January - March 2017 Transformation

Transformation American Meditation Institute

January - March 2017

americanmeditation.org Self-Care for Healthy Living

aVErILL ParK, nEW yOrK

Your Perceptions

Are Skewed

By Your Conceptions (But not all of them are correct) See page 7

Photo by 123rf.com The hearT and Science of Yoga

Read an Excerpt from the New, Revised & Expanded Paperback Edition of

“The hearT

and

Science

of

Yoga”

AMi’s empowering Self-care Program for a happy, healthy, Joyful Life Publication Date: March 1, 2017 • Available at AMI, amazon.com, and All Fine Book Sellers

AMI Classes for January - March 2017

The Heart and Science of Yoga

®

Empowering 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 AMI 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 AMI MEDITATION Systematic procedure for AMI 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: Jan 11 – FEb 15 tuES nIghtS: FEb 28 – aPr 4 6:30 - 9:00PM, $575. (6 WKS) Physicians $875; PAs, NPs, Psychologists: $775; RNs: $675

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

All the Body is in the Mind

9th Annual Heart and Science of Yoga®

Leonard Perlmutter, aMI Founder

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 24-28, 2017 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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A MI MEDITATION DIET

Save this Date!

Level I: You can lose weight without drugs, strenuous exercise, calorie counting or expensive gadgets that don’t work. The Meditation Diet uses common sense scientific principles to help you lose weight naturally! AMI founder Leonard Perlmutter will share an ancient, revolutionary approach that guarantees positive results through the wisdom of Yoga Science.

WEdnESday nIghtS, 7:00 - 8:00PM $125. (3 WKS) Mar 1 - 15

MORNING YOGA fOR fIfTY PLUS Melanie (uma) gloeckner ryt Level I: Yoga for healthy aging focuses on developing awareness and skills for daily living. Increase flexibility and strength, improve balance, build endurance and breath awareness, reduce stress, relax and re-energize.

WEdnESday MOrnIngS, 9:45 - 11:00aM $60. (6 WKS) Jan 18 - FEb 22 no experience necessary.

fREE GUIDED MEDITATION Leonard (ram Lev) and Jenness Perlmutter fREE: Join AMI’s 20-minute guided meditation and satsang teaching. Comfortable seating.

SundayS, 9:30 - 11:00aM, no experience necessary.

The Heart and Science of Yoga®

SUMMER RETREAT Leonard Perlmutter (ram Lev), aMI Founder AMI’s 17th annual retreat presents the same core curriculum as the Complete Self-Care Program (pgs. 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

americanmeditation.org/summer-retreat

AMI Classes for January - March 2017

THE CHAKRA SYSTEM

*

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.

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 learned. This three-week 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. thurSday nIghtS, 6:30 - 8:30PM, $195 Jan 30 - FEb 13 (3 WKS)

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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.

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) FEb 27 - aPr 3; aPr 10 - May 15

BEGINNER’S MEDITATION the basics for getting Started Mary Holloway, Doreen Howe, Beth Netter MD, André Tremblay, Sandy Vo

LEvEL I: Have you thought about trying meditation, but wanted to learn and experience a little before you registered for AMI’s 6 week Heart and Science of Yoga® Complete SelfCare Program? This two session course will provide you 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 includesa FREE “guided meditation” CD. Saturday MOrnIngS, 9:30 - 11:00aM, $95. (2 WKS) Jan 7 & 14; FEb 11 & 18; Mar 11 & 18

PERSONAL COUNSELING Leonard Perlmutter (ram Lev), aMI Founder Int’l. Association of Yoga Therapists Meditational therapy is the world’s oldest form of mind/body medicine. With over 40 years of personal practice, Leonard will teach you how to harness the power of the mind to help you skillfully deal with life’s challenges.

aMI hOME cEntEr, by appointment. $150/hr.

LOvE IS REAL MEDICINE the yoga of devotion Workshop beth netter Md (gayatri) LEvEL I: Swami Rama asks, “What strengthens your conscious union with the Divine?” To help answer that question, come and experience the Yoga of love and creativity through guided meditations and sharing what brings you joy. Bring a poem, story, drawing or song, and/or create one here (paper, pens and crayons will be supplied). As you allow your Divine Source to flow and express through you, your heart will open to greater health and wellbeing.

Saturday aFtErnOOn 2:00 - 4:00PM, $25.

