Meditate Your Way to Health, Success and Happiness

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What do Oprah Winfrey, Paul McCartney, Michael Jordan and Lebron James have in common? They’re all incredibly successful, hard-working and geniuses in their field, but many people don’t know that they all practice meditation. Oprah said that meditation has made her“1,000 times better”. Michael Jordan and Lebron James, both famous athletes, practiced meditation to sharpen focus and improve concentration. Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, was a well-known meditation practitioner.

As stated by his biographer Walter Isaacson, “Your intuition starts to blossom and you start to see things more clearly and be in the present more. Your mind just slows down, and you see a tremendous expanse in the moment. You see so much more than you could see before. It’s a discipline; you have to practice it.”

Meditation is the process of reflecting on your mind. When you start looking inside yourself, you will be able to change and improve yourself and thus, tap into so much unrealized potential. At Ortigas/Makati Meditation, you can look back on your mind and improve your life and career. Through the “subtraction” method you can discover the original nature of the mind.

The human mind is like a stack of pictures that you have stored in your mind and body. These “pictures” are the accumulation of your past experiences which have formed your pattern of thinking and habits. The pictures stored in your mind contain emotions, thoughts, and attachments to people, places, and material things. They have created their own world in your mind. Because the world in the human mind is not “real”, you can throw them away. This method is systematic and scientific. It is not about suppressing your mind and experiencing temporary comfort. It helps you to eliminate the roots of your human mind, completely. When you empty your mind through the subtraction method, your mind and body will become lighter and more free. You will find the true happiness within you.

At the Ortigas/Makati Meditation Center, professional instructors guide practitioners with the subtraction method and always check their meditation progress in order to help them throw away their thoughts. Most of the practitioners feel the changes in their minds in 2~3 weeks after they practice the subtraction meditation.

Once the noisy and complicated state of mind is subtracted, then you can feel calm, light and comfortable. You will be able to control the negative emotions that engulf you. You can discover yourself sincerely smiling at the colleagues you used to feel uncomfortable around.

You will even feel happy in the morning when you wake up. Your work performance improves along with your concentration as the useless thoughts disappear from your head. You will find yourself free from stress. You can recover your confidence and get to know yourself much better. You will be able to understand people much better, therefore, the relationships with people naturally improve and conflicts will be solved. 

With the awareness of how to empty your mind, your inner power grows, which allows you to control your mind in any situation you can possibly face. You will always be positive and the quality of your life will dramatically improve.

The effects of this meditation have been scientifically verified. An extract from the academic paper “The Effects of the Meditation Program on the Brain Function of University Students” published in the Journal of the Completion Education Society stated this: “After the mind subtraction meditation, the university students’ brainwaves became stable and their brain quotient enhanced. Therefore, their concentration and thinking ability have improved. Their resistance to stress from internal and external environmental factors has enhanced.” Likewise, meditation has positive effects on the brainwaves. Therefore, it gives people who practice the method mental stability.

This meditation was established in South Korea, in November 1996. Currently, there are more than 340 meditation centers all over the world and more than 500,000 people have practiced the method of subtraction to cleanse the mind and body to become the truth.

In the Philippines, there are centers in Ortigas and Makati. The centers open from 9:30 am to 11:30 pm, 7 days a week. 

If you would like to get more information about meditation, you can register for the free seminar conducted at any of the centers.

Free Introductory Seminar: Every Saturday at 3:30 pm

Ortigas Meditation Center: 687.1294/0915.254.8986 AIC Gold Tower, F. Ortigas Jr., Pasig

Makati Meditation Center: 856.6943/0915.345.2296 Classica Tower 2, 114 H.V. Dela Costa St.

For more information you can check out the following sites. 

OrtgiasMeditation.org

MakatiMeditation.org

Facebook.com/ortigasmeditation

Facebook.com/makatimeditation

MeditationUSA.org

guidedmeditationtips.com

meditationlife.org (Korean)

Make everyday meals a feast to remember with Hunt’s spaghetti sauces

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Even if the holidays are over, every day can still be a feast worth celebrating with dishes and masterpieces that not only delight families, but also help bring out and year-round cheer around the dinner table.

Give your loved ones a hearty and tummy-filling experience with Crispy Menudo Lumpia and Seafood Lasagna Roll-ups, all whipped up using Hunt’s Spaghetti Sauces.

Crispy Menudo Lumpia

Make the crunchy fried lumpia dish even more delightful with this hearty filling.

