Tag: Meditation

Categories
Family

MUSE My New Best Friend

Loving my new My first mediation session with MUSE The Brain Sensing Headband. It is so amazing and really helps me relax. Do you meditate? Does it work for you?
Loving my new My first mediation session with MUSE The Brain Sensing Headband. It is so amazing and really helps me relax. Do you meditate? Does it work for you?

Note: I loved my new Muse the brain sensing headband so much, that I became an affiliate for the product. If you click on the links for MUSE it will take you to the affiliate link.

Loving my new My first mediation session with MUSE The Brain Sensing Headband. It is so amazing and really helps me relax. Do you meditate? Does it work for you? You can clearly see that I look sleepy and very calm here.
Loving my new first mediation session with MUSE The Brain Sensing Headband. It is so amazing and really helps me relax. Do you meditate? Does it work for you? You can clearly see that I look sleepy and very calm here.

For my birthday hubby gave me Muse: the brain sensing headband

He thought I could use it.

There are a few reasons that this is a good present for me.

I hold my stress in my neck, and shoulders and clench my teeth. This then leads to intense headaches and the body being out of whack.

Relaxing is hard when you have kids and very little downtime.

I do try and have some quiet time that allows the brain and body to rest.

The meditations that I did without MUSE were not done as well as they could have been. I got distracted. I was thinking about all the things I had to do, all the things that were half done or yet to happen and of course people I needed to contact. Hard to have your brain power down and to just be still. Be calm and rest for just a moment.

Why did Hubby Purchase MUSE The Brain Sensing Headband?

Well, hubby listens to Pat Flynn from Smart Passive Income and also Ask Pat. He said that Pat raves about his Muse Headband and says that meditation has helped him and his business.

Pat Flynn said the following:

“Meditation has transformed my life. It’s improved my focus and well-being, and it’s altered my productivity during my workday in a radical way.”

Hubby knew I was a stressed-out mummy so thought this might be the way to go.

My darling hubby also knew that I am trying to achieve more with my blog and other business ideas, so the more relaxed I will be the better life will be for all parts of my life. A win-win really.

My first Muse Session. I think I did okay. Some things need to be improved. The main thing is that I felt very relaxed afterwards and not on edge all the time.
My first Muse Session. I think I did okay. Some things need to be improved. The main thing is that I felt very relaxed afterwards and not on edge all the time.

How does MUSE The Brain Sensing Headband Work?

Firstly MUSE is a headband and an app.

You wear the headband and use it in conjunction with the app on your phone or tablet.

One thing to remember is that you need to wear headphones to make it work. I didn’t use these at first and it did not progress to the meditation and kept on calibrating. I thought that since I was alone that headphones would not be needed. However, it all works once you plug in your headphones and then you can relax away.

It is really easy to use. The headband is comfortable and you can adjust it to fit any size of the head. If you do have a lot of hair it is advisable to put it up or have it out of the way so that the sensors on the headband can connect with your skin on your head.

So what do you need to do first?

  1. Download the Choose MUSE app.
  2. Set up an account so that you can log onto MUSE for your mediation history and data.
  3. You will have to charge your headphones before your first use. This comes with a charger that you can plug into the computer to make sure they are all ready to go.
  4. Make sure you have headphones and your headband ready.
  5. Find a quiet spot to give your MUSE headband a go and start the calibrations. Every time you start your mediation with MUSE it makes sure that the headband is on correctly and sets up with colours within a circle. Once all is complete the app will let you know when you are ready to progress to your first meditation session.
  6. If your brain wanders you will hear more stormy weather. If you are very calm and relaxed you will hear birds. The more birds you hear the better you are doing. MUSE rates things in birds. They believe that birds are only attracted to calm and relaxed people. So more birds will visit when you are super calm and in the zone of relaxation. (This is true. If you have ever been to a park and sat quietly and noticed how many birds have come to visit you?)
  7. Make sure after your meditation session you turn off your headband. Turning it off will save how often you need to recharge it.

 

 

How does MUSE make you feel?

For me, using MUSE makes me calmer, more relaxed and allows some stillness in my world. Normally my world is filled with craziness, racing around and just reacting to things. Meditation allows for more mindfulness to really take time to look at things in a calmer and more controlled way.

I like Liza below feel that MUSE is a great tool to help you be more at the moment, and not as crazy as you would be if you did not have that time to relax through meditation with MUSE.

 

Do you feel like me and have a lot going on?

