But actually everything got delayed since I am stuck with the re-design. Kinda Catch 22 - upgraded to current release candidate of Wordpress 2.7, which has odd effects on the themes from themehybrid.com (which I have chosen now instead of the ones from elegantthemes.com), so I have to iron out that first and worst case wait for the WP 2.7 final release, which is due next week. I’ll keep you posted.

I got some very nice themes from elegantthemes.com and will play with them during the next day - so do not be puzzled if the site design changes every couple of minutes and sometimes is broken…

After the new design is up, I have a special for you: I recently got my hands on Wendi Friesen’s “Financial Abundance” course, will work through it, and will take you with me on that journey… take-off next week!

So check back or subscribe to the RSS feed so you do not miss the updates!

Lazy today and in a rush, so just a full quote.

Meditation Found To Increase Brain Size

BrainPeople who meditate grow bigger brains than those who don’t. Researchers at Harvard, Yale, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have found the first evidence that meditation can alter the physical structure of our brains. Brain scans they conducted reveal that experienced meditators boasted increased thickness in parts of the brain that deal with attention and processing sensory input.

In one area of gray matter, the thickening turns out to be more pronounced in older than in younger people. That’s intriguing because those sections of the human cortex, or thinking cap, normally get thinner as we age.

“Our data suggest that meditation practice can promote cortical plasticity in adults in areas important for cognitive and emotional processing and well-being,” says Sara Lazar, leader of the study and a psychologist at Harvard Medical School. “These findings are consistent with other studies that demonstrated increased thickness of music areas in the brains of musicians, and visual and motor areas in the brains of jugglers. In other words, the structure of an adult brain can change in response to repeated practice.”

The researchers compared brain scans of 20 experienced meditators with those of 15 nonmeditators. Four of the former taught meditation or yoga, but they were not monks living in seclusion. The rest worked in careers such as law, health care, and journalism. All the participants were white. During scanning, the meditators meditated; the others just relaxed and thought about whatever they wanted.

Meditators did Buddhist “insight meditation,” which focuses on whatever is there, like noise or body sensations. It doesn’t involve “om,” other mantras, or chanting.

“The goal is to pay attention to sensory experience, rather than to your thoughts about the sensory experience,” Lazar explains. “For example, if you suddenly hear a noise, you just listen to it rather than thinking about it. If your leg falls asleep, you just notice the physical sensations. If nothing is there, you pay attention to your breathing.” Successful meditators get used to not thinking or elaborating things in their mind.

Study participants meditated an average of about 40 minutes a day. Some had been doing it for only a year, others for decades. Depth of the meditation was measured by the slowing of breathing rates. Those most deeply involved in the meditation showed the greatest changes in brain structure. “This strongly suggests,” Lazar concludes, “that the differences in brain structure were caused by the meditation, rather than that differences in brain thickness got them into meditation in the first place.”

Lazar took up meditation about 10 years ago and now practices insight meditation about three times a week. At first she was not sure it would work. But “I have definitely experienced beneficial changes,” she says. “It reduces stress [and] increases my clarity of thought and my tolerance for staying focused in difficult situations.”

Controlling random thoughts

Insight meditation can be practiced anytime, anywhere. “People who do it quickly realize that much of what goes on in their heads involves random thoughts that often have little substance,” Lazar comments. “The goal is not so much to ‘empty’ your head, but to not get caught up in random thoughts that pop into consciousness.”

She uses this example: Facing an important deadline, people tend to worry about what will happen if they miss it, or if the end product will be good enough to suit the boss. You can drive yourself crazy with unproductive “what if” worry. “If, instead, you focus on the present moment, on what needs to be done and what is happening right now, then much of the feeling of stress goes away,” Lazar says. “Feelings become less obstructive and more motivational.”

The increased thickness of gray matter is not very much, 4 to 8 thousandths of an inch. “These increases are proportional to the time a person has been meditating during their lives,” Lazar notes. “This suggests that the thickness differences are acquired through extensive practice and not simply due to differences between meditators and nonmeditators.”

As small as they are, you can bet those differences are going to lead to lots more studies to find out just what is going on and how meditation might better be used to improve health and well-being, and even slow aging.

More basic questions need to be answered. What causes the increased thickness? Does meditation produce more connections between brain cells, or more blood vessels? How does increased brain thickness influence daily behavior? Does it promote increased communication between intellectual and emotional areas of the brain?

