Steve Kramer is President of the Board of Directors at Spirit Fire, a teacher of The Practice of Living Awareness Meditation, and an owner at the School of Integrated Consciousness. He is a long-time student of the trans-himalayan teachings known as The Ageless Wisdom, as well as a certified teacher and practitioner of Esoteric Healing through the International Network for Energy Healing and the National Association for Esoteric Healing.
Mind Meditation – Day 2 In the last podcast, we mentioned that Day 2 of this step would focus on concentration, which we would usually generate with specific meditation exercises. In the last round, we offered a candle meditation, in which focusing on a flame supports one’s mental steadiness. We’d like to go at it from … More Tracks of the Mind
Meditation Audio: Mind – Day 1 What is the mind? One definition refers to the mind as “a set of cognitive faculties including consciousness, perception, thinking, judgement, language and memory. It is usually defined as the faculty of an entity’s thoughts and consciousness.” Another definition states that the mind is an “element of a person … More The Mind
Step #8, Asana Meditation – Day 3 Pranayama is the formal practice of controlled breathing. There are many techniques… each one is as accessible and beneficial as the breath itself . Squared breathing is one of those techniques and it has a calming effect. It engages the parasympathetic nervous system, which is often referred to … More Calm Breathing with Pranayama
Asana Meditation – Day 2 Though we think of ourselves as shaped by our environment, it is largely the other way around. We create our experiences in this life and thus we create the world around us. It is our inner-most, or our most subtle selves, in the form of our emotions, thoughts, and … More The Inner Creates the Outer
Asana Meditation – Day 1 What does it take to align with joy? Engagement with your surroundings? Engagement with your emotions? Engagement with your mind, your body, your heartspace? Yes, and more. Energy follows thought; this is factual. As we marry the body, breath, and mind through gentle guidance, we can create altitude and poise, … More Aligning with Joy
This is the final “pondering” of the week… the week that serves as an interlude between the first half and the second half of the practice. This short audio contemplates Week 7’s theme, interlude. We will return with Step 8 on Monday morning. Tomorrow will be an interlude… they really are everywhere! This series was … More Pondering Interludes
Meditation practice brings relationship to the forefront. What is our relationship to our thoughts? What is the relationship of our thoughts to our emotions? What is our relationship to the breath or to silence? These are all common meditation ponderings. At the center of each and every relationship (and every pondering) is Heart-Mind. We continue our series … More Pondering Heart-Mind
We continue our series of daily contemplations on the first half of the current round of meditations within the Practice of Living Awareness. Today we consider Step 5: Soften, Open, Release. While this step offers a response to Step 4, it also offers the opportunity let go and be still. Release thought, release expectation, release … More Pondering Release
We receive a new breath every few seconds… there are great teachings within this natural occurrence. Softening and opening offer receptivity to the meditative experience. As this step begins to permeate your awareness, you begin to sense whether you are rigid or soft, closed-off or open, defensive or accepting. Softening, opening, and receiving are choices which … More Pondering the Practice
“The Tao gives birth to One. One gives birth to Two. Two gives birth to Three. Three gives birth to all things.” This is from verse 42 of the Tao Te Ching, and so it is that all things flow from three. With this audio, we’re contemplating Week Three of the Practice of Living Awareness. … More Pondering Flow
Enjoy this ten minute contemplation on the second step of The Practice of Living Awareness, Tip of the Nose. Step 2 explore focus: where is it, what is it, and how do we use it to our benefit? With “Smile” we got in the car and started up the engine, and “Tip of the Nose” … More Pondering the Practice
Over the past 7 weeks we’ve explored a variety of tools which are always at your disposable. Always. As long as you are still breathing, the practice of living with awareness is available. That’s the beauty of awareness – it’s always there; it simply needs to be invited in. We completed the first half of … More Pondering Smile
Interlude Meditation – Day 3 Joy arises from a stillness of sorts, deep within the center of our being. We can locate this center by moving our awareness to the space of the heart. Heart-focus connects us to our livingness. Stillness resides there as well. A stillness made possible by immovable truth and wisdom; … More Stillness, Movement and Joy
Interlude Meditation – Day 2 It’s the sweetest space, the space between. The space between Friday and Monday. The space between doing this and doing that. The space between what was and what will be. The space between thoughts. The space between break-ups, between breakfast and lunch, between Act 1 and Act 2, between … More The Space Between