 

Need some downtime? How about some nice calm relaxation time just for you?

Do you already mediate and if so how has it changed your life or outlook on things?

My first mediation session with MUSE The Brain Sensing Headband.
My first mediation session with MUSE The Brain Sensing Headband.

I do have to thank Pat Flynn for sharing on his site and for hubby for purchasing the gift in the first place.

If you would love to try a MUSE The Brain Sensing Headband then you can order online. They deliver worldwide so you can be anywhere and order one. Perfect to help the relaxation start.

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This post has Affiliate Links

Originally published July 6, 2017

Categories
Family

The Hotel Dedicated to Rest

I’m tired.

I’m exhausted.

I know kids, life and work do this. Resting or downtime for me never seems enough. What about you?

I went to bed last night and had the most interesting thoughts.

A hotel dedicated to rest. A hotel dedicated to relaxation and downtime. This hotel would have restful rooms and it would be a quiet space.

This hotel would pamper mums. No kids allowed. Just mums.

This is the hotel that I dreamt about. A nice comfortable white bed, no one to wake me up, no alarms, no kids, nothing to do but just to rest and to relax.
This is the hotel that I dreamt about. A nice comfortable white bed, no one to wake me up, no alarms, no kids, nothing to do but just to rest and to relax.

In my dream the hotel had wall to wall beds. The beds were white, in fact everything was white. It was a quiet space that ensured all guests could sleep and sleep they did.

The sleep was a deep sleep and no one woke anyone. No kids were there. No alarms, no clocks. It was a space that allowed you to just be.

 




The hotel was a place that once you have slept enough you could then explore the facilities. There was a spa, yoga, a gym, swimming pool, healthy chef on call to create some extremely yummy food, great drinks and lounges so that you can sit back and read your favourite book, and last but not least the grounds were so amazing that you could explore and never be near another person – a fabulous place to meditate and be at one with nature.

My trip to this hotel was cut short. I woke up and had to get kids ready for school and the baby off to childcare.

I did not want to get out of bed. I was so comfortable and the bed felt like I was melting into it. It was perfect, but this perfection ended due to having to start the day.

Why can’t I stay in bed and pretend I was back at this hotel that is dedicated to sleep. I need to go back to this place so that I can relax and just be.

It is a real pity that this hotel is not real.

Maybe there are hotels and services out there that can do this, however I’m sure they would cost a lot of money for this experience. My dream was free.

Would you love to travel to this hotel too? I want to go back and I only just visited last night.

Let me know if you have dreamt of something similar?

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Categories
Family

Meditation and Deep Breaths

Kids are now back at school and having a fab time. YES! Thank goodness you hear me say! I think I need another two weeks to be at the same energy and speed I was at before school holidays. Do you find you need some weeks to yourself as your little holiday? I know I do!

Just between you and me, there have been more than a few times that I did deep breathing and relaxation exercises to chill myself out.  Holidays are always full on in my house. Kids want to go at a million miles an hour and never seem to get tired. They wake earlier and carry on till late and then repeat it all again the next day. Exhausting really! Why is it that they can sleep in on school days but not holidays or weekends? If you know let me know!

I did love lazing about at home with no particular thing to do or be at. No school lunches to make and I did not have to race off to pick kids up from anything. This was great, but there was one thing that I missed and dread on school holidays.

It is some quiet time for me!  I do love some time out with no noise, yelling, fighting and carrying on that allows me to just do my thing. I can think, I can just sit with my own thoughts for a while. Being on the go constantly takes its toll. Just having a little time alone is a help. 

Meditating with Body Beyond Birth
Meditating with Body Beyond Birth

So what did I do that helped a bit?

As you know I have participating in the Body Beyond Birth 12 week program. I have struggled with a sore eye and of course then school holidays, but I did manage to do some wonderful meditation videos. These left me feeling much calmer than before I did the mediation and armed to face the rest of my day.

If you have not looked at Body Beyond Birth, why not take a look at their brilliant website and all the great resources there. The program is fun and you can take it with you if you travel.

What allowed you to get through the school holidays calmer? Did you manage to find time for you? Exercise or see a mate that you love to chat to? Let us know.

Let us know your thoughts. Why not continue the discussion on our Facebook and Twitter pages.

 

Categories
Exercise

Mums is Your Neck & Shoulders Aching?

