Ten benefits of forgiveness

Ten biggest benefits of forgiveness and letting go:

1 Forgiveness terminates our harmful behaviour.

"Forgiveness is a side effect of willingness to accept ourselves and others" ~ Kimberly Virdure-King

2  Forgiveness releases us from the past

*not to forgive meanst to be loced in the past and to grieve.that stops us from living new, full life. - Robin Casarijian
3 Forgiveness frees us and allows you to move forward.

* To Forgive means to release a prisoner to freedom and understand that you were the prisoner. L.B. Smedes

* When you continue a resentment to another person, you are bound by emotional ties, which are stronger than steel.Forgiveness is the only way to stop them and break free. C. Ponder

4 Forgiveness makes us better.

5  Forgiveness strengthens our character.

* "The soul of man is strongest when it refuses to revenge and dares to forgive the wrongs." EA Chapin

6 Forgiveness teaches us to love

* We can not love fully  until we learn to forgive. as the stronger is our love,the greater is our ability to forgive . "

7 Forgiveness enhances our mental and physical health.

* People who have anger, hostility and hatred replaces that with forgivness will enjoy better cardiovascular condition and have fewer long-term health problems. C. Thoresen

8 Forgiveness guarantees you a peace of mind.

* "Forgiveness - is an internal attitude, revitalizing heart. First, it provides peace of mind for ourselves. And being spiritually calm, we can share that and to others.It is the most valuable gift you can give. "G. Jampolskis

9 Forgiveness increases our wisdom.

* A wise man will hurry to forgive, because he understands the true value of time, and will not allow himself to bother with misery. " S. Johnson

10 Forgiveness honours God.

With Metta, Yours Namaste

How Meditation Techniques Compare

There are so many differend meditations.Are you looking for the right meditation for you? Many are seeking tools to turn within and thats already a first step.

Some people tries to fix their problems with everything from psychotherapy and Prozac to positive thinking and politics. And some people are ready to close their eyes and take a dive - not to escape, but to more fully BE.

I find that most of the people no longer need to be convinced of meditation's practical benefits. But people do often ask, "Aren't all meditation techniques basically the same?"

Experts in the venerated traditions of meditation have always marveled at the mind's subtlety, appreciating its keen responsiveness and sensitivity to different mental procedures. Great master teachers of meditation have recognized that the various techniques engage the mind in different ways and naturally produce different results. With advancements in neurophysiology, scientists are now identifying distinctions among varieties of meditation practices.

The Myth of the Relaxation Response

The old "scientific" myth that meditation practices all induce the same, general state of physiological rest - so called the "relaxation response" - has been overturned. Though many practices provide relaxation, decades of research show that not all techniques produce the same physiological, psychological or behavioral effects.

Three major categories of meditation

Nowaday we have meditation labs have sprung up in United States at universities across the country - places such as Yale, UCLA, University of Oregon, UW Madison and Maharishi University of Management. Their contributions have helped researchers identify three major categories of techniques, classified according to EEG measurements and the type of cognitive processing or mental activity involved:

    * Controlled focus: Classic examples of concentration or controlled focus are found in the revered traditions of Zen, Tibetan Buddhism, Qiqong, Yoga and Vedanta, though many methods involve attempts to control or direct the mind. Attention is focused on an object of meditation - such as one's breath, an idea or image, deity, an emotion or sound vibration, like mantra repetition. Brain waves recorded during these practices are typically in the gamma frequency (20-50 Hz), seen whenever you concentrate or during "active" cognitive processing.

    * Open monitoring: These mindfulness type practices, common in Vipassana and Zazen, involve watching or actively paying attention to experiences - without judging, reacting or holding on. Open monitoring gives rise to frontal theta (4-8 Hz), an EEG pattern commonly seen during memory tasks or reflection on mental concepts.(EEG Patern - Electroencephalogram is 7.81 to 7.83 Hz frequency of an individual. This is the same frequency range as in the earth's magnetic field , known as "Schumann Resonance").

    * Automatic self-transcending: This category describes practices designed to go beyond their own mental activity - enabling the mind to spontaneously transcend the process of meditation itself. Whereas concentration and open monitoring require degrees of effort or directed focus to sustain the activity of meditation, this approach is effortless because there is no attempt to direct attention - no controlled cognitive processing. An example is the Transcendental Meditation technique. The EEG pattern of this category is frontal alpha coherence, associated with a distinct state of relaxed inner wakefulness.

Some other techniques may fall under more than one category.For example, guided meditation is controlled focus if the instruction is to "Hold attention on your breath." But if the instructor says, "Now just watch your thoughts, letting them come and go," then you're probably doing open monitoring.

As you doing different practices, you get different results.

Without the scientific research, meditative states and their effects remain subjective. Brain research, along with findings on psychological and behavioral effects, gives a more objective framework for health professionals or anyone to determine which meditation technique might be most beneficial for a given purpose.

For example, research suggests that concentration techniques may improve focusing ability. A study on advanced Buddhist monks - some of whom have done more than 10,000 hours of meditation -- found that concentrating on "loving kindness and compassion" increased those feelings and produced synchronous gamma activity in the left pre-frontal cortex - indicating more powerful focus.The effect of open monitoring or non-judgemental observation is said to increase even-mindedness in daily life.Studies on mindfulness-type practices indicate better pain management and reduction of negative though patterns.

