Luminous Perception Meditation – Day 1 Activity can generate energy – rub your hands together for 30 seconds and you’ll notice energy being generated. The acting of rubbing your hands together also requires energy; it’s an exchange. The mind is no different. As we aspire to higher vibratory levels of the mind (put energy in), … More Your Luminous Perception
Mind – Day 3 Being fully present in any given moment opens us to the space, or spaciousness, of pure potential – that meditative sweet spot where the mind steadies, expansiveness readies, and… we simply give ourselves over to the Now. After the hustle and bustle of a holiday week, let’s go there and linger. Happy … More The Now
Mind – Day 2 The longer we practice meditation, the more familiar we become with how our mind functions. It’s important to bring about an element of compassion when we begin to see how unpredictable and hasty the mind can be. We want to cultivate a friend, not an enemy which must be suppressed or … More Making Friends with Monkey Mind
Mind – Day 1 It’s safe to say that the wide variety of meditation trainings have one one thing in common: they are a doorway to getting acquainted with your mind. The Buddha observed that the primary source of our suffering is to be discovered within the mind. If we’re feeling stressed or worried, it … More Mind
Welcome back to our Friday conversations on pondering the practice. This week, we bring attention to the physical body and our asana. Asana is a sanskrit word that refers to one’s sitting position. The way we sit is often a reflection of the way we take a seat in our own lives… our posture in … More Pondering Asana
Asana – Day 2 How we sit reflects how we feel. Posture is the foundation of our practice. An incorrect posture reflects our ability to pay attention to this moment and how we feel. If it’s too lose we doze off, and if we sit with rigidity and tightness we meet frustration and striving. Let’s … More Body as Our Foundation
Asana Meditation – Day 1 As we move into the second half of this round of the Practice of Living Awareness, we’ll spend some time each week considering the ways that the second set of seven steps is a spiraling upward or a conscious extension of the first set of seven steps. For instance, Step … More The Body
Interludes are important. They are integrative. This week, our meditations considered all that we’ve practiced thus far. We’re half way through this round. As awareness begins to permeate our experience, we begin to grow comfortable with the space that is not being filled by words or tasks. We allow ourselves to simply be present and … More A Conversation on Interludes
Interlude – Day 1 This week will will meditate on the theme of interludes. Interludes create space for noticing the usually not noticed. We leverage this every time we meditate. Learning to quiet the mind, create peace in the emotions, and bring stillness to the body requires that we simply observe them – the body, mind … More Interludes
Heart-Mind – Day 3: On Friday’s posts, we’ve been pondering aspects of meditation through podcast-style discussions. This week, Jake and Steve talk about Loving Kindness meditation… the challenges and the perks. They also talk about the importance of offering ourselves a little kindness during meditation sits. As the saying goes, the longest journey you will … More Matters of the Heart
Heart-Mind – Day 2 Election Day certainly has the potential to default us toward focusing on our differences rather than our commonalities; on that which separates us, rather than that which unites us. “The day after” is the perfect opportunity to generate some heart-focused positivity. A loving-kindness meditation reminds us to see ourselves in others … More Being with Kindness
Heart-Mind Meditation – Day 1 This week we consider the heart. It is the centerpiece of our being in many ways. On the physical plane, we recognize the heart as the organ responsible for the circulation of blood, as the most vital organ of the physical body and of our physical plane existence. On the emotional … More Considering the Heart
Pondering Release – Day 3: On Friday’s posts, we’ve been pondering aspects of meditation through podcast-style discussions. This week Jake and Steve delve into the experience of release. We are given many opportunities to release during a meditation sitting. We can release rigidity, preoccupation, expectation. We can release the mind from the trappings of the … More Pondering Release
Soften, Open and Release – Day 2 The deeper we go into meditation, the more we can see into the distinct aspects of our reality and notice how often we get pulled away. A useful tool to help develop a discriminating awareness of our thoughts of reality, and an awareness of reality itself, is “mental … More Mental Noting
Soften, Open, Release Meditation – Day 1: Getting to know your mind and your breath a bit better through meditation? We hope so. They offer us a lot. Paying attention to the breath inevitably leads us to the lungs… those masters of receiving and releasing. Your lungs have a lot in common with the other masters … More Masterful Trees, Masterful Lungs
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
Soften, Open and Receive- Day 2 As we sit we begin to relax and feel our connection to this very moment. Nothing has to be done, and there’s nowhere to go. The simplicity provides space to really feel accepted by the universe itself. When we open up, it is like the universe embraces us with … More Realize You Belong
Soften, Open, and Receive Meditation: Week 4 within the practice brings awareness to three powerful choices: softening, opening, and receiving. Our physiology chooses these for us every time we breathe. We receive oxygen on every inhale, all day and all night, consciously or unconsciously. Becoming intimate with this occurrence creates powerful shifts toward being fully present … More The Softening
Flow – Day 3: Flow as an optimal state of consciousness. Ultimately, we immerse ourselves in flow by becoming present. Simple words. But are they? For today’s conversation on the past week’s practice, Steve and Jake discuss the intricacies of staying present, both in one’s practice and in life itself. Enjoy. Would you like to … More Pondering Presence
Flow – Day 2 Watching the breath involves some effort, but not too much. It becomes a balancing act between not pushing too hard and not giving up completely. Once we arrive at the tip of the nose, we can gently allow our awareness to expand to the whole body breathing. As always, we aren’t … More Gently Expanding
Flow – Day 1: We begin a new week and welcome a new theme: flow. Perhaps global conditions for the last year and a half have brought the concept of flow and its impact on our lives, our psyche, and our well-being to the forefront of our minds in new and sometimes urgent ways: the … More Let Things Flow
