Chakras
The limits of Religion
We have to put religion in an appropriate box. We must never allow religion to put us or the infinite in a box. If we do not prepare a box for religion it will box itself and some extremist will try to jam people into it. What happens when you put to many people in a box?
Meditation retreat weekend with meditation and yoga teacher Dada Veda. Learning about the 7 Chakra’s. Merging music and meditation. For more on meditation, music, and social vision, visit Dada Here.
Being Comfortable
Throughout the past centuries hierarchical authorities have pushed ideologies that convinced us to be uncomfortable with ourselves; uncomfortable with where we were at in our life, uncomfortable with the way we look, uncomfortable being vulnerable at times, uncomfortable in sharing our mistakes, uncomfortable sharing our life promoting dreams, uncomfortable speaking out when you know somethings wrong, uncomfortable in who we are attracted too or fall in love with. It is as if we were mentally indoctrinated to accept a perpetual state of anxiety for ourselves.
If you want to scare the hell out of political, economic, religious, and civil, tyrants spend 15 minutes each day sitting still within the comfort of yourself. Thoughts that engender fear, discontent, misperception, anger, at first will be set aside as you re-discover the genuine you. Continue the practice and eventually those thoughts will dissolve. Within time you will quite effortlessly begin to transform your life promoting dreams and into realizable quests.
Do this and the petty tyrants in your life and our world, becoming even more insane with the frustration of being ignored and their ideologies being discounted, will also dissolve. Their last red-faced, dying gasp will be labeled with the words, “Who the hell do they think they are! We can’t allow them to freely think for themselves! They can’t just walk around spouting nonsense about giving every human being the same rights and choices! They are not smart enough to understand that if people are left to govern themselves things will become total chaos. Spewing all this tripe about building a better world for everyone, we have enemies damn it! Who is going to prevent these “foreigners” from taking advantage over us? If they are not told who to be afraid of how will we control them? No, no, no…..ahhh … !?!..¡¿¡”
Eternal Life
Gifts
Step Into It
Peace cannot be obtained. It is not a goal. If you hear someone say,”We are doing this to promote peace or to bring peace.” do not believe them. Peace is not that which is not here today but may be here tomorrow. Peace is always present now. Even in times of extreme conflict peace is always present. It is just not being recognized or utilized. Times of extreme conflict provide a prime breeding ground for a pivot toward peace because it becomes ever more apparent to all involved that all other avenues lead to strife.
Peace and Love are present in the same thread that is apart of the weave of life. They are indivisible. With the overwhelming sense of calm and contentment that is peace there is a simultaneous knowing of the infinite nurturing care of love. When you step into this flow which is possible at any moment of your life, your egoic self dramatically shrinks and your true genuine self emerges. A self that not only knows peace and love but feels it inside of your body. Once you feel it, it becomes unnecessary to think it. As you feel it, you automatically begin to act in it. From that moment forward you find yourself doing that which is. That which is, is all that is necessary. The unnecessary thoughts, feelings, and actions, that glorify your ego, those that inflate the false you, sometimes making you believe that there is this massive you that is ‘bigger than life’, a you that just has to worry and suffer constantly, because if something does or doesn’t happen it will be the end of the world, these unnecessary items are no longer apart of your conception.
You really can’t call this a ‘force’ because it does not force you to do anything. To call it ‘power’ does not fit either even though it is the only “True Power”. People have come to define the word ‘power’ as the means to dominate and control something and this infinite influence does not desire or have any need to dominate or control you or anything else. ‘False power’ is dominating, controlling, and attempts to suck the life out of everything it touches. This is its opposite. This is like a warm shower on a cold winters day. You can either step in to the replenishing flow or not the choice is yours. This influence will never take anything away from you, like your freedom of will. That would be unnecessary and go counter to the flow. It only feeds you the necessary. Once you recognize it you are drawn to it because it is infinitely provides mental, physical, and spiritual, healing, nourishment, and sustenance. Away from it you eventually become wrapped in conflict.
The monetarily rich, world leaders, kings, and the rulers of people, who attempt to dominate others cower in the face of this influence. They cannot control it. They do not understand it. It serves them not. They fear it because they do not know it. It is so pure that the light that shines from it blinds them and confuses their minds. This light makes their shame plainly visible for the people to see. When people live in this flow of peace the dominators become agitated and nervous because those in the flow cannot be easily manipulated. In fact, the dominators, being that they are unnecessary, often are ignored by those in the flow. The dominators will stomp and hiss around, blowing up their egos like over sized New Years Day parade balloons in attempts to get attention from the unmanipulable. The balloons eventually burst with no effect to the flow of peace.
