Self and Positive Awareness

This portion of my site is dedicated to my mom, Martha, my grandmother, Nana T.; for guiding me and sharing the beauty of positive awareness that you express with your every thought and action!

I was fortunate growing up, having a mom and grandmother that exuded positive thinking naturally at every moment of their life. As I reflect back on their life, their bodies express that through their lightness of being, their healthy state of well-being both mentally which unfolds too physically. Their beauty of self attracts effortlessly love, joy, happiness, health, and wealth.

The following few comments are part of the teachings of Polarity and Ayurveda in regards to self and positive awareness:

• We are responsible for all our actions, past and present, and experience the consequences in our physical, mental and emotional state of health.
• Life’s own radiance exceeds all when we truly forget self and its limitations and sufferings, by being lost in Love and Life is the only Jewell of Reality worth living for.
• Life is the expression of the soul man from within outward. When we succeed too well in the outer, we usually forget the inner Source of life altogether until illness or other misfortunes strikes.
• If we really want health, we must be willing to work for it, the same as we do for wealth, education, or any other accomplishment in life. And those who seek health, truth and love will find it, if they devote themselves to it with zest and a purpose that never waivers. We become that which we contemplate.
• Negative thoughts and fears make grooves in the mind as negative energy waves of despondency and hopelessness. We cannot think negative thoughts and reap positive results, and therefore we must assert the positive, and maintain a positive pattern of thinking and acting as our ideal.
• In our daily eating and drinking must only be for health, through that state then we will find a growing sense of well-being and accompanied by the energy and happiness that comes when one is no longer bound by cravings and appetite.

I am excited to have recently become a member of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, a nonprofit organization whose purpose is to explore human consciousness through frontier research, personal inquiry, and learning communities. Their quest involves a new story for humanity that integrates science and spirit, reminding us of our wholeness and connectedness to one another, to the Earth, and to the inner self. For over thirty years they have worked to expand knowledge of the nature and potentials of the mind and spirit, and to apply that knowledge to advance health and well-being for humanity and our planet.

Affirmations and Imagery

They increase the clarity and strength of what you are saying to your unconscious.

Affirmation is a positive action of something you want to create for yourself and
you repeat this statement over and over again to yourself.

Example:
"Every day in every way I am getting better and better." Theh statement contains
three important elements:

1. Contains "I"
2. Is a Positive Statement
3. Is in the Present

• It is important to use the word I or my. Put yourself in the picture.
• Use a positive tone; find a way to say what you want with a positive outcome. Watch for negatives like not, can't, never.
• The third aspect is putting it in the present.  This is often the hardest for people to do.  It feels like a lie or silly to say something that is obviously not true.
• Yet we know that it is essential to create the feeling of what you want in the present.
                 Example: "My skin is clear and healthy." hard to write, say or believe when you are covered in a rash.
• It is important for you to create the image of what you want, and you want to have it NOW. 
• It is much more powerful if said in the Present.  Example: Even if it takes you nine minutes to run a mile, saying the affirmation:
                 "I am running the mile in 5 mts." this will help program your body/mind to get to that speed.
• Build a picture of success, make it a positive picture.  Capture the feeling of accomplishing your goal.  Make it in present time.  In essence you are bringing the external world closer to the inner world you are consciously creating. Now you are ready to use your affirmation.  Image the full meaning of the statement as many times a day, day after day.

Along with affirmations comes IMAGERY.

• It seems that the unconscious does not recognize an event that happens vs. one that is visualized.
• Many athletes believe they can increase their performance by visualizing their accomplishments.
• Imagery has been used in medicine since ancient times.  Shaman and folk healers consider imagery essential in awakening the self healing powers of their patients.
• Athletes and business executives are being taught imagery to enhance their professional skills.

All of this amounts to reprogramming old beliefs and limitations and also programming in new beliefs using affirmations and vivid visualization.

DREAM BIG!! HAVE FUN DOING IT!!

Intentions

Ayurveda says, “Whatever you put intention on expands in life.”  Our Intentions have organized infinite powers.  The clarity of our thoughts equals the purity of our intentions.  What can we do to achieve this clarity of thougtht:

• List desires
• Release desires
• Practice present moment awareness; trust the Universe.

