Meditaion

All of the harm, fear and suffering in the world are caused by attachment to the self: why should I hold on to this great demon?
~ Shantideva
On my journey, I determined that I was not my emotions. I realized that I was not my body, either. The question still remained, “Who am I?” The purpose of meditation is to train the mind so that we may see clearly through the layers of our own ignorance until the truth of who we are can be revealed.
If we look to The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, we find:
Remember these teachings, remember the clear light, the pure bright shining white light of your nature. It is deathless.
If we look to the Holy Bible in Luke 17:20, we find Jesus saying:
The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, ‘Here it is’ or ‘There it is’, for behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

In Corinthians 3:16:
Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?

The following are basic beginning steps to meditation. If you explore, you will find that there are many approaches and depths to meditation. I encourage you to explore and practice as much as you can. Meditation practice is the vehicle that accelerated my journey on the path of knowing the truth of who I am, why I am here, and how I should live. I have taught the following techniques to many beginners, including my own teenage son. They have all reported great success.
Start by having a goal for your meditation. Focus the mind on being empty. It has been said that prayer is our way of talking to God and meditation is allowing God to talk to us. How many times were you told by your parents or teachers that you cannot receive new information or direction if you are talking or not paying attention?
Once you are able to maintain a quiet state of mind, then you can start working on other goals, such as clearing the mind of current or past negative emotions. Meditation is also the way to create affirmations for your future desires and goals.
Begin by selecting a quiet, calming space. Be sure to silence your phone, turn off your music, and dim the lights if you can. You may sit in a strait back chair or use a cushion and sit on the floor. The important thing is to use good posture. You must be able to comfortably keep the neck and spine in line for at least 15 minutes to start. If you are currently challenged with an injury that does not allow this, then lie down on the floor instead. Your back should be flat, and you should be facing up.
Begin breathing deeply. Take deep breaths in through the nose. Count slowly to nine as you inhale, pause for a count of one, exhale through the nose for a count of nine, pause for one, and then continue with the inhale. Continue this rhythm as you empty the mind of any thoughts except for the counting of the breath.
When you feel calm and relaxed and your mind is clear, start a visualization that applies to your meditation goal. For example, if I want to affirm my goal to be thinner, I would imagine myself thinner. First, question your intention. Do you wish to be thinner for the sake of your health? Do you wish to be thinner because you think people will like you better? What is your reason for desiring to be thinner? Your intention should be correct and truly for the good of yourself and/or all beings.
The visualization needs to be as strong as possible. Imagine every detail of your body and how it will look. You can even use an old picture of yourself when you were thinner to help support this work. On the other hand, your meditation goal might be to heal a part of your body that is ill. In this case, visualize a white light from within you going to the sick part of your body. Imagine this part of your body healing.
Empower your visualization with emotion. To illustrate this technique, I will use the meditation goals already mentioned. If I were doing the first meditation, I would evoke the emotions that I would be feeling if I were already thin. Basically, I am tying an emotion to the visualization. This is much like when we watch images on a movie screen that create emotional responses within us. If I were doing the second meditation, I might imagine feeling pain-free and the joy of being able to live a healthy life.
End your meditation with a feeling of thankfulness. Be thankful and know that your energy has taken root. Soon, with your nurturing, this energy will grow and be realized. The soil, the sun, and the water all nurture and support whatever seed is sown. If a gardener plants tomato seeds but prays day and night to the sun and earth to give him beautiful roses, his efforts will be in vain. Likewise, we can wish and hope and pray for a better life tomorrow, but we must plant the seeds for that new life today.
Once you have filled yourself with thankfulness, release your desire to a higher power. Do not feel that you have to hold onto it and think about it all the time to make it happen. This is attachment. It is like a child running to his mother crying because his shoe laces are knotted and he cannot untie them. He asks his mother to untie the laces. Of course the mother is happy to do this. All the child must do is give her the shoes. Instead, the child clutches the shoes tighter to his chest and drops to his knees crying louder and begging for her help. How ridiculous must that child look to his mother? So, like the child, we must let our desires go and have faith that the work is being done. Only revisit your desire in the time that you have set aside for your next meditation.
BASIC MEDITATION TECHNIQUE
1. Have a goal.
2. Create or find a quite space.
3. Use good posture.
4. Practice rhythmic, diaphragmic breathing in order to calm and clear the mind. The mind must be clear before you go any further.
5. Begin your visualization.
6. Empower the visualization with emotion.
7. Be thankful and surrender the meditation to a higher power.

