March/April 2013 - Transformation Journal

American Meditation Institute Self-Care for Healthy Living

MARCH – APRIL 2013

americanmeditation.org

AVERILL PARK, NEW YORK

COMPLETE AMI CLASS SCHEDULE: EDUCATION FOR LIFE

A Call to Humanity Time Newsfeed.com, Reuters, Facebook, People, Rex USA, Tim Nosazo/AP, NBC Chicago.

See statement on page 14

Children: Top Row 1: Ana Marquez-Greene, Jack Pinto, Catherine Hubbard, Jesse Lewis; Row 2: Avielle Richman, Caroline Previdi, Noah Pozner, Allison Wyatt; Row 3: Chase Kowalski, James Mattioli, Josephine Gay, Grace McDonnell; Row 4; Olivia Rose Engel, Madeleine F. Hsu, Emilie Parke, Benjamin Wheeler; Row 5: Charlotte Bacon, Daniel Barden, Dylan Hockley, Jessica Rekos. Educators: Row 1: Rachel D'Avino, Dawn Hocksprung; Row 2: Mary Sherlach, Anne Marie Murphy; Row 3: Lauren Rousseau, Victoria Soto.

An Interview with Leonard Perlmutter (Ram Lev) See story on page 8

Beginner’s Meditation

Comprehensive Meditation

The Chakra System

If you want to start and maintain a meditation practice, this course is perfect for you. / P. 2

This six week “self-care” program offers the complete science of Yoga and lifelong support. / P. 3

Use the meaning, psychology and functioning of the chakras to enhance your well being. / P. 4

Gentle Yoga & Breathing Reduce stress by learning two fundamental practices of traditional Yoga Science. / P. 5

Transformation

Practical essays by respected Yoga scientists to support and deepen your meditation. / P. 8

The Meditation Diet Lose weight and feel great without drugs, strenuous exercise or calorie counting. / P. 5

AMI Classes for March - April 2013

BEGINNER’S MEDITATION: The Basics for Getting Started Leonard Perlmutter (Ram Lev), AMI Founder Level I: Have you ever thought about trying meditation, but didn’t know how to get started? In AMI’s two-session course, you’ll receive step-by-step guidance on how to start—and stick with—a daily meditation practice. It’s easy to learn the basics: how to deal with distractions, reduce stress, enhance your body’s immune system and become more focused, creative and content. This class includes a FREE “guided meditation” CD.

What is Meditation?

In meditation you are fully alert, but the mind is relaxed and allowed to let go of its tendencies to think, analyze, remember, solve problems and focus on events of the past or expectations for the future. Meditation helps the mind to slow down its rapid series of thoughts and feelings that often lead to stress and dis-ease, and to replace that mental activity with a quiet, effortless, one-pointed focus of attention and awareness. Thus, meditation is not thinking about problems or analyzing a situation. Meditation is not having an internal conversation or argument with yourself. It is an inner attention that is concentrated, yet relaxed. It does not conflict with any religious tradition.

and body are calm and relaxed, dis-ease from a previously agitated system (that may have intensified issues such as high blood pressure, headaches, back pain, insomnia, digestive problems or PMS) is lessened, and you feel better.

• Meditation can improve all relationships.

By offering you tools to deal with stressful thoughts, meditation helps you remain calm, compassionate and skillful with others and to be more loving toward yourself.

• Meditation makes you smarter. A 2005 Harvard Medical School study showed that meditation increased thickness in the regions of the brain associated with attention, sensory awareness and emotional processing.

Why Should I Meditate?

• Meditation makes you more creative. By

According to ABC World News Tonight, meditation is used today by many Americans including the U. S. Marines and students in classrooms all over the country. In 2011, 10% of U.S. adults (over 20 million) practiced meditation and 3 million patients, on the recommendation of their physicians, established their own meditation practice.

resting the mind from its habit of thinking, planning, judging and worrying, you create more space for new ideas to arise and to be noticed. Meditation also lowers resistance you may have to new concepts and ways of thinking.

• Meditation can make you healthier.

Daily meditation is an essential ingredient in your own personal “self-care health program.” Scientific studies at the Mayo Clinic show that “meditating slows breathing rate, heart rate, lowers blood pressure and aids in the treatment of anxiety, depression and a range of other ailments.”

• Meditation calms the mind. The mind and body are inter-connected. When the mind is calm, the body becomes stronger, more flexible, and less inflamed. When the mind 2

Meditating in a Chair: AMI teaches you to meditate in a straight-back chair. For proper posture, the head, neck and trunk should be comfortably erect (no slouching). For best back comfort, your buttocks should be slightly higher than your knees.

*

SATURDAY MORNINGS, 9:30 -10:30AM, $95. (2 WKS) MAR 2 & 9; APR 20 & 27

•*

Your entire $95 registration fee will be applied to your COMPREHENSIVE MEDITATION tuition should you decide to register for that additional class within one year.

americanmeditation.org • Tel. (518) 674-8714 TM

COMPREHENSIVE MEDITATION: The Heart and Science of Yoga Leonard Perlmutter (Ram Lev), AMI Founder Level I: AMI’s acclaimed six-week course teaches you how to apply meditation principles to every situation. This complete “self-care health program” includes all the Beginner’s Meditation material plus breathing techniques, nutrition counseling, easy-gentle yoga exercises, instruction on how to make the best possible choices and lifelong support for your meditation practice. It provides you all the tools you’ll need to ease stress, reduce pain, boost your immune system, heal relationships, enhance your problem solving ability and find inner peace, happiness and security.

