Spirituality | Wellness | Happiness

Yoga On YouTube YouTube Yoga Videos My latest series of Yoga Videos have almost all been uploaded on YouTube and I happy that they have been very well received by the YouTube community and blog readers. The fact that these videos were found to be beneficial has of course inspired me to continue with this project, so soon I will be creating and uploading a new series of free yoga and meditation videos to both the blog and YouTube. Here is a comment I just received today on my YouTube channel and it is such feedback that makes all the effort worth it . YouTube Yoga Fan said: Ive literally spent all day watching ALL of your videos! Thank you for an amazing day! And life long lessons! GOD BLESS! For those of you specifically interested in my videos, you can subscribe to my YouTube channel here AnmolMehta Yoga and Meditation Channel and you will be notified whenever I upload a new video there. In case you missed any of these videos, here are the best ones from the latest series. The tit

PEMA CHODRON - PURE MEDITATION 2 OF 2 BY SOUNDS TRUE PEMA CHODRON PURE MEDITATION 2 OF 2 BY SOUNDS TRUE AUDIOBOOK For 1300 years, Tibetans have been practicing shamatha-vipashyana (peaceful dwelling-insight), a profound form of meditation that illuminates and purifies the obstacles to spiritual realization. Tibetan Buddhists today regard shamatha-vipashyana as both the fundamental and the most advanced spiritual practice of all. On Pure Meditation, Pema Chdrn takes you step-by-step through this timeless and elegant meditative form. You will learn the posture that helps you relax your mind, how to use your own breath as a reminder to return to the present moment, and what to do with the many thoughts and emotions that arise during your meditation sessions. A straightforward, authoritative resource for students at all levels, Pure Meditation is a definitive guide to the authentic Tibetan Buddhist meditation that has brought its practitioners relaxation, peace of mind, and deeper awarenes

Emotions do not originate with us. They come and go depending on situations, circumstances, relationships, and events. Emotions are never created in isolation; they always come about because of some interaction with the environments. In the absence of circumstances or relationships, there is no emotion. So, even though you may fly into a rage, it is not actually your anger. It is anger that has settled on you for the moment. Notice how your fear and anger have accumulated over the years. Although you cannot remember it, there was a time in your life before you ever felt anger or fear, a time of total peace and tranquility. Try to imagine what that experience of utter bliss might have been like. Focus on a time before fear or anger. Rewind that imaginary tape of your life until the screen goes back, and feel the boundaries evaporate between yourself and your surroundings. For the next minute, feel the total loss of all your accumulated anger, fear and ego. Adapted from The Essential Sp

The weekend meditation workshop titled "Meditation in the Present Moment will be taught by Meditation Master KambizNaficy and taking place in various cities throughout August and September 2011. Unless otherwise specified, each workshop begins at 6 PM on Friday evening and ends at noon on Sunday. For maximum benefit, participants are expected to attend the full workshop. Hours for each session can sometimes be adjusted slightly; please see the Joy of Life Coordinator in your area for more details. The sessions for the weekend workshop cover the following topics:What it means to experience living in the present moment; what meditation is and is not, how to attain higher levels of consciousness in meditation, and understanding the benefits of meditation to your wellbeing and success in the world; being able to identify your Ego (the false self), its defense mechanisms, emotional baggage, and relationship to the chattering mind; and coming to grips with love and loving relationshi

Advanced Sleep Training Sleep Tips In part 1 of this series on Learning How to Sleep and how to use utilize sleep to accelerate ones spiritual growth, we discussed the importance of complete physical and mental relaxation before sleep and also finding the flame of divine aspiration and riding that into sleep. In this second part we will delve further into the mysteries of sleep and share more sleep training tips from the Mother. Specifically we will focus on how to penetrate deep into consciousness to the point of complete stillness during sleep and experience the state of Satchitananda (Bliss, Being and Consciousness). Satchitananada is synonymous to Enlightenment of Samadhi. Below is the excerpt from the book Health and Healing in Yoga where the Mother discusses the stages one goes through, starting from waking consciousness, to relaxation, to sleep, to subtle consciousness, all the way to Supreme Consciousness. The idea here is to help you understand the value of training yourself