Meditation led me to the truth of who I am. This truth is painfully difficult to express in words since they become limited and bound in the mind of the reader. How does one capture a sunbeam and give it as a gift? My true nature is energy and has the vibrational quality of pure love. This is simple enough, but I will try to elaborate for those that do not have the wisdom of this direct experience.
Our bodies are made up of billions of cells that are being created or dying each second. How do we feel about that? Most of us are pretty indifferent since it is the natural healthy process of the body. How do our cells feel about it? I have come to understand that my entire physical body is no different in the scope of all manifested material creation than the single cell within it.
No worries, though, because I am not my physical body. Instead, I am a spiritual ball of energy that is a "cell in the body" of the omnipresent energy consciousness. Sages and saints have given the omnipresent energy consciousness many different names. Some call it God. Others call it Allah. The yogis call it Om, and there are many more.
Whatever we call it, this energy cannot be created or destroyed. It was perfect in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. Energy is present in all creation. So, since this is true, I understand that I am also a part of you, and we cannot be separated. We experience and test ourselves through one another and all creation.

Training the Breath On the day that you were born, you began to die. Do not waste a single moment more! ~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche On my journey, I determined that I was not my emotions, but the question, “Who am I?” still had to be answered. Then I thought, “Am I the breath?” I remember when my son’s little body sucked in a great big breath as soon as he left the comfort of my womb. The doctors said he was alive. The word inspire means to breathe in. When my mother’s body became sick and weak, she stopped breathing, and the doctors told me she had died. The word expire means to breathe out. Breath is very important to the health and well-being of the physical body. It has a great effect on our appearance of liveliness, inspiration, youthfulness, and vigor. On the other hand, if not used properly, it contributes to our appearance of being deflated, depleted, aged, and “deathly” ill. The first thing I always teach a client is the importance of breathing. Most clients look at me pretty funny when I tell them that they are going to learn how to breathe. Many of them question why they are paying good money to learn something that they have been doing all of their lives. They start thinking twice when I ask them, “How long can the body go without food?” I wait for the answer, which is usually between 7 to 30 days. Then I ask, “How long can the body go without water?” The answer to this question is usually between 3 and 7 days. Finally, I ask them, “How long can the body go without breathing?” The response is usually big eyes and a smile. “Not very long at all,” they say. They are absolutely right! A large percentage of psychological and physical illnesses can be linked directly to improper breathing. Likewise, many illnesses, including obesity, anxiety, depression, asthma, and allergies, can be cured or brought under control with proper breathing. In their book Breathwalk, Gurucharan Singh Khalsa, Ph.D. and Yogi Bhajan, Ph.D. write: Many illnesses can be cured or brought under control with proper breathing. After decades of research and an exhaustive review of the literature, Dr. Robert Fried concluded in his 1993 The Psychology and Physiology of Breathing: In Behavioral Medicine, Clinical Psychology, and Psychiatry that normal breathing has been overlooked and under-emphasized by most physicians and psychiatrists. His studies showed that abnormal breathing patterns, shallow breathing, or hyperventilation is a complication or causal factor in 50 to 70 percent of medical complaints. By training people in proper breathing, he could alleviate emotional problems, circulatory difficulties, and a range of common complaints. In his best-selling 1995 book, Spontaneous Healing, Dr. Andrew Weil says, “Breathing may be the master function of the body, affecting all others. Restrictions in breathing can be the result of past traumas, both physical and emotional. Most of us have never received instruction about breathing and how to take advantage of it as a harmonizer of mind and body.” It would seem by these statements that the most important bodily function within your control at every moment is breathing. So, what can you do to improve your health on any day no matter what is going on? Be mindful of your breathing. Think happy thoughts and keep your awareness in the present moment. Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist Monk, writer, and peace activist, revealed a powerful insight about breath awareness in his book Breathe! You Are Alive: Breathing is a means of awakening and maintaining full attention in order to look carefully, long, and deeply, see the nature of all things, and arrive at liberation … We live as if we are in a dream. We are dragged into the past and pulled into the future. We are bound by our sorrows, by holding onto anger, unease, and fear. “Liberation,” here means transforming and transcending these conditions in order to be fully awake, at ease and in peace, joyfully and freshly. When we live in this way, our life is worth living, and we become a source of joy to our family and to everyone around us. I will touch on two fundamental breathing techniques. More breathing techniques can be found in the pages of popular medical, athletic, and yoga literature, which are available at major bookstores and libraries. Personally, I have found the widest range and most detailed techniques in yoga-based literature. In many yoga-based texts, the Sanskrit word pranayama is used when referring to breath work. This word means energy guidance. Toning and Tuning Breath It is right mindfulness and attention that allow us to change our behavior. ~ Kalu Rinpoche If you have ever had the opportunity to see a baby lying on his back, you will observe that his little round stomach will rise up and go down as he breathes. This is because his diaphragm, which is located between the lungs and the stomach, is working to pull oxygen to the middle part of his body, which is rich with blood. In turn, the entire body benefits from the freshly oxygenated blood. When we breathe in this way, our intercostal muscles, core muscles, and diaphragm are working and strong. So we can say that when we breathe using the diaphragm, we are toning up as well as tuning in! Many people experience a calmer mind and relaxed body almost instantly when they are breathing properly. The first step is to use good posture. Sit with your neck and spine in line. If you have an injury that makes this difficult, then try lying on your back and bending your knees with a pillow under them. Posture is very important. When you are slouching, it is difficult to be fully aware because you are closing off or pinching energy flow in your spine. (How many times were you told as a child to sit up straight and pay attention?) Next, place your hand on your stomach for the first few breaths to ensure you are breathing correctly. As you breathe in, the stomach should fill like a balloon and push away from the spine. When you exhale, you should gently pull your stomach back to the spine. Practice a few times with your hand over your navel. When you are breathing correctly, bring both hands to your knees or sides and continue breathing. Try to keep your shoulders and neck relaxed. Do not scrunch up your shoulders toward your ears when your inhale. (Many people have a tendency to do this.) After practicing for a few minutes, notice your state of mind. Do you feel as though you have just let go of some stress? Many people experience a calmer mind and relaxed body almost instantly when they are breathing properly. I have had some clients say that finding time to practice healthy lifestyle changes is tough at first. As for breathing techniques, I tell them, “You have to breathe anyway, do not you? All I am suggesting is that you breathe a little deeper.” Balancing Breath We can always begin again. ~ Jack Kornfield Breathing gives you more than oxygen and the release of toxins. Breathing can be used to create an atmosphere of balance in both the body and the mind. B.K.S. Iyengar, a world-renowned yogi, wrote about the power of the breath in bringing about balance in his book, Light on Pranayama: By thus changing the sides for inhalation and exhalation, the energy reaches the remotest parts of the body and brain. The sadhaka (student) gains the secret of even and balanced action in all the quarters of the brain, and thus experiences peace, poise and harmony. Alternating Breath 1. Begin with your neck and spine in line. You will use the thumb and ring finger or the thumb and the index finger of your right hand. 1.(Do whichever feels better to you.) 2. Place the thumb over the right nostril and breathe in slowly and deeply through the open left nostril. (If your nose is stuffy, use your finger to gently lift your cheek and sinus pouch.) 3. Pause for a second after you inhale. 4. Close your left nostril with your finger and open the right nostril by releasing your thumb. (If your nose is stuffy, use your thumb to gently lift your cheek and sinus pouch.) 5. Exhale completely from the right nostril. 6. Pause for a second after you exhale. 7. Breathe in completely through the right nostril with the thumb over the left nostril. Remove the ring finger from the left nostril and exhale completely. This is your pattern: Breathe in>switch off>exhale>breathe in>switch off> exhale>breathe in>switch off>exhale… 8. Do this about twenty times. If you feel this is too much at first, then do what you can and build toward a goal of doing it for at least twenty breaths. Yogis believe that the right nostril controls the “hot” side, or the heated energies, within the body. The left side is believed to rule the “cool” side, or cooling energies, within the body. Breathing through both sides achieves balance. These techniques can help you calm down, rev up, or reduce anxiety and panic. The following techniques can help you calm down, rev up, or reduce anxiety and panic. If you have a medical condition that results in panic attacks or any severe phobias, show these techniques to your health care professional and ask if it is appropriate for you. Cooling Down and Calming Down If you feel stressed, close off the right nostril and breathe through the left side a few times. This can help calm you. Heating Up and Revving Up If you feel tired and you need a boost, close off the left nostril and breathe through the right side a few times. The Pause that Refreshes If you are feeling panicked, take in a deep breath, pause for a moment, exhale, and pause for a moment. Continue this breathing to reduce fear, anxiety, and panic responses.