I find that most meditators are no longer concerned that a technique might come from the East or have roots in a spiritual tradition - their main concern is that the practice works, and now the science can help to remove the guesswork. Alot of people are choosing meditation to counterbalance a fast pace, outer directed and over stimulated life, and yet turning to something as simple as our own inner silence.

based on Jeanne Ball article 'How Meditation Techniques Compare' 

Ten Spiritually Transmitted Diseases

It is a jungle out there, and it is no less true about spiritual life than any other aspect of life. Do we really think that just because someone has been meditating for five years, or doing 10 years of yoga practice, that they will be any less neurotic than the next person? At best, perhaps they will be a little bit more aware of it. A little bit. It is for this reason that I spent the last 15 years of my life researching and writing books on cultivating discernment on the spiritual path in all the gritty areas—power, sex, enlightenment, gurus, scandals, psychology, neurosis—as well as earnest, but just plain confused and unconscious, motivations on the path. Along with my partner, author and teacher Marc Gafni, we are developing a new series of books, courses and practices to bring further clarification to these issues.

Several years ago, I spent a summer living and working in South Africa. Upon my arrival I was instantly confronted by the visceral reality that I was in the country with the highest murder rate in the world, where rape was common and more than half the population was HIV-positive—men and women, gays and straights alike. As I have come to know hundreds of spiritual teachers and thousands of spiritual practitioners through my work and travels, I have been struck by the way in which our spiritual views, perspectives, and experiences become similarly “infected” by “conceptual contaminants”—comprising a confused and immature relationship to complex spiritual principles—that are as invisible, yet as insidious, as sexually transmitted disease.

The following 10 categorizations are not intended to be definitive but are offered as a tool for becoming aware of some of the most common spiritually transmitted diseases.

1. Fast-Food Spirituality: Mix spirituality with a culture that celebrates speed, multitasking, and instant gratification and the result is likely to be fast-food spirituality. Fast-food spirituality is a product of the common and understandable fantasy that relief from the suffering of our human condition can be quick and easy. One thing is clear, however: spiritual transformation cannot be a quick fix.

2. Faux Spirituality: Faux spirituality is the tendency to talk, dress, and act as we imagine a spiritual person would. It is a kind of imitation spirituality that mimics spiritual realization in the way that leopard-skin fabric imitates the genuine skin of a leopard.

3. Confused Motivations: Although our desire to grow is genuine and pure, it often gets mixed with lesser motivations, including the wish to be loved, the desire to belong, the need to fill our internal emptiness, the belief that the spiritual path will remove our suffering, and spiritual ambition—the wish to be special, to be better than, to be “the one.”

4. Identifying with Spiritual Experiences: In this disease, the ego identifies with our spiritual experience and takes it as its own, and we begin to believe that we are embodying insights that have arisen within us at certain times. In most cases, it does not last indefinitely, although it tends to endure for longer periods of time in those who believe themselves to be enlightened and/or who function as spiritual teachers.

5. The Spiritualized Ego: This disease occurs when the very structure of the egoic personality becomes deeply embedded with spiritual concepts and ideas. The result is an egoic structure that is “bullet-proof.” When the ego becomes spiritualized, we are invulnerable to help, new input, or constructive feedback. We become impenetrable human beings and are stunted in our spiritual growth, all in the name of spirituality.

6. Mass Production of Spiritual Teachers: There are a number of current trendy spiritual traditions that produce people who believe themselves to be at a level of spiritual enlightenment, or mastery, that is far beyond their actual level. This disease functions like a spiritual conveyor belt: put on this glow, get that insight, and–bam! –you’re enlightened and ready to enlighten others in similar fashion. The problem is not that such teachers instruct but that they represent themselves as having achieved spiritual mastery.

7. Spiritual Pride: Spiritual pride arises when the practitioner, through years of labored effort, has actually attained a certain level of wisdom and uses that attainment to justify shutting down to further experience. A feeling of “spiritual superiority” is another symptom of this spiritually transmitted disease. It manifests as a subtle feeling that “I am better, more wise, and above others because I am spiritual.”

8. Group Mind: Also described as group-think, cultic-mentality, or ashram disease, group mind is an insidious virus that contains many elements of traditional codependence. A spiritual group makes subtle and unconscious agreements regarding the correct ways to think, talk, dress, and act. Individuals and groups infected with “group mind” reject individuals, attitudes, and circumstances that do not conform to the often unwritten rules of the group.

9. The Chosen-People Complex: Unfortunately, the chosen people complex is not limited to Jews. It is the belief that “Our group is more spiritually evolved, powerful, enlightened and, simply put, better than any other group.” There is an important distinction between the recognition that one has found the right path, teacher, or community for themselves, and having found The One.

10. The Deadly Virus: “I Have Arrived” This disease is so potent that it has the capacity to be terminal and deadly to our spiritual evolution. This is the belief that “I have arrived” at the final goal of the spiritual path. Our spiritual progress ends at the point where this belief becomes crystallized in our psyche, for the moment we begin to believe that we have reached the end of the path, further growth ceases.

“The essence of love is perception,” according to the teachings of Marc Gafni, “therefore the essence of self love is self perception. You can only fall in love with someone you can see clearly—including yourself. To love is to have eyes to see. It is only when you see yourself clearly that you can begin to love yourself.”