A retrospective case study of former Heart and Science of Yoga TM students

recently found these positive, reproducible, long-term health-promoting changes: • Lowered blood pressure • Increased exercise capacity • Reduced stress and fear • Lowered heart rate • Improved restorative sleep • Eliminated irritable bowel • Reduced cholesterol levels • Improved energy levels • Enhanced happiness/optimism • Weight loss • Increased creative capacity • Diminished or extinguished • Increased breathing capacity • Diminished migraines acute and chronic pain TM

The Heart and Science of Yoga Curriculum is Endorsed by

Mehmet Oz MD, Dean Ornish MD, Bernie Siegel MD, Larry Dossey MD WEEK 1: YOGA SCIENCE How to use the mind for the best choices How to create new, healthier habits Understanding pain as an agent for healing Increasing energy, will power & creativity Antidotes for worry, stress and depression WEEK 2: MEDITATION Systematic procedure for meditation How to diminish distractions Learning the one-minute meditation Building focus, fearlessness, and strength WEEK 3: BREATHING TECHNIQUES Breath as Medicine How breathing irregularities foster dis-ease Complete (three-part) yogic breath

WEEK 4: PSYCHOLOGY & AYURVEDA How the mind supports optimal health The power of the present moment Building and healing relationships Introduction to Ayurveda WEEK 5: EASY-GENTLE YOGA Yoga stretches and exercises for: muscles, joints, glands and internal organs Physiological benefits of Hatha Yoga WEEK 6: MIND-BODY CARE PLAN The healing power of prayer The practical benefit of contemplation Creating a therapeutic care plan Learning to budget your time Integrating spiritual beliefs

PHYSICIAN ACCREDITATION (15 CMEs)

NURSING ACCREDITATION (15 contact hours)

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the Essential Areas and Policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education through the joint sponsorship of Albany Medical College and The American Meditation Institute.

Albany Medical College is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

This continuing nursing education activity was approved by the New York State Nurses Association, an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.

It has been assigned approval code: 8GYR6J-11.

The Albany Medical College designates this Live activity for a maximum of 15 AMA PRA category 1 credits TM. Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Registration Includes: Lifelong support for

WEDNESDAY NIGHTS, 6:30 - 9:00PM, $475. (6 WKS) Physicians, Residents, Fellows, PAs, NPs: $775; RNs: $575 MAR 20 – APR 24; MAY 8 – JUN 12

RNs: For a complete list of objectives, please call Mary Helen Holloway at (518) 674-8714.

No commercial support was received for this educational activity.

your meditation practice, a Guided Meditation CD, Transformation journal, Physiology of Easy-Gentle Yoga.

Required Texts: The Heart and Science of Yoga; The Art of Joyful Living.

3

americanmeditation.org • Tel. (518) 674-8714

Welcome to AMI

THE CHAKRA SYSTEM

The American Meditation Institute is a 501(c)3 non-profit educational organization devoted to providing comprehensive training in mind-body medicine. In its holistic approach to wellness, AMI combines the best of ancient Eastern meditational wisdom and the practicality of modern Western science. AMI offers weekly meditation instruction, yoga and diet classes, in addition to courses and retreats on Ayurveda (an Indian system of natural medicine and selfcare), the chakra system, Yoga psychology of the Bhagavad Gita, food as medicine, advaita vedanta and more.

By practicing the scientific, meditational techniques taught at AMI, students learn how to construct a practical bridge between their own inner, intuitive quantum wisdom and their actions in the world. This bridge between the inner and outer worlds coordinates all our assets to enable us to experience healthy, creative, loving, nurturing and rewarding relationships.

Balancing Subtle Body Energies Leonard (Ram Lev) and Jenness Perlmutter LEVEL II: The power to attain a state of holistic health lies within each of us. It is simply a matter of attaining the necessary knowledge, and then cultivating our determination and will to employ the knowledge we have learned. This three-week course provides a detailed understanding of the meaning, anatomy, psychology and function of the ancient yogic chakra system. By balancing the chakras, through the advanced yogic mindbody medicine practices taught each week, you can increase your vitality and power of concentration, and rediscover your inner source of physical, mental and emotional health and well being.

THURSDAY NIGHTS, 6:30 - 8:30PM, $195 MAR 21 - APR 4 (3 weeks)

MEDICINE CABINET ESSENTIALS Leonard (Ram Lev) and Jenness Perlmutter

PREMARITAL COUNSELING Leonard Perlmutter (Ram Lev), AMI Founder Int’l. Association of Yoga Therapists Love is the essential first ingredient in every marriage, yet the challenges of life can divert our attention from the union we cherish. Our own hopes, attitudes, expectations and assumptions will shape the marriage determining what joy, stability and fulfillment we create together. This counseling can help you create a loving philosophy of life that can identify the strengths and needs of both partners.

AMI HOME CENTER, By appointment. $125 /hr.

