This video with Jonathan Hoefler and Tobias Frere-Jones, from former Hoefler & Frere-Jones, is pure inspiration. In it you´ll even find a crash course in typography. Watch and enjoy!

Almost all of our projects take a decade, beginning to end.

I have mixed feelings about Digital Journals article No Free Wi-Fi Biggest Hotel Guest Complaint. Should Wi-Fi really be a top priority when going on vacation? However, I don´t think it´s OK 2014 to charge that much, up to $10 an hour, for using a hotel service like Wi-Fi.

One of the biggest complaints that hotel guests have is the lack of free Wi-Fi in their rooms. Guests believe that all hotels should offer free Internet connection and think it is more important that many other hotel amenities.

Guests even ranked free Wi-Fi higher than a hotel having a swimming pool or being close to attractions and services.

In the short documentary Path of Freedom we get to follow former inmate Fleet Maull teaching Rhode Island prison inmates meditation.

Via YogaDork.

The documentary The Condemned from director Nick Read captures the lives at Penal Colony 56, a prison in the heart of Russia surrounded by a vast dense forrest. I found the documentary disturbing, but at the same time beautiful and tranquil, mostly by the nature`s beauty and magical images from a Russia in winter.

I've now seen the documentary film The Phenomenon Bruno Groening - On the tracks of the "Miracle Healer". It's a well made documentary. It's full of information, fascinating contemporary witness interviews and reenacted events.

The documentary is divided into three parts. It took 9 years to produce 5 hours of film. More than 2000 extras were involved, e.g. to reenact the famous events in Traberhof where mass healings took place. It's subtitled in 30 languages and the options for the voice track are German, English, French, Croatian, Polish, Russian and Spanish.

It is undeniably a fascinating documentary that I highly recommend!

You order the documentary from Grete Häusler Verlag. Currently, there´s no digital option to choose from. Together with the DVD, I ordered a booklet of 36 pages, The Teaching of Bruno Gröning (Introductory Set), with an introductory CD included. Here you´ll get information about how to do "einstellen" and read about, among other things, eye witness reports from Bruno Groening's life and success reports of today.

Bob Roth, the vice president of the David Lynch Foundation, visited the Katie Couric Show discussing the benefits of doing transcendental meditation. For those of you who are interested to learn transcendental meditation, either visit a TM Center or feel free to read my previous post about some good alternatives to Transcendental Meditation.

Tip: See also my post "Transcendental Meditation and the Alternatives".

A while ago, I ordered the documentary The Phenomenon Bruno Groening - On the track of the " Miracle Healer ". It´s about the german healer Bruno Groening (1906 - 1959) and all the miraculous healings he brought about.

The basic message of the teachings of Bruno Groening is that there is a higher power available to assist and help people. Bruno speaks about a healing stream which originates directly from this higher power, and by putting ourselves in contact and tune in to the healing stream we can stay healthy and be healed of diseases. The technique for doing so is called "einstellen" which is the german word for tuning in. I´m not completely unfamiliar with this process since I´m a Reiki practitioner, however, I´m unsure whether practitioners of Bruno Groening use handpositions as we do in Reiki.

Related reading:

• Christiane Northrup, Feminine Mystic
• Bruno Gröning Stiftung

After having seen the Transcendental Meditation (TM) documentary "School of Thought" (2008) directed by Tony Perri, I decided I wanted to learn how to practice the Transcendental Meditation technique myself. Since learning mantra meditation from the TM organization wasn't my preferred way of learning, I found some similar free and low cost alternatives that enabled me to learn the technique in the comfort of my own home via online courses.

Note: If you're suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), severe depression or anxiety and similar, it might be best to sign up for a live class and get guidance and support from a teacher. However, this decision is highly individual and only my personal opinion. We're all different, and with that comes different needs. In these cases, I would encourage you to first take a look at the wonderful work done by the David Lynch Foundation, and see if they can offer you the much needed meditation training.

1. The How-to and Do-it-yourself Guide 'Natural Stress Relief' (NSR)

I ended up ordering the course material from an organization called Natural Stress Relief, which is led by independent TM teacher David Spector. Their online and home study course is a very good and similar alternative to Transcendental Meditation, but much cheaper. The course material is presented in a clear way, and is delivered as an instant download or by mail. Also, you can buy consultations for a very modest fee if problems occur, and you get free access to a forum with a wealth of useful information.

I have now practiced mantra meditation for close to 2 years with some occasional breaks and have only good to say about the NSR technique.

Update: You find my longer NSR review here.

Tip: Read the excellent interview between author and meditation teacher Wayne Purdin and David Spector, which will give you a good understanding of what you can expect from learning NSR.

