Meditation Techniques for Concentration

Meditation is mainly done for the purpose of relaxation of mind and for gaining good concentration as well. Your level of concentration is sure to be improved if meditation is done on a regular basis.

In the beginning you may feel distracted. But it is very necessary that you have a good focus so that you improve. There are many meditation techniques for concentration that can be implemented.

Focusing on a particular object is very essential to develop concentration. This has to be done for a certain time. Depending on this the techniques for concentration can be mainly divided into 3 types. They are Zazen, which is mainly breathing concentration, Vipassana, which is also known as concentrate to sensations and Tratak, which is also known as concentrate to candle flame.

Zazen

This is a very renowned Buddhist practice of developing concentration and an effective meditation technique.

This technique of meditation is known to be the best for beginners. This helps in focusing on breathing while you count.

The seating posture for this purpose should be such that your spine is erect when you do this form of meditation.

Vipassana

This technique of meditation is also the best for beginners. The physical sensations of body are focus when you do this.

It is known to have enlightened many people when compared to any other technique of meditation. It helps in keeping your mind very cool and you can also control your mind in a very easily.

Tratak

This is known to be a wonderful technique of meditation that helps in providing you with the desired results. It helps you to keeping your mind focused and also greatly assists in enhancing memory as well.

In this technique, candle flame is focused and concentrated. It helps you to come out of distractive thoughts. 

Read more

What Happens to the Brain When You Meditate (And How it Benefits You)

What is Meditation?

There are different ways to meditate, and since it’s such a personal practice there are probably more than any of us know about. There are a couple that are usually focused on heavily in scientific research, though. These are focused-attention, or mindful meditation, which is where you focus on one specific thing—it could be your breathing, a sensation in your body or a particular object outside of you. The point of this type of meditation is to focus strongly on one point and continually bring your attention back to that focal point when it wanders.

The other type of meditation that’s often used in research is open-monitoring meditation. This is where you pay attention to all of the things happening around you—you simply notice everything without reacting.

What Happens in Your Brain When You Meditate

This is where things get really interesting. Using modern technology like fMRI scans, scientists have developed a more thorough understanding of what’s taking place in our brains when we meditate. The overall difference is that our brains stop processing information as actively as they normally would. We start to show a decrease in beta waves, which indicate that our brains are processing information, even after a single 20-minute meditation session if we’ve never tried it before.

In the image below you can see how the beta waves (shown in bright colors on the left) are dramatically reduced during meditation (on the right).

Below is the best explanation I found of what happens in each part of the brain during meditation:

Frontal lobe

This is the most highly evolved part of the brain, responsible for reasoning, planning, emotions and self-conscious awareness. During meditation, the frontal cortex tends to go offline.

Parietal lobe

This part of the brain processes sensory information about the surrounding world, orienting you in time and space. During meditation, activity in the parietal lobe slows down.

Read More

Best Golf Tips and Tricks

Many experienced and dedicated golfers soon find themselves hitting a plateau – that magic and elusive number – 80.  Have you gotten there?  Wondered how you can break 80?

If you ask a dozen experts, you’ll probably get a dozen different opinions on what you need to do to break 80.  Here is one solution for how you can break 80.

You’ll make a variety of shots during a typical round of golf.  Whether it’s driving, hitting off the fairway, chipping or putting, any one of these areas could make or break your game.  To learn how you can break 80, you must perfect your tee shots.  For our purposes, we’ll discuss shots off the tee area with any club – from your driver to your pitching wedge.

A lot of golfers never reach or break 80 because they lose too many strokes off the tee.

Just one wild shot from the tee can ruin your overall score.  If you hit a hard slice or hook into the woods, you’ll likely only be able to bogey that hole.  To break 80, you must become consistent and proficient from the tee.

To master your tee shot, you should concentrate on getting controlled distance.  That’s what will get you in position for a possible eagle on longer holes and birdies on the others.  Do that consistently and you’ll be playing in the mid- to high-70s.

Here are some tips to help you maximize your tee shots:

First of all, spend some quality time practicing from the tee.  Try different things to see what works for you.  And keep in mind, that with this practice, you may end up with a variety of new tee shots you can use in different situations.

Test out various tee heights. 