Directions to A MI • 60 Garner Road I-90 Exit #8 (Rt. 43 E). Take Rt. 43 for 4 1/2 miles. In W. Sand Lake, take a right turn at the lighted intersection onto Rt. 150.

Go 1 mile on Rt. 150. Take a left turn on Cnty Rd #52/Sheer Rd (at stone wall). Go 1 mile on Sheer Rd and bear left at fork onto Garner Rd. AMI is the 3rd house on the right.

4

LEVEL I: What do you take when you have a cold, sore throat, allergies or muscle bruise?

Is your medicine cabinet stocked with a full range of natural vitamins, homeopathic, herbal and Ayurvedic remedies? As a partner in your own healthcare, learn how to care for yourself in the many situations in which a trip to the doctor may not be necessary.

SATURDAY, 10:00 - 12:00PM, $95.

MARCH 16

FREE GUIDED MEDITATION Leonard (Ram Lev) and Jenness Perlmutter LEVEL I: Each Sunday morning AMI offers a FREE 20-minute guided meditation followed by a satsang (a philosophical discussion).

Participants can choose to sit comfortably on chairs or cross-legged on the floor. This program provides a convenient way to become familiar with the teachings at AMI. SUNDAYS, 9:30 - 11:00AM, FREE

AMI Classes for March - April 2013

THE MEDITATION DIET All the Body is in the Mind Leonard Perlmutter (Ram Lev), AMI Founder Level I: Yes, you can lose weight without drugs, strenuous exercise, calorie counting or expensive gadgets that don’t work. Most overweight people have faced the frustration of trying to lose weight and failing time and again because they don’t understand that all the body is in the mind. The Meditation Diet approaches weight loss without making unrealistic starvation diet demands. This is not another fad diet. Rather it is a common sense approach, based on scientific principles, to help you lose weight naturally! The Meditation Diet provides permanent results through a painless method. Forget about old diet methods that never worked. AMI founder Leonard Perlmutter will share an ancient, revolutionary approach that guarantees positive results through the wisdom of Yoga Science.

*

TUESDAY NIGHTS, 7:00-8:00PM $125.

MAR 26 - APR 16

•*

(4 WKS)

Your entire $125 registration fee will be applied to your COMPREHENSIVE MEDITATION tuition should you decide to register for that additional class within one year.

EASY-GENTLE YOGA & BREATHING Leonard Perlmutter (Ram Lev), AMI Founder Level I: AMI’s easy-gentle yoga and breathing class is taught the same way it was thousands of years ago: as preliminary practices to prepare both the body and mind for daily meditation. Without difficulty or pain, you’ll learn the simple, therapeutic pleasures of focusing and stilling the mind, expanding your breathing capacity, relieving stiffness and stress, detoxifying the lymph system, stretching muscles and invigorating internal organs. Most students feel less stress and inflexibility after the very first class. You’ll move with more ease, gain physical confidence and enhance the flexibility and health of your body. When your body is stiff or in pain, the mind is often distracted and cannot help you experience the positive effects of meditation. This course is the perfect complement to our Comprehensive Meditation program. For beginners and experienced students.

*

SATURDAY MORNINGS, 9:30 - 10:45AM, $75. (4 WKS) MAR 23 - APR 13; MAY 11 - JUN 1 Drop ins welcome, $20.

•*

Your entire $75 registration fee will be applied to your COMPREHENSIVE MEDITATION tuition should you decide to register for that additional class within one year.

YOGA PSYCHOLOGY

*

The Gita’s Mind-Body Connection Leonard (Ram Lev) and Jenness Perlmutter

*

Available by CDL (Computer Distance Learning) Study Yoga Psychology from your own home or anywhere in the world. Call 518.674.8714 for details.

No additional computer software is necessary.

Level II: The Bhagavad Gita is the most revered scripture in the literature of Yoga Science. It provides students easy-to-understand theories and practices of the world’s oldest psychology. This study will deepen your understanding of mind-body medicine and explain how skillful actions and wise choices can improve your health and wellness.

Recommended for students and therapists.

MONDAY NIGHTS, 6:30 - 8:30 PM, $150. (6 WKS) MAR 4 - APR 8; APR 15 - MAY 20

PERSONAL COUNSELING Leonard Perlmutter (Ram Lev), AMI Founder Int’l. Association of Yoga Therapists Meditational Therapy is a powerful tool of mind/body medicine. With over 35 years of personal practice, Leonard will teach you how to live free from stress and illness.

By observing and harnessing the power of your thoughts, desires and emotions, you can establish a state of personal contentment, creativity and bodily health. Each personal counseling session will teach you how to make choices that enhance your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well being.

AMI HOME CENTER, By appointment. $125 /hr.

5

Dinner • Movie • Satsang “The Artist” Jean Dujardin, Berenice Bejo, John Goodman

Friday, Mar 15, 5:30-10:00 PM

CALENDAR SUNDAY GUIDED MEDITATION & SATSANG Sundays 9:30-11:00 AM with Leonard (Ram Lev) and Jenness Perlmutter. Love donations appreciated.

