Does the phrase Mindful Leadership make you visualize a professional in an executive suit sitting cross-legged on the ground, eyes shut, chanting away in search of solutions for his team and organization?

I won’t be surprised if you answered yes. Many of us confuse mindfulness enhancing activities with meditation and similar Eastern practices.

Mindfulness is more than that. It is the end product of these practices providing us with the ability to be aware of both ourselves and our environment.

Put simply, mindfulness is the ability to see with clarity, free from habitual ways of thinking and reacting. The ability to see clearly on demand can be enhanced by cultivating attention in a non-judgmental way, insight, and skillful actions that create conditions to support mindfulness in everyday activities.

Mindfulness is about actively paying attention to what is actually happening in the moment, in order to respond with integrity and thus remain focused on our strategic results.

This enhances our ability to succeed in today’s ever more dynamic and complex world.

One of the best ways to develop the skill of mindfulness is indeed through the habit of meditation.

It should not come as a surprise that many corporate mindfulness training programs incorporate this technique and its variants to improve executive self-awareness, focus, ability to manage stress and other emotional intelligence skills that we need to cope with the changing corporate environment.

I’m a strong advocate of meditation for building resilience, stress management and improved focus, I benefited greatly from it during my accounting trainee days in London while holding down a full-time job and preparing for some of the world’s most difficult examinations.

I admit I was the butt of many a joke and playful ribbing, when I would use my lunch break to close my eyes for 20 minutes. My colleagues teased me about my ‘Om’ sessions.

Perhaps I should have told them I was taking a Power Nap like FDR instead. It doesn’t matter because they could see the difference in me and my high energy levels and focus.

20 years later, a study by J.C. Arias The effects of meditation on executives’ performance in business organizations (Business Intelligence Journal, 2008) demonstrated a relationship between meditation practice and stress reduction, change assimilation, conflict management, and leadership performance.

His findings include the following:

• Meditation practice is positively related to reduction of executives’ stress levels
• Formal practice of meditation is positively related to the development of changes assimilation capability on executives’ performance in business organizations
• Gains in executives’ capabilities to managing conflicts within business organizations environment increase, as the practice of meditation oriented towards cultivating compassion is introduced
• Gains in executives’ leadership performance within business organizations increase by introducing formal practice of meditation oriented to develop compassion

Please note this study did not put much emphasis on mindfulness or how meditation could enhance the quality of leadership.

In fact, most of the time, the reference to becoming mindful and exercising Mindful Leadership means developing Emotional Intelligence and a high Emotional Quotient (EQ).

Did you know that Daniel Goleman’s term and book by the same name Emotional Intelligence (1995) was inspired by Buddhism?

Goleman states that a low level of EQ usually stems from a lack of self-awareness.

Now here is where things get interesting because self-awareness is highly relevant to that of mindfulness, an attentive awareness of the reality of things in the present moment, which is a core element in Buddhism!

Mindfulness is typically cultivated through a practice of meditation, self-reflection and letting go of our egos and judgmental nature so we can see reality in front of us.

Mindful leadership is becoming more of a staple in companies’ leadership training programs and is considered a necessary topic in most management training classes.

Although mindfulness training is just recently being considered in today’s leadership training, it’s not a new idea. Mindful Stress Reduction programs have been used by some medical facilities to treat chronically ill patients and had huge success. Now, it’s being used to treat healthy people and to keep them from developing stress issues in their lives.

Mindfulness is gaining wide attention now because organizations are becoming more cognizant of what effective leadership is all about. Findings are that the best leaders are self-aware and centered in their self-confidence and capabilities.

When potential leaders learn how to focus on one task at a time and turn their attention to the larger vision rather than numerous small tasks, they tend to become much more effective managers and leaders.

Practicing Mindful Leadership teaches leaders to pay attention to the present moment, recognizing their feelings and emotions and keeping them under control.

Bill George, who is one of the major advocates of this subject, suggests that among several ways to practice mindfulness, meditation is the most introspective way.