It is in the spirit of Marc’s teaching that I believe that a critical part of learning discernment on the spiritual path is discovering the pervasive illnesses of ego and self-deception that are in all of us. That is when we need a sense of humor and the support of real spiritual friends. As we face our obstacles to spiritual growth, there are times when it is easy to fall into a sense of despair and self-diminishment and lose our confidence on the path. We must keep the faith, in ourselves and in others, in order to really make a difference in this world.

From Eyes Wide Open: Cultivating Discernment on the Spiritual Path©, Sounds True, 2009 by Mariana Caplan

Chinmaya Dunster

Music that I like to practise Yoga or meditation with: Chinmaya Dunster - Buddha Moon

free download

Short Version of Yoga-Nidra

Short version of Yoga-Nidra is available to download now!Only 15minutes of practise which you can incorporate into your daily life as a routine practise of meditation.It helps to release the stress and anxiety after busy day at work or doing other stressful things.and help to get back to yourself and increase calm and peaceful  state of mind.

15min Yoga-Nidra practise download link

'Zen' Boyfriends - Spiritual Relationships

The Problems with 'Zen' Boyfriends...

Some things just don't want to die. Much to my surprise, a little piece I published over 10 years ago, about a certain type of spiritual guy I found myself dating in my early twenties, set alight a dormant flame throughout the world. Originally published in the anthology "Radical Spirit," "Zen Boyfriends" was rapidly translated into multiple languages, and I soon learned that Zen boyfriends were found in Italy, Spain, France and even communities in Thailand and other parts of Asia.

More years on the path brought more Zen boyfriends and infinite variations on the theme, not only for myself but from my clients and from readers and seekers everywhere. "Zen Boyfriends" eventually resurrected itself as a musical produced by Oregon musician Mark Steighner, and it was finally updated and reproduced in the San Francisco Bay area by me, with musician Anastasi Mavrides and actress Suraya Keating, to sold out audiences. I hope you enjoy the snippets from the original writing and revised theater production, and please share your stories!

***

At a certain stage in my own spiritual development, I began to attract a new breed of men that over time I came to call "Zen boyfriends." I use the term "Zen" loosely here, because a man doesn't have to be a Zen Buddhist to fall into this category. He could be a Tibetan Buddhist, a Sufi, or even a practitioner of some obscure brand of yoga. The more rigid the tradition, the better for this type. What defines a Zen boyfriend is the manner in which he skillfully uses spiritual ideals and practices as an excuse for his terror of, and refusal to be in, any type of real relationship with a woman. He is both too identified with his balls to become a celibate monk, and at the same time too little identified with the wider implications of them to take responsibility for them. The result: a righteous, distant and very intelligent substitute for a real man.

Andrew was a great example of a Zen boyfriend. This is how a typical morning went in our love nest:

At 4:30 a.m. his alarm sounds. "Andrew, your alarm is going off."
"Press the snooze."
I oblige. Then at 4:38 it goes off again. "Andrew, get up!"
"I'm too tired."

By the fourth snooze I was wide awake, while he dozed away like a baby in arms. When he'd finally open his eyes sometime around 5:30, I was undeniably and un-spiritually pissed off. Without even a word or a glance in my direction, he would roll out of bed and head for the bathroom. I would listen with mounting rage as he gargled his Chinese herbs, did an hour of tai chi on the creaky hardwood floor, and then adjusted himself on his zafu to meditate. Often I would get up and meditate as well, but since I didn't practice the same form of meditation as he did, he said we couldn't practice together. The argument was always the same:

"Why do you set your alarm if you're not going to get up?"
"It's important to hold the intention to get up early. The energy for meditation is strongest between three and five in the morning."
"If it's so strong then why don't you just do it?"
And then: "Andrew, it would make a big difference to me if you would at least say 'good morning' when you get up."
"I want my meditation to be consistent with the delta waves that are activated during sleep, and speech interferes with this."
"Even two words, 'good' and 'morning'?!"
"Yes, even two words."
"How about a hug then?"
"Same thing."
"Then why doesn't cold water on your face or flushing the toilet screw up the delta
waves?"
"This conversation is closed. I need space."

Men need space. All women know this. But some men need two parts space for one part intimacy, or even 10 parts space for one part intimacy. But with Andrew, and other Zen boyfriends, it was more like 98 parts space to two parts intimacy.

It was lose-lose proposition with Andrew. Exactly why I wanted our relationship to work so badly in the first place is a worthy question, but I am a woman, and the more a man withdraws into himself, the more a woman chases him there to draw him out. Andrew told me that our relationship wasn't working because I wasn't spiritual enough. What a blow!

He complained that I wasn't an experienced meditator and that my three short years of meditation practice didn't enable me to understand my mind the way he understood his mind, thus rendering me incapable of a "spiritual relationship." When he lamented that I only meditated a half-hour a day whereas he meditated for an hour, I painstakingly began to meditate for an hour. When he complained that since I studied Vipassana Buddhism instead of Zen Buddhism, I couldn't really understand his true aim, I started reading Zen and altered my meditation. Finally, he said that even though I was starting to walk the path of Zen, that his teacher taught in a very particular way that was distinct from other schools of Zen. But when I told him I wanted to meet his teacher, he said that I had already taken over too much of his life, and that he was entitled to keep the very thing he treasured most -- his teacher -- for himself, even though she taught to widespread audiences publicly throughout the world.

Our relationship ended over a winter weekend retreat at a rented condo on Lake Tahoe with his mother, when he told me that my Yin energy wasn't a powerful enough match for his Yang energy. I should have had the foresight to realize that, for some men, especially Zen boyfriends, having their girlfriend and mother in the same house is the very thing that takes them over the edge.

