Breathing from the diaphragm (the long band of muscle that lies beneath your lungs) allows for the fullest expansion possible of your ribcage. This means that more air can get into your lungs and into your bloodstream.

Singers use diaphragm breathing to be able to perform their songs with greater power and control, and learning the technique of diaphragm breathing will also improve your chances of relaxing into deep sleep.

This is a good exercise to start with, and can easily be used as a “cleansing” warm-up before doing any other form of exercise.

1. Ideally, lie on your back on a flat surface, or in bed, with your arms at your sides. If lying down isn’t possible then try to find a reclining position so that the ribcage is slightly extended.

2. As you breathe in through your nose, imagine that your abdomen and chest contain an empty vessel, like a wine carafe. The opening of the carafe is your nose or mouth and the neck of the carafe is your own neck. Where the neck of the carafe opens into the basin, picture this area as your lungs and then picture the main basin of the carafe as your abdomen.

3. Breathe in and feel the air pouring into your lungs. You should slowly expand your belly first, as if the air is literally filling up your body like wine would fill the carafe. Next fill and expand your upper abdomen, then your chest, throat and mouth. You can place your hand on your upper abdomen if you need help breathing this way. Your hand should rise as you breathe in.

4. When your “vessel” is full, begin to “pour” the air out through your mouth. This time, the air will empty in the opposite direction. First from your mouth, then your throat, chest and finally your stomach. Slightly contract your stomach muscles as if you’re trying to squeeze the last “drops” out.

5. Relax and breathe in again through your nose.

6. Repeat this process at least half a dozen times. Each time, try to pull in and pour out slightly more air.

If you prefer, you can imagine your stomach as a balloon - but it is important to keep the “order” in which the air fills your body. This exercise is teaching you not just to breathe deeply, but to notice and control your breathing. These skills form an important part of later meditation practices.

To continue practicing these skills, try this exercise. It may seem strange, but it will help you to expand your lung capacity and increase your sense of control over your breathing.

1. Get into a comfortable position, either lying down or sitting. Close your eyes and place the little finger of each hand on each side of your nose. Relax your other fingers against your cheeks or in a loose fist against your chin.

2. Use the left little finger to close the left nostril. Breathe in deeply through the right nostril only.

3. Now close the right nostril with the right little finger and release the left nostril. Exhale strongly through the left nostril.

4. Without moving your hands at all, breathe back in through the left nostril. Then close your left nostril and exhale through your right nostril only.

5. Repeat with each nostril as the “inhaling” nostril at least 3 times.

If you find it difficult to use both hands, try using the thumb and forefinger of one hand.

Because you are limiting the “pathways” for air to enter your lungs, you are making the lungs work harder to inhale and exhale. Over time, just as when you exercise a muscle, your lungs will get stronger and their capacity will increase, enabling you to breathe more deeply.

This exercise will get you some interesting looks if you try it in public, so just be forewarned!

Meditation is healthy, safe and affordable. In fact it’s free. The only expense you’ll have is a meditation mat, which isn’t especially necessary-at least from my experience. Meditation has been around for 5,000 years, and was originally a spiritual component of yoga. Through the years non-yogis adopted it, intuitively sensing and connecting the practice with greater peace of mind. Personally, I can’t say enough good things about meditation. Its use has rewarded me with less worry and much more energy. But I’ve never been one for anecdotal evidence. Let’s get to the science…

Transcendental Meditation

Recently, there’s an incredible amount of science tied into the benefits of meditation. The studies are endless and cover a variety of meditative practices. On Transcendental Meditation alone (mantra repetition) there are over 500 studies. Some are more noteworthy that others. A study in the Japanese Journal of Public Health found that through Transcendental Meditation, industrial workers sleep improved and their smoking decreased. Another study conducted at the MERU Research Institute, in Buckinghamshire, England found that the length of time practicing the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program correlated with younger biological age and younger functional age.

Mindfulness Meditation

Mindfulness meditation, which asks us to focus on our breath to facilitate awareness of the present moment, is another widely studied meditation technique. After studying the effects of 8-weeks of mindfulness meditation on participants, a 2003 report in the Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine concluded: “A short program in mindfulness meditation produces demonstrable effects on brain and immune function.” Impressive, but fairly vague. To get a more committed response to the benefits of meditation we have to turn to Taiwan. In 2002 their journal Chang Gung Medicine reported that “training in MM may be a medically superior and cost-effective alternative to pain medication for the control of headaches with no underlying organic causes in highly motivated patients.”

Stress Reduction and Meditation

What causes these positive physical changes? To answer this, other research has looked at the specifics of what happens in the body during meditation. . Researchers at the Maharishi School of Management in Fairfield, Iowa, found that meditation has an enormous impact on stress reduction. When they examined a group who had meditated for four months they saw that they produced less of the stress hormone cortisol. They were therefore better able to adapt to stress in their lives, no matter what their circumstances were.