Try your own intention program – see below in detail how to start…..

There is a brilliant book by Lynn McTaggart called “The Intention Experiment”.  I encourage anyone interested in Intentions to read it.  It looks at many scientific experiments and proves the tremendous success it has to transform thoughts into healing power.  I would like to share with you a few bits from this truly amazing book:

Firstly this book was written with the premise that: thought affects physical reality.  A great deal of research exploring the nature of consciousness, carried on for more than thirty years in prestigious scientific institutions around the world, shows that thoughts are capable of affecting everything from the simplest machines to the most complex living beings.  This evidence suggests that human thoughts and intentions are an actual physical “something” with the astonishing power to change our world.

• “Every thought we have is a tangible energy with the power to transform.  A thought is not only a thing; a thought is a thing that influences other things.”
• “Within a living cell, molecules communicate, not by  chemicals but by electromagnetic signaling at low frequencies, and each molecule has its own signature frequency.”
• According to experimental evidence, the power of thought transcends  time and space, supporting the power and effectiveness  of distance healing.
• Marilyn Schlitz, vice president for research and education at the Institute of Noetic Sciences defined intentions as “the projection of awareness, with the purpose and efficacy, toward some object or outcome.” Scientists provided evidence that thinking certain directed thoughts could affect one’s own body, inanimate objects, and virtually all manner of living things, from single celled organisms to human beings.
• Recent research demonstrates that living things are constant transmitters and receivers of measureable energy.
• Intention has already been employed by many to cure illness, alter physical processes and influence events.  It is not a special gift but a learned skill.  Indeed, we already use intentions in many aspects of our daily lives.
• When someone holds a focused thought, he may be altering the very molecular structure of the object of his intention.
• Research also demonstrates that meditation alters brainwave patterns, even among new practitioners.  Neophytes who had practiced mindfulness meditation for eight weeks showed increased activation of the “happy-thoughts” part of the brain and enhanced immune function.  Evidence shows that speech and many other functions are produced in both sides of the brain and that the brain works best when it can operate as a total unit, which meditation achieves. Scientists Davidson, Krippner and Lazar demonstrated the intense focus of certain types of meditation can be a portal to hyperspace and peak awareness, transporting meditators to a different layer of reality.  Meditation can also be energizing more than a calming practice, which can help us rewire our brains to improve our reception and transmission of intention.  Meditation is described by healers as an intention that requires initial focus but then a type of surrender, a letting go of the self as well as the outcome.

Your Intention Program:

• Create a place where you can sit in a comfortable position. This place is where you will set your intentions each day.
• Meditate either through connecting to your breath or the use of a mantra.
• Move awareness to present moment.
• Focus on compassion and joy, making a meaningful connection
• State your intention and make it specific
• Mentally release every moment of it with all your senses
• Visualize, in vivid detail, your intentions as established fact
• Time it right, does this when you feel happy and well
• Surrender to the power of the Universe and let go of all outcome

Here are some possibilities of where to focus your intentions that can apply to everyday life.  Select something that never happens and something you’d like to see happen.  Have Fun and Enjoy the manifestation of the intention!!!

• Receiving flowers from your husband
• Having your wife sit down and watch a football game with you
• Having your child help with the dishes
• Having your child wake up on his or her own in the morning and get ready for school without prompting
• Improving the weather
• Having your child make his or her bed
• Having your dog stop barking at night
• Stopping the cat from scratching the sofa
• Having your child watch television for two hours less

 

Resources:  The Chopra Center, The Intention Experiment by Lynn McTaggart

 

Meditation

What does meditation mean to me? Always being a very active person, busy in life with family and with passions to expand my own business, the thought of taking thirty minutes in the morning and the early evening seemed surely impossible. Having already incorporated affirmations and peaceful time to tune into nature and the energies around me, I didn’t think meditation could offer much more to me. Now fully engaged in a meditation practice from my learning’s at The Chopra Center seminars since Feb.’09, I have to say my life has changed in magical ways. I no longer look at meditation as time away from doing something else, it has given me the ability to accomplish more as I come from a place of enhanced clarity and focus. I find meditating has brought a heightened awareness in all avenues of my life from food to nourish me to manifesting my deepest desires of bringing my passions and joy to the next level. Not only experiencing on a spiritual level but on a profound physical level. A strong immune system, increased energy, great clarity and focus, a sense of calm in all aspects of life even though my schedule is very hectic. I can tap into the silent space “gap” of knowingness that allows me to make conscious choices in all avenues. This translates to beautiful love and joy in my life!!