To get answers, larger studies are planned at Massachusetts General Hospital, the Harvard-affiliated facility where Lazar is a research scientist and where these first studies were done. That work included only 20 meditators and their brains were scanned only once.

“The results were very encouraging,” Lazar remarks. “But further research needs to be done using a larger number of people and testing them multiple times. We also need to examine their brains both before and after learning to meditate. Our group is currently planning to do this. Eventually, such research should reveal more about the function of the thickening; that is, how it affects emotions and knowing in terms of both awareness and judgment.”

Slowing aging?

Since this type of meditation counteracts the natural thinning of the thinking surface of the brain, could it play a role in slowing - even reversing - aging? That could really be mind-boggling in the most positive sense.

Lazar is cautious in her answer. “Our data suggest that one small bit of brain appears to have a slower rate of cortical thinning, so meditation may help slow some aspects of cognitive aging,” she agrees. “But it’s important to remember that monks and yogis suffer from the same ailments as the rest of us. They get old and die, too. However, they do claim to enjoy an increased capacity for attention and memory.”

(found on sciencenewsden.com)

Related book:

For quite some time I managed to get along with the crappy ear plugs that Apple dares to sell with their (otherwise incredible) iPods (I have the iPod classic, just perfect for my several gigabytes of brainwave stuff… ;-) ). But it was not the real thing. So gradually I started to try and explore and test other headphones.

Criteria:

• comfortable. Need to be friendly to my ears and head even after hours of extended wearing.
• clear, unspoiled sound. Many headphones (even rather costly ones) tend to “leak” sound (meaning if there should be sound only on the right channel you still get some faint volume on the left as well - which is no good for binaural beats), many over do the bass frequencies, and many sound alltogether crappy…
• medium price range. I am willing to chip in some bucks for a decent sound experience, but I am not willing to pay the price of a used car for a pair of platinum-plated custom made ear plugs… ;-)

I have tested a lot, and came up with three favorites. Here ya go:

Ultrasone HFI 780

If you buy only ONE headphone in your life - let it be this latest flagship of the Ultrasone HFI series!

Developed by some audiophile maniacs in Germany these high-end headphones give you an incredible experience, - without the price knocking off your pants.

Very comfortable to wear. Absolutely transparent sound, clearly positioned, nothing gets distorted.

Bonus: the speakers are positioned in a way so that the sound hits your ears in a more natural way - slightly from the front. So you have less of that “they are IN MY HEAD - Hjaaaaalp!” - feeling.

Along with their patented S-Logic sound positioning technology this provides you with the most natural “3D” experience I have heard so far. Depends on the recording, of course, but e.g. with Hemi-Sync’s “Heart of the Shaman” I was unable to decide if the ravens where in the headphones or passing above me “in real” (I listen to this kind of stuff under the old oak in the garden whenever possible, and occasionally there are real ravens in the air there…)

I won’t bother you with technical mumbo-jumbo (all the specs are on the product page) - just so much: the HFI 780 is second to none. Very high frequency range (which is good for lower carrier frequencies). And a good sound isolation so the outside world won’t disturb your inner travels too much.

Just click the image below for all the details and a current price quote (yes, it is not “cheap” - but the best buy you can get!):

For those who hate “closed” headphones there is an alternative: the HFI 2200 is an “open” headphone, so you are less separated from the world. It is a bit more expensive, but gives the same great sound experience AND lets the noise of the world in on your troubled ears… ;-)  (errr, ok, obviously I prefer the closed ones…)

A click on the image will provide you with the technical details:

Koss Porta Pro

Low on budget? The price tag of the Ultrasone made you shiver and sweat? Check out the Koss!

This light, foldable wired headphone is very affordable, but the sound is absolutely stunning for this price tag!

Good for all occasions where you do not want to risk your more expensive headphones, or where in-ears are too risky.

Bit too much emphasis on the bass frequencies for my personal taste, but not in a way that would annoy me.

Great for brainwave entrainment while you are doing some excercise (e.g. running - they fit well and won’t jump off your head easily)

Click the image for more info and ordering –>

One word of warning: there is a Sporta Pro as well - which I do NOT recommend. Don’t mix them up.