Golf Driver Swing: How to Stop Slicing

To have the ability to drive the golf ball straight using your driver from the tee box is really important, simply because it will set the tone for the whole hole you're on. A perfect golf driver swing may improve your probability to score a "Birdie" or perhaps may also find yourself in a large mess if you slice the ball into the rough or perhaps out of bounds. Slicing the ball is primarily a problem with all levels of golfers, ranging from an amateur to a pro. Slicing depends upon the particular kinematics of the shot. The rotational movement of the ball imparts a force making the ball to curve to left or right in midair creating slicing.

Though it is among the major issues that lots of golfers have, it can be resolved through continual practice in addition to perfected techniques. Below are a few tips which can be employed to avoid slicing while you take the all-important golf driver swing.

1. Griping The Golf club

Grip the golf club by positioning the left thumb in line with the shaft of the golf club, and curl the other fingers around the shaft making sure that they are aiming toward your right eye. Grip the club firmly and when you have the club in position, the first three knuckles of your left hand ought to be visible. Your forefinger and thumb should really create a 'V' formation that's acute enough so the forefinger points to the right shoulder. This type of golf grip is known as a strong golf grip, and it's extremely important to have a strong grip instead of a weak or a neutral golf grip to prevent slicing the ball.

2. The Angle Of The Backswing And Downswing

10 Power Tips for Women

Looking to gain a few yards off the tee? Consider these helpful tips.

Swing around your body

 

When you're taking your practice swings on the tee, swing the clubhead several inches off the ground. This encourages you to swing more around your body (rather than up and down), which will help increase your clubhead speed and add distance. And when you're at the range, spend more time with your driver and woods than the rest of the long clubs in your bag. You'll be hitting these clubs more frequently than your 5- or 6-iron, so give them a good workout.

Give yourself room to rip it

Set up with a wide stance, ball forward, weight on your right side and a tilt in your shoulders (your head should be to the right of your pants zipper). Then hold the driver far enough away from your body to allow for a big, powerful swing. My rule is that the butt end of the club should be at an open-hand's distance from your body.

Resist with the hips

A major source of power is the winding of the upper body against the resistance of the lower body. The more you turn your shoulders relative to your hips, the more momentum you create for the downswing. The hips unwind naturally and the shoulders follow, generating power through the hitting area, like a slingshot. To help feel the separation between your upper and lower body, turn your right toe in at address about 20 degrees, and swing. This will prevent your right hip from turning too much on the backswing.

Swing through, not to, the ball

Most slow-swinging amateurs slap at the ball or try to scoop it up into the air, which causes the clubhead to slow down through impact. There's no gradual buildup of speed, which is a defining trait of good tempo. To learn how to accelerate the club through impact to a full, balanced finish, practice swinging with your headcover on your driver. The additional resistance on the clubhead will force you to drive it through impact into a full finish, and will teach you how to use tempo to generate more speed and power.

Shift your weight

From Arggh! To Ahhh! – 5 Steps To Successful Meditation

Does meditation feel like a kind of torture to you? Is the act of sitting still to ‘silence’ your thoughts worse than getting a root canal? If you’re answer is ‘yes!’ then I want to assure you right now: you’re not the only one. Lots of folks give up meditation before they’ve even really begun for one of 2 reasons: 1). They’re aiming for the wrong goal; and 2). they’re expectations of ultra-bliss are, let’s say, a tad too high. If you want successful meditation – a practice that stills the mind (not to a dead & continual silence, but to a calm and steadfast place) and soothes the soul, then have a look at these 5 steps.

The 5 Steps to Successful Meditation

Step One – Commitment & Frustration

Commitment and frustration are the 2 words to keep in mind when you first begin your meditation practice. Why? Because you’re more than likely going to experience a whole lotta mental distraction, which feels totally frustrating. This is where plenty of peeps give up even trying to meditate. The antidote is to make the commitment to sitting there anyway. Also, give up on the idea that you’re going to clear your mind of thought, because it ain’t gonna happen – not yet, anyway. But, when you make a commitment to sitting anyway, you open a door to, as Eckhart Tolle describes, ‘spaciousness’ of the mind.

Step Two – Become the Watcher

After you’ve spent a few days or weeks dealing with the ‘monkey mind,’ you start to simply watch that neurotic, internal chimp. This watching is a very different thing than the getting ‘hooked’ which happens during step one. When you begin to actually watch your thoughts, you become more ‘neutral’ about them – and about your life! You start to experience a greater sense of equanimity and peace within. Will you still get ‘hooked’ from time to time? Sure – and sometimes more than others. But the more you sit, the less frequent or intense these bouts become.

Step Three – Spaciousness Begins