Relax & Be Inspired
Wake Up Worlds articles to help you relax the mind and inspired the soul.
The Unquantifiable Importance of Solitude
Apr 18th
18th April 2012
By Chris Bourne
Contributing Writer for Wake Up World
Right now I’m taking a well earned break away. Not that I feel pressurised by my life, not at all. Even though it is frequently full on, I find it immensely rewarding and yet from time to time, there’s the undeniable heart-felt pull to spend time alone. I’m blessed to have a little old 4×4 camper van, so as the flow allows, I find myself taking off into nature and the countryside. For me there is nothing more pleasurable than finding some quiet, secluded spot, parking up and simply being. In fact I’m writing this now from an isolated cliff top on the craggy North Cornwall coast…
I couldn’t begin to over estimate the importance of solitude in my life as a catalyst for accelerating the path and clearing unwanted inner debris. When I do get the time to take off, I find the first few hours can be a touch demanding. If you don’t fill the space with ‘entertainment’, I find the mind needs a little time for ‘detox cold turkey’. Even if there’s no longer the ego to contend with, there’s still the need to clear the inner landscape and expand into the emptiness. When that happens, I find I can sit for hours simply watching life unfold before me. Right now the seagulls are performing for me a merry wind swept soliloquy. One thing is for sure, they certainly don’t know the meaning of boredom.
Continue Reading – The Unquantifiable Importance of Solitude
Water – The Latest TSO Time Lapse Video
Oct 13th
“This was filmed during August 2011. This is my interpretation of the fjord landscape in western Norway. Having spent countless days here, I really enjoy even the smallest parts of this landscape. Like hidden streams or dwarfish waterfalls outside of the beaten track that offer a great deal of solitude.
This movie was editing “on the road” and uploaded over 3G network from southeast asia. I have decided to spend the next two years creating a 60min blu-ray/dvd. As a landscape photographer, I have visited some really amazing places over the years, and now I will be revisiting many of them for this movie. It is a full-on project, and as a result I have now sold my apartment, print-studio, car and other belongings. I hope to be able to continue releasing a new video on vimeo every second month or so. If everything goes as planned, the next movie should be from Mountain
I thought Beethoven´s Moonlight Sonata would be appropriate, and asked my friend Marika Takeuchi if she could record it in a studio. She made a fantastic version which I love very much. Thank you!
This video is in High Definition, make sure that you watch in full screen mode
Mr. TSO is a passionate landscape photographer and filmmaker from Norway. Who can be followed with the below details.
Follow Facebook: facebook.com/?TSOPhotography
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If you enjoyed watching “Water” then check out his other time lapse video
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Understanding The Power of Gratitude
Jul 8th
Always begin with gratitude. This is the wisdom advice that comes to us from many of the world’s indigenous and contemplative teachings. In this spirit, we begin our first blog for The Huffington Post exploring this profoundly transformative spiritual practice, and invite you to join us in taking this powerful awareness and action into your heart and onto your path of deepening spirit in daily life, work, and relationships.
The practice of gratitude antidotes two root sufferings that pervade the human experience. The first can be characterized as a feeling of “insufficiency” — not having enough or not being enough. This fundamental sense of dissatisfaction opens the way to the second kind of suffering — being incessantly busy trying to get more or be more in order to somehow fill this inner feeling of discontentment and lack. Living with an inner attitude of scarcity and poverty-consciousness also makes us prey to being manipulated by external forces that tell us that we will find happiness and satisfaction — finally — if we only acquire or consume this product or that, or once we go to this place or take some other action “out there.” Our preoccupation with seeking inner satisfaction from external sources keeps us on a never-ending merry-go-round of pursuits and distractions, always waiting for and expecting happiness to come to us from the outside. After the temporary pleasure or sense of accomplishment dissipates and wears off — as it always most certainly will — we find ourselves once again pursuing the next “fix.”
The miracle of the practice of gratitude is that it reverses this pattern of looking outwardly for satisfaction, and instantly puts us in touch with all the many gifts and blessings already present in our life. We shift from spinning in perpetual motion on the wheel of seeking happiness from the outside-in to generating happiness from the inside-out. This practice is easy to do and can be done anywhere and any time. The main thing is just to begin to weave this practice more and more often, and more and more regularly, into your life.
Both ancient teachings and modern medical research agree that one of the quickest, most direct routes to restoring harmony and balance in our lives is to foster gratitude and appreciation. The moment you shift from a mindstate of negativity or judgment to one of appreciation, there are immediate effects at many levels of your being: Brain function becomes more balanced, harmonized, and supple; your heart begins to pump in a much more coherent and harmonious rhythm; and biochemical changes trigger a host of healthful responses throughout your body. Especially in difficult times, remembering to return to gratitude is a radical life-affirming act that builds your capacity for resilience.
Breathe As One – A Global Initiative
Jun 28th
Does it seem strange to see an article on breathing? Don’t we all know how to breath?
