October - December 2015 Transformation Journal

American Meditation Institute americanmeditation.org

OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2015

AVERILL PARK, NEW YORK

Self-Care for Healthy Living

The Whitest Horse

The Sacrifice of an Inappropriate Desire is the Mechanism for Transformation “Runaway Groom––Winner of the 1982 Travers Stakes” © by Jenness Cortez Perlmutter

Upcoming Classes and Events Inside this Issue: Beginner’s Meditation The Heart & Science of Yoga® Advanced Tantric Healing If you want to start and maintain a meditation practice, this course is perfect for you. / P. 7

The Best Choices Learn and practice the top 10 guidelines for inspired decision making. / P. 6

AMI’s 6-week self-care program combines meditation, breathing, Ayurveda and Gentle Yoga. / P.4-5

A two day course that teaches the powerfully healing Yoga Nidra practices of Tantra / P. 6

Transformation

Practical essays to support and deepen your meditation by AMI founder Leonard Perlmutter (Ram Lev) and other respected Yoga scientists. / P. 8

COMPLETE AMI CLASS SCHEDULE: Pages 4-7

CALENDAR

PHYSICIANS’ CME CONFERENCE Comprehensive Training in Yoga Science as Holistic Mind/Body Medicine

November 3-7, 2015 Cranwell Resort • Lenox, MA • 30 CMEs

FREE: SUNDAY GUIDED MEDITATION & SATSANG Sundays 9:30-11:00 AM with Leonard (Ram Lev) and Jenness

OCTOBER 2015 OCT 8 - 22: BEST CHOICES

see p. 6

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

OCT 10: AMI STRESS MANAGEMENT

see p. 7

Saturday 10:00AM - 12:00 PM (1 day)

OCT 17 & 24: BEGINNER’S MEDITATION

see p. 7

Sat. Mornings 9:30 - 11:00 AM (2 weeks)

NOVEMBER 2015 NOV 11- DEC 16: THE HEART & SCIENCE OF YOGA see p. 5 Complete Self-Care Program Wed. Nights, 6:30 - 9:00 PM (6 weeks)

NOV 16- DEC 21: GITA/YOGA PSYCHOLOGY see p.7 Mon. Nights, 6:30 - 8:30 PM (6 weeks)

NOV 20: FREE THANKS-GIVING DINNER see p.12 Fri. Night, 6:00 - 10:00 PM (RSVP by Nov 17)

DECEMBER-JANUARY 2015/2016 DEC 5 & 12: BEGINNER’S MEDITATION

see p. 7

Sat. Mornings 9:30 - 11:00 AM (2 weeks)

DEC 10 & 17: ADVANCED TANTRIC HEALING

see p. 6

Thurs. Nights, 6:30 - 8:30 PM (2 weeks)

DEC 31: FREE NEW YEAR’S EVE see p. 15 Thurs. Night, 6:30 - 10:00 PM (RSVP by Dec 28)

JAN 6- FEB 10: THE HEART & SCIENCE OF YOGA see p. 5 Wed. Nights, 6:30 - 9:00 PM (6 wks) Complete Self-Care Program

19th al GIVING Annu CAMPAIGN Thank you for your generosity. americanmeditation.org/annual-appeal

American Meditation Institute

Self-Care for Healthy Living

October - December, 2015 • Vol. XIX No. 1 ©2015 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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Upon Completion of this 30 CME 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, inflammation and physician burnout.

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

6. Help themselves and their patients reduce conditioned habits of negative thinking and other symptoms of burnout 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 (subtle emotional/mental causes of stress) to diagnose and treat dis-ease.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: (518) 674-8714 OR VISIT:

americanmeditation.org/cme

30 CME Conference Discount Available UNTIL OCTOBER 6, 2015

American Meditation Institute’s Yoga of Medicine Program Presents

7th Annual Conference for Physicians • RNs • NPs • PAs • Psychologists Comprehensive Training in Yoga Science as

Holistic Mind/Body Medicine A Unique Curriculum Developed for Clinical Application • Personal Health • Relieving Physician Burnout

30 CMEs

The Heart and Science of Yoga

TM

Meditation • Mantra Science • Diaphragmatic Breathing • Yoga Psychology Mind Function Optimization • Chakras • Easy-Gentle Yoga • Lymph System Detox Yoga Nidra • Nutrition • Functional Medicine • Ayurvedic Medicine • Epigenomics Meditation Practices to Relieve Physician Burnout Self-Care For Healthy Living

NOVEMBER 3-7, 2015

Albany Medical College

Lenox, Massachusetts

5 1/2

The only 4-Diamond Resort in the Berkshires

Hour Online Video Course & Book

Space is LIMITED

Please Register EARLY!

