April - June 2016 Transformation Journal

American Meditation Institute americanmeditation.org

APRIL - JUNE 2016

AVERILL PARK, NEW YORK

Self-Care for Healthy Living

Meditation is an Engineering Science.

It Re-Engineers the Hardware & Software of the Mind

By Leonard Perlmutter (Ram Lev) see p.8

Neuroplasticity and Meditation

An interview with Sara Lazar PhD p.13 Photo: Making Road Advertising Agency: Kastner & Partners

Upcoming Classes and Events Inside this Issue: The Chakra System Beginner’s Meditation The Heart& Science of Yoga® If you want to start and maintain a meditation practice, this course is perfect for you. / P. 5

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

AMI’s 6-week self-care program combines meditation, breathing, Ayurveda & Gentle Yoga. / P. 2-3

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

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 2-5

AMI Classes for April - June 2016 ®

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 • Weight loss • Heal irritable bowel syndrome • 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

WED NIGHTS: APR 20 – MAY 25 TUES NIGHTS: JUN 28 – AUG 9 EXCEPT JULY 19 6:30 - 9:00PM, $495. (6 WKS) Physicians $795; PAs, NPs, Psychologists: $695; RNs: $595

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.

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

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

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.

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 3

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

Save this Date!

8th Annual Heart and Science of Yoga®

PHYSICIANS’ 30 CME CONFERENCE Meditation • Mantra Science • Chakras Diaphragmatic Breathing • Neuroplasticity Yoga Psychology • Ayurvedic Medicine Mind Function Optimization • Functional Medicine Easy-Gentle Yoga • Lymph System Detox Resilience • Yoga Nidra • Nutrition • Epigenomics Practices to Relieve Physician Burnout Cranwell Resort & Spa, Lenox, MA

OCTOBER 25-29, 2016 For Details: (518) 674-8714

americanmeditation.org/cme Delicious Gourmet Vegetarian Cuisine

From Recent Attendees 1. “This course was excellent and life changing by introducing me to a practice and philosophy so fundamentally different from the way allopathic medicine views the mind and body. I am so grateful for this experience, knowledge, expertise and compassion given by all the faculty and staff.” S.L. MD, NYC 2. “Life changing! Everyone in every facet of life should experience this. I’m so grateful for you and your institution and all involved for bringing truth to doctors with love and compassion. This is a light the world needs to see.” P.S. MD, RI 3. “This course has been the best CME course I have ever attended. It has given me a strong foundation, where I can help patients improve their lives with mindfulness. For myself, I have learned a skill that is lifelong and so powerful. I’m excited to use these skills for my greater good.” V.Q. MD, NYC 4. “A fantastic course! Very informative. It had a great mix of theory, science and practical use/practice. The spectrum of content was also balanced. Some of the more scientific/study presentations gave me the opportunity to see how I can incorporate this information within my practice.” R.G. MD, NY The AMI Core Curriculum is also endorsed by:

Dr. Oz (Mehmet Oz MD), Dean Ornish MD Bernie Siegel MD, 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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THE CHAKRA SYSTEM

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Balancing Subtle Body Energies Leonard (Ram Lev) and Jenness Perlmutter Available by CDL (Computer Distance Learning) Study The Chakra System from your own home or anywhere in the world. Call 518.674.8714 for details.

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LEVEL II: The power to attain our own perfect health lies within each of us. It is simply a matter of attaining the necessary knowledge, and then cultivating our determination and will to employ the knowledge we have gained. This three-session course provides a detailed understanding of the meaning, anatomy, psychology and function of the ancient yogic chakra system. By learning to balance the chakras through the advanced mind/body medicine practices taught each week, you can increase your vitality and power of concentration, and rediscover your inner source of physical and mental health and well being.

SATURDAY AFTERNOONS, 2:00 - 4:00PM, $195 APR 9 - 23 (3 WKS)

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

The Heart and Science of Yoga®

SUMMER RETREAT Leonard Perlmutter (Ram Lev), AMI Founder

July 14-17, 2016 The 16th annual July retreat presents the same core curriculum as AMI’s Complete Self-Care Program (see pages 2 & 3). These time-tested practices are designed for both the general public and healthcare professionals. Attending physicians, PAs, RNs, NPs and psychologists receive 18 CME credits.

