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How To Find Happiness – Adyashanti
March 30, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · 2 Comments
How to find happiness, don’t we all want to know?
The pursuit of happiness outside ourselves can only lead to sorrow because anything attained can be lost. Even the search within ourselves can lead to suffering because of unconscious beliefs and misperceptions. In his sword-swinging yet playful manner, Adyashanti cuts to the heart of what’s really true and points to the causeless happiness that comes with knowing the sacred reality of who we are. How to find happiness? – Waking up to our true nature, it’s the only show in town!
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Four Quadrants Of Separation Consciousness
March 27, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · 1 Comment
To help us understand separation consciousness we can break it down into the four quadrants of separation.
Quadrant one: I am separated from mind. This quadrant deals with judgement of our own thoughts. It is me against me and covers all aspects of self doubt, self criticism and self-consciousness. It is the kind of self talk that limits and inhibits us, that tells us we shouldn’t, we couldn’t, we can’t. Impacts our mental well-being and clarity.
Quadrant two: I am separated from body, and emotions. This quadrant contains all the emotions and feelings that we don’t like having and don’t want to have. It also contains all of our judgement and negative feeling about our bodies. Many of the emotional distortions here Impacts negatively on our self image. This impacts our emotional well-being and emotional intelligence.
Quadrant three: I am separated from you; as is separated from them. This is the source of all social division. It operates in all the ways that we create identification based on difference and ignoring similarity. The police and emotional distortions from quadrants one and two are the sources of these social identifications of separation.
Quadrant four: I am separated from Source. This is of course the ultimate source of separation consciousness, from which the previous three quadrants arise. All separation consciousness, egoic identification is the result of our loss of awareness of unity with Source, the Divine.
Obviously there is much more complexity that can be gone into as to how the first three quadrants come about and influence each other to create our experience and the world we live in. Some of this is covered in "What is Karma", "Karma & the Law of Attraction" and "Karma & the Evolution of Consciousness".
As a simple over view of separation consciousness I hope the four quadrants are helpful.
“Living Liberation - Meditation Training, and so much more" "It changed my life"Find out moreThe Power Of Yoga—for Kids
March 24, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · Leave a Comment
Yoga is becoming a powerful tool in our goal to raise calm, well-balanced, and socially aware children. Most people are already sold on the physiological benefits of yoga—improvements in posture, flexibility, strength, and endurance. But it’s yoga’s often overlooked cognitive/social/psychological benefits that read like a parent’s or schoolteacher’s dream. Kids who practice yoga on a regular basis show improvements in:
* memory
* concentration
* learning ability
* mood
* social skills
* self-acceptance
Today’s kids are bombarded by a neverending array of stimulus every day—from 500 channels on TV to text message overload. Add to this the controversial three hours of homework most kids receive each night, and it’s no wonder yoga classes for kids are finding their way into schools, gyms, and community centers across America. Adults, mostly yoga devotees themselves, are recognizing kids’ need for calm. Laura Whitesides, a kids yoga teacher in Redondo Beach, California schools describes it like this: “Kids have so much energy, both naturally and from their outside world. Yoga gives them the opportunity to take a break and focus that energy inward.”
Read the complete article here….
“Living Liberation - Meditation Training, and so much more" "It changed my life"Find out more
Spirituality, Responsibility & Transformation
March 23, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · 2 Comments
Sooner or later it becomes clear to us that we are responsible for everything in our experience, and it is through denial that we negate responsibility. In the full realization of this there is no wriggle room and no get out clauses. Making anything other than ‘us’, and something or someone else’s responsibility, is denial pure and simple.
When we deny in this way we not only create separation in ourselves, but also from what it is in the external world, reflecting our separation to us. We cannot choose a view where we are ‘separate’ when we don’t like something, and holistic and into unity in a purely idealized way the rest of the time. We have to be living the truth to embody it.
When we remain in the consciousness of separation, there is very little responsibility outside the little pocket of reality that we occupy. This is partly why we have resistance to our evolution, because it requires us taking more and more responsibility and gets bigger, and keeps getting bigger.
