September/October 2014 - Transformation Journal

American Meditation Institute americanmeditation.org

SEPTEMBER – OCTOBER 2014

AVERILL PARK, NEW YORK

Self-Care for Healthy Living

Exploring the Inner Space of

Consciousness The ULTIMATE Frontier

This is the journey of Meditation.

Its continuing mission: To examine powerful, hidden unconscious worlds.

To seek out the origin of thoughts.

See p. 7

To experience union with the eternal Center of Consciousness.

To boldly go where few have gone before.

“Be Still” © by Jenness Cortez Perlmutter

Upcoming Classes and Events Inside this Issue: Physicians’ CME Conference Beginner’s Meditation Comprehensive Meditation If you want to start and maintain a meditation practice, this course is perfect for you. / P. 2

FREE Guided Meditation Every Sunday morning at 9:30 you can experience a “guided meditation” with Leonard. / P. 4

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

Transformation

Practical essays by respected Yoga scientists to support and deepen your meditation. / P. 7

The sixth annual training in Yoga Science as holistic mind/body medicine. / P. 4, 5, 6 and 15

Best Choices Learn and practice the top 10 guidelines for inspired decision making. / P. 4

COMPLETE AMI CLASS SCHEDULE: Pages 2-5

AMI Classes for September - November 2014

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.

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SATURDAY MORNINGS, 9:30 -10:30AM, $95. (2 WKS) OCT 11 & 18; DEC 6 & 13

•*

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 TMTM

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 • Lowered heart rate • Reduced cholesterol levels • Weight loss

• Increased breathing capacity • Increased exercise capacity • Improved restorative sleep • Improved energy levels

• Increased creative capacity • Diminished migraines • Reduced stress and fear • Eliminated irritable bowel

• Enhanced happiness/optimism • Diminished or extinguished acute and chronic pain

TM

The Heart and Science of Yoga Curriculum is Endorsed by

Dr. Oz (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 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

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 WEDNESDAY NIGHTS, 6:30 - 9:00PM, $475.

(6 WKS) Physicians $775; PAs, NPs, Psychologists: $675; RNs: $575 SEP 17 – OCT 22; NOV 12 – DEC 17

Required Texts: The Heart and Science of Yoga

TM

Registration Includes: Lifelong support for your meditation practice, a Guided Meditation CD, a complementary subscription to Transformation journal and a copy of The Physiology of EasyGentle Yoga.

and The Art of Joyful Living.

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 providership 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 Massachusetts Association of Registered Nurses, Inc., an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialling Center's Commission on Accreditation.

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

The American Meditation Institute (AMI) has been approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists.

AMI maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

PSYCHOLOGIST ACCREDITATION (15 CE hours)

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

BEST CHOICES

PHYSICIANS’ CME CONFERENCE

*

10 Keys for Inspired Decision-Making Leonard (Ram Lev) and Jenness Perlmutter

Comprehensive Training in Yoga Science as Holistic Mind/Body Medicine

November 5-9, 2014 Cranwell Resort • Lenox, MA • 30 CMEs

Available by CDL (Computer Distance Learning) *Now available online. Call 518.674.8714 for details.

Level II : The ancient Yoga Sutras offer a practical system of 10 guidelines for decision-making, known as the Yamas and Niyamas. When you learn to employ these tools in daily living, you will be able to reliably access your own intuitive wisdom that will guide you to resolve every issue skillfully. These time-honored guidelines will teach you how to transform the contractive power of unhelpful, stress-provoking, negative emotions and habits into an expansive, creative and dynamic force. Real-life issues will be examined, including home, family, friends, work and recreation.

THURSDAY NIGHTS, 6:30 - 8:30PM, $125 (3 WKS) OCT 9 - 23

YOGA PSYCHOLOGY

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The Gita’s Mind/Body Connection Leonard (Ram Lev) and Jenness Perlmutter Available by CDL (Computer Distance Learning) Now available online. Call 518.674.8714 for details.

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LEVEL II: The Bhagavad Gita is the most revered scripture in the literature of Yoga Science. As a follow-up to the Comprehensive Meditation course, the Gita will provide you insights about how the mind can help you reduce stress. In the process, you will confidently enhance your health and creative abilities while providing yourself new perspectives on all your family and business relationships.

MONDAY NIGHTS, 6:30 - 8:30 PM, $150.

SEP 8 - OCT 20 EXCEPT SEP 15; OCT 27 - DEC 15 EXCEPT NOV 3 & 10

(6 WKS)

Upon Completion of this Conference Participants will be able to: 1. Demonstrate knowledge of how Yoga Science as mind/body medicine can help heal disease, manage addictive habits, alleviate stress and inflammation.