This influence places all humans on a level playing field where forgiveness is given and received in the instant it is a thought in any ones mind. This Peace influence is such that a small child, when willingly immersed in its presence, holds more potency in the soft gentle vibration issued from one breath than all the false power ever known to humans. In one inhale she could swallow all the fake arrogance and regurgitate it back into the air with a burp and a giggle while skipping along to proceed with the necessary. As she did so, all the human initiated domination of time would fuss into the air dissipating into its original form of nothingness.
Peace and healing await you. Step into it.
List of People who will not benefit from meditation
77% of people who live in the U.S. regularly experience physical symptoms caused by stress. -www.statisticbrain.com-
Below is a list of those people who will receive no benefit from the practice of some form of meditation:
Of course this is a guess since we have not discovered whether consciousness continues after the body’s physical death or whether or not such consciousness would require “stilling”. You can be relatively certain that, regardless of what happens after we die, that meditating after our body has expired is not much help to our current situation.
I have not met anyone like this. This is not the same as people who have “lost their minds”. I have asked several professionals in the field of psychology, psychiatry, and neurology, as to the actual location of the mind and have not been given a direct answer. Some point to physical organ of the brain and claim that it is somewhere up there. I suppose this notion attempts congruousness with the idea that the mind is the thinking ability of the brain. In my experience it seems as though the brain, among other things, receives sensory input making it a perceiver of phenomenon. The mind is the interpreter of these experiences. Given the fact that no one knows exactly where the mind is located I would be willing to state that most people have “lost their minds”. In my focus on mind clearing meditation locating the mind is not of high importance. Controlling the thoughts of your mind is what becomes necessary.
Meditation is not effective in helping achieve this mental state. About two years ago my room mates and I hosted a weekly meditation sessions in our home. Around this same time I had given a short introductory meditation lesson to one of my neighbors who inquired about it. Afterwards I invited her to our weekly group. For the next three days she was in a state of peace and bliss. I would see her when I would walk my dog around the block and she was all smiles and pleasantly excited. She would thank me for all that I had done. After a few weeks of her not showing up for the group, I saw her while walking my dog early one morning and asked if she was getting the emailed group invitations. She was standing on her porch with a beer in one hand and coughing over the cigarette in the other. She looked miserable. “I’m not interested.” was her reply. I countered, “How are you dealing with the stress?” She said, “I drink plenty of alcohol, smoke plenty of weed, and take drugs for all that.” I smiled. “Sounds like you got the cure”, I remarked. Due to my own arrogance it took much meditative practice for me to learn to accept people where ever they are at in their lives.
The limits of the practice
Veteran meditator and spiritual teacher Krishnamurti wrote once that “the land of truth is pathless”. There is no “one path” to experience calm acceptance or peace for every individual. Meditation is not for everyone. I had to except a long time ago (with considerable bruising to my arrogant ego) that regardless of my relentless passion to share the peace that can be achieved through mind clearing meditation with all who come across my path, I am not Jesus, Buddha, Lao Tzu, or Dojen, I cannot save the world, and meditation is not the cure for all the problems of the world. I can teach, all who are interested in knowing, how to take back control of their thoughts which is the main proponent of human initiated suffering in the world. This I do.
You would be surprised to know how many people forget that genuine love, happiness, and peace, cannot be shared with another unless you have already offered and accepted it for yourself. It’s important to practice daily re-accepting this offer to love yourself. Practicing meditation can be a reminder to spend time doing this often.
That being stated there are real dangers that need to be avoided when teaching meditation to any exploring student. One such danger became apparent as on a few occasions when I was teaching students, when trying to clear their mind, they became immersed in fear. This is a warning sign that the student may be repressing disturbing memories that they are not ready to face yet. In these cases “concentration meditation” which involves focusing on one thought as opposed to clearing all thoughts is more appropriate. Finding the right meditation method for you may take some time but determining whether a method works or does not is relatively simple. If you are practicing a particular method and are experiencing some form of discomfort, i.e. fear, stress, anxiety, then this method is obviously not you best option.
