VIDEO: SmartMat, World’s First Responsive Yoga Mat, Launches

SmartMat is a portable yoga mat that connects to a smartphone or tablet via Bluetooth to help track, improve and adjust a yoga practice by learning the user’s position and suggestions corrections toward a better alignment or pose.

A user can calibrate the mat by entering height, weight, gender and age, and then by laying on the mat, it will determine a person’s “Ape Index (ratio/length of torso/arms vs. legs),” according to the company. “SmartMat is trained to recognize almost every yoga pose out there and give meaningful feedback. On some poses, balance is less relevant than alignment so SmartMat will adjust feedback accordingly,” the company’s website states.

“We built SmartMat because we wanted a way to receive personalized yoga instruction without having to go to an outside class or hire a private teacher,” SmartMat’s founder Neyma Jahan told CNET.com. “SmartMat synchs with and analyzes each user via a unique calibration process, providing the kind of custom biofeedback once exclusive to private lessons.”

The mat needs to be charged via a wall socket or micro USB and USB charger for 90 minutes, and will hold a charge for six hours of practice. It can also be programmed for multiple users, each with his or her own initial calibration needed.

The company launched a Indiegogo campaign to raise money, and people can purchase a SmartMat at a discounted price of $297 for a limited time here.

“The Soul’s Journey Lesson Cards: A 44-Deck and Guidebook,” by James Van Praagh

Tap into the wisdom of your higher self with this new 44-card deck and guidebook by bestselling author and psychic medium James Van Praagh — “The Soul’s Journey Lesson Cards: A 44-Card Deck and Guidebook.”

Looking for wisdom to make the right choices in your life or understand how to live at your highest soul potential?

Van Praagh explains how to do a “soul spread” to receive direction, understand the soul lesson one is currently being taught and more. Also, the included guidebook highlights life lessons, such as forgiveness, empathy and surrender, and the ways to utilize these lessons for one’s spiritual and soul growth.

Additionally, Van Praagh released a new book: “Adventures of the Soul: Journeys Through the Physical and Spiritual Dimensions.”

Deepak Chopra Sets Guinness World Record for Largest Meditation Gathering

World-renowned spiritual leader and founder of the Chopra Center, Deepak Chopra set the Guinness World Record for the largest online meditation in history, which was 33,061 people participating for a 30-minute period, according to the Guinness team

“When we channel our energy in the direction of peace, compassion, harmony and love, it affects everyone on the planet,” said Deepak Chopra. “We wanted to explore what would happen if thousands of people around the world came together to be still in a meditation practice for peace. It was an incredible experience for everyone that participated.”

The meditation event drew more than 140,000 people, both physically and virtually via live-stream. Participants joined from around the world to experience instruction, conversation, and a guided meditation led by Chopra. The Global Meditation event also featured special guests Gabrielle Bernstein and singer-songwriter India Arie.

“Peace can only be created by those who are peaceful,” said Chopra. “The world is a reflection of who we are, and whatever shift goes on within us will be reflected outside of us. Given recent conflict and unrest all over the world, there was no better time for us to undertake this spiritual challenge.”

The Chopra Center for Wellbeing partnered with Unify.org and 1 Giant Mind to host the Global Meditation event.

Elevated Existence Editor’s New Spiritual and Self-Help Book Picks: September 2014

The editor’s at Elevated Existence Magazine picked their top books introduced in the past month for the spiritual and self-help category. Here are the six choices:

“The Evolving Soul: Spiritual Healing Through Past Life Exploration,” by Dr. Linda Backman
With more than 30 years of experience as a licensed psychotherapist, who has conducted hundreds of past life and between-lives hypnotherapy regression sessions, Dr. Linda Backman compiled all she’s learned over the years into a new book, “The Evolving Soul: Spiritual Healing Through Past Life Exploration.” She explains how we create a pre-birth blueprint for our lives, how our spirit guides and ascended masters influence our opportunities for growth, the life review process between lives, our soul purpose, the seven soul archetypes, soul rays, intuition and more. Using examples from regression clients, and offering questions at the end of every chapter to help the reader gain insight into their own lives, Backman gives readers a glimpse into the workings of the universe.

end-of-stress“The End of Stress: Four Steps to Rewire Your Brain,” by Don Joseph Goewey
Don Joseph Goewey, author of the book “Mystic Cool: A Proven Approach to Transcend Stress, Achieve Optimal Brain Function, and Maximize Your Creative Intelligence,” released his newest book, “The End of Stress: Four Steps to Rewire Your Brain.” After managing the department of psychiatry at Stanford Medical School, and heading an institute that pioneered an approach to catastrophic life events, Goewey became part of a research team, or “think tank” that took on the challenge of finding a process that would end work stress. The new book details this process, which was tested in a number of high-pressure corporate environments with positive results. While traditional stress management focuses on changing stress-related behaviors, the approach he teaches works to actually rewire the brain, and is built like a workshop over four weeks.

e-cubed “E-Cubed: Nine More Energy Experiments That Prove Manifesting Magic and Miracles Is Your Full Time Gig,” by Pam Grout
A follow-up to the New York Times bestseller “E-Squared,” which offered readers do-it-yourself experiments to prove thoughts can and do create our reality, author Pam Grout released her new book, “E-Cubed: Nine More Energy Experiments That Prove Manifesting Magic and Miracles Is Your Full Time Gig.” She sets out to show readers how blessings and miracles are a natural part of life and available to everyone. With new experiments and tips, Grout reveals how to keep the door to abundance open in all areas of our lives, and let the limitless universe provide for us.