2. Develop equanimity, discrimination, will power, creativity and energy through a daily practice of meditation and diaphragmatic breathing.

3. Incorporate long-term strategies for healthy lifestyle choices using Yoga Psychology.

4. Demonstrate knowledge of the principles of both Ayurveda and Epigenomics.

5. Understand the physiological benefits of Easy-Gentle Yoga (stimulating exercises for lymph system detox, joints, glands, muscles and internal organs).

6. Help themselves and their patients reduce conditioned habits of negative thinking through the healing powers of mantra science.

7. Utilize Food as Medicine (Diet, Nutrition, Functional Medicine) to maximize personal well being.

8. Use Chakra Psychology (which describes subtle emotional and mental causes of stress) to diagnose and treat dis-ease.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: (518) 674-8714 OR VISIT: americanmeditation.org/cme

FREE SUNDAY MEDITATION Leonard (Ram Lev) and Jenness Perlmutter SUNDAYS, 9:30 - 11:00AM, FREE

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Early Registration Discount Available UNTIL OCTOBER 7, 2014

AMI Classes for September - November 2014

FACULTY––A MI’S 6TH ANNUAL PHYSICIANS’ CME CONFERENCE This CME conference is designed to encourage active participant interaction by combining engaging lectures, practicums, panel discussion and Q&A. This 30 hour CME course will provide easy-to-learn practices that work synergistically (within the intricate medium of the stress system) to reduce inflammation and allostatic load while working toward establishing homeostasis.

Leonard Perlmutter, AMI Founder LEONARD PERLMUTTER is a noted educator and founder of The American Meditation Institute. He is the author of The Heart and Science of YogaTM and the mind/body medicine journal, Transformation. Leonard has served on the faculties of the New England Institute of Ayurvedic Medicine, the Himalayan Yoga Teachers Association and the College of Saint Rose.

He is a disciple of Swami Rama––who, in laboratory conditions at the Menninger Institute, demonstrated that blood pressure, heart rate and the autonomic nervous system can be voluntarily controlled. Leonard has presented courses at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, the Albany Medical College and The New York Times Yoga Forum with Dean Ornish, MD.

Susan Lord, MD East Meets West SUSAN B. LORD, MD, is currently a faculty member, holistic health consultant and retreat facilitator for Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health. She served as Associate Director for Professional Training at the Center for Mind/Body Medicine in Washington, DC from 1996-2007, and was the Course Director for the Center’s Food as Medicine program.

Beth Beth Netter, Netter, MD, MD, MT MT Breath Breath as as Medicine Medicine BETH University BETH NETTER, NETTER, MD MD is is an an holistic holistic physician physician and and acupuncturist. acupuncturist. She Shegraduated graduatedfrom fromthe University of at Buffalo’s School of Biomedical and completed her residency anesthesiology at the Buffalo’s School of Medicine and isSciences, an AMI certified meditational therapist.inBeth serves as Chief of Brigham andofWomen’s Hospital in Boston, MA. Beth is an AMI certifiedAlbany, meditational the Division Integrative and Holistic Medicine, St. Peter’s Hospital, NY andtherapist as Chairand of currently serves as Chair ofCommittee. the AMI Medical Education Committee. the AMI Medical Education

Rosy Mann, BAMS NEW for 2014: Ayurveda & Diagnostic Applications ROSY MANN holds a Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery from the Guru Nanak Dev University in Amritsar, India. She has practiced clinical Ayurveda for over 15 years specializing in women’s health. She currently serves as a senior faculty member of Kripalu School of Ayurveda, and offers personal consults as well as workshops and programs as an Ayurvedic educator.

Mark Pettus, MD NEW for 2014: Epigenomics/Inflammation/Allostatic Load MARK PETTUS, MD, is a board-certified internist and nephrologist currently serving as Director of Medical Education and Population Health at Berkshire Health Systems, and Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at UMass Medical School. Mark is the author of The Savvy Patient and It’s All in Your Head: Change Your Mind, Change Your Health, & Change Your Life.

Kathie Swift, MS, RDN, LDN

NEW for 2014: Food as Medicine

KATHIE SWIFT is a leading educator and practitioner in the field of integrative nutrition. She is author of The Inside Tract: Your Good Gut Guide to Great Digestive Health and the chief nutrition advisor for myfoodmyhealth.com. Kathie is a Licensed Registered Dietitian with 30 years of clinical experience and a founding member of the Institute for Functional Medicine Nutrition Advisory Board.