Gourmet vegetarian meals are included.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: TEL. (518) 674-8714 OR VISIT ONLINE: americanmeditation.org

AMI Classes for April - June 2016

SACRED JOURNEY

BEGINNER’S MEDITATION

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Living Purposefully and Dying Gracefully

Leonard and Jenness Perlmutter

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Available by CDL (Computer Distance Learning)

Level II: To understand the purpose of life, we must try to understand the relationship between life and death. The two are partners––each providing a context for the other. Death is not the end, but merely a pause in an eternal journey. When both birth and death are understood and accepted as parts of the human journey, then the fear of death subsides and life can be lived more fully and joyfully. Based on the ancient Katha Upanishad, this course reveals how to organize your life in a way that leads to expansion and growth. Every student with a body is encouraged to attend.

The Basics for Getting Started Presented by members of the AMI Faculty

LEVEL I: Have you thought about trying to meditate, but weren’t ready for AMI’s 6 week Heart and Science of Yoga® Complete SelfCare Program? This two-session course provides 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 also includes a FREE “guided meditation” CD. SATURDAY MORNINGS, 9:30 -11:00AM, $95. (2 WKS) APR 9 & 16; MAY 14 & 21; JUN 11 & 18

COMPASSIONATE BUDDHA The Healing Power of Thoughts

Required text: Sacred Journey, by Swami Rama

MONDAY NIGHTS, 6:30 - 8:30PM $150. (6 WKS) JUL 11 - AUG 15

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YOGA PSYCHOLOGY BHAGAVAD GITA STUDY

Leonard (Ram Lev) and Jenness Perlmutter Available by CDL (Computer Distance Learning) Attend this in-depth course from your own home or anywhere in the world. Call 518.674.8714 for details.

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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 in the world today, this ongoing study will provide you practical wisdom, meaning and purpose for your life. Each week Leonard and Jenness will teach you how to reduce stress and confidently enhance your health and creative abilities, while providing you a fresh, positive perspective on all your family and business relationships.

MONDAY NIGHTS, 6:30 - 8:30 PM, $150. (6 WKS) APR 4 - MAY 9; MAY 16 - JUN 27 EXCEPT MAY 30

Leonard and Jenness Perlmutter

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Available by CDL (Computer Distance Learning)

LEVEL I: (offered once a year) The Compassionate Buddha, one of our most practical yogic teachers, prescribes the practice of meditation as mind/body medicine.

From the very first line of the Dhammapada, “Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think,” the Buddha explains what leads to joy and health and what leads to disease and sorrow. Then he explains how to take our lives into our own hands. Without esoterica or metaphysics, without appeal to anything magical or superhuman, the Buddha encourages us to experiment with our minds; to coordinate the four functions of the mind just as Patanjali (the codifier of Yoga Science) suggests, so that we can experience lasting health, happiness and security.

SATURDAY AFTERNOON, 2:30 - 4:30PM, $95.

MAY 14

PERSONAL COUNSELING Leonard Perlmutter (Ram Lev), AMI Founder Int’l. Association of Yoga Therapists AMI HOME CENTER, By appointment. $125 /hr.

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CALENDAR FREE: SUNDAY GUIDED MEDITATION & SATSANG

Dinner • Movie • Satsang 2016 FILM DISCUSSION SERIES Friday, April 15, 5:30-10:00 PM

Sundays 9:30-11:00 AM with Leonard (Ram Lev) and Jenness

APRIL 2016 APR 4-MAY 9: GITA/YOGA PSYCHOLOGY see p.5 Mon. Nights, 6:30 - 8:30 PM (6 week Gita Study)

APR 9 & 16: BEGINNER’S MEDITATION see p. 5 Sat. Mornings, 9:30 - 11:00 AM (2 weeks)

APR 9 - 23: THE CHAKRAS SYSTEM see p. 4 Sat. Afternoons, 2:30 - 4:30 PM

APR 20 - MAY 25: HEART & SCIENCE OF YOGA see p.2-3 Wed. Nights, 6:30 - 9:00 PM (6 weeks)

APR 15: DINNER, MOVIE, SATSANG see p. 6 Fri. Night, 5:30 - 10:00 PM

Saoirse Ronan, Emory Cohen, Domhnall Gleeson An Irish immigrant in 1950s New York falls for a tough Italian plumber, but faces temptation from another man when she returns to her homeland for a visit.