That makes sense considering how many distractions we face in the modern world. Not to mention the human mind’s tendency to wandering thoughts, whether we’re commuting to and from work or even in the workplace, especially if one works in an open office space.

In such situations mindfulness can help us regain our focus for the task at hand and our interactions with colleagues. We can take effective decisions for enhancing productivity which ultimately leads to improved results.

Mindful leadership is complimentary to Daniel Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence (EI) which is widely accepted as the best predictor of leadership success in business today.

2 equally good options if you don’t want to meditate

I’m a strong advocate of meditation for general well-being, reducing stress and taking back control of our thoughts and actions.

Yet, I appreciate meditation is not everyone’s cup of tea. It won’t work for folks who find it challenging to stay put in 1 place for a full 20 minutes on a daily basis.

I believe we need to find a method that helps us to stay focused and aware of our actions as well as of others.

Focus can be developed while still staying in the realm of meditation by using the power of breathing and observation. I’ve described it in my post Soothe your mind with nature walking meditation. (You don’t have to be in nature to do this, just improvise.)

In that post the exercise I’ve shared will help you to start actively noticing your surroundings. You might just observe something that will alter your perception of your experience.

With practice, you can transfer it to observing people’s behavior. I guarantee you will start to see things that weren’t visible before and adapt your behavior to get desired outcomes.

A second option is to invest your time and energy in raising your Emotional Quotient which will definitely aid you in demonstrating Mindful Leadership Skills. I suggest my course Emotional Intelligence – The Basics for Professional Success.

Your turn, what technique do you use as a mindful leader to bring out the best in you and your team?

Experiencing a restless mind? Guess what? It happens to all of us from time to time.

There are days when despite one’s best intentions we find it difficult to sit still with our eyes closed and meditate. Our mind rushing all over the place.

Considering that the entire objective of meditation is to help calm the mind, what does one do when the mind is too active to settle down?

What if you need activity rather than sitting or lying down in 1 place?

You have choices. One is to engage in chakra balancing exercises or you can do what Miss Coco and I do.

This week, Miss Coco joins me to introduce you to nature walking meditation. I often practice in the mornings while walking little Coco around the compound.

Sometimes I do it also in the late afternoon when my energy levels and attention power are at an ebb. From what I can make out, Coco does it along with me!

Meditation for folks who really cannot sit with their eyes closed

Miss Coco’s view on Nature Walking Meditation

This is how we do it and you can too.

As with regular meditation, I focus on my breathing. Since I’m walking and cannot close my eyes, I inhale consciously, aware of the air filling in my lungs. Then exhale, imagining that I am sending out any negative or irrelevant thoughts of my mind.

I know this step is working when I experience a sense of weight being lifted off my shoulders and a sudden sense of energy.

It’s also a great time to focus on one’s posture and body movements. I like to imagine that a string is pulling me from the top of my head and I walk with my back straight.

This helps a lot if you have a job where you might be spending hours in front of the desk or a computer. (Do you have control over your work space stress? Find out with this quiz)

Coco likes to stop every now and then to look around and I’ve learned that a walk is more than a walk; it is a chance to notice my surroundings.

It never ceases to amaze me how there are things that I miss while walking the same path on my way home but when we do our nature meditation, our route seems to come alive!

I notice the trees where little leaf buds are emerging and the new flowers that have blossomed since the previous morning walk.

It isn’t just the colors and changes in the scenery; I become aware of the sounds around me. I can hear 3 to 4 different types of birds each conversing with its flock!

There is a symphony of twitters with pigeons, mynas, parrots, crows and even the little house sparrow joining in!

Sometimes, if we are out early enough, we can hear the laughter of the Senior Citizens Laughter Club members in the park behind my housing compound and I start to laugh while Coco looks on in amusement and wags her tail.

Our main walk ends when we reach the back lawns and that is a wonderful time to reflect on the walk and the thoughts and feelings that I experienced.