Cost: 25 – 47 USD

2. 'Learn to Meditate Kit' and 'CSM Supervisor’s Kit' by Dr. Patricia Carrington

Another product I highly recommend is leading psychologist Dr. Patricia Carrington's online and home study course "Learn to Meditate Kit" that teaches her Clinical Standardized Meditation. Like NSR, Dr. Carrington's CSM is based on Transcendental Meditation:

You may have heard of Transcendental Meditation (TM), a standardized form of “mantra” meditation (meditation where the meditator concentrates upon a special powerful sound known as a mantra). This method was adapted for Western use from ancient Indian techniques. A large body of experimental evidence supports the value of TM and a few other forms of modern meditation in an impressive manner.

Another standardized form of modern meditation widely used in clinical practice to support psychotherapy or to create profound personality change on one's own is my Clinically Standardized Meditation (CSM) method. CSM does not involve any special ceremony but merely the use of a quiet room, some plants pleasantly arranged and repetition of a short standardized soothing sound, a "mantra," which the meditator has personally selected. It is remarkably effective in bringing about profound positive changes in the person using it. It is also very safe and simple to use and its beneficial effects have been widely supported by research.

I ordered this out of curiosity and was very impressed by how the extensive course material was presented. It includes very good audio instructions and a well written workbook and manual. I find this to be a great course of its own, but also find it to be a good compliment to the NSR course.

Carrington also offers "CSM Supervisor’s Kit" (49.95 USD) or the bundle "CSM Professional Pak" (110.00 USD) for professionals who wish to teach meditation or who wish to carry out research using meditation.

There are some meditation audio lessons excerpted from the course that you can listen to for free. A good resource that can help you decide whether or not this course is for you.

Cost: 39.95 USD

3. Effortless Mantra Meditation Lecture by Dr. Michael Olpin

In my search for alternative ways to learn effortless mantra meditation, I stumbled upon the lecture of Dr. Michael Olpin, who is a professor of Health Promotion at Weber State University. Olpin is a longtime TM practitioner and in this lecture he teaches the exact same process that he was taught learning Transcendental Meditation.

Cost: Free

4. The Spark of Karma's Primordial Sound Meditation Online Course

I've had the pleasure of reviewing a Primordial Sound Meditation online course run by Chopra Center certified teacher Dmitry Denisenko. This class is of high quality and consists of video sessions and other material, and comes with a very moderate price tag.

Cost: 150 USD

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5. Russell Simmons Teaches Mantra Meditation

Entrepreneur and music mogul Russell Simmons is an avid practitioner of Transcendental Meditation. At Google joined by author Chris Morrow, Simmons gives a workshop on how to meditate using a mantra and a mini-workshop at Business Brilliant with Lewis Schiff.

Update: Simmons did recently release a free mantra meditation app.

6. The Chopra Center's Primordial Sound Meditation Online Course

The Chopra Center now offers Deepak Chopra's Primordial Sound Meditation course as an online program. Unlike other alternatives on this list, I haven't studied the material, but I assume the course is of high quality.

Cost: 397 USD

7. Online Video Course in Vedic and Mindfulness Meditation by Charlie Knoles

Vedic Meditation teacher Thom Knoles worked as a Transcendental Meditation teacher for many years before founding his own brand Vedic Meditation.

In collaboration with lifestyle media brand Mindbodygreen, Thom Knoles' son, Vedic Meditation teacher Charlie Knoles, offers an online course in Vedic and mindfulness meditation. With six hours of training, you'll learn how to meditate in an effortless way with an effective group and mass mantra that you'll receive during the course.

Cost: 99.99 USD

8. Acem Meditation Beginner's Course

The Acem School of Meditation was founded by Dr. Are Holen and is influenced by the work of the Transcendental Meditation movement. The Acem School of Meditation's precursor, the Academic Meditation Society (AMS), represented the Transcendental Meditation organization in Norway from '66 and onwards until continuing on their own and changing name in '72. Today, Acem Meditation is an international organization that offers many different meditation courses and retreats along with education materials such as books and audio.

I have written a review about my experience of the Acem Meditation beginner's course, which you can read here.

Cost: 95 USD

9. Get Your Personal Primordial Sound Meditation Mantra for Free

Visit my guide on how you easily can calculate and receive a personalized Primordial Sound Meditation mantra for free.

Image credit: Top image from the Swedish documentary "Jakten på den ändlösa sommaren" (The Pursuit of the Endless Summer). Image from the British Columbia Coast taken from the French five-part nature documentary "Morning Glory".

I´ve lost you once, then I found you. Once again I lose you, but this time for good. There´s an emptiness spreading inside of me, I wish we would have gotten much more time together.I'm panicking, crying, it all feels so unreal. It´s all so definite. To think about not getting your phonecalls anymore and hear your voice, to meet up with you, to hug you, to laugh together, it all makes me gasp for more air. The love all around me makes me stay strong. I hope you can hear me.

I love you!

Your son

I just love this presentation by Derek Sivers (be sure to check out his great recommended reading list) explaining how to start a movement in less than three minutes.

While the footage is somewhat hilarious, it makes for serious thinking at the same time. Without his followers, a leader wouldn´t be much of a leader. Like Derek is saying, it was really the first follower that transformed the lone nut into a leader.

Via Made By Suzi.