Jenness Cortez Perlmutter

NEW for 2014: Psychology of Chakras

JENNESS CORTEZ PERLMUTTER has studied Yoga Science and practiced meditation since 1977. She is the co-founder and faculty member of The American Meditation Institute and a direct disciple of Swami Rama of the Himalayas. She graduated from the Herron School of Art, and is a world-renowned artist presently concentrating on works of classical realism.

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

SEP TEMBER 2014 SEP 2: AMI STRESS MANAGEMENT Tues. Night, 7:00 - 8:30 PM

SEP 8- OCT 20: YOGA PSYCHOLOGY see p.4 Mon. Nights, 6:30 - 8:30 PM (6 wk.Gita Study excl Sep 15)

SEP 17- OCT 22: COMPREHENSIVE MEDITATION see p. 3 Wed. Nights, 6:30 - 9:00 PM (6 weeks)

OCTOBER 2014 OCT 9 - 23: BEST CHOICES

see p. 4

Thurs. Nights, 6:30 - 8:30 PM (3 wks; available online)

OCT 11 & 18: BEGINNER’S MEDITATION

see p. 2

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

OCT 27- DEC 15: YOGA PSYCHOLOGY (GITA STUDY) see p.4 Mon. Nights, 6:30 - 8:30 PM, (6 wk. excl Nov 3 & 10)

NOVEMBER 2014 NOV 5 - 9: PHYSICIANS’ CME CONFERENCE Wed. through Sun. Cranwell Resort & Spa, Lenox, MA See p.4, 5, 6, 15

NOV 12- DEC 17: COMPREHENSIVE MEDITATION see p. 3 Wed. Nights, 6:30 - 9:00 PM (6 weeks)

NOV 22: THANKS-GIVING DINNER & MOVIE (FREE) Sat. Night, 6:00 - 10:00 PM (pitch-in vegetarian dinner) “A Beautiful Life,” starring Roberto Benigni

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.

American Meditation Institute

Self-Care for Healthy Living September-October, 2014 • Vol. XVII No. 6 ©2014 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.

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CME Medical Conference to Discuss How Meditation Combats Physician Burnout and Helps Alter Our Genetic Code for Health and Well Being How meditation can alter our genetic code to provide good health and wellness will be among the topics discussed at The American Meditation Institute’s (AMI) sixth annual mind/body medicine CME conference on meditation and yoga November 5-9, 2014 at the Cranwell Resort and Spa in Lenox, Massachusetts. Entitled The Heart and Science of YogaTM, this comprehensive physician training is accredited through the Albany Medical College Office of Continuing Medical Education.

If there’s one mental practice that has stood the test of time and rigorous laboratory testing, it’s meditation. In a recent article published in the Psychoneuroendocrinology journal, a new clinical study reports that mindfulness meditation training can lead to epigenetic alterations of the genome. These changes down-regulate genes previously implicated in inflammation and accelerate cortisol recovery time from social stress. “To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper that shows rapid alterations in gene expression within subjects associated with mindfulness meditation practice,” says study author Richard J. Davidson, Ph.D, founder of the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds and Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

As part of AMI’s “Yoga of Medicine” program, this conference is dedicated to providing quality, comprehensive and evidencebased education to physicians and other health care providers. This CME course will offer a broad curriculum of Yoga Science as mind/body medicine to ward off stressful burnout for physicians while providing tools to enhance self-care for patients. Topics include mantra meditation, diaphragmatic breathing, easy-gentle yoga, Yoga psychology, chakra system therapy, mind function optimization, epigenomics, ayurveda, nutrition, functional medicine, and lymph system detoxification.

Transformation The Journal of Meditation as Mind/Body Medicine

Exploring the Inner Space of

Consciousness The ULTIMATE Frontier

By Leonard Perlmutter

By Leonard Perlmutter (Ram Lev) (Ram Lev)

Photo by 123RF.com

An ancient creation story states that after everything in the world, including God, was perceived by the first human being, that individual did not look at the sun, moon and stars and ask, “What are they?” or “Where am I?” Nor did the first human turn to God and ask, “Who are you?”. Rather, the very first wondering thoughts and curiosity were to know one’s own identity, by asking, “Who am I?”.

To consciously ask and earnestly seek the answer to the question, “Who am I?” is the first big step in the exploration of consciousness––life’s ultimate frontier. If this question is calling your heart, the first three items you’ll need to begin your quest are 1. an appropriate fuel to power the journey, 2. a precise internal guidance system, and 3. a reliable flight plan.

Finding the Proper Fuel When modern scientists and engineers began dreaming and planning for manned space exploration, they faced a catch-22 situation.

