+
A PERSONAL MESSAGE FROM UPWORTHY
We are a small, independent media company on a mission to share the best of humanity with the world.
If you think the work we do matters, pre-ordering a copy of our first book would make a huge difference in helping us succeed.
GOOD PEOPLE Book
upworthy

meditation

Health

Here’s a military trick that can help you fall asleep in 2 minutes

It was created to help fighter pilots.

via DVIDShub / Flickr

No better time to grab a little shut eye.

For those in the military, sleep can mean the difference between life and death. But shut-eye can be very hard to come by, especially during active conflict.

According to Sharon Ackman, the U.S. Navy Pre-Flight School developed a scientific method to help its pilots fall asleep. Through this technique, 96% of the pilots were able to fall asleep in two minutes or less.

If pilots could fall asleep during war, you should be able to use it to knock out in the comfort of your bedroom.

Here's how to do it:

Step 1: Relax in your seat

health, military sleep, meditation

Sleeping in difficult environments.

via DVIDShub / Flickr

Given the space restraints of a typical plane, the pilots were taught to sleep in a seated position. They put their feet flat on the ground, while relaxing their hands in their laps.

Breathe slow, deep breaths while relaxing every muscle in your face and letting your forehead, cheeks, mouth, tongue, and jaw go limp.

Step 2: Relax your upper body

Let your shoulders drop as low as you can. Allow the muscles in your neck go lifeless.

Starting with your dominant side, let your bicep feel like it's falling off your body. Then move to your forearm, hand, and fingers. If a muscle isn't relaxing, tense it first, then let it go loose.

Slowly exhale your tension.


Step 3: Relax your lower body

Tell your right thigh muscle to sink, then move down your leg, saying the same thing to your calf, ankle, and foot. Your leg should feel like it has sunk into the ground. Then move on to your left leg.

The final step is to clear your mind for ten seconds. You can do this by paying attention to your breath as it moves through your nostrils or holding a static image in your mind.

Once your body is relaxed and your mind quiet, you should slip away into darkness.

For more information on this sleep technique, check out Ackman's Medium blog.


This article originally appeared on 04.11.19

From Your Site Articles
sleep trick
Pop Culture

Kelly Ripa tries to calm herself with meditation and fails hilariously

Soothing? Not so much. Relatable? Very.

Canva

This is so not a comfortable seating position for everyone.

We’re all very, very aware that meditation is good for us. We know it’s proven to reduce anxiety, improve focus, help us reclaim a sense of gratitude, purpose, clarity, well-being, yadda yadda yadda…

But, just like eating vegetables or working out or creating a budget plan or literally anything else that’s good for us, some folks don’t enjoy the act of meditation. Maybe it’s having to sit still for that long, or having to listen to one of those affected “spiritual” voices (which are almost always Australian—why?), or because it feels a tad too woo-woo or because it never feels like you’re doing it correctly. The list goes on and on.

If you fall into this category, then you may find talk show host Kelly Ripa’s not-so-Zen take on meditation super relatable—not to mention laugh-out-loud funny.

In a video posted to her Instagram, we see Ripa, unable to stop giggling, sitting beside friends Jan Schillay Wiener and Albert Bianchini as Bianchini attempts to start an audio-guided meditation. (Key word: attempts.)

The ethereal meditation voice barely gets out, “Find a quiet place to sit down,” before Ripa, already lying down, declares, “Already, I hate it!” and asks if there’s a voice with a British accent.

“Or Australian!” quips Wiener. (See? Everyone expects an Australian accent. Why??)

Another clip appears—presumably Take #2—showing Bianchini, eyes closed in proper meditation pose, silent, while Ripa and Wiener fall into a fit of uncontrollable laughter.

“Be quiet!” Bianchini shouts. But it is futile. The rest of the video shows poor Bianchini trying his damnedest to reach serenity as Ripa and Wiener’s antics ensue. Doing exercises, throwing on Star Wars helmets, just general buffoonery.

“Good job, Albert, that was fantastic,” Ripa says sarcastically as the failed mediation comes to a close.

“The two of you, bunch of f–ing a–holes,” says Bianchini. Though he is also laughing, so we can assume this is all in good fun.

