January - February 2024 Transformation

American Meditation Institute Education for Enlightenment ®

Transformation The Journal of Yoga Science as Holistic Mind/Body Medicine

January - February 2024

americanmeditation.org

YOUR CONSCIENCE Knows What To Do & What Not To Do To Reach the Highest Good of Life

January 2024

NATIONAL CONSCIENCE MONTH ConscienceMonth.org

$2,000 SCHOLARSHIP FOR THE BEST ESSAY BY A HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR

5th Annual National Conscience Month

ESSAY CONTEST For ALL High School Seniors $2,000. SCHOLARSHIP

January 2024 will mark the 5th Annual observance of National Conscience Month. Throughout the month Americans from all walks of life will be imagining new ways to celebrate the benefits of using their Conscience to guide their thoughts, words and deeds.

Here’s a special opportunity for high school seniors across the nation! You’re now invited to participate in a unique and creative way––by writing a short essay about using the Conscience. Think of a real situation in your life––or create an imaginary scenario––in which you allowed (or chose not to allow) your Conscience to guide your thoughts, words and actions. What were the results?

Were there benefits? Or unexpected consequences? What did you learn from this experience?

One talented student will receive a $2,000. scholarship,* awarded for an original essay of 1,000 words or less.

*$1,500 scholarship for Higher Education, and $500 scholarship for the AMI Meditation Foundation course Submission Instructions: No membership or purchase of any kind is required to take part in the National Conscience Month Essay Contest. Essay submissions should be sent by email to ami@americanmeditation.org. Submissions should be sent as a PDF attachment. Submissions must be received no later than Monday, January 29, 2024. The contest winner will be notified by email. Submissions may be featured by the American Meditation Institute either online or in print in connection with National Conscience Month programming and promotions, and the right to reproduce submissions is reserved by AMI and its sponsors.

For complete information visit: ConscienceMonth.org.

E-mail essays to: ami@americanmeditation.org with name, address, telephone number and the name of your high school.

2

Hi, I’m Jiminy Cricket.

Since 1940, when I co-starred in the Walt Disney movie Pinocchio, I’ve been encouraging people of all ages and walks of life to “Let your Conscience be your guide.” disneyclips.com And today, as a guest of the American Meditation Institute, I’m here to offer you a helpful short essay from Leonard Perlmutter’s recently published book, YOUR CONSCIENCE. I can promise you that if you experiment with Leonard’s easy-to-do suggestions during January’s fifth annual National Conscience Month, all your relationships will benefit.

Where to Start Using Your Conscience When You Don’t Know Where to Start

By Leonard Perlmutter (Ram Lev) If you think you’re not familiar with how your Conscience works, or how you might benefit from it, I’d like to suggest that your own personal experience proves otherwise.

For example, when you chose not to eat a second slice of apple pie at Thanksgiving dinner––you knew your Conscience. When you were kind to a friend, work colleague or stranger––you knew your Conscience. When you acted out of compassion instead of fear or anger, you knew your Conscience, and when you acted on old, unconscious habits that caused you physical and emotional pain, you definitely knew your Conscience.

One of the ways we know we’ve acted skillfully is that we feel better—physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually. How do you feel after you eat a fresh, wholesome lunch? How about after a double hamburger, fries and a soda? How do you feel when you volunteer your time in service to a worthwhile cause? How about after a Saturday afternoon spent mindlessly channel surfing while lying on the sofa eating ice cream? You know. We all know.

Now I’m going to offer a few suggestions for those among us who genuinely want to make a change, but are also genuinely not 3

sure how to begin. Try one of these experiments for a day, then decide if you want to extend the period to a week. After a week, you can decide if you want to try another experiment. But don’t regard your experiment like a New Year’s resolution that you have to commit to for an entire year. Each of your experiments should be simple and easy.

And when an experiment takes you only a minute or two, it will also be fun and rewarding! As a budding Yoga Scientist, just “Let your Conscience be your guide!”

Remember, each time you experiment with making a wise choice by tapping into your Super Conscious Wisdom, you are purifying the Conscience. Over time, and with continued experimentation, it will become more and more easy to hear the quiet but certain voice of the Conscience. Each time you make a skillful choice, you’ll be building strength and resolve that will help you make other skillful choices about issues that might not be quite as obvious. You’re in training.

We all are. So let’s start.

A Beginner’s Menu of Experiments 1. Eat and drink less of the stuff you already know is not nourishing. If you can’t give up a whole cookie today, no problem. Just try eating only half a cookie––do it for the sake of the experiment. If you can’t give up potato chips, try limiting how often you eat them, or how many you eat. Use whatever method works for you to start to change your habits.

Be intentional about it.

2. Make your bed every day. This small act has a surprisingly positive impact that lasts all day, all the way up to and including when we go back to bed.