It's been a while since " null hypothesis " passed through my brain. Probably a college statistics class was the last time those words were thought about. So I felt like I was saying hello to an old acquaintance when I came across references to the null hypothesis in the final chapter of Michael Shermer's latest book, The Believing Brain . Science begins with something called a null hypothesis , Although statisticians mean something very specific about this (having to do with comparing different sets of data), I am using this term null hypothesis in its more general sense: the hypothesis under investigation is not true, or null, until proven otherwise. A null hypothesis states that X does not cause Y. If you think X does cause Y then the burden of proof is on you to provide convincing experimental data to reject the null hypothesis. OK. That sounds pretty dry. But when we substitute some words for X and Y, things get a lot juicier. Like, "a null hypothesis state

Join Lindsay Wagner in the welcoming setting of the Blackfoot Inn in Calgary, Alberta for a three-day "Quiet the Mind & Open the Heart" workshop at the Blackfoot Inn from September 16-18. "The study and sharing of the integration of Body, Mind and Spirit to awaken our amazing human potential has always been my greatest passion. One of the most empowering realizations I've had is that our experience of any life circumstance is a function of personal perspective, more than the circumstance itself; that as our perspective changes so does our experience. - Lindsay Wagner In a safe and loving environment participants will learn a system of tapping the acupuncture points with the fingers, known as EFT, and other techniques for easily releasing negative emotions and breaking through undesirable patterns that affect family dynamics, intimate relations, friendships, the work place and yes, even your golf game. Woven throughout the program are beautiful music, relaxation,

I like " Year of Sundays ." Especially the tag line under the blog's name: we go to church so you don't have to Thanks, Joel Gunz and Amanda Westmont , who are fellow Oregonians. I've taken you up on your offer. You're both terrific writers (after each visit to a church or other spiritual gathering, Joel and Amanda compose separate descriptions of their experience). Portland, Oregon's alternative newspaper, Willamette Week, gave them a 2011 "Best Divine Dilettantes" award. If youre in the market for a religious experience, Amanda Westmont and Joel Gunz might be able to lend you some wisdom. The pair has been attending a different Portland church every Sunday since January and writing about their experiences in their shared blog, A Year of Sundays ( blog.beliefnet.com/yearofsundays ) . No spiritual gathering, from Buddhist services to Scientology, is off limits. (Theyre currently trying to get a mosque into the works.) Joel is a recovering

Technologies of consciousness developed by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, including the Transcendental Meditation Programme, have been growing in popularity in Japan, and this year especially have helped people recover from the stressful effects of the devastating earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster. For the last eight years, at Maharishi's request a Buddhist monk in Japan, Reverend Dr Koji Oshima, has been bringing these technologies to monks in other Asian countries. Since 2003, 4,000 Buddhist monks have been inspired to learn Transcendental Meditation1,500 in Sri Lanka and 2,500 in Thailand. The monks have greatly appreciated learning the technique, and the project has proceeded with support from senior Buddhist monks and elders. The young Buddhist monks have greatly enjoyed Maharishi's knowledge, and were particularly interested in Unified Field charts that are used as a teaching tool in Consciousness-Based Education. The charts illustrate how the Unified Field of Natural Law

Thanks to a comment by Alex on a recent post about the wonders of the universe, I learned about Religious Naturalism -- which I wasn't very familiar with before. (Alex is with the Unitarian Universalists Hong Kong, UUHK .) May I introduce the philosophical/religious position which explores the religious depth (feelings of wonder, awe, inspiration, reverence, and humility; and contemplation of life and death) of the Universe as understood by science: Religious Naturalism More information: http://faculty.uml.edu/rinnis/2000_stone_2_1.pdf http://www.religiousnaturalism.org http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_naturalism In my opinion, your article is a wonderful exposition of Religious Naturalism (if you don't mind being so described). No, Alex, I don't mind. Browsing through the links you shared, I felt quite comfortable with this philosophy. Some questions in the FAQs of ReligiousNaturalism.org cleared up one perplexity. If I believe in the natural world, but not in a su