FREE!

Leonard Perlmutter • Susan Lord MD • Beth Netter MD • Mark Pettus MD • Rosy Mann BAMS • Prashant Kaushik MD • Tony Santilli MD • Kathie Swift MS RDN • Jenness Cortez Perlmutter

REGISTER ONLINE:

americanmeditation.org/cme •

Tel. (518) 674-8714 7

Curriculum Endorsed by: Mehmet Oz MD, Dean Ornish MD, Larry Dossey MD and Bernie Siegel MD

AMI Classes for October - December 2015 ®

The Heart and Science of Yoga Complete Self-Care Program

Reduce Stress & Burnout • Relieve Pain • Optimize Health with Leonard Perlmutter (Ram Lev), AMI Founder Taught continuously since 1996 • For Mind, Body and Spirit

Introduction to Self-Care Now, in your present situation, you need to successfully balance all your many personal, professional and family responsibilities.

AMI’s time-tested Heart and Science of Yoga® Complete Self-Care Program will help you transform your stresses into strength, sharpen your decision-making skills, and meet every one of your challenges creatively.

What is Self-Care?

Self-care is an essential survival skill. SelfCare refers to easy-to-learn daily practices that can reduce stress and maintain and enhance your short and long term health and well-being. By maintaining AMI’s Self-Care Program you’ll be able to fulfill all your personal and professional commitments effectively and rewardingly.

Purposes of Self-Care Self-Care is not simply about limiting or eliminating stressors. It is also about enhancing your overall health and wellbeing. The purposes of Self-Care include: • Strengthening physical and psychological health • Managing, reducing and transforming stress • Honoring emotional and spiritual needs • Fostering and sustaining relationships

“A problem cannot be solved on the level at which it appears.

It must be solved on a higher level.”

ALBERT EINSTEIN AMI’s Heart and Science of Yoga® Complete Self-Care Program teaches you how to reliably access your own inner, intuitive wisdom from the superconscious portion of the mind.

By accessing this “higher level” of knowledge you will know (and know that you know) how to make positive, stress reducing and health affirming lifestyle choices.

Self-Care is essential to your OPTIMAL HEALTH Herbert Benson, MD of the Harvard Medical School, says the maintenance of optimal health is analogous to a three-legged stool that must be supported by SELF-CARE. Such as AMI’s

Heart and Science of Yoga® Complete Self-Care Program

Optimal

HEALTH

Self-Care Pharmaceuticals

Surgery

Leonard Perlmutter Leonard is a noted educator and founder of The American Meditation Institute.

He is the author of The Heart and Science of Yoga® and the mind/body medicine journal, Transformation. He has presented self-care courses at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Albany Medical College, The New York Times Yoga Forum with Dean Ornish MD and the U. S. Military Academy at West Point.

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

What A MI’s Self-Care Program Can Do for YOU In 2007, AMI conducted a retrospective case study of participants who completed Leonard Perlmutter’s Heart and Science of Yoga ® Self-Care Program.

The findings included these positive, reproducible, long-term health-promoting changes: • Reduced cholesterol levels • Significant reductions in stress and fear • Improved energy levels • Diminished or extinguished • Increased creative capacity • Decreased anxiety and depression acute and chronic pain • Diminishment of migraine headaches • Lowered blood pressure • Elimination of irritable bowel syndrome • Weight loss • Lowered heart rate • Increased breathing capacity • Enhanced happiness and optimism • Improved restorative sleep