Stephan was another one of these scared guys who hid behind his spirituality. We met at a narcissistic, eco-retentive, save-the-earth weekend workshop. Two days after the workshop, as I sped off the Golden Gate bridge and headed up 101 north toward my country home after a full day of seeing therapy clients, I noticed a tall man pounding on a drum while standing on top of a beaten-up VW van alongside the highway. He looked familiar, but I couldn't be sure. I got off at the next exit, drove back down the highway, turned around again, and pulled up behind his van. Sure enough, it was Stephan. He told me that the workshop had inspired him to do a new form of political ecoprotest.

Once a week, he said, he planned to stand on his van alongside the highway and call out the list of endangered species while pounding on his drum. When I asked him what he hoped to accomplish by this, he said that he didn't know, but that he was intuitively guided to do it. Strange as it sounds, I was impressed.

He asked me out on a date. The first night we ate vegetarian lasagna, Caesar salad and Haagen Daz by candlelight in his living room, and then rolled around his balcony for hours while Mickey Hart played on the stereo and Sausalito danced at our feet. The next morning, he told me he needed space. And in this way, our Zen relationship developed, in the small gaps between the large spaces.

Stephan eventually left for India (a spiritually disguised, intimacy escape plan I myself was to later model after), and returned a year and a half later under the spiritual name "Jivan," looking very monk-like in his white cotton Indian garb and ivory shawl. His long hair had been cut to shoulder length and had grayed, his skin appeared to have permanently tanned, and small wrinkles marked the corners of his eyes. He said he had thought about me a lot and asked whether I would like to go out for dinner. As I was between boyfriends (again), and as he was quite handsome in his new gurulook, I agreed.

Jivan thought he had become enlightened, though he wouldn't have dared to say as much. He had become a student of one of those Indian teachers who skillfully create mystical experiences in their groupies by momentarily cutting through their psychological blocks, and then declare them enlightened from the experience. In such a situation, the master gets a swollen head and an immense reputation for being able to enlighten people, and thousands of Western hippies who are afraid of really living life get to think that they have risen above it. They then proceed unsolicited to try to bestow the same boon upon others.

Jivan was a living example of such a situation. The first night was all right, as far as Zen boyfriends go. I enjoyed hearing of his adventures over a cappuccino, only occasionally irritated by his references to having "seen through the nature of reality" or having "become one with everything." Of course, by early evening he needed space, but that was to be expected.

The next day, however, as we walked in Muir woods, he tried to do his spiritual number on me. To explain his spiritual approach in two sentences, nonduality is based on the tacit recognition of the oneness, or "non-separation," of all things. It means that "I" don't exist separately from you or any other animate or inanimate being or thing: all is one. However, there is a big difference between being able to spew these words (as I just did), and living as one who abides eternally in the truth of this reality.

"Jivan, if we are going to hang out together, I need to feel like you're really here with me and not always so detached," I opened the floor.
"But who is the 'you' who wants to hang out with the 'me'?"
"I am the me and you are the you!"
"There is no difference, so we can never really be apart or together; it's all the same."
"You're full of shit."
"But who do you think is the 'me' that is full of shit?"
"I think it is you!"
"Who's getting angry?"
"I'm getting angry."
"Look into my eyes, what do you see?"
"You."
"Look more deeply. Now what do you see?"
"I see a lonely man who thinks he's enlightened."

Extremely frustrated and teary-eyed, I walked away and sat on a log by the stream trying to figure out why it was so important to me to try to get through to him.
"Why did you come all the way over here to cry?" he sat down beside me, fully believing in his own innocence.
I looked at him with that end-of-the-relationship look in my eye. "Because there is no one there to hold me if I cry, and I'd just as soon cry alone than cry with nobody."

Several years later, I was getting changed after a strong yoga practice when I was approached by the handsome, purer-like man who had shown up at the studio and had been practicing next to me. You would have thought that by now I would have known how to spot these men from a mile away, but as the saying goes, "Neurosis is defined by doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

"You have a great practice. Isn't Ashtanga cool? You get to work all the limbs of yoga and go really deep. Have you ever been to India to study yoga in Mysore? I lived there for six months," he approached me, beads of sweat dripping from his curly, Mediterranean locks. "I'm Jake."
"I've been to India for years but not to Mysore. This year I'm going again to teach a study abroad class."
"Oh, I've been meaning to go back there for years. Maybe I can come with you? Hey, would you like to come by my house tonight for a glass of wine?"

A yoga practitioner, I thought, that's cool. I've never dated someone I can practice yoga with, and he drinks wine and drives a motorcycle besides. He can't be too New Agey, I thought. He then told me that he was getting his Ph.D. in Sanskrit. A smart one -- maybe I've struck gold. So I go over to his house and we sip organic red wine and eat Spanish olives, and we are having a wonderfully sexy time dancing by candlelight when he asks:

"Are you monogamous?"
I looked at him confused. "Did you ask if I was monogamous?"
"Yes. Are you monogamous?"
"Forgive me if I sound a little stupid or silly, but monogamous as opposed to what?"
"Polyamorous."
"Poly-what?"

"Polyaaaaamorous. It means that your love is not limited to one person. You love freely and unconditionally because that is your nature, but you are not limited to one person or one commitment for the rest of your life. I am polyamorous, and I am interested in having a relationship with you. For now you would be my 'primary partner,' but I would like the autonomy to love, or at least engage sexually with others freely and have 'secondary' relationships with them."