I make it more personal by closing my eyes and facing the Sun, chant the Hindu mantra invoking the strength of the Sun God and request the Sun to destroy any negativity that may be attached to my aura and to strengthen it.

In addition to the spiritual aspect this is an excellent way to get a good dose of Vitamin D too.

This is also a good time to use Tool #4 from my post on combating the Fear Bug by walking  barefoot letting the soft grass under the feet help to ground oneself for the rest of the day.

We continue to look at nature with the lovely birds that by now have been joined by squirrels and perhaps other early morning walkers who wave to us.

I usually use this time to also engage in a mental exercise of gratitude for all that I have experienced and the sensations and feelings that I will be taking into the rest of the day.

The beauty of this kind of nature walking meditation is that you can enhance it and make it your own. The core ingredients are focused breathing, awareness of your surroundings, self and reflection. The rest of it is up to you.

Have you ever tried nature walking meditation?

If you were to do the nature walking meditation, what additional rituals would you add to enhance your meditation experience? Tell me in the comments box below!

PS. Need more help? If physical activity is more your style for stress management, then my Stress Management Bundle Stress Management with Chakra Balancing exercises will help.

Click here to get details of the Stress Management Self-Help Bundle.

Need more personalized help? Contact me and let us see how we can get your stress management skills optimized.

Update on Miss Coco December 2021

When I first wrote or rather co-wrote this blog post with the lovely Miss Coco, the thought that she would leave for the rainbow bridge someday was far from my mind.

Sadly, that event took place on 5th January 2021 and I invite you to read and comment on my tribute post to Miss Coco here.

I also wrote a book about her antics and the life and especially spiritual lessons she taught me from beyond the veil in this Kindle ebook. I invite you to download it and definitely leave a review!

Meditation is a powerful stress management tool, especially if you feel you are heading for a burnout.

Yet many times, our teachers don’t tell us about the danger of becoming spiritually fried or the changes in our sense of well-being caused by activating our Upper Chakras without proper balancing.

Way back in 1988 when I learned Transcendental Meditation, I didn’t know anything about grounding or centering practices. My teacher did not think it necessary to tell me about it either.

That part came from experiencing the side effects. Looking back, I am grateful for it.

I now know how to get the benefits of meditation without the bonus of going whacky. Sometimes too much of a good thing can be harmful.

In fact, the Muse for my blog post about things that can go wrong while meditating –  When Meditation Goes Wrong (please click to read post) and what one should do in such a situation was a client who had signed up for a Mindfulness Meditation course. She experienced utter discomfort that required Chakra balancing.

In that blog post I provide 11 solutions that can be safely applied if there is discomfort following meditation. I highly recommend you’re reading it if you are exploring meditation as a tool for stress management.

Keeping our Chakras balanced is equally important as a tool for stress management. You get some simple exercises as well as a meditation that won’t send you out of whack in my ebook Stress Management with Chakra Balancing Exercises .

Got Extra Meditation Energy? Store It within Tan T’ien!

In this post, I am going to share a technique that is related to storing the spiritual energy generated by meditation for use as required.

You will learn how to send the energy into your lower Tan T’ien which corresponds to the yoga concept of Swadhisthana Chakra. It is believed to be the seat of prana that radiates outwards to the entire body.

Tan T’ien or Dantian is an energy center, an important focal point for the meditative and exercise techniques such as t’ai chi’uan, quigong, martial arts and other traditional Chinese medicine.

There are supposed to be 3 Tan T’ien in the human body. Of these, the lower Tan T’ien is particularly important as it is the focal point of breathing techniques as well as the centre of balance and gravity.

The lower Tan T’ien is considered to be the foundation of rooted standing, breathing, and body awareness in Quigong and Martial Arts. It is alluded to as the root of the Tree of Life.

The lower Tan T’ien is located an inch or two below your belly button, in your navel, few inches deep inside your body. It’s a place where all life energy is stored and transferred, being sent to areas of your body when it’s needed at the time.

I recommend releasing the excessive energy created during meditation or other spiritual practices that activate the Upper Chakras by blessing others or by sending the surplus energy back to the lower Tan T’ien area.