The Heart and Science of Yoga ® Self-Care Program Curriculum Meditation • Mantra Science • Diaphragmatic Breathing • Yoga Psychology Mind Function Optimization • Easy-Gentle Yoga • Lymph System Detox • Nutrition • Ayurveda 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 MINDFUL MANTRA MEDITATION Systematic procedure for mindful meditation Diminishing distractions with mantra science Learning the one-minute meditation Building focus, fearlessness, and strength BREATHING TECHNIQUES Breath as Medicine How breathing irregularities foster dis-ease Complete (three-part) yogic breath

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

WED NIGHTS: NOV 11 – DEC 16; JAN 6 – FEB 10 6:30 - 9:00PM, $495. (6 WKS)

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

Physicians $795; PAs, NPs, Psychologists: $695; RNs: $595

Registration Includes: Lifelong support for your meditation practice, a Guided Meditation CD, a copy of The Physiology of Easy-Gentle Yoga, and a complementary subscription to Transformation, the journal of meditation as mind/body medicine.

HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE Call us to discuss how your Health Insurance plan might cover this program.

PHYSICIAN ACCREDITATION (15 CMEs) 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.

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.

NURSING CONTINUING EDUCATION (15 contact hours) This continuing nursing education activity was approved by the American Nurses Association Massachusetts (ANA MASS), an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.

PSYCHOLOGIST ACCREDITATION (15 CE hours) 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.

The Heart and Science of Yoga ® Self-Care Program is Endorsed by Dr. Oz (Mehmet Oz MD), Dean Ornish MD, Bernie Siegel MD, Larry Dossey MD 5

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

BEST CHOICES

*

10 Keys for Inspired Decision-Making Leonard (Ram Lev) and Jenness Perlmutter Available by CDL (Computer Distance Learning) *Now available online. Call 518.674.8714 for details.

15% OFF ALL ITEMS A MI BOOKSTORE Through December 31st BOOKS • CDs • MUGS • MASSAGE OILS STATUARY • YOGA MATS HOMEOPATHIC MEDICINE • NETI POTS

NEW ONLINE MEDITATION COURSE G.I. SUSTAIN • INCENSE • JEWELRY At AMI’s Bookstore, Averill Park americanmeditation.org/ami-shop The AMI Core Curriculum is endorsed by:

Dean Ornish MD Dr. Oz (Mehmet Oz MD) Bernie Siegel MD and Larry Dossey MD 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.

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Level II : This course offers 10 practical guidelines for better decision-making.

Known as the Yamas and Niyamas, these tools will help you reliably access your own intuitive wisdom 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, recreation and death.

THURSDAY NIGHTS, 6:30 - 8:30PM, $125 (3 WKS) OCT 8 - 22

ADVANCED TANTRIC HEALING “Yoga Nidra” Practices To Benefit Mind and Body Leonard Perlmutter (Ram Lev) –– AMI Founder

LEVEL II: This advanced two-week course provides important instruction on employing the subtle energy healing of Tantra, a system of powerfully effective tools for self-care and stress management. Each week you will be taught new skills that reduce the effects of stress, illness and physical exhaustion by purifying the mind and body. These deeply therapeutic practices minimize tension, facilitate energy flow, calm and train the mind, awaken creativity, enhance memory and retard the aging and disease processes by boosting the body’s innate healing wisdom. This course will provide complete instruction in the practices of yoga nidra, shitali karana, shavayatra, trataka and tantric visualization.

THURSDAY NIGHTS, 6:30 - 8:30PM, $125 (2 WKS) DEC 10 & 17 This class is open to the general public and recommended for physicians, nurses, and other healthcare professionals.

AMI Classes for October - December 2015

BEGINNER’S MEDITATION

A MI STRESS MANAGEMENT

The Basics for Getting Started

Techniques to Transform Stress

Leonard Perlmutter (Ram Lev) –– AMI Founder

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.

The fast pace of modern life makes stress management a necessary skill for everyone.

Many people juggle multiple responsibilities: work, family, school, caregiving and a variety of other relationships. Learning to identify stressful situations and implement solutions is the key to successful stress reduction. This AMI Stress Management provides you a range of helpful tools (like diaphragmatic breathing) to reset your alarm system. Don’t wait until stress has a negative impact on your health, relationships or quality of life. Start today to learn a range of simple and easy to use stress management techniques that have worked for over 5,000 years.