FEb 11 (agES 12 and OVEr WELcOME) 5

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

Dinner • Movie • Satsang 2017 FiLM DiSCUSSiON SeRieS

Friday, Jan 27, 5:30-10:00 PM

SULLY

JANUARY 2017 JAN 7 & 14: BEGINNER’S MEDITATION see p. 5 Sat. Mornings, 9:30 - 11:00 AM (2 weeks)

JAN 8: JESUS’ SECRET LIFE IN INDIA see p. 16 Sun. Morning, 9:30 - 11:00 AM

JAN 11- FEB 15: THE HEART & SCIENCE OF YOGA see p. 3 AMI’s Complete Self-Care Program Wed. Nights, 6:30 - 9:00 PM (6 weeks)

JAN 18- FEB 22: MORNING YOGA FOR 50 PLUS

see p. 4

Wed. Mornings, 9:45 - 11:00 AM (6 weeks)

JAN 27: DINNER, MOVIE, SATSANG see p. 6

Friday, Feb 24, 5:30-10:00 PM

Fri. Night, 5:30 - 10:00 PM

JAN 30- FEB 13: THE CHAKRA SYSTEM

tom hanks, aaron Eckhart and Laura Linney On Jan. 15, 2009, Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger tries to make an emergency landing in New York’s Hudson River after US Airways Flight 1549 strikes a flock of geese.

see p. 5

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

FEBRUARY 2017 FEB 11- 18: BEGINNER’S MEDITATION

see p. 5

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

TRUMBO

FEB 11: LOVE IS REAL MEDICINE see p.5 Sat. Afternoon, 2:00 - 4:00 PM

FEB 24: DINNER, MOVIE, SATSANG see p. 6 Fri. Night, 5:30 - 10:00 PM

FEB 27- APR 3: GITA/YOGA PSYCHOLOGY see p.5

bryan cranston, diane Lane, helen Mirren, John goodman Dalton Trumbo is one of the ten movie producers, directors, and screenwriters blacklisted for refusing to cooperate with the U. S. anti-Communist witch hunt during the Cold War.

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

FEB 28- APR 4: THE HEART & SCIENCE OF YOGA see p. 3

Friday, Mar 24, 5:30-10:00 PM

Complete Self-Care Program Tues. Nights, 6:30 - 9:00 PM (6 weeks)

MARCH 2017 MAR 1- 15: AMI MEDITATION DIET see p. 4 Wed. Nights, 7:00 - 8:00 PM (3 weeks)

MAR- 11 & 18: BEGINNER’S MEDITATION

see p. 5

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

MAR 24: DINNER, MOVIE, SATSANG see p. 6 Fri. Night, 5:30 - 10:00 PM

American Meditation Institute

Self-Care for Healthy Living January - March, 2017 • Vol. XX No. 2 ©2017 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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christian bale, Steve carell, ryan gosling, brad Pitt In 2005, when eccentric hedge fund manager Michael Burry discovers that the U. S. housing market is about to collapse, he sets in motion a high-stakes plan to turn a profit.

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)

Your Perceptions Are Skewed

by Your Conceptions

The aMerican MediTaTion inSTiTuTe’S

empowering Self-care Program for a happy, healthy, Joyful Life

(but not all of them are correct)

By Leonard Perlmutter (Ram Lev)

On March 1, 2017, a revised and expanded paperback edition of “The Heart and Science of Yoga” will be published. The following essay serves as the new Introduction to The American Meditation Institute’s “Empowering Self-Care Program for a Happy, Healthy, Joyful Life.”

Over forty years ago I received some sage advice that, at the time, seemed of little value. But as my meditation practice deepened, and my ability to “see” and understand grew, that counsel proved to be profound.

“Nothing is as it appears,” I was told. It was exactly the same observation made by German philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832): “We don’t know what we see; we see what we know.” In other words, our unconscious concepts determine our conscious perceptions. In everyday life we don’t really experience the world, we experience our mind. And because so many of our stored, unconscious concepts are neither true nor valid, the perceptions the mind forms and actions the body takes often lead to dis-ease, burnout and pain.