Interlude Meditation – Day 1 Fullness of any kind often leads to a pause… or an interlude, which is the name of this week’s step. Interludes are important. They allow us to integrate. An interlude has no agenda other than itself; it is a space between. Perhaps this sounds like meditation. Perhaps. As we begin Step 7, … More The Sweet Lull
Heart Mind Meditation – Day 3 Heart/Mind combines the unifying qualities of unconditional love with the expansive qualities of inner-wisdom. Love and wisdom are foundational aspects of consciousness and both are put to right use in the Loving Kindness Meditation. The words to this guided meditation are pictured above. Each stanza is read three times, … More Loving Kindness Meditation
Heart-Mind Meditation – Day 2 We recognize the heart as the organ responsible for the circulation of blood. It is one of the most vital organs of the physical body… vital to our very existence. The heart is our connection to life, literally and figuratively. We recognize that the heart relates to our ability … More Circulating Goodness
Heart-Mind Meditation – Day 1 When we center our awareness in the heart, we are accessing the space within ourselves where we find our true presence; where we often put our hand when we refer to “I” or “me” in earnest. As we breathe and gently focus upon the heart, we begin to vibrationally … More Heart-Mind Awareness
Meditation Audio: Soften, Open, and Release – Day 3 We allow for peace. We create space for it. You need only sense into the experience of judgement, criticism, or blame to feel the contraction; separation requires a contraction of sorts, a cutting-off. Kindness and peace on the other hand, are inclusive. Appreciation, generosity, and … More Release into Peace
Step #5, Soften, Open and Release – Day 2 Release fear. Release doubt. Release dice. Release control. Release the brakes. Release devices. Release divisiveness. Release expectations. Release grudges. Release the door. Release tension. Release resistance. Release the top button. Release tears. Release doves. Release a smile. Release the breath… presence follows. Always. Happy meditating! Soften, … More Release into Freedom
Soften, Open, and Release – Day 1 Our practice continues this week with the opportunity to explore the experience of release. Softening, opening and receiving (Step 4) naturally moves into softening, opening, and releasing (Step 5). Once again, the breath leads the way. Whether we are swinging or singing, running or sunning, giggling or … More This Ways and That Ways
Soften, Open, Receive Meditation – Day 3 We complete this particular step of the practice with this meditation and something to ponder for yourself… can I receive and remain fully present, and then linger there? In other words, can you create the space for an experience, allow it into your awareness and then stay … More Namaste
We interrupt this meditation post to invite you to an evening of mindfulness meditation! We’re starting a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course on May 29th… get a taste of it at one of our free workshops! Mindfulness is the bedrock of the Practice of Living Awareness… join us! Get more info HERE! Soften, Open, Receive … More Universal Abundance
Soften, Open, Receive Meditation – Day 1 Our human form masters receptivity from the moment of conception; it is consistently receptive to the flow of life force inside the womb. Nurturance continues throughout infancy: hunger is fed, thirst is quenched, cold is met with a blanket, cries are met with affection and love. We … More Softening the Body, Softening the Self
Flow Meditation – Day 3 We’ve been ending each meditation with a mantra of sorts. It moves us through breathing light into the mind, breathing light into our feeling nature, breathing light into our physical body, and breathing light into our sense of self. The mind, the emotions, and the physical body are all aspects … More Breathing With and In The World
Flow Meditation – Day 2 Are you able to go with the flow? Do you meet change with an open mind and little resistance? The fact is, adaptability is essential to our longevity; at very least, it helps us get through the day with ease. Practicing flow helps us cultivate lots of positive qualities – a … More The Ever-Present Flow
Flow Meditation – Day 1 We begin a new week and welcome a new theme: flow. With Spring upon us and the whole world ready for day-to-day life to come to a more recognizable flow, we are considering the concept of “flow” and its impact on our lives, our psyche, and our well-being. The … More Flowing Forward
Tip of the Nose – Day 3 The meditations at the beginning of any new round of the Practice of Living Awareness support making ourselves available to meditation… or better yet, making ourselves available to being meditative. Last week’s Smile meditations offered a welcoming of sorts. This week’s meditations offer the opportunity to look around and … More Space to be Gentle
There’s so much to take in as we are perched. Today’s meditation takes us to the perch where we notice the usually not noticed. Observation is an activity that’s greatly enhanced by blended mix of curiosity and stillness. What’s present? Perhaps there’s ‘the noticed’ as well as ‘the not noticed,’ activity as well as stillness, inner … More The Perch
Tip of the Nose Meditation – Day 1 As the saying goes, sometimes what you are looking for is right under your nose. Could it be the ease of a smile? Certainly that’s right under your nose. It turns out these two bodily features have a beautiful relationship, at least in meditation. Both the tip of the … More The Nose Knows