Your entire $95 registration fee will be applied to your Heart and Science of Yoga ® Self-Care Program tuition should you register for that additional class within one year.

SATURDAY MORNINGS, 9:30 -11:00AM, $95. (2 WKS) OCT 17 & 24; DEC 5 & 12; JAN 9 & 16

*

YOGA PSYCHOLOGY BHAGAVAD GITA STUDY

SATURDAY, 10:00AM - 12:00 PM, $75. (1 DAY) OCT 10

Leonard (Ram Lev) and Jenness Perlmutter

*

Available by CDL (Computer Distance Learning) Call 518.674.8714 for details.

LEVEL II: In continuous six-week installments this course presents the profound teachings of the Bhagavad Gita as a handbook on the science of life and the art of living. If you are seeking a manual or guide for the supreme task of living well in the world today, this ongoing study offers you practical wisdom, meaning and purpose for your life. Each week Leonard and Jenness will teach you how to reduce stress, enhance your health and creative abilities, and will provide you a fresh, positive perspective on every relationship.

MONDAY NIGHTS, 6:30 - 8:30 PM, $150. (6 WKS) SEP 28 - NOV 9 (EXCL. NOV 2) NOV 16 - DEC 21

PERSONAL COUNSELING Leonard Perlmutter (Ram Lev), AMI Founder Int’l. Association of Yoga Therapists Meditational Therapy is a powerful and practical tool of mind/body medicine. With 38 years of personal practice, Leonard will counsel you on how to apply the principles of Yoga Science for a happier, healthier and more rewarding life.

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

eBOOK or HARD COVER VERSIONS

FREE GUIDED MEDITATION Leonard (Ram Lev) and Jenness Perlmutter LEVEL I: Join AMI’s FREE 20-minute guided meditation and satsang teaching. Participants may sit on comfortable chairs or on the floor.

SUNDAYS, 9:30 - 11:00AM, FREE

Available at the AMI Bookstore and Booksellers Nationwide 7

The Whitest Horse

By Leonard Perlmutter (Ram Lev)

Understanding Sacrifice as a Mechanism for Transformation Photo: 123RF.com

The form of a seed must “die” in order for the plant to sprout. Only after the “death” of that once-protective hull occurs, can the decomposing elements of the hull serve as fertilizer for the new growth.

In an analogous way, when we adopt a philosophy of life that teaches the ego, senses and unconsious mind that the “death” of an old, outmoded desire is not as tragic as we had imagined, that “loss” can become a catalyst for positive change and growth.

When we earnestly practice meditation and its allied disciplines, and base our choices of thoughts, words and deeds on the wise and good counsel of the mind’s conscience, (known as buddhi), the universe conspires to provide us everything we need––not necessarily what the personality wants, but definitely what it needs. And yet, the results of most of our choices will require time and patience to be seen, understood and appreciated. That’s what makes it so challenging to take the long, patient, discriminating view––especially when the personality is being tempted by the strong charms and attractions habitually cherished by the limited perspective of the ego, senses and unconscious mind.

A few precious, unexpected experi8

ences, however, are so immediate and dramatic that they’re impossible to ignore or forget. For my wife Jenness and me, the lesson of the whitest horse was both direct and profound and continues to inspire our spiritual practice to this day.

In ancient Indian scriptures, the term “white horse” appears in connection with the yogic practice of pratyahara––the withdrawal, purification and training of the senses. The Shvetashvatara Upanishad, composed between the 5th and 6th century BCE, literally means “the whitest horse.” It refers to that sage who willingly and consciously surrenders the attractive, pleasant, familiar and comfortable allure of ego and sense gratifications (preya) in favor of the (shreya)––that choice that will always lead us toward our ultimate happiness, security and liberation––moksha.

A Lesson in Trust In the autumn of 1993, Swami Rama left the United States and returned to Rishikesh in the foothills of his beloved Himalayan Mountains. At that time, rumors had circulated that this great teacher believed he had completed his life’s mission and was ready to retire from the world in preparation for the

final transition of death. Six months later, in March of 1994, we were invited to attend a one-month “spiritual journey” to study the Shvetashvatara Upanishad with Swami Rama in Rishikesh and to climb to the source of the Ganges River, high in the Himalayas.