They knew a rocket must reach a speed of 25,000 miles an hour to escape the earth’s gravitational field, but the combined weight of the spacecraft and propellant would be too

great; the relentless drag of gravity would make reaching that speed an impossibility.

Yet the human spirit delights in overcoming such obstacles. Undaunted by their task, technicians found a way around the problem by updating the 14th century Chinese military design for a multi-stage rocket with multiple independent boosters attached. Each booster was designed to hold fuel which is burned in one great leap skyward. As soon as its propellant is expended, the empty booster is dropped––freeing the spacecraft from the burden of its enormous weight.

Exploring the inner space of consciousness confronts us with a similar challenge.

What makes it so difficult to direct our attention inward in meditation is our attachment to the powerful call of objects and experiences in the physical universe. These include our everyday memories, anxieties, plans and expectations that draw their power from ego or sense gratifications; things we have felt, seen, heard, smelled and tasted, and which we want (or fear) to encounter again.

The charms, attractions and temptations of the material world are a natural part of life.

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There is nothing inherently wrong with them––just as gravity is natural, and there is nothing wrong with staying here on earth.

But without the cultivation of one-pointed attention we cannot galvanize our disparate energies into an organized force that can guarantee our exploration of new frontiers.

Frustrations arise when we experience an inward call but discover that certain forces, like attachment to our senses and the ego’s likes and dislikes, are keeping us “earthbound,” preventing us from entering realms where we can come to know the answer to life’s most important question: Who am I?.

To rise beyond the powerful force of our mental attachments, we need to build up a great deal of thrust. And just as in launching a rocket from Cape Canaveral, immense power is required. But where are we to find the necessary “lift” power? Scientists engaged in the exploration of outer space can rely on explosive mixtures such as liquid hydrogen and oxygen, but what energy source can we use when we are drawn to exploring the inner space of consciousness?

The answer lies in the same energy source that powers every human action: DESIRE. Desire is power, and it’s the prime fuel for exploring consciousness. The more concentrated your desire to go inward, the more power you have at your disposal. The Upanishads say: “You are your deepest, driving desire. As your deepest, driving desire is, so is your will. As your will is, so is your deed.

As your deed is, so is your destiny.”

If all this talk of focused desire as power seems too far fetched and unscientific, I’d like to share a real life story from twentieth century mystic Eknath Easwaran about a physics professor at Berkley who also thought the power of desire was mere metaphor.

The physicist would gladly discuss electric power, solar power, even wind power with Easwaran; but harnessing the power of a passion or a craving––well, that, he thought, was not dynamics; it was simply poetry. “Power,” the physicist always insisted, “is the capacity to do work. Work is the energy required to move a definite mass a definite distance. No movement, no work.

No work, no power.”

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Easwaran’s colleague, you see, was a dyed-in-the-wool empiricist, whose life was spent seated at a desk with his computer, piles of papers and a perpetual pot of coffee.

Day or night no one had ever seen that physics professor far from his coffee pot.

Then late one evening Easwaran came out of a movie theater and saw his sedentary friend striding along like an athlete, miles from home. He was astonished at the sight.

“What got you up from your desk?”

Easwaran asked. “You’re breaking the habits of a lifetime!”

“Coffee,” the physics professor muttered.

“I ran out of coffee. I simply couldn’t think about anything else.”

That was exactly what Easwaran had been waiting for. “Here,” he said, “a very definite mass has been propelled two or three miles, simply by one little desire for a cup of coffee.”

When we, like Easwaran, evaluate the power of focused desire according to the laws of physics, we too discover that desires are what fuel our thoughts, words and deeds.

Even though energy cannot be created nor destroyed, all energy, including the energy of desires, can be transformed. By applying this knowledge, meditators use the scientific method of trial and error and realize that whenever a single desire that conflicts with inner wisdom (preya) is sacrificed, the negative and contractive energy of that desire is automatically transformed into a positive and expansive form of energy, will power and creativity. These new states of energy become just the right fuel needed to explore beyond the boundaries of habitual thinking and feeling––to experience union with the eternal Center of Consciousness.

Internal Guidance System In exploring the inner space of consciousness through the practice of meditation, the mantra reliably serves as your guide and leader. When used under the direction of an accomplished teacher from a time-tested lineage, the mantra can help to precisely direct your physical, mental and emotional energies toward the attainment of your chosen goal or desire.

You already know that every action

leads to a consequence. When you continually give your attention to the mantra, there will be a positive, life-affirming effect. You may not be aware of the mantra’s effect immediately, but its subtle power is continuously stored in the potential state––available to you when it is most needed.

