RSVP with Samantha Keen on 206.954.1717

See below for some compelling reasons why you might benefit from learning techniques of recuperation and rest for taking an effective power nap during the day…

The value of rest for learning

A study about the value of rest for learning and memory ingraining is making headlines:

Dr Lila Davachi assistant professor of psychology at New York University, says in a news release. “Your brain wants you to tune out other tasks so you can tune in to what you just learned.”

The study, published in Neuron (around 27 Jan 2010), is meaningful for those interested in cultivating their energy. Rest periods are when people’s memories are processed on the level of life force - equating to qi, prana or what Rudolf Steiner calls the etheric. This is also the time when the life force throws itself into fertile chaos state, which stimulates it in a crucial way when it comes to learning.

Making time for regular, relaxing breaks throughout the day can help strengthen people’s memories, according to a new study.

Further research detailed in last month’s Neuron shows that magnesium could boost people’s memories

“Your brain wants you to tune out other tasks so you can tune in to what you just learned,” Lila Davachi, an assistant professor in NYU’s Department of Psychology and Center for Neural Science, commented.

A Times article (29 Jan 2010) had this information:

Thanks in large part to the proliferation of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which precisely maps brain activity based on changes in blood-oxygen levels, neuroscientists have found that important activity in the brain — related in particular to memory and learning — may occur when it is at rest.

Many studies over the past decade have suggested that sleep is crucial to the consolidation of memories and learning; people who take a nap after learning a new task, for instance, remember it better than those who don’t snooze. And now a small but compelling new study from the lab of New York University (NYU) cognitive neuroscientist Lila Davachi finds similar evidence that the brain at rest, even while remaining awake, is conducting meaningful activity. “Your brain is doing work for you even when you’re resting,” says Davachi, who just published a study in Neuron showing that certain kinds of brain activity actually increase during waking rest and are correlated with better memory consolidation. “Taking a rest may actually contribute to your success at work or school,” she adds.

I just want to thank those who came to the Vital Switch event in Manhattan last night, especially our colleagues Margarita Holsten M.D. and Robert Volinsky L.MT.

The Meta Center was certainly a beautiful venue and the people who came were great. We talked about Emotional Freedom and Meditation…. the link between the two… and how individual experience is paramount in this area of exploration.

This is a reminder that we have an introduction to meditation this Friday night September 25th, 7pm at the Vital Switch office 80 E11th St (corner of Broadway). The cost is $10.00 ahead of time and $15.00 at the door.
If you would like to come, please go to the New York Meditation Meetup and register there.

You have received this email after attending a Vital Switch event, or signing up to our newsletter. If you would like to unsubscribe please reply to this message with the word “UNSUBSCRIBE” in the subject line. Thank you!

Wishing everyone an awesome weekend
Samantha Keen and Matteus Levell
The team at Vital Switch

We learned that people are very interested in meditation itself, which is lucky because that is the core of everything that we do.

Meditation is interesting to people for a number of reasons.

Inner peace is certainly high on many people’s priority list when they are searching for a technique.

The inner turmoil of swirling emotions and the pressures of city living make it hard to really let go. Most of us who like to meditate yearn to be able to let go of stress and tension, but without losing the sense of engagement with the ‘vibe’ of New York City.

So how do we do this?

A meditation practice that awakens and dynamizes your energy while still providing the space of inner silence and peace is one solution.

This is the Vital Switch approach. Bringing meditation skills that dynamically combat the downside of city living (stress, fatigue, overwhelm, lack of personal space) with inner tools that bring a tangible difference to your relationship to your environment. Carve out space for your inner life with techniques that you can incorporate into your daily flow of existence. Live, Love and conquer all limitations through the enthusiasm and energy that these techniques awaken.

Now that sounds like a good reason to meditate!

Our next introduction to meditation is a Meetup on Friday night at 7pm in Manhattan. The cost is $10.00 ahead of time and $15.00 at the door. We include a chance to meditate, the opportunity to meet some friends with similar interests and a taste of some gorgeous herbal tea from our friends at Zhi Tea.

See our events page for the upcoming events including:

Weekend Workshop Saturday and Sunday October 3rd and 4th
Location: The Culture Center
410 Columbus Avenue (at 80th Street), New York, NY 10024
For Further Information or Registration Email Robert Volinsky: [LINK:mailto:info@robertvolinsky.com] info@robertvolinsky.com

Free talk: ISIS - A Meditation-based Therapy for Here and Now Freedom
A Free Talk at the Meta Center in New York City exploring how you can gain more freedom of choice in your life using the Vital Switch suite of meditation skills.
Date & time: Wednesday September 23, 7.00pm - 8.30pm
Venue: Meta Center New York, 214 W29th Street, 16fl, NYC 10001
Admission: FREE of Charge
Booking Essential: Call 206 954 1717 or reply to this email to register for the talk

You have received this email after joining our mailing list or attending an event with Vital Switch. If you do not want to be on this list please reply with “unsubscribe me” in the title page. Thank you

Wishing you well,
Samantha and Matteus
The Vital Switch Team

Meanwhile, Read below to find out about thoughts in meditation….

