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I Open Myself
July 31, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · Leave a Comment
~
The rock hot
against my skin
I open myself
to embrace the sky,
in my heart
an eagle soars
gazing down
on the brown earth
the wind sighs
in the pines
the golden light
touches all
like a flower blooming
sitting still
in abundance
all is good.
~
Can Meditation Be Harmful?
July 30, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · 3 Comments
These days it is pretty common knowledge that meditation is good for you, it’s scientifically proven. But is there any way in which meditation can be harmful for you?
Meditation is a form of self exploration. Because the majority of who we are lies in the subconscious mind, meditation is in many ways a bridge between the conscious and subconscious. As our subconscious mind contains all past experience – meaning every life we have ever lived, there can be, and in my experience, both personally and professionally, is, an array of dark and painful experiences in there. And herein lies the potential hazard of meditation.
Let me clearly qualify how and why this hazard can become harmful.
If you are dabbling in meditation and trying out all kinds of different practices and techniques without really understanding what you are doing. Worse than this is if you actually start mixing them together.
Hazard because you are basically playing with your own mind, and it’s vast array of hidden unknowns. There are many esoteric meditation techniques designed to access, stimulate, awaken even purge energies in your system. Your ‘system’ is your subconscious mind, your body is your subconscious mind. These kinds of practices are not intended for beginners, many not even for those who are not exclusively dedicating their time to spiritual practice. Today in our potpourri of spiritual materialism, when such practices can be found by anyone in books, this is a real issue.
If you are new to meditation or haven’t yet done much inner work and self exploration, and you start meditating for long periods of time.
The potential harm in this is that dark and painful things hidden in the subconscious mind can surface suddenly and with great force. This can be very challenging to one who has already done much inner work, to one who hasn’t, it could cause serious mental imbalance. You might think I am exaggerating, but in India I have seen it happen. It can be exacerbated when the person stops taking care of the basic necessities of food and sleep as well.
Meditation is also a bridge to the core of who we are, our inner wisdom, higher self, soul, spirit, call it as you will. When we are able to access this deeper truth of what we are and follow it’s intuitive guidance, we are unlikely to run into such problems as I have outlined. We are also unlikely to get caught in the rigidity and rules that can also accompany spiritual teachers and practices, when they do not align with what is helpful and healthy for us. Each one of us walk a unique path of spiritual evolution, besides perhaps a perfect master, only our own true nature knows the precise process of that unfolding. Meditation can be one of the most useful tools on this journey.
Eckhart Tolle On Relationships
July 24, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · Leave a Comment
Earlier in the year I wrote an post on karma in personal relationships It was very popular and very quickly rose up the most viewed list for the site. I just came across this video of Eckhart Tolle speaking on the same kind of subject. I really like what he has to say, and I enjoy his quirky humor too. Take a look and let me know what you think and what are your own experiences.
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Meditation Slows AIDS & Effects Your Genes
July 22, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · 2 Comments
Interestingly this article on American research onto the effect of meditation on the AIDS virus shows up in the Times of India
Meditation may slow the worsening of AIDS in just a few weeks, perhaps by affecting the immune system, US researchers reported.
If the findings are borne out in larger studies, it could offer a cheap and pleasant way to help people battle the incurable and often fatal condition, the team at the University of California Los Angeles said on Thursday.
They tested a stress-lowering program called mindfulness meditation, defined as practicing an open and receptive awareness of the present moment, avoiding thinking of the past or worrying about the future. The more often the volunteers meditated, the higher their CD4 T-cell counts – a standard measure of how well the immune system is fighting the AIDS virus. The CD4 counts were measured before and after the two-month programme.
"This study provides the first indication that mindfulness meditation stress-management training can have a direct impact on slowing HIV disease progression," said David Creswell, who led the study.
His team tested 67 HIV-positive adults from the Los Angeles area, 48 of whom did some or all of the meditation. Most were likely to have highly stressful lives, Creswell said.
While the Huffington post carries this interesting interview with Dr Susan Smalley a geneticist and founder of the Mindful Awareness Research Center (MARC) at UCLA in which she speaks about the formation of MARC and it’s work. Below are selected extracts.
PF: What are some of the goals and visions for MARC?
SS: Our primary goal is education and research.
Our center is committed to teach practices that are secular and have empiric scientific research backing their wellness benefits and to teach them by well qualified people.
I’m sure we will add other methods that enhance mindfulness, like various other forms of meditation (in addition to mindfulness meditation) as well as some forms of yoga and even self-hypnosis.
We want to offer a host of different kinds of practices, all with scientific support, well-trained instructors, and taught in a secular fashion.
PF: What are some interesting areas of research for mindfulness?
