Meditation Guide

Meditation is proven to be one of the simplest and most effective ways to handle stress, and it's easy enough that anyone can do it and begin enjoying the benefits immediately.  In fact, most people find that regular meditation helps them prevent stress from building up in the first place. If you have ever wanted to start a meditation practice but kept putting it off because you didn't know how to get started, you'll be pleased to know that it's probably easier than you think.

Beth Dielle Ciesco - Shamanic Voicework

Please tell our readers something about your background, interests and lifestyle.

I graduated with a Masters in Education, but I quickly realized that the kinds of things I wanted to teach weren't taught in school and probably never would be! If anyone had asked me what I intended to do, I never would have conceived of 'Shamanic Voicework'. It's really been an unfolding of a mystery. Even while I was "in training", I was often confused by what seemed to be yet another direction or new interest. Eventually, though, it all came together. I'm grateful I trusted the process. So, my work is a combination of my studies in shamanism, sound healing, Tibetan Buddhism, yoga, and energy work.

Karl Marx

Who was Karl Marx?

Marx was born 1818 and died in 1883. He was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist and political theorist and socialist revolutionary.  He wrote The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital. His early life as a journalist set the scene for his writing and speaking engagements and his association with Engels developed his philosophy . He spent time in Germany, Paris, Brussels and London. 

Fritz Perls and Gestalt

Who was Fritz Perls?

Fritz Perls was an innovatory humanistic practitioner whose Gestalt Therapy became very popular during the 1960s. The word 'gestalt' comes from a German word which explains foreground and background images. Perls was a rather controversial figure but his psychotherapy provides fast insight and change. 

The Benefits of Fairtrade

Fairtrade is a commodity registered trade mark which provides a better deal for third world producers. It pays them a fair price for products, gives up front payments and guarantees long term trading partners. It exists to improve the lives of those abroad, it promotes development through education and improved quality, and prevents exploitation and promotes social justice for children, women, etc. Of the products available on the Fairtrade market are foods, clothes, handicrafts, footballs, roses, and cotton wool. Precious metals and gemstones are being considered for this label. Why should people in the rich West not pay a few pence more to ensure those living in the poorest ways get a fair price for their work!

Qabalah

What is Qabalah? 
A Rabbinical mystical Philosophy of ancient origin and handed down by word of mouth, the Qabalah (sometimes spelt Kabbalah or without the 'h' in either spelling) refers to the Creative source by four letters, YHVH, often pronounced as Yehovah, as the name of god was too holy to be spoken. The source is shown as a diagram, a glyph, called the 'tree of life', with ten aspects, from the physical world to the immaterial. These ten aspects, known as sephirot or containers, are, at their highest, altruistic and are required for an ethical life and show the importance of truth, compassion, justice, serenity, wisdom, charity, joy, trust, commitment, and other spiritual values which create a living, thriving tree which provides fruit, materials for building, etc., for the whole of the community. 

Fritz Perls and Gestalt

Friedrich 'Fritz'  Perls (1893-1970) was born in Berlin (Germany) but left there when Hitler came to power. Originally Perls studied under Freud. He was a psychiatrist and an innovatory humanistic practitioner whose 'Gestalt Therapy'  became very popular during the 1960s. The word 'gestalt' comes from a German word for form, an organised whole which differentiates foreground from background images. Only parts of ourselves are known, and gestalt exposes the whole, the integrated parts that bring us from dependency to self sufficiency, from authoritarian behaviour to authenticity and self reliance. Top dog and under dog engage in dialogue! Perls was a rather controversial figure at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur but his psychotherapy model provides fast insight for therapeutic change. “Reality therapy for the walking well”. 

Perls joined the German army and was posted to the trenches in WWI. He worked as a psychiatrist with brain injured soldiers at the end of the war, studying under Wilhelm Reich, Jacob Moreno and Otto Rank and other leading lights of the therapeutic movement. As Hitler became more powerful, he and his wife and family fled abroad. 

Passive Mantra Method

The meditative state is a special state of mind that is quiet, and devoid of active thinking.

In a passive meditation method you repeat your mantra a couple of times and then listen for the echo of your mantra to repeat itself in your head. Here's an example... Imagine you are in a great forest or at the opening of a cave on the edge of a lagoon. Now, call out "HELLO"!! Then be silent and listen. You will hear your call return to you as an echo again and again, each time becoming more faint and dim.

With the passive mantra technique you are focusing your attention on hearing that echo for as long as possible. Your mantra will fade sometimes, get louder sometimes, and maybe even disappear for a bit leaving you in silence.

Moments of silence are the edges of the meditative state arising. As you become aware of moments of silence, relax and let your self slip into that state and remain there for as long as the silence remains.

Helena B Scott - Loftus Author

Enter

Helena

Walk with us as we guide you through Loftus Hall, Ireland’s most haunted house, to discover its untold story; originally unveiled in its 666th anniversary and updated in this second edition.

Loftus Hall, on the wind-swept Hook peninsula is a three-storey nine-bay mansion rebuilt in 1871, which incorporates parts of an older medieval residence built in the time of the black death and the previous late 17th century house of the Loftus family. A fine example of Irish Palladianism, Loftus Hall harbours countless trapped, tortured spirits and is a known site of psychic disturbances. Here, powers of darkness dwell with innocence, amid the hopeless insanity of a young girl who died of a broken heart.

The definitive study on the Loftus Demesne and its past comes to life in a story based on research, facts and paranormal experiences. Evidence and comprehensive historical research are intertwined with popular myth and beautiful images of Irish architecture. This book uncovers all that lay hidden beneath its abandoned walls and has not been forgotten. In silence, the house speaks through these pages and ultimately, tells its true story.

High Blood Pressure Advice

Blood pressure – or Hypertension – should be seen as an indicator, a “risk factor” for other diseases, but not as one in its own right. This very fact means that it should not be simply treated in a blanket and uniform manner, if found to be elevated, but examined in this broader picture.

The main reason for this is that treating it without this assessment means a “symptom” rather than a “disease” is being treated, and, as there are significant side effects to blood pressure medication, this is an important first step. Also you may be living in a fool’s paradise, where treatment lowers the pressure, but not the factors that lead to the increase in pressure and hence to the resulting disease.

But the principle question should be “what is elevating the blood pressure in the first place?” It may be that there is arterial or vascular disease, which usually provides a clear pattern on measurement, often with a wider than usual range between the two levels measured; that is, the systolic, or higher end, and the diastolic, or lower.