How to stop being drowned by thoughts

By Matteus Levell

Meditation can be a blissful experience. Expanding your state of consciousness is a buzz. It can leave you feeling sharper and more energized.

But the reality for many people is that when they go for a swim in the ocean of experience that is mediation, they end up drowning in thoughts.

Drifting in the interminable blah, blah, blah, the shopping list of thoughts that constantly imposes itself on your day.

How to catch a break from this inner noise?

Let’s go back to the drowning analogy. Imagine you are adrift in the ocean, bobbing in the water after a shipwreck. Now, in order not to drown you are going to need something buoyant to hold onto - something to rest on. Suddenly you become aware of a piece of debris from the sunken vessel and you swim toward it. You clamber on top of it, it sustains your weight and you sigh in relief.

So it is with meditation. A meditation technique is there to give you something to rest on.

For instance, placing your awareness on the breath.

Take a moment to connect to your breath. Here I mean tracking the physical effect of the breath of your body. The automatic rise and fall of the chest and belly area with each in breath and out breath. Really feel it. Just observe the natural rhythm. Following the breath like this for even just a few minutes starts to internalize your consciousness, opening the door to a deeper mediation experience.

Vital Switch offers straight forward non-religious meditation techniques that address the needs of a busy western lifestyle.

This tip about the breath is just the beginning! Come and check us out discover the joy of an effective meditation practice.

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Pick a number between one and 10

By Karen Kingston

Want to clutter clear your home but don’t have time?

Pick a number between 1 and 10 and write it on a large piece of paper with a thick felt-tip marker. Stick it on your wall, somewhere where you’re sure to see it each morning. Before breakfast each day, clutter clear that number of objects from your home.

The items can be large or small but you make a deal with yourself that you don’t eat breakfast until it’s done. If you’re the kind of person who doesn’t eat breakfast, choose some other daily event such as before you read your email, put on your make-up, or whatever.

A good place to start is with your clothes. Suppose you’ve chosen the number 5. Pick out 5 items of clothing you no longer like or wear. Find a large box or bag to put them in. That’s it. Now get on with your day. Do the same the next day, and the next day, and keep going until the only clothes remaining in your closet are the ones you love and wear. Be sure to clear the contents of your box at the end of each week, either by donating them to a charity shop, or letting them go in some other way.

Another good area to apply this technique to is collections of books or magazines. It also works well with the contents of your fridge, kitchen cabinets or any kind of cupboards. If you have lots of decorative objects in your home you can use it to whittle these down too.

If your problem is mess rather than quantity, then you can apply the same technique to tidying. Pick up and put away 5 objects each day (or whatever number you choose).

30 days x 5 objects per day = 150 objects per month.
30 days x 10 objects per day = 300 objects per month.
It soon adds up.

The reason this technique is so effective is because you are more focused on the counting than on the objects themselves, so it makes it easier not to get emotionally involved in the process. And because it’s a low number, it feels so much more achievable than attempting to clutter clear dozens of items in one go. It’s a tortoise rather than a hare kind of approach, but we all know who got there in the end!

Copyright © Karen Kingston, 2009

Clutter Clearing and Space Clearing

Talks and workshops
Vital Switch is happy to host Tracey Stanton in Miami over the Fall in 2009.
This will be a unique opportunity to see one of the world’s experts in the art of Space Clearing and Clutter Clearing in action. It is also one of the few opportunities in the USA in 2009 to attend the famous Space Clearing workshop trilogy created by international bestselling author Karen Kingston, who is acknowledged as the world’s leading authority in this field.

A SERIES OF TALKS ABOUT CLUTTER in Miami - September 2009

The four talks in early September will be about different aspects of clutter clearing and will be presented at a great line-up of venues: Books & Books in Coral Gables, The Standard at South Beach, Prana Yoga in Coral Gables, and Om’echaye in Hallandale.

See more at Vital Switch Events
More information about the workshops and talks

THE ART OF SPACE CLEARING workshop trilogy in Miami - October 2009

The talks will be followed by an outstanding trilogy of workshops presented by Tracey at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables. Learn highly effective, tried and tested techniques to clear out old energies from your home or workplace and bring in new, higher frequencies to enhance the quality of your life.

See more at Vital Switch Events
More information about the workshops and talks

About Space Clearing

Space Clearing is the feng shui art of clearing and consecrating energies in buildings. It is a specific 21-step ceremony that has been pioneered and developed over the last 30 years by Karen Kingston, author of two books published in 24 languages, with combined sales of over 2 million copies.

Tracey is one of the top Space Clearing practitioners in the world and one of only three people currently authorized to teach Space Clearing workshops.

More information about Space Clearing

More information about the workshops and talks

Contact: Samantha Keen at samantha@vitalswitch.com or 206-954-1717

A few people wrote us in response to the last blog asking: If being in the zone involves inner stillness, focus and presence how do you switch these qualities on?