Mike Irwin’s group is doing a lot of research on the neurobiology and the immune changes associated with mindfulness. They’ve written several interesting papers on the topic. A recent study by David Creswell, a research scientist who worked in Mike Irwin’s group, used a self-report questionnaire that measures how mindful you are – as a trait in the population.
Then they studied brain function and its relationship to these mindfulness scores – how do people that are very highly mindful vs. not so mindful differ in brain function?
They used an fMRI scan (functional magnetic resonance imaging) during what is called an affect labeling task. So they had people do this task where they have to label someone’s emotional expression (e.g. fearful or surprised). There are certain parts of the brain that are known to be involved in doing that task, particularly the prefrontal cortex modulating the emotional center which is the amygdala. When they did this study they found that the more mindful people were, the more activity in the frontal cortex quieting down the emotional center.
In other studies, mindfulness is shown to change brain activity and even structure with practice. For example, Sara Lazar’s research found that the structure of parts of the brain differed in long-time meditators compared to non-meditators. There are now many studies supporting brain changes with various sorts of meditation, including mindfulness meditation.
Read the full interview text here
“Living Liberation - Meditation Training, and so much more" "It changed my life"Find out more
Swami ‘Baba’ Ramdev Claims Homosexuality Can Be “cured” By Yoga
July 20, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · 7 Comments
The claims that yoga can cure homosexuality were made in response to the recent legalization of homosexuality in India, and just prove that prejudice can be found in all religions.
One source for this story, the UK daily telegraph claims Swami ‘Baba’ Ramdev is the most popular Hindu guru, which surprised me because I’d never heard of him. It seems he is on a mission to popularize yoga and ayurveda and that’s great. He’s using modern media technology to promote his yoga teaching through a tv show watched by a reported 85 million people.
His comments to the press before and after the passing of the decriminalization of homosexuality in India show the Swami in less than illustrious light – ""The verdict will encourage criminality and sick mentality. This kind of thing is shameful and insulting. We are blindly following the West in everything. This is breaking the family system in India. Homosexuals are sick people, they should be sent to hospitals for treatment."
In India sadly he is not alone in his condemnation of the legislation which has also been voiced by Muslim, Christian and other Hindu leaders in India.
The "we are blindly following the West" line has sway with many on the Indian subcontinent and it is understandable. I remember years ago sitting in a cinema in Calcutta watching what in the West would be a not so great movie because it was in English and thinking to myself what on earth does this look like to them, dubious morality, sexuality and so on. And hey I have issues with a lot that is distinctly normal and mainstream in the west too. So I do agree that there many things about Indian culture that deserve preservation and honoring.
That said when some one says things like comparing homosexuals to "other anti-social groups", and "it can be treated like any other congenital defect" is heading down a road of fundamentalism that worships ignorance and dogma.
Inevitable I am left wondering why? What is the perceived threat that warrants such inflammatory rhetoric. Maybe when you have a pulpit you need something to shout about. In many ways it is ironic because in India – and this is seldom spoken about – one avenue that gay men have taken in life is to become sadhus, wandering ascetics.
This is one of many things in Indian culture that are swept under the carpet by the strong moral values. Swami ‘Baba’ Ramdev also claims that the legislation will increase the prevalence of AIDS. In fact as a result of the strong moral values around sexuality the main cause of AIDS spreading is prostitution.
“Living Liberation - Meditation Training, and so much more" "It changed my life"Find out more
7 Reasons To Learn Meditation
July 17, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · 6 Comments
If you are thinking about learning meditation, have done it and let it slide, here are 7 really significant reasons to learn to meditate and keep practicing.
1: Meditation Improves Physical Health
The amount of supportive information for how meditation improves our physical health is vast. In the simplest and most basic terms I believe the benefits derive from one thing. When we meditate we consciously choose to relax the body while keeping the mind alert. This was termed the ‘relaxation response’ by Dr. Herbert Benson after his groundbreaking research into the physical effects of meditation. In essence all bodily function improve towards optimum function in the absence of stress in the body.
The relaxation response of meditation allows the body to de-stress and allows the Autonomic Parasympathetic nervous system which governs all major bodily functions, immune, cardiovascular, digestive, reproductive etc, to move towards the optimal state of homeostasis – a stable constant condition. Here is an article dedicated to the health benefits of meditation.
2: Meditation Improves Mental Health
That the body and mind are continually effecting each other is now pretty much undisputed. It follows then that as the body benefits from meditation so the does the mind. Clinical research has proven that meditation reduces anxiety and even depression. But more than this
“Living Liberation - Meditation Training, and so much more" "It changed my life"Find out moreThe Yoga Regulation Fight
July 13, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · 2 Comments
A week or so ago i wrote about efforts to regulate yoga teacher training and the launch of IYEA – Independent Yoga Educators of America.This is an issue that is already affecting many who offer yoga teacher training in America and the push back is being taken up in different parts of the country at a local level as well as the IYEA.
