one-minute retreat – One Minute Retreats

Tag Archives: one-minute retreat

Take 1 Minute Meditations for Life

August 10, 2009 – 7:28 am

daydreaming-woman When you’re a top executive in a Fortune 500 company, the last thing you have on your mind during working hours is a retreat. It’s even likely that you haven’t the faintest idea what a retreat might look like, since all you know is consistent hard work. Finding time to look out the window for a minute to break away from the daily barrage of meetings and phone or conference calls might be like a retreat to you.

The good news is that you don’t have to take three days out of your busy schedule to get some “me time” and, you don’t even need to think of going to the gym or cafeteria if you just want a peaceful 5 minutes away from the daily routine and clutter.

Just by closing your eyes and sitting down in your office, you can meditate for one minute to regain calm, peace of mind, and self-control. During this minute, try being like a child … swivel that chair! You’ll be amazed that what you intended just to be one minute will become five and your mind will ready to take on the next task of the day, stress free.

If you’re not sure what to mediate on, you could simply think about some of the happy times you’ve had, remember the things you’ve enjoyed doing the most – especially hobbies. If you’re a parent, one of the best ways to clear the clutter from your mind is to think about the joy your children give you. In fact, why not keep a photograph of your child on your desk (especially as a toddler) and just reminisce about some of the things the child has done to make you laugh, the funny things they’ve said, or the times they’ve said something so sweet it brought tears to your eyes.

Remember a retreat isn’t just all about clearing the mind of clutter. It’s also about filling the mind with those things that bring joy to your heart.

A minute of meditation can be done any time you want and although today it’s in your office, tomorrow it could be when you arrive home — the house is empty and you just sit on the sofa and close your eyes for a few minutes.

It may seem as thought it’s just a few minutes of stress release, but the benefits outlast the focused time and brings with it many health benefits. Take note the next time you stop to meditate, how much more productive you become afterwards and just how much more relaxed you feel. It will encourage you to take more time out during the day for that one minute of meditation.

A Note From Doctor Cynthia

Hope you have been enjoying these one minute retreats.

If you feeling stressed out, overwhelmed and out of steam running through life at breakneck speed, unable to even take a breath? Consider my upcoming three day retreat to rediscover, rejuvenate, recharge Your Life

This retreat is the perfect opportunity to remove yourself from the stresses of life, to renew energy and gain clarity about the things you really want.
During the course of this one day retreat, you will learn how to:

Relax

Put yourself first

Do what matters most to you

Make self-care your top priority

By Doctor Cynthia | Posted in 1-Minute Retreats | Also tagged 1-minute meditation, relaxation, take time out | Comments (0)

The Morning Shower Meditation

July 3, 2009 – 12:11 pm

relaxing-shower1 For every new day, nutritionists and exercise gurus can suggest several things for your health: eating a hearty, balanced breakfast and doing stretches, cardio exercises and strengthening routines. But what about your soul?

Early morning must be a treat not only to the person’s ‘corpus’ but also to his ‘anima’ (call it inner self or soul). The Chinese usually go to the park or in their gardens to do tai-chi, which relaxes both body and mind. But you can do something simpler than that right inside your own home.

While it’s fine to meditate during your leisure time, it’s even better to start your day meditating. Having a fresh mind for another day of work and keeping yourself attuned to life’s essentials will keep the negativity at bay. Thus, you are better able to handle stress after several hours at work or school.

You may meditate right before, during, or after you take your shower. Nature and mankind are generally still, restful and peaceful at daybreak. Your mind is freshest at this moment, like a new canvas or a blank piece of paper waiting for the day’s masterpiece.

Before your daily grind begins, think clearly about the things that matter and immunize your thoughts and feelings from the excesses of your desires. Take a warm shower. Let the soothing heat and calming flow of water ease your mind. Let your worries come later; for a couple of minutes, free yourself from them.

Hindus call the hour before sunrise ‘Brahma muhurta’ (hour of ‘god’). Even devout Muslims, Christians and followers of other religions find morning prayers indispensable to their faith. Whatever your beliefs, the important thing is that you give yourself enough time to think positively about life before you step into life’s realities.