"So let me get this straight. You're saying that if I'm your girlfriend I have to be okay with you sleeping with other women whenever you want to? It kind of sounds like this polyamory is some fancy psycho-spiritual justification for sleeping around."
"You don't get it, clearly. Polyamory is for real. Maybe if you try it, you will like it. And for better or worse, if you want to have an intimate relationship with me, it's part of the deal. Haven't you ever heard of the bonobo monkeys?"
"No."
"The bonobos are a group of polyamorous monkeys who solve all their problems by having sex with each other. It's a matriarchal society. You're a woman. You should like that."

He can't be for real, I thought. He probably just hasn't found the right woman. If he loves me enough, he'll snap out of it. I dismissed it from my mind, we spent a couple of months falling madly in love, and we were on our way home from our first romantic weekend getaway when he said to me:

"My lover from Spain is moving here to be with me for six months. She is going to be my primary partner now, but I am open to you being my secondary relationship."
"What?!? Are you for real?! I thought we were just starting to fall in love?"
"We were. I mean, we are. But I love her, too. I love everybody. I warned you that this was going to happen. My love is limitless and unconditional and therefore isn't limited to you. I must listen to my heart."
"Are you sure it is your heart talking and not your balls?"
"Are you forgetting what all the spiritual traditions tell us?"
"Do unto others as you would like them to do unto you?"
"No, not that, and besides, I would love to rejoice in your sexual union with another man."
"That makes one of us. I need commitment to feel safe."
"The traditions tell us that our love must be unconditional and inclusive. Buddhism teaches about sympathetic joy -- learning to rejoice in the good fortune of others. In polyamory, you learn to feel ecstasy through your partner's happiness when he or she is with another person."
"And are you going to express sympathetic joy with my broken heart?"
And so I let him fly away to the land of the One in the form of the Many.

In this way came and went a couple more Zen boyfriends. We live in confusing times where spirituality and neurosis are often seamlessly interwoven into a complex constellation of radiant wisdom and psychological woundedness. Yet in the end, I blame not them but myself. For as distant, arrogant, righteous and terrified as they were, it was I who sought them out, I who tried to open them in the ways that I wanted them to be open, and ultimately I who recreated my childhood pattern of not feeling loved by eliciting the same response in my relationships.

At the end of the day, I ended up with a nice Jewish boy.

Wrote :Mariana Caplan, Ph.D. 
Author of : The Guru Question: The Perils and Rewards of Choosing a Spiritual Teacher

Q&A and Yoga-Nidra Guided Meditation in Forest

Yoga-Nidra Guided Meditation in Forest Cafe plus Questions and Answers afterwards.Your comments below would be appreciated!

free download link here

Yoga-Nidra Meditation

 

Yoga Nidra means yogic sleep, a state of conscious deep sleep for extreme relaxation and subtler spiritual exploration.It has many benefits and it help to reduce stress and increase relaxation.You can download 45min meditation below:
Download Link

Please write you questions and experiences in coments below, they would be highly appreciated!

Namaste

Guided body scan meditation

Guided 15min body scan meditation

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32 Unusual yoga quotes

Asana

1.       Body is not stiff, mind is stiff.   Sri K. Pattabhi Jois

2.       You go too fast, don’t do that. Eddie Stern

3.       No coffee no prana. Sharath Rangaswamy

4.       Yoga is learning to never say I can’t. Claudia Azula

5.       Anybody can breathe. Therefore anybody can practice yoga. T.K.V. Desikachar

6.       Before you've practiced, the theory is useless. After you've practiced, the theory is obvious. David Williams

7.       Turn on the lights of the pose. Richard Freeman

Life as a yogi

8.       Laughter drives shouting away. Indra Devi

9.       Let your speech be true and sweet. Shri T. Krishnamacharya

10.   Never be in debt. Never reside near enemies. Never trap your body through disease. Never forget the Lord with his consort who resides in the heart. Shri T. Krishnamacharya

11.   Bien predica quien bien vive. Don Quijote de la Mancha (Preaches well who lives well)

Meditation

12.   Meditation results in marvels. Shri T. Krishnamacharya

13.   Don’t just do something, sit there! Unknown

Relationships

14.   If you want to attract the coolest man in the world become the coolest woman in the world.  Marianne Williamson

Age

15.   Yoga is the fountain of youth. You're only as young as your spine is flexible. Bob Harper

16.   As women gather in years aim toward living in ways that are sure to horrify the few and inspire the many - Clarisa Pinkola Estes

17.   Age considers; youth ventures. Rabindranath Tagore

Love

18.   If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete. Jack Kornfield

19.   Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? Marianne Williamson

Strength

20.   No army can withstand the strength of an idea whose time has come. Victor Hugo

21.   My life is my message. Gandhi

22.   Silence is not silent. Silence speaks. It speaks most eloquently. Silence is not still. Silence leads. It leads most perfectly. Sri Chinmoy

23.   When one experiences truth, the madness of finding fault with others disappears. S.N.Goenka

24.   All that we are is the result of what we have thought. Buddha

25.   You’ve got to work with your mistakes until they look intended. Raymon Carver

Respecting our Gunas  (innate psychological tendencies)

26.   Chancho limpio nunca engorda, (clean pig never gets fat) Spanish proverb unknown author

Adventure

27.   Speak a new language so that the world will be a new world. Rumi

28.   Si de algo soy rico es de perplejidades y no de certezas. Jose Luis Borges

29.   A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool. William Shakespeare

Wealth

30.   The first wealth is health. Ralph Waldo Emerson

31.   To one established in non-stealing all wealth comes. Patanjali

Results

32.   Mastery of yoga is really measured by how it influences our day-to-day living, how it enhances our relationships, how it promotes clarity and peace of mind. T.K.V. Desikachar

Article writen by Claudia Azula, author of 'book 21 Things to Know Before Starting an Ashtanga Yoga Practice'

"Délivrance" movie about vipassana meditation

"Délivrance" french/swiss movie about vipassana meditation.

