Harmony Institute Newsletter, January 2003 Greetings from the Harmony Institute! I hope this newsletter finds you in happiness and good health. Well I promised that I wouldn't crowd your email inbox with lots of mail, and it indeed has been a while since my last newsletter. I won't produce a newsletter unless there's news to share, and there certainly is now! In this edition: 1) New Discussion Forum on Harmony Institute Website! 2) The PeaceMobile is Coming! 3) Gary to Appear on "Mysteries of the Mind" 4) Big Discounts for Friends of the Harmony Institute at the Peace Shoppe 5) Article: The Importance of Relaxation, and Some Deep Relaxation Techniques 6) Links of the Day 1) New Discussion Forum at The Harmony Institute Web Site This is another very exciting project. It's taken quite a while to get it going. The new Discussion Forum on the Harmony Institute web site is a place where you can discuss a variety of topics, ask questions, answer other people's questions, and raise issues. If you've ever participated in a discussion forum, you know it is one of the most powerful aspects of the Internet. It enables people to exchange ideas in a way that was never possible before. I am very excited to launch this new feature of the web site TODAY. The discussions are arranged by topic, such as Unity of Religions Peace, Politics and Religion Spirituality The Mind: Meditation and Hypnosis Science and Religion The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Essenes Renewable Energy and The Environment I will do my best to monitor the discussions and throw in my opinions whenever possible. I hope that you will contribute because I know from your correspondences that you all have so many good things to say! I know that it's harder to start a discussion than to jump into one that's already started. Right now the discussions are essentially empty, because the site was just launched today and this Newsletter is the first announcement of it. To encourage you to participate, every week we'll give away a prize to the person who contributes the most. You can click on the "Discussion Forum" button on the left side of every Harmony Institute web page, or click below to go directly there: http://www.theharmonyinstitute.org/bbs/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi 2) The PeaceMobile is Coming! The PeaceMobile is a new project of the Harmony Institute that is extremely exciting to me. Remember the Book Mobile? Well the PeaceMobile is taking that concept to new heights, and beyond. The Harmony Institute promotes many ideals such as religious tolerance, spirituality, equal rights, environmental issues, and others. What better way to get the word out than to fill a bus with books, demonstration materials, and other educational aids related to these subjects and travel around to spread the information! The PeaceMobile will offer demonstrations and classes to schools and other organizations on a variety of subjects. It will also attend events and provide information to anyone who knocks. I started working on this plan, looking for a vehicle and doing research on different kinds of vehicles, when I came across something very interesting and exciting. I found out that diesel engines don't only run on diesel fuel. "Biodiesel" is a fuel that is derived from vegetable oil instead of petroleum oil and it is available in many areas. It burns cleaner, pollutes less, and decreases dependence on foreign oil. It is even possible to make a small modification to a diesel engine and it will run on pure vegetable oil! There is a vehicle called the Veggie Van that drove across the country on vegetable oil that restaurants were throwing away! Needless to say, when I read about this I considered it a perfect fit for the PeaceMobile. Since The Harmony Institute promotes anything that preserves our natural resources, it would be hypocritical to drive around in a gas guzzling bus. The biodiesel option not only lets us walk our talk but it will hopefully turn some other people on to the idea. Tune in to future editions of the Newsletter for pictures of the bus and reports on the maiden voyage. There will soon be a web page all about the PeaceMobile on the Harmony Institute's web site. See the Links section below for more information on biodiesel. 3) Gary to Appear on "Mysteries of the Mind" this week Mysteries of the Mind is a radio program that discusses a variety of topics. As stated on their web site, host Alex Merklinger and his guests guide you through the unfolding of life's mysteries, offer answers to provocative questions, and continue to pave the way for other seekers of Universal knowledge. Mysteries of the Mind has had many respected guests including Dan Millman, author of "The Way of the Peaceful Warrior" (I only mention Dan because I'm reading that book right now and it's great!) This coming week I will return for my second appearance on the show. The date hasn't been set but I will send out a short announcement when that has been determined. Online listening will be available. For more information about the show, see: http://www.mysteriesofthemind.com 4) Big Discounts at The Harmony Institute's web site! If you receive this Newsletter, you're considered a Friend of the Harmony Institute, and for that alone, you deserve a deal on my book and the other products available on the web site. I've set up a discount area in the Peace Shoppe where everything is marked down significantly. To access this restricted area, click on the link at the end of this section. You will be prompted for an ID and password. The ID is "coupon" and the password is "namaste." This will bring you to a mirror of the Peace Shoppe, but the prices are much lower. For example, my book which is usually $14.95 is marked down to $10.00! I'm doing it at this time because I feel it is urgent to get the message out now. The world is on the verge of war, and religion is intertwined with many of the issues and causes. If we can get more people to realize the common bonds and similarities between the religions, maybe we can have an effect. With the reduced prices, hopefully some of you will pick up a few extra copies of the book, or some stickers or shirts, and spread the message in your own way. I dropped the prices as low as possible so that you could even resell the products if you wanted to. I also dropped the prices for you, the Friends of the Harmony Institute, just as a way to say thanks for your support. It's been a little over a year now since the book was published and I really appreciate the letters, emails, and all the kind words that you have sent to me. Even those of you that have simply signed up for the Newsletter, your interest in the subject alone is greatly appreciated. Here is a link to the special discount area. Remember the ID is "coupon" and the password is "namaste." http://theharmonyinstitute.org/coupon 5) The