Friday, May 20, 5:30-10:00 PM

MAY 2016 MAY 14 & 21: BEGINNER’S MEDITATION see p. 5 Sat. Mornings, 9:30 - 11:00 AM (2 weeks)

MAY 14: THE COMPASSIONATE BUDDHA

see p. 5

Saturday afternoon, 2:30 - 4:30 PM

MAY 16- JUN 27: GITA/YOGA PSYCHOLOGY see p.5 Mon. Nights, 6:30 - 8:30 PM (6 wks.except May 30 )

MAY 20: DINNER, MOVIE, SATSANG see p. 6 Fri. Night, 5:30 - 10:00 PM

JUNE 2016 JUN 11 & 18: BEGINNER’S MEDITATION see p. 5 Sat. Mornings, 9:30 - 11:00 AM (2 weeks)

YO U T H Michael Caine, Harvey Keitel, Rachel Weisz, Jane Fonda This film presents the recurring story of the eternal struggle between age and youth, the past and the future, life and death, commitment and betrayal.

Friday, June 17, 5:30-10:00 PM

JUN 28-AUG 2: HEART & SCIENCE OF YOGA see p.2-3 Tues. Nights, 6:30 - 9:00 PM

JUN 17: DINNER, MOVIE, SATSANG Fri. Night, 5:30 - 10:00 PM see p. 6

Print and eBook Versions Now available at the AMI Bookstore Booksellers Nationwide

American Meditation Institute

Self-Care for Healthy Living April - June, 2016 • Vol. XIX No. 3 ©2016 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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I r r a t i o n a l Man Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone, Parker Posey Writer/Director Woody Allen presents an outside-the-box tale about a tormented philosophy professor who considers extreme measures to find meaning in his life.

Each film reflects practical Yoga Science.

A gourmet vegetarian dinner begins at 5:30 PM, followed by a movie and discussion (satsang). A group meditation concludes the evening.

RSVP required by Wednesday prior to the event.

$20 per person - (dinner & complementary movie)

American Meditation Institute’s Yoga of Medicine Program Presents

8th 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 and Building Resilience

30 CMEs

The Heart and Science of Yoga

®

Meditation • Mantra Science • Diaphragmatic Breathing • Yoga Psychology Mind Function Optimization • Chakra System • Easy-Gentle Yoga • Lymph System Detox Yoga Nidra • Functional Medicine • Ayurvedic Medicine • Food as Medicine Epigenomics • Trauma • PTSD • Resilience • Neuroplasticity Meditation Practices to Relieve Physician Burnout

OCTOBER 25-29, 2016

Self-Care For Healthy Living

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

REGISTER ONLINE:

Mark Pettus MD Jyothi Bhatt BAMS Tony Santilli MD PrashantKaushikMD Sara Lazar PhD

americanmeditation.org/cme •

JennessPerlmutter

Jesse Ritvo MD

Tel. (518) 674-8714

Core Curriculum Endorsed by: Mehmet Oz MD, Dean Ornish MD, Larry Dossey MD and Bernie Siegel MD 7

Meditation is an Engineering Science.

It Re-Engineers the Hardware & Software of the Mind

By Leonard Perlmutter (Ram Lev) Illustration: anthonywrightrecovery.com

I hear it all the time, “Meditation is just not for me. I don’t need it.” But after twenty years of teaching, I’m no longer surprised or disappointed by such dismissals. Instead, I now nod in an accepting, non-judgmental way while my mind gently recalls the results of countless clinical studies indicating that a daily meditation practice can make life so much more rewarding and much less painful for everyone, in every stage of life.

My teacher, Swami Rama of the Himalayas, was unequivocal in stating his opinion, “Meditation is a dire necessity.”

Because I trusted the science that formed the basis of his personal experimentation, I learned to meditate, and eventually, when he thought I was ready, I began to teach.

One of the first things I learned was that the root of the word meditation is related to the root word for medical or medicate. The word “meditation” is born from the Latin words meditari (to think, contemplate, or exercise the mind) and mederi (to heal, cure).

It implies a sense of attending to or paying attention to something to the exclusion of any other mental or physical stimulus.

To help demystify the practice of meditation in my classes, I often ask, “What do you love to do?” Some students love walking in nature; some love gardening; some love 8

being successful in business; some love eating; some love golf or tennis; some love their work, spouse, children or grandchildren.