It happens in Swiss and Burma. A young European tired of wasting his life in the west goes to Burma and discover another approach and meaning of life through vipassan

a meditation. Interesting and well done.

Plagued by the vicissitudes of his agitated life style, Léo vainly tries to find a shelter by becoming intoxicated with electronic music, alcohol and hashisch. When a work colleague talks to him about a meditational training effective in putting an end to the root of all sorrow, it sounds to him like a great revelation.

Free download at http://dhammadana.free.fr 

Instructions for Life in the new millennium from the Dalai Lama

1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
2. When you lose, don't lose the lesson.
3. Follow the three R's: Respect for self, respect for others and responsibility for all your actions.
4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
6. Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
7. When you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
8. Spend some time alone every day.
9. Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values.
10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
11. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll be able to enjoy it a second time.
12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.
13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don't bring up the past.
14. Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve immortality.
15. Be gentle with the earth.
16. Once a year, go some place you've never been before.
17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.
18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
19. Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.

Gokai - 5 Reiki Principles Guided Meditation

Gokai - 5 Reiki Principles Guided Meditation

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Negative States of Mind & Yoga

In order to release past impressions from our minds which negatively influence our behaviour, is it enough to simply witness them in meditation, or is it necessary to re-experience the pain and emotion that go along with them?

Past experiences in yogic terminology are known as samskara and, if you are aware of them you can get rid of them by simply witnessing them. If some samskaras come up to the level of the conscious mind during meditation and you re-live the pain and emotion, it is possible to get rid of it completely. The problem lies in knowing what our samskaras are, because generally we believe that our desires, ambitions, likes and dislikes are samskaras when actually they are not. They are patterns or modifications of mind- vrittis.

Samskaras go much deeper than that. They belong to the realm of the unconscious mind and construct the human personality. Without samskaras we would not be classified as human beings. If we try to understand personality in general, we will find that even animals have personalities. They have samskaras which go beyond the instinctive aspect of animal consciousness. Even trees and plants have samskaras, but that goes beyond the state of consciousness in which they live and survive.

The literal meaning of samskara is 'uniform personality', 'akara' meaning 'form', 'shape' or 'personality', and 'sam' meaning 'the totality of'. We relate intellectually to everything we perceive in the world as a form or object. That is the external experience, but when we talk about the aspect of consciousness, energy and personality in each object or being, we are talking about the samskara. So, even this tape recorder has a samskara, although it is a mechanical object. It can be classified as an object having a samskara, identity or uniform consciousness. Matter contains energy, energy has movement and within that movement there is some underlying awareness which maintains it in its gravitational field. That is actually what we call samskara.

When we say, 'Oh, I have this samskara in me' meaning 'I like this or that' or 'I want to achieve this but can't due to my samskara', that is only a modification of mind. Samskara are related to karma also. Consciousness was there before you were given birth and it will be there after you die. This consciousness has been given certain impressions which we can call experiences of the deeper self. We become aware of these impressions when we practise deep meditation, not superficial meditation. When we transcend the conscious, subconscious and unconscious experiences of personality it is possible that initially we become aware of certain traumas that have taken place in our early childhood, and of which we did not have any conscious recollection. I will give you an example.

One lady came here some time ago who used to suffer tremendous headaches since very early childhood for no apparent reason. No amount of medication or meditation had helped her. Then one day as she was meditating she had this splitting headache and suddenly she had a vision of herself as a miner in a coal mine in Wales, United Kingdom. The whole mine collapsed on her head and she died. Since re-experiencing that event she did not have a single attack of headache.

Now, this can be classified as a samskara, an impression which the consciousness has carried through several or more lives and the physical manifestation took the form of a headache. We can infer from this that her consciousness had undergone the experience in some previous life, but because of its traumatic effect on her personality, it remained within the folds of consciousness. Then, when that consciousness re-manifested in another body, the same trauma was again expressed by it. So, a human being is not a totally different entity than its experiences in its previous lives.

We can also term many other experiences which we may have had in childhood and about which we have entirely forgotten, as samskaras which have left a very deep impression on our personality. Children whose parents are drug-addicts or who have been divorced very early on have a different mentality because of this samskara.

Samskara has nothing to do with our intellect or buddhi. If we could rationalize our experience and try to clear the mind of it we would not give birth to that samskara again. Clearing the mind is important. If something comes up and you remember it or see it in the form of a vision, that is clearing the samskara. For example you may realize 'I know I have a lot of emotional problems. Previously I was not like this. I know the cause. I had a fight with my wife and we got divorced. Intellectually we cleared things up but emotionally we were not able to clear that experience from our mind'. So this emotional frustration later takes on the form of a samskara and transforms our personality.