A young people's retreat will be held this weekend from August 26 to August 28 at the Dharma Drum Retreat Center. The retreat program consists of meditation instruction and practice for young people (ages 18-35). The teacher will give talks related to practice on retreat and in daily life, using Buddhist concepts to address issues that young people are facing. The program is flexible and varied, including indoor and outdoor activities suitable for beginners as well as experienced practitioners. Individuals wishing to take a meditation vacation, and make an appointment with oneself are encouraged to attend. Participants shall engage in a simple routine of Chan meditation, free from the distractions and information-overload of daily life. They will also cultivate a clearer understanding of oneself through silent self-reflection. They will also learn to apply Chan meditation methods to all activities, whether sitting, walking, or working, whereby every moment becomes a chance to culti

How to Sleep The Right Way to Fall Sleep Sleep and the nighttime are a very important and interesting part of spiritual evolution and in this two part series I am going to go into some of the more fascinating and unusual suggestions of how to get the most out of sleep time. This series will be helpful to both, those who are suffering from insomnia or disturbed sleep and those who are interested in maximizing spiritual growth during sleep time. In previous articles I have revealed that many enlightenment, transcendental and non-dual experiences take place during sleep or nighttime, and I have shared several such personal experiences as well. Some of these articles are 3 Simple Tips for Inviting Enlightenment , Interpreting Spiritual Dreams and Higher Consciousness and Sheer Bliss ). So I am quite aware of the power of meditation during sleep and it is something I strongly suggest you explore if you are interested in Awakening, or even if you are just interested in having sound sleep an

"Be the change you want to see Gandhi-ji Israel, Palestine. Violence, hatred and war. Soldiers, terrorists, victims. A seemingly endless cycle of news and opinions surrounds the Palestinian-Israeli issue like a thick fog. What would it be to walk through that fog, and see things for ourselves. To bring love, compassion, and an openness of heart and mind to a place of pain, suffering and confusion. For that which is happening out there', is mirrored in each of our in heres', so the pain out there is also our pain. The Buddha said: "Hatred never ceases by hatred, but by love alone is healed. Can we be that love? SanghaSeva invites everyone to join in a two week work retreat in Israel and Palestine. Over the fortnight participants will be spending time developing relationships in a Palestinian village, and harvesting olives with Palestinian villagers who are otherwise prevented from accessing their olive groves by the Israeli army and settlers. The aim is to bring suppor

I felt awe, inspiration, reverence, humility. Not from a religious ritual, holy book, or spiritual sage -- from the first episode I've watched of a BBC science program, " Wonders of the Universe ." Youthful-looking physicist Brian Cox explained in Children of the Stars how the same 92 naturally occurring elements are found everywhere in the universe. So what we are, the universe is. I've heard this before, many times. But the way Cox put it seemed new and fresh. In the clip below he says that the building blocks of the universe -- protons and neutrons -- formed within the first few seconds after the big bang (which banged away 13.7 billion years ago). Everything that's happened since has been a rearranging of those building blocks into increasingly complex structures, one of which is the human brain that now has achieved a good understanding of how it came to be able to understand. Wow. Think about it. Marvel about it. You, me, everything and everybody on Earth,

The past year has seen great expansion and success of initiatives in the United Kingdom to make widely available the benefits of Consciousness-Based Education, Maharishi Ayur-Veda health care, and Maharishi Vastu architecture, as well as other programmes offered by organizations teaching the Transcendental Meditation Programme in the country. One of the most important achievements in the field of education is the recent granting of 'Free School' status for Maharishi School in West Lancashire, by the national government, through which the School joins other state-maintained schools in England. Progress is also being made in establishing large permanent groups of meditators in different parts of the country, to create an influence of coherence, harmony, and peace in national consciousness. source: www.globalgoodnews.com