Regardless of what they claim to love, I explain to them that the common thread running through all their various loves is the shared experience of freely giving their complete, one-pointed, conscious attention to someone or some thing. Attention, I suggest to them, is love.

Once they understand the correlation between focusing their attention on something and experiencing love, I explain that meditation, like their loves, is simply the experience of consciously directing one’s complete attention to one object. The only difference is that when you’re meditating, the “loving experience” is not dependent on anything or anyone outside yourself. Your capacity to love does not depend on nature, a garden, work, food, golf, a spouse, child or grandchild. In meditation, you simply direct all your attention to a mantra––a word or series of words containing the name of the Supreme Reality (a.k.a. God).

Focusing your attention for only one minute exclusively on the mantra can give you a taste of freedom from the mind’s stressful, habitual preferences. And there’s an additional bonus: with that one minute

investment you’ve begun the acquisition of four powerful, life-enhancing skills. These skills are: 1. The capacity to be detached from any uninvited stimulus, 2. The ability to focus the mind’s one-pointed attention at will, 3. The development of greater intuitive discrimination, and 4. The will power to do what is to be done, and to not do what is not to be done.

Can you imagine how valuable these four meditation skills will be in helping you successfully handle all your duties and responsibilities? But there’s still more. The many unseen physical benefits of meditation are even more profound than what you can now imagine. Take its effect on the human brain for example.

Optimizing the Hardware of Your Brain Your brain is your body’s control center. Its nerve cells (neurons), that send and receive electro-chemical signals, transmit information at up to 200 miles per hour between the brain and nervous system. By these functions, your brain makes it possible for you to think, feel, remember, and to perceive the world around you.

Until just a few years ago, neuroscientists believed that after childhood, your brain cells became hard-wired into relatively fixed circuits for life. But recent scientific studies tell a different story. We now know that your brain’s estimated 100 billion neural cells can actually re -form new circuits and patterns in response to your life’s ever-changing experiences and demands. This physiological process is known as neuroplasticity [see interview with Dr. Sara Lazar, page 13]. It is your brain’s potential to reorganize itself by creating new neural pathways that make it possible for you to adapt to changing circumstances.

Although neuroplasticity might sound like a modern scientific discovery, the capacity of the brain to change in function and structure was intuited by meditators over 5,000 years ago––long before the benefits of twenty-first century technology became available.

Today, medical researchers have discovered that people who meditate every day develop regions of the brain that can process

much higher levels of compassion and awareness than the average, non-meditating brain can.

Research also suggests that these and other changes translate into lower levels of stress and anxiety and a greater sense of well-being. And you don’t need to meditate for years on end to start reaping the benefits.

One recent study showed measureable brain transformations after just 8 weeks of regular meditation. The more you regularly sit for meditation, the more your everyday life experiences will begin to reflect the evenness of mind you experience during meditation.

In practical terms this can mean that you’ll find it easier to let go of your old, worrisome or stressful thoughts, and you won’t be burdened as much by unexpected or undesired circumstances, like traffic jams and annual medical checkups.

But optimizing the hardware of your brain to create new circuits and patterns that can provide you greater clarity of mind, creativity and greater ease of physical functionality is only part of the benefits package that awaits you as a first-time meditator.

Meditation can also upgrade your mental software and operating system. Here’s how that happens.

Understanding Your Mental Software The activity of the mind is vast, and yet only a small portion of the mind is conscious. For most of the moments of your life, the greater portion of the mind remains unconscious.

The unconscious mind, known as chitta in Sanskrit, serves as the storehouse for your habits and attachments. It’s a veritable catalogue of all your pleasant and unpleasant memories, likes and dislikes, imaginations for the future and the experiences and information you deem essential to selfpreservation. Consequently, it serves as the repository for your fear, anger and unfulfilled desires.

Yoga Science describes the character of the unconscious mind as being like that of wet sand. When you were a child playing at the beach and you pressed an object like a pail or shovel into wet sand, an impression was created. Similarly, when you repeatedly give your attention to any thought, desire or 9

emotion, that subtle object and your physical, chemical and biochemical memories associated with it create an impression, like an indentation in the topography of your unconscious mind. As you give continued attention to any thought, desire or emotion, the channel that is formed becomes deeper and deeper.