Through meditation, you will become increasingly conscious of your higher self, which is silent, whole, creative and blissful. Your higher self wants you to make choices that bring peace, health, love and meaning to your life. Directly accessing the field of pure consciousness is the most profound way to influence our state of health. Through the regular practice of meditation we can contact and influence the source of our body, mind and emotions.

Meditation benefits the body, mind and soul. Through inner exploration, meditation awakens creativity, healing and transformation. We spend most of our lives looking outward to the world for form and phenomena, believing that the source of happiness, peace and fulfillment lies external to ourselves. During meditation, we expand our internal reference point from local to non-local, from constricted to expanded awareness. Meditation allows us to explore our essential nature, restoring the memory or wholeness in our lives.

Meditation is not about forcing your mind to be quiet; rather it’s a process to rediscover the quietness that’s already there. Behind the screen of our internal dialogue is the silence of pure awareness – a silence that is not disturbed by thoughts of the past or concerns of the future.

Through meditation we are able to access the silent spaces between thoughts; we enter into the field of unbounded awareness. The silence we experience in meditation is in the “gap” between thoughts. Glimpsing this field of quiet, expanded awareness allows you to recognize that your essential self is not the perpetual traffic of thoughts that fill your mind, but the silent witness to your thoughts, words and actions. Regular practice of meditation helps establish inner quietness in your life, providing access to creativity and enabling you to make life-affirming choices. Meditation helps us recognize that we are capable of making conscious choices that enable us to experience greater peace, love and success.

During Meditation the body shifts into restful awareness, we experience:

• Decreased heart rate
• Normalization of blood pressure
• Quiet breathing
• Reduced stress hormones
• Reduced sweating
• Strengthened immunity

Science has confirmed that meditation can be helpful in the treatment of many common health disorders, including hypertension, anxiety, chronic pain and infertility. Meditation is now a component of mind body programs around the world.

How long until I notice the benefits of meditation?

The benefits of meditation accrue from our first experience. Each of us grows at our own pace. Some people notice dramatic changes immediately, while for others it may take weeks or months. It is not uncommon for other people to notice changes in you before you do. If you meditate regularly, the benefits will become evident over time.

Will Primordial Sound Meditation cure my health problems?

Meditation is a process for restoring balance, harmony, and the memory of wholeness throughout the mind-body system. Although many people have notices beneficial changes in their lives, meditation should not be regarded as a treatment for any particular health problem.

Guided Meditation – Following the Breath

Please sit comfortably and close your eyes.

Ask yourself the following few questions (repeat each question 3 times):

• Who Am I? You may not know the answer to this question but this may be a good time to start this dialog with the universe.
• What Do I Want? The answers can be material, spiritual, ethereal, physical, emotional…anything you would like to see fulfilled.
• What is my Dharma or My Purpose in Life? How can I help, How can I serve?

Take a deep breath in and exhale out. Let the Universe now sort out all the details.

Next, gently allow your awareness go to your breathing. Simply observe your breath innocently as you breathe in and out. Do not try to alter your breath in any conscious way.

As you observe your breath, you may notice that it changes. It may vary in speed, rhythm or depth. You may even notice that it seems to stop for a time. Whatever happens with your breathing, simply observe it. Innocently watch the in and out of your breath.

From time to time your attention may drift away from your breath and go to the thought in the mind, a sensation in the body, or a sound in the environment. Whenever you notice that you are not observing your breath, gently bring your awareness back to your breathing.

For the next few minutes, relinquish any expectations you may have about this process. If you find that you’re waiting for a particular experience to occur, treat this as you would any other thought and gently bring your awareness back to the breath.