This way, you get the full benefit of meditation for stress management without creating further complications for yourself.

The Practice of Tan T’ien

Let us start by first locating your lower Tan T’ien.

For this, you need to stand up and bend your knees a bit. Then close your eyes, keep yourself relaxed and begin breathing with your diaphragm. Focus on the area of your navel and in a few seconds you will become aware of your lower Tan T’ien inside your body.

If that feels difficult, you can check this short YouTube Video and try this exercise.

To do the practice, place your right palm on the Tan T’ien area and then place your left palm on your right palm. With your eyes closed, breathe gently.

Intend the energy that is in excess or not needed elsewhere, to flow into lower Tan T’ien and remain there until required. Keep that intention for about a minute or two. Don’t over analyze about which energies to send there – your subconscious mind will do the needful.

Then after 1-2 minutes, make 5 gentle circles with your hands around the Tan T’ien area, clockwise and then counter- clockwise.

Voila, it is done!

This simple yet very potent and beneficial practice hardly takes a few minutes. Try it the next time you do a spiritual or energy practice and see the difference.

Do you use any grounding or centering practices that are similar in benefit? Please do share in the comments box below!

Additional Resource: Try The Karmic Ally Coaching Burnout Self Test

The self-assessment also has tips to provide you with immediate actions to control your stress levels.

The original version of this post was published on my blogger blog in May 2014 and has been revised for new information to help the reader.

Does Stress Make You Into a Fire-breathing Dragon?

Be honest, don’t you get irritated when you’re stressed out, and a friend, parent or partner tells us to take a deep breath or count to ten?

Actually it does work, you know.

At some point of time each one of us has done the deep breathing or counting to ten or even twenty before blowing off steam like Fred Flintstone.

Unless one is having a bout of asthma or is wheezing after climbing 3 flights of stairs in poor health, and other breathless activities, we often don’t pay much attention to it.

Apart from keeping us alive, proper breathing is essential when exercising, doing yoga or preparing for meditation. Proper breathing provides adequate amounts of oxygen to the body reducing the fight or flight response when faced with stress or panic.

For any practitioner of meditation, the first step is to strengthen the connection between mind and body.

The first stage of meditation is to remove distractions and make your mind clear and calm. This can be accomplished by practicing a simple breathing exercise.

Simple breathing exercise to clear your mind of distractions

The nutshell version of the breath exercise:

The detailed version of the breathing exercise

First select a quiet place to meditate and sit in a comfortable position. You can sit in the traditional cross-legged posture or in any other position that is comfortable. If you wish, sit in a chair. The important thing is to be comfortable.

Make the experience more enjoyable by creating an atmosphere conducive for meditation by lighting incense or using an aroma burner with your favorite aroma oil.  

Sit with your eyes closed and focus your attention on your breathing. Breathe naturally, through the nostrils and out of the mouth.

Do not try to control your breath. Focus on the sensations you feel as the breath enters and leaves your body. This sensation is your object of meditation.

In the beginning you might find your mind wandering off in which case gently bring your focus back to your breathing. Repeat this as many times as necessary until the mind settles and focuses on the breath. Followed regularly, you will start to feel rejuvenated.

Don’t be surprised if you start to fall asleep after the meditation.

It is your body’s way of telling you that there has been too much stress and emotions bottled up and with the release comes relaxation.

You will notice that your thinking becomes clearer and more capable of handling stressors without resorting to the deep breath technique. This is something that I noticed in the early days of practicing Transcendental Meditation.

Even though breathing meditation is only a preliminary stage of meditation, it can be quite powerful.

Do you practice meditation or do breathing exercises? What difference has it made to your health and general well-being? 

To know more about meditation as a tool for stress management, please click on the Link to read my post titled Meditation as a Tool for Stress Management.

Looking for a robust self-solution to managing your stress levels? I’ve got you covered!