An understanding of the word mantra can be found in its etymology. The word mantra joins the Sanskrit words man, “the mind,” and tri, “to cross.” When used regularly and earnestly, the mantra can help you cross over the turbulence of the conscious and unconscious portions of the mind to experience the ocean of peace, happiness, wisdom and bliss originating from the Center of Consciousness.

The mantra can reduce your physical, mental and emotional dis-ease (namely stress, anxiety and pain); strengthen your resolve and will power; facilitate the freedom to become an instrument of love, forgiveness and compassion (even in the face of your own fear, anger and self-willed desire); and slowly, slowly reveal more and more of the nature of consciousness.

The mantra is a subtle seed that will reveal aspects of consciousness through your one-pointed attention. The mantra not only contains the name of the Supreme Reality; in subtle terms it is the Supreme Reality in an as-yet unmanifest form. As you meditate on the mantra and follow it into the silence from which it arose, it will safely lead you in your exploration of consciousness.

During deep meditation, the mantra can bring consciousness to the state of stillness known as samadhi, in which the individual Self unites with the Absolute Self and the entire body-mind-sense complex abandons its usual habits and rests in tune with the peace and bliss represented by the mantra.

As the twentieth century teacher Meher Baba observed, “A fast mind is a sick mind. A slow mind is a healthy mind, and a still mind is Divine.”

A Reliable Flight Plan Before you read the entire systematic procedure for meditation, remember that ahimsa is the highest principle of Yoga Science. This means you should not take on too much too

soon. Without question, your meditation will be enhanced by some preliminaries to help calm and focus both the body and mind, and to facilitate your exploration of the ultimate frontier of consciousness. Yet, above all else, you must be kind to yourself. Because of its length and specificity, it would be unreasonable and unkind of me to ask you to memorize and practice this complete Systematic Procedure (that reflects years of my personal practice). Instead, I suggest that you familiarize yourself with the instruction presented.

Then begin with whatever portions of the procedure you enjoy and that come easily to you. Over time, your personal practice will develop on its own.

Each preliminary practice prior to your meditation is intended to progressively narrow the range of distractions that come into your awareness. Collectively, these practices engage your body, mind and senses while focusing your attention down to one point.

1. Prepare the Body Physically: When the body is comfortable, relaxed and clean the mind is more willing to meditate. Taking a shower or washing your face and hands will give you a fresher feeling. After rising in the morning, your body will be most at ease if you empty your bladder (and bowels, if that is your habit), then prepare for meditation.

2. Prayers: If it is your tradition, this is a good time for your morning or evening prayers.

3. Relax and Stretch the Muscles: A few minutes of stretching exercise or easygentle yoga can be very beneficial prior to meditation. There should be no television, computer, music or other sensory distractions during your stretching exercise. Lovingly give your one-pointed attention to the body.

4. Sitting in Meditation: AMI teaches you to meditate in a chair. The keys to an appropriate meditation posture are comfort and stability. To establish a proper posture, sit forward in the chair a few inches from the chair back. The head, neck and trunk should be comfortably erect (no slouching). Your hips should be slightly higher than your knees. This tilts the pelvis forward, giving support to your lower back. A straight back chair works better than the upholstered kind.

Experiment with a small cushion, folded 9

blanket or foam wedge under your buttocks.

Use additional pillows as necessary to support your lower back. Wear loose clothing (especially around the waist) and remove eye glasses. Place your hands comfortably on your thighs with your fingers positioned in the Finger Lock (the thumb and forefinger together). Next, gently apply the Root Lock (tightening the anal sphincter muscle) and close your eyes and lips gently. Your upper and lower teeth are gently touching or slightly apart and the tongue is resting in a relaxed manner.

5. Breathing Practices: A gentle breathing practice prior to meditation is very helpful in quieting the mind. The breath is the physical manifestation of the mind, so when you quiet the breath, the mind automatically calms down. Observe the breath as it flows through the body. Mentally follow the inhalation from the toes (up through the body) all the way to the crown of the head.

The crown is a little bit inside the head and a little bit outside the head. The breath should be full and even, with no jerks or pauses or sounds. All breathing is done through the nostrils. Once the breath has reached the crown, mentally follow the exhalation from the crown back to the toes. Inhalation and exhalation should be one continuous stream.

Allow the inhalation to gently merge with the exhalation, and allow the exhalation to gently merge back into the inhalation. Observe the breath for five or six complete cycles.

6. Where to Meditate: Your attention should be placed inside the Cave of the Heart (mid-point between the two breasts). You are not looking there. You are there in that space.

Once inside the Cave, acknowledge the Eternal Witness (you, the experiencer of every experience).