Another example is more a matter of common sense but when teaching grade school age children the art of meditation, trying to get them to completely clear their minds is not fruitful and unnecessary. Getting them in the habit of closing their eyes, sitting still for a few moments, and paying attention to their breathing is the key. This opens the opportunity for relaxation, slowing of mind turbulence, and self-reflection.
Keeping the meditation classes open and fluid to accommodate anyone who may want to participate has been the practice of SAMA Sense since its inception. When someone asked me once, “What method do you teach?” I responded that we do not strictly adhere to any particular school of teaching although we do bring to the table techniques from many traditions. Some call this “free style”. I do find it interesting that when leading a group meditation that contains participants from different religious affiliations that using a language that highlights the physical and psychological benefits of the practice can be effective. This avoids the muck of getting into conflicts over different religious believes. If I happen to be leading a group that has all Christian participants, which is becoming rare these days, I will use language from that tradition. I have also found it curious that when leading a group of non-religious affiliated participants, those who have become known as “Nones”, using terms from different spiritual traditions seems to go over well. Is it not curiously wonderful that when you take religious beliefs out of the equation that people don’t seem to mind using references to the “Divine” or the “Infinite”.
Gift of Breath
In every breath we relive our creation
God animates Adam
God animates us
Both at the same instant
In every breath is a resurrection experience
God animates Christ
Christ animates us
Both at the same instant
Lord, teach me to accept your gift of breath
And return each exhalation as gift back to You
Meditation Stats
Statistics on People who Meditate
Statistics on people who meditate can be found everywhere. Statistics on people who meditate have shown they become less stressed and calmer. Statistics on people who meditate in groups have even shown the crime rate in that particular area drop significantly. There are statistics on everything related to meditation. There are so many different statistics on meditation and statistics on people who meditate because meditation in one form or another has been around for thousands of years.
With its roots deep in India and Southeast Asia, meditation has made its way into modern Western culture, namely through Transcendental meditation, which was brought to the West by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and made popular by celebrities like The Beatles.
But what can somebody expect from practicing meditation? Well statistics on people who meditate have shown that daily reflection and rumination has dramatically decreased the occurrence of heart disease. Further, in patients previously diagnosed with heart disease, meditation has been proven to lessen the effects and somewhat reverse the disease.
Stress is a major cause of many things such as coronary disease, congestive heart failure, diabetes and high blood pressure. All of these afflictions have been shown through scientific study to be lessened or otherwise depleted with the help of meditation in fact health insurance statistics on people who meditate regularly have shown that they are less prone to illness. The actual statistics were that those who meditate reduced the likelihood of being hospitalized for coronary disease by 87 percent, and the possibility of getting cancer by 55 percent.
Many doctors have studied the statistics on people who meditate and now prescribe meditation for their patients. These patients have reported more energy, higher productivity and more patience. Business owners have reported that among employees, who meditate, absenteeism is lower, production is higher, and the quality of their work is better thus proving the statistics on people who meditate are right.
A Detroit based chemical plant posted the following results three years after implementing meditation:
- Absenteeism fell by 85%
- Productivity rose 120%
- Injuries dropped 70%
- Profits increased 520%
According to reports, there have been over 1500 separate studies since 1930. All were related to meditation and its effects on the practitioners. Some statistics on people who meditate include results like:
- Heart rate, respiration, blood pressure and oxygen consumption are all decreased.
- Meditators are less anxious and nervous.
- Meditators were more independent and self-confident
- People who deliberated daily were less fearful of death.
- 75% of insomniacs who started a daily meditation program were able to fall asleep within 20 minutes of going to bed.
- Production of the stress hormone Cortisol is greatly decreased, thus making it possible for those people to deal with stress better when it occurs.
- Women with PMS showed symptom improvements after 5 months of steady daily rumination and reflection.
- Thickness of the artery walls decreased which effectively lowers the risk of heart attack or stroke by 8% to 15%.
- Relaxation therapy was helpful in chronic pain patients.
- 60% of anxiety prone people showed marked improvements in anxiety levels after 6-9 months.
It has been documented that people who use meditation and relaxation techniques may be physiologically younger by 12 to 15 years; could this possibly be the Fountain of Youth? While there are probably many other studies to look at, I believe that the results reported above are tell-tale. Meditation, relaxation, reflection and deliberation can affect the physical body in a positive way just as stress and other factors effect the body in a negative one. In either case science and the statistics on people who meditate, has confirmed the positive effects of meditation beyond a shadow of a doubt.
This article was written by By Joel Sparks. To view the original article click here .