MARCH 2013 MAR 2 & 9: BEGINNER’S MEDITATION

see p. 2

Sat. Mornings, 9:30 -10:30 AM (2 weeks)

MAR 4 - APR 8: YOGA PSYCHOLOGY

see p. 5

Mon. Nights, 6:30 - 8:30 PM (6 wk. Bhagavad Gita Study)

MAR 16: MEDICINE CABINET ESSENTIALS

see p. 4

Saturday, 10:00 AM -12:00 PM The “Best Motion Picture of 2011,” focuses on the relationship of an older silent film star and a rising young actress as silent cinema declines and is replaced by the “talkies.”

MAR 20 - APR 24: COMPREHENSIVE MEDITATION see p.3 Wed. Nights, 6:30 - 9:00 PM (6 weeks)

MAR 21 - APR 4: THE CHAKRA SYSTEM

see p. 4

“Samsara”

Thurs. Nights, 6:30 -8:30 PM (3 weeks)

A documentary directed by Ron Fricke

MAR 23 - APR 13: EASY-GENTLE YOGA

Friday, Apr 19, 5:30-10:00 PM

Sat. Mornings, 9:30 -10:45 AM (4 weeks)

see p. 5

MAR 26 - APR 16: THE MEDITATION DIET see p. 5 Tues. Nights, 7:00 - 8:00 PM (4 weeks)

AP RIL 2013 APR 15 - MAY 20: YOGA PSYCHOLOGY

see p. 5

Mon. Nights, 6:30 - 8:30 PM (6 wk. Bhagavad Gita Study)

APR 20 & 27: BEGINNER’S MEDITATION

see p. 2

Sat. Mornings, 9:30 -10:30 AM (2 weeks) This film explores the wonders of our world from the mundane to the miraculous, looking into the unfathomable reaches of man’s spirituality and the human experience.

MAY 2013 MAY 8 - JUN 12: COMPREHENSIVE MEDITATION see p.3 Wed. Nights, 6:30 - 9:00 PM (6 weeks)

Each film reflects practical Yoga Science. A gourmet vegetarian dinner begins at 5:30 PM, followed by a movie and discussion (satsang). A group meditation concludes the evening. $20 per person (dinner & complementary movie). RSVP required.

MAY 11 - JUN 1: EASY-GENTLE YOGA

see p. 5

Sat. Mornings, 9:30 -10:45 AM (4 weeks)

16th Annual

Giving Campaign American Meditation Institute

Self-Care for Healthy Living March-April, 2013 • Vol. XVI No. 3 ©2013 60 Garner Road, Averill Park, NY 12018

americanmeditation.org \ Tel. (518) 674-8714 ami@americanmeditation.org AMI is a tax exempt, non-profit 501(c)3 educational organization. Donations are fully tax deductible.

6

The American Meditation Institute needs your financial support to keep the teaching of meditation as mind-body medicine accessible.

Please support AMI with your generous donation today.

Thank you for your generosity. americanmeditation.org/MakeADonation.aspx

MEDITATION NEWS

AMI: What is the nature of your meditation practice?

JANEEN: We both meditate every day, even if it’s only a 60 second breath awareness meditation. My practice keeps me centered and provides me greater clarity when making decisions as a wife, mom and business partner. My mantra is also in my awareness during the day, motivating me to be detached, discriminating and skillful in different kinds of relationships––both at home and at work.

Fight, Flight or Freeze According to Harvard Medical School professor Anthony Komaroff MD, Yoga Science “provides one of the best antidotes to the stress of modern living. It may not be a fountain of youth,” he says, “but it can be a fountain of calm and equanimity.” In an interview in the Naples Daily News, Dr. Komaroff described how classical Yoga Science includes breath control, deep relaxation, meditation, concentration and mindfulness in addition to physical exercises.

“These mind-body practices counteract stress by evoking a relaxation response. When

LORNE: Meditation skills I’ve gained have been helpful in operating our business.

Rather than always reacting emotionally to circumstances, employees and customers, I’m able to witness my mind and create a space between what happens and my ultimate response. This has helped me discriminate rather than act habitually out of judgment or fear. Because of my meditation practice our work crews are consistently working together as one unit and are able to achieve the desired outcome in each job we undertake. The end result is a team effort that produces a higher quality product with greater productivity.

LORNE and JANEEN: As business owners, we face numerous stressful events on we feel stress, our bodies enter the ‘fight, flight or freeze’ mode. This releases stress hormones that put our brain and body on high alert.

This stressful response was a great help to our ancestors when they were running from a lion, and it’s also helpful today when we face a stressful, urgent or dangerous situation. But over time, too much stress can take a toll on our health. The relaxation response, brought about by meditation and diaphragmatic breathing, is the opposite of the stress response. It actually lowers heart rate and blood pressure and decreases the

Janeen and Lorne Browe

a daily basis. Our meditation practice has taught us how to handle each problem as it arises with logical, disciplined and careful decision making, giving us the strength and endurance necessary to grow our business and persevere in a challenging economy. It has taught us that by giving up attachments and embracing mindful choices we are able to advance with creative ideas and energy for the future.

NEA/United Media

Long time meditators, Lorne and Janeen Browe own and operate L. Browe Asphalt Services. Their company has created many residential and commercial parking lots, driveways, tennis courts and private roads throughout the greater Capital District region.

Dr. Anthony Komaroff

production of stress hormones. Practicing the entire science of Yoga can lead to changes in the mind and body that promote feelings of tranquility and well-being.”