Ripa is certainly not alone in her attitude toward mediation. Folks who watched the clip couldn’t help but commiserate.

“This is EXACTLY how I do meditation 😅 I keep trying!” one person commented.

Another added, “These are my ppl 😂👏👏 #cantdoit.”

Others were just applauding Bianchini for his relentless patience (perhaps from all the mediation?).

As one person put it: “LMAO I can't stop laughing and yes we need Albert in our lives ❤️.”

Even if you do find yourself feeling more like Ripa when it comes to meditation, the good news is there are plenty of mindfulness approaches that can increase your well-being without feeling like a horrendous kindergarten quiet time session. There are movement-based meditations, like ecstatic dance, walking, yoga, tai chi…heck, even working out can be considered meditation by slowing down and infusing each exercise with awareness.

In fact, according to Psychology Today, applying slowness can make even the most mundane everyday task into a meditative ritual. Slowly stepping into the shower, consciously picking your socks for the day, taking your time to sip that morning coffee, etc.

Creativity is another approach. Whether it’s carving out the time to journal, collage, write poems, organize the fridge magnets or just perform a living room karaoke solo, simply making art in one way or another can be immensely therapeutic.

The point being: The opportunity to gain the benefits of meditation are fully available to us in a variety of ways. There is no one-size-fits-all approach. As we see hilariously demonstrated in the above scenario, one person’s idea of meditation is another person’s idea of torture. But truly, whatever gets us to a peaceful place without harming others is a completely acceptable strategy.

From Your Site Articles
humor
Health

Zen master Shōhaku Okumura explains why meditation is 'good for nothing'

An entirely different way of thinking about meditation.

Photo by Ian Stauffer on Unsplash

There is no cliff.

Most of us are at least somewhat aware of the vast benefits of meditation. It’s now fairly common knowledge that meditation can reduce stress and anxiety, improve focus and sleep quality, and even increase imagination. And with dozens of guided meditations accessible online, it’s easier than ever to incorporate the practice into our daily routine.

With such potential for creating positive transformation in our lives, we might find ourselves placing lofty goals on what exactly our meditation should provide: whether that's some sort of enlightenment or to simply come out of it feeling better. This belief that meditation should give us something profound could even feel intimidating, keeping someone from trying at all.

Take it from a Buddhist monk himself—perhaps the very best thing that meditation is good for is … nothing.

In a video provided by Intellectual Wave, Zen master Shōhaku Okumura discusses the concept of Zazen, which refers to a sitting meditation in Buddhist tradition. To practice Zazen is to sit without paying any attention or expectation to gain anything. That’s it. No more, no less. No visualizing, no listening to the wind, nada.

Okumura’s teachers called this type of meditation “good for nothing.”

Zazen is often easier said than done. Okumura concedes that when everybody practices meditation, including himself, there is at least some expectation, whether that’s to solve a problem or answer a question. Even something as pure as seeking enlightenment still contains “desire,” Okumura explains.

Buddhists even have a word for this sort of philosophical paradox called koan, which Okumura describes in the video as “conflict.” But he argues that once a person can sit without seeking, they can experience “total function,” where they can experience themselves as an integrated part of the universe, rather than a separate observer of it.

In our modern-day, results-oriented world, the concept of simply doing nothing might seem unproductive. Unattainable, even. But as counterintuitive as it sounds, making things meaningless might make our lives more meaningful. Okumura shared his own experience, saying, “One day I found myself sitting alone…not as a priest…in a kind of social occupation. I sat by myself and I found deep peace…I became free of my desire to be a good Buddhist. For the first time I found the real meaning of Zazen.”

I think it’s safe to say that humans will never evolve past the need for serenity. The world could definitely use a little more peace these days. Good ol’ good for nothing Zazen sounds like a lovely way to get there.

You can watch the full video below:

From Your Site Articles
meditation
Wellness

Yoga has been banned in Alabama public schools since 1993. How is this real?

Image by Paulo Sérgio de Oliveira Rosa from Pixabay

The health benefits of yoga are understood so far and wide in modern society that the exercise is utilized by everyone from suburban soccer moms to professional football players. We also have a wealth of research about the emotional and mental benefits of meditation—so much, in fact, that some schools have successfully implemented meditation as a way to improve student behavior.