3. Drink plain hot water during the day instead of coffee, tea, or soda. You can microwave it or heat it on the stove or use an electric kettle. Try to drink at least one more cup of hot water a day than you’re drinking right now. Work your way up to 6-8 cups of hot water daily, and it will strengthen your immune system.

4. Experiment with stepping away from your phone for an hour every day. You could try this while you are working or while you are eating. Is there a difference if you can still see the phone (even if it is not within reach) compared to what happens when you physically remove it from the room? Also, experiment by charging your phone overnight someplace other than your bedroom.

5. Try to practice listening patiently while family members or colleagues attempt to communicate. Notice the impact this has on people. Notice how you feel when you’re permitted to finish your thoughts without interruption. When you catch yourself interrupting someone, stop and apologize, then let 4

them finish expressing their thought. This takes practice, but it is worth the effort.

6. Before you engage in a difficult conversation, pause and breathe diaphragmatically. You could take five breaths. If you don’t have time for this because the person is standing right in front of you, you can always take one deep breath before speaking. Notice how that one breath can change the energy between you and the other person.

7. Choose one small daily chore, and when you perform that chore, give it your complete one-pointed attention. When you notice that your mind has wandered away from what you are doing, gently bring it back. Try this experiment with something very simple like brushing your teeth.

8. When you notice that you’re worrying about something, simply witness the emotion and how uncomfortable it’s energy feels, and just consider the possibility that you could do something more productive with that energy. Just for a moment acknowledge that it’s really only the personality worrying––not the real you. That recognition in itself is a big step in learning to create a little space between stimulus and response.

9. Whatever that one thing is you do that you know you should stop––try stopping it just for today without concern for what you’ll do tomorrow.

10. Practice smiling. The sages tell us that cheerfulness is the most powerful mantra. Look for one extra opportunity to smile every day, even if you are just smiling to yourself in the mirror.

5

Selfless Love By Leonard Perlmutter (Ram Lev)

Selfless Love is the most ancient traveler.

That which smiles through every face is The One Supreme Reality, Selfless Love–– the One that is without a second. In all the forms and every energy of the universe, there is only One that exists: here, there, and everywhere––incomparable, changeless and everlasting.

It is said that as long as there exists a sense of duality, of subject and object, there also will exist a space between the two, and along with that concept of space comes the sense of time. These are the limited, human concepts that have bound humanity under the conditions that give rise to fear, anger, greed and pain.

But whenever a human consciousness experiences Selfless Love (the infallible wholeness within and without), fear naturally disappears, because fear can exist only when more than one is ignorantly perceived at the same time.

Whenever we forsake Selfless Love, and blindly accept and employ concepts offered to us by other people and the prevailing culture––without making our own critical examination––those concepts become dangerous to our health, our possibilities and all our relationships. When we depend on such faulty concepts to perceive a world that 6

is constantly changing (including our own body and mind), it becomes quite impossible to make trustworthy, life-affirming choices.

Therefore, a basic understanding of the nature of knowledge is critically important.

There are two forms of knowledge. The first form is Lower Knowledge. We are all familiar with Lower Knowledge because it’s obtained through the process of reasoning and from the contact of the mind and senses with objects in the material world. It can be received indirectly, as hearsay, from outside sources such as lectures, books, television and the internet. The Lower knowledge includes philosophy, medicine, law, commerce, technology, the arts, and all the sciences (including the military science of war).

The second form of knowledge is Higher Knowledge. Higher Knowledge is the highest form of knowing what’s to be done and what’s not to be done. It is the energy of Selfless Love that transcends the narrow perspectives of the Ego, the Senses, and the Unconscious portion of the mind. Higher Knowledge, Selfless Love, is healing and creatively supportive in all relationships, and is available to every human being 24/7 through a purified Conscience. But when the Conscience is not continuously purified as it determines our every thought, word and

deed, the mind’s faulty concepts can misappropriate the benevolent power of Selfless Love. When that happens, pain and destruction become inevitable.

And yet, when we adopt a philosophy of life that encourages us to rely on the unalloyed Higher Knowledge of Selfless Love in choosing how to use all our Lower Knowledge, every difficulty can be recognized as a means, presented as an opportunity for us to learn, serve and grow––rather than as a stressful problem our habits insist must be controlled, manipulated or obliterated.

The challenge we all face today is that most of us don’t have a Philosophy of Life that encourages us to trust the power of Selfless Love. It is we who limit the magnificent potential of Selfless Love by habitually deferring to our own unexamined, faulty, unconscious concepts.

Regardless of what happened or what didn’t happen to us in the past, by completely embracing Selfless Love today, we can access this limitless, creative, essential

power, and make our life a sacred instrument of that benevolent force in every relationship, and in every circumstance.

