THE MEDITATION WAVE – making meditation easy for busy, no-nonsense people
10/04/2012

http://www.stressfreecoaching.co.uk/

The Meditation Wave will improve productivity, alertness and emotional and physical fitness levels as a result of practicing a One Minute Meditation, 5 times a day for 28 days.

That is the prediction of Dr Mariette Jansen, who initiated The Meditation Wave, as a research project to demonstrate the benefits of just 10 minutes meditation practice a day.

‘Meditation is a life skill that everyone should apply. There is nothing weird about it. It is something we all do from time to time, but we are not always aware of it”, says Mariette. “I want meditation to be seen as a normal part of daily routines.”

One definition of meditation is that it is ‘a holistic discipline by which the practitioner attempts to get beyond the reflexive, "thinking" mind into a deeper state of relaxation or awareness’. Key is that it is a technique to calm the mind. Meditation can take many forms and it doesn’t need to be complicated. Focus and concentration, for even just one minute, will help to create a restful state of the mind.

In order to make The Meditation Wave as accessible as possible, it has been designed to be quick and easy to do with no barriers.

No barriers, because:

There are no cost involved: all materials are offered for free, in return for completing two short questionnaires (that will take no more than 10 minutes each)

There is no time commitment. The maximum time involved is 10 minutes a day, broken down into 5 chunks of approximately 2 minutes each, easily integrated in a busy lifestyle, and which can be done, say before driving away, or even while waiting for the kettle to boil.

Can be done anywhere and everywhere.

How to join The Meditation Wave and learn to meditate for free?

The Wave is aimed at and can be joined by both experienced meditators and non-meditators alike. If you would like to join, just send an email to mariette.meditation@hotmail.co.uk. You will receive a short questionnaire to complete (which takes no longer than 10 minutes), and then receive tapes, instructions and a daily email to support you.

Mariette says, “The Wave refers to the way brainwave frequencies alter, when someone meditates. But also, I can just see the concept of the One Minute Meditation sweeping across the UK, like a wave, and hopefully even rippling out over to the continent.”, says Mariette.

Mariette Jansen Coaching and Meditation

Dr Mariette Jansen is an active meditator for the last 20 years. She has been teaching meditation and has been using the concept of relaxing and focussing with her clients in her private practice as a counsellor and coach. The benefits she has seen with her clients match her own experience. She says, “You are feeling calmer, more in control, life and life requirements are easier to deal with, energy levels are higher up and the overall sense of happiness increases. Dr Mariette Jansen wants to validate these values with more solid data. Hence, this research project.

“Meditation is a life skill and I believe that the world would be a better place if every individual was practicing. The calmness from within helps us all to feel less angry, aggressive and competitive. Who wouldn’t want to feel more at peace?”, says Mariette.

She designed a concept of meditation ‘Meditation with a Western flavour’ that is based on traditional meditation, but adapted to the life style and values of the western world.

What happens when you start The Meditation Wave?

Below is some feedback of people who joined the Wave. When you join, you get all the tools you need to start practicing your 1 minute meditation and a daily email message that offers you a positive stroke, like a reminder, a new tool, or food for thought.

What did they experience when they started to do their short meditation practices………

“Your note about smiling really has a big impact on me. I am changing my behaviour and absolutely love the effect it has on me and the people I meet. Thank you!”

“I find your daily prompts really inspiring!”

“Although it’s early days, I’m finding the Meditation Wave really rewarding.  It’s so useful just to be able to step out of myself for a few minutes and take a break from the world.  I find it hard to blank everything out but I think I’m getting better at it.  I’m certainly going to keep going.  Stress is a big problem for me and although it hasn’t been easy to get into the habit of meditating, I think it’s beginning to help me.  To begin with, I felt very self conscious doing it (even when I was on my own!) but I have got over that now and enjoy the opportunity to take a few moments for myself.”

“I did the one minute meditation on Friday, felt really good, but no more. Than on Saturday, I started my morning with the meditation and I can’t believe I did it, but 2 major jobs that I had been putting off for months, were done by midday. How weird and how fantastic was that? Something had happened inside me, and I can only relate it to my new activity: the one minute meditation!”

An email testimonial message one morning:

''Dear Mariette, I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate these precious little reminders and nuggets of thoughts, so wonderful ; ) I love and enjoy my 1 minute meditations, such wonderful opportunities to be just be and enjoy the moment – sometimes in the car while I am waiting for someone, sometimes in the bath, it can happen at any places!Many thanks to you''

“In the middle of week one I had a very important interview and was extremely tense for it. I did the meditation in the car, before I entered the building and felt really calm and focussed.”

