maybe some ruby slippers and a genie in a magic lamp would help, too ... ?

Today on Macrumors they reported that Flight 404's Magnetosphere visualizer will probably be one of the new visualizers on the new verson of iTunes 8 which is rumored to be released on September 9th at Apple's event. Now looking at this video of one of Flight 404's Magnetosphere for the first time really made me more into the music. I have never really been into visualizers for music until I saw this, it seems to move perfectly with the music making the music experience even better. Now Flight 404's Magnetosphere used to be free for download but was removed a few months ago and they have since then said that the plug-in had been sold to a third party. So there is a good chance that this amazing visualizer will be one of the new visualizers in the new iTunes 8.

San Francisco Bay area

Brandon Martin-Anderson ha elaborato un'applicazione che, a partire dai dati geografici liberi ed incrementali di Open Street Map,genera la struttura con i percorsi più brevi da seguire a piedi (in nero) o con la mobilità pubblica (in rosso).

Graphserver è in grado di gestire una matrice di dati molto complessa, producendo un output rielaborato con Processing. La gestione dell'informazione geografica produce un insiemi visuali estremamente concisi, di grande valenza interpretativa ed analitca.

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McCain talks of Country (not America, though), Fight, Work. God, Nuclear. Honor are mentioned. Obama cares about both Country and America (usually in the sentence "the improbable experiment that is America", or similar nonsense), Promise, and John McCain. In the cracks, you can read Invest, Veterans and Cars.

I love presidential Scrabble. So ephemeral, yet so immortal.

So how do you know which approach is best for you? Like in most things, it takes some exploration and experimentation. One of the easiest ways to start is to clarify for yourself why you want to meditate - that is, what are you hoping to get from it? To help you get started, here is a list of some of the main benefits of meditation, with links to resources that provide more info and instruction related to each (disclaimer here: some of these links are to my own teaching site www.TheMaatInstitute.com ).

Health and Stress Management: Studies have shown that regular meditation is effective for lowering blood pressure, boosting immunity, improving sleep quality, and managing chronic pain. The leader in health-related meditation research and techniques is the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind-Body Medicine. Their website provides both meditation instruction and published medical research on its benefits.

Psychological Therapy Complement: An increasing number of therapists incorporate some form of meditation into their therapy practice, believing that quieting the mind is an important complement to exploring the mind. Techniques vary, but the relaxation response(the same technique as from the health-based listing above) is a common one, because of its proven medical benefits. For a thorough overview of the different views on meditation within the psychological community, try this article from Buddhanet.net (jump to the Conclusion and Summary section at the end if you want to skip the mind-numbing academic detail.)

Concentration/Focus Improvement:Everyone from Olympic athletes to poker players have begun to incorporate some form of meditation into their training regimes, because it helps them detach from distractions and hone their focus. For the same reason, Zen meditation was incorporated into martial arts training centuries ago, and Zen meditation is still one of the most common forms used for this purpose (and championed by such illustrious sports figures as Phil Jackson, coach of the LA Lakers.) Although there are many Zen variations, try this overview to get started.

Intuition Development: Many occult and spiritual traditions teach that we all posses an intuitive level of knowledge within us, but that we can only tap into it when we let go of our ego-based thoughts and emotions. For this reason, meditation is a big component of most intuition-development training programs. There are thousands of such programs, so it is difficult to recommend just one, but Dr. Mona Lisa Schulz offers a grounded, modern approach in her book Awakening Intuition (here's an excerpt.)

Creativity Development: Artists of all types use meditation to trigger their creativity and help them work through blocks. One of the most popular books to explore this is The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. Here's a Q&A on this book, or try this video for an overview.

Energy Body Strengthening: Many 'alternative' healing traditions are based on the idea of an energy body, or that the flow of our non-physical energy (or lack of flow) influences our physical health. Acupuncture and reiki are both based on this idea, but even within Western medical traditions, there is growing awareness of the role our mind plays in our physical health and ability to heal. Here's an intro to a very basic form of chakra meditation, a common form of energy center meditation. Another common  form of meditation used in energy healing is visualization; here's an intro to using visualization as an aid to healing.

Spirituality: Meditation has been and is part of virtually every world religion in some form. From St. Theresa of Avila's 'mental prayer' to Rabbi Issac Luria's Kabbalah symbol visualizations, and then to better known Buddhist, Sufi and Hindu meditation techniques, mystics within every tradition have practiced meditation as a means to exploring the forces and spirit beyond themselves. If you are interested in exploring meditation as part of a specific religious tradition, try this book list for some suggestions.

However, spiritual meditation is about shifting your awareness - shifting it away from your usual thoughts and emotions and towards a larger force (whether you call that force God or something else.) In that sense, the technique is less important than your intent. It's important to remember that the meditation technique you select is a means to an end, not an end in itself, and that the ultimate goal is to change the way you relate to the world and your mind even when you are not meditating. So feel free to explore, but don't let yourself get too caught up in finding the 'perfect' technique.

Good luck in your meditation journeys!

If you are interested in ideas for incorporating small meditations into a busy day, try the Meditation for Busy Women series. Or, check out some meditation books from the Women's Spirituality Book List.

Of, if you are interested in the other main theme of this blog, motherhood, try the Spirituality and Motherhood posts.