Until that time, neither of us had felt a burning desire to visit India, yet we were suddenly drawn to this unique opportunity to study with Swami Rama for two reasons.

First, we believed this would be Swami Rama’s final public teaching, and since he had been our principal teacher for sixteen years, this trip presented an occasion for the respectful and sacred closure we longed for.

The journey would be a way to say both “thank you” and “bon voyage.” Secondly, since neither of us was even a novice mountain climber, the trek into the Himalayas represented a huge opportunity to confront our fears.

In discussing the possibility of making such a trip, however, cost quickly became a major issue. The $7,500 was an enormous amount of money for us at that time. As part of our spiritual practice we maintain a simple lifestyle, so withdrawing such a large sum of money from our long-term savings to travel halfway around the world seemed quite extravagant.

As the deadline approached, we were on an emotional seesaw. We knew the trip would be an important spiritual experience, but our concerns were real. We didn’t have a lot of money and the cost represented a substantial sacrifice. Furthermore, there was the anticipated terror of entrusting our lives to allegedly sure-footed donkeys picking their way along narrow Himalayan rock ledges that, at any moment, might tumble us down into an unfathomable abyss.

Because our internal deliberations were so agonizing, we knew we were facing a major test of character. Witnessing our habit patterns, wrestling first with our fears and then with our desires, we earnestly tried to follow the suggestions of the buddhi––serving the shreya in thought, word and deed while surrendering our attachments back to the Origin from which they had come.

Finally, the day of reckoning was upon us. We had to make a decision––to go or not

to go. And even though we had been struggling for weeks over the choice, that morning the answer was clear. There was no hesitation, no second-guessing. We both awakened that morning with a quiet certainty. We had passed beyond doubt. At 10:30 in the morning, with a calm deliberateness, we wrote a check for $7,500 and sent it off in the morning mail. The deed was done. Despite our fears and concerns, we were going to Rishikesh, India to study the Shvetashvatara Upanishad with Swami Rama.

As the confidence of our morning decision withstood guerrilla attack from deepseated samskaras, we remained resolute.

Worries did resurface, but we were steadfast in our efforts to witness and honor them while serving the wise and good counsel of the buddhi. At lunchtime, neither of us had very much to say. It seemed more appropriate to rest in our mantra as we prepared and ate our food rather than to rehash the long deliberations that had brought us to this peace.

Around 3:30 that same afternoon I received a momentous telephone call from a long-time art patron in Florida. He was calling to commission Jenness to create a traditional conformation portrait of his celebrated thoroughbred racehorse, Runaway Groom.

Since the client had been a collector for many years and was familiar with Jenness’s artwork, our conversation included none of the usual sales banter. Instead, we concentrated on where the horse was stabled in Lexington, the name and telephone number of the farm manager so we could schedule a visit and how long it would take to complete the commission.

When asked if he’d like to speak with Jenness personally to work out details of the painting, the client declined. “Jenness is a fine painter,” he replied. “I have confidence that she’ll create a magnificent painting.”

Then he added, “There is just one thing, however, that I’d definitely like you to tell her for me. As you know, I’ve been associated with the horse racing industry for many years. Please tell her that in all those years, this is the whitest horse I have ever seen.”

With a chill at the back of my neck, the hairs standing straight up on my arm and my 9

mantra resonating in my ears, I thanked the client and respectfully ended the conversation as quickly as possible––dashing out of my office and across the hall to Jenness’s studio to recount the miraculous story. Choking a bit on the humbling events that had just transpired, I recounted the story. “Jenness,” I said, “this morning, following the advice of the buddhi, we surrendered the preya of fear by sacrificing seven thousand five hundred dollars to travel to India to study the ‘whitest horse’ Upanishad with Swami Rama. Now, on this same afternoon, Don Dizney has just commissioned a painting of Runaway Groom, and he insists that I tell you personally that this is the whitest horse he has ever seen.”

As if those coincidences were not enough to humble and inspire us, the price of the commission was, to the penny, the same as for the trip to India––$7,500! In other words, the portrait of the “whitest horse” was going to pay for our trip to India to study the “whitest horse” Upanishad.

