Jeanie Marshall Interview: Author/Facilitator of Meditation CD’s
It’s an honor to have Jeanie Marshall with us today. Jeanie is an Empowerment Consultant at Marshall House in Santa Monica, CA and recently produced six guided meditation CDs. I can see that this will be an interesting discussion. Welcome Jeanie.
Irene: What inspired you to create six guided meditation CDs at one time?
Jeanie: Irene, that question is just too funny! It was an outrageous undertaking. And if anyone were to ask my advice, I’d say: produce one at a time! But back to the heart of your question…. The real inspiration was to create a series of CDs to give people choices. I’ve been creating guided meditations for many years, so I know what people who gravitate to my work want. I have many more left in me to create, феодосия,золотой пляж, частный секто. all lengths, many subjects, many approaches.
Irene: You are called an Empowerment Consultant at Marshall House. What does that actually mean?
Jeanie: It means that I help people to find the power within themselves. Most of the people I work with are already quite empowered, at least in most parts of their lives. I help them to find greater empowerment and satisfaction with life.
Irene: How do you do that?
Jeanie: The processes I use vary from person to person, but the general approach is the same with all: help people to tap into their own inner wisdom to guide them to their hearts’ desires. I know instantly whether or not people are tuned into their own inner guidance and whether they are moving toward or away from their hearts’ desires. I suggest and use many different ways to help them to tap the power within, including meditation.
Irene: Exactly, what is meditating?
Jeanie: I define “meditation” rather broadly. I consider it’s an opportunity to realize your higher consciousness (or to realize your oneness with your higher consciousness) and to resonate with pure consciousness (that is, to be without resistance). I find the best meditative practices provide the mind a place to rest the attention, a place that requires minimal mental effort.
Given my broad definition, you can perhaps understand that I recognize the existence of hundreds of techniques and advocate a variety. Some techniques are more supportive than others; some are more conducive to continuing a long-term practice than others; some are easier to learn than others. A technique is a means to assist you in harper auction texas reaching the deeper purpose of meditating.
Many meditation teachers teach that the purpose of meditation is to achieve “no thought.” I have a different perspective. Quite honestly, I have no desire to be without thought. The mind is designed for thinking. Quieting the mind is the goal as I see it — not stopping it. Stopping certain kinds of thinking like mind-chatter, contradictions, criticism, is an extremely worthy goal, but not stopping thought.
Irene: When I first started meditating my teacher told me the goal was to achieve “no thought” and I struggled with the [that] for a long time until I found another teacher who advocated quieting the mind, like you do. Please tell us an overview of how, as a stressed-out beginner even attempt to quiet the mind.
Jeanie: I find the best way is to focus on the breath. The breath moves and can became a calming and engaging focal point. Any focal point will do, actually, but your breath is always with you, and you can focus on it with your eyes open or closed. A steady focus can be maintained by counting the breaths, or breathing with a simple idea like “I breath in and I breathe out” in rhythm with the in-breath and the out-breath.
A person who is really stressed out might need to give himself or herself permission to take two minutes or so for the mind chatter. For some people, it’s helpful to have a place to
(more…)