7

Transformation The Journal of Meditation as Mind-Body Medicine

An Interview with Leonard Perlmutter (Ram Lev) Photo by Jenness Cortez Perlmutter

This interview was conducted by Laura Sevika Douglass, Ph.D. It was originally published in the Fall 2012 issue of “Integral Yoga Magazine,” where Dr. Douglass serves as a guest editor. Laura is also an adjunct faculty member at the Hindu University of America in Orlando, Florida and Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she supervises graduate level research on Yoga Science and consciousness studies, and teaches courses on Yoga: Theory, Culture and Practice, and The Psychology of Yoga.

For new subscriptions to “Integral Yoga Magazine,” visit www.iymagazine.org.

Leonard Perlmutter, also known as Ram Lev, has been a student of Yoga Science since 1975 and a direct disciple of mind-body medicine pioneer Swami Rama of the Himalayas. Ram Lev and his wife, Jenness, founded the American Meditation Institute (AMI) in 1996 to provide students with an opportunity to explore the many correlations between Eastern philosophy and Western medical principles. In this interview, Leonard 8

talks about how he and Jenness teach their students to make sound, conscious choices by using the practices of classical Yoga Science as mind-body medicine, in their lives and in their everyday relationships.

Integral Yoga Magazine (IYM): How did you approach integrating Yoga and Western medical principles?

Leonard Perlmutter (LP): The majority of the teachings we utilize come from the Himalayan tradition of Yoga, but as Americans, we saw the value of honoring and interpreting Eastern philosophy according to our own unique American experience.

The American perspective brings a common sense, practical approach that helps individuals apply Yoga to their everyday lives.

Students can get lost in the vast science of Yoga and lose sight of the very practical nature of working with relationships––with our thoughts, desires, emotions, our families, work and the environment. One of the goals of our work is to take Yoga Science out of the esoteric realm and into the realm of practical everyday living.

IYM: You’ve said that Yoga psychology is both similar to and different from Western psychology. In what ways?

LP: Most branches of Western psychology don’t go beyond the ego. The great gift of Yoga psychology is that it gives us a direct experience of an identity that is beyond the ego. The more we use the mind’s discriminative faculty (buddhi) to access and employ higher knowledge (para vidya), we come to realize that our problems can be solved from that higher level of reality, and we increasingly identify with it. In a practical way then, Yoga can be viewed as a metaphoric bridge that connects our outer actions (thoughts, words and deeds) with our inner intuitive wisdom (the center of consciousness). When we diligently construct and utilize the bridge of Yoga in our lives, we experience a growing understanding of a truth that sets us free from our likes and dislikes, fears, anger, selfish desires––free from anything that conflicts with our innate wisdom and keeps us tied to suffering. According to Yoga psychology, it’s essential that each one of us purify our mindbody-sense complex so that our essential goodness, or spirit, can shine through. We can help others only to the degree that we are healing ourselves. If we are teaching no more than what we’ve learned from a book or workshop, I’m afraid we won’t be very effective. Yoga psychology asks us to contact our higher knowledge and integrate this direct experience into our work with others––from this higher place we access our healing capacity.

IYM: How can one find a teacher and how do you work with your own students?

LP: It’s important that a student finds someone to trust who empowers him or her to become self-reliant. I also think that the teacher’s lineage is critically important because it declares that what is being presented is not the knowledge of any one individual, but has successfully transformed the lives of many women and men who have preceded this teacher. In most cases that means we are talking about thousands of people who have experimented with their own attachments, likes and dislikes and have willingly given up old habits that conflicted with

their goal of living peacefully. When I work with students individually, my role is to help inspire them to move inward and to discover the truth for themselves. Everyone has a wealth of knowledge based on personal experience, and it’s up to the teacher to recognize both the abilities and limitations of each individual. Ayurveda, the ancient Indian system of medicine, also helps me to understand how this unique person and body constitution relates to the world: their ability to discriminate, to exhibit non-attachment, the strength of their willpower, ability to make choices and to develop their own personal inspiration that can transform the suffering, pain, misery and bondage that they experience in interpersonal relationships. The key is to experiment, using Ayurveda and Yoga in your own life, and determine what changes you can make right now in order to experience security and happiness.

IYM: What role does santosha, contentment, play in one’s health and sense of wellbeing?

LP: So many of us live within the self-made prison of our likes and dislikes. To some extent we all have been hijacked by memories of pleasure and memories of pain.

Unfortunately, that which is pleasant isn’t always good for us and that which is unpleasant isn’t always bad for us. We need to develop detachment, discrimination and will power in order to refine our ability to make decisions.

Patanjali, the codifier of Yoga Science and author of the Yoga Sutras, asks Yoga practitioners to start their search for contentment by examining their own minds. Every thought is only a suggestion of what to give your attention to, and yet every thought is important because it has the potential to lead us to contentment or dis-ease. We need to ask ourselves which function of the mind is generating our thoughts. Is it the ego, the chitta (unconscious mind), the manas and the senses it employs, or the buddhi, our ability to discriminate? These different functions of the mind all have valid perspectives, but only a buddhi that is purified by continuous usage will reflect the wisdom that will lead us to contentment. The buddhi has a 360-degree panoramic view of what is to be done and what is not to be done; of that which will lead 9

us to contentment. The more our thoughts, words and actions reflect the wisdom of our buddhi, the better we feel physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. As this practice deepens, we experience a brilliance of confidence––not arrogance, but a certainty that when we serve our inner wisdom we have the capacity to skillfully deal with whatever comes. From this deep sense of security emerges contentment––contentment with yourself and contentment with all of creation. From this sense of peacefulness emerges gratitude to the lineage that has led you to the contentment that is already within you.

