5 Steps to a Happy, Healthy, Wealthy YOU! through music, the mind, and meditation

By Benjamin D. Koen

“True happiness, health, and wealth lie within you. They are your birthright, and unfold with each moment of meditation.” This book presents a holistic approach to achieving success and creating the life you passionately desire through a 5-Step system that engages what Dr. Benjamin Koen calls the Five Factors of the Body, Mind, Spirit, Emotions, and Relationships. A natural consequence of having these Five Factors in balance and in a state of vitality is the experience of joy and happiness, health and wellbeing, wealth and prosperity. These factors are intimately linked to what Dr. Koen reveals is our Internal Super Power Success System, which unfailingly leads us to where we focus our attention. Building from a soul-centered understanding of the human being, Benjamin Koen introduces fresh and accessible ways of understanding meditation along with a method that is easy to use, and which has been successful for hundreds of people from diverse backgrounds in achieving or surpassing their goals in any area of life. In addition, Ben Koen draws on cutting-edge research, a wealth of spiritual principles, and his vast experience in the world of music to show how harnessing the power of sound and music in meditation can be profoundly effective for focusing your mind, achieving success, or transforming your life. The book walks you step-by-step through a clear and effective process of reflection, decision-making, meditation, and extending the experience of meditation throughout your day, everyday, to manifest your ideal life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Benjamin D. Koen
• Release date: Sep 16, 2014
• ISBN: 9781941977002

Benjamin D. Koen

Benjamin Koen, Ph.D. is the founder of Sound Health International. Dr. Koen is renowned for his work in music, meditation, wellness and healing. His books, music, workshops, talks and coaching in human development, life transformation and wellness are acclaimed internationally. Ben has performed, conducted research, and given one on one and group sessions in personal transformation, health and healing with music and meditation in more than forty countries. His inspiring message of oneness, health, and prosperity has benefited thousands of people. Dr. Koen is also the Distinguished Professor of Medical Anthropology and Medical Ethnomusicology at Xiamen University in Fujian Province, China, is an Assessor for the Australian Research Council, is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board for Medical Ethnomusicology at Oxford University Press, and is an Oxford Handbook Editor. You can learn more about Ben's projects and stay in touch with him through www.benkoen.com.

Book preview

First, a few thoughts

… heart to heart

In your hands is an offering from my heart to yours. My intention is that the spirit and energy of this book will connect with that place deep in your heart and soul where you are fully aware that you are a beautiful, wondrous, eternal, and joyful being. From that place of wholeness and oneness within you, that place where all is well, you will learn clear and practical steps on how to extend the energy of your soul throughout your body, mind, emotions, relationships, and life in order to create all that you can imagine.

This book stems from more than thirty years of music making and meditation, as well as over a decade of research and applied practice, all of which have helped me to overcome my personal challenges and become a happy, healthy, wealthy, and spiritual being, full of love, strength, energy, peace, and enthusiasm. The powers of music and meditation continually transform my life and I see them transform the lives of others daily, in ways both great and small.

If you truly desire to create happiness, health, and wealth in your life, this book is for you. You do not need to know anything about music or meditation to benefit from this book. It is not about making music or being a musician, but rather about how the powers of music and meditation can work together to help you create the life you dream of. This book is a sharing of what I know to be a powerful way of wellness and healing, a way of transformation, a way of happiness, a way of wealth, and a way of manifestation.

Along with my personal experience of knowing and living through the powers of music and meditation, my research into these powers has explored how and why music, specialized sound, and meditation can help you to create the life you desire. I have come to believe and know that you can create health and healing, a clear, focused, and peaceful mind, empowered and joyful emotions, unified and vibrant relationships, wealth and prosperity, and the spiritual qualities that fill your heart and life with love, laughter, vitality, serenity, and strength. I have shared the principles and practices in these pages with hundreds of people spanning a broad diversity of backgrounds, who without fail when they practice these simple yet powerful techniques, are able to transform their thoughts to a higher state of consciousness, achieving and often far exceeding their personal goals.

Through the myriad concerns of daily life, attention to the past, and worry about the future, you may have forgotten who and what you truly are, what you are capable of creating, and how beautiful life can be. This book is a way to return to your true self—a self that is pure, beautiful, knowing, loving, strong, giving, peaceful, and able to create anything you desire. By immersing your thoughts in that subtle and generative state of meditation where all potentials exist, you become aware of your true self and strengthen the connection to the source of your being. Then, by learning how to extend that energy into your daily actions, you can manifest the reality that your soul inspires. Briefly put, this book will enable you to enliven your connection to your inner spirit and let that energy flow into all aspects of your life, creating a sea change in the invisible quality and manifest reality of your existence.

The ideas, skills, and practices that you will learn here focus on music and meditation as ladders for the ascent of your soul, the transformation of your life, and the manifestation of all the potentialities of your heart. When you climb these ladders daily, you will experience positive change and even transformation in every aspect of life. Most importantly, remember to have fun! This is a practice and a process, not a one-time event. So, enjoy every moment of the beautiful journey you are about to begin!

How To Use This Book

The sweet fruit of meditation is mindful action.

The sweet fruit of mindful action is personal and world transformation.

XIAMEN ISLAND, CHINA, 10 A.M. FRIDAY

She was all smiles, full of enthusiasm, with just a smidge of disbelief. This is how one of my top doctoral students entered class that day. She had just finished reading a section of my first book and she was ready for an easy route to fat loss.