Make Happy Happen - Training the Mind Part II

Make Happy Happen!

Fill your thoughts with exotic vacations, laughing children, puppy dogs, butterflies, puffy clouds—anything and everything that makes you feel happy. Put a smile on your face and open your eyes wider. Just try it! You will find that it works. You will begin to feel better. The people around you will start treating you differently. Their moods will change when they see you smiling. See how long you can go without thinking negatively. If you find yourself thinking negatively again, do not get frustrated. Simply bring yourself back to your happy thoughts. If the people around you are talking negatively, then simply excuse yourself or change the subject. To be happy, just think and express happiness. It really is that simple. Your body’s expressions often express to others how you are feeling, but a smile, a laugh, or a happy face can also change the way you and others feel.

To see how this works, try doing this powerful exercise.

Just Put on a Happy Face!

1. Smile as you go about your day. Make eye contact and smile at people you pass on the street, clerks, and coworkers—anyone and everyone you encounter.

2. Notice how many people smile back. You will be amazed. It is difficult not to respond with a smile when someone smiles at you.

3. Think about how it makes you feel when someone smiles at you. Before long, you will find that the smile you forced yourself to wear at the beginning of the exercise is because there

you just plain feel better.

When you are in the present, you become the gift.

Another thing you can do to make happy happen is keep your thoughts in the present moment. My grandmother says, “Every moment is a gift. That is why we call it the present.” We must try to remember that we are Human Beings, not Human Doings. Our minds have strong tendencies to leap into thoughts of the past or future.

It is okay to think over a past situation in order to extract the lesson from the experience, but when you obsess about the past, reliving it over and over again, you are scattering your energy. Remember, energy cannot be created or destroyed, and it is very valuable. When your thoughts get stuck in the past or the future, the energy for living your present life is transformed and wasted for that moment. You cannot live your life without being there. Thought energy that is being wasted on past actions could be used in the present moment. Energy used in the present moment can shape your desired future.

Sometimes a client will tell me that he or she has fallen off the diet wagon. The person will say, “I feel terrible about it. Oh, no! Now I am never going to lose weight. I did this wrong, and I did that wrong, and this is what happened!”

It has already happened. It is done. Right? The person is talking about the past and feeling terrible. The past cannot be changed, so I ask the person to leave it behind and move into the present. “At the present,” I say, “you are producing negative emotions that are dumping their chemicals into your body. You are presently ‘spending your energy’ on unhappiness instead of happiness.” That is not the best use of your energy currency.

The client will be half-listening and say, “You are right! I am thinking positively, starting now. I know that I will be thinner one day, and when I am thinner, I will be happy, and I will wear the clothes I like and meet the person of my dreams, and then…”

I tell the person to STOP right there! I say, “That kind of thinking scatters your energy into the future. Set a goal and plan for the future, but concentrate your energy on this moment. Be happy now—in this moment. Take action now for what you have visualized as your future.” I usually tell the client, “Right now, at this moment, instead of wasting your energy on talking about a possible future, you could be using it to exercise—and be creating that future instead!”

When the mind is lucid, relaxed, and experiencing thoughts, then it is present. Imagine that the mind is like a fire hose. Thoughts are like the thousands of gallons of water that are passing through the hose every minute. Most people get caught up in the feelings their thoughts create and believe that this is who they are. This would be like the fire hose thinking that it is the water running through it. Thoughts run, and often ruin, many lives due to this confusion. Your first step to avoiding this delusion is to focus the mind on what is being experienced in the present moment. Stay relaxed and experience each moment as it is. Do not allow emotions to dictate your energy use because this will leave you scattered and confused.

If you are dealing with depression or stress, try asking yourself, “Am I all right now? At this exact moment, am I okay?” Bring your mind into the present moment by asking yourself questions about this moment.

Here is an example: A client might show up and forget to bring a check. I have bills that are due. It is easy to let my mind slip into the future of “what if’s” when such a situation arises.