The importance of our concepts has been recognized since ancient times. In the Book of Genesis the Hebrew Torah points out that, “God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name.” In the first century AD the Greek philosopher Epictetus observed, “Men are not disturbed by things, but by the views they take of them.” In the play Hamlet, William Shakespeare (circa 1602) made the bold observation, “There’s nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”

The Power of Concepts Just as a puppeteer (called a manipulator) 7

controls a marionette from above the stage using wires or strings, our unconscious habits and concepts enslave each of us to certain habitual thoughts, words and deeds. In fact, according to stem cell biologist and bestselling author of The Biology of Belief Bruce Lipton, PhD, human beings operate 95 percent of the time from unconscious programming! And this unconscious programming, samskaras in Sanskrit, is, in Lipton’s estimation, “a million times more powerful than good intentions.”

To understand how concepts and habits are formed, it’s helpful to know that the conscious, discriminating portion of the human mind doesn’t become fully functional until the age of six. Newborns and young children are observing their environment just like a video camera––and recording everything in the unconscious portion of the mind. In this way children enlist their parents as teachers and software programmers, gathering unconscious, conceptual data in their attempt to find happiness, health, security and joy in this new, strange and wondrous world in which they find themselves.

Lipton explains that, “Within a couple of days after birth, children begin to recognize their parents’ faces. Within the first couple of weeks, they learn if a parent’s face is happy and secure or unsure and afraid. Ever after, any time children have an issue of concern or come across something new in the environment, they instinctively look at Mother or Father to observe the expression chiseled on their face. If a child is presented with some potential danger and the parent’s face reflects worry or fright, the child will likely avoid the encounter. If the parent’s facial expression appears relaxed and smiling––conveying safety––the child will be more inclined to experiment; to play with the new relationship at hand.”

This process leads children to observe, gauge and ultimately perceive the world according to their parents’ conceptual lenses.

Prenatally, and to age six, we acquire basic concepts and build habits of what to do as well as what not to do––not from personal experience, but rather from observing and downloading, for better or worse, the habits and experiences (the “sins of the father”) 8

modeled by our parents. Relying on that installed software, we begin to adopt a variety of concepts modeled for us by individual and cultural authority figures including friends, clergy, teachers and celebrities.

Every concept that we believe is important to our self-preservation is ultimately stored in the unconscious mind.

All concepts are forms of shorthand, representing complex mental combinations of objects, events and people. We consult them in order to remember and understand what things are, what categories or groups they belong to, and what they mean to our own happiness. For example, if someone instructs you to “think of a car,” the concept, “car” will evoke specific ideas and memories about what a car is, what its characteristics are, and how you feel about that car. Does your concept of a car have black tires or white walls, two doors or four doors? Is it red, white, black, or some other color?

Some of our concepts are accurate and helpful, while others can be faulty or completely invalid. If our mind’s inaccurate concepts remain unexamined and unaltered, they will ultimately motivate actions that cause us pain. To illustrate, I’m borrowing the flashcard technique that my first grade teacher employed to teach arithmetic. You may remember from your own experience that the student was shown the front of the card displaying the problem––in this case: 1+2. On the reverse side of the card, the teacher could see both the problem and the answer. In the examples below, Teacher #1 is teaching the correct answer: 1+2=3. But Teacher #2 is teaching the wrong answer: 1+2= 4. The point is that throughout our lives some of our teachers (mom, dad, brother, sister, priest, rabbi, imam, friend, politicians and celebrities) have taught us incorrect, faulty concepts and we now have them stored on the hard drive of our unconscious mind.

Student

1 +2

teacher #1

1 +2

3

teacher #2

1 +2

4

Many other culturally accepted concepts are incomplete, and yet, for the sake of convenience, we inappropriately apply them in all sorts of relationships. Even though we are all familiar with the slogan I ♥ NY, does it really provide us a thorough understanding of what “love” is? No, it doesn’t. And yet by not examining the concept, we become attached to it and feel totally comfortable telling our husband or wife, “I ♥ you,” without knowing its true meaning, value and potential consequence.

Other erroneous concepts we use in everyday language may not be true, but they are also not really injurious. They are merely innocent societal conveniences for the sake of conversation. For instance, we all say that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.

But once we critically examine such a concept, we realize that the sun neither rises in the east nor sets in the west. Why? Because the sun never rises nor sets at all. The rotation of the earth produces the illusion of sunrise and sunset.