We are still learning the great lesson of this amazing experience: that unimaginable and beneficial circumstances can, and do, come into our lives to guide us. But in order to receive this bounty of Divine grace, we must first consciously, willingly and lovingly

serve the shreya and surrender the preya––preparing the soil for seeds of grace to sprout.

“Grace,” the sages promise, “is always flowing,” and the preparation for receiving it is simple. The first step is abiding faith or trust, shraddha. It is shraddha that provides us the will and resolution to sacrifice the preya in order to serve a higher good.

Shraddha also prepares us to recognize Grace when it appears. If Grace falls directly into our laps, yet goes unrecognized, we do not truly receive it. We must be ready to see it for what it is and to gratefully accept and employ it.

For us, this story continues to be a straightforward and dramatic demonstration of a timeless law, one which is acknowledged in every tradition. Perhaps Jesus the Christ states it most succinctly in the Sermon on the Mount when He tells us, “seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added unto you.” This is the unforgettable message of our own experience with the grace of the Shvetashvatara––the whitest horse. Through continuous practice––the willingness to engage the experiment––and the unshakable faith that is its reward, we prepare ourselves to know and receive the guidance and help that are already before us.

The American Meditation Institute Since 1996

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Desire, Action, Sacrifice material universe––including the preya––is a and Transformational Consequence manifestation of the One Supreme Reality. In After years of conscientious meditation pracevery moment, the buddhi is always availtice, ancient Yoga scientists realized the able to advise you that it’s not in your best profound relationship between desire, action, long-term interest to give the preya your sacrifice and transformational consequence. continued attention. If you consciously or Eventually, these insights were shared with unconsciously choose to serve the preya in humanity through the Upanishads in these thought, word or deed, you will experience words: “You are what your deepest, driving some form of physical, mental, emotional or desire is. As your deepest, driving desire is, spiritual dis-ease. so is your will. As your will is, so is your deed. As your deed is, so is your destiny.”

D=E+W+C Interestingly, the laws of the physical Desire = Energy + Will Power + Creativity Through your daily meditation practice you sciences state the same truth as the will quickly learn that the transformative Upanishads: energy cannot be created nor power of Yoga Science is an example of destroyed, but it can be transformed. the conservation of Considering Yoga to energy. When you be a higher, visionbegin to experiment ary form of knowlwith the idea that edge, the ancients every thought is a experimented with means for your percontrolling, conservDesire = Energy + Will Power + Creativity sonal unfoldment, ing and transformgreat resources accrue ing the energy of to you in the subtle world that help you thought. Through trial and error they realized fulfill the purpose of life. that when they renounced a single desire, the Knowing that desire is the fuel for energy of that desire manifested in a different human action, the ancient sages conceived a form. scientific formula that might well be called Recognizing this process, imagine what the spiritual equivalent of Albert Einstein’s would happen if twenty gallons of crude oil directly from the fields of Saudi Arabia were E=MC 2. The formula they discerned was pumped into your car’s gas tank. It would D = E + W + C. wreck your engine. Crude oil is simply of no Every desire is composed of three basic use in a combustion engine. To become an components: positive energy, will power and appropriate fuel for your automobile, the raw creativity. When you align every thought, oil must first be refined. word and action with the wise and good Each of us has the capacity to employ a counsel of the buddhi by serving the shreya, refining process that can transform the raw, you’ll be led for your highest and greatest inherent power of every thought, every desire good. When you willingly and consciously and every emotion. When the buddhi intusacrifice your attachment to the merely itively advises that the unusable, destructive pleasant, comfortable, familiar and attractive and constrictive power of a particular fear, preya that conflicts with your Inner Wisdom, anger or self-willed desire is appearing in you really give up nothing of value. The your awareness in the form of preya, you, as intrinsic power of the preya is not lost to you. a yoga scientist, have access to a mechanism Instead, your voluntary act of sacrifice for capturing and transforming that power. (yagna) automatically transforms the preya This refinement process is accomplished by into internal reserves of energy and will consciously and willingly renouncing your power and opens the doorway to the superattachment to the preya. In classical Yoga conscious mind––your access to the Divine texts, the employment of this discriminative source of intuitive wisdom and creativity. faculty is referred to as viveka.