If you know the cause of your present malady then you should also try to make sure that your mind is clear in all respects, not only intellectually but also emotionally and psychically. A spiritual aspirant must have this kind of awareness. We should not look at things only from the intellectual standpoint but from the aspect of the total personality. This is what meditation actually teaches.

Although we do begin the meditational practices with technique of self-observation, of observing our thoughts and what we are feeling, these techniques are not limited to this superficial awareness of personality. They go much deeper than that and whenever we meditate we should try lo keep the idea or concept in mind, that it deals with the total personality and the purification of an event which has already taken place.

How can we remove negative tendencies such as fear?

According to yogic, Eastern and Western psychology, negative tendencies are a part of our individual personality which must express itself whether we like it or not. So negative states of mind cannot be eradicated completely. The modern psychologist has defined fear in many different ways and there are many different types of tear. Children are afraid of the dark; some people are afraid to travel by aeroplane although it is the safest way of travelling in the world, because they think it can fall down from the sky or be hijacked.
Fear can be caused by insecurity also, or by certain dislike, or our inability to cope with life's difficult situations You may have a boss of whom you are afraid. As soon as you hear that he is calling you, you begin to sweat, your heart begins to palpitate, your blood pressure goes up and you begin to tremble without any real reason. So many types of fear we have to face, but it is possible to develop the state of mind of observing our mental reactions and physiological reactions, and controlling the symptoms. By controlling the symptoms, eventually the tendency can also be controlled. This is where pratyahara comes in.

First of all we must develop the attitude of witnessing everything taking place within us and around us. After we have been able to develop this attitude of witness, observer or 'seer', we can observe how a mental tendency influences our actions, behaviour, and our emotional and intellectual patterns. Then we try to find a rational way of dealing with this disturbance in our personality.

There is one practice called antar mouna which involves observing the thoughts, the emotions, creating them, removing them, developing attention, developing awareness - and this is one of the most effective means of combating any type of destructive disturbance in our personality. And this applies to fear, haired, jealousy, anger, frustration, depression or any negative state of mind.

by Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati

Three Gunas - modes of nature

1. TAMAS
Symbolised by the colours black or dark-blue Tamas is a quality of awareness reflecting the realm of latent, murky, obscured or ‘occult’ knowledge and power. In physical nature it finds expression as gravity and inertial mass. In human nature it is felt essentially as a downward-pulling sense of inertia and heaviness. If and when it dominates the individual however, it may be experienced somatically as ‘fatigue’, ‘lethargy’ or ‘lack of energy’, experienced mentally and emotionally as ‘dullness’ of mind, ‘negativity’ or ‘depression’, expressed outwardly as ‘laziness’ or ‘sloth’, or embodied as physical weight or obesity. It finds positive expression as dignified ‘gravitas’ or ‘groundedness’, as depth or ‘weightiness’ of character, the ability to ‘bear’, ‘support’ or ‘pull’ weight and to sink one’s awareness down meditatively into the depths of one’s body and being. Essentially it is potential action and awareness experienced darkly or obscurely. Theologically it iis associated with the primordial darkness and power of the primordial
mother goddess known as ‘The Great Black One’ (Maha-Kali). Temperamentally it is the Guna uniting the ‘phlegmatic’ with the ‘black bile’ of the ‘melancholic’. Anatomically and medically it is associated with the bowels, abdomen and womb. Psychiatrically it is labelled as mild or severe depression. Sociologically it can find negative expression as the destructive potential of spiritual ignorance, generalised political apathy, the dullness of routinised work, lack of empathy and lifeless personal relationships. People search to compensate for Tamasic existence either though Rajas - hyperactivity and busyness, revelry in drugs and consumerism or mindless entertainment or through bland Sattvic states of spiritual harmony, peace and calm.

2. RAJAS
Symbolised by the colour red, Rajas has essentially to do with the emergence of the vital impulses to outward action and motion (‘e-motion’) that lay latent, obscured or blocked in Tamas. Rajas finds expression as the very process of ‘emergence’ (Greek ‘Physis’) that is the root meaning of the term ‘physical’, and with ‘energy’ in the root sense of ‘action’ or ‘activity’ (energein). That is why the Rajas Guna is principally associated with red-blooded vitality or passion, with the impulse to act, and also hot-blooded anger and rage – with ‘seeing red’, and with the aggression necessary to release blocked action or communication. Temperamentally it is the Guna uniting the sanguine with the choleric. Anatomically it is associated with the genitals and heart, blood and menstruation, psychiatrically with mania and paranoia. Sociologically it can find negative expression as rapacious
greed and pervades the active realms of sport, politics and business.

3. SATTVA
Symbolised by the colour white, Sattva is a reflection of the clear light of awareness out of which alone truth, clear insight, direction and ‘right
action’ can arise. As a natural quality this Guna is associated with radiance, light and lightness, and thereby also with the expansion and
expansiveness of space. Its root meaning is ‘being’ (Sat). This Guna is favoured by many pseudo-spiritual types - being associated with perfect ‘brightness’ of spirit, ‘balance’ and ‘well-being’. Yet the flip side of the ‘balance’ or ‘well-being’ experienced through the Sattva Guna can be a mere bland emotional equanimity, lack of empathy and blankness of mind – albeit disguised as meditative ‘calm’ and ‘tranquillity’. Alternatively it finds expression as an idealisation of asceticism and ‘spiritual’ transcendence at the expense of full- blooded vitality, embodied presence and depth of soul. Just as ‘black’ is not intrinsically the colour of ‘evil’ so is white not intrinsically the colour of ‘goodness’ and spiritual purity – for it is also the colour of fearful pallor, of ghosts and skeletons - and, in the East, of death itself. Temperamentally the Sattva Guna unites the phlegmatic with the
sanguine. Anatomically it is associated with the lymphatic and immune systems, medically with anaemia and anorexia, and psychiatrically with schizophrenia. Sociologically it is associated with the realm of institutionalised religion and the search for inner peace and harmony through ‘spirituality’. Commercial media advertisers are very keen and clever exploiters of both the Sattva and Raja Gunas – whether it be through emphasising the Rajasic qualities of such commodities as cars or alcoholic drinks, or the Sattvic qualities of ‘well-being’ associated with ‘healthy’ foods, cosmetics, over-the-counter medications etc.