Most of us, if we are really honest about it, are looking through spirituality, for
“Living Liberation - Meditation Training, and so much more" "It changed my life"Find out moreVipassana Meditation In Indian Prisons
March 21, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · 2 Comments
This is a powerful film showing the transformational effects of vipassana meditation on the lives of prison inmates in India. I first saw this film in Darhamasala (home in exile of HH Dalai Lama) where I twice did the 10 day retreat. If anybody has any doubts about the benefits and power of meditation to positively impact a persons life, this film is for you – and it is a film so sit back and enjoy!
“Living Liberation - Meditation Training, and so much more" "It changed my life"Find out more
Lululemon’s Yoga Cult Of Selling
March 19, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · Leave a Comment
Lululemon has created a cult following for its yoga gear. Is it using cult like methodoligies ?
A cult following is the most coveted accessory in retail, and Lululemon’s is even more lustworthy than its Velocity Gym Bag. It wasn’t built on the work of some Jobs-ian swami, however, but on the sources of Lulu founder and chairman Chip Wilson’s own spiritual awakening. Wilson has mixed a heady self-actualizing cocktail from equal parts Landmark Forum (seminars developed by an ex-Scientologist), the books of motivational business guru Brian Tracy, and Oprah-endorsed best seller The Secret, by Rhonda Byrne. He is now hard at work formalizing them in a Lululemon "internal constitution."
"It’s the first time I’ve heard of anyone almost directly using the techniques of cults and applying them to their business," says Douglas Atkin, author of The Culting of Brands: Turn Your Customers into True Believers
Read the complete article here ….
“Living Liberation - Meditation Training, and so much more" "It changed my life"Find out more
Yoga For Runners & Athletes
March 18, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · 1 Comment
Many runners and athletes reject yoga as a beneficial part of their training even though runners are notorious for their lack of flexibility. Their argument is that static flexibility doesn’t translate into better performance and static strength building is of no benefit. The increasing evidence is this view is just plain wrong. All yoga asana practice involves some degree of movement, creating dynamic flexibility and greater elasticity in the muscles.
This is increasingly so with more dynamic styles of yoga like ashtanga and vinyasa, which can also feel like a workout. This can be psychologically important to many results-driven runners and athletes.
The really big benefit of yoga to runners and athletes is it’s strengthening of the small stabilizer muscles, which coupled with greater flexibility greatly reduces injury. Couple this with better balance and mental focus, in addition to all the health benefits of yoga and it’s relly a no brainer.
Imagine then if a yoga teacher who has taught yoga to thousands of students. (Including the Canadian National Snowboard Team, & Olympic Champion runners) designed a home study program that will
* Strengthen and tone every major muscle in your body.
* Build your core strength.
* Dramatically increase your flexibility, head to toe.
* Improve your balance and posture.
* Burn fat.
* Give your cardiovascular system a healthy workout.
* Improve your mental focus.
* And literally melt away stress.
Here it is honed and refined to 30 minutes a day runners yoga everyone can find 30 minutes a day! So give it a try.
Here you will find a slide show of recommended poses for runners
“Living Liberation - Meditation Training, and so much more" "It changed my life"Find out more
If I Could Feel This Moment
March 17, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · Leave a Comment
~
If I could feel this moment
More than it’s possible to feel
Or just the fullest that I can
Would I not expand
More than it’s possible to
remain just me
If I was more than could
remain just me
or just the fullest that I am
would I not expand
and find that you are me
and all the space between
If I could feel this moment
without distinction without frame
what is there that I am not
and what choice is there
but love.
~
“Living Liberation - Meditation Training, and so much more" "It changed my life"Find out moreThe Seva Foundation
March 16, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · Leave a Comment
Seva is a sanskrit word meaning selfless service. Spiritual teachers like Amma say that in this Kali Yuga (age of Kali) seva is a vital spiritual practice to overcome the egoic minds innate selfish tendencies. These are the principles of the Seva Foundation, now 30 years old and going stronger than ever.