In the decision making process, even before we take an action or speak a word, our concepts help us define what is relevant and irrelevant. When a concept reprises a memory of pleasure and security, we tend to like it and feel comfortable using it. When a concept reprises a memory of pain and insecurity, we most often dislike it enough that we seek to avoid serving it. To be beneficial, a concept must be relevant to our unique personal needs and purpose in life. For someone who doesn’t know how to read music, the concepts represented in a sheet of music would be useless. They would only register as a bunch of lines, dots, dashes and odd symbols that have no real meaning. But a musician, seeing the same sheet, would hear notes, chords, tempos, melodies and harmonies. Similarly, if someone placed a car part in front of you, you might only see “a car part,” whereas a mechanic would see an intake manifold, a water pump or a ball joint.

You would “see” what you know: a car part, while the mechanic would see what he knows: a water pump. A very experienced mechanic would see something even more specific, like a water pump from a particular make, model and year of car.

Whenever we blindly accept, adopt and employ concepts offered to us by other people and the prevailing culture, without our own critical examination, those concepts can become dangerous to our health, our personal well being and all our relationships. When we depend on faulty concepts to perceive a world that is constantly changing (including our own body and mind), it becomes impossible to make reliable, health-affirming choices.

Lower Knowledge––Higher Knowledge All knowledge falls into one of two categories.

Lower knowledge is obtained through the process of reasoning and from the contact of the mind and senses with objects in the material world. It is received indirectly, as hearsay, from outside sources such as lectures, books, films, television, the internet and search engines like Google. Lower knowledge includes philosophy, medicine, commerce, technology, the arts, and all the sciences (including political science).

Higher knowledge, considered to be the “highest form of knowledge,” represents the changeless, eternal Truth that lies beyond the relativity of the senses, conscious mind and unconscious mind. Higher knowledge is always healing and creatively supportive in all relationships. Without the guidance of higher knowledge, lower knowledge inevitably leads to pain and destruction.

When you adopt a philosophy of life that encourages you to rely on higher knowledge in determining how to best use lower knowledge, all your challenges can be viewed as means, rather than as overwhelmingly stressful problems to control, manipulate or obliterate. Albert Einstein saw it this way, “A problem cannot be solved on the level at which it appears. It must be solved on a higher level.” And Einstein’s concept is not as mysterious as you might think, for when you change your perspective, you change your experience.

Today’s Challenge Today, for example, the United States is suffering from an historic crisis in healthcare.

It’s true that we are living longer lives, yet 9

suicides, heroin addictions, diabetes and burnout are all increasing at alarming rates.

Growing numbers of people feel emotionally unbalanced, angry, depressed, fearful and dissatisfied––all of which will eventually impact their health and well being. And these issues are affecting all facets of the population, including our healthcare providers. In fact, burnout among U. S. physicians has now reached an alarming, epidemic level.

In such instances we tend to blame the deteriorating state of our health on faulty lower knowledge rather than our own inability to use higher knowledge to shepherd our use of lower knowledge more skillfully.

External factors like family, overwork, economic uncertainty, terrorism, the government, cumbersome regulations, and the many unresolved, complex cultural divisions in social and racial relationships are pointed to as the cause of our pain. But unless we can regularly access a higher state of consciousness, our conceptual conditioning cannot be overcome. Twentieth century psychologist Abraham Maslow famously stated that if the only tool you have is a hammer, you’ll treat every problem as if it were a nail. That’s what we’re doing, for instance, when we try to deal with every human challenge from within a strictly physical orientation. We’re seeing only physical solutions––which cannot be effective, because our problems are not physical in origin. And to make matters worse, many of our misguided attempts can have dangerous consequences.

Five to six thousand years ago, the pioneers of modern Yoga Science dealt with similar stressors of their own. But instead of seeking solutions outside themselves, certain women and men embarked on a journey of self-inquiry and self-discovery. By experimenting with scientific meditation techniques, they learned how to unify the wisdom potential of the mind with the skillfully dynamic capacities of the body. Through their process of internal research, pioneering meditators of long ago received a priceless, practical treasure that can serve us well today––if we are motivated to follow in their footsteps.