Ingredients:

2 tbsps. cooking oil 

5 cloves garlic, minced 

1 red onion, minced 

1/4 kg ground pork 

250 g Hunt’s Spaghetti Sauce Pinoy Party Style 

½ cup water 

2 pcs. bay leaves 

1 tbsp. soy sauce

1 carrot, diced

1 potato, diced

1 can liver spread 

3 pcs hotdogs, diced

½ cup frozen green peas 

Salt & pepper to taste 

10-15 pcs. square lumpia wrappers 

2 pcs. egg whites 

Procedure:

Start off by sautéing garlic and onions. Add pork and cook until lightly browned. Add Hunt’s Spaghetti Sauce Pinoy Party Style, water, bay leaves and soy sauce, bringing it to a boil. Simmer, then add carrots and potatoes. Cook until liquid is mostly reduced. Mix in liver spread, hotdog and green peas, and cover for 2-3 minutes. Next, season with salt and pepper to taste, then set aside and let cool. Spoon 2 tbsps of menudo over one lumpia wrapper, roll, and secure the edges by brushing with egg whites. Finally, deep-fry until golden brown.

To see how easy it is to make this this exciting dish, check out its BiteSized.PH video at www.facebook.com/BiteSized.ph/videos/707293472756843/.

Seafood Lasagna Roll-ups

Make mealtimes truly memorable with this shrimp-layered and crab sauce-filled lasagna dish.

Ingredients:

Shrimp

- ¼ kg shrimp, peeled and deveined 

- Salt and pepper to taste

- 1 tsp. paprika

- 1 tbsp. calamansi juice

- 2 tbsps. olive oil 

White crab sauce

- 2 tbsps. butter 

- 5 cloves garlic 

- 1 white onion

- 2 cups cream 

- 1 cup crab meat 

- 2 tbsps. parsley, chopped

- 8-10 pcs lasagna noodles 

Red sauce

- 2 tbsps. olive oil 

- 1 red onion, chopped

- 5 cloves garlic, chopped

- 250 g Hunt’s Spaghetti Sauce Parmesan Cheese

- 2 tbsps. basil, chopped 

Assembly

- 1 cup mozzarella cheese, grated

- 1 cup parmesan cheese, grated

- Basil leaves for garnish 

Procedure: 

Start by seasoning shrimp with salt, pepper, paprika and calamansi juice. Cook shrimps in olive oil for 1-2 minutes on each side, butterfly-cut each shrimp and set aside. Meanwhile, add butter to the same pan where shrimp was cooked. Sauté onion and garlic, add the cream and simmer until thick. Mix in the crab meat, cook for about 5 minutes and season with salt and pepper. Turn off heat and mix in parsley. Set aside.

Next, sauté onion and garlic over medium heat. Add Hunt’s Spaghetti Sauce Parmesan Cheese, simmer until thick and season with salt and pepper. Turn off heat and mix in basil. Set aside. Finally, cook lasagna noodles according to package directions. Set aside. 

To assemble, lay lasagna noodles flat on a large surface. Spread about 3 tbsps. of the white crab sauce on each and top with pieces of shrimp, while leaving an inch at the top of each lasagna noodle empty. Sprinkle mozzarella and parmesan cheese on top (about 1 tbsp. each). Roll each lasagna noodle while securing the filling inside. Spread half of red sauce at the bottom of baking dish. Place all the lasagna roll-ups on top of the sauce, seam-side down. Keep the lasagna roll-ups close to each other to prevent unraveling. Spoon-in the remaining red sauce. Top with more mozzarella and parmesan cheese and bake at 190C for 30 minutes. Garnish with basil leaves.

Check out the BiteSized.PH video of this recipe at www.facebook.com/BiteSized.ph/videos/715664575253066/.

Simply satisfying, definitely delicious, but oh so easy to make—these dishes are a sure-hit for every home. Surprise your family and learn how to prepare these and other mouthwatering Hunt’s recipes by visiting BiteSized.ph on Facebook.

Make every day a feast to remember with Hunt’s Spaghetti Sauces. 

To learn more about the brand, visit its website at www.yummyhunts.com/

Top five premium global brand Vivo to launch Stephen Curry-endorsed 20MP dual front camera V5 Plus

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Basketball superstar Stephen Curry is the face of Vivo’s newest flagship model, the Vivo V5 Plus. 

With the ‘selfie’ phenomenon at its peak and its popularity growing unabated, smartphone manufacturers have been producing phones with camera-focused features that can create the selfie worthy of being called ‘perfect’. 

Vivo V5 Plus, called the ‘Perfect Selfie’ phone, will be launched on January 21, Saturday, at the SM Mall of Asia Atrium. 

