation is increased equanimity, or greater resilience. You can’t stop events from happening, but you can have an influence on how you experience those events. My meditation teacher used the following analogy (the photos are mine!)

A mark in rock lasts a long time

A mark in sand disappears more quickly

Imagine what it’s like to make the mark on water

Now imagine what it’s like to make the mark in the air

Regular meditation practice builds resilience. Things still happen, but more and more, what people say, what people do, has less of an impact. You begin to experience less marks in the stone, less in the sand, more in the water, or, ultimately, in the air.

I like that analogy.