My spiritual master, Swami Rama of the Himalayas, taught emphatically that “You are the architect of your life. You determine your destiny.” And that same understanding was spoken of at the turn of the 20th century

by William Jennings Bryan who observed that, “Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice.”

The sooner we transform our own mindbody-sense complex into our personal scientific and spiritual laboratory, and experiment with employing the essential power of Selfless Love in thought, word and deed, the sooner we will come to the end of all our sorrow––and each of our lives will become a force for peace in the world.

This journey to Self-Realization is the most profound and rewarding adventure any human being can experience. In truth, it is the very purpose of our taking a human birth.

Hello again, AMI students.

I’m Jiminy Cricket.

Don’t forget to Spread the

LIFE-AFFIRMING NEWS!

January 2024 is National

Conscience Month Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide!

In Thought, Word and Deed disneyclips.com

7

AMI Classes for January - February 2024

AMI MEDITATION® FOUNDATION COURSE

A Proprietary Curriculum Proven Effective in a Peer-Reviewed Clinical Study

Developed and Taught by Leonard Perlmutter (Ram Lev) How YOUR CONSCIENCE Can Work for You AMI MEDITATION® provides a practical, proprietary curriculum that will bring joy and fulfillment back into your life! You’ll learn how to easily transform burnout, stress, worry, anger, and sadness into energy, creativity and will power– by employing the Super Conscious Wisdom of Your Conscience. And as you practice what you learn, you’ll successfully balance all your personal and professional responsibilities.

AMI MEDITATION® PROPRIETARY CURRICULUM is derived from the award-winning book, The Heart and Science of Yoga ® and the new book, YOUR CONSCIENCE

by Leonard Perlmutter (Ram Lev) Yoga Science & Philosophy–WEEK 1

Yoga Psychology & Ayurveda–WEEK 4

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

Coordinate the Four Functions of the Mind to access the power and Inner Wisdom of Your Conscience Use the power of NOW to build and heal relationships Ayurvedic Medicine & Nutrition for your health

AMI Meditation®–WEEK 2

Yoga stretches to detox the lymph system and benefit your muscles, nerves, joints, glands & internal organs Physiological benefits of yoga postures

Systematic procedure for AMI Meditation® Diminishing distractions with your Mantra Learning the one-minute meditation Building focus and fearlessness

Breathing Techniques–WEEK 3 Breath as Medicine How breathing irregularities foster dis-ease Three-part diaphragmatic breath

Easy-Gentle Yoga Exercises–WEEK 5

Mind/Body Self-Care Plan–WEEK 6 The healing power of prayer The practical benefits of contemplation Creating a therapeutic self-care plan for yourself Learning to budget your time Integrating spirituality into daily life

AMI MEDITATION® FOUNDATION COURSE – on ZOOM Endorsed by Dean Ornish MD, Bernie Siegel MD, Larry Dossey MD

8

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

Taught by

Leonard Perlmutter (Ram Lev) AMI’s Foundation Course was developed and is taught live on Zoom by Leonard Perlmutter (Ram Lev). Leonard is a noted educator, philosopher, Yoga scientist and founder of The American Meditation Institute. He is the author of The Heart and Science of Yoga,® YOUR CONSCIENCE, and the mind/body medicine journal, Transformation. He is a direct disciple of Swami Rama of the Himalayas. Leonard’s lectures are enlivened by his inspiring enthusiasm, vast experience, humor and clear teaching style. He has taught at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, The New York Times Yoga Forum, Kaiser-Permanente, numerous medical schools and the U. S. Military Academy at West Point.

Burnout

↓23.3%

REDUCED

INCREASED

Secondary Traumatic Stress

Compassion Satisfaction

↓19.9%

↓

REDUCED

11.2%

New Findings from the AMI MEDITATION® CLINICAL STUDY

“Mastery of the mind and consciousness IS the next frontier of well being. The AMI MEDITATION® curriculum contained in this Foundation Course is a profoundly important bridge that connects modern quantum science with ancient spiritual traditions.”

MARK PETTUS MD, LEAD CLINICAL STUDY AUTHOR AMI MEDITATION®

Medical Accreditation PHYSICIANS • PAs • NPs (18 CMEs) americanmeditation.org/physician-cme 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 18 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits.TM Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Registration Includes: Lifelong support, a 20-minute Guided Meditation, a copy of The Physiology of Easy-Gentle Yoga, and a FREE subscription to AMI’s Transformation journal.

Health Insurance Coverage Check with your health insurance plan provider.