She sat down and looked at me, excitedly. You mean that if I meditate, I can lose weight? I’m ready! Tell me how.

Everyone is ready when there is an easy way that requires no personal action—you know, the get-rich-quick approach to life. Of course, she was thinking that there was a magic fat-loss meditation to which I held the secret. Without missing a beat, I smiled and said, Absolutely you can, if you have the right meditation! First, tell me what is meditation to you? She had not yet taken any of my seminars on meditation, so this was a new conversation for us. She went on to describe it as a basic idea of clearing her head, deep breathing, and finding a peaceful state of mind … and that was it. Well, that can be fine for some things, a quick relaxation response to de-stress in the moment, if you will. It can even be used to create more peace in life overall, if practiced regularly. But it was certainly not going to help her achieve the body she was looking for. Neither would it help you reach your dreams or create the life of happiness, health, and wealth that you desire.

The reason is because her approach to meditation was not aimed at any focused action and had no specific goal for the post-meditation part of life—i.e., the rest of her day, every day, after meditating. I explained that naturally there are many different kinds of meditation, and that most have a special approach, technique, purpose, goal, or outcome. They are fine for some things and not for others. If you want to change and improve your body, heal yourself, or create a specific outcome and reality in your life, this book will help you do it.

The kind of meditation you will need to achieve your goal to redesign your body is what I call my SEA Meditation, I said, which stands for See, Experience, Act.

SEA Meditation Outline

See, Experience, Act

1. See the end in the beginning

(See your end goal clearly at the beginning of any endeavor)

2. Experience that end as real, now, in your meditation

3. Act as though your goal has already been achieved

The SEA approach lies at the heart of the 5 Steps to a Happy, Healthy, Wealthy YOU!

This is one of the central themes that will be repeated and shown in different ways throughout this book. It is a key which, when practiced consistently, can be used to open the door to your new life full of all that you have imagined in your heart and mind. Use this book as a guide. You can modify practices to best suite your situation, but follow the principles and processes, which will provide a sure way to create a Happy, Healthy, Wealthy You!

This book will walk you step by step through these five steps. Let’s take a quick glance at them now.

5 Steps Outline

STEP 1: REFLECT

You will reflect on the Five Factors of life (body, mind, spirit, emotions, relationships) and write down where you are now and what you passionately desire to create in each of these Five Factors, and in life as a whole.

STEP 2: DECIDE

You will then choose which is the most important—that which you simply must have or be—among all the things that you have written in Step 1.

STEP 3: PREPARE

You will take a moment to prepare your body to meditate. (This can take from a few seconds to a few minutes).

STEP 4: MEDITATE

You will enter the state of meditation and see that which you have chosen as being fully real and true now in your meditation. You will become that which you have chosen in your meditation. You will feel the sensation in your body, heart, and soul that you are that reality.

STEP 5: ACT

You will arise from your meditation and immediately take action in your new reality.

NOTE: For you to truly benefit from this book, start at the beginning and read the whole book through till the end—you don’t have to do it all at once; just read it from beginning to end. Chapter 9 is where you will begin the 5 Steps, but make sure you start with chapter 1, even though some of you might want to skip straight to chapter 9! Chapters 1‒8 are essential to prepare yourself to make the most of the 5 Steps and to guarantee success, so please read it this way: read chapters 1‒8 as though we are having a life-changing conversation, and then, when you reach chapter 9, you will be ready to enter a new stage of life from which you will never want to return.

Brief Background and Purpose

This book builds upon four broad areas of knowledge: Science, Spirituality, Music, and Experience. I have used the material in this book in research projects and with clients in one-to-one and group settings to help them achieve their life goals. I also draw upon my work in Medical Ethnomusicology which is a new and innovative area of integrative and holistic research, applied practice, and performance at the intersections of music, health science, HICAM (holistic, integrative, complementary, and alternative medicine), indigenous and traditional music and healing practices, neuroscience, the healing arts, spirituality, quantum physics, psychology, and anthropology. In addition, this book is also deeply informed by my experiences in over forty countries with culturally diverse practices of music, prayer, meditation, health, and healing, as well as eternal spiritual principles that are shared among traditions across the globe. Lastly, I draw from my lifework as a musician dedicated to bringing forth music as a ladder for the soul, higher consciousness, happiness, health, and wellness—in brief, to create oneness and wholeness.

My purpose here is to share what I have learned and what I practice to create happiness, health, and wealth in my own life. Although it is true that any given program will not work for all people, I am happy, indeed thrilled, to be able to say that everyone I know who has used this program has achieved or far exceeded their personal goals in one or more areas of life. I am deeply honored to share this with you now.

Chapter 1

You Are Soul

Sooner or later, you discover that

you are the master gardener of your soul, the director of your life.

–adapted from James Allen

Meditative Mind and Bridging the Gap

Have you ever tried to change your thoughts to create the life you long for, but have been overwhelmed by countless conflicting thoughts racing in every direction? Have you tried to reach your dreams but become discouraged because they are not quickly realized? If so, you are not alone. So many people struggle to try and create the life they desire in their heart of hearts, but fail for one simple reason. They have left out the most essential step: Meditation — the practice of making conscious contact with your inner spirit, your soul—YOU. From that beautiful and powerful dimension of the soul, which is your personal connection to the source of all being, all things are possible .

In one sense, it is true that You are what you think—but there is more to