Below are extracts and links to two recent articles on this issue that are worth bringing to you attention.
"It seemed like a good idea at the time. Ten years ago, with yoga transforming into a ubiquitous pop culture phenomenon from a niche pursuit, yoga teachers banded together to create a voluntary online registry of schools meeting new standards for training instructors.
But that list — which now includes nearly 1,000 yoga schools nationwide, many of them tiny — is being put to a use for which it was never intended. It is the key document in a crackdown that pits free-spirited yogis against lumbering state governments, which, unlike those they are trying to regulate, are not always known for their flexibility.
Citing laws that govern vocational schools, like those for hairdressers and truck drivers, regulators have begun to require licenses for yoga schools that train instructors, with all the fees, inspections and paperwork that entails. While confrontations have played out differently in different states, threats of shutdowns and fines have, in some cases, been met with accusations of power grabs and religious infringement — disputes that seem far removed from the meditative world yoga calls to mind."
"Last Wednesday, the Yoga Association of New York (YANY) was officially ratified at its second official meeting, held at OM Yoga in Manhattan. All in attendance agreed on a working mission statement that had been meticulously combed over by member lawyers. Now the fledgling organization can go forward with incorporating—and fighting for justice for yoga studios everywhere (in New York state).
Following the meeting, on Friday, the New York Times published an article on the controversy of the state trying to license yoga teacher training programs not just in New York, but in the whole country (states such as Wisconsin and Virginia and others have targeted yoga studios as well): Yoga Faces Regulation, and Firmly Pushes Back.
The Times article presented the important angles of the issue, several key voices, and also seemingly distorted a quote from Sybil Killian of OM Yoga (taken from a private email—that caused hubbub on the listserv). But ultimately it was sympathetic. It showed yoga centers and teachers objecting to the huge new fees and lots more red tape that studios are currently facing. (really, $50,000 is nothing to sniff at when you’re a tiny business.)"
Have you been effected, can you see how you could be affected by this issue? Who will next, meditation schools? What do you think.
“Living Liberation - Meditation Training, and so much more" "It changed my life"Find out more
God & Life Tweets
July 9, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · Leave a Comment
God – Great Mystery, only fools would claim to know thee and thy ways
The Divine Mother creates the world – we just get to play in it : )
The mystery does not have limits; it is not controllable; it cannot be contained.
love is the force that animates creation and weaves this unfathomably wondrous web. Hard to see often doesn’t make it not so
Whatever we think God is can only ever be a very limited view
Your spiritual core is all that is real – the rest is a charade of mind
In the Mystery we cease to have to know or control, we trust in the perfection of each moment’s unfolding
Love by its nature doesn’t want anything, it simply IS
Life is love seeking to remember and become itself
Life is a stream, it only flows in one direction, resistance is slowly, inevitable worn away
“Living Liberation - Meditation Training, and so much more" "It changed my life"Find out moreGod, Spiritual Oneness & Separation
July 8, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · 2 Comments
If it is that God and our true nature is One-ness, then why is it that it is not our living experience?
Indian spiritual philosophy addresses the God concept in a way that supports what I am saying. It sees God in two aspects – the manifest and the un-manifest. The un-manifest is the purest state of conscious, beyond description or comprehension Within it is all potential existence. The manifest aspect is this consciousness in expression as the entirety of manifestation. There are many similarities in the Taoist philosophy of yin and yang with yin as the un-manifest and yang as the manifest.
My perception of why Oneness or Unity isn’t our lived experience is this. In the process of entering into manifest existence as an individuated point of life within that existence, we experience separation in the transition from un-manifest to manifest. This ‘moment’ we could call the ‘birth’ of our soul. Why is this experience of separation necessary if in truth there is only One? The one word answer I see is ‘creation’. The purpose and design of the One in manifest existence, is the evolution and expansion of consciousness, or put another way, the endless creative manifesting of the One, in appearance and form.
A huge hindrance we have in embracing and understanding this is our conception of the One as God, is
Fear, Conflict & Spirituality Tweets
July 6, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · Leave a Comment
Continuing my practice of accumulating some of my ruminations on Twitter here’s some from the past months on Fear, Conflict & Spirituality
The energy of fear inhibits the minds of humanity, the release of fear is the solution for every situation that challenges humanity
Fear is the root of all suffering
Fear acts like gravity on human consciousness, keeping perspective narrow
Fear is like a weed that will keep growing in the mind until every root is removed
Fear is the inner lie that hides the Divine
Healing all fear = liberation
FEAR = False Energy Appearing Real. Fear is the source of illusion/samskara/maya
How many thoughts, words, actions, even positive appearing, actually arise from fear?
All control arises from fear
Whether it’s terrorists or flu pandemics it’s Fear Feeding & Fear is the real disease
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