Ultimate Ears Super.fi 5 pro

In-ears are a matter of “religion”. You love them or hate them. If you love them, you will definitely love the super.fi 5 pro

They have a two-way sound system (yep, TWO speakers in these tiny plugs…) which is normally unheard of until you double the price, and they deliver one of the best sound experiences I ever had. Very balanced and clear (I listen to classical music a lot and hate those headphones that only know BASSSSSSS), no hissing, no nothing. No complaints.

In my opinion they are way better than ANYthing in-ear you can buy at a similar price. I would compare them to the Shure E420 - which cost about 100 bucks more. BTW - even if you could afford it, I would not go for the TripleFi or other more expensive models from Ultimate Ears. You have to be a VERY picky audiophile to notice any difference - the super.fi 5 pro will do perfectly for the rest of us!

The set includes different ear pieces to fit even the most weird elven ear ;-)  and a metallic travel case.

Oh, before I forget it: the sound isolation is incredible. You feel like inside a Samadhi floating tank… ;-)

Check out the details and prices (around  190 bucks) by clicking on the image with your favorite color - they come in black:

or in white: or even clear:

In addition to these 3 models I highly recommend the SleepPhones that I reviewed earlier. Less versatile, but ideal for nightly brainwave entrainment and the most comfortable OBE you ever had… ;-)

So that’s my “arsenal”. How about you? Experiences, alternatives and recommendations welcome! Every ear is different… *lol* - just add your comments below.

Tibetian Singing Bowls have become a comodity in any spiritual or new-agey environment. But are they? Or are they unique tools that can not be duplicated or “produced” lightly and should be treated carefully by initiates rather than “mere musicians”? Guess they are both.

Of course you can get one of those better salad bowls that can “sing” to a certain degree and have fun with it. You can even use it for healing or meditation sessions and most likely it won’t do any harm, but good.

Yet - there is more to it. Some of the original ancient bowls seem to have that certain “extra”. That extra that connects them to the fabric of the universal mind in a more direct and powerful way. And there is a reason why originally this kind of bowls was only “played” by someone who had earned the right to do so.

For that reason I would like to recommend a well weathered recording. If you got the balls for it. Because this is not your wellness-musician with some “Tibetian” relaxation ambient music…

Dr Alain Presencer is a pretty cool guy - and one who had access to the ancient shamanic traditions and the “right” use of the bowls. And he has some of the original, old Tibetian instruments at his disposal.

Listen to this (preferably the whole recording, just as it was meant to be) and judge for yourself.

I have been blown away.

Click the image - it will take you to Amazon and the CD version of this recording. Actually I would recommend getting this on vinyl - the energies appear to be less “filtered” there - but the CD is already stunning enough.

It is a good sample that our tricks of influencing the mind and the universe with brainwave entrainment and other sound effects are not the first ones. They may be more sophisticated and better suited for us “critical” westerners, but they are not more powerful than the ancient ways…

Many of you will know Clickbank. They still are one of the biggest payment processors on the net and spezialized in affiliate products. Their system is old and simple to use and one of THE standards if you want to sell digital products or earn some cash as an affiliate by recommending other folks’ products on your website.

I had some “hoplinks” (as the affiliate links for clickbank products are called) on my sites (many of the products there are crap and heavily overprized, but there are some good ones as well) and made a sale here and there. Nothing much.

The last months I had different things to do, real life, cleared out some obstacles, came clear with a few decisions (like leaving Germany for good and making my eco-village project happen in Paraguay) - so I did not bother much about my websites and sales or clickbank and had left my small commissions sitting in my account there.

They have certain requirements for your first payout, and they only pay by check - so if you are not from the US its a good idea to wait until your commissions sum up a bit so that the banking fees for cashing the check do not eat up all of the check… …or so I thought.

Today I wanted to recommend “Money beyond Belief“ to my readers, a great course by Joe Vitale and Brad Yates, that combines reality creation, EFT and our all greed for money&success into a unique blend… cool program, …and sold via Clickbank.

So I logged into my CB account to set up my affiliate link - and found the account empty. Zero.

After I sifted through their FAQs and the not-so-self-explanatory “codes” for the charges in my account history (five bucks here, one buck there…) I found they have “fees” for “dormant accounts” which heavily ramp up over time. So if your account is inactive for some time, they start stealing your money until it is gone. Without warning or notice.

