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Category: Yoga & Meditation

11 Reasons to Attend the 21 Stages of Meditation in Owen Sound, Aug 25-31, 2019

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What are the 21 Stages of Meditation? Find out by attending this beautifully designed course for all meditators to experience, explore and refine awareness and the sense of Self through practicing meditations that take you into each aspect of your nature. The program is very systematic as it pokes and calls attention to each area of your self. This will help you to develop an integrated awareness of who you are in all the conditions you produce and encounter in your life. Each practice enhances the range of your choices and the strength of your authentic inner alignment so you can walk the path you are here to fulfill; it helps you realize your destiny to co-create with the universe and the Self. Eleven reasons to attend:   1.  The teachers. Gurucharan Khalsa wrote the exquisite book that accompanies the course, under the guidance of Yogi Bhajan. There is no better … Continued

The Mystery of Meditation; the Power of an Altar

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Sometimes meditation practice grants us mysterious rewards. Almost 40 days ago on June 21 at the 2015 summer solstice celebration in New Mexico, I committed to practicing two 31 minute meditations for 1000 days, as part of the Kundalini Yoga Level 3 teacher training requirements. I have been travelling and teaching in Spain and Belgium since then, and have been blessed to be able to keep up with these daily meditations. Today I returned home from Belgium after a long day of travel. I have a little room I often meditate in. It needed a good cleaning and some re-organizing. I removed the clutter from the shelf that I use as an altar, wiped it down with a damp cloth and set upon it a picture of Baba Siri Chand, a small calligraphic ink painting by Thich Nhat Hanh that says “Flow as a River” and a large crystal. I cleaned … Continued

Eleven Steps to Activate Your Destiny

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Each of us has a unique role, a sacred contract with our soul – a mission and destiny, which if followed, brings much fulfillment and happiness – to ourselves and others. Sometimes we don’t recognize or accept our destiny and turn away from it, resulting in frustration and sadness from unfulfilled dreams and lack of meaning. We may deny our destiny because we are afraid of the commitment it requires, we don’t believe it is possible, or feel we are not up to the task. We may ignore or push away the inner voice that guides us onward. When we walk towards our destiny, though, we are filled with meaning and supported by the universe. Yogi Bhajan writes: The magnetic field on which the current of life runs computes thought waves and it is connected with the Supreme Computer; this connection is known as destiny. Everybody is born with a … Continued

Guidelines for Meditation

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The quality of our meditation is dependent on many things, specifically posture, concentration, knowing what elements to focus on, skillful redirection of one’s focus, being accepting and allowing of “what is” without “running away or running towards”, being able to locate our awareness fully in a specific part of the body, and the length of time of our practice. The following tips may help you to improve the quality of your meditation while affirming that every moment of practice is a victory. Carefully understand the specific areas of focus for the meditation before you begin i.e. tip of nose, third eye point, mantra or breath, place in body, chakra, bandhas, visualization etc. Set a timer for the length of time you will meditate. Sit with a straight spine, chin pulled in slightly. If needed, use a sitting cushion, bench or chair to sit comfortably straight. Keep as physically still as … Continued

Beyond Addiction: the Yogic Path to Recovery

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Beyond Addiction: The Yogic Path to Recovery – Guidelines for Stopping Smoking Addiction is displaced longing – we all have a longing to be “at home” with ourselves, comfortable in our own skin, and to be loved. Often because of early childhood stress or abuse, lack of safety, or unmet developmental needs, we look for that longing in other places. Those other places can take the shape of a daily Starbucks coffee, a cigarette, a glass of wine every night before dinner, a closet full of shoes, marijuana a few times a week, checking Facebook every hour, a string of unfulfilling relationships, or the need to be constantly pushing for success. There are so many ways it expresses itself. We can do this for decades before realizing that what we are really looking for is unattainable from external sources. It all comes back to acknowledging the pain, hurt, discomfort or … Continued