 

laws-of-growth“The 15 invaluable Laws of Growth: Live Them and Reach Your Potential,” by John C. Maxwell
Passionate about self-development for over 50 years, John C. Maxwell breaks down everything he has learned about reaching one’s fullest potential. These include: The Law of the Mirror – You Must See Value in Yourself to Add Value to Yourself; The Law of Awareness – You Must Know Yourself to Grow Yourself; The Law of Modeling – It’s Hard to Improve When You Have No One But Yourself to Follow; The Law of Rubber Band – Growth Stops When You Lose the Tension Between Where You are and Where You Could Be; and The Law of Contribution – Developing Yourself Enables You to Develop Others.

AdventuresoftheSoul “Adventures of the Soul: Journeys Through the Physical and Spiritual Dimensions,” by James Van Praagh
Created as a manual for anyone who has ever questioned where they come from, why they are here, and where they go after they die, psychic medium James Van Praagh’s newest book, “Adventures of the Soul,” takes readers on a journey to discover the unique design of their soul and unearth adventures as it travels between worlds. It will help to understand and recognize soul lessons an individual came back to Earth to learn, including sorrow, forgiveness, grief, compassion and joy, and will help them understand their soul in a whole new way in order to fulfill their destiny and follow the path of love.

oprah-book“What I Know for Sure,” by Oprah Winfrey
Organized by them, including joy, resilience, connection, gratitude, possibility, awe, clarity and power, this new book is a revised and updated collection of essays shared by Oprah Winfrey in her O, The Magazine, via television and more over the years — all set in a cloth-bound book with a ribbon marker. Ideally read and digested over time, readers can pick an essay a day or even week, and reflect on the inspiration and revelations shared.

Meditation for Migraines?

Researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C. are reporting meditation may help with migraine relief.

“Stress is a well-known trigger for headaches and research supports the general benefits of mind/body interventions for migraines, but there hasn’t been much research to evaluate specific standardized meditation interventions,” said Rebecca Erwin Wells, M.D., assistant professor of neurology at Wake Forest Baptist and lead author of the study published in the online edition of the journal “Headache.”

The study assessed the safety, feasibility and effects of a standardized meditation and yoga practice known as mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) in adults with migraines. Using a group of 19 adults randomly assigned to two groups, and 10 received 8 weekly classes on MBSR training, and instructed to practice 45 minutes on their own at least five additional days per week, while the other nine received standard medical care.

Researchers evaluated participants before and after the trial period using objective measures of disability, self-efficacy and mindfulness, and also maintained headache logs throughout the trial to capture the frequency, severity and duration of their migraines.

“We found that the MBSR participants had trends of fewer migraines that were less severe,” Wells said. “Secondary effects included headaches that were shorter in duration and less disabling, and participants had increases in mindfulness and self-efficacy and a sense of personal control over their migraines. In addition, there were no adverse events and excellent adherence.”

Specifically, the MBSR participants had 1.4 fewer migraines per month that were less severe, and they were significantly shorter compared to the control group.

Future studies with larger sample sizes are planned to further evaluate the impact and mechanisms of this intervention in adults with migraines, Wells said.

“For the approximate 36 million Americans who suffer from migraines, there is big need for non-pharmaceutical treatment strategies, and doctors and patients should know that MBSR is a safe intervention that could potentially decrease the impact of migraines,” he said.

RECIPE: Dr. Fuhrman’s Broccoli Vinaigrette

Looking for a new way to incorporate greens into your diet? Broccoli is packed with nutritional benefits, can enhance detoxification and has both anti-inflammatory and antioxidant benefits. And that is only the tip of the iceberg!

Bestselling author Dr. Joel Fuhrman created a new way to prepare broccoli as a side dish, making it easy to add to a meal!

Broccoli Vinaigrette

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS
1 large head broccoli
¼ cup seasoned rice vinegar
1 tbsp Dr. Fuhrman’s VegiZest (purchase here)
2 tsp Dijon mustard
2 large cloves garlic, pressed or minced

DIRECTIONS
Chop broccoli into bite-sized florets. Peel the stems and slice them into ¼-inch strips. Steam the florets and stems for 8 minutes or until just tender.

While the broccoli is steaming, whisk remaining ingredients in a large bowl, and add broccoli and toss to mix.