Importance of Deep Relaxation, by Gary Beckwith In today's world we are increasingly running out of time. It seems we have more to do and less time to do it. Both parents work in most families today, and we're always running errands, rushing off to work, cleaning the house, and when we finally finish, it's time to sleep so we can get up in the morning and do it again. Certainly everyone doesn't live this way, but does it sound familiar to you? If so, you're not alone. Recent surveys show that the one thing people want more of is time. Time to relax, time to spend with their family, and time to pursue their interests. I recently read that the two most widely prescribed drugs are for stress. What I'd like to share with you today is another, even more effective treatment for stress - deep relaxation. As stresses increase, it becomes more important to relax. If your life is already peaceful and blissful, you don't need to set aside time to relax because you're already doing it. But for those of us who face more and more responsibilities and stress, relaxation becomes vital to our well-being. Studies prove that just a few minutes of simple relaxation can completely change a person's emotions and outlook for the rest of the day. Not only that, health studies also show that relaxation has a positive effect the immune system, and the rate of recovery from illness. Entire books are written on the importance of relaxation. I want to give you a few simple techniques to help you relax. It may seem that you simply don't have a few minutes to set aside each day for relaxation, but you do. This is because when you relax, you will work more efficiently afterwards. You will be more focused and complete your tasks in less time. If you relax deeply, you will even find that you can sleep less and have more energy, thus creating more time in your day to complete your tasks. Now that I've (hopefully) convinced you that relaxation time is available, set aside just a few minutes in the middle of your day. Even if you only can spare 5 minutes, take it. Find a quiet place. Even if you're in a work environment, there's usually an empty meeting room somewhere. Go to the quiet place, shut the door, and dim the lights if possible. Sit in a comfortable position, even lay down if you want, but don't fall asleep, because you won't get the benefits of deep relaxation. There's no secret to deep relaxation. Here are some simple guidelines that anyone can follow. The basic idea is to relax both your body and your mind, one at a time. It's generally advised to start with your body. You've probably heard this before - take a few deep breaths, and then focus your attention on your toes, imagining the muscles in them completely letting go and relaxing. Imagine the muscles are loose and limp, like you couldn't even move them if you wanted to. Then do your feet, legs, arms, torso, shoulders, neck, face and head. At first, it's best to do this rather slowly but as you get more experience, you may find you can relax your entire body in just a few seconds. Now that your body is relaxed, it's your mind's turn. There's no secret to this either. The simplest thing to do is to focus your breath. Feel the air going in and out your nostrils. Each time you breathe in, imagine that you are breathing in relaxation. Each time you're breathing out, imagine all your cares and worries leaving your body with the breath. No matter how real your worries may be, allow yourself this brief time to let it go. You deserve it! You can worry about it later if you need to. Another mind exercise is to repeat a phrase over and over again in your mind. Something simple like "I'm relaxed now," is fine. You can even simply count backwards from 100. It doesn't matter if you focus on breathing, counting, or a repeated phrase, the key is this - just keep focusing on it! Your mind will naturally wander. If you're counting, you probably won't even get to 92 before you start to think about a meeting you have later that day, or what you're going to cook for dinner. As soon as you realize you strayed from your focus, go back to it immediately. Don't allow yourself to dwell on any idea, positive or negative. Go back to the focus. Continue for a few minutes, whatever you can spare, and that's it! It might not seem like much, but I can speak from experience - it can change your entire day. And if you do it every day, it could change your entire life. Give it a try, you've got nothing to lose! There's one more little tip I'd like to share on this subject. If you doubt the value of deep relaxation, or if you're having trouble doing it, there is a wonderful product available that can help. It's not a drug, it's a biofeedback device called the GSR2. This is an amazing home biofeedback device that precisely monitors your stress levels by translating tiny tension-related changes in skin pores into a rising or falling tone. By resting two fingers on the sensing plates you learn to lower the pitch and your stress level. Cordless finger-rest sensor - with built-in-tonal feedback - automatically measures galvanic skin resistance (GSR).You certainly don't need one to relax but it's fun, educational, and it can help those who have trouble relaxing. Deep relaxation is a special kind of relaxation. It's much different than just "taking a break," reading the newspaper, or watching TV. Those things can be relaxing but deep relaxation can have a tremendous effect on your day, your health, and your life. It's a simple exercise anyone can do. If you don't already take time to deeply relax, give it a try! 6) Links of the Day http://theharmonyinstitute.org/coupon This is a link to the discount section of the Harmony Institute's website, created just for Friends of the Harmony Institute. If you receive this newsletter, you are entitled to the discounts. Remember the User Name is "coupon" and the password is "namaste." http://www.veggievan.com/ http://www.biodiesel.org/ As mentioned above in the PeaceMobile article, I think everyone should know more about biodiesel and the success of the Veggie Van. Could you imagine how different the world would be if we didn't need foreign oil? These links will enlighten you on the subject of biodiesel fuel. http://www.toolsforwellness.com/bg101.html This is a link to one of many places where you can purchase the GSR2, mentioned in the Relaxation article above. http://theharmonyproject.org A similar name and a similar mission! If you're not getting enough information about the bonds between religions here at the Harmony Institute, get some more at the Harmony Project. The Project is not affiliated with the Institute in any way, other than that we promote similar concepts and ideas. I say, the more we have on board, the better, and networking is such a powerful tool. I particularly love the collection of Peace Prayers they have from every religion. Have a look!