Remember, each and every aspect of the 11

Why Should I Meditate?

According to ABC World News Tonight, 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.

• 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 and body are calm and relaxed, disease from a previously agitated system is reduced, 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.

• Meditation makes you more creative. By 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.

Vyasa Talking about practice How do you get –– to Carnegie Hall?

How do you get –– to big, from small?

How do you get –– to One, from all?

Practice. Practice. Practice.

Robert j Iwaniec

Free Thanks-Giving Dinner

Friday, November 20th, 6:00 -10:00 PM Bring a delicious vegetarian dish to share. Love donations appreciated.

RSVP by Nov. 17 12

Relieving Burnout by

Weeding Junk Thoughts from the Garden of the Mind

By Eknath Easwaran In India we have a story about a man who was asked his occupation. The man replied, “Farmer.”

“You don’t look like a farmer,” he was told. “How much land do you have?”

“Five and a half feet.”

There was a loud laugh. “How much can you raise in five and a half feet of land?”

“This is very special soil,” the man replied. “This body is my field. My thoughts and actions are the seeds, and karma, good and bad, is the harvest.”

The body and personality, are very much like a farmer’s field. In the soil of the mind we sow thoughts: desires, hopes, fears, resentments, and so on. There they take root and grow––into habits, attitudes, personality traits, patterns of responding to the world around us. And these finally bear fruit on the physical level, particularly in our health.

That is the meaning of the word karma.

The mind/body/sense complex is your field, your little personal garden, and it’s just the right size for your needs and abilities.

That’s why I take such good care of mine, and never believe that this is who I am.

Yet, most of us go through the day believing that we are the body; we are our mind. And the consequences are disastrous.

To the extent that we identify ourselves with the body, we are constrained to define happiness by what the body and senses find pleasant. It is a definition that excludes a good

deal of life, especially as the body grows older. We might eat too much, or eat what is not healthful, simply for the sake of taste. We might smoke, drink, or take drugs because we seek a quick vacation from the challenges of the day; we might fail to get enough exercise because inertia seems more pleasant than activity. Or we might spend all our time thinking about the body, trying to reform our complexion with queen bee preparations or to improve the definition of our biceps, as if who we are depended on how we look. All this can only make us more insecure. The body has to age and change and die. When we think that is all we are, the passage of time becomes a terrible burden.

In other words, unless you know that you are not this garden of mind/body, how can you cultivate it? You can have very little control. That is the essential message of Yoga Science. But there is a deeper implication that should be underscored: that body and mind are not separate, but two aspects of the same field. The medical implications alone are far-reaching enough to shatter our conventional ideas of health and aging.

With all the progress of science over the last two centuries, modern civilization has reached a stage where almost all of us believe there is nothing more to life than the physical, biochemical level. Even thought is currently held to be reducible to electrophysiological events. This is the lowest possible 13

view we can take of life, particularly of the human being. It is like thinking there is nothing to your garden except its harvests: no soil, no seeds, no nutrients, not even any roots. Plants simply adhere somehow to the surface of the earth, no one knows how, and we get good or bad harvests by chance. Our knowledge of the physical world amounts to the discovery that apple trees, to a statistically reliable degree, can be counted on to produce apples rather than pears or any other fruit; that is all.

Now, this is useful information, I agree.

But a botanist would not be impressed. “If you think that’s useful,” she might say, “let me tell you about seeds and soil. Those little dark things inside the apple are seeds. If you plant them in the right kind of soil and take care of them, you’ll get more apples––every time.” Imagine the significance of this kind of knowledge if you had never known about seeds! It’s the same with the garden of the mind and body, which are as intimately connected as fruit and seed. When you see the way thoughts and desires grow into hard, physical conditions, and how surely a certain kind of thought leads to a certain kind of action, you will begin to understand.

A cave man, I imagine, might not know about anything but harvests. He likes apples and knows how to pick them, but he doesn’t know there is any relationship between seeds and plants: after all, they look so different.