Morning shower meditation may sound odd if you consider what meditation usually requires: peace, concentration and calming environment to help you go smoothly through the process. How could you ever meditate when you are ‘disturbed’ by the water?

The proponents of this type of meditation believe that all of the worries, tensions, problems and any sort of bad thoughts retained in the mind can be washed away figuratively and even mystically by the flowing water. Such a notion somehow creates a great relevance of the natural healing and calming effects of water. Indeed, water’s characteristic as a ‘universal solvent’ extends beyond the laws of physics.

A Note From Doctor Cynthia

Hope you have been enjoying these one minute retreats.

Relax

Put yourself first

Do what matters most to you

Make self-care your top priority

By Doctor Cynthia | Posted in 1-Minute Retreats | Also tagged bath rituals, meditation, relaxation, stress busting | Comments (1)

Take a Stroll

May 15, 2009 – 8:30 am

Take a Stroll

Boredom is a state of mind that sets in when you’ve forgotten simple pleasures or when you allow a sense of emptiness to dwell in your heart. It’s not something you can just ignore, considering how it can affect a person’s work, relationships and perception of life in general.

It seems ironic but you can learn a simple ‘cure’ to it by observing a child, who looks at ordinary things in amazement, laughs at funny gestures and enjoys ordinary treats. Perhaps it’s time to rediscover the child in you.

We often disregard the little things that can paint smiles on our faces and leave remarkable impressions in our lives: the flowers in bloom along your way, the hot, good-smelling cup of coffee on your table, the affectionate smiles of loved ones. These are life’s simple treats, but they add up to a bigger, happier picture.

The earth is blessed with riches. You don’t need to locate the remotest goldmines or buy a mansion on a hill amid a breathtaking landscape to know how to appreciate your stay. Simply take a stroll and be mindful of the beautiful things you see around you. And when you do, in a minute or two, you’ll feel you’ve come back to life.

There are plenty of wonderful things beyond your walls. Take a stroll through those long lanes flanked by colorful flowerbeds. At the park you can observe children playing, families enjoying their time together, young and old couples taking time with each other.

Observe the grass, the sky, sunlight on the pavement, sunlight on someone’s lovely face, the breeze blowing strands of hair away from a girl’s forehead, someone whistling a tune, the flight of pigeons, leaves of trees filtering the sun’s rays, the smell of bread from a bakery, glass windows and waterways glistening in the noonday sun.

Let your feet take you to scenic locations in your area or just in ordinary places. But this time, observe everything in childlike wonder. With your senses you’ll fill the emptiness in you. You’ll feel a lot better, readier for life.

A Note From Doctor Cynthia

Hope you have been enjoying these one minute retreats. Please consider taking a 15-30 minute self-guided Gratitude Retreat. The Retreat to Go Moments of Gratitude is filled with everything you’ll need to successfully complete your self-guided retreats. It includes:

- Gratitude Journal. Consisting of lined, dated pages where you list five things you are grateful for each day plus a collection of
- Inspirational quotes to inspire you throughout the year along with “Powerful Intentional” gratitude practices
- Step-by-step user-friendly instructions. The kit includes everything you need to start planning an hour, half-day, or full day retreat, on your own Candle Pen http://www.freestyleretreats.com/retreat-to-go.html

By Doctor Cynthia | Posted in 1-Minute Retreats | Also tagged 1-Minute Retreats, boredom, serenity, stress busting, walk in the park | Comments (0)

Find Serenity in Nature

May 7, 2009 – 3:00 pm

Finding Serenity

City Life can be tormenting in so many ways. It could be the loud music from your the next-door neighbor or the general din of the busy streets. It could be the motorists that cut you in traffic or people who shove you in the subway station at rush hour.

The blurry pace of urban life and work-related anxiety can strain relationships, affecting your marriage, family life, circle of friends. Stress seems magnified in your jungle of glass, steel and concrete, and there’s hardly any time for letting your soul breathe.

We want to live our lives differently, reside in the suburbs perhaps, with white picket fences, oak trees and all, but we seem too engaged in the trappings of city life and, there are financial realities to consider. But as Pandora’s opened box introduced the worse things in life, what remained inside it is the ‘unique and undying hope.’

