CHILL OUT LA LAUNCHES REVIEW FEB 2010

We loved hosting Chill Out LA for a Press to Impress Retreat Package. See what they had to say in their review:

http://www.chilloutla.com/chill-out-la/getaways/

This entry was written by scrawford, posted on February 4, 2010 at 1:17 pm, filed under Bodywork, Experiences, Fitness, Green Lifestyle, Life is Fitness, Lifestyle and Spa, Los Angeles, Meditation, Outdoors, Press, Retreats, Santa Barbara, Yoga and tagged biking, Chill Out LA, christmas, Erin Mahoney Harris, Fun, Karen Keltner, Nature, Parks, Paula Duke, Pilates, Recreation, Retreat, Santa Barbara, spa, Weedkend Getaway, Weekend Retreat, wellness, Yoga. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.

A SOMA Experience Video: Edward Farwick

Check out our latest retreat experience video with our most recent Guest Edward Farwick. It will certainly get you wishing for a retreat of your own.

This entry was written by scrawford, posted on January 14, 2010 at 6:54 am, filed under Bodywork, Experiences, Fitness, Food, Green Lifestyle, Hiking, Life is Fitness, Lifestyle and Spa, Los Angeles, Meditation, Nutrition, Outdoors, Pilates, Press, Products, Retreats, Santa Barbara, Skin Care, Stand Up Paddle Surfing, Yoga and tagged beach, biking, Fitness, Hiking, Karen Keltner, Los Angeles, mountains, Outdoors, Retreats, Running, Santa Barbara, Scott Crawford, Skin Care, SOMA GET FIT. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.

A Review in Vital Juice for Soma Get Fit

Check out our most recent press in the daily healthy online magazine Vital Juice.

We hosted the LA editorial team here for one of our weekend retreats and they absolutely loved it.

Click below to read the full review and save 20% off your next retreat.

http://vitaljuice.com/entry_detail/la/1037

This entry was written by scrawford, posted on January 13, 2010 at 8:16 pm, filed under Bodywork, Experiences, Fitness, Food, Green Lifestyle, Hiking, Life is Fitness, Lifestyle and Spa, Los Angeles, Meditation, Nutrition, Outdoors, Press, Retreats, Santa Barbara, Stand Up Paddle Surfing, Yoga and tagged Bodywork, California, Exercise, getway, health, Jamie Kiffel Alcheh, Los Angeles, Outdoors, Retreat, Santa Barbara, SOMA GET FIT, SUP, Vital Juice LA, wellness. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.

What Is the Sound of One Mind Meditating?

Everyone strives for happiness. The question is, how do we get there?

The Buddha once said, “We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. Your worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your own thoughts unguarded.” The Dalai Lama has said, “Training the mind to think differently, through meditation, is one important way to avoid suffering and be happy.”  The Buddhist practice of Vipassana, or insight meditation, trains us and transforms our minds to achieve a happiness not dependent upon on our circumstances. Insight meditation heals us as we learn to hold ourselves and our experiences with kindness and without judgment.

With dedication and practice, Vipassana trains us to see clearly, without the distortions stemming from the stories, projections, desires, and aversions we normally carry with us. We thereby free ourselves to live and be at peace in the present moment, letting go of our suffering and our fears about the future, most of which fail to come to pass.

It has been shown that meditation changes thought patterns. According to recent findings in the neurosciences conducted at the University of Wisconsin, Harvard, Yale, and MIT, meditative practice may refashion the neurological circuitry of our brains. It increases our ability to concentrate, boosts our serotonin levels, and engages the left prefrontal cortex of our brains, thickening it and making us more predisposed to positive emotions.

In short, through daily meditative practice, we can, quite literally, become the happier people we all strive to be!

To read more on the neuroscience of meditation and its proposed effects on brain activity, consult the following articles:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/meditation/

http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/daily/2006/01/23-meditation.html

http://www.nmr.mgh.harvard.edu/~lazar/Lazar_Neuroreport_00.pdf

http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/101/46/16369

By Bronwyn

This entry was written by scrawford, posted on October 14, 2009 at 9:17 am, filed under Meditation, Santa Barbara and tagged Meditation, SOMA GET FIT. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.