Science, we know, is constantly making discoveries in ways that reinforce some theories while others are either discarded or forced into being modified or upgraded. In Darwinian fashion, only the fittest theories survive. In this manner, science mimics the development of our consciousness in our lives.

As we evolve, some of our thoughts, behaviors, habits, and beliefs are reinforced because they align with the discoveries we make in life. In many instances, however, we are challenged to discard outmoded ways of thinking and behaving or upgrade them to be in alignment with our evolving consciousness. Many humans resist this process.

We often tend to embrace only those discoveries that align with our established thoughts, behaviors, habits, and beliefs. Adapting ourselves to change does not come naturally to us, especially when the rate of change is as rapid as it is in our post-modern civilization. It is our predicament today, and mantra practice can help.

The way to work with evolutio...

It is a time for healing. Since COVID, we've all been through a lot, some more than others. Whether directly or experienced vicariously through our news feeds, life has been stressful. Music is a modality that offers us much.

When modern music therapy was discovered during the Second World War, nurses documented wounded soldiers healing much faster when music was part of their process. They also noted a reduced dependence on morphine.

Many cultures knew the healing power of music. Of significance are the ancient Greeks, including Hippocrates, the father of ancient Greek medicine, honored by our present-day system of Western medicine.


It is fascinating that as far back as 400 BC, around the time of the Upanishads, Hippocrates was inspired to use music as part of the treatment for ailments. And it wasn't just the physical dimension that was addressed through music. Hippocrates realized that mental health was integral to overall health and that music could "heal the mind."

In the Yog...

I am inviting you to begin a daily engagement of prayer, puja, and practicing peace. Each of these pieces represents an aspect of the spiritual life. Practicing peace is part of our self-development process. It is founded upon meditation, which is part of our self-care and cultivates our capacity for self-control. For some of us, meditation is the only spiritual discipline we engage in daily. Prayer and puja (sacred ritual) involve different sensitivities.

In our Yogic Mystery School, we are, for the first time, consciously exploring the role of prayer in our mystic, gnostic, and meditation approaches, particularly in what we call Absorption, which for us is the most profound experience of Tantra, Yoga, and the Vedas, aka samadhi, moksha. Prayer is a respectful communion with the dimension of Ultimate Reality.

Puja is powerful because it is profoundly healing. The knowledgeable use of sacred gestures (mudras) with mantras (sacred sounds) and contact with natural elements (fire, water...

Diwali is the most auspicious time in the Hindu calendar, celebrating the triumph of light over darkness metataphorically and practically as daylight gets shorter.

Diwali, among other symbolisms, venerates Lakshmi, one of the most ancient harvest goddesses. She symbolizes abundance, wealth, and beauty. In our school, we study and practice Lakshmi Tantra.

To help you invoke the goddess Lakshmi during this auspicious time, in a 15-minute abundance meditation, visualize what you want to manifest for yourself, your loved ones, and the world. 

We hope you can feel the blessing of this moment when the stars and deities configure to grant us prosperity and well-being. Wear a good headset for an immersive effect, and make yourself comfortable before you begin the meditation.

Diwali starts a new year in the Hindu calendar. We grow in abundance consciousness over time. Without this daily application and constant growth in what abundance consciousness is and what it can be for each of us, our...

Peace is always within our reach, depending not on what is going on in our lives or the world but on our fundamental, prevailing attitude. Regardless of the concerns that arise in the mind and cloud our hearts with anxiety, all it takes (sometimes) is a turning within, a shift in perception, to realize that peace is intrinsic to our deepest nature. 


Buddhist meditation teacher Susan Piver shares this story about the loss of a love relationship. She is taking out the garbage barefooted on a hot Texas morning; her heart is caught in a circle of tumultuous emotion. Recurring phrases such as "he fears commitment" and "he is too selfish to care about anyone else" continually barrage her mind. Suddenly, she realizes nothing is happening except that she is standing barefoot on a Texas street on trash day, with some birds flying overhead. At that moment, she realizes that all of her emotional pain is entirely the result of her thought patterns. It had nothing to do with anything happening ou...

