There are many ways to meditate! As part of a cleanse, I've been taking a hot bath every day for the last two months. A hot bath is a great way to meditate, and it is also a great way for your body to detoxify itself! You can do this in a hot tub or sauna, but since most people have a bathtub, a hot bath is easier.

Like me, you might have a tendency to get out of a hot tub after about 5 minutes as you start to sweat. But if you can hang in there, that's only the beginning of where the fun starts! The key to a detoxifying hot bath meditation is to stay in the hot water and sweat for 10-15 minutes. As with any meditation, at first, it can be challenging to sit still that long (especially in hot water), but it's worth it in the end! Here are my tips!

Many look to science to determine the effectiveness of certain treatments on our health, and there is a belief in Western medicine that the solution to our problems is some procedure or pill from the outside. I write a lot about the power we have to heal ourselves, but sometimes it may seem unscientific to hold this view.

Western medicine looks to physical science to prove or disprove certain hypotheses. However, Eastern belief systems indicate that our physical reality is a subset of reality, which is created by our higher planes of existence (our thoughts on the mental plane and our emotions on the astral plane). As such, our ability to heal on the physical can be affected by these higher planes. However, physical science can only witness the physical plane, and therefore, it may seem like an inadequate tool to measure these other planes of existence, which seem out of the reach of physical science because the physical plane "below" the higher planes.

One way we can directly witness the effects of these higher planes on the physical plane is the age-old psychological concept called "the placebo effect," wherein a subject of a scientific study perceives and believes that they are receiving some external treatment to create a desired effect and then begin to feel well due to this perceived treatment. However, in reality, the subject did not actually receive the treatment. Instead, it was their belief that they received the treatment which made them perceive that their problem was solved, and through this perception, the problem does indeed actually become resolved. In these cases, it is scientifically shown that the external treatment did not cure the person, but rather, the person's belief. Here is a great article and documentary that details how the placebo effect can help us heal!

Read more and watch the documentary...

To complement the iOS app and cover all bases, I am pleased to announce that Guided Meditation Treks V1 and Guided Meditation Treks V2 are now available as apps for Android Devices!  Now you can control the volume of the different elements to the guided meditations, as well as select between isochronic pulses or binaural beats for the brainwave entrainment track. Check it out on the Google Play Store now.


Google Play Listing for GMT V1.
Available meditations on V1:
1. Meet your Spirit Guide
2. Reprogram Counterproductive Thoughts
3. Heal a Relationship
4. Manifest


Google Play Listing for GMT V2
Available Meditations on V2:
1. Cleanse a Drama Cycle
2. Ask Your Higher Self a Question
3. Program a Quartz Crystal
4. Send Helpful Thoughtforms

I just did a recent interview with Jennifer Hammond on her XM radio show on real estate. We discussed how metaphysical processes such as intention, meditation, crystal programming, feng shui, shamanic ceremonies, and other methods can help you buy or sell your next home!

Listen on Soundcloud or below.

I consider myself a water snob, filtering chlorine and fluoride from my tapwater for over 10 years and ordering Topo Chico or Pelligrino in a restaurants for just as long. So, I was excited when Texas-based Fulhum asked me to review their product, an alkaline water infused with fulvic and humic minerals. In the midst of drinking lots of water for a cleanse, upon my first sip, I could feel my cells thanking me. This wasn't ordinary bottled water. This was some "next level" mineral water.

The water we drink can have a huge impact on our health. Beyond the unfortunate incidents in Flint, Michigan, studies indicate that we need less chemicals and more minerals in our water. Cities like San Marcos, Texas are turning off their chemical tap to medicate the population with fluoride, and water is being recognized as our most precious resource around the world. Away from home, bottled water becomes my first choice because I may not trust the tap, but I learned long ago that all bottled water brands are not created equal, and science can help us decide which is the best.

My app, Binaural, is now available for Android. I've taken all the feedback I've recieved from the iOS version of this app and incorporated it into the Android verison. Binaural lets a user directly enter frequencies they wish to use to generate their own binaural beats and isochronic pulses. In addition, the Android version of the app includes a background noise track to help put the binaural beats in the background behind soothing noise.