Written by: Vatsala Shukla

My furry friend and Muse, Coco and I share a special relationship. We go for walks together, watch Master Chef Australia when in season, do Doga and play with the soft toys that she has in her basket.

More importantly, we provide each other with companionship and support nourished by mutual empathetic perception. We understand each other’s world.

A recent example of empathetic perception came up this week. My internet service provider upgraded their server last Sunday rendering connectivity near to impossible for the whole week. In a day and age where internet connectivity is as important as having a telephone connection was 30 years ago, my situation was not a happy one.

The customer service kept saying “I feel your pain/situation/” but did not sound as if they did.

Coco, however, knew otherwise. Whenever I tried my multiple attempts to logon and get a connection, she would sit by my feet. Sensing my frustration when I could not get through, bring out different toys and place them at my feet. No demands to play, just demonstrations that she was willing to share her toys to make me feel better.

She stepped into my world and demonstrated empathetic perception. This requires becoming the other person, experiencing their consciousness and the sensations that they experience. In other words, see, feel and experience the world the way they experience it.

We humans can acquire empathetic perception too using visualization – leaving our body and putting aside our experience of our Self, beliefs and our perspectives and try to feel the other person’s existence and perspectives in our Self. See and feel the world the way they experience it.

Today, I am sharing a simple exercise to develop this skill and ability to demonstrate empathetic perception. Once developed, this skill is yours forever. It can be used in different situations to help and guide those whom you meet during the course of your journey through life. It’s an important element in developing your emotional intelligence too. 

An exercise to develop empathetic perception

The best way to do this exercise is to go to a garden or park; surround yourself with nature and other life forms. Select a time and quiet place where you will not be disturbed during your practice. I also suggest drinking a glass of water first to calm your emotions and then, close your eyes and take 3 deep breaths. Visualize a white cleansing smoke entering your body and with each exhalation, it is carrying out any perceptions, beliefs and conditioning that might interfere with your practice of empathetic perception.

Choose a living object to focus on. It could be a tree, a flower, bird (if still enough), squirrel, cat, dog etc. With your eyes open and gazing gently upon the life form, merge with, visualize and become this life form for 3 to 5 minutes. Allow whatever thoughts and impressions arise in your mind to come, but keep your attention on your chosen object; visualizing and becoming it. Do this daily for a week. You might want to also keep a journal to record your experiences.

The results might surprise you if you chose to this exercise with small animals.

Contrary to what you might have heard or read before; animals do have thoughts. Tibetan Buddhists have known this for a long time.

Visualizing on the animal their thoughts will become apparent to you. Pet parents often say that they know exactly what their pet kid is thinking without exchanging any verbal communication. The empathetic alignment is so strong in this case, that both parties are able to communicate through thoughts!

With practice, you will be able to use this skill in understanding your fellow human being companions and enriching your relationships with them. In sensitive times, a word or sentence spoken innocently can be taken wrongly. Sometimes a hug works better than telling the person going through their pain that you understand their pain. That is a no-no.

Pain, frustration and grief are very personal, our lives are lived through our perception. Before you tell someone you ‘feel’ their pain or know what they are going through, make sure you are actually able to feel and understand the other person’s situation.

I invite you to try this exercise and see how it works. Then come back and share your experiences with me. 

Written by:    Vatsala Shukla

Chakra Balancing courtesy Karmic Ally Coaching

Long time Readers of the blog know that I love recommending meditation in some form or the other as a cure for most stress related problems, as an energy booster and for balancing Chakras. So what’s with this Handy Tools for Meditation?

Sitting in your chosen meditation position, what do you do with your hands? Some of us join the tips of the thumb and index finger of each hand keeping the other 3 fingers straight and place them on our lap; others may simply place their hands on their lap and focus on the meditation.

What both hand positions have in common is that they are Mudras – hand tools for meditation and have a deeper significance than may appear on first thought.

Mudras are important in yoga and meditation. The position of the hands affects the circulation of energy in the Chakras and Meridians within the human energy system.

