Observations that dive deep into life and come up with treasures for all

I’m teaching yoga at the new Thrive Health Center in South Hill that is opening up soon, not only with yoga classes for specialized needs but a whole range of services and therapies from massage, acupuncture, pilates, nutritional counseling to a natural food store. This is a really big deal for this area, thanks to Dr. Elizabeth Dane, an alternative medicine doctor with an established NY practice who thought she was buying property here in the country to raise her horses. Read More…

Posted under General Observations

“The true Self is eternally pure, unchanging, immortal and never tainted by anything. It is always peaceful.” (From Satchidananda’s Words of Wisdom below)

I suddenly realized this morning as I was beginning to write this post (not knowing what I was going to write) that this quote by master yogi Satchidananda is the hair splitting difference between Yoga and Buddhism, especially Zen Buddhism. In trying to communicate one’s true Self Yoga posits an entity called the Self that one should aspire to discover. Buddha, instead of pointing to a concept in the mind, just pointed in silence to this present moment. Read More…

Posted under meditation help

From Swami Satchidananda Words of Wisdom
“The mind is always dwelling on something. Whenever there is nothing constructive that you want it to do, just allow the entire mind to dwell on a mantra or a sacred word. Gradually, this will become a habit and the mind will be rooted in that mantra. The more you repeat the mantra, the more you will produce a beneficial, holy vibration within, and that vibration will help you to focus the mind more easily. Once the mind is one-pointed, it will gain more and more strength and gradually become absorbed in meditation. Of course, there is also help from the Master who gives you the mantra, because, when he or she gives it, there is a spiritual force behind it. That really helps you to gain momentum in your practice.

“God bless you. Om Shanthi, Shanthi, Shanthi.” Read More…

Posted under meditation help

I’ve been transcribing all my old Courier-Record features that I wrote between 1986 and 1994, and in the process dug up some of my old roots as well. My eight years discovering the positive stories of Blackstone and the surrounding counties revealed my own positive story as well, and those eight years mean more now to me as I can see them from a wider angle.

I have been here digging my well spring in Blackstone since 1981 when I came here after India and Swami Muktananda to teach yoga. But my well was too shallow then. The pure water I was looking for was polluted with the ground water of my restless mind and the contaminants of my attachments. So I’ve spent my time digging and discovering these attachments and with each discovery letting them go.

My well is much deeper now and I have found great stability in my practice. I take refuge in my practice, or as the Buddhists say, I take refuge in the Buddha (Christ, Guru), the Dharma (the teaching, Bible), and the Sanga (the community of seekers,  church).

Taking refuge in one’s practice is like the sword master taking refuge in the time-honored practice of forging swords that are works of art. I was watching a TV show the other day about the Japanese sword masters who have carried on the art since Samurai days. One master was reported to meditate a month under a waterfall before beginning a sword.

One can therefore take refuge in the practice of discovering and letting go of one’s attachments, one’s impurities, so to speak. The beauty of finding an impurity is that the finding and the letting go are the same action. When you pick up a turd, thinking it’s a stick, the act of seeing that it’s a turd is also the act of dropping the turd. One makes no effort here. This is the beauty of yoga and meditation; you find and let go of the turds in your life without effort.

The effort is in beginning the practice. When you take refuge in the practice, everything happens without effort. It’s beautiful.

Posted under meditation help

The first step in the eight rung ladder of Yoga is the Yamas, which are the five restraints that builds a foundation for you to stand on as your pursue liberation. Restrain from Violence, Stealing, Lying, Sexual misconduct, and Illusion and your mind will be ready to hold the powerful energies of yoga. Lets look at the first, restraining from violence or ahimsa. This is a very powerful restraint that is very subtle and far reaching.

On the subjective level meditation is the practice of non-violence to your thoughts and feelings. When you just witness your thoughts or feelings without resistance, you are practicing non-violence on the basic level. Non-violence begins at home with yourself. Resistance or avoidance of a thought or feeling because you believe you shouldn’t have that thought, as if it were an intruder, is being violent with yourself, and this civil war leads to endless inner turmoil and neurosis. From this point of view, since we all resist certain unwelcome thoughts and feelings, we are all neurotic. Our culture trains us from birth to be neurotic.

Non-violence is learning how to work with our neurosis and transforming conflict into peace.

Posted under meditation help

Tonight is my Friday evening yoga class and I’m writing lessons to be handed out each week. Here is the first one.

Lesson One: REMEMBER YOUR BREATH

A yoga/meditation routine is your personal refuge from the storms and squalls of the mind; it is your good ship that stays steady and never sinks. But in order for you to learn how to sail this ship you have to practice a little each day when the water is calm so you will be ready when the storm comes.

Just as the wind moves the sailing ship, breath moves yoga. In order for the sails of yoga to fill and move you through the storms of life, you have to watch the breath. But watching is not thinking about the breath; watching is being the breath. Watching is witnessing without attaching a thought label to the object. Labels are judgments, prejudices, and colors that are added to the pure sensation of perception. Yoga watching is paying attention without effort—something that takes practice—so that your attention just floats on the breath, and you are aware of the breath’s texture and subtle movement, watching where the breath goes on exhale and where it comes from on inhale.

If the breath could speak to you, it would sound like a wise guru or a loving mother, and it would say, “REMEMBER ME. Remember me when you are walking. Remember me when you are sitting. Remember me when you are talking and when you are not talking. Remember me before you go to sleep and when you awake. But most importantly, remember me when you are angry or feeling lonely and forgotten. Remember me when the storms the rain come and you will discover that the sun will break through those clouds. Remembrance is the power that can set you free.”

The breath is the bridge between the body and the mind. Control the breath and you can subdue your mind. Notice how calming the breath calms the mind. One calms the breath by being conscious of it and letting it go, releasing it from the grip of thought. When the world appears to attack you, don’t react, take refuge in your breath, then respond from that center in the chest. In this way you can learn to sail around the reefs and avoid the whirlpools that try to take you off course. Become a master of your breath and you will be a master of your life.

Your yoga routine is a practice in conscious breathing. Here you learn to hoist the sails of your yoga ship. Let the physical postures flow into one another, breathing you as they go. Put the mind’s little breezes in the background and put your breath in the foreground. The game is to stay on the breath. Imagine you are riding a wisp of smoke. Just as a sailing ship follows the wind, stay with your breath wherever it goes in the routine. Your breath is calling to you: “Follow me.”

And when you meditate after the routine, stay with the breath on a deeper level. It may be helpful in the beginning to count ONE IN, ONE OUT, TWO IN, TWO OUT, until you reach ten, then start over. If you forget, that’s okay. Just come back to the breath. Your breath will always forgive you. Meditation is play and never serious. There is no failure or fault in meditation. There is only the practice. Om Peace. Ed

Posted under General Observations