Legendary film director Martin Scorsese has spoken out in support of a charity outreach to teach Transcendental Meditation to children and veterans suffering from traumatic stress, and revealed how practice of the technique has helped him in his own life and work. The creator of Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and Goodfellas told a recent benefit gala in support of the David Lynch Foundation in New York that he had been practising Transcendental Meditation for several years and that it had made a real difference."It's difficult to describe the effect it's had on my life. I can only mention maybe a few words: calm, clarity, a balance, and, at times, a recognition. Scorsese, whose new documentary about George Harrison, Rooted in Peace, will be screened in the autumn, said he could only imagine the kind of stress that affected veterans, but spoke of how practising Transcendental Meditation had altered his response to everyday anxiety triggers, and eased the stress of movie-making.

Is life absurd? Sometimes it seems to be. I ponder how large the universe is (a hundred billion or so galaxies, each with a hundred billion or so stars) and how old it is (about 13.7 billion years), and compare this with my puny earthly existence. How insignificant I am compared to the cosmos! How absurd it is that I consider my life to mean anything in light of my miniscule'ness! And yet... If you want to know how a philosopher persuasively addresses that and yet , give Thomas Nagel's "The Absurd" a read. I did so yesterday, finding it pleasingly thought-provoking. Here's one reading option , albeit with an annoyingly large line length. Or you can read the original piece in The Journal of Philosophy as a PDF file. Download Nagel-The-Absurd I don't claim to have digested all of the meaty/tofuy philosophical subtleties in Nagel's piece. But these are some general impressions gained from my first perusal of "The Absurd." We find life absurd when

Uncover your compassionate rebel in this meditation retreat with one of American Buddhism's own revolutionaries on August 26 28, 2011 at the Shambala Mountain Center in Colorado. The retreat aims to develop a greater sense of care for oneself and for the world through the revolutionary spiritual practices of the Buddha. Instructions in meditation and guidance in the subversive Buddhist path to liberation will be offered. This retreat is suitable for both beginning and long-term practitioners. Youth, families, social workers, activists and revolutionaries are encouraged to attend. Attendees are invited to arrive before 5 pm on Friday, August 26. The program ends with lunch at 12:30pm on Sunday, August 28. Noah Levine is a Buddhist teacher, counselor, and author of Dharma Punx: A Memoir and Against the Stream: A Buddhist Manual for Spiritual Revolutionaries. Trained to teach by Jack Kornfield of Spirit Rock Meditation Center, he is the founding teacher of Against The Stream Buddhist

Whether you've belonged to a Western or Eastern variety of religion -- Christianity or Buddhism, say -- almost certainly you know the sort of person Robert Masters is talking about in his book " Spiritual Bypassing : When Spirituality Disconnects Us from What Really Matters." When I'd come across one of them, I'd think, "Good god, just act like a normal human being instead of a pseudo-saint!" They'd be irritatingly self-righteous, emotionally detached, and uncaring about how they treated other people. Masters says: Signs of spiritual bypassing at work are perhaps most commonly seen in the minimizing, superficializing, or outright negation of our shadow side and so-called negativity. Other behaviors include taking global or impersonal stands on clearly personal concerns, as when we might talk about the "fact" that everthing is perfect, all unfolding exactly as it must, while we are talking to another in a demeaning way. Or in response to som

