Real happiness comes from having an unassailable connection to the deep state of unbounded awareness at our core. This state of being is our own inner joy that expresses the exuberance and wonder of being alive at this moment; it is our own self-luminous essence made conscious of itself.
Meditation is one of the most direct and powerful ways to awaken to who we really are and to experience happiness as a state of consciousness that already exists within us.
We may experience a realization of our true Self the first time we meditate, but most often the process of awakening is gradual.
The present moment is the only time that is eternal and the only time in which we can experience happiness.
While the health benefits are many, yoga offers much more than just a way to exercise the body.
Nothing could be closer than the present, yet nothing slips away faster.
In an instant, our mind can carry us far away into memories of the past or fantasies about the future. Or we may get caught up in a race against the clock, feeling like there's never enough time. We say things like "Time is flying," "Time is running out," or "There are never enough hours in the day."
The most effective way to live in the flow of the timeless is meditation.
Don't instantly throw yourself into external demands.
Throughout your day, when you notice that your thoughts have drifted away, come back to where you are. You'll instantly see why you drifted away, whether because you were bored, anxious, dwelling on the past, or anticipating the future.
While the mind lives in the past and the future, the body lives in the now.
Connecting to the feelings in your body brings you back into present-moment awareness.
When you focus on just one thing at a time, without rushing or procrastinating, you cultivate a sense of timeless awareness that creates feelings of calm and well-being.
You have to understand the teen years of any leader to understand the mechanics of their leadership.
As a physician who was smoking a pack of cigarettes a day, getting drunk on weekends, stressed out about having 35 patients in the hospital, and not being able to help either them or myself, I had my existential crisis way before I met Maharishi. I did meet him and he was an influence, but I met many other people as well.
I used to respond to people who are dismissive of my work, but as I grow older, I think it's best to ignore your critics. For one thing, they can't stand it, and secondly, you're never going to change them.
Even if yoga only enhanced physical fitness, the time spent in practice would be fully worthwhile.
The deeper meaning and gift of yoga is the path it offers us into the timeless, spaceless world of spirit.
We somehow forget that we can choose whether to make time an enemy or an ally.
We can shift from time-bound awareness into timeless awareness . . . to the ecstasy that can only be found in the present moment.
To maintain a youthful mind, write down two or three things you can do that are totally childlike, such as eating an ice cream cone, coloring a picture, or jumping rope. Find something that brings back the sense of fun you had as a child and choose one of these activities to do today.
The mind/body connection is like a telephone line - many telephone lines, in fact, teeming with information. Small things like drinking an orange juice with pulp or eating an apple is being received like a telephone call to your genes. Every thought, every thing you eat, every single little thing can tweak your genes activity towards healing.
Since we are an inextricable part of the field of consciousness, we are also infinitely creative, unbounded, and eternal.
Meditation will work on anyone who has a functioning human nervous system. All you need is the intelligence to follow simple instructions. Even children as young as 4 and 5 have been taught to meditate successfully.
People think meditation is a huge undertaking.