But apparently, in Alabama, some folks are afraid that letting kids do yoga or meditation in school might lead them to do something terrifying...like becoming a Hindu, or being attracted to Hinduism, or looking into Hinduism, or something.

Since 1993, Alabama has banned yoga and guided meditation from public schools, as it got wrapped up in a blanket ban on "the use of hypnosis and dissociative mental states."

"School personnel shall be prohibited from using any techniques that involve the induction of hypnotic states, guided imagery, meditation or yoga," the State Board of Education's regulations state.

A new bill has been introduced—and passed in the Alabama House of Representatives in a 73-25 vote—that would allow schools to authorize yoga. However, for the bill to become law it has to pass through the Senate, where it is has stalled due to pushback from conservative groups who are concerned about the Hindu origins of the exercise.

Becky Gerritson, director of the conservative group Eagle Forum of Alabama, spoke out against the bill during the public hearing.

"Yoga is a very big part of the Hindu religion," she said, according to the AP. "If this bill passes, then instructors will be able to come into classrooms as young as kindergarten and bring these children through guided imagery, which is a spiritual exercise, and it's outside their parents' view. And we just believe that this is not appropriate."

The Eagle Forum website also states their official position:

"Many people see Yoga as harmless. Even many Christians churches offer Yoga. However, Yoga is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India. Yoga is one of the six Āstika (orthodox) schools of Hindu philosophical traditions. In the Education Committee the sponsor made it very clear that Yoga was needed in schools to help with mental clarity which confirms that it is not intended to be just a physical exercise. We hold the position that if parents want their children to engage in the practice of yoga that they do it on their own time and not in public schools with tax payer money."

Ah yes. Mental clarity = a problematic religious influence of some sort. Makes perfect sense.

Considering the fact that the Eagle Forum has complained about school prayer being banned and the Ten Commandments statue being removed from a government building, that they and really, really wanted "under God" to remain in the Pledge of Allegiance kids say each day, their stance seems a smidge hypocritical. And banning an exercise that isn't overtly religious just because it originated from an Eastern spiritual tradition and not Christianity seems silly.

The fact of the matter is yoga has gone mainstream. In the U.S. especially, it's far removed from any religious connotations. That's not necessarily a good thing—there are ongoing discussions about cultural appropriation in Western yoga practices—but the idea that yoga turns you Hindu is illogical on its face.

The resistance seems particularly overreactive when you see that the bill includes strict rules for schools to teach yoga, such as limiting it "exclusively to poses, exercises and stretching techniques," using "exclusively English descriptive names" for the poses, and expressly prohibiting "chanting, mantras, mudras, use of mandalas, and 11 namaste greetings."

Stripping any and all Indian or Hindu elements from school yoga practices, what do they fear happening? Do they think kids putting their bodies into a specific position will somehow summon Hindu spirits that will somehow convince the children to be Hindu?

"This whole notion that if you do yoga, you'll become Hindu — I've been doing yoga for 10 years and I go to church and I'm very much a Christian," said Democratic Rep. Jeremy Gray, who introduced the bill, according to the AP. Gray was introduced to yoga when he played college football at North Carolina State University and enjoyed it so much he became a yoga instructor himself.

Rajan Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, pointed out that the overwhelming majority of yoga teachers and practitioners aren't Hindu and that anyone of any faith can utilize yoga.

"Traditionally Hinduism was not into proselytism. So, Alabamans should not to be scared of yoga at all," Zed wrote in a statement after the committee meeting.

The same goes for meditation, guided or otherwise. Yoga and meditation are ancient practices that people around the world from various cultures and traditions have benefited from without some big conversion to the faith of their origins. Every guided meditation I've ever done just walks you through peaceful mental imagery. We're not talking about holding seances or ritual sacrifices here, for the love.

When we have bullying and mental health crises and mass shootings happening in schools, kids doing a tree pose or imagining they're floating on a beautiful lake are the last things adults should be worrying about. Seriously.

From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web
education
Trending Stories