Well, breathing is one of the few bodily functions which, within limits, can be controlled both consciously and unconsciously. So over time many forms of breathing have evolved. Some breathing techniques can help slow down or revitalize the mind body and soul. The term “Conscious Breathing” is a relaxation technique in which a person shifts their focus of attention from the stream of mental chatter to the natural rhythms of their breath. Many meditation techniques, including Vipassana and mantra, employ variations of conscious breathing.
Do As One is a website who’s goal is to have 1 billion people consciously breathe in unison by the end of November 2012, with common intent. Sounds like a hard feat, but their website is well set up to accomplish this.
So what is Do As One all about?
Their Goal: To serve and connect humanity by establishing a legacy of healthy, conscious breathing.
Their Vision: One billion people will breathe together synchronously by November 11, 2012.
Their Method: To share techniques for daily, optimal breathing and enable global, synchronous breathing through DoAsOne.com.
Their Story: Do As One was created by three visionary friends compelled to make the world a happier and healthier place on a grand scale. With that vision at heart, they sought to learn as much as they could about the most basic and life sustaining function of a human’s life, breathing.
They met with gurus, breath practitioners, respiratory therapists, doctors, yoga instructors, healers, shamans, religious leaders, monks and alternative medicine experts to get at the core of what the breath means to the human body, mind and spirit. They even interviewed thousands of diverse people to gauge what the general population knows about breathing in order to help determine what needed to be shared and how best to impart the knowledge.
After synthesizing all the information, the founders set forth a grand goal to have one billion people breathe together by 11/11/12. On 07/07/07 DoAsOne.com was born, forever changing the way you think about breathing.
Do As One is adamant about refining and improving the core of it infrastructure so since launch on 07/07/07, we have had major releases of the website on 08/08/08, 09/09/09 and 10/10/10. Subsequent major releases of DoAsOne.com are scheduled for 11/11/11 and 12/12/12. DoAsOne.com is the online embodiment of the vision, goal, and method of Do As One. People have now come from over 140 countries to breathe on DoAsOne.com. Users have commented that the carefully designed breathing tools have improved their quality of life and enabled them to connect with others around the planet in a unique and exciting way
This site is running 24 hours a day and you can enter any of their rooms at any time. Try it out and start breathing with others throughout the world. The benefits to yourself and the collective consciousness is powerful and needed in a periodof rapid changes around this beautiful globe we all call home. Click to visit the site – DO AS ONE
Below are 3 breathing exercises to revitalize or relax your mind, body and spirit provided by Andrew Weil, M.D.
“Practising regular, mindful breathing can be calming and energizing and can even help with stress-related health problems ranging from panic attacks to digestive disorders.” Andrew Weil M.D
Since breathing is something we can control and regulate, it is a useful tool for achieving a relaxed and clear state of mind. I recommend three breathing exercises to help relax and reduce stress: The Stimulating Breath, The 4-7-8 Breathing Exercise (also called the Relaxing Breath), and Breath Counting. Try each and see how they affect your stress and anxiety levels.
Exercise 1: The Stimulating Breath (also called the Bellows Breath)
The Stimulating Breath is adapted from a yogic breathing technique. Its aim is to raise vital energy and increase alertness.
- Inhale and exhale rapidly through your nose, keeping your mouth closed but relaxed. Your breaths in and out should be equal in duration, but as short as possible. This is a noisy breathing exercise.
- Try for three in-and-out breath cycles per second. This produces a quick movement of the diaphragm, suggesting a bellows. Breathe normally after each cycle.
- Do not do for more than 15 seconds on your first try. Each time you practice the Stimulating Breath, you can increase your time by five seconds or so, until you reach a full minute.
If done properly, you may feel invigorated, comparable to the heightened awareness you feel after a good workout. You should feel the effort at the back of the neck, the diaphragm, the chest and the abdomen. Try this breathing exercise the next time you need an energy boost and feel yourself reaching for a cup of coffee.
Tree Hugging Proven To Improve Health Issues
Jun 24th
(By NaturalNews) Tree hugging, that much maligned hippy generation idea, has now been shown to have validity after all. Contrary to popular belief, touching a tree does make you healthier. In fact you don’t even have to touch the tree to get better, just being within its vicinity has the same effect.
In a recently published book, Blinded By Science
Countless studies have shown that children show significant psychological and physiological effects in terms of their health and well being when they interact with plants. They demonstrate that children function better cognitively and emotionally in green environments and have more creative play in green areas.
A large public health report that investigated the association between green spaces and mental health concluded that “access to nature can significantly contribute to our mental capital and wellbeing”.
So what is it about nature that can have these significant effects? Up until now it has been thought to be the open green spaces that cause this effect. However, Matthew Silverstone, shows that it is nothing to do with this by proving that it is the vibrational properties of trees and plants that give us the health benefits and not the open green spaces.
Blinded By Science
This vibrational idea is backed up throughout the book by hundreds of scientific studies to provide overwhelming proof that tree hugging after all is not such a crazy idea. Not only is it good for our health but it can also save the Government a lot of money by offering an alternative form of treatment that is free.
