Willa White's Blog

In the late 1960s, a UCLA physiologist named R. Keith Wallace proved besides its spiritual implications, meditation had profound effects on the body.  He was the first to show through his research that sitting in meditation with the eyes closed induces the nervous system to enter a state of "restful alertness" --- the mind remains awake while the body goes into a deeply relaxed state.  When first discovered, the state of restful alertness became a curiousity in the medical professon because rest and alertness had previously been considered opposites.  [I know many of my students and clients who are not regular meditators may also consider it to be a paradox. *smile*] Wallace found that these opposites were united in meditation. His test subjects went into a state of rest TWICE as deep as deep sleep and yet remained alert enough to push a button every time they felt the experience of 'pure awareness'.  In fact, they did so very quickly, usually within 10...

Contemplation is the practice of stilling ourselves before God, moving ever deeper into the core of our being and simply offering ourselves to God in a totally vulnerable, loving way.  By offering ourselves to God in this way, God leads us into a life of amazing centeredness.  Each day, in this way, we experience a life through which God LIVES IN US for others. Thomas Kelly (a Quaker missionary, writer, & scholar) explains this concept further:  "What is here urged are secret habits of unceasing orientation of the deeps of our being about the Inward Light, ways of conducting our inward life so that we are perpetually bowing in worship, while we are also very busy in the world of daily affairs.  A Practicing Christian must above all be one who practices the perpetual return of the soul into the inner sanctuary, who brings the world into its Light and rejudges it, who brings the Light into the world with all its turmoil and its fit...

A man marching with Dr Martin Luther King Jr in Alabama explained his experience by saying,"My feet were praying." That is how I felt on Saturday morning as I participated in the Salvation Army 5K Walk/Run. When I first decided to take part in this event, I knew it was a worthy cause and that by walking in it I would be supporting many individuals and families. Proceeds from the event went to benefit the Salvation Army Anew Center in Jamestown NY which provides comprehensive services to victims of domestic violence, rape, and child abuse.  As I walked, I prayed.  I prayed for all those who need help in those ways.  And even though there were other people around me walking and talking, I silently prayed.  And because these physical actions accompanied prayers, I was experiencing  Embodied Prayer .  "My feet were praying." You see, our bodies can be places where prayer is actively happening. We can use...

Here I am in Lily Dale in the heart of winter.  We have had windchills that make it below zero at times and snow up to our crown chakras.  Jack Frost and Old Man Winter seem to enjoy visiting our part of the world a lot and they are guests that are very demanding physically (I think the snowshovel is still frozen to my mitten).   So when the wintery blasts are at their most fierce, my meditations start to take on a decidedly tropical theme --- I go to the BEACH and bliss out.  Thankfully, I have had the opportunity to visit a few of the beaches in my time here on the Earth plane.  At first glance, one might think that all beaches are the same -- just an accumulation of sand and water.  But for me, it is so much more. A beach is where land and water and sky meet.  A beach is magical.  And each beach is unique - some have: course gravel-like sand that is perfect for hatching sea turtles pure white sand that doesn't hold hea...

As I mentioned in my other Mind Focus blog posts, training the mind can be an important key to meditation. Now, we come to the mind focus exercise called The Braid . A braid is a complex structure or pattern formed by intertwining three or more strands of flexible material such as textile fibers (rope, yarn, & ribbon), wire, or human hair. Braiding also occurs in nature when rivers and small streams join together and redivide in many places. How does this help us in meditation? Braids are often used figuratively to represent interweaving or combination, such as in "She braided many different ideas into a new whole." We can use braiding to help focus our minds with the following technique. First, get something to braid with. Three pieces of string or yarn will do. My suggestion is to start with a length of 12 to 18 inches. You can always upgrade to a longer length later. Tie the strings together at the top and attach securely to something so you can have tension on the st...

Mind focus and concentration techniques are extremely helpful when training the mind. This series is devoted to nullifying what I call "Monkey Mind". Before doing the following mind focus exercise, please read the other posts Mind Focus and Mind Focus Exercise: The Rose . For those of you who enjoy achieving goals, this one is for you! Set a timer for one minute. Hold one thought in your mind (such as the Rose image from the previous mind focus exercise). If any thoughts other than the image intrude, return to the image. Each random thought that enters the mind is given a number. When one minute is up, see how many random thoughts you had in those 60 seconds. The goal is to have a very low number. As you practice, you may go from 25 random thoughts, to 14, to 2!!! It’s difficult, but it works! To make this easier, let your logic space of the brain do the counting. [It will be like a little gnome off to the side recording your random thoughts with hashmarks on a chalkboard.] ...

I am blessed to have a wonderful husband who has a creative and inquisitive mind and who supports my blogging endeavors and other work. Occasionally he offers some very definite opinions about them. For instance, he thinks I should have a cool and catchy name for my blog. (I suppose 'Willa White's Blog' is a bit plain-Jane, but it works for me, for now.) My hubby has suggested many possible names --- sparking off some very interesting and humorous discussions. But yesterday, during one of his blogname brainstorming sessions, he asked, "What do you call the place you go when you meditate?" "My reading room," I replied dryly. He said, "No, the place . Like nirvana. Like a heavenly space." He paused and then with great excitement he declared, "Meditation Station." Now, I'm not quite ready to call my blog "Meditation Station", but I love his suggestion of what to call the place we go to in meditation. And more importantly ...

As I have mentioned before, mind focus and concentration techniques are extremely helpful when training the mind. By training the mind to focus at will, you will be able to meditate more effectively and connect with your Divine self more readily. In fact, I feel that one should practice mind focus before embarking on a meditation routine. When the mind has been trained in this way, you nullify extraneous mental chatter and shift into conscious awareness of your soul's power. I usually refer to this 'chatter' as Monkey Mind - your mind jumps around like a monkey, bouncing from 'the car needs an oil change' to 'must buy milk at store' to 'my pants have a piece of lint on them' to 'my elbow itches' and so on. Meditating with an untrained mind is like trying to stop a ricocheting bullet! So here is a great first exercise . . . Visualize a rose. It can be in any state of bloom: a sweet tender bud a rose just beginning to open a rose in full bloom ...

Concentration : (definition) giving one’s full attention and focus to one point, one object, one condition; directing the mind to one common center It is important to be able to focus the mind on the highest and best in mediumship to ensure quality message work. With a focused mind, the medium can reach high vibration levels easily and readily. Also, it is of the upmost importance that the medium practice focus to also be able to direct with precision to areas of desired information --- for example, asking to tune in on a specific area of concern for yourself or someone else or reach the vibration of a specific loved one or to access divine guidance. Practice is the key to focus at will a.k.a. using the strength of the free will. I will be posting mind focus and concentration techniques soon, as well as some intuitive practice exercises. Many of these exercises are from the classes and workshops I have taught. Over the years, several students have given me feedback about them, so I kn...