Honing Your Meditation Skills

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We know from Patanjali the 8 limbs of yoga – yama, niyama, pranayam, asana, pratyahar, dharana, dhyana, samadhi. All are essential as we mature as yoga practitioners and meditators. Yogi Bhajan often calls Kundalini Yoga the “yoga of awareness”. What does he mean by “awareness”. Awareness is applied attention and focussed concentration (dharana) during meditation or yoga practice, and in daily living. This could mean attention on the breath, attention on the tip of the tongue while chanting, attention at the third eye point, attention to some part of the body in a posture, attention to a devotional feeling, attention to mantra – both repeating it or listening to it, attention to whatever arises as we practice, attention to the moment. What awareness is not, is thinking. It is helpful to me to observe myself while meditating or practicing yoga and to catch the activity of the mind, recognizing when … Continued

Using Meditation to Become Free of Your Complexes

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We Identify with Our Complexes Rather than Our Spirit Though our reactive patterns served a particular function while we were growing up, our problem is that we identify with them as who we are and we allow them to rule us. We become stuck experiencing the world through the same pair of childhood glasses, not realizing that our vision is clouded by these experiences. We limit ourselves with an identity, no matter how functional it may be, of “I am a mother; or wife, or teacher, or human, or middle aged, or black, or doctor, or French, or Japanese etc.” When we say in a twelve step meeting, “My name is Jane and I am an alcoholic”, we are identifying with the complex of the alcoholic. A more truthful way of articulating this might be, “My name is Jane and I am a spiritual being who in the past used … Continued

Meditations to Practice on the Full Moon

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On the full moon, the sun’s radiance is strongest – reflected both from the earth and from the moon to the earth. We receive this light. If light = consciousness, then it is when we have access to greatest consciousness. We can begin a 40 day meditation on the new moon, and continue building its effectiveness daily to perhaps have most profound experiences on the full moon. From the new moon to the full moon there is a building up of energy. From the full moon to the new moon there is a winding down of energy. Many processes in nature are linked to the cycling of the moon. Biodynamic gardeners plant most flower, fruit and vegetable seeds two days before the new moon, finding that both light and gravitational conditions following the new moon assist in root and foliage growth. Thus it is good to begin a 40 day … Continued

Yoga can Decrease the Stress Response in Pregnant Women

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Pregnant women can encourage life long health in their children by being relaxed during pregnancy. When women are stressed, their cortisol levels increase, which can have detrimental effects on the fetus, priming them to a lifelong exaggerated response to stress, and perhaps a susceptibility to addictive behaviour patterns to diffuse the stress response. Yoga and meditation are effective tools in pregnancy to decrease the stress response, protecting mother and child. A 2009 study published in the Int J Gynaecol Obstet Mar;104(3) explored the effect of yoga on stress and heart rate variability in pregnant women. One hundred and twenty-two healthy women between the 18th and 20th week of pregnancy in Bangalore, India, were randomized to practicing yoga and deep relaxation or standard prenatal exercises 1-hour daily. The results revealed that perceived stress decreased by 31.57% in the yoga group and increased by 6.60% in the control group. During a guided … Continued

The Yogi’s Prayer

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The Yogi’s Prayer Relinquish desire and attachment Enjoy “what is” right now. Accept pain and pleasure Equally in peace. Release selfishness and pride Cultivate humility, and a generous heart. Surrender doubt Trusting the architecture of undivided wholeness. Let the words of enlightened beings guide thoughts and actions. Do not be drawn by the senses into craving or aversion, Sleep just enough, Eat lightly, Apply the principle of moderation. Let truth, contentment and self-discipline be your companions. Neither dwell in fear, nor animosity Be meticulously conscious While living in the world, Keep the connection to God intact. Dedicate each thought, word and deed to the Infinite. Override the ego. Love the Beloved all hours of night and day, Even among family activity, work and play. Maintain your yogic postures with deep internal silence Purity exists beyond thought. Lovingly attune to the sound current of Infinity Vibrate the unstruck melody. Listen with … Continued