One report concluded with the following: “safe, green spaces may be as effective as prescription drugs in treating some forms of mental illnesses”.
Wouldn’t it be nice to hear from now on that doctors treat some forms of illnesses by suggesting a walk in the park rather than taking a packet full of pills.
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Time Lapse Video From TSO Photography “The Arctic Light”
Jun 1st
From TSO Photography comes another amazing time lapse video that was filmed between 29th April and 10th May 2011 in the Arctic, on the archipelago Lofoten in Norway.
See our article with two other videos from TSO “Northern Lights” & “The Milky Way” here
This video is in High Definition, so make sure that you watch in full screen mode
By - TSO Photography
Quoted from TSO – “My favorite natural phenomenon is one I do not even know the name of, even after talking to meteorologists and astrophysicists I am none the wiser.What I am talking about I have decided to call The Arctic Light and it is a natural phenomenon occurring 2-4 weeks before you can see the Midnight Sun.
The Sunset and Sunrise are connected in one magnificent show of color and light lasting from 8 to 12 hours. The sun is barely going below the horizon before coming up again. This is the most colorful light that I know, and the main reason I have been going up there for the last 4 years, at the exact
same time of year, to photograph. Based on previous experience, I knew this was going to be a very difficult trip. Having lost a couple of cameras and some other equipment up there before, it was crucial to bring an extra set of everything. I also made sure I had plenty of time in case something went wrong.
If you can imagine roping down mountain cliffs, or jumping around on slippery rocks covered in seaweed with 2 tripods, a rail, a controller, camera, lenses, filters and rigging for 4-5 hour long sequences at a time, and then having to calculate the rise and fall of the tides in order to capture the essence – it all proved bit of a challenge.
And almost as if planned, the trip would turn out to become very difficult indeed. I had numerous setbacks including: airline lost my luggage, struggling to swim ashore after falling into the Arctic sea: twice, breaking lenses, filters, tripod, computer, losing the whole dolly rig and controller into the sea, and even falling off a rather tall rock and ending up in the hospital. As much as I wanted to give up, the best way Out is always “Through”. I am glad I stuck it through though because there were some amazing sunrises waiting. At 1:06 you see a single scene from day to night to day which is from 9pm to 7am. Think about that for a minute.. 10 hours with light like that.
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Amazing Time Lapse of the Northern Lights & The Milky Way
May 26th
Landscape photographer Terje Sorgjerd is a passionate landscape photographer and filmmaker from Norway. He has been published by some of the world biggest press and media outlets including; CNN, NBC, USA Today, Reuters, Discovery Channel, NatGeo, The Guardian, Wall Street Journal, Weather Channel and The Washington Post, Good Morning America, to name just a few.
THE AURORA
Terje Sorgjerd spent four years looking to create a time lapse of the aurora borealis (AKA northern lights), then finally flew two hours north from Norway and spent a week capturing one of the biggest displays in recent years. The final result is absolutely jaw-dropping. This video is in High Definition, so make sure that you watch in full screen mode
By - TSO Photography
The Milky Way
A masterful, of out-of-this-world time lapse video. Taken over El Teide, Spain’s highest mountain. This video is in High Definition, so make sure that you watch in full screen mode
By - TSO Photography
In case you’re wondering, the stills were shot with a Canon 5D Mark II along with the Canon 24mm 1.4, Canon 16-35mm 2.8, and Sigma 12-24mm lenses.
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The First Crop Circle Of The Season Appears In Historic Wiltshire Field (UK)
May 10th
The unseasonably warm spring weather has not only brought forward many summer flowers – it has sparked the usual round of crop circles.
An elaborate 100ft circle which appeared overnight has caused a stir after it was found in a field of oil seed rape near Silbury Hill, Wiltshire.
The extraordinary floral creation is comprised of six interlocking ‘petal’ like crescents.
A field of bright yellow oil seed rape has been transformed by a huge, floral crop circle
Expert Lucy Pringle, widely known as an international authority on crop circles, believes this is the first ‘proper’ design of the year.
She added: ‘The start of the season is always exciting, I never know what’s going to happen for the rest of the year.
‘The latest circle is a floral pattern, I’ve never seen this before. There’s never been one identical to another.’
The circle has appeared in a field by the famous Silbury Hill, near Marlborough
Miss Pringle, from Petersfield, Hants, is a founder member of the Centre for Crop Circle Studies. She has conducted years of research in to the physiological and psychological effects reported by people after visiting the formations. She says her findings suggest there are measured changes in human hormones and brain activity following contact with the circles.
The new ‘floral’ design is the latest in a long line of patterns to be spotted in the UK over the years.
Previous formations have included stars, triangles, birds, complicated three dimensional geometric shapes and even intricate patterns with hidden mathematical codes.
One, discovered in 2008 near Wroughton in Wiltshire, was thought to represent the first ten digits of pi, the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter.
Continue Reading – The First Crop Circle Of The Season Appears In Historic Wiltshire Field (UK)