Yoga for Happiness Laughter Meditation A recent issue of the Mastery of Meditation newsletter was a special happiness edition and it was full of amazing yoga and meditation techniques which are known to bestow joy and happiness. Well I wanted to make sure I shared this information with all the readers and visitors of the blog, so in this article I am republishing the techniques from that issue. This includes Oshos Laughter Meditation as well as many yoga exercises for happiness. Happiness Techniques from Yoga Here are 4 great techniques from the world of yoga and meditation which are designed to help you find peace, happiness and joy. You will find more such techniques in the Free Online Meditation Techniques Collection, Free Yoga Pranayama Collections and the Free Yoga Techniques Collection. Each title below is a link to the article. Please click the link to read the full article. 1. SMILING BUDDHA MEDITATION FOR HAPPINESS AND CONFIDENCE (http://anmolmehta.com/blog/2009/03/23/smiling-

MEDITATION In-the-Park: A soothing break from your busy life! will be held at the Richard's Memorial Lakefront Park Area A in Mississauga on August 27 from 9 am to 3 pm. This event's theme is entitled: "What to do if someone is angry with you and when anger rises - Some practical solutions from the Buddha." This Fine-tuning Awareness will be headed by Buddhist Monk and Meditation Teacher Bhante Saranapala. Event schedule is as follows: 9:00- 10:00 Observance of Eight Training Principles and Introduction to Mindfulness and Vipassana Meditation 10:00 - 10.20 Break 10:20-11:30 Group Sitting Meditation (Guided) 11:30-12:15 Mindful Eating (Lunch Break) 12:15-1:15 Discussion on Walking Meditation & its Practice 1:15 - 2:15 Sermon on the Theme: "What to do if someone is angry with you and when anger arises: Some practical solutions from the Buddha 2:15 - 2:30 Tea Break 3:30 - 3:00 Practice of Insight Meditation (Silent) or Loving-Kindness Meditation 3:00 End of the

Consider what it took for life to produce the living person that you are.

Finding a person you dislike is an opportunity to embrace the paradox of the coexistence of opposites, and to discover a new facet of yourself. It is another step toward developing your spiritual self. The most enlightened people in the world embrace their full potential of light and dark.Start very simply, with the most distasteful person you can think of. For example, think of Adolf Hitler and say, How could I possibly be like Hitler? Most people refuse to accept that they contain even the smallest shred of an Adolf Hitler. But think more deeply.Have you ever expressed prejudice toward any group of people just because they had a certain name, or a certain skin color, or a certain accent, or a certain disability? If you can think of any example of that in your life, then you must embrace the similarity between yourself and Adolf Hitler.We are all multidimensional, omnidimensional. Everything that exists somewhere in the world also exists in us. When we embrace these different

The literal meaning of the Indian word, "satsangi," is someone who associates with truth . However, various religious groups have hijacked the term to mean something else: a devotee of some particular dogma. Unless all of those dogmas are equally true, some of those "satsangis" are more genuinely associated with truth than others are. Going further, a real satsangi is open to truth in whatever form, shape, or manner it manifests. Thus a true satsangi can't allow himself or herself to be limited by any dogmatic religious barrier. Truth has to be followed wherever it leads. These thoughts were stimulated by an email I received recently from a guy who, like me, is an initiate of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB) -- one of the Indian organizations which uses "satsangi" as a synonym for "devotee." He wrote me about how he stopped being a speaker at RSSB meetings ("satsangs"): Having been unable to VERIFY sant mat , I told the Master that

Guided Meditation Tips Free Guided Meditations Guided Meditation is a wonderful tool with many applications from simple relaxation and stress relief, to therapy for insomnia and other ailments. In todays guest post AxelGjertsen shares with us some excellent tips to enhance your guided meditation experience and get the most out of your session. You can get more great meditation tips, as well download free guided meditations from his wonderful website, Axel G . If you would like to be a guest author on Mastery of Meditation and Yoga, please email me at anmol@anmolmehta.com. How To Get The Most Out Of Guided Meditation By Axel Gjertsen In this post youll learn how to get the most possible out of your guided meditation practice. I was first introduced to deep relaxation in middle school. Toward the end of the physical education classes, the teacher sometimes asked us to lie down on the floor. Then, she played a guided meditation. It was a sweeping meditation and the instructions took us o

