Whether you have a simple vegetable garden, a Japanese rock garden, or a colorful cut-flower garden that provides armloads of beautiful bouquets, chances are it can be adapted for meditation to provide you with beauty, peace, and tranquility. A meditation garden will provide you with much more than just a garden... it will also gift you with a place where you can peacefully sit and ponder or meditate. Nearly any garden will do for meditation, but you may want to add a few additional elements to your garden in order to make it a little more complete an ambiance for your meditation. The goal should be simplicity-- the maintenance shouldn't be so complicated it takes away from your meditation time, and a more minimal garden will keep your focus on your meditation, rather than the garden itself.

Concentrate on low maintenance plantings that are pleasing to the eye but whose care won't take so much time that you're distracted from actually being able to meditate in your garden. Focus on greenery instead of colorful flowers. Bright reds and orange blossoms are beautiful additions to most gardens, but they may be so cheerful and stimulating they distract you from your meditation. Ornamental grasses are both hardy and will gently sway in the breeze, which will soothe and calm as you meditate. If you enjoy flowers with fragrant blossoms, choose only one fragrant plant variety... you don't want clashing scents in your garden.

Ambient accessories like a water feature, statue, and other carefully chosen accents can add a finishing touch to your meditation garden. Even a small trickling fountain, for example, will offer enough sound to block out outside noises so the mind is cleared for meditation. And whether your sitting space is as simple as an oversized pillow to sit on or an elaborate patio with benches, you'll want a place to sit and relax while you meditate. A statue in your garden can add an additional dose of inspiration to your meditation. Your thoughts and reflections may be inspired by a religious figure like Buddha, Jesus Christ or St. Francis of Assisi, or you may choose a secular statue like a favorite animal or some other meaningful object.

Designing a meditation garden from the ground up or making a few alterations to your current garden should be an exciting process. Choose items that encourage positivity and your own journey to serenity. These items are different for everyone, so feel free to be creative and choose items that attract and inspire you.

Did you know that, according to a study conducted in 2003, women spend an estimated 55 minutes per day looking for things? These 55 minutes are borrowed time for many of us, time that could be spent much more productively elsewhere. But instead this time is spent frustrated and stressed out, frantically searching for the checkbook to pay the power bill on time or your son's other soccer cleat before it's game time. But it doesn't have to be this way... in fact, de-cluttering your home, your work space, your car, and anywhere else that attracts clutter in your life can help cultivate a sense of peace in your life, not to mention freeing up an average of about 7 hours per week you've been spending looking for things.

Ever sat at your desk trying to concentrate, realizing you just can't stop being distracted by the clutter on your desk? If so, you're not alone. In fact, a lot of people find clutter in their environments creates clutter in their minds and in their lives, stifling their ability to think as deeply as they normally would, hindering their creativity. De-cluttering is a great way to de-stress because by reorganizing your environment you'll have clearer pathways for creative energy to flow into and out of your mind. There's a reason one of the most common relaxation techniques is to picture yourself in the middle of a large open space like a room or a meadow... this "emptiness" is actually full of energy and space for ideas to be created, flourish, and grow. In the same way that exercising increases blood flow to the brain and encourages the flow of thought, de-cluttering increases the flow of productivity and creativity.

Getting rid of clutter you've had for years may be a challenge, so your first step should be to isolate the items you no longer use so that you can donate them to charity or to someone else who can use the item. The most common reason people give for not getting rid of the things that are cluttering their lives (and their minds) are: "I might need it later," keeping things out of guilt (presents and the like), because it was expensive (keeping the overpriced item around to taunt you that you're not using anymore won't get you money back), or "I used to use it a lot." If you haven't used something for 2 years or more, it's time for it to go. Break up the task into small parts. You may set a goal to fill a trash bag with 15 items each day until your space is rid of clutter, for example. But no matter the method you choose, de-cluttering will have an immense amount of benefits in your life. Remember that with everything you "give up" you're gaining clarity and getting rid of the stress and frustration that comes from clutter. The next time you're starting to feel cluttered and you're tempted to cling to past pack-rat tendencies, tell yourself "Mess equals stress." And then you can start thinking about what great things you can do during the time you're not spending looking for things.

Chiropractics and massage therapy are two holistic therapies that share a common goal: to to treat the whole person rather than symptoms through natural, hands-on, drug-free techniques. When used in combination with each other, these therapies are preventative and restorative, helping to address the source of stress and pain so that you may achieve optimal health. Those that add massage therapy to their chiropractic care program, for example, will generally enjoy a faster recovery. And since multiple components of the pain are being addressed, the recovery is usually also more complete. Chiropractic adjustments will often proceed more easily when the soft tissue has already been relaxed by massage. And the massage is also helpful because it helps to relax the patient before chiropractic care, making them less anxious and relaxed and ready to receive chiropractic adjustment. The adjustments frequently last longer, too, because muscle tension has been released and joints are less likely to pull themselves out of alignment again.

Chiropractic care is based upon the fact that the body is self-regulating and self-healing. These functions are controlled by the body's nervous system, with the skull protecting the brain and the flexible bones of the spine protecting the fragile spinal cord. But when this system becomes impaired, malfunctions of the tissue and organs may follow, called Subluxation Complex. A chiropractic adjustment can help to restore the nervous system back to proper functioning, giving the body the ability to heal itself again. A chiropractic adjustment can do wonders for the body, improving everything from range of motion and increased circulation to reducing or eliminating pain and swelling. Massage therapy is based upon the same premise of the body having the ability to self-heal and regulate. If the muscles of the body become imbalanced, for example, it can lead to a variety of problems. If muscles are shortened and tightened and one side, the muscles on the opposite side may become overstretched, which can cause pain, weakened circulation, and other problems. But worse, this tightness may also pull the bones the muscles are attached to, sabotaging the work of the chiropractor to realign the body. A massage therapist can soften and stretch the muscle groups, relieving stress on the opposing muscles groups and strengthening weaker muscles, which complements the work of the chiropractor.

Those that are seeking massage therapy for pain but are still suffering should consider chiropractic care, especially if the pain goes away briefly but recurs or, in more serious cases, worsens. If your pain is caused by subluxation, for example, your chiropractor may be able to provide you with immediate relief by realigning and mobilizing your joint. And when it's not being subjected to the stress of being misaligned, the soft tissue around your joints will likely heal much more quickly. The joint movement that takes place during chiropractic adjustments is sometimes able to relax deep layers of soft tissues that are usually too difficult to reach during a massage, and chiropractors have other manual diagnostic techniques and x-ray equipment at their disposal that can help evaluate the causes of your pain, allowing them to make an informed referral, if necessary.

Chiropractors and massage therapists generally agree that the chiropractic adjustment and massage should be scheduled as closely together as possible, so consult your chiropractor to see, in your case, which should be first. Many chiropractors' offices now have a massage therapist on staff, making it even more convenient for patients to receive both types of care. Over time, the respective therapies will build upon each other to help resolve health problems, improving your overall health.