Instead of filling my mind with anxiety, I bring myself to the present moment and ask myself, “Am I okay right now?” The answer is, “Yes. I have food, clothing, shelter, and many other things to sustain me right now. What am I doing right now? I am filling my mind with feelings of plenty, and I am working with a client who I know will pay me later. Everything is fine right now, in this moment. I am okay right now!”

Right now, at this very moment, we have a mind, which is all the basic equipment we need to achieve complete happiness.

~ Howard Cutler

Training the Mind

Terrible or not, difficult or not, the only thing that is beautiful, noble, religious and mystical is to be happy.
~ Arnaud Desjardins

When I began my journey, I asked myself, “Who am I?”

Am I anger?

Am I jealousy?

Am I sadness?

Am I frustration?

Am I anxiety?

Sometimes you may feel angry, but you are not anger. You may be in a state of anger, but you are not anger. You may be in a state of sadness or fear, but you are not sadness or fear. These are simply changing states of mind. No state of mind is permanent. No matter how sad you are, that feeling will eventually change. No matter how angry you are, that feeling will also pass. We visit different states of mind, residing in them temporarily, just as we can visit—or be in—different states in the United States of America.

On my journey to discovering who I am, I learned that I am not these states of mind—these emotions. But what are emotions?

Emotions are often called feelings because we feel them in the body. That is true because emotions are chemical responses created in the brain. These chemicals do not just stay in the brain: they circulate throughout the body, just like blood, oxygen, and nutrients. Consequently, they can manifest in, and affect the quality and appearance of, the entire body.

Often, we can look at a person and tell if he is worried, peaceful, angry, happy, sad, joyful, sick, or healthy because of the physical appearance of his or her body. If chemicals created from negative emotions are released into the body, imbalances can—and usually do—occur. These imbalances can manifest themselves as something simple, like mild sinus trouble, or as something much more serious, like cancer.

Physical manifestations can result from our emotions, but where do these emotions come from? What are you doing right now to answer that question? Thinking, right? For most of us, our feelings are connected to our thoughts. Thinking positively is the most powerful thing you can start doing today to recreate your life.

Thoughts are real! Energy is required to create a thought. Energy cannot be created nor destroyed. This is a fundamental principle of modern science. On the other hand, energy can be transformed. Just as ice can melt into water, which can evaporate into steam, energy from the body is transformed into a thought in the mind. Once the thought energy takes shape, it has a “life of its own.” That thought will eventually manifest into physical reality, just as steam can be turned into water, which can be turned into ice.

Imagine that thoughts cost money. Most of us expend some form of physical or mental energy to earn money. With that money, we purchase things that we need or desire for our lives. We do not go to our neighbor and buy his garbage. I personally have not had one person offer to pay me for my junk. So, if thoughts cost money, would you buy miserable, angry, jealous, and fearful thoughts to fill your life? I sure wouldn’t!

The good news is that thoughts are free. Even better, we can select which thoughts we want. No matter what is going on in your body, your job, your love life, or other personal circumstances, you have the power at every moment to choose how you will think.

What if you are thinking, “Sure, she makes it sound so simple. She does not understand what I am going through or the people I have to deal with or…”

If that is what you are thinking, then STOP right there!

Maybe I do not understand, and nobody ever will. Fine. I will give you that. All the more reason for you to take personal responsibility for your own thoughts! They are your thoughts. You created them with your own energy. You can change them. It takes discipline to think positively in difficult situations. I never said simple was going to be easy.

My son came home from school one day looking discouraged. I asked him about his day. He told me that the kids and even the teachers at his school all seemed so unhappy. After being surrounded by these people all day, he felt drained and depressed himself. He did not want to go to school anymore. I told him that life was giving him a wonderful opportunity to learn how to start thinking positively. I said that he needed to work hard at training his mind to look for one good quality in each person or situation. This is the way to start thinking positively: find the good qualities and hold them in your thoughts.

Many religious texts teach this technique. For example, the Holy Bible refers to it in Philippians 4:8:

Finally, brothers,

whatever is true,

whatever is noble,

whatever is right,

whatever is pure,

whatever is lovely—

If anything is excellent and praiseworthy, think about such things, and the God of peace will be with you.

I suspect that not only the “God of peace” but also the “Peace of God” will be with you if follow this tenet: Focus your thoughts on what is good in every human being and every situation.

What if you cannot find one good thing in the people or circumstances in your life? What then? Can you answer that question? I can. Here is my answer: If you cannot find one good thing in the situation, then be the one good thing!