In unity, everything you once thought was out there is seen to be part of yourself. What prevents this experience is a false sense of self built from images of past experience. To get rid of this baggage and re-experience yourself as a free, uncluttered person, you have to work at stripping away the crusted varnish of self-image.Your action plan can take many different directions in accomplishing this goal. You can take up a new activity that is totally incongruous with your self-image.Take up aerobic dancing if you are a gray-flanneled business executive. Expose yourself to people and situations that challenge you to grow beyond old habits. Write your autobiography. Putting down every detail of your life as candidly and honestly as possible will help you detach from ingrained attitudes by showing you where they came from.Resolve to take one step every day to correct some behavior that you know isnt an expression of the real you. For example, you may be an habitual people-pleaser.

Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh heads to Estes Park, Colorado for a Mindfulness Retreat from August 19 - 24, 2011. This retreat is part of the 2011 North American Teaching Tour which started off in Vancouver last August 8 and will end on the 25th of October in Washington DC. Some of the practices to be engaged in this retreat include: daily Dharma Talks by Thy sitting meditation together outdoor walking meditation as a community mindful meals in silence - taking time to truly enjoy the food and the company of other practitioners Dharma Sharing in small groups practicing loving speech and deep listening, sharing ourexperiences with the practice of mindfulness Total Relaxation - learning how to rest and relax our body and our mind Observing Noble Silence Families, together are welcome to join this retreat as there will be a specific program for kids through joyful play and mindful practice as well as a separate program from teens aged 13 to 17. About Thich Nhat Hanh Thich Nhat Hanh is a Zen

Since its inception as a field of rational scientific study, medicine has accepted the degeneration of brain function in elderly people as a natural occurrence.This deterioration was thoroughly documented with hard findingsas we age, our brains shrink, grow lighter, and lose millions of neurons every year. We have our full complement of neurons by age 2, and by age 30, the number starts to decline. The loss of any single brain cell is permanent, since neurons do not regenerate.On the basis of this well-known fact, brain decline seemed to be scientifically valid; sadly but inevitably, to grow old must lead to memory loss, decreases reasoning ability, impaired intelligence, and related symptoms.These time-honored assumptions, however, have now been shown to be wrong. Careful study of healthy elderly people has revealed that 80 percent of healthy Americans, barring psychological distress (such as loneliness, depression, or lack of outside stimulation), suffer no significant memory loss

The first OSHO Summer Festival took place in Afroz Meditation Center on the divine Greek island of Lesvos last year was a huge hit, where people from all over the world came to meditate & celebrate. With this success, Osho Afroz Meditation Center is bringing back this summer festival in August, set from the 16th to the 20th at the meditation center grounds in Lesvos Island, Greece. The OSHO Summer Festival 2011 will offer a rich choice of meditation events as well as a wide spectrum of workshops focusing on body, mind and emotion, so that each person can choose what suits them best. Therapists and meditation facilitators will grace this event,with international musicians to join OSHO's famous singer, Milarepa. A mini fair with sessions on bodywork, reading, zen coaching, and healing will also commence on the center grounds. OSHO Active Meditations and evening meditation (OSHO White Robe Brotherhood) will be the daily highlight of the event. For more information, visit www.oshoa

OK, the title of this blog post is blunter than David Chapman's " Effing the ineffable ," but what I said is pretty much the point of his well-written and entertaining essay. A few months ago I talked about discovering Chapman's web sites, which offer a pleasingly dizzying perspective on matters philosophical, scientific, spiritual, and mystical. His take on ineffability, plus related subjects, was equally interesting reading. Chapman said stuff that I've vaguely understood in a roughly similar fashion, but hadn't been able to pin down so clearly. Here's some excerpts from his piece , which deserves to be read in its entirety. In my next few posts, I am going to criticize a particular mystical understanding of enlightenment that is common among Western Buddhists. It is the idea that meditation is the examination of inner experience in order to discover your True Self, which is unified with The Absolute (alias God), which is the transcendant source of