Here’s the teaser…

(CNN) — The gloomy days of January can be the most miserable and stressful of the year, but it doesn’t have to be this way. If you follow this ten step guide to destressing your life, then the next few weeks just might become the most serene and fulfilling ones of the year.

One step should be carried out on each of the next 10 days. They’re based on the ideas found in the international best-seller “Mindfulness: An Eight Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World.”

The book uses a program based on mindfulness meditation developed by us at Oxford University in the United Kingdom to relieve anxiety, stress, exhaustion and depression. Mindfulness has proved in some clinical trials to be at least as effective as drugs or counseling for dealing with these conditions.

So what is this mindfulness?

It is quite simply paying full, whole-hearted attention. A typical meditation involves paying full attention to the breath as it flows in and out of the body. Focusing on each breath in this way allows you to observe your thoughts as they arise in your mind and, little by little, to let go of struggling with them. You come to the profound understanding that thoughts and feelings (including negative ones) are transient. They come and they go, and ultimately, you have a choice about whether to act on them.

Mindfulness is about observation without criticism and being compassionate with yourself. When unhappiness or stress hovers overhead, rather than taking it all personally, you learn to treat it as if it was a black cloud in the sky, and to observe it with friendly curiosity as it drifts past.

Scientific studies have shown that mindfulness not only prevents depression, but it also positively affects the brain patterns underlying day-to-day anxiety, stress, depression and irritability. When these negative thoughts arise, they dissolve away again more easily. Other studies have shown that people who regularly meditate see their doctors less often and spend fewer days in hospital. Memory improves, creativity increases and reaction times become faster.

Here are 10 ways to decrease stress and increase mindful meditation in your life:

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Mind precedes all phenomena,
mind matters most, everything is mind-made.
If with a pure mind
one performs any action of speech or body,
then happiness will follow that person
as a shadow that never departs.

Dhammapada 1.2

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- Negative ions : a life giving energy; How negative ions therapy can help you ; If 600 to 1,000 volts of negative potential is applied to an insulated body, more calcium and sodiums minerals in the circulating blood get ionized, thus changing an acidified body to an alkaline body. The function of negative ions is to purify blodd, reviving cells, improve immune system, controlling automatic nervous system, vitalization of cell metabolism, the paralysis symptom is eased, relief of pain.

When you’re under pressure from work and family and the emails don’t stop coming, it’s hard to stop your mind from jumping all over the place.

But scientists are finding that it may be worth it to train your brain to focus on something as simple as your breath, which is part of mindfulness meditation.

A new study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is the latest in a hot emerging field of research examining how meditation relates to the brain. It shows that people who are experienced meditators show less activity in the brain’s default mode network, when the brain is not engaged in focused thought.

The default mode network is associated with introspection and mind wandering. Typically, drifting thoughts tend to focus on negative subjects, creating more stress and anxiety. It has also been linked to attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and Alzheimer’s disease.

Researchers looked at experienced meditators and trained novices. There were 12 in the “experienced” category, with an average of more than 10,000 hours of mindfulness meditation experience (Malcolm Gladwell’s “Outliers” suggests that it takes 10,000 hours to be an expert at something), and 12 healthy volunteers who were novices in meditation.

Each volunteer was instructed to engage in three types of meditation: concentration (attention to the breath), love-kindness (wishing beings well) and choiceless awareness (focus on whatever comes up). Scientists looked at their brain activity during these meditations with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

Across all of these types of meditation, the experienced meditators showed less activity in the default mode network than in the novices. The experienced participants also reported less mind wandering than the novices. Interestingly, experienced meditators also showed increased connectivity between certain brain networks during meditation and non-meditation.

“It doesn’t matter what they’re doing, they have an altered default mode network,” said Dr. Judson Brewer, medical director of the Yale University Therapeutic Neuroscience Clinic and lead author of the study. “We were pretty excited about that, because it suggests that these guys are paying attention a lot more.”

From this particular study, researchers can’t say whether meditating is beneficial to the brain. But, viewed in conjunction with other studies showing the positive effects of mindfulness training for depression, substance abuse, anxiety and pain disorders, it seems to have promise. Also, a 2010 study found that people tend to be more unhappy when they their mind is wandering.

“Putting all those together, we might be able to start get at what the mechanisms of mindfulness are,” Brewer said.

But the study does not address the issue of cause: Is meditation changing the brain, or do people who already have these brain patterns get interested in meditation?

“Emerging data from our group and others suggests that some things thought to be result of meditation might be cause of meditation,” said Dr. Charles Raison, associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Arizona College of Medicine.

If some people are just better at keeping their minds from wandering, that would also be consistent with the Buddhist idea that your capabilities are the result of your Karmic path, so meditation may be better suited to some people than others, Raison said.

Someday, if brain scans become cheap enough, one day there might be a test to see who can benefit most from mindfulness training, Raison said.

In the meantime, scientists should explore these open questions by doing longitudinal studies, Raison said. That would involve assigning some people to meditate and some people to not meditate, and following the groups over time to see whether a change in brain activity patterns is visible.

Post by: Elizabeth Landau – CNN.com Health Writer/Producer
Filed under: Brain • Meditation • Psychology

–
Mind precedes all phenomena,
mind matters most, everything is mind-made.
If with an impure mind
one performs any action of speech or body,
then suffering will follow that person.

Mind precedes all phenomena,
mind matters most, everything is mind-made.
If with a pure mind
one performs any action of speech or body,
then happiness will follow that person
as a shadow that never departs.

Dhammapada 1.2

The Town of Vail Transit Department provides free year-round bus service throughout Vail. In fact, the town’s bus service is considered to be the largest free transportation system in the country offering its residents and guests timely service to and from Vail Mountain and throughout town.

Vail also provides real-time arrival information to passengers within the Vail Village, LionsHead and Golden Peak corridor. The real-time information is provided by NextBus Information Systems, which uses Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) technology to track buses while en route and then transmits the information to the Internet and digital bus signs. Vail is one of the only ski towns in North America to offer its passengers this technology.

Additionally, regional bus service with modest fares is provided daily by ECO Transit with service to Vail, Leadville, Minturn, Eagle-Vail, Avon, Edwards, Eagle and Gypsum.

Fireplace

Welcome

This is the perfect romantic getaway or simply if you are looking for a quiet and serene place to enjoy your vacation. Le refuge is surrounded by beautiful trees, and sits by the Gore Creek. There is off street parking available.(parking in town cost $25/day). We are located 4mns walk from the free bus stop. It takes less than 10mns to get to Lionshead gondola and the Cascade lift. The bus comes every 15 minutes.

This is a lock off apartment in a private chalet.

Open Floor Plan

Queen Size Bed

You have your own entrance with about 900 square feet of space. The bedrooms have one queen size and one king size bed with tempurpedic mattresses. There is a dining room,one bathroon , a wood burning stove in the cozy living room, a big screen TV, wireless internet access, and a modern fully appointed kitchen with granite counter tops. Our unique retreat offers a lovely and cosy experience, it is very clean. You will feel home away from home.

Vail  Colorado Best Kept Secret Private Retreat

Two Bedrooms

Should you want to turn your vacation into a healthy retreat, we offer onsite services such as massage therapy, meditation, and private yoga lesson, as well as organically cooked nutritional meals and cooking lessons upon request and availability.

However you choose to create your vacation, we have created an environment that will cater to your wellbeing and joie de vivre.

Vail, Colorado – Vacation Rental

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