Each of these channels in the unconscious mind is known as a samskara, and your awareness (consciousness) always flows through the channel of least resistance.

This means that the deepest, widest, most unobstructed samskaras in the unconscious mind become the software of your mind, the pathways through which your consciousness travels. And the deepest of these unconscious channels link together to comprise your strongest mental tendencies, known as vasanas in Sanskrit. These behavioral karmic imprints can include both your creative, healthy habits, and your destructive, unhealthy habits, compulsions and addictions, as well.

Because you have created samskaras through your previous attention, you tend to think virtually the same thoughts, speak the same words and take similar actions every day. Every day each of us is creating the software of our own mind through repeated attention to certain thoughts––both helpful and harmful ones. In effect, your continued attachments to a variety of desires and emotions, likes and dislikes, create the information highways in the unconscious mind.

These, in turn, determine the development of the personality, all your lifestyle choices, and the consequences that flow from those choices.

But the habits you have created are not permanent constructions. As Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “Our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world . . . but in remaking ourselves.” Samskaras are always works in progress. They can be altered. Many of them are very beneficial, but unless you consciously acknowledge and monitor their growth, debilitating information highways can grow strong. And over a lifetime, these tendencies can increase your bondage to pain and suffering.

Remember, a consequence develops 10

from each of your thoughts, words and deeds. When you consciously heed the inner wisdom of your conscience (buddhi) in choosing which thoughts deserve your attention and which do not, you can prevent many painful consequences.

Upgrade Your Mental Software The meditation process provides a reliable, systematic method for creatively rewriting the out-of-date, limiting and debilitating software of the mind. When you sit regularly for meditation and consciously give your attention to a mantra, that mental activity creates new, healthy channels in the unconscious mind that provide you reserves of love, fearlessness and strength.

If the mind becomes restless during meditation, it’s never a problem. Rather, consider it to be an opportunity to transform previously debilitating energy into a positive and expansive form. If, while meditating on the mantra, a distracting thought enters your awareness, your job is simply to honor, witness and sacrifice the competing thought, image or sound and lovingly redirect your attention back to the mantra. Two important consequences follow. First, because you have willingly given up your attachment to a distraction in favor of the mantra, that previously attractive subtle thought-object returns to its samskara of origin in the unconscious mind in a weakened state, and the depth of its channel is subtly diminished. Second, as you redirect your attention back to the mantra, you’re deepening a new, healthy mantra samskara that will provide you the necessary reserves of love, fearlessness and strength to make every relationship rewarding.

Meditation is an engineering science.

Each time you sit for meditation, you’re reengineering both the hardware of the brain and the software of the mind. Meditation not only makes the brain more responsive to your ever-changing needs and circumstances, it also frees you from uncomfortably high stress levels and the painful consequences of fear, anger and self-willed desire.

How? By gradually bringing the elusive power of the unconscious mind under the direct control of your conscious, discriminating mind.

americanmeditation.org/summer-retreat

Join Leonard and Jenness Perlmutter at AMI’s

SUMMER RETREAT July 14-17 16th Annual “Please join me this summer as I share how you can experience life’s greatest gifts through the personal practice of meditation.”

Leonard (Ram Lev)

18 CMEs For Physicians Gourmet Vegetarian Meals

The Heart and Science of Yoga ®

Self-Care for Healthy Living For the General Public, Physicians and Healthcare Professionals 11

Training the mind in meditation helps you begin to recognize that your thoughts are actually your most powerful natural resource to fulfill the purpose of life. As William Jennings Bryan observed, “Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice.”

The combination of thoughts you choose to give your attention to and withdraw your attention from will ultimately determine your destiny. That means your happiness, health and security, now and in the days to come.

When you can skillfully place your attention where you choose, you’re developing the freedom to begin thinking and responding in new ways. The implications are astounding. You can actually become the architect of your life!

And this is the ideal––not only in meditation, but in every aspect of life. As you start gaining control over the thinking process and the consequences that follow, your mind will become so steady and focused that it will no longer be swept off course by stressful emotions like fear or anger. Learn to remain completely present in every moment, as you do in meditation, and you won’t be disturbed or controlled by memories of the past or suffer from worries about the future.