IYM: Americans seem to have a hard time with contentment and gratitude.

LP: I’ve noticed that Americans are very impatient. It’s the role of the teacher to constantly redirect the student back to the witnessing state by asking, “Who is it who is aware of a thought that evokes impatience?”

When the student abides in the witnessing state of pure consciousness, he or she recognizes that a relationship with impatience, like every other relationship, can become a means to liberation. If impatience comes to you and it’s leading to suffering, you can transform its inherent power into energy, will power and creativity through the practice of sacrifice. It’s in sacrificing that which conflicts with your inner wisdom that you receive the requisite strategic reserves to fulfill the purpose of your life. Identification with the mind-body-sense complex can unwittingly turn us into marionettes. All we are aware of in such circumstances is the extreme highs and extreme lows. Yoga Science helps us expand our sense of self.

Instead of having a myopic notion that you are a separate, insecure and unhappy individual, you experience your mind, body and senses as instruments for your learning––but you identify with that aspect of yourself that is eternal, secure and joyful. The essential contemplation is, “Who am I?” Without contemplating this question we travel 100 miles an hour in the passing lane of life with the autopilot engaged, and we remain enslaved to our impatience, fear, anger or self-willed desire.

10

IYM: Would you talk about the power of mantras for mental and emotional health?

LP: If used consistently and lovingly, the mantra becomes our best friend––physically, mentally and emotionally. In the New Testament John said, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God.” If people would contemplate this simple statement, it could have a profound effect on how we approach healing. The healing perfection we refer to as God––and that Yoga Science tells us is within us all at our core––is hidden from view only by our ignorance of this truth. To rectify this mental condition, the mantra leads us in daily life to make conscious, discriminating choices that help us to identify with our perfection rather than our ignorance. Slowly, through personal experimentation, we realize that, regardless of the circumstance, we always have the option to connect with and serve the perfection that is our essential nature. During meditation, the mantra leads us to experience true fearlessness and union. Just like the pigeons that fly home to roost and the salmon that swim upstream to spawn, the mantra always returns to its source of origin. In deep meditation, when the mind and the mantra become one, the mantra returns to its origin: the ocean of peace, bliss and happiness. And we piggyback a ride. As we continuously listen to the mantra in meditation, with complete one-pointed attention, we realize that the mantra comes from the silence and returns to the silence. In the climax of meditation we follow the holy Name into the silence and experience the source of the mantra: SatChit-Ananda (eternal being, consciousness, wisdom and bliss). Since there’s only one source of all manifestation, we also experience our own eternal divinity as we merge with that ocean of peace, bliss and happiness.

That realization, experienced in the silence, annihilates the dualistic space that lies between us and everything and everyone else. Then, when there is no “other,” what is there to fear? Who is there to fear if there truly is nothing other than the One supreme reality? The silence, the ocean of bliss in which peace and fearlessness is experienced in deep meditation, is God. And that union, that Yoga, is profoundly healing.

Waking Up

By Linda Johnsen Photo/123RF

Voices. Clinking of metal. Feet shuffling along the floor.

Then I was there. Not just noises, but someone hearing them. A center-point of consciousness. Bare awareness. A presence.

And then a rush of memories. A shattering of peace. Me. I have cancer. I am in the hospital. I just had surgery. I open my eyes.

A nurse peers down at me curiously. “Miss Johnsen, how are you feeling?”

Then something important, something I have to find out. I need to know if I’m going to live or die. Much depends on the answer.

Whether to proceed with treatment. Whether there will be time for the next book I planned to write. Final adjustments to my will.

Dr. Eisele steps into view. He is smiling. “The surgery went well. I believe we got all of the tumor. It doesn’t appear to have spread. You’re very lucky, Miss Johnsen.”

A tear is forming in my left eye. A few months ago a simple word turned my life upside down: Osteosarcoma. It came with other scary words: Stage 3. Prognosis: Poor.

But for now, against incredible odds, I will survive. Me. I will still be here.

But I’m a Yoga scientist, so there’s something else I need to clarify. What is this “I” that’s so relieved it still exists? Dr. Eisele can’t help me with this one; I’ll have to find the answer for myself. What is it that creates

this vivid sense of being someone unique, a self-aware entity immersed in a matrix of its own thoughts and feelings? A person who lives and loves, eats and ages, gets sick and dies.

According to Yoga Science, we are not what we think we are. This will take a minute to explain. Yoga, as a science and philosophy, states that everything we experience is made up of prakriti, an infinite ocean of pure matter in its most rudimentary and elusive state. If you think of it as a limitless mass of pure, primeval energy, you’re moving in the right direction. It has no discernable qualities (color, shape, weight, etc.) yet it really exists. In fact, it can exist in one of three states: rajas (dynamic, moving, acting), tamas (inert, actionless), or sattva (balanced, in equilibrium). Everything we see around us comes from this immaterial material. Even our very thoughts are formed from this formless, self-existing something.