UPCOMING CLASSES Live and Interactive

On ZOOM with

Leonard Perlmutter (Ram Lev) AMI Founder

Feb 20 - Mar 26 Tuesdays Apr 2 - May 7 Tuesdays 6:30-8:30pm ET, $795. (6 WKS) Required Texts available at AMI Bookstore: The Heart and Science of Yoga ® Your Conscience Physicians: $1195; PAs, NPs: $1095

9

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

CALENDAR FREE: EVERY SUNDAY GUIDED MEDITATION & SATSANG

THE CHAKRA SYSTEM Balancing Subtle Body Energies Leonard (Ram Lev) and Jenness Perlmutter

A psychological and physiological diagnostic tool to help heal the mind and body.

Crown HAMSA

Brow SO HUM

LIVE on ZOOM • Sundays 9:30-11:00am ET with Leonard (Ram Lev) & Jenness AmericanMeditation.org/sunday Upward Pull of Divine Nature

JANUARY 2024 JAN 9 - FEB 13: AMI MEDITATION see p. 8-9

Throat HUM (HOOM)

Heart YAM (YUM)

Tues Nights, 6:30-8:30 PM ET (6 wks) Live on ZOOM

February 2024 Navel, Solar Plexus RAM

Mondays, 6:30-8:30 PM ET (3 wks) Live on ZOOM

FEB 20 - MAR 26: AMI MEDITATION® see p. 8-9 Tues. Nights, 6:30-8:30 PM ET (6 wks) Live on ZOOM

FEB 26 - APR 1: GITA/YOGA PSYCHOLOGY see p. 11

Downward Pull of Animal Nature

FEB 5 - 19: THE CHAKRA SYSTEM see p. 10

Genital VAM (WUM)

Root LAM (LUM)

Mon. Nights, 6:30 - 8:30 PM ET (6 wks) Live on ZOOM

March 2024 MAR 14 - MAR 21: YOGA SCIENCE LAB® see p. 11 Thurs. Nights, 6:30-8:30 PM ET (2 wks) Live on ZOOM

MAR 31: EASTER-PASSOVER MEDITATION SATSANG Sun. Morning, 9:30 - 11:00 AM ET Live on ZOOM

American Meditation Institute

Education for Enlightenment®

January-February, 2024 • Vol. XXVII No. 2 PO Box 430, Averill Park, NY 12018 ©2024 by Leonard Perlmutter (Ram Lev) and The American Meditation Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy, Inc.

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.

No part of this journal in any manner, in whole or in part, in English or any other language, may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

10

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.

MONDAYS, 6:30 - 8:30PM ET, $225. (3 WKS) FEB 5 - 19

Easter Passover MEDITATION SATSANG

Sun. March 31 • 9:30-11

AMI Classes for January - February 2024

YOGA SCIENCE LAB ® How to Practice Meditation-in-Action

YOGA PSYCHOLOGY

Valerie Chakedis Ed.D. and Kristin Kaelber MD PhD

BHAGAVAD GITA STUDY

Prerequisite: AMI’s Foundation Course

Leonard (Ram Lev) and Jenness Perlmutter

Level II: In the AMI Meditation® Foundation Course, you learned that your thoughts are your most valuable asset. The Yoga Science Lab® will help you examine your thoughts and expand your ability to focus your attention. The techniques learned in seated AMI Meditation® are applied in every duty and responsibility throughout the day. This process is called Meditation-in-Action. As you experiment with the Truth reflected by your Conscience, you’ll develop decisionmaking skills that will enhance your confidence in all relationships. As you have already learned, to experience real freedom you must be centered in the present moment, know who you are, and follow your Inner Wisdom. The Yoga Science Lab® can help you achieve that freedom!

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 a fulfilling and purposeful life in the world today, this ongoing study will provide you the practical wisdom, tools, meaning, courage and confidence you need.

Each week Leonard and Jenness will teach you how to reduce stress, enhance your health and creative abilities, while offering you a fresh, positive perspective on all your family and business relationships. This course provides the practical blueprint to resolve all of life’s challenges, and is highly recommended for psychologists and spiritual seekers.

THURSDAYS, 6:30PM -8:30 PM ET, $75.

MARCH 14 & 21 (2 WKS) LIVE ON ZOOM

MONDAYS, 6:30 - 8:30 PM ET, $150. (6 WKS) FEB 26 - APR 1; APR 8 - MAY 13 LIVE ON ZOOM

AMI’s 12th Annual Physicians’ Conference Attendees Equinox Resort & Spa • Manchester, Vermont • October 17-21, 2023

Supreme, make me an instrument of your peace: where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

–– St. Francis of Assisi ––

11

American Meditation Institute Education for Enlightenment®

“There’s an Urgent Crisis in our Country and the World, and

YOUR CONSCIENCE is the SOLUTION!” Leonard Perlmutter (Ram Lev)

Available at all Fine Book Sellers Nationwide and the AMI Store Tel. 518.674.8714 • PO Box 430 • Averill Park, NY 12018