Continue for several minutes. Try for 10 minutes.

So Hum Namah - mantra

Mantra in Sanskrit = mind

Sanskrit = ancient language

So = Is True

Hum = Is Self

Namah = Coming back to

So hum namah = The essence of coming back to the true self.

Now take a slow deep breath through your nose while thinking the word So.

Exhale slowing through your nose while hiding the word Hum.

Allow your breathing to flow easily, silently repeating So Hum with each inflow and outflow of your breath.

Whenever your attention drifts to thoughts in your mind, sounds in your environment, or sensations in your body, gently return to your breath, silently repeating So Hum.

Continue this process for twenty to thirty minutes with an attitude of effortlessness and simplicity.

Start with 10-15mts, each morning and evening and build up to 30 mts. The best times to meditate are just after awakening in the morning and before you eat dinner in the evening.

When the time is up, sit with your eyes closed for a couple of minutes before resuming your daily activity.

The most important aspect of your meditation practice is that you approach it with innocence and without expectations of what is supposed to happen. The gates of our inner awareness open through surrender, not through any effort on our part. So just be easy with the practice.

Think your mantra gently, effortlessly.

When you become aware that you are not thinking the mantra,

Gently come back to it.

Relinquish resistance or anticipation during meditation.

You may experience:

• Falling asleep, this is common. It just means you are tired, rest assured your body is getting exactly what it needs.
• Thoughts. They are a natural expression of conscious mind. Having a lot of thoughts when you sit down to meditate means that you are releasing a lot of accumulated stress. When you find yourself having thoughts during meditation, just notice them, and innocently return to observing your breath or repeating the So Hum mantra.
• Slipping into the Gap. You will have the experience in which your mental activity quiets. It is the experience of awareness itself. In this type of experience, you are aware, but you are not aware that you are aware. You have slipped in the silent “gap” between your thoughts.
• Repeating your mantra. As you repeat your mantra, you will notice that it is just like a thought except it has not meaning. Silently repeating this vibration over and over again will not create thoughts because it is a vibration not a thought or a word. As you repeat the mantra, it may change. The mantra will become faster and slower, louder and fainter; it may even become jumbled or distorted. However it changes just continue to repeat it innocently without resisting changes. Sometimes you will notice that you are having thoughts simultaneously while you are repeating your mantra. When you notice this, just drift back to the mantra.

Even though meditation is the single most powerful tool for personal growth, remember it is equally as important to maintain balance in all areas of your life. Eat a healthy diet, exercise regularly, get enough sleep, and don’t take life too seriously.

Studies show Westerners practicing a mantra meditation technique showed physiological changes; breathing patterns slowed, oxygen consumption fell, the heart pumped less blood, and brain-wave patterns became more apparent. These studies also importantly found that people practicing meditation became less anxious, more sociable, and more successful in their worldly endeavors. When meditation is integrated into your daily routine, the experience of silence begins to become a part of your every day, all your activities are performed with more awareness, balance and joy.

Enjoy your meditation and the bliss that follows……

Primordial Sound Meditation

Great information I wish to share from The Chopra Center; questions and answers.

Live in the present, because it is the only moment you have. Keep your attention on to what is here and now. Look for the fullness in every moment!

What is the difference between Primordial Sound Meditation and other forms of mantra meditation?

All meditations, which silently use a mantra, have a similar goal; to take your awareness beyond thought, into pure silence, pure awareness. The mantras used in Primordial Sound Meditation and the way in which they are selected are unique. It is our experience that meditation is a direct path self-knowledge. We can experience the benefits of meditation without adopting an entirely new belief system.

How long until I notice the benefits of meditation?

The benefits of meditation accrue from our first experience. Each of us grows at our own pace. Some people notice dramatic changes immediately, while for others it may take weeks or months. It is not uncommon for other people to notice changes in you before you do. If you meditate regularly, the benefits will become evident over time.

Will Primordial Sound Meditation cure my health problems?

Meditation is a process for restoring balance, harmony, and the memory of wholeness throughout the mind-body system. Although many people have notices beneficial changes in their lives, meditation should not be regarded as a treatment for any particular health problem.

Resource: The Chopra Center