You may have heard that scientists recently discovered the Higgs particle, a minute, tiny chip of an underlying reality we can’t see. It gives mass to energy, creating the physical world. So at least to a limited extent, modern scientists are thinking like the yogis of ancient India. This is their version of prakriti.

A Yoga scientist, however, would add 11

that this primeval substance has two modes: inner and outer. The outer mode makes up the physical universe around us, including our body. The inner component is comprised of four inner functions defined by Pantajali in his classic Yoga Sutras over two thousand years ago. These inner functions are described as: 1. sense awareness (manas); 2. memories (chitta); 3. sense of individuality (ahamkara); and 4. self-directed intelligence with which we make decisions and take action (buddhi).

If you’ve had surgery too, when you awakened from an anesthesia-induced state of unconsciousness, you experienced all four of these functions coming back online, one after the other, just as I did.

If we want to become as free, secure and happy as the greatest Yoga masters, we must learn to understand and master these parts of our inner being.

Our Subtle Body While there may be some concepts in physics today that seem to echo the yogic primordial energy field, in other respects Yoga Science differs sharply from Western science. Modern scientists would certainly agree the four functions exist, but would situate them wholly in the brain. Accomplished meditators, however, claim that although we function through our physical body, the brain itself is no more the center of our being than is our clothing or even our car. Like a coat, our physical body covers us; like a car we travel in it. But our mental processes are made of a much more subtle type of living energy. Yoga Science does not identify this energy with the brain because it continues to exist after the dissolution of the body. From a yogic perspective, consciousness is nonlocal. It is not dependent on either the brain or body. Needless to say, most scientists today call this claim nonsense, but how many of them have actually mastered the deep states of meditation on which the Yoga adepts base their assertions? Medical researchers report that about one out of every ten of us has had an out-out-body experience during a near-death emergency, sleep paralysis, or other non-ordinary events. At that time our center of conscious12

ness involuntarily shifts out of our physical body, carrying with it the four functions of mind: our ability to perceive our surroundings, our sense of personal history and identity, and our ability to think creatively and purposefully.

The Yoga masters don’t teach us about the subtle body in order to console us (“Don’t be scared of dying—death isn’t the end”). On the contrary, Yoga Science emphasizes that the person we are now is the person we’ll continue to be—for better or worse! If our memory bank is full of painful or hateful thoughts, they will travel with us into the after-death state like heavy luggage.

If our ability to think clearly and make wise decisions is poor, or if our will power is weak, that’s not going to improve at the moment we die. We are responsible for who we are, for how we think, feel and act in this body—and beyond.

Yogis explain that if our business in this world isn’t finished, we’ll be reborn in another physical body. Consider the implications: your memories from your previous lives continue to exist in your subconscious at this very moment, resurfacing as tendencies, talents, inadequacies and frustrations that seem to arise from nowhere, but in fact are rooted in a distant past you’ve almost completely forgotten. If that seems unlikely, consider that most of us don’t remember much of what happened in the first three or four years of this life, much less what came before.

Now it should be clear why Yoga scientists like Patanjali insist it’s so important to master the four functions of the mind. If we want our future incarnations, and the rest of this life, to be a positive experience, we need to purify the mind of the anger, desire, jealousy, greed, grief and self-delusion we now live with. We can do this by: 1. Calmly witnessing the contents of our unconscious as they arise during meditation, until they lose the ability to throw us off our center.

2. Improving our ability to discriminate between what’s helpful or not, what’s healthy or not, what’s wise or not.

3. Strengthening our will power so we can follow up on constructive decisions.

4. Controlling what objects we present to our senses (do we really want to feed the images from that new horror movie into our unconscious?) so that the luggage we carry from life to life becomes lighter.

In this way we become the masters of our fate, the creators of positive karma, and our future life (and lives to come) become brighter ones.

Beyond Ego Yoga Science is full of practical advice to help us live healthier, happier lives. But, despite what you may have read in popular books or magazines, that’s not the goal of a meditation practice! The ultimate purpose of meditation is enlightenment. Enlightenment means the complete freedom from the bondage of karma. This great freedom arises when we firmly establish our awareness in the deepest bedrock of our being. That deepest place, Yoga scientists like Patanjali have said, is not in your ordinary mind and its functions, your ability to perceive, your memories, your sense of yourself as a specific person, and your determination to know and act. The root of your being lies beyond prakriti, energy and substance, altogether. It lies in Purusha, pure spirit.

What is Purusha, really? How do we experience it? Your true inner being is not the four functions of mind but lies behind them.

For me, it was the pure awareness that sensed the nurse’s footsteps as I began to awaken after surgery. It was the pure awareness that sensed I was an individual being, apart from the other people and objects in the Recovery Room. It was the pure awareness that illumined the memories of my life, my illness, my husband and friends in the Waiting Room. It was the pure awareness that witnessed the determination to learn the results of my operation.

But there is more. Here is the part that confuses many of us in the West, who identify so completely with our conscious states.