Having balanced cortisol levels is essential to mental and emotional health. Notice I say balanced rather than none. We don’t want to completely eliminate cortisol. If we did we’d be dead. Even low cortisol levels can be dangerous. Not enough cortisol is the identifying trait of Addison’s disease. John F. Kennedy had this condition, which he denied passionately during his presidency. Yet during his term he regulated his levels through hydrocortisone (synthetic cortisol). The reverse of JFK’s condition is called Cushings Syndrome.

The five most common and noticeable changes of this condition include; red face and puffy cheeks; excess fat surrounding the collar bones, muscle weakness, and hypertension. But we don’t have to have Cushing’s Syndrome to be damaged by extra cortisol. The changes we experience may be subtle variations of these. Plus, the changes caused by excess cortisol are age dependent. Young people may stop growing and teenagers can develop acne. The mature among us aren’t safe either. Since excess cortisol damages bone-tissue those over age 60 may develop fractures related to osteoporosis. So it’s evident that if we can regulate cortisol, especially through a natural process, we owe it to ourselves to try.

Other Benefits of Meditation

Regina Drueding, MD, is a meditation instructor at Life Circles in Utah, USA. She quotes the benefits of meditation as follows: “more energy, improved quality of sleep, decreased anxiety, lessened chronological aging, improved concentration, improved visual acuity, increased alertness and heightened immunity.” She writes: “Besides the benefits mentioned earlier, meditation results in improvement of hypertension, sleep disorders, headaches, heartrhythm disturbances, chronic pain – pain due to cancer, infertility and irritable bowel syndrome. Following meditation, mental and physical refreshment result – and benefits are cumulative with regular practice.”

How to Meditate

Meditation is both simple and complex. It’s like defining the color orange: When you see it you know it. Similarly, the experience of meditation is best, well…experienced. In an article in New View magazine, Shippensburg University’s Dr. C. George Boeree describes the basics of Buddhist meditation. In summary, the beginner’s technique is as follows:

1. Sit or kneel comfortably.

2. The hands are loose and open with the palms up, one atop the other and thumbs lightly touching.

3. Head is upright. Eyes may be closed or open. If open they should focus on your hands or a spot nearby.

4. Beginning meditators should count upwards to ten on each exhale. Breathe in a relaxed and natural way. Then begin again at one and repeat. Continue to breathe naturally.

5. Continue for 15 minutes.

In my personal experience, I don’t find that the specific length of time is as important as repetition and persistence. To paraphrase, 10 minutes daily beats 15 minutes once a week. This brings me to another point: We all have different personalities and as such, different meditation approaches suit some more than others. Thankfully there are many varieties of meditation. Some varieties have sub-varieties.

Mindfulness meditation is one of these versatile practices. Perhaps it’s because its essence-awareness of the present moment-is so versatile. Mindfulness in our daily life can be practiced by slowing down and attending to our surroundings. What are our 5 senses telling us? We can use mindfulness in the middle of a hectic day, such as paying attention to our breathing when stopped at a traffic light. We can also use other everyday events as triggers for mindfulness. Buckling your seatbelt? Make this a reminder to return to the present. Really think about what you’re doing and the details of the experience.

The more traditional may benefit from a more formal mindfulness practice. You may sit in the identical form as in traditional Buddhist meditation- on a chair or kneeling. However, you may also sit with your legs crossed. Your eyes are closed and your posture is both straight and relaxed while your head remains upright. Focus on your breath and allow mental chatter to float by without regard. Thoughts, emotions and sensations will come, but don’t be influenced by them. Keep focused on your breath. If you are getting involved with your thoughts don’t worry-your efforts aren’t destroyed. The key thing is to bring your attention back to breathing and continue. This can go on for 5 minutes to 5 hours. It’s up to you.

Transcendental Meditation is another popular form of meditation. Generally, this type is practiced twice daily for a period of 15-20 minutes. Again, this technique involves sitting comfortably. Yet in contrast to basic Buddhist the eyes stay closed. Each student is given a mantra and is instructed to induce relaxation through use of this mantra. Since many of either can’t or won’t go to a formal TM class, a no-fail mantra I recommend is the classic OM. In The Heart of Yoga, T.K.V Desikachar writes that repetition of “OM” enables us to maintain mental and emotional calmness, overcome obstacles and enable understanding. It is the shortest of the mantras, and is said to be suggestive of God. If you’re uncomfortable with the religious aspects of OM I suggest a word that has positive meaning for you, such as love, calm or peace. Calm is an ideal substitute, since vocally it resembles OM.

Final Word

You may never, ever choose to meditate. Yet if this is your choice it may be valuable to question why. For a long time I was reluctant because of images of the dropout hippie 60’s. Yet when I tried it the experience overcame my reservations. If you try it the same may happen to you. If it doesn’t you haven’t lost any money, and you’ve gained a new experience.