Also, if you don't want to do the research yourself as to which frequencies are conducive to the various brainwave states, this app includes a series of presets. At the click of a button, you can dial up a frequency to tune your chakras using either the tuning fork frequencies or the solfeggio tones. The app also includes an array of other brainwave patterns, such as Focus, Creativity, Relaxation, Sleep, Chanting, Intuition, Astral Travel, Healing, Alpha State, Intelligence, and Euphoria. When you click on one of these settings, you will also learn for yourself what these frequencies are. The binaural app is all about teaching you what binaural beats are and how they work in addition to allowing you to experience them for yourself. Enjoy!

My friend, Robin D Bruce, has released a new book called 40 Meditations: Stories Inspired by Yoga and Practices for Transformation, available now at Amazon. I can definitely vouch for this book, and I even helped do a little bit of grammar editing. Robin gives us 40 personal stories that arose through her experience with yoga and meditation. Some of them are touching; some of them are embarrassing; and some of them are downright hilarious. Then, each chapter ends with a meditation exercise and a journaling exercise. Robin has been doing this for over a decade, so there's plenty of good stories and great meditations in this book, and it will keep you in a zen state for a long time, that's for sure! Check it out now on Amazon!

When I released the Sleep App, I included a link in the app to purchase SleepPhones, which are a set of headphones made by this company to specifically feel comfortable to wear as you sleep. They seemed like a complement for my product. With that, I submitted a guest blog post to them on sound healing frequencies that can only be utilized through headphones. This technology is called binaural beats, and I use binaural beats for all of my albums. This post discusses how to use binaural beats to bring your brain into the two specific frequencies of sleep -- delta and theta, with the use of the SleepPhones and my new Sleep App.

Read More...

Science has recently supported the old home remedy for insomnia of warm cow's milk before bed. With that in mind, I've written a guest post for the Warm Milk Journal that discusses my new app and some methods to reach the brainwaves of sleep!

Check it out now!

(Texas, December 2015) – Guided Meditation Treks, a spoken word meditation sound healing project created by Russell Eric Dobda, has released a new iOS App and mp3 collection entitled “Sleep” to help listeners fall asleep quickly, enjoy a power nap, or induce a lucid dream.

The app and album are built on a foundation of several looped nature sounds such as rain, waterfalls, drone noises, birds, and other sonic soundscapes to wash over a cluttered mind and put it into a relaxed state. Binaural beats and isochronic pulses, sound healing technologies scientifically shown to alter brainwave patterns, are mixed atop the nature sounds to induce the brain into the frequencies of sleep. To top it off, the soothing and almost drowsy soft voice of Russell leads you through mindfulness practices that will have you out cold in no time or flying through the air in a vivid lucid dream if you choose.

The idea of sitting in lotus pose even for 20 minutes can feel overwhelming…or boring. Even if you’re interested in achieving flow state, if you’re a typical high-achiever Type A personality, then you might think that sitting cross-legged and breathing deeply is a waste of precious time.If you’re nodding your head in agreement, there are two things you should know. First, if you think you’re too busy to meditate, you probably need meditation more than anyone! Secondly, meditation takes many forms—it isn’t all chanting and hanging out in rock gardens. Check out four ways you can reap the benefits of meditating even if it’s not your thing. Read More...

A new research study shows that a little yoga or meditation a day might just keep the doctor away.
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Stress-related health problems are responsible for up to 80% of visits to the doctor and account for the third highest health care expenditures, behind only heart disease and cancer. But as few as 3% of doctors actually talk to patients about how to reduce stress. Read More...

Adolescents assigned to a mindfulness meditation program appeared to have improvements in memory in a recent study.
"These results are consistent with a growing body of research in adults that has found mindfulness meditation to be a helpful tool for enhancing working memory capacity," said Kristen E. Jastrowski Mano of the psychology department at the University of Cincinnati, who coauthored the new study. Read more...

This article is an oldie but goodie... A lot of researchers have recently started to conduct a variety of experiments to understand whether or not the human consciousness has any effect on the physical world. A lot of experiments have already drawn conclusive results aiming towards the subtle effect that human mind has on the surrounding material world. One such experiment is the double slit experiment in which meditators and non-meditators were given specific instructions that could alter the predicted results. Read more...

Here's a short and sweet 10-minute interview with Naturally Savvy, where we talk about why guided meditation is a great entry point for people who want to try meditation but aren't sure where to start! Listen Here.