In fact, Vivo, one of the top five premium global brands according to data from the International Data Corporation1 is set to launch a smartphone equipped with the most advanced selfie technology to date: the Vivo V5 Plus, to be officially unveiled in a consumer and media launch on January 21, Saturday at the SM Mall of Asia Atrium. 

The Vivo V5 Plus is endorsed by basketball superstar Stephen Curry, who earlier said that he shares the same core values with the brand: energy, professionalism, and pleasure. 

Dubbed the ‘Perfect Selfie’ phone, Vivo V5 Plus features dual front-facing cameras: a 20-megapixel and 8-megapixel combination, a soft-light flash that enables the user to take selfies even in poor lighting conditions, a face beauty mode 6.0 that corrects blemishes, and the “bokeh” effect—the well-loved photography filter that instantly blurs the background of any focused object. Also, the Vivo V5 Plus is equipped with a 16-megapixel rear camera.

Full specifications of the newest Vivo model will be released during the event.

Says Hazel Bascon, Vivo Philippines vice president, “We are excited that the Vivo V5 Plus is finally launching here in the Philippines, as Filipinos are known to be selfie lovers. The phone’s advanced selfie features will surely take the Filipino selfie experience to the next level.”

KZ Tandingan, known for her hits Mahal Ko O Mahal Ako and Scared to Death, will be serenading guests during the Vivo V5 Plus big reveal. 

Tony Labrusca. Guest performers for the Vivo V5 Plus launch include Tony Labrusca of Pinoy Boyband Superstar. 

James Ryan Cesena. James Ryan Cesena, the Fil-French heartthrob from Pinoy Band Superstar, will also be joining the Vivo V5 Plus launch. 

Significant guests from the smartphone market, top technology bloggers, fashion and lifestyle bloggers like Verniece Enciso, singer KZ Tandingan and Pinoy Boyband Superstar’s Tony Labrusca and James Ryan Cesena are expected to join in the big reveal. 

For inquiries about Vivo V5 Plus, visit the 

Vivo website at vivoglobal.ph, 

or check out their 

Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/VivoPhil), 

Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/vivophil/) and 

Twitter (https://twitter.com/vivophil) accounts.

The Zenfone 3 Max Unboxing and Review

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(Longevity is the power of the Zenfone 3 Max)

Enjoying life to the fullest. Through our favorite social media channels, everyone uses smartphone cameras - for easier communicating with people, capturing and sharing pictures, making videos and games. We are looking for a phone that is slim, lightweight, and easy to carry around, a best partner in travel, business and photography.

Unboxing ASUS ZenFone 3 Max 

ASUS ZenFone 3 Max is for everyday lifestyle and tasks that are expected to last for more than a full day. It can definitely run social apps smoothly and other similar software. 

ASUS ZenFone 3 Max 5.5‐inch have beautiful and cleanest design compare to many phones. It sports an aluminum body and all buttons are where they should be. 

The basics of modern smartphone connectivity are loaded to the phone. There’s 4G LTE, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and GPS. A smartphone with an excellent fingerprint sensor.

Zenfone 3 Max to the max! 

The battery capacity is the main feature of the Zenfone 3 Max. Longer than average battery life. With its high-capacity 4100mAh cell ZenFone 3 Max just keeps on going for a full work day and beyond. The 4100mAh battery capacity is so substantial that it can even to double up as a power bank to charge your digital devices. 

As it the word max, longevity is the power of the Zenfone 3 Max. Power to last for days, eliminates battery life worries.

Built for Photography and Great camera performance. 

As everybody enjoy having cellphones use for picture taking always, Zenfone 3 max is great! 

There’s the main 13-megapixel camera with an LED flash and the 5-megapixel front-facing camera

Testing it out in outdoor and lowlight situation produced great results. With laser focus, contrast detection, and phase detection, the camera is extremely capable.

Here are some of my  photos captured by Zenfone 3 Max:

And of course, doing video, you get a full HD recording that is usable for sharing. The framerate is also steady at 30fps.

It also has 32GB of internal storage which can be expanded by up to 256GB.

Great performance and at P10,995, the ZenFone 3 Max ( 5.5‐inch) is one of the most affordable members of the ASUS ZenFone 3 family.