Resources:

Getting in the Gap: Making Conscious Contact with God Through Meditation (Hay House Inc., 2003)

The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh (Beacon Press, 1975)

When it comes to success, a person needs to be able to achieve personal motivation. Personal motivation is what drives us internally and externally to succeed in what ever we want to succeed in.

Without personal motivation, we wouldn’t be able to accomplish anything. Personal motivation can be motivation to do just about anything. It can be motivation to lose weight, or to complete a task at the workplace, or to do something that you have put on the back burner for a while. A person can also be motivated to stop doing things such as using drugs, drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes.

So how do we gain personal motivation? The first thing we need to do is set goals for ourselves. These goals have to be realistic goals and they have to be a possible gain.

We tend to set our goals too high and then fail. This is just a step backward in the personal motivation search. Goals are of utmost importance in gaining personal motivation. They give us the push we need to get the job done.

It is a good idea to write down your goals. This makes it easier to see them on a daily basis and be reminded of what you are reaching for.

Another great strategy is to write up a contract between you and yourself and state the goals in it. Then sign and date the contract. You might even put a deadline for the goals to be met. It is just another way of pushing ourselves into doing something we want.

We also need to look at the objectives. The objectives are going to be what it will take to get us to our goals. Be specific with your objectives. It is a good idea to have your objectives measure what and when the goals need to be done. For instance, an objective might be like this: I will lose 10 pounds in 1 months time.

After our goals have been set and we know exactly what our expectations of ourselves are, then it is time to go to the next step. The next phase to personal motivation is making a commitment to keep after these goals until they are met. Keep pushing on, and then maybe even raising our standards higher.

Never look back on past failures. This really does nothing for our self-esteem. It will only set you back to dwell on the mistakes you have made in the past. Now then, you can learn from your mistakes, just don’t keep looking back at them.

Rewarding ourselves when we do meet our goals is very important in this process, as well. We need a pat on the back for hard work and effort. Personal motivation can be achieved if goals and objectives are set and a commitment is made to keep them.

Are you under the impression that employees are happy only when you pay them more money? No! That isn’t always true. Even though money acts as a major contributor to employee motivation, remember it is never the only way.

Many times bonus or commission checks are cashed, spent and forgotten very quickly. An alternative for motivating employees is to give gifts through a reward point system. This system enables you to award equivalent points instead of cash, which can be traded for gifts or a vacation. The advantage of a reward program is that it promotes individual performance and competition, while transforming the situation into a friendly contest! On the other hand, a cash reward invariably creates grudges in the minds of those that don’t receive them.

Following are some of the other non-monetary ways of motivating employees in your organization.

Acknowledge their work: When your employees complete their task, recognize it and appreciate their achievement. It costs the company nothing, but is a major motivating factor, nonetheless. Simple things like a round of applause for a particular accomplishment will work wonders for motivating employees. You could also be more creative by awarding trophies or plaques for “Employee of the Month”. Take a look at “365 Ways to Motivate and Reward Your Employees Every Day: With Little or No Money”, an e-book for some good ideas.

Train them: Remember, training is not a one time process. Conduct training sessions on a regular basis, even though they consume time and money. Some alternatives do exist - for example, the “Five Star Teamwork Video Training Program” can be used for training your employees, without spending too much of either.

Provide growth prospects: Let your employees know of opportunities and areas of growth within your company. Set career paths and promote employees to higher levels by adopting a well laid out HR strategy. This will give them the assurance that they have a stable future within the organization.

Assign professional designations: Personal identity, competence, status and self esteem are all tied up with the job title. Hence, make sure that employees feel proud of who they are and what they do in the workplace. This will ultimately enhance their performance and increase your company’s productivity. Use your creativity in forming titles and also welcome ideas from the staff while re-designing them.

Build team spirit: This is the most important way of motivating employees. Take a big photograph of your entire team along with yourself and put it up somewhere noticeable. This will instill team spirit in every employee and give them a sense of belonging.

Assign leadership roles: This will also enable you to share your workload. Most people are inspired by the thought of handling additional responsibility. For example, allow your employees to lead a training program or brief a meeting. This can be done especially when new people join the company. You could also give them an opportunity to lead a project team. Encourage them to read books like “How to Lead: Discover the Leader Within You”.

Have fun: This ploy works like no other. If you already have an annual conference for all employees, make sure it’s not all work and no play. Outbound programs or team games will do wonders for breaking the ice and building long lasting bonds between colleagues. These things stay in the collective memory, long after the event, and serve to motivate and energize.

We think that these ideas can set the ball rolling, but if you are looking for more, try the “Motivation and Energy at Work” program.

Hi, I’m Akhil Shahani, a serial entrepreneur who wants to help you succeed. If you like to work smart, check out http://www.SmartEntrepreneur.net It’s full of articles and resources to help you start and grow your business successfully. Please visit us & download our special “Freebie of The Month” at http://www.smartentrepreneur.net/freebie-of-the-month.html