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Loving Ourselves Unconditionally
May 11, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · Leave a Comment
"Love the one you are with. That will always include you."
Our Spiritual Nature
People often ask me how they can love themselves unconditionally, regardless of what they have done or how they think or feel. When we realize our spiritual nature, we have a better way of looking at what we do as human beings. By remembering who we are spiritually, we can more easily be loving and accepting towards ourselves and all that comes forward in our lives. So, I suggest that as we start out and complete with each day, we take the opportunity to engage ourselves inwardly in the Spirit first.
When we choose to realize ourselves spiritually, we find ourselves functioning according to the laws of Spirit — acceptance, cooperation, understanding, enthusiasm and empathy. There is an aligning of how we are intending ourselves spiritually, as souls who are one with God. A key is to appreciate with gratitude whatever comes your way. Everything has value. Nothing needs to be different from what it is, including you. Yet, in this world, change is constant. While living in the world and coping with change may be challenging, you can learn to align with and practice how to apply the laws of Spirit and love it all.
Gratitude
Begin the day by getting yourself in a consciousness of gratitude. There is a reason God is bringing a challenge to you. You can ask inside, "Help me to understand, Lord. What is it I am to learn?" Some days you just have to do the best you can. So say, "Thank you, Lord," and choose to handle the situation as best you can with what you know and the conditions present.
As you start the day, first surround and fill yourself with Light and love. You can do this as a prayer to God, an invocation of the Light, or through your creative imagination. Then, extend the Light into your day as you see yourself moving forward in the world. During the day, remember that the Light goes before you and prepares the way. All the things that come forward in your day, expected or unexpected, wanted or unwanted, are part of that Light action which is always present within you.
“Living Liberation - Meditation Training, and so much more" "It changed my life"Find out more
Mindfullness Meditation – Jon Kabat-Zinn
May 8, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · 1 Comment
Jon Kabat-Zinn is a man who speaks my language. I’ve never read anything by him, but he has crossed my radar a few times recently so I explored a bit and found this short talk. He says in the talk that he never says anything different, and in many ways anyone talking about mind and meditation are mostly saying the same thing. It doesn’t really matter how many times you hear that the mind is pretty much always in the past or projecting from the past into the future and very rarely present in this moment. Until you start to use a practice like meditation to discover the nature of mindfullness of the now, it will remain just another idea.
The idea of mindfullness can also be taken to the point of narcissistic self indulgance, just as any spiritual practice can, thats why it’s a practice.
“Living Liberation - Meditation Training, and so much more" "It changed my life"Find out more
Children Benefit From Yoga Practice
May 6, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · 3 Comments
When Alayna Kurek panicked one day about forgotten homework, the 9-year-old stunned her school counselor by using a yoga breathing technique to calm down.
That stress-relief method is a reason Sherri Kurek says she takes her two children, Alayna and Olivia, 7, to classes for kids at the Yoga Studio of Shelby.
“It’s the one thing they stick with,” says Kurek, an in-home transcriptionist from Shelby Township, Mich.
Alayna gets exercise, going from downward-facing dog position to cobra to frog. And her improved confidence shows when she teaches her classmates how to pretzel up, Kurek says.
Karen Lutz, who teaches child yoga classes at Providence Hospital in Novi, Mich., says, “A 4-year-old — they have a short attention span. They really don’t care where their feet are.” But as younger yogis mature, she says, “They want to know, ‘Where do my feet go?”’
University of Michigan pediatrician Dolores Mendelow says yoga, if done properly, is a suitable alternative to tumbling and team sports for getting stressed-out, sedentary children socializing, exercising and building discipline.
“It requires practice, patience and accepting of self-limitations,” she says.
Read the complete article here….
“Living Liberation - Meditation Training, and so much more" "It changed my life"Find out more8 Major Meditation Misunderstandings
May 5, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · 9 Comments
Misunderstanding #1 Meditation is stopping thinking and having a blank mind.
This is probably the number one misunderstanding about meditation – that meditation is to “stop thinking.” Certainly, a benefit of long term meditation is a reduction in the the amount of thinking that goes on, and that is great. The inane, repetitive and usually negative chatter of thoughts that jump one to another in their minds is one of the first things people new to meditation are confronted by.
But what would a blank mind mean? The confusion arises because we are most of the time identify with our mental thoughts (our inner monologue) and we believe it is reporting the truth of our experience. So a blank mind is assumed to be the absence of thought. But the vastness of mind encompasses so much more that thought.
In meditation we aim to develop mindfulness, that’s the
“Living Liberation - Meditation Training, and so much more" "It changed my life"Find out moreAn Open Heart
May 4, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · Leave a Comment
~
Today I awoke to an open heart
and love shone
like the sun at noon.
Just to think of you
is bliss,
to look on your face
is joy.
Trust that had grown dim
stands once more
unshakeable.
I merge into your embrace
as if the ocean held me in her sway
I let go and sink
into the light
of love
remembering again
I am – we are
the light
of
love
~
Ramana Maharishi – His Life Story
May 2, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · 1 Comment
Ramana Maharishi is one of the giants among 20th Century spiritual masters. One of the rare people to spontaneously awaken to truth almost instantly without any prior spiritual practice, or even interest.
Today there are many Ramana wannabe’s with some spurious claim to connection with him as a lineage teacher. Ramana was the lived embodiment of Advaita Vedanta, it wasn’t a ‘philosophy’ he studied and then espoused, it was the truth of his living experience.
I recently found this full length film on Ramana’s life and Saturday seemed like a good day for a movie. There are days when I really miss India and some part of my heart is always there. Movies like this give a little fix to that part of me and while Arunachala didn’t really do it for me like it does for many this film stirs good memories.
There are many books of Raman Maharishi’s teaching, my personal favorite is..
“Living Liberation - Meditation Training, and so much more" "It changed my life"Find out more
Enlighten Up
May 1, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · 1 Comment
Enlighten Up is a bold and welcome film. It isn’t a snuggly feelgood bhakti fest for what 18 million Americans call yoga, thankfully. Director Kate Churchill chose in her approach to directing and making the film to make the project an experiment. The film is a reality documentary style following Nick Rosen a spiritualy skeptical New York son of 60′s parents, as he goes on a process of discovery seeking transformation through yoga. Below are some clips from the film and part one of three of an interview with Churchill and Rosen.
You can look here for upcoming showings of the movie If you have the opportunity it will be well worth your time to see Enlighten Up and glimpse yoga beyond the designer body and clothes.
“Living Liberation - Meditation Training, and so much more" "It changed my life"Find out more