But in order to wisely choose which thoughts you’ll pay attention to, you must first understand, through your own personal experience, that passing thoughts really have no power of their own to effect you––until you focus your attention on them. Random thoughts represent only your potential creative energy to do work in the world. It’s the mental act of directing your conscious attention to a particular thought that transmutes its inherent energy from the potential state to a kinetic state. It is by the process of intentional thinking that your creative thought-energy can be transformed into speech and action that leave unique consequences in their wake, consequences that will subtly or dramatically change your destiny.

Knowing what kinds of consequences are likely to flow from your thoughts, words and deeds is of paramount importance. From a yogic perspective, when your attention on a thought is directed by your own inner wisdom, accessed by a purified conscience (buddhi), the effect will be beneficial. On the 12

other hand, when your continued attention to a thought conflicts with your inner wisdom, you will inevitably experience some form of physical, mental or emotional dis-ease or pain.

In principle, the practice of meditation is simple. Whenever the mind begins to wander, gently bring your attention back to the mantra. Learn to deal skillfully with your stray thoughts, and they won’t be able to bunch together into debilitating compulsions––like lust, dread, resentment, jealousy, judgment or guilt. Remember, stray thoughts have no kinetic power until you give them repeated attention. Without the power of your attention, thoughts cannot propel you into action.

Epilogue Of course, none of this knowledge about reengineering the hardware of the brain and software of the mind will be beneficial to you until you begin to experiment with it in your everyday relationships. So, I urge you to take the first step. Learn to meditate from a qualified teacher. I guarantee that when you start meditating and employing the skills of onepointed attention, detachment, discrimination and will power, you’ll feel better physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.

You’ll be able to think more clearly, creatively and confidently––knowing that no thought or circumstance will ever be able to overwhelm you again. And from that day forward, you’ll start living in real freedom.

How will you know? You will know, and know that you know, the same way all meditators know: you’ll experience the first great freedom––the freedom from fear.

Guru Purnima-July 19 Full Moon Fire Ceremony & Movie

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SACRED JOURNEY Living Purposefully & Dying Gracefully See page 5 for complete details

Neuroplasticity and Meditation

An interview with Sara Lazar PhD Dr. Lazar will join the faculty of The American Meditation Institute’s 8th annual Physicians’ CME Conference October 25-29, 2016

Sara Lazar, PhD is a neuroscientist at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. She was one of the first scientists to discover through brain scans that a daily meditation practice can literally change your brain. This interview, conducted by reporter Brigid Schulte, is reprinted from washingtonpost.com.

Q: Why did you start looking at meditation and mindfulness and the brain?

Lazar: I was training for the Boston marathon and had some running injuries, so I saw a physical therapist who told me to stop running and just stretch. As a form of therapy I started practicing yoga. Because it was so powerful and had some real benefits, I got interested in how it worked. My teacher made all sorts of claims: that yoga would increase your compassion and open your heart. And I’d think, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’m here to stretch.’ But I began noticing I felt calmer, better able to handle more difficult situations. I was more compassionate and open hearted, and able to see things from others’ points of view. I thought, maybe it was just the placebo response. But then I did a literature search of the science, and saw evidence that meditation was associated with decreased stress, decreased depression, anxiety, pain and insomnia, and an increased quality of life. At that point, I was doing my PhD in molecular biology. So I just switched

and started doing this research as a post-doc.

My first study looked at long term meditators vs a control group. We found long-term meditators have an increased amount of gray matter in the insula and sensory brain regions, the auditory and sensory cortex.

Which makes sense. When you’re mindfully meditating you’re paying attention to a mantra, your breathing, to the present moment experience, and shutting cognition down. It stands to reason your senses would be enhanced. We also found meditators had more gray matter in the frontal cortex, which is associated with working memory and executive decision-making. It’s well-documented that our cortex shrinks as we get older––it’s harder to figure things out and remember things. But in this one region of the prefrontal cortex, 50-year-old meditators had the same amount of gray matter as 25year-olds. So the first question was, did the people with more gray matter in the study have more gray matter before they started meditating? In a second study, we took people who’d never meditated before, and put one group through an eight-week mindfulness meditation stress reduction program.

Q: What did you find?

Lazar: We found differences in brain volume after eight weeks in five different regions in the brains of the two groups. In the group that 13

learned meditation, we found thickening in four regions:

to bring that behavioral and neuroimaging science together.