The human voice, a truly unique instrument, has always fascinated me. Its preciousness, however, became even more apparent in the face of the widespread violence and bloodshed that plague our world today.

Did you know hearing is among the first human faculties to develop in the womb? And hearing is postulated to be among the last of our senses to leave us as we die? Hearing leads to the development of our voices. If our eyes are the gateways to our souls, could our voices be their bodies? In all their diversity, our voices are the universal embodiment of our souls.

The human voice, a unique blessing of life, characterizes our aliveness. The voice can express itself through the body and be heard through the ears, a manifestation of sound moving in the air medium. This aliveness of sound sets the human voice apart from all other sounds, making it a truly extraordinary instrument.

Unlike the mechanical sounds emitted from electronic music synthesizers or everyday equipment, the human v...

A famous Hindu chant is often chanted in yoga studios and training worldwide. The words are “lokāḥ samastāḥ sukhinaḥ bhavantu.” While the word "sukha" is usually translated as happiness, giving the mantra the meaning of "may the world be happy," there is a more meaningful etymology to this word that is particularly significant at this time.

"Sukha" does mean joy and delight, but there is equally, or perhaps more strongly, the sense that it refers to ease, comfort, and coziness. Consider regions around the world where people are struggling with the necessities of life under the daily threat of war, oppression, or violence. One way of holding them in our prayers is to ask that their lives ease up into a more comfortable existence.

In this guided meditation, taken from our Yoga of Sound Immersion, you will engage in a simple yet powerful prayer that embodies the spirit of the Vedas. It is designed to be accessible to everyone, even those without knowledge of Sanskrit, ensuring a comfortab...

Yoga, Tantra, and the Vedic experience, which we engage uniquely in our Yogic Mystery School, is about heightened consciousness, which, in turn, is related to several factors or variables.
 
From everything we have discovered through human psychology and the Age of Enlightenment in the West, our psychological health and emotional well-being are crucial factors influencing our everyday consciousness. And suppose there is a state of consciousness that is more evolved, significant, higher, and more profound than our everyday consciousness. In that case, that state cannot be entirely disconnected from our self-awareness born of our physical and psychological development. In other words, there has to be some connection, a living connection, not an arbitrary mental assumption, between all types of consciousness.  Since John Welwood's seminal discovery of spiritually bypassing, we now know that someone deeply engaged in spiritual practices could avoid addressing their emotional issues under the...

Bede Griffiths would often tell us how important it is to live close to nature, which is why he designed a lifestyle for the monk modeled on Indian village life.

So very often, when we encounter nature, we want to engage the experience through the lens of our phones and cameras, documenting the encounter instead of experiencing it.

Can we experience our experiences as experiences?

If you want to explore what this means, try and become aware of how much of the human experience you are having at any moment is consumed by descriptive and inferring thoughts, images (of others one might be connected to), projections into or away from the immediate experience and associations with other matters, even if related to the experience. 

Imagine the ability to experience an experience, no matter what it is, with a minimal amount of thoughts, associations, projections, and imagination. What would a peach, or some wonderful fruit, taste like? Even the simplicity of eating something delicious is d...

OVERVIEW: ABOUT THIS BLOG

I've put quite some thought into this insightful blog that can help you discern the best approaches in your meditation practice. The approaches are those that stimulate creativity and productivity in contrast to those that take us into depth consciousness and mystical relationships.

There's quite a bit of insights in the blog for teachers, coaches, and healers, as well as professionals and everyday spiritual practitioners. You will need to read the blog to understand the concluding recommendations on why it is best not to engage both approaches simultaneously.

FUNCTIONAL MEDITATION VERSUS MYSTICISM

The word "meditation" is most often used in a generic sense to mean any type of spiritual practice. Since the Herbert Benson study at Harvard, practices that elicit what is called the "relaxation response" have come to be the benchmark for meditation practices. Any practice that helps you lower your stress can, inversely, increase your productivity and creativi...