7. Pledge of Attention/Resolve: You enter meditation with determination in your mind and joy and devotion in your heart.

Before meditation, determine the length of time you will meditate and then, once you are inside the Cave of the Heart, mentally state this pledge to yourself: “O, Inner Dweller, during the meditation the body will be still and the mind will be calm, and I will give my full and complete––undivided attention to the mantra. I want to do it! I can do it! I have 10

to do it! I am going to do it! No matter what thought, image or sound calls my attention, I will continue to direct my full attention to my mantra.”

8. Listening to the Mantra: Following your “Pledge of Attention,” maintain all your attention inside the Cave of the Heart and invite the mantra into your awareness. Listen to the mantra slowly, lovingly, humbly and joyously. Listen to the mantra with such onepointed focus of attention that you hear each individual syllable of the mantra, as well as the spaces between syllables and between words. Continue to listen to the mantra.

9. Dealing with Distractions: When the mind becomes restless, it’s never a problem.

Simply honor and witness any competing thought, image or sound and surrender it back to the Origin from which it has come.

Then, gently bring the mind back to the mantra. And let the mind know that it’s not necessary to become involved in anything other than the mantra right now.

10. Concluding Your Meditation: When you are ready to conclude your meditation, gently redirect your attention from the mantra back to the Eternal Witness. While resting in the Cave of the Heart, make the transition to external awareness by doing the following: Abandon the Finger Lock, slowly place your closed, cupped hands over your eyes, gently open your eyes and observe whatever might appear. Notice the breath and how it animates the body. Then, slowly spread the fingers a bit and notice the increase in light, and the new forms that are revealed. Now, remaining centered in the Bliss and Fullness your Essential Nature, join the two palms together, place them in front of the Cave of the Heart, and silently repeat this traditional yogic prayer: O, Inner Dweller, Lead me from the unreal to the real.

Lead me from the darkness to the light. Lead me from mortality to immortality. Om. Shanti.

Shanti. Shanti. Peace. Peace. Peace. Each repetition of shanti represents a prayer for peace––peace within yourself, peace within your personal relationships, and peace throughout the universe. This prayer also represents the desire for peace throughout the three states of consciousness: waking, dreaming and deep sleep.

CAPTAIN’S LOG: STARDATE: 1967 from Himself. He pretends that He is you and me and all the people in the world, all the animals, plants, all the rocks, and all the stars. In this way He has strange and wonderful adventures, some of which are terrible “There was never a time when the world and frightening. But these are just like bad began, because it goes round and round like dreams, for when He wakes up they will a circle, and there is no place on a circle disappear. Now when God plays “hide” and where it begins. Look at my watch, which pretends that He is you and me, He does it so tells the time; it goes round, and so the world well that it takes him a long time to rememrepeats itself again and again. But just as the ber where and how He hid Himself! But hour-hand of the watch goes up to twelve and that’s the whole fun of it––just what He down to six, so, too, there is wanted to do. He doesn’t want day and night, waking and to find Himself too quickly, for sleeping, living and dying, that would spoil the game. summer and winter. You can’t That is why it is so difficult for have any one of these without you and me to find out that we the other, because you would are God in disguise, pretending not be able to know what black not to be Himself. is unless you had seen it side But when the game has by side with white, or white gone on long enough, all of us unless side by side with black. will WAKE UP, stop pretendIn the same way, there are ing, and REMEMBER that we times when the world is, and are all one single Self––the times when it isn’t, for if the God who is all that there is and world went on and on without who lives forever and ever. rest forever and ever, it would Nataraj, (Lord of the Dance), is eternally You may ask why God someget horribly tired of itself. It manifesting and dissolving His/Her creation. times hides in the form of comes and it goes. Now you see it; now you horrible people, or pretends to be people who don’t. So because it doesn’t get tired of itself, suffer great disease and pain. Remember, it always comes back again after it disapfirst, that He isn’t really doing this to anyone pears. It’s like your breath: it goes in and out, but Himself. Remember too, that in almost in and out, and if you try to hold it in all the all the stories you enjoy there have to be bad time you feel terrible. It’s also like the game people as well as good people, for the thrill of hide-and-seek, because it’s always fun to of the tale is to find out how the good people find new ways of hiding, and to seek for will get the better of the bad. It’s the same as someone who doesn’t always hide in the when we play cards. At the beginning of the same place. game we shuffle them all into a mess, which God likes to play hide-n-seek, but is like the bad things in the world, but the because there is nothing outside of God, point of the game is to put the mess into good He has no one but Himself to play with! But order, and the one who does it best is the He gets over this difficulty by pretending that winner. Then we shuffle the cards and play He is not Himself. This is his way of hiding again, and so it goes with the world.”