by Peter Wilberg 2007

Shavasana Ajustments

Differend ways to prop up shavasana for increased relaxation and comfort for final relaxation.Yoga Props needed: Rectangular Bolster, Eye Pillows/Cover, Blanket, Relaxing music CD or Yoga-Nidra Audio, low lightning.



You can also use a blanket to cover yourself for added comfort and warmth. Once your body stops moving, the heat generated from the yoga class begins to dissipate.  Most people find that a cold body reacts with muscle tension and resistance.


Gently place an eye pillow over the eyes and temples.  The weight of the eye pillow creates a sense of ease and release in your facial muscles.
For an increased sense of grounding, place an eye pillow in the palm of each hand, or on each wrist depending on your comfort.

Place the bolster under your knees to support the lower back.
Before you settle in relaxing posture, lying on your back, lift your pelvis and slide your tailbone away towards your heels to comfortably spread your lower back.


Keep just a light, natural arch to your lower back. Rest your pelvis on the ground. Lengthen your legs, opening legs hip width apart. Let your legs and feet evenly and naturally roll outwards and feel your groin soften.


Lift your arms and shoulders up enough to spread your shoulder blades and back ribs. Ease your shoulders away from your neck.
Roll shoulders back and down, than lightly slide your shoulder blades more under and down your back to enhance the expansion of the chest and anterior shoulders.
Lift and opend your chest to be able to draw more oxygen into your lungs.


Then,roll your upper arms and forearms out to move your palms of hands towards the ceiling and rest your arms beside the torso at about a 45-degree angle. Place your palms up to encourage your chest and shoulders to open. Image your collarbone and chest spreading as your arms settle.
Lengthen the back of your neck by slightly moving your chin towards the chest.Slightly open your mouth and relax your jaw and your tongue down.


Once comfortable, take a slow deep inhale. As you exhale, let your body relax and sink into the floor. Maintain stillness as you relax and quiet the mind. Picture your whole body rejuvenating and resting. Feel your eyes relax into the sockets. Soften the tongue, lips, jaw and forehead. Let the heart, lungs, and other organs relax.
Continue to gaze inwards watching your body and mind rest. Relaxation can last from 5 to 20 minutes.
To exit, inhale bringing your legs into your chest and exhale gradually hugging your knees into your body and rock side to side several times. End rolling to the right pausing to feel your self mentally centered. Push from the right up to sitting. Take a moment to sit tall and feel the calmness Savasana has created.


Article writen by Kreg Weiss, B HKin

Shavanasa

Savasana (Corpse Pose) is the easiest of all Yoga postures to perform physically, yet is sometimes neglected as being the most important asana within the Hatha Yoga practice.

Savasana is a crucial closing of the physical practice where prana, life-energy, has a moment to become grounded, purposeful and collected. As one practices yoga flows, the yoga postures and breathing saturate the energy channels with prana. To exit a yoga practice (especially an extended one) without Savasana, this powerful energy may leave one with sense of disconnection. With this settling of prana in Savasana, an additional practice of internalizing, connecting and meditative observance can be explored.Practise of Yoga-Nidra here is complementing relaxation and isvery beneficial.


The process of conscious relaxation acts as a deep healing for the nervous system, thus can be helpful in reducing stress, tension headaches, and anxiety. Though simple in its application, Savasana can be an uncomfortable Yoga pose to perform for some. The basic position of lying on the back can pose as a challenge and, without being completely comfortable, achieving a state of full relaxation and beneficial healing is diminished.

Tight Hip Flexors and Low Back Tension When you lay flat on the back, the extension of the legs creates a lengthening of the hip flexors (the hip flexors begin at the proximal region of the thigh bone and come across the hip bone to attach at the inner hip crest region and partially at the lower lumbar vertebrae). When the legs lay heavy and the hip flexors are lengthened, a pulling motion is transmitted onto the pelvis and spine. If the hip flexors are tight, a large enough pull can occur on the spine such that the lumbar vertebrae experience a minute, but uncomfortable back-arch effect. This pulling motion on the spine can create an echo of back tension and send negative stimuli into the nervous system.


To reduce the effect of the hip flexors pulling on the lumbar vertebrae and pelvis, simply place a bolster, thick pillows, or a rolled up blanket under the knees. As the legs settle on the support, open the legs wide as well. The opening of the legs and the bend maintained in the knees creates a light outwards rotation of the thighs and reduces the lengthening of the hip flexors. You then basically reduce the distance between the origin and insertion of the hip flexor muscles, thus reducing the muscles' tension acting on the pelvis and spine.


Article writen by Kreg Weiss, B HKin