An ancient yogic story, similar to the Greek myth of “Ariadne’s Thread,” provides 10

instruction on how you too can discover life’s greatest hidden treasure. The story tells of a cave explorer who, as she enters the mouth of a dark cavern, begins unraveling a ball of golden thread she carries with her. Her exploration leads her through many narrow, twisting passageways, vertical cavities, past waterfalls and pillars of bedrock reaching from floor to ceiling, until at last she enters a vast hall filled with treasure of unimaginable worth. Fascinated, she lingers there gathering treasure, but recalls the needs of the world she left behind. On her return trip she follows the thread back to the mouth of the cave and lovingly hands the end of that thread to a friend, saying, “Follow this into the cave and keep following it through many passageways, and you will arrive at an enormous hall filled with limitless treasure.” The friend is dubious, but the promise of a treasure encourages him. He looks in, but he is afraid of the dark and looks out again. The promise of the treasure is repeated, so he enters and goes a few steps but then retreats again. Gradually, he gathers the courage to follow the golden thread deeper and deeper, until at last he too arrives at the shining, precious treasure.

In 1975, my wife Jenness and I began our study of Yoga Science. Over these many years, through the daily practice of meditation and its allied disciplines, we have explored the spiritual passageways that lead to the riches hidden within all of us.

Meditation is a profound journey without movement. When you learn to concentrate exclusively on the mantra, the mantra can guide your mind beyond the boundaries of transitory concepts, thoughts and feelings.

As the mind becomes increasingly more still, you’ll inherit the rarest of all human treasures––a profound awareness of the ocean of peace, happiness, bliss, wisdom and love within you––that is you––having a human experience. This profound encounter of consciousness observing consciousness, free of uninvited concepts, will provide you the impetus and courage to examine, question, refine and consciously change the concepts you employ in your daily life.

In the epic Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna (who represents the personality enslaved to

unexamined and inappropriate concepts) asks this penetrating question of Krishna (who represents Supreme Wisdom): “Why do we take actions that cause us so much pain and suffering? What power moves us, even against our will, as if forcing us?” As Arjuna broods on his own inability to take skillful action, Krishna answers the poignant question with words that are as relevant today as they were thousands of years ago.

“Just as marionettes are manipulated by the puppeteer,” he says, “every human being sometimes feels like a puppet whose strings are pulled by powerful concepts hidden below the surface level of the conscious mind.”

Philosopher and poet William Blake wrote in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, “If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is––Infinite. But since man has closed himself up, he sees all things through narrow chinks of his cavern.” The pain you’ve already experienced while serving ill-suited concepts is a messenger inviting you to embark on your own personal hero’s journey.

If you accept this invitation, you can recognize and correct all those unexamined concepts that once skewed your perceptions, diminished your problem-solving capacity, restricted your freedom and weakened the body’s immune system.

To support your personal effort, I offer you The Heart and Science of Yoga. The book is both the record of our personal journey and a transformational teaching. In its pages you’ll find easy-to-learn meditations, prayers, teaching stories from the world’s great spiritual traditions, breathing practices, a user’s guide for the mind, techniques for accessing intuitive wisdom, an holistic program of easy-gentle exercise and a practical understanding of ancient Ayurvedic health principles.

As modern medicine rediscovers and

systematically documents the physical, mental and emotional benefits of meditation and easy-gentle yoga, millions of Americans from all walks of life are incorporating the timeless practices of this ancient science into their lives. Whether you are a beginner or a long-time student, this book can provide loving support and valuable insights to advance your understanding, deepen and sustain your practice and nurture your Self-transformation. I promise that through the process of personal experimentation you too can access an inner reservoir of creativity to make every relationship rewarding––no matter what.

But before you begin, remember that meditation concepts are not offered as dogma or tenets of faith. They are part of a scientific hypothesis that you can test yourself––if you have the daring and determination needed to pursue this course of investigation. For thousands of years, meditation has been the go-to science for knowing, understanding and analyzing our internal states and for optimizing our personal relationships in the world. A daily meditation practice is both the gateway and a golden thread that safely and effectively lead to a new universe of thinking and experience. By examining your concepts, which will present themselves one by one when you begin to meditate, you too can effectively cleanse the windows of your perception. It is an experience that has the power to revolutionize your vision of the universe and bring profound changes in your character, conduct, and consciousness. In turn, these changes will bring you the happy, healthy, secure and joyful life you deeply desire––leaving a positive mark on everything you do, and deeply influencing everyone you come in contact with. reprinted from “the heart and Science of yoga.” a second, revised and expanded paperback edition will be available March 1, 2017 through aMI and bookstores nationwide.

smile.amazon and AMI AmazonSmile is a simple way for you to support The American Meditation Institute. Each time you make a purchase at smile.amazon.com, AMI will receive .5% of the purchase price. On your first visit to AmazonSmile, you’ll just need to choose AMI to receive donations before you begin shopping.