Smile Meditation – Day 3 This week we have been working with a basic premise of mindfulness: paying attention to what is happening right here, right now… without judgement. Why the last segment – without judgement? Judgement is a form of contraction. When we judge, we create stories around what’s happening. We label it, … More Allowing for What’s Next
Smile Meditation – Day 2 While a smile has a vibrational ripple effect that extends far beyond our perceptive reach, we can immediately sense the goodness that wearing one and sharing one brings. Smiles not only make us feel happy, but they also help reduce stress levels in the body and lead us in the … More Smile and the World Smiles Back
Smile Meditation – Day 1 Spacious and easy: these can be the qualities of this very moment, if we choose to bring them forward. They’re a bit like the clear blue sky… always there, yet not always revealed. Perhaps we simply need to look up more and take it in, or give the cloud cover … More Begin With a Smile
Living Awareness – Day 3 It has been a distinct pleasure meditating with you over the course of the last fourteen weeks. For this last meditation of this current round, we enjoy sitting – just sitting. Thank you for meditating. And the world thanks you. Living Awareness Meditation – Day 3
Living Awareness Meditation – Day 2 Life is a creative process. We are consistently met with the present moment which is the direct result of each previous moment made manifest and giving way to this one. Like the breath, every coming and going sets the stage for a new cycle of comings and goings. And … More Shining Bright
Living Awareness Meditation – Day 1 This is the final week of postings for this round of meditations. If you’ve been with us for the last thirteen weeks, congratulations on setting the intention to develop a working and sustainable meditation practice – it is called a “meditation practice” for a reason. By now, as we … More Arriving
Toroidal Flow Meditation – Day 3 If we were to set the intention of focusing on harmlessness and inclusivity throughout the day, our thoughts, words, and actions would naturally become more altruistic. We would begin to see the evidence (and the perfection) of toroidal flow in action. On that day, and perhaps for many days … More Ripples of Hope
Toroidal Flow Meditation – Day 2 We are in a constant state of evolution. Becoming arrives at a place called being and, alas, as a result of our ever-changing, ever-expanding universe, being is becoming again. This is the construct of our time/space existence and it magnificently grants us the freedom to create our own reality. Energy … More Exquisite Expression
Flow, in the shape of a torus (pictured above), is happening all around you… microcosmically and macrocosmically. It exists as an atom, the earth, the human heart, a chakra, and our galaxy to name a few. Toroidal flow is energy in circuitous motion. We have worked with flow from the very moment that we began this practice. Our day … More The Torus
Central Channel Meditation – Day 3 What does it mean to feel “centered?” Most would say that when they feel centered, they can sense the fullness of their being. They feel poised or collected or aligned. We could use any number of terms that refer to a sense of equilibrium. If I were to invite … More Back To Center
Central Channel Meditation – Day 2 Meditation is often promoted as a practice that facilitates peace of mind for the practitioner. This is true, but there’s more… much more. Meditation is also helpful with mental receptivity; in this sense, it can be very creative. Meditation can produce new thoughts, illuminations, and inspirations. This is the … More Seed Thoughts for the Chakras
Central Channel – Day 1 This week’s meditations bring awareness to the stream of energy which connects all aspects of our being: the physical body, emotions, mind, and spirit. Now that body and ground are part of our meditation training, we can lean into them for the stability required to focus on some of the … More Your Aspiration Mechanism
Ground of Being – Day 3 Numerous astronauts have described the experience of seeing the Earth floating in infinite space as one that generates a keen sense of awe, wonder, and blissful curiosity. Many also say that they saw the Earth is a living organism of which they are a part. With humility, I … More The Human Experience
Ground of Being Meditation – Day 2 “Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.” — Martin Luther King, Jr. Perhaps you’ve chosen to meditate to get closer to the truth of things… … More Interconnectedness
Ground of Being Meditation – Day 1 Human being. Being human. Being still. Still being. Being grounded. Grounded being. Yes, meditation accentuates all of these states of being. Working directly with the mind for the last two weeks may have generated a bit of reverence for the incredible vessel, your body, which made those experiences possible. This … More Your Body, Your Ground
Luminous Perception – Day 3 This meditation is always worth pulling out of the archives at this point in the practice… the time to go universal! Within the light of the mind, anything is possible. Today’s meditation is a journey into the realms of the creative imagination, where your luminous self resides, waiting for the opportunity … More Universal Beingness