OK - I lost about 30 bucks, so no big drama - but this way of doing business is something I still do not understand and something I strongly dislike. You prevent someone from withdrawing his money by imposing strange regulations and limiting payment options (hey, checks are from the stoneages…) - and then, after it has earned you (CB, of course) some interest, you just take it away completely.

I found MANY similar reports all over the net - I am not the only one. How many millions has Clickbank made by stealing the commissions of their small and not-so-successful affiliates? Don’t ask.

So - if you are a blogger like me or any other kind of affiliate marketer: have an eye or two on your CB account.

Or even better: do not open one.

STAY AWAY FROM CLICKBANK.

As reported yesterday, the current “theme”/template somehow has the tendency to cause problems with the latest releases of WordPress and some of the plugins that I need for advanced features (like Lenky’s related links, which are obviously gone at the moment, because my site shows up blank as soon as I activate them…)

So the hunt for “the” theme is on again… currently I am looking into the free “Options” theme from Justin Tadlock - very flexible, cool features, but lots of work to customize if you are a bit weak at graphics design (which I am…). I would like to retain something like the slideshow in the upper left, while having a more stable layout (this one tends to break in the lower third) and better compatibility with a wide range of plugins. And more vivid colors, this one looks a bit tooo washed out, worst on low-contrast TFTs…

BUT what am I talking - YOU are the ones who actually have to look at my site in the end.

So speak up - what would you like to see here? What NOT? Do you have a specific design that you like and would love to see here in a modified version?

Have your say. Just post a comment. No promise that I will do as you say, but I will listen… ;-)

P.S.:Promised, we will be back to “regular” posting during the next days. Expect more brainwave-related content in the future… its just that after relaunching a site at a new server and domain you sometimes have to do some tweaking… and it always takes longer than you expect. *lol*

Sorry incase you got a lot of “404″s lately…

Update: done. No, not solved… But at least the links work again. As usual, two of my plugins did cause problems with the latest WP update, so right now the ratings for posts are off, and the external links are not cloaked. Well, probably won’t disturb anyone’s peace except mine… ;-)

Or you try the usual suspects. Like adding a “minus” in between. Thats what I did.

Later on I checked the site without the minus. And actually it is on a related topic. But it is neither me (my name is Martin, not Enoch…), nor do I really endorse the content over there, although it seems to be interesting and valid material.

As a German, a writer (my German is slightly better than my English, *lol*), a brainwaver and a spiritual being I love “playing” with words and their sound, their melody, their meaning, their connotations.

That was the path that led to mind-reality.com - exploring the knots and ties between the two, while at the same time have a slight connotation of “mind the gap, please”, and keep in mind that there actually is something we have agreed to call “reality”. What some brainwavers and some spiritual folks tend to forget…

So thats just to make clear: mindreality.com and mind-reality.com are different people, different sites, different approaches and slightly different believes.

In no way my site was derived from his, and apart from the fact that we and our websites are all more or less colorful threads in the big carpet of the universe, there is no connection. Well, now there is, because I linked them… ;-)

‘kay - that was just to vent the air because someone mailed me and complained because he mistyped the url and ended up here whilst he wanted to go to Enoch’s site… not my fault, buddy.

And somehow it seems that our mind puts more emphasis on things that we really write - opposite to things we type on a computer keyboard.

A lot of studies prove that we remember things better when we actively write them down, and it is very likely that manifestation technics (like writing down your “goals” or timeline events) work much better as well when done in your own handwriting.

This topic came back to me recently when Wendi Friesen made a sidenote on it in one of her free teleseminars. I thought: YES. I almost forgot how to write - I am an extremely “digital” person. So the next step was to purchase an “art pen” (cool thingy with a brush tip - used for Japanese / Chinese type calligraphy usually) and a few cheap notebooks and do some writing - just like in elementary school, *lol*

I have now started to do certain things (personal “development diary”, project brainstorming, goal setting, timeline work) in handwritten, physical notebooks. Other stuff is better organized with software applications like Journler or iGTD. The results are stunning.

This whole thing is really interesting - so I will digg into it. Will take some time, but expect a lenghty semi-scientific article on it including interviews with some very successful “manifesters” and their use of handwriting somewhen during the next week (RSS or newsletter subscribers will know first!)