In 1978, after working with the World Health Organization (WHO) to end smallpox in India, Dr. Larry Brilliant (currently Executive Director of Google.org), and his wife Girija, a public health specialist, published an article entitled Death of a Killer Disease. It was their personal story of their years in Asia, first as youthful travelers, then as spiritual seekers, and finally as part of WHO’s successful smallpox eradication team.
They concluded the article with an appeal to readers to find the compassion and understanding to support international health programs to benefit those struggling with poverty.
People who read it were moved, and before long $20,000 of donations arrived in Larry and Girija’s mailbox — with the first $5,000 coming from not-yet-famous, Steve Jobs.
This money inspired and funded a remarkable conference of friends and colleagues to consider what to do next — how could they be of service? The eclectic group included the World Health Organization’s Dr. Nicole Grasset, spiritual teacher Ram Dass, and Berkeley activists Wavy Gravy and Jahanara Romney.
The group created Seva Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing effective partnerships to build solutions to poverty and disease. Inspired by Dr. G. Venkataswami, who was just launching a new, high-volume eye clinic in India that would become the internationally known Aravind Eye Care Systems, Seva set to work making sight-restoring cataract surgery
available to poor patients in developing countries.
Continuing today Seva’s Center for Innovation in Eye Care is leading efforts to scale up equitable and affordable eye care services around the world. In 2008, it launched the So One Million Eyes See Again campaign as a Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Commitment. Seva will help over 100 hospitals scale-up their capacity so that by 2015 one million more eyes receive cataract surgery each year above current levels, a plan that will revolutionize eye care in the developing world.
While continuing their work in Asia, in 1983, Seva began to provide aid to Guatemalan refugees displaced by war. That project has evolved to become the Community Self-Development Program (CSD), which partners with local indigenous groups in Guatemala and Mexico to help them address the basic needs of their communities, including education, health, and civic leadership skills.
CSD works with local partners to create access to culturally appropriate literacy programs and other educational resources; helps train local health workers and midwives; finances the construction of clean water systems; and providorder to advocate for their own communities.
Around the same time back in the USA Seva Foundation partners with Native Americans working to build healthy communities, sustain their culture, and protect sacred lands and the environment. We began in 1982, when we helped establish the Porcupine Clinic on the Pine Ridge Reservation — the first Native American-operated health clinic in the country.
In 1996, Seva launched the Diabetes Talking Circle, a highly effective training that helps Native people develop self-managed strategies for diabetes prevention and treatment. In 2006, the U.S. Indian Health Services Agency (IHS) adopted the Talking Circles model as a Best Practice, making it available to tribes across the country.
The Diabetes Talking Circle model is now active in over 75 tribal sites and has trained nearly 600 health care professionals
serving Native populations across the United States.
Seva Foundation started as a small group with a big idea, and the idea was this: To be fully human, we must translate our compassion and concern into useful service.
That simple statement conveys something about the nature of compassion that is expressed in most spiritual traditions around the world — that compassion is not just about helping those less fortunate than ourselves, it’s about the realization that we are all connected as one human family.
“Living Liberation - Meditation Training, and so much more" "It changed my life"Find out moreKrishnamurti :Why Don’t You Change?
March 13, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · Leave a Comment
I was reading Krishnamurti in my 20’s, and at that time I vibed with what he was saying. He was the original contemporary anti-guru guru. Now half a lifetime later I find some of his message doesn’t do anything for me anymore. I do admire though his uncompromisingness, and the aspects of his teaching on rejecting conditioned beliefs and dogmas, to find our own experience, is still valuable.
The big challenge for me in Krishanmurti’s teaching is his assertion that spiritual practice is a waste of time. The evidence is conrary to this. What Is great about Krishnamurti is his call to look beyond the mundane of life at our place in a bigger picture. Without relevent tools and resources to get there, we remain where we are.
His method to create movement was to ask questions about our beliefs systems and habitual tendencies. In person you will see from the video he was very charming and like able. I recommend Total Freedom: The Essential 
“Living Liberation - Meditation Training, and so much more" "It changed my life"Find out more