Alan Watts wrote the following words in The Book: On the Taboo of Knowing Who You Are in 1967. For me, his perspective was an inspiration. This passage provided a turning point to begin the process of my own exploration of consciousness. –– Leonard (RAM LEV)

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11

To Boldly Go

By Linda Johnsen Photo / theredheadriter.com

I can’t even count the number of times people have told me I remind them of Mr. Spock.

That’s because, like Spock, I have an intensely analytical approach to life. If it’s not logical, I’m not buying it.

Mr. Spock, as most people born on Earth are aware, is First Officer on the starship Enterprise in the popular 1960s TV program Star Trek. Every young person I knew watched that show. We were all fascinated by the extraterrestrial cultures the Enterprise crew encountered during its mission “to explore new worlds and new civilizations.” Especially compelling was the plot device that in the 23rd century, where Star Trek is set, humans have largely conquered their violent, selfish nature and now devote themselves to scientific exploration and humanitarian service.

Many of the aliens Mr. Spock and his fellow crewmembers run into have extraordinary powers. Some are telepathic, others can manifest or dematerialize objects including their own bodies. Some live for centuries, or even eons, according to how humans reckon time. Interestingly, some of these entities, humans included, acquire amazing abilities like space travel through their mastery of technology. Others travel through time or across dimensions through mastery of their innate spiritual abilities.

They can skip across light years as easily as you can shift your awareness from your left hand to your right foot.

12

I’m no Spock, but like him I have traveled to different planets. I’ll never forget my first day on an alien world called Calcutta. It looked, sounded and tasted completely different from my home world, a place we usually call Western Civilization. The short, brown-skinned beings there spoke a language I couldn’t understand, worshipped foreign deities, and related to the universe in a manner utterly dissimilar to what I was used to. To describe it with a term the logicalminded Mr. Spock would have used if he had landed there, India was “fascinating.”

Planet India No one who hasn’t been there can appreciate how unique India is. Five thousand years ago people around the globe had a vastly different understanding of spirituality than most of us do today. Their perspective has been almost completely eradicated over the centuries by missionizing religions as well as advocates of scientific materialism. India is one of the last places on Earth where you can still find people who believe, speak and act much as their ancestors did five millennia ago. Visiting India today really is like traveling backward in time, or like visiting another planet, one that vanished long ago.

I had read numerous ancient Indian texts, including the “Yoga Vasishtha,” the “Mahabharata,” and the “Tripura Rahasya,” which described beings called yogis who allegedly were telepathic, could materialize

objects or travel outside their bodies, who sometimes lived in the same body for centuries or who consciously transferred their awareness into a new body when the old one wore out. They were, the texts claimed, conversant with whole other dimensions of reality. This was as good as Star Trek! But with one critical difference: the starship Enterprise is fiction, while the yogic tradition in India is for real.

How could a logical person such as myself, a real doubting Thomas as all my friends know, buy the miraculous stories told in ancient Indian texts? It’s because an alien from that other world had already made contact with me in the heart of the American Midwest. His name was Swami Rama, and he was a mahasiddha (“great adept” who has mastered his inner powers), as he proved repeatedly in American laboratories under scientific supervision. He not only demonstrated astonishing control over his physiological functions which, till then, Western scientists believed impossible, but also moved a metal needle through sheer mental focus. (“Mind over matter” is called telekinesis in the West; this rigorously monitored experiment was conducted at a research facility in Topeka in 1970.)

Even Swami Rama’s worst enemies acknowledged his extraordinary abilities.

Anyone who spent time with him experienced his jaw-dropping ability to read minds, as well as his talent for willing flowers to blossom out of season, empty teapots to pour gallon after gallon of chai, and even to materialize objects out of thin air.

Needless to say, this is all illogical.

According to Western science, this must be fiction. But Swami Rama sat us down to teach us yoga science, a system that dates back over 5000 years. Swamiji’s tradition, which is called Sri Vidya, is rooted in the insight of perhaps the greatest and most influential scientist of all time. His name was Kapila; he was born in northern India in vast antiquity. (I described his influence on early Buddhism in a previous issue of Transformation.)

Kapila enumerated twenty-five principles of reality. The lowest five of these are the only ones presently known by Western

physics: solid, liquid, gaseous, and plasmic matter, plus what scientists today call “the zero point field” from which these originate.

Kapila also noted far more subtle forms of matter of which Western science is unaware, and types of energy actually generated by a mental field. He delineated the dramatic role of intelligence in the organization of matter and the imperative role of consciousness in cosmology.