“It’s hard to believe it has been two weeks now since I started the meditations. Mind you I missed 3 days when we were away on holiday. I managed to do some solo but I found it more difficult to find the time and I prefer listening to your downloads at the moment. I am sure I will get better and will be able to take the meditations in my head.....

I haven't worked out my best times of day yet but I think that is as a result of being out of routine in the school holidays. I will make that my priority now and I will make sure that my routine works during term time and the holidays!

I have thought about my breathing more and I am definitely smiling at people more. Actually it is more that I am trying to make more eye contact. I am quite a smiley person but I realise that I dont' always really make eye contact. I focus on that when I am interacting with people. I have noticed that other people aren't so good at it too. But, it does feel better when I make eye contact when I am interacting with people I don't know. Also noticed after just over a week that I seem to be sleeping better, but that may just be coincidence. I will continue to monitor that.”

Another testimonial and the experience of one of the people, doing The Wave and giving me feedback:

''This has been an interesting - and challenging little journey for me to date.

Whilst I have meditated very erratically for a long time, and always found it so beneficial,  I thought this project was exactly what I needed to get me going to develop a healthy habit - making meditation a regular part of my life.

Initially I felt quite guilty about not remembering to do the meditations during the day, so was relieved to receive the email about there being no right or wrong, and to go with the flow.

The daily email prompts have been invaluable as a prompt to meditate - every time I turned the computer on, to see a little pearl of wisdom, food for thought to ponder over before and after meditating.

The challenge for me has been remembering to meditate.   It probably doesn't help that I don't have a regular 9-5 job, or in fact any particular routine in my life on any particular day.  I can now say however, that I meditate regularly at night time before sleep, whenever I turn on my computer during the day and during the night - if I wake up with busy, worrying thoughts.  First thing in the morning meditations are also becoming increasingly frequent... the habit is gradually forming and I have been meditating at irregular times, when 'the wave' comes to mind.

So, just about 21 days in, I finally feel as though meditation is becoming a habit :-)  I can't yet swear to meditating regularly 5 times a day, but a pattern is definitely emerging and my frequency is definitely increasing.

I know that it is a fact that when for example, you decide to buy a house, you start noticing all the 'for sale' boards you pass, which you wouldn't normally register or  if you need a new Toyota car, you suddenly start noticing all the other Toyota's you see on the road. That want/need/desire for something brings an awareness, it brings it to the forefront of your brain, and this is what is happening with meditation and me!  Having decided to start meditation, different triggers are generating the reminder to meditate, it is now in the forefront of my brain, and the positive benefits of meditating reinforce the desire to do more!

Regarding the meditations themselves, . If I am honest, I struggled sometimes with the looking at dots part of the meditation - but loved relaxing different parts of my body - especially my face - and jaw, where I sometimes hold tension; and  the counting to slow my breath.  I also found the breathing through one nostril exercise very beneficial.  I think getting 'into the zone' of a meditative state has definitely become easier and quicker to achieve with all this practice, and whilst I generally prefer the 5 minute meditation, I know that I can also achieve beneficial results now after just one minute.

Oh and one more thing.... notice I wrote 'meditating in the night 'if' not 'when' I wake up....I seem to have broken the the habit (thank goodness) of waking up in the middle of every night!  Perhaps this is because of the night time meditation????''

Dr Mariette Jansen runs meditation workshops in Weybridge and Surrey and has integrated relaxation and meditation techniques in her work as a teacher of counselling students and with individual clients, who work with her to learn to manage their stress and de-stress.

She has developed the concept of ‘Meditation with a Western flavour’, which is based on the conventional meditation practices, but adapted to a lifestyle in the West.

She publishes regularly on her blog (http://www.stressfreecoaching.co.uk ) about meditation, stress management techniques and models of stress free living.

For more information and to join The Meditation Wave, please contact:

Mariette Jansen Coaching and Meditation

Dr Mariette Jansen 07967 717 131

Email: mariette.jansen.coaching@gmail.com

To join ‘The Meditation Wave’ email: mariette.meditation@hotmail.co.uk

Blogsite: http://www.stressfreecoaching.co.uk

http://www.stressfreecoaching.co.uk

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