11

Good Guys, Bad Guys, And Yogis

By Linda Johnsen My meditations should have improved monumentally. I had just been diagnosed with bone cancer and the prognosis was grim.

“When a man knows he is to be hanged, it concentrates his mind wonderfully,” the British savant Samuel Johnson famously observed.

But I was having trouble focusing.

Despite the very real possibility of imminent death, my meditations were disturbed by anger—my deep-seated disgust with the political party in power at that time, whom I blamed for many of the ills of the world. So much injustice, so much unnecessary suffering—and it was all their fault.

Yogis call our experience in life “the plane of duality.” That’s so true. There seems to be something inherent in the very structure of the human psyche that makes us split our world in two: “us” versus “them.” In Vedic myth this is represented as the incessant battle between the devas (“beings of light”) and the asuras (“beings without light”). Of course, everyone believes they are the devas 12

and their opponents are the asuras.

Spiritual traditions claim that a part of our awareness survives death, but carries its baggage along with it into the afterlife. Two and a half thousand years ago Pythagoras, a sage of the ancient Greek tradition, advised, “Never pack anything you won’t need after death.” Did I really need to carry this animosity towards people whose political beliefs differed from my own with me into the afterlife? For that matter, did I need to carry it with me in this life?

Calling Off the War The enemy I and my classmates grew up fearing was the Communists. They intended to attack our country, to take away our freedom, we were taught. We learned which bomb-proof buildings to flee into should the “Reds” launch a nuclear attack. I was nine years old when John Kennedy was killed. I remember believing we would all die that day—certainly the assassination was the first step in the Russians’ plan to nuke us.

Things came to a head in November 1983 when Soviet leaders misinterpreted a NATO military exercise as an actual preemptory nuclear strike by us against them. They opened the silos containing their nuclear warheads, and sat ready to key in the launch codes. Obviously they didn’t fire or we wouldn’t be alive today, but experts agree this incident very nearly caused a thermonuclear disaster.

When then U.S. president Ronald Reagan discovered America had been minutes from nuclear annihilation thanks to the extreme paranoia in both our culture and the Russians’, his anti-Soviet rhetoric stopped.

He immediately altered his policy toward the U.S.S.R., visiting Russia and making friends with its leaders. If a life-long strident antiCommunist like Reagan could get over his biases enough to launch a rapprochement with the Soviets, couldn’t I also find it in my heart to make peace with those in my own country whose views I disagreed with?

During the Cold War, Communists and capitalists actually wanted the same thing: to create safety and stability. Both sides had no desire to attack the other, yet each of them mistakenly believed the other side did. Once lines of respectful communication were opened, mistrust was laid aside and both cultures were able to work together to defuse tensions, even though their political views continued to differ significantly.

The War in Heaven There’s a remarkable story about the devas and the asuras in the Hindu Puranas (“Ancient Chronicles”). These two celestial tribes discover that hidden in the cosmic ocean is a divine nectar that confers immorality. But neither the devas nor the asuras are powerful enough on their own to obtain the elixir. If they want this greatest of all prizes, they have to start looking at each other in a new way. They’ll need to see one another as partners rather than foes, and learn to cooperate.

You’ll see many images in Hindu and Buddhist art of the devas holding one end of the cosmic snake Sesha while the asuras hang on to its other end. The snake is wrapped around a gigantic mountain, which

rests on the bottom of the great ocean. By alternately pulling their ends, the two groups are able to churn the sea, extracting the lifesaving juice, much as butter is churned from milk.

In the story though, before the nectar appears, a dark colored poison oozes out to the surface. It’s so deadly, neither the asuras nor the devas can even touch it. Ultimately they offer it to the supreme God, the transcendent consciousness, which easily swallows it without being affected.

There’s an important lesson here for all of us. When two opposing groups confront each other, poisonous rancor if often produced. Rather than pointing fingers at each other, we can offer that anger to a higher and better part of ourselves, the part that exists beyond the “plane of duality.” In this way we can uncover the essential unity lying between “us” and “them.”

