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Living Life Without Fear

This is a fantastic talk by my teacher Thom Knoles

Life Without Fear: Cultivating Personal Invincibility by Thom Knoles

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August 8th, 2013 Los Angeles Knowledge Meeting in Santa Monica WHAT YOU REALLY DESERVE The True Story of Karma. It's better than you think. You do actually deserve the best. 

Another beautiful explanation from my teacher Thom Knoles. Grab a cuppa, sit back and relax while you listen.

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Thoughts in Meditation

One of the most common experiences that we come to terms with as new meditators (and even as seasoned meditators) is accepting thoughts as part of meditation.

When we first learn to meditate many of us experience those “magic moments” of depth and transcendence that feel particularly delicious to us. Generally our preference is to favour these deep meditations, where we dive in and come out at the end of our twenty minutes feeling like we’ve had a two-hour nap, but without the grogginess!

And then other times we experience those thought-filled meditations. The ones where we are sometimes not even sure that we’ve meditated at all because the experience is a soda stream of non-stop thinking… “I don’t have time to meditate, I’ve got to cook dinner for the kids/partner/myself, oh the neighbours are screaming again, should I go and tell them to be quiet, why can’t it just be quiet, I didn’t pick up the milk, what am I going to do for breakfast, I’ll just get a muffin at the café downstairs from the office, oh no I’ve got that important meeting, I wish I could get out of it …” And on it goes.

What we remind ourselves as Vedic Meditators is that the experience of thoughts in meditation signals to us that stress has just been released in the body and we know that this is a good thing. Our attitude with stress is that it’s “better out than in” even if that means a thought-filled meditation. When the mind settles down into its least excited state, we experience the deep rest that our body craves. The body being opportunistic, starts to get active with releasing and repairing the backlog of stress in our system. With the body being more active our mind is brought up to the active level of thinking and looks for content to entertain itself.

It’s the thought-filled meditations where stress has been released from our physiology that allows us to experience the deeper more blissful experience in other meditations. If we’re only managing to get one meditation in a day, it’s good – better than nothing - we're maintaining the status quo. But if we're getting both meditations in, morning and evening, then we are clearing the backlog of stress that we've built up over our lifetime and this only results in good things. 

The take-away from this? Thoughts in meditation are A-Okay! Keep at it, you're doing great! 

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Meditator Profile - Meliisa

Melissa is a busy woman! She's a partner to Joel, Mum of two young children, a nurse, post-grad student and an athlete. Melissa is also a Vedic Meditator and I spent some time catching up with her about her experiences of learning to meditate and the positive impact it has had on both her and her family. 

  When did you first start to notice the benefits of meditation and what were they? I first noticed I was less on edge. I felt more in control of myself. I began to experience clarity and inner calm. 

What are the main benefits you experience now and what keeps you meditating? I am able to balance work / life commitments more effectively and I have improved relationships with family and friends. Before I learned to meditate I used to carry a lot of stress which caused poor health. I was diagnosed with a connective tissue disorder and put on medication for life to control the symptoms of fatigue, and joint pain.

With meditation I have been able to come off this medication, which is a huge milestone. I have learned reduce stress in a natural way and now my health has improved dramatically. My immune system works better than it ever has. I now believe I never had a disease and that it was stress that caused anxiety and physical symptoms. Now stress-free, I am healthy, pain free and achieving my dreams.

How do you feel after meditation? I feel recharged, relaxed and ready to face whatever the rest of the day brings. I feel that the world around me has slowed down, or rather my mind has slowed. My body is in a comfortable rhythm and like a weight has lifted from my shoulders. 

Has your sleep changed as a result of meditation? Definitely. I sleep very well. I don't have racing thoughts as I lay down to sleep. 

Have other people commented on any change or difference in you or on your meditation practice, and if so, what do they say? People comment on how much I can handle and fit into my life while making big achievements with my sport, family, education and career. Being able to carry yourself with motivation, positivity and enthusiasm brings with it a good aura. This positivity certainly rubs off on others and they comment on it.

Where, when and how do you normally fit your meditations in? In the morning I usually get up earlier than my family and meditate in the lounge. In the afternoon, I usually come home on a late lunch break or I sneak out to the car to meditate during afternoon tea. Otherwise if these two fail, then I do it in the evening. This is a bit trickier and i have to be creative. 

Where is the strangest place you've meditated? On the toilet seat

Do you have any tips/strategies for how to get meditation in twice a day? You have to be creative sometimes. Once you realise the benefits you just seem to manage to find the 20 minutes. Its something your body craves and needs. Instead of sitting down for that quiet cuppa... meditate. There is always a million things to do. Remind yourself that meditation is a priority to be able to do those million things 'well'. My grandma always said 'if it's worth doing, it's worth doing well!'

What are the things that you treasure most in your life at the moment? How has meditation affected those things? My lovely children get more quality time with me. I am more relaxed around them and the small things that used to stress me out don't anymore. Meditation takes away that 'edgy' feeling you get when you are stressed as you release all this negative stress through meditation. I enjoy better relationships with the important people in my life

Would you recommend other people learn to meditate?  Absolutely without a doubt!

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September 14, 2014 Los Angeles Knowledge Meeting @ Skirball Center Life Without Fear: Cultivating Personal Invincibility To harness the constructive aspects of change requires higher consciousness. 

I highly recommend grabbing a cup of tea, curling up in a comfy chair and listening to this enlightening talk by my teacher Thom Knoles about living life without fear and cultivating personal invincibility.

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The Important thing is this: To be able, at any moment, to sacrifice what we are for what we could become." Maharishi Mahesh Yogi #lotusmeditationcentre www.lotusmeditationcentre.com

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The Art of Letting Go

Control is the opposite of evolution and progressive change. 