Purusha is also the pure awareness that is present during the unconsciousness of anesthesia, coma, or deep sleep. Beyond waking, dreaming and deep unconsciousness, a fourth state is always present: pure spirit. The goal of meditation is to recognize that unwavering

state of being inside ourselves, and learn to remain balanced there, without distraction.

Yogis teach that spirit exists outside of time and space, but witnesses both dispassionately. It is beyond the reach of causality and karma, though its presence causes causality to happen. In a statement amazingly prescient of claims by quantum physicists today, the ancient Yoga masters taught it is the presence of awareness that organizes the all pervading energy field into a meaningful universe. Pure spirit does nothing, and yet everything happens because it is there.

We are not the four functions of mind, or even the mind itself. Our true Self is the pure awareness that calmly witnesses the show put on for us by the play of universal energy.

What kind of universe are you creating for yourself, your family and your community? By purifying the four functions of your mind, you will help shape a more serene, more beautiful and more blessed world. By uncovering your true identity as pure spirit, the higher, selfless Self, you can walk through this world as a pure, enlightened being, completely free, finally fully awake.

Linda Johnsen is the award-winning author of eight books on yoga and meditation, including Meditation is Boring?

Putting Life in Your Spiritual Practice.

13

A Call to Humanity Once again, we are all in pain. But horrific tragedies like Newtown do not materialize in a vacuum. Because each of us plays a role in our collective destiny, all the children of humanity (including you and me) share responsibility for contributing to the problem, and for manifesting a solution.

Now more than ever, an openness to embracing new (and old) ideas from beyond our present cultural matrix can bring us the sustenance and growth we desperately need.

A pond whose source has dried up becomes stagnant. Our modern American culture must learn to go beyond rigidity, superstition, blind customs and dogma. Freedom is not just confined to material, political or economic freedoms alone. True freedom means the freedom of thought to attain the spiritual and philosophical wealth necessary to meet our ever-changing challenges.

French composer Claude Debussy said, “Music is the space between the notes.” For thousands of years people who practiced meditation learned that without a space between the notes of their lives, the music they tried to create became only noise.

Today’s 24 hour “news,” filled with relentlessly angry, fear-filled posturing, resembles a brutal jousting match between handicapped combatants more than a thoughtfully reasoned and respectful examination of the vital issues of the day. Absent from our vision are the philosophers and sages who once helped guide humanity. Those intuitive seers have now been replaced by (mostly) wellintentioned but narrow-minded individuals whose limited perspective only assures that the blind will continue to lead the blind.

What is truly needed in the wake of the Newtown tragedy is a new paradigm and new climate for us to live in and raise our children.

Meditation alone can provide us the intimate 14

experience of therapeutic silence––the space between the notes––so that each of our voices can reach its full measure of expression in peace, happiness and freedom from fear.

Today, meditation can make it possible for each of us to access and integrate an intuitive, unalloyed wisdom to help humanity establish personal security and peace of mind. Daily meditation can provide the blueprint, resources and inspiration to explore beyond the boundaries of thinking, feeling and reasoning. All the answers to what is to be done and what is not to be done are patiently waiting for us in the silence of meditation.

Without exploring the silent space between our notes, we will never be able to think clearly enough to resolve our problems.

Nearly two thousand years ago Jesus the Christ poignantly confessed in the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas, “I took my stand in the midst of the world, and in flesh I appeared to them. I found them all drunk, and I did not find any of them thirsty. My soul ached for the children of humanity, because they are blind in their hearts and do not see, for they came into the world empty, and they also seek to depart from the world empty.”

Are we still too drunk to see our way out of our pain? Whenever we individually and collectively disregard our own inner wisdom (found in silence), we are committing acts of violence against our conscience that will eventually bring about painfully “evil” experiences endured by all. But when we meditate and explore the profound gifts of silence, we think, speak and act as instruments of our conscience and become prophets and beneficiaries of love, security and peace. For this noble endeavor, a daily meditation practice is not simply a good idea, it is a dire necessity.

With love and respect,

Ram Lev (Leonard Perlmutter)

The Heart and Science of Yoga

TM

Comprehensive Training in Self-Care for Healthy Living

Summer Retreat At The American Meditation Institute, Averill Park, New York

LEONARD PERLMUTTER (Ram Lev) • JULY 19-21, 2013 Meditation • Mantra • Breath • Mind Function Optimization • Lymph System Detox Ayurveda & Alkaline Nutrition • Easy-Gentle Yoga (for joints, glands and internal organs) This retreat is open to the General Public.

Physicians, RNs, NPs, PAs and Practice Administrators receive medical education credits.

REGISTER ONLINE: www.americanmeditation.org/JulyRetreat.aspx Since 1996 The American Meditation Institute Has Taught Classes in Self-Care for Healthy Living

AMI “Health & Happiness Retreat,” August 2003

Now We Need Your Financial Help!

Please Support our 16th Annual Appeal Call (518) 674-8714 or Donate Online at: americanmeditation.org/MakeADonation.aspx 15

“Meditation guides us beyond the matrix that gave birth to our pain. It leads us to a new matrix of higher wisdom that can resolve the most pressing issues of our time.�

LEONARD PERLMUTTER (RAM LEV) Photo by Jenness Cortez Perlmutter

Tel. 518.674.8714

americanmeditation.org 60 Garner Road, Averill Park, NY 12018