And he doesn’t know there is any relationship between the apple he eats and the soil, rain, sunlight, and so on by which it grew. He has all kinds of seeds lying around––apples, thistles, carrots, pansies––but they are so tiny, so insignificant, that he doesn’t pay any attention to them. If the apple seeds lie on clay and the carrot seeds in well-drained humus, what does it matter?

The person who thinks there is no more to a human being than the physical body is in a very similar situation. What does it matter to his body, his health, what thoughts he thinks? He thinks what he likes, waters his thoughts with a lot of attention, and after many years (for thoughts do grow slowly) he begins to suffer a few physical ailments, which look no more like a thought than an oak tree looks like an acorn.

Just as the body suffers setbacks on a 14

steady diet of junk food, the mind loses its balance and resiliency on a steady diet of junk thoughts like resentment, selfishness, anger, fear and lust.

“All that we are,” the Compassionate Buddha says, “is the result of what we have thought.” He means even physically, as I can try to illustrate. Suppose a person is habitually resentful: that is, he frequently responds to unfavorable circumstances by thinking resentful thoughts about the people involved.

Many unfavorable consequences follow from this, but here I want to look only at those that affect bodily health. Those thoughts are seeds; if he keeps on sowing them, and particularly if he keeps on watering and feeding them with his attention by brooding over them, they have to begin to germinate. All this takes place in the soil of the mind, out of sight. But after a while, if favorable conditions persist, those seeds of resentment sprout. In the language of medicine, the physiological correlates of resentment, like stomach tension and elevated blood pressure, become a habitual conditioned response, which any adverse circumstance can trigger.

But this response can be unlearned, just as it was learned; the garden of resentment can still be weeded and new seeds planted.

But if it is not weeded, after many years there will be a harvest of burnout and ill health.

Physiologically, the body will be living in a state of almost continual readiness for defense––a grossly exaggerated response, granted, but that is the only way the body knows how to respond. Its resources for dealing with stress will be mobilized day and night, like the National Guard in a state of emergency, as we can tell from the signs and symptoms that may come: high blood pressure, chronic stomach tension, digestive problems, migraines, irritability, perhaps a low resistance to the common cold. All this takes a severe toll on the body’s resources for good health. For various reasons, including genetic factors, the final burnout will differ from person to person. One might develop arthritis; another, a gastric disorder. But whatever the ailment, it is the fruit and harvest of a mental state, the seeds of resentful thinking.

Ironically, such a person often responds even to physical problems with resentment.

Life, he says, has dealt him one more unfair blow. That’s how deeply entrenched the mental habit has become: resentment has taken over the whole field. And so, tragically, the harvest of ill health goes on reseeding the mind.

For a more cheerful picture, look at patience. Isn’t there a flower called impatiens, which they say anyone can grow anywhere? Anyone can grow patience too, though it’s not yet one of the favorite houseplants of the mind. And it is a highly medicinal herb. Imagine the same person going through life with a garden full of patience instead of resentment. The same events that once provoked a stress response would be met with calmness, detachment, even a compassionate respect. That person is likely to live longer and feel better than if he lived in chronic resentment: good health is the body reaping the harvest of skillful thinking.

As long as we identify with the “field”––the physical, chemical organism that is the body––glands and hormones dictate our lives. The lives of those who identify completely with the body are dictated by their chemistry. When life is reduced to

biological functions, it says, what else can you expect? But those who break through this identification can undo this tyranny and relieve their burnout. They can rise above and eventually transform their chemistry; for the chemistry of our living follows, rather than dictates, the responses of our mind.

This breakthrough culminates a complete remaking of personality. Over and over again I hear talk about “alternative lifestyles.” Change your clothes, talk differently or have a facelift and you have changed your life. This simply doesn’t follow. But there is a way to change your life, and that is to change your ways of thinking; by letting go of the junk thoughts that have caused you nothing but pain. This transformation, however, will not be without serious resistance from the ego. But even while the ego protests, we can still experience the fierce joy in knowing that underneath the surface a radiantly new, healthy and balanced personality is being born.

EKNATH EASWARAN (1911-1999) founded the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation in Californnia and was an important teacher and close colleague of Leonard and Jenness. His books and tapes are available in the AMI Bookstore and at easwaran.org

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