It’s easy to dismiss Kapila’s science as superstition. But it’s hard to explain Swami Rama’s abilities, and the miraculous-seeming skills of other advanced yogis, without taking these ultra-refined levels of matter and energy into account. Many of the fundamental mysteries of life and death completely ignored by Western science can be rationally explained by Eastern science.

Imagine it’s the 23rd century and you’re hurtling into outer space on your own version of the starship Enterprise. You encounter a civilization in some ways vastly more advanced than your own. You actually observe its citizens using skills like telepathy or telekinesis that scientists back on Earth claim are against the laws of nature.

Once you begin studying with these remarkable aliens however, you realize that their understanding of nature’s forces is in fact far more expansive than your own. While you continue to appreciate the achievements of your native science, you also begin to see its limitations. This is the experience many of us have actually had once we’re exposed to yoga vidyas, the “inner sciences” of ancient Indian civilization. While modern Western science is amazing as far as it reaches, it’s also inadequate to explain the phenomena we’re now witnessing.

Beyond the Brain As I traveled through Bengal and then on through the rest of Planet India, I met more great souls with extraordinary insight and abilities: Amritanandamayi Ma, Shree Maa of Kamakhya, Tapasvi Baba and others. Of course they live on the same planet as those of us raised in the West, but in a very real sense they live in a different universe. They experience the cosmos radically differently.

Their worldview is vastly broader than ours, 13

embracing not just physical matter and known forces like electromagnetism and gravity, but subtler forms of matter called tanmatras as well as the energy field of consciousness itself, chitshakti. Although these elements and energies really exist and are experienced and manipulated by the inner scientists of the yoga tradition, we don’t even have words for them in English.

The great souls live beyond the brain.

As Swami Rama patiently explained, the brain is in the mind, not the other way around. The purpose of meditation is to hone our awareness till we can hold our awareness in samadhi, a deeply focused state that opens the floodgate of prajna, intuitive insight.

This can ultimately lead to a state of mastery many in the West would consider science fiction, but which those of us fortunate enough to keep company with yoga adepts have witnessed for ourselves. These yogis, however, are not aliens from other junctures of the galaxy. They are human beings exactly like us except that they have taken the time and trouble to actuate powers within themselves that all of us have, but most of us ignore.

What is the key unlocking the inner world and its vast potentials? It’s simple: sustained spiritual practice (abhyasa) performed continuously for as long as it takes (nairantarya) in a spirit of heartfelt reverence (satkarasevito). In order to accomplish this, we must cultivate enough dispassion (vairagya) that we can temporarily put the affairs of the external world out of our mind and turn our focus inward toward stillness and self-knowledge. During meditation we go beyond time and space as we know them, into an uninterrupted state of unalloyed joy (ananda), and its influence begins to positively affect all our relationships. We are on our way to a remarkable awakening. The universe will never be the same again.

We need to challenge ourselves to live beyond the brain. This means that every day, without fail, we turn off the TV, turn off the cell phone, and turn off the babble in our mind. As we have learned in our meditation classes, we breathe our way into silence, conscious control of our breath being the flywheel that regulates our autonomic nervous system, calming our mental turbu14

lence. Once the usual jabber in the mind ebbs away, what is left? Our essence, our soul, the vastness of inner space, that sacred part of us that is never unconnected from pure spirit.

Do we have the courage and desire to boldly go into this extraordinary new world?

Even on Star Trek, Mr. Spock—that most analytical of aliens—would go on spiritual retreats to refresh his energy and deepen his understanding. To him (and perhaps also to us, as we expand our horizons through yoga practice), this is simply logical.

Linda Johnsen, M.S. is the award winning author of Daughters of the Goddess: The Women Saints of India, Lost Masters: The Sages of Ancient Greece, and six other books on spiritual traditions.

Contemplations on the Voyage Consciousness creates, connects and projects Its’ calm awareness throughout all Space and Time: Inviting Love to arise and expand Throughout all levels of Being.

Place your Presence within these Present fields Channeling Infinite Compassion through every choice you make.

All these journeys into the brightness of your Love, Everyday exploring the inner feel of your perfect Peace: Endlessly offering this blissful experience upon your altar As the unknown arises lighting the pathless Path.

From Compassion we have reached Into all these levels of Creation, Chosen birth, drama, challenge, death, Again and again: Boldly born into blessed Being.

Yet, when we reflect and meditate, We know we never really left the Oneness of Pure Consciousness.

Because in the Infinite-Eternal all are interconnected, The fire of this sacrifice of unending “Namaste” Burns brightly through all karmas and illusions, Blessing all stars, planets and souls.

John David Wilson CONTEMPORARY MYSTIC POET

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