In this blog post, I’m sharing some Mudras which can enhance your meditation experience and assist with Chakra Balancing, which I have affectionately termed Handy Tools for Meditation.

The Index Finger and Thumb Mudra is the most familiar hand & finger position and one that is used most often. This Mudra helps to stimulate the upper Chakras more than the lower Chakras and activates the flow of Divine Light upwards.

However, if you are practicing Chakra Balancing and are not sure of the state of your Chakra balance, I suggest the Chinmaya Mudra, which is the same as the above except that the other 3 fingers are folded in touching the palm for a more grounding meditation.

If you wish to stimulate your lower Chakras more than the upper Chakras and also awaken the lower sources of prana & Kundalini compared to the Divine Light, then touching the Middle Finger with the Thumb is the right Mudra for you. Since we are dealing with Chakra energy, one must be careful in using this Mudra, especially if one is of a materialistic nature as it further energizes those tendencies.

The Triple Finger Mudra provides a solution to the side-effects or possible adverse results of the above Mudras balancing both the upper and lower Chakras with a more grounding effect. Here the top of the Thumb, Index and Middle Fingers are joined while the Ring and Little Fingers are folded touching the palm.

Enhance the meditation experience with the Anjali Mudra – Heart Meditation Position. Here, the palms and fingers are connected and held together at the centre of the chest – the heart level. This Mudra activates the heart center and is good for practitioners who are on the more intellectual side and wish to develop their heart center. It assists in balancing the mental nature with the loving nature described in Bhakti Yoga – devotion to the Divine. It is the Mudra used by Hindus during prayers. A variation of this Mudra, also used in prayer is clasping the hands and tips of the fingers folded into the knuckle area.

If you are focusing on Chakra Balancing, try the Dhyan Mudra which helps to avoid energy congestion in the different Chakras. The left hand is placed on top of the right hand with the tips of the thumbs touching each other. The hands are placed at the navel level. Here the joined thumbs acts like a switch to circulate energy through the front and back meridians and in the different energy chakras during meditation. By changing the thumb direction, we can direct energy upwards or downwards as required.

In a situation where there is too much energy in your body and you wish to de-congest your stress energy, the right hand should be placed on top of the left with the tips of the thumbs joined. The same procedure as the Dhyan Mudra is followed with the exception that here, you are releasing excessive energy during the meditation.

So far, the Mudras that I have described also affect your Aura. If you desire a simple relaxing meditation without awakening the forces of the aura, you can place your right hand on top of the left hand on your lap or the left hand on top of the right hand and commence your relaxation meditation. This incidentally is my favorite Mudra when practicing Transcendental Meditation.

Do these Mudras actually work? Well, the only way you will find out is if you try them! So, the next time you meditate; do try the Mudra that you are attracted to intuitively. Maybe your body is telling you where you need balance and focus.

Please do come back and share your experiences in the comments box. I would love to know how it went!

Want to learn simple Chakra Balancing exercises that help with Stress Management? Click here to view Karmic Ally Coaching’s Stress Management with Chakra Balancing Exercises.

Written by: Vatsala Shukla

Believers in the Law of Attraction know the value and role of Gratitude in achieving their goals and desires.

But did you know that Gratitude also helps to heal the mind and body and align the Soul with the Universe bringing good abundance and prosperity?

Like attracts Like.  If you really believe in good, then even when things are not going the way you want them to, the Universe responds by sending you help.

Being genuinely grateful helps to raise your vibrations and attract that which is good for you.

Doing any activity that makes you feel positive assists in taking your game to the next level.

Part of feeling sincere gratitude for what you do have is acknowledging and recognizing the true value of what is available to you and not, what is not.

I often ask my clients in their kick-off session to list what is working for them, the positives and then later, what is not working.

The results of this exercise always lead to a breakthrough and clarity for action. The changes in one’s attitude, particularly towards other people is amazing.

Simple yet unique Way to raise your vibrations every day

Here is a simple way to raise your vibrations and supplement your Gratitude Journal. I read about it years ago and find from experience that it works.