The Zenfone 3 Max Unboxing 

ZenFone 3 Max Specifications 

Display: 5.5‐inch IPS FHD (1920x1080) capacitive touchscreen display, 2.5D contoured glass

GSM:850/900/1800/1900MHz 

3G: B1/2/5/6/8/19 

LTE: 1/2/3/5/7/8/18/19/26/28/38/41 

SIM : Dual (nano+micro) SIM, dual standby

Operating System: Android 6.0 Marshmallow with ZenUI 3.0

Processor: 1.4GHz 64‐bit octa core Cortex‐A53 CPU, Adreno 505 GPU, Qualcomm MSM8937 Snapdragon 430 chipset 

Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot, Bluetooth 4.1, A2DP, LE, GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, FM radio, microUSB 2.0, USB OTG

Dimensions: 151.4 x 76.2 x 8.3mm

Weight: 175 grams

Memory: 3GB RAM

Storage: 32GB internal storage, expandable up to 128GB via a micro SD card, uses SIM 2 slot

Sensors: fingerprint, accelerometer, e‐compass, proximity, light, gyroscope, hall 

Battery: 4100mAh Li‐Ion, non‐removable, supports fast and reverse charging 

Color: Glacier Silver, Sand Gold, Rose Pink, Titanium Gold 

Price: Php10,995

Center for Possibilities Promotes Inclusion Through The Arts

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By Samantha Kaspar 

On January 28, the Center for Possibilities Foundation (CFP) will be staging a back-to-back event at the RCBC Plaza in Makati. At 5:30 in the afternoon, the self-titled exhibit of 19-year-old Samantha Kaspar will open to the public. At 7:00 pm, the Manila Symphony Orchestra will take center stage. 

Samantha Kaspar 

Art Auction

“Samantha” will consist of around 40 artworks, some on fabric to be used as fashion accessories and others on canvas for wall hangings. 

“Samantha uses a wide variety of media for her work and we wanted to show the gamut of her abilities. She works primarily on piña silk using silk paints. She also uses acrylic paint on canvas sometimes,” explains Samantha’s mother, Mitzi. 

By Samantha Kaspar 

By Samantha Kaspar 

By Samantha Kaspar 

“She has a consistent style with a lot of edges and lines, her artworks can be very linear. She also has this certain way of giving shapes to her images which aren’t necessarily realistic but are more cartoonish,” describes Samantha’s father, Martin.

Samantha Kaspar w parents Mitzi and Martin

While half-Swiss, Samantha always tries to tap into her Filipino roots, coming up with Filipino-themed artworks. She will be promoting some of that local culture when she heads to the Philippine Center in New York for the Fashion Arts Autism Benefit (FAAB) on April 7.

Samantha Kaspar with art coach Kenn Sioson

FAAB is meant to showcase the artistic talents of children with special needs. Samantha, diagnosed with Autism when she was one and a half years old, is one of eight artists chosen to present their paintings on piña silk to be translated into clothing by featured designers for the fashion show, Patis Tesoro and Anthony Legarda. Master weaver India Legaspi is credited for teaching the artists the technique of piña silk painting. 

Samantha hopes to fund her trip with the proceeds of her auction. 

Manila Symphony Orchestra

Concert

The Manila Symphony Orchestra’s “Soundtracks and Symphonies” will be conducted by Prof. Arturo Molina and annotated by Jeffrey Solares. Included in their repertoire is a John Williams tribute as well as pieces from greats such as Beethoven, Mozart, and Bach.

The concert is for the benefit of Special Education (SPED) Centers that have been the focus of the Center for Possibilities’ recent efforts. To act as a venue for learning of indigent persons with special needs, each SPED Center is operated by a teacher trained in the SPED division of Reach International School.

Samantha w art coach Kenn, parents Martin & Mitzi and members of the CFP 

The Sagada SPED Center has been up and running and will be enhanced with a series of livelihood and vocational programs that will be teaching skills for income-generating activities. “Caring for special kids is very taxing because it’s usually just a one-income household so we also need to help the parents improve their finances,” explains CFP founder, Dolores Cheng.

In Norzagaray, what they have right now is just the building itself. A fence, a water tank, and a playground are still needed. “We are also in the process of doing our due diligence by determining the number of special children in all the barangays relevant to Norzagaray. Next will be an orientation for all the parents within the community. We are subsequently planning for the provision of testing, diagnosis, and analysis for the children with special needs,” Cheng adds. 

Enrolment in the SPED Centers is free so it helps alleviate the family’s cost of taking care of special children. If you would like to extend assistance, you may reach CFP at http://centerforpossibilities.asia/ or (02) 723-1242 / (0918) 888-1759.

“Samantha” and “Soundtracks and Symphonies” will be on January 28, 2016, 5:30pm at the Carlos P. Auditorium of the RCBC Plaza, Makati.