I’m glad you asked!

To address this question I’m going to start with the opposite assumption. Suppose we had these qualities to begin with and we then ‘lost’ them. What was it that ‘robbed’ us of this virtuous triumvirate?

In a nutshell we were pulled out of our center. This happens simply through life. The five senses externalize our focus. We are ‘pulled’ into the images we see, the sounds we hear, that which we smell, taste and touch.

Sounds innocent enough, but over time we unconsciously lose touch with our own center, our own inner knowing, inner barometer, deeper sense of who we are and what we want - our purpose. All because we are making what is outside of us more important than what is inside.

To turn this around you need a reliable method for accessing and stabilizing an inner place where you can make decisions from, and seamlessly operate from. If you take the analogy of your body as a vehicle then this inner place is like the cockpit.

In my view, those athletes who operate ‘in the zone’ have an innate ability to access this inner place.

So how do the rest of us access this place and switch on the ‘in the zone’ state?

This is where meditation comes in. And not just any meditation, for meditation is a whole world and different techniques of meditation will achieve different results.

In the 1980s French medical doctor and meditation practitioner Samuel Sagan devised a meditation technique specifically for westerners - free of any religious or cultural baggage. Sagan’s technique smashes some of the common cliches associated with meditation. For instance that practicing meditation will pacify and lessen your drive to achieve in the world.

To the contrary this meditation increases your alertness, sharpens your focus and makes you more present.

How? Let’s put some of the pieces together. It helps to envisage your consciousness as a spectrum. Now when it comes to consciousness most people will tell you - well, there’s when I awake - I’m conscious and then there’s the time where I am asleep that’s unconscious.

But precisely there are many stations along this spectrum, and you can’t reduce it to simply being awake or asleep.

Back to the ‘zone’. You guessed it - the zone is a station along the train network that is your consciousness. (Which station did you get off at this morning?).

At one end of the spectrum is the externalization of your consciousness. You’ll remember how are friends the five senses play their part here. When we ‘grasp’ onto an experience we are at this extreme. Grasping here is characterized by a sort of desperate over-eagerness to have the experience. So in the 100m race it’s the guy who’s expending too much energy in his nervous excitement during the warm-up. He is ‘grasping’ at the end result and hence is lost to the present moment, he is ‘getting ahead of himself’.

Now at the other extreme of the spectrum is the deep deep meditation experience - the type when you feel spaced out ungrounded and blissfully spread out. Perhaps lying on a banana chair on vacation in Aruba will have a similar effect.

In the 100m warm-ups maybe there is a guy that is too relaxed. Such that the focus and will to win is not really there. Perhaps he is simply content to be in the final, he doesn’t believe he can win so he is not ‘up’ for the event.

The key to the spectrum is to be able to stabilize yourself at a slight level of involution. Now there is a concept that I want you to absorb.

The term Involution comes from the work of Sagan and refers to the effect where consciousness lets go of the senses and becomes internalized.

This is part of any meditation technique, in the line of quietening the chatter of the mind, becoming still and going inside.

It gets interesting though when you combine this with the spectrum. If involution only leads to blown out states of spread bliss then it won’t directly make you more efficient at a challenging task.

But stabilising yourself at a slight level of involution - well… that is the zone!

Sagan’s techniques, which form the backbone of Vital Switch work, revlove around having a reliable internal yardstick by which to know what level of the spectrum you are at in a given moment. The extremes are more obvious to perceive but getting to the level that equates to the zone takes some patient refinement.

I know what you are thinking. How do we start to understand and perceive this spectrum?

A good analogy is to think of the first settlers to an unchartered land. When they first arrive the place is as foreign and unfamiliar as our spectrum of consciousness is to us.

They get to know the new area and begin to be able to navigate around it by creating maps and establishing signposts in helpful locations. Pathways are forged that link one familiar area to another, and gradually the new inhabitants know the land well enough to access its natural resources for the betterment of their lives.

Signposts are important in any meditation practice. Without them the mind will drift. Many techniques have a strong focus on the breath, others still will have you gaze at a candle. The heart of the technique has to do with where you are resting your awareness. Now there’s a concept that seems anathema to our experience of a busy western life!

Rest my awareness indeed!

But when someone is ‘in the zone’ they are resting their awareness on something (without realizing it). If you are not ‘resting your awareness’ on something then you are either drifting or holding focus with tension. You’ll recognize these two alternatives as the extremes of the spectrum.

Examples of a inner place to rest your awareness are the ‘dantien’ of Chinese Taoism and the Hara of the Japanese tradition. These ‘energy centers’ of Asian Martial arts have been equated to the center of gravity of the human body by western practitioners.

To quote our friends at Wikipedia “A master of calligraphy, swordsmanship, tea ceremony, martial arts, etc. is held in the Japanese tradition to be ‘acting from the hara’.”

The ability to act from somewhere implies a ‘resting’ of awareness in that location. And the Hara (or the Dantien) is not the only place to act from.

More later…