This simple spiritual practice which I understand was first shared by His Holiness, The Dalai Lama. It’s a wonderful way to start the day and sets the tone for much happiness. It also helps to teach the Soul the important attribute of Compassion.

Spend five minutes at the beginning of each day remembering that we all want the same things, (to be happy and loved) and that we are all connected to one another.

Spend 5 minutes breathing in – cherishing yourself, then breathing out – cherishing others.

An important point here is to include those people whom you find difficult to deal with. I find that if I do that sincerely enough, a change does come about in my relations and interactions with them.

Continue this practice during the day with everyone you meet, no matter how important or not important they are, whether you like them or not.

There is no hard and fast rule about expression; try a simple Good Morning, a smile or even a wave of the hand.

Continue this practice no matter what happens during the day and what anyone does to you.

You will notice that at the end of the day, you will have more items to put in your Gratitude Journal – guaranteed!

Try it and do come back to share how your day went.

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After you place your order and confirm payment you will be redirected to a “thank you” page where you can immediately download this Gratitude Offer.

If for some reason you’re not redirected, please send me an email at vatsala(at)karmicallycoaching(dot)com with details of your purchase. I’ll get a link to you asap.

Since Karmic Ally Coaching is offering non-tangible irrevocable goods, we don’t issue refunds once the order is accomplished & access is granted to the product. As a customer, you are responsible for understanding this upon purchasing any item from this website.  If you have any questions or concerns, please ask in advance of purchase at vatsala(at)karmicallycoaching(dot)com.

Years ago, I worked for a boss who was convinced I was psychic. A complete political animal, he was getting ready to promote one of his protégé’s by giving him credit for my work.

It started with an innocent enough instruction that I needed to document my knowledge and create pro-forma financial statements based on my specialization.

Considering we had a technical team and a global resource base, I found it strange. I asked him if he was planning to replace me.

Stunned silence and lots of denials followed. 6 months later, I resigned to pursue greener and more inviting pastures. While he was signing off on my paperwork, the soon to be ex-boss asked me how I had known.

Was I psychic?

I smiled and told him that was a secret.

In fact, it was my intuition developed through a regular practice of meditation and the application of emotional intelligence to the situation which I talk about at length in my post about the role of intuition in strengthening Emotional Intelligence.

Here’s another simpler example.

Remember when you were a child and would come upset from school and your Mom or Dad immediately knew something was wrong. They would manage to get the truth out of you.

Didn’t you think they were psychic? I did!

Are you psychic or possess highly powerful intuition?

Believe it or not, but we are all intuitive, some of us more than others. This comparative divide can be reduced by practicing the art of meditation which heightens the dormant extra sensory perception or ESP.

A person may possess all of these latent gifts or just the one which the vehicle by which our intuition communicates with us. When one starts to work on one’s spiritual development, these gifts start to come to the fore.

The best way to develop intuition and open up channels for communication with the sub-conscious mind is through daily meditation.

The activity of meditation or chakra balancing even if for 5 minutes a day also helps reduce stress.  Even if you are not looking to develop your psychic gifts.

The fringe benefit of meditation is you start noticing things that you did not earlier (like I did with my ex-boss). You’ll find coincidences taking place more frequently than before.

You might meet people whom you have not met for a long time but were thinking of them shortly afterwards. How about thinking about finding a taxi at night and having one arrive where you are standing. The list goes on!

Intuitive ESP assists in getting direction from one’s God-Mind.

Regular practice of meditation improves intuitive ESP. Once it becomes a second nature, you can rely upon it when meeting new people, tuning into other people or seeking self-direction.

Dr Hens Salye, considered the father of stress awareness defined stress as the rate of wear and tear within the body. He identified two types of stress; Eustress (positive or healthy stress and Distress (negative stress).

Generally speaking, stress can be caused by our need to adapt physically, mentally and emotionally to a change. Media articles often talk about stress and the need to manage stress. The remedies suggested implicitly and often explicitly give stress a negative connotation.

Candle gazing meditation