1. The primary difference, we found in the posterior cingulate, which is involved in mind wandering, and self relevance.

2. The left hippocampus, which assists in learning, cognition, memory and emotional regulation.

3. The temporo parietal junction, or TPJ, which is associated with perspective taking, empathy and compassion.

4. An area of the brain stem called the Pons, where a lot of regulatory neurotransmitters are produced.

Q: Given what we know from the science, what would you encourage readers to do?

Lazar: Meditation is just like exercise. It’s a form of mental exercise. And just as exercise increases health, helps us handle stress better and promotes longevity, meditation purports to confer some of those same benefits. But, just like exercise, it can’t cure everything. So the idea is, it’s useful as an adjunct therapy.

It’s not a standalone. It’s been tried with many, many other disorders, and the results vary tremendously. It impacts some symptoms, but not all. The results are sometimes modest. And it doesn’t work for everybody.

It’s still early days for trying to figure out what it can or cannot do.

The amygdala, the fight or flight part of the brain which is important for anxiety, fear, and stress in general. That area got smaller in the group that went through the mindfulness meditation stress reduction program. The change in the amygdala was also correlated to a reduction in stress levels.

Q: How long does someone have to meditate before they begin to see changes?

Lazar: Our data shows changes in the brain after just eight weeks. In a mindfulness meditation-based stress reduction program, our subjects took a weekly class. They were given a recording and told to practice 40 minutes a day at home. And that’s it.

Q: So, 40 minutes a day?

Lazar: Well, it was highly variable in the study. Some people practiced 40 minutes pretty much every day. Some people practiced less. Some only a couple times a week.

In my study, the average was 27 minutes a day. Or about a half hour a day. There isn’t good data yet about how much someone needs to practice in order to benefit.

Meditation teachers suggest, although without a scientific basis, that 10 minutes a day could have some subjective benefit. We need to test it out. We’re just starting a study that will hopefully allow us to assess what the functional significance of these changes is.

Studies by other scientists have shown that meditation can help enhance attention and emotion regulation skills. But most were not neuroimaging studies. So now we’re hoping 14

Q: So, knowing the limitations, what would you suggest?

Lazar: It does seem to be beneficial for most people. The most important thing, if you’re going to try it, is to find a competent teacher.

Meditation is simple, but it’s also complex.

You have to understand what’s going on in your mind. A good teacher is priceless.

Q: Do you meditate? And do you have a teacher?

Lazar: Yes and yes.

Q: What difference has it made in your life?

Lazar: I’ve been doing this for 20 years now, so it’s had a very profound influence on my life. It’s very grounding. It’s reduced stress.

It helps me think more clearly. It’s great for interpersonal interactions. I have more empathy and compassion for people.

Q: What’s your own practice?

Lazar: Highly variable. Some days 40 minutes. Some days five minutes. Some days, not at all. It’s a lot like exercise. Exercising three times a week is great. But if all you can do is just a little bit every day, that’s a good thing, too. I’m sure if I practiced more, I’d benefit more. I have no idea if I’m getting brain changes or not. It’s just that this is what works for me right now.

Mind/Body Garden

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 Bhagavad Gita uses the same image.

Body and personality, it says, 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 much misunderstood word karma.

Krishna [the Supreme Wisdom] begins by pointing out that we are not the field we till. Put that way, it sounds absurdly simple.

Yet if someone asks us who we are, most of us point to our bodies. “This is me––five foot eight, one hundred thirty pounds, brown skin, not very luxuriant hair on the head.”

But Krishna would object, “That’s not you.

That’s your field, your little garden. You are the gardener.” To me this is a most comfortable way of looking at my mind/body: a small garden, just the right size for my needs and abilities. I can appreciate other people’s gardens, but I like mine as it is; what would I do with someone else’s? So I take very good care of my mind/body garden: but I never believe that this is who I am.

Reprinted from “To Love is to Know Me,” by Eknath Easwaran, Nilgiri Press, Petaluma, CA.

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Summer Retreat LEONARD PERLMUTTER (Ram Lev)

JULY 14-17, 2016 at AMI Meditation • Mantra • Breath • Mind Function Optimization Lymph System Detox • Ayurveda & Alkaline Nutrition • Easy-Gentle Yoga This retreat is open to the General Public.

Physicians receive 18 CME credits and RNs, NPs, PAs and Psychologists receive medical education credits. americanmeditation.org/courses/summer-retreat