The War on Earth But what do we do when the other side refuses to come to the peace table? What if no matter how devastating the consequences, our opponents will not even try to compromise? All of us at one point or another have dealt with those who would rather bring calamity down on everyone involved than consider anyone else’s point of view. It’s easy to become resentful, even hateful, in response.

The Yoga Sutras advise that we respond to immature or willfully obstructive behavior by calmly and philosophically observing it. It is not up to us to spite or to self-righteously judge our opponents. If we do, they have won. We have been pulled down to their immature level.

We can’t control their feelings, but we can modulate our own. It is up to us to face the reality of the situation, and acknowledge that there are some problems we just can’t solve. We are not in the Garden of Eden. We idealists want everything to be sattvic (harmonious), but rajas (agitation) and tamas (dark thoughts and actions) are always at play. These three gunas (attributes of the physical world) exist eternally, according to the Yoga tradition.

India’s great epic, the Mahabharata, is 13

centered around exactly this scenario of irreconcilable foes. Duryodhana has seized political power through deceit, manipulation, and attempted murder. Arjuna hopes to restore the rightful king, who is a flawed yet essentially moral man. After every attempt to resolve the situation peaceably is thwarted by Duryodhana’s intransigence, it appears, to Arjuna’s horror, that war is inevitable.

Arjuna’s close friend Krishna offers him advice. This remarkable section of the Mahabharata is called the Bhagavad Gita— India’s best known sacred scripture. First, Krishna tells Arjuna that when he has done everything possible to change a bad situation for the better, it is time to surrender the outcome to a higher power. The karmic forces at play, born from the innate character of the people involved, are sometimes too strong to deflect. Arjuna should not let this disturb him; it is simply the way of the material world.

But then Krishna adds that, nevertheless, it is Arjuna’s duty to calmly and without malice, stand up and fight valiantly for what he knows is right. Arjuna eventually conquers Duryodhana, but at a terrible cost.

When the Nazis began taking over Europe,

after every attempt to peaceably end the conflict was thwarted by Hitler’s intransigence, the Allies were compelled to go to war against him. Yet after the Allied victory, the U.S. generously helped to rebuild Germany, and today the Germans are among our closest allies. This is what has the potential to occur when we follow Krishna’s advice and go to battle with determination but without lingering hatred.

We are not called up by the Yoga tradition to lie down and let our opponents walk over us. But we are called upon to respond to them from the best part of ourselves, not the worst.

The War in Ourselves “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” Jesus advises us in the Gospel of Luke.

“You have heard it said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven,” Jesus taught in the Gospel of Matthew. He then reminds us, “[God] causes the sun to rise on the good and the evil, and sends rain on the righteous and

The Heart and Science of Yoga Come visit our beautiful AMI campus with walking trails and the Buddhi Yoga Labyrinth nestled in the foothills of the Berkshires!

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AMI is conveniently located only 20 miles East of Albany, NY.

Summer Retreat

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the unrighteous . . . Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Jesus is encouraging us to view the bitter events of life from a state of perfect equanimity.

Like the yogis, Jesus challenges us to “Judge not, lest ye be judged. For as you judge others, so will you also be judged” Here he strongly affirms the law of karma, and invites us to behave righteously, not selfrighteously.

The real asuras, the real demons, we’re at war with are the ones inside ourselves. I was appalled at the self-righteousness and dis-unity with others I felt even as I struggled with cancer and the very real chance that I would die soon. I definitely did not want to carry that baggage with me into the next life!

I made a sincere effort to cultivate the opposite of my negative emotions, just as the Yoga Sutras wisely advise us to do. I visualized inviting the politicians I so distained into my home, cooking for them, sitting and chatting with them about their families. Amazingly,

my tendency to dehumanize them in my thoughts dissolved. I still disagreed with some of their positions, sometimes vigorously, but I no longer felt compelled to imagine that those who don’t see things my way are therefore evil.

Obviously, I wound up surviving the cancer, but I’m very grateful for the lessons that brush with death taught me. In today’s bitter political climate, I don’t believe we need to renounce our opinions if they are born from clarity and good conscience. But we do need to renounce our contempt for those who disagree with us. Death eventually comes for us all, and none of us want to carry hatred or arrogance with us into the state of consciousness that comes next.

Linda Johnsen’s latest book is “Lost Masters: Rediscovering the Mysticism of the Ancient Greek Philosophers,” with an introduction by Eckhart Tolle. create a

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