Why is it important to let go of control? If we can’t let go, then we are not able move beyond where we are. We learnt to meditate, not to maintain the status-quo, but in order to experience improvement of some or all aspects of our lives, whether that be to feel calmer, to feel less stressed, to improve our health or for any other reason. Ultimately we learnt to meditate in the pursuit of greater happiness and progressive change. 

As Maharishi Mahesh Yogi says;

“The important thing is this: To be able, at any moment, to sacrifice what we are, for what we could become.”

So how do we let go? We do this naturally every time we sit to meditate. We surrender and let go of all the other possibilities for where we could be placing our time and attention in order to sit for twenty minutes and experience the silence and bliss of pure Being. We let go of activity, of the need to be doing, doing, doing, we let go of our identity and the ideas of who we are. We allow our individual wave to dive in and become one with the ocean.   Within our meditation there are a number of ways that we practice letting go of control. We effortlessly let go of control of the mantra in order for it to have the opportunity to self-refine and get us to the point where the mantra drops away completely and we experience transcendence into pure Being, that blissful experience, which we adore and which feels so delicious to us.   Within our meditation we also practice letting go of control of thought. Regularly within each meditation we have that moment of spontaneous realization that we are off the mantra. We realize that as a result of stress-release, we have been captivated in a thought-stream and with that “aha” moment we then we let go of those thoughts in order to effortlessly come back to, and favour the mantra.   And lastly, we practice the art of letting go of the need to judge our experience of our meditation. We let go of that inner voice that says, “I haven’t been meditating properly, I’ve barely thought my mantra, I’m not a good meditator, I can’t be doing it right.” We let go of that self-critique and self-judgment and effortlessly come back to our mantra.   As with most skills in life, we need to practice what we want to become good at it. Fortunately, meditation acts like a “letting-go" muscle that we flex twice a day. As we grow our consciousness and bring more of the experience of Being into our day-to-day life, we naturally start to relinquish the need to be in control all the time. This gives us the freedom to explore other possibilities of who we can become.  Letting go of control allows us to exercise our adaptation capability. It allows us to practise lifting ourselves out of the ever-repeating known and popping ourselves into the unknown with an attitude of "let's see". And what we will see is that the unknown is where all the good stuff happens. After all, as Albert Einstein was purported to have said, "the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."

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A beautiful discussion between Eckhart Tolle and Neale Donald Walsch with a powerful moment of silence at the end of the talk. 

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peace. it does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hardwork. it means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart.

unknown

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Thriving through the Holidays

It's the end of the year and I don't know about you, but I feel the upcoming holidays are well deserved after a big year. That being said, the energy out there at the moment is frenetic, the roads are more clogged with traffic, people are hurrying everywhere to get last minute gifts and food, to finish work and to get to their office parties and elsewhere. It's certainly a time for us to practice our adaptation energy and patience. Here are some tips for thriving through the holidays. 

Meditation Despite the extra time-off that most of us have, it's often harder to get our twenty minute practice in twice-a-day during the holidays because we're out of our normal routine. We might have more family and friends that we have to work our practice around, we have the opportunity to sleep in, we also might just be feeling so relaxed that we decide we can skip a couple of meditations here and there. 

Remaining dedicated to our meditation practice is what will help us to start 2015 in the best possible way. Try and get your meditation practice in first thing in the morning after you wake up and then plan when you'll get your second practice in, straight after your first. If you need to, enlist the help of a friend or family member to cover your absence while you're meditating. Meditating is the best way to stay sane around our family at this time of the year! Stillness Whether you meditate or not, find moments of stillness throughout the day. Take a moment, stop, close your eyes if you like, breathe in deep, feel how your breath is your lifeline to that feeling of vitality, gently place your attention on and listen for sounds both far and near, feel the warmth of the sun or the cool breeze on your skin, feel the solidness of the ground underneath your feet supporting you, notice the colours and the beauty around you. Take a few moments, 30 seconds, one minute or even ten, whenever you can to help you come back to your centre. Eat Well, Drink Well, Be Well We are what we eat and drink. At this time of the year we tend to indulge a bit more than we normally would. You don't have to completely abstain from the pudding and the champagne, but pay attention to your body and what it's trying to tell you when you are consuming food and drink. If it doesn't feel charming to reach for that third beer, listen to and honour your body and have something else instead. If the belly is feeling full to bursting, try putting a plate aside for later in the day when you're more hungry. Your body will thank you.

Give Abundantly Give what you want to receive. Both in time, attention and gifts. Give the highest and best quality and it will come back to you ten-fold.  Look for the highest Our family are often the ones that know how to push our buttons the best. If you're having a trying moment with your loved ones, remember to look for the highest in that person; the good intention behind their words or actions, their need to love and be loved, even the way the light shines on their hair or the way their face changes when they smile - place your attention on that and notice how that changes the interaction you're having. What you place your attention on grows, so focus on the best in the other. If you can't think of anything, imagine the person as a baby and the innocence and cuteness of that image should help to soften the situation. Happy Holidays from Lotus Meditation Centre! Have a wonderful holiday and I look forward to seeing many of you in the New Year when group meditation resumes on Wednesday 7th January.

If you are in Sydney over the break, come and join us for a New Years Day Group Meditation and Picnic at Bronte Park, opposite the beach. We are meeting at 3pm and will meditate together at 3.30pm. Bring your swimmers, your friends and family, plenty of sunscreen and water and a plate of food to share. See www.lotusmeditationcentre.com for details. With lots of love and best wishes for peace and happiness for you, your family and friends this holiday. Jai Guru Deva Love Lauren x