We all hope for serenity but it’s not something we get over the counter or at a hotel lobby or on the rooftop of a skyscraper. Yoga and other meditation techniques can only do so much, and not a lot of people want to find serenity with eyes closed and limbs stretched, mumbling a mantra.

Nature remains the best source of serenity. The sight, smell and sound of the natural environment can revitalize both body and soul and make you see things clearly. That was perhaps why Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane or why Thoreau sought wisdom in Walden Pond.

You can plan a trip outdoors. It doesn’t have to be far. The calming sight of Tahiti’s turquoise water and white-sand beaches won’t be as serene as you want it to be if you find yourself hobnobbing with other tourists. You can go to the nearest place in your state or province that has a magnificent natural view.

Nature offers a lot of breathtaking sights: a waterfall deep in the forest, a quiet creek, a misty mountain, rock formations in the desert, waves on a rocky shore, a veil of fine rain falling on grassland, autumn leaves in a lonely grove, a snowcapped peak, a frozen lake, an eagle flying in a clear sky.

It can even be nearer. All cities have parks – pockets of nature in an unnatural jungle – and some of them are not filled with too many people. They can be worth discovering. A bench in a quiet spot deep in the park can be a good place to hear the birds or see some squirrels or just feel the sunlight and the breeze on your face. Your one minute matters if you make it a daily habit.

By Doctor Cynthia | Posted in 1-Minute Retreats | Also tagged relaxation, serenity, stress busting | Comments (0)

A Quiet Mind in a Busy World

April 30, 2009 – 6:39 am

quiet-mind Our mind can hold a lot of different thoughts in a day. In fact, these ‘noisy thoughts’ are what keep us busy day in and day out. We are driven by our thoughts and often they seem too big, too heavy for comfort.

Whatever we have today, pleasant or not, is the end result of previous actions triggered by the thoughts we entertain in our mind. Often, our thoughts even color certain circumstances. A bad fix gets even worse if we think quite negatively about it. So when we think of our lives being messy, if we focus on that, it’ll probably get messier.

It’s all in the mind, they say. But it’s not just a test of your outlook on life: of the bottle being half empty or half full. Whether you like it or not, your thoughts, including your insecurities and fears, attract more of the same, until they rule your life.

And let’s face it: we can’t keep happy thoughts for long. It’s a rare gift to be able keep thinking pleasant thoughts for long in this harried world, with mass media bombarding us with unpleasant images and texts. Indeed, if we were gifted enough to exclusively think happy thoughts despite the negativity, we’d all be flying to Never Land, wouldn’t we?

Thus, in this day and age, quietude has become a personal treasure we should nurture. Quiet thoughts – neither happy nor sad – in this noisy world may seem like a ripple-less area in the middle of a choppy sea, but they’re not impossible to achieve.

Let’s do this: lie comfortably in a quiet place for one minute. Let’s not think about work or family; about what we have or have not; about what should have, could have and would have; not even about the best days of our lives because they’ll just make us feel sad that they’re difficult to have again.

If nature provides the best cures for physical ailments, it works even better at clearing up our cluttered thoughts. Think of a rainbow trout in a clear stream, a golden field of barley combed by the breeze, a butterfly on a dewy bloom, the Sun mellowed by light clouds, white sand and turquoise shallows in the tropics.

Let your mind find a good retreat from the busy world. Nature offers countless quiet images to unburden the mind. They’re beautiful, unobtrusive, and demand nothing from us, except that we let them be.

The closest thing to any thought about nature that works just as well, is perhaps the image of a calm face in a busy crowd. Let that be your face, even just for a minute.

By Doctor Cynthia | Posted in 1-Minute Retreats | Also tagged meditation, quiet mind, stress busting, take time out | Comments (1)

Tag Archives: one-minute retreat

Take 1 Minute Meditations for Life

The Morning Shower Meditation

Take a Stroll

Find Serenity in Nature

A Quiet Mind in a Busy World

RSS Feeds

Recently Posted

July 7, 2010

May 12, 2010

May 5, 2010

April 28, 2010

April 21, 2010

Recently Commented

July 27, 2010

May 5, 2010

April 3, 2010

January 13, 2010

December 3, 2009

July 3, 2009

Categories

Archives

Meta