New mummy cuddles. Both mummy and baby are tired. Image courtesy of papaija2008 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
New mummy cuddles. Both mummy and baby are tired. Image courtesy of papaija2008 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

When I had the twins I was so exhausted. Yes I am sure you can imagine. I had over 30 hours of labour that the doctors and nurses thought was not happening and of course it went on forever and ever! I just wanted to go to sleep. This could not happen. I had the first baby and blanked and forgot for a while that I had to do another. Silly really, but this is what happens when you are sleep deprived and physically exhausted and have mentally left the building as well. I am sure I am not the only one that has done this. (Let me know if you did this too, well if you had multiples)

After I had the babies, they of course went straight to intensive care so I tried to catch up on much needed rest in-between doctors/nurses visits and the NICU ringing for breast milk that I had not made yet! OH GOSH THE PRESSURE!

Once our stay in hospital was over and I was finally home with my two precious bundles of joy and I was of course super tired and zapped of energy. Thank god I cooked and froze dinners for three months to help. More on the blog later about that. I will share some of my favourite meals I froze and what made it easy in the first three months home with new born twins.

One thing that was clearly apparent soon after having the twins was that I was constantly bending over and this in turn was making my neck, shoulders and back ache. This was very annoying. I loved being with the babies but since I had to feed them and at times ended up in awkward positions it of course was not good for me.  Has this happened to you?

Not only did I ache, I had to keep on doing the same activity that made me sore! OH how annoying. What can be done you ask?

I went to the gym and found that they did not focus enough on exercises that stretch your body the other way. For example if you are constantly bending and leaning over, why can’t we stretch backwards? Have more movement with stretches that allow you to move the other way rather than constantly putting pressure on the part that hurts or is causing an issue.

Here are some great exercises to help the back, neck and shoulders (Note, this is just what works for me and I am not a fitness expert):

    • This is one of my favourite exercises. It makes my shoulders feel so much better. Image courtesy of stockimages at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
      This is one of my favourite exercises. It makes my shoulders feel so much better. Image courtesy of stockimages at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

      Backstroke. Swimming backstroke stretches and flexes the muscles that you are not using that much and it feels great as your body is having the other side exercised. This I find helps me feel more balanced and helps my neck and shoulders.

    • Yoga. Stretching and relaxing with yoga no matter your skill level I find very beneficial. You can either go to a class or have a DVD at home so that you can do it at a time that is easy for you to add to your routine. If your kids are older maybe get them to join in. If your child is still a baby sneak in a relaxation session while they are sleeping if you can.
      The cat pose, the tree and the spinal twist ones are my favourite. Not sure if I have listed them correctly but hopefully you know what I mean. I also like the mediation relaxation on the floor at the end. It helps centre you and makes me more relaxed.
    • Stretch your arms. I like to put my arm on a door or wall. Then I lean the other way so this gives you the stretch on the other side of your body. I do this to both sides and then it makes all joints and arms feel much more relaxed.
    • Meditation. I find a small window to meditate with nothing going on. I know this is hard if you have a house full of kids and activity. I do find that the times the kids are at school I take a part of my day to just sit still and do nothing. I like listening to the stillness, the quiet and just love it. No one yelling, “Mummy!, can you come here!” Sometimes it just takes those moments to make my shoulders and neck relax and it makes the difference to a calmer and more peaceful day.
    • Walking. I know it is not exactly exercising the back, neck and shoulders, but it is low impact and it gives the body movement and takes you to a different environment where you can breathe in the fresh air and relax. Don’t under estimate a good walk around the block or say around the park.
    • Aqua Aerobics. I love this form of exercise. Not only is it good for your joints being low impact, you are doing more as you have to use the water as an added weight that helps you tone up and get fit. You can push yourself as hard as you like or take it easy depending on your fitness level.

I like most mums don’t take enough time for themselves and I should. It is hard to fit it all in and I hope that some of these tips might help you. It will soon be daylight savings and I cannot wait. More daylight, in warmer weather to be outdoors.

NOTE: I am not an expert in exercise. Check with your doctor if these are right for you.

Here are some links that might help you:

Do you find that exercise programs don’t have stretches to help with the fact that we are bending and leaning over more? I do! I feel that we need to focus more on posture, relaxation and stretching. If we did more of this we might not be having such ailments like headaches due to neck pain and so on. I suffer most from headaches due to tension in my neck.

Let us know what you do to relax and make the aches go away. I must say a massage and a weekend away does wonders also, however does not happen often.