Tip of the Nose – Day 3: “Bring your awareness back to your anchor.” This is a suggestion that’s often offered during a guided mindfulness meditation. It is the go-to remedy for a meandering mind. The anchor could be your breath, bodily sensations, or sounds in the environment… something that is present, or better yet, … More Pondering Anchors
Tip of the Nose – Day 2: In meditation we are learning how to rest in awareness. The only issue is that our minds are not used to this idea. Our monkey minds would rather jump from branch to branch instead of sitting on the cushion. We need a technique to help stabilize the mind … More Coming Back Home
Tip of the Nose – Day 1: Practitioners of meditation often report that it offers them a greater sense of peace and ease when dealing with life’s ups and downs. Undoubtedly, this generates more happiness and a lighter way of being in the world. They also notice improvement in their ability to focus. Improved concentration … More Landing Your Focus
We are venturing into new terrain. Every Friday, meditation teachers Steve Kramer & Jake Carignan will strike up conversation about the week’s practice. This week: Smile. They chat about the nature of a smile, its relevance to meditation practice, openness, vulnerability, and leave room for a 10 minute practice at the end. We hope you … More A Conversation on “Smile”
Smile – Day 2 When we make a conscious effort to bring a smile to our practice we also bring about a whole shift in our attitude towards the practice. The whole meditation game should be done with an atmosphere of unconditional friendliness. This way we can cultivate seeds of kindness and compassion for our … More An Atmosphere of Friendliness
Smile Meditation – Day 1: As we begin a new round of meditations today, we do so with a very gentle smile; smiling upon a world in need of gentleness, in need of the warmth of a smile. We’ll be here (or in your inbox) every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for the next several months, … More Greeting a Smile with a Smile
Meditation for Craving by Jake Carignan To be human is to desire. Craving, wanting, needing… we’ve all been there. One of the best things we can do when craving strikes is to pause and look into desire itself. If we can hold our seat and view wanting as a passing storm from within, then we … More Sitting with Craving
Meditation for Self-Hate by Jake Carignan Hate is a very powerful energy that can destroy relationships and raise havoc in our lives. The issue isn’t that we feel anger, but that we either try to think our way out of it or act on its alluring storyline. Both methods only feed the fire further, burning … More Remedy for Self-Hate
Sitting with Voices in Your Head by Jake Carignan We all have a radio implanted inside our skulls that doesn’t seem to know how to stop. Sometimes it changes stations from an optimistic broadcast to a movie critic, a dramatic orchestrated piece or a fantasy writer’s dream far disconnected from reality. Our practice is to … More Voices in Your Head
Mindfulness Meditation by Jake Carignan Mindfulness is a 2,500 year old technique developed to help us become more present in our lives rather than scattered in our thoughts. It’s a down to earth method rather than some lofty spiritual idea. It is designed to help us get to know our mind and start up a … More Mindfulness Meditation
Each moment is new and holds potential. It holds the potential for a gentle breath, for a gesture of kindness to yourself, or a gesture of kindness to another. The next moment holds the potential for peace, patience, and respect. In this moment and the next, we all innately hold, within ourselves, the potential for awareness. May you use the next … More A New Round of Meditations
Living Awareness – Day 3 “The soul is the core of your being. It is eternal. It doesn’t exist in space-time. It is a field of infinite possibilities, of infinite creativity. It is your internal reference point with which you should always be in touch.” – Deepak Chopra May the tools that you … More The Realm of Infinite Possibilities
Living Awareness – Day 2 Happiness has a liveliness to it, it creates momentum. When we’re really happy, we want to yodel from the mountaintops! As we spiral up from happiness on the emotional scale, we get closer to feelings that become tinctured with aspects of the mind… appreciation, empathy, compassion, wonder, and joy. Joy, … More Joyful Awareness
Living Awareness – Day 1 We’ve arrived! The final week of meditations in this current round is here. The secret is, we’re continuously arriving. That’s the beauty of awareness. Each and every moment holds something new, something you’ve created as a result of your conscious presence. Establishing a ‘living awareness’ in your life serves … More The Practice
Toroidal Flow – Day 3 While most of us associate Albert Einstein with his scientific prowess, his personal writings reveal a spiritual side that is every bit as revelatory. He writes, “A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences … More Revealing Interconnection
Toroidal Flow – Day 2 We are in a constant state of being and becoming. 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 … More Lighted Expression
Toroidal Flow – Day 1 Flow, in the shape of a torus, is happening all around you… microcosmically and macrocosmically. It exists as an atom, the earth, the human heart, a chakra, our galaxy, to name a few. Toroidal flow is circuitous in motion. Breath is flow. We have worked with flow from … More Breathing with Toroidal Flow
Central Channel – Day 3 Perceived emptiness in space is actually quite full in terms of energy and matter. 99 % of the matter in the observable universe is in the plasma state. Plasma is considered to be a fourth state of matter. Solid, liquid, and gas are three that we are quite familiar with … More The Vibrational Sea of Potential
Central Channel Meditation – Day 2 Above is another representation of the dynamic energy architecture of the human being. There are many. This one illustrates the chakra system and the network of energies that allows you to experience the world around you and express your uniqueness. The central channel is pictured in yellow and … More In Charge of Your Experience
Central Channel Meditation – Day 1 The Central Channel is an important feature of the symbol of the caduceus. It is the rod encircled by serpents and topped with a winged headpiece. This symbol has quite a bit to report on our energy architecture, which we’ll take into meditation this week. The caduceus goes … More Caduceus and the Central Channel
Ground of Being Meditation – Day 3 In accounts from astronauts describing their experience of seeing the Earth from a distance, floating in infinite space, they recall a keen sense of awe, wonder, and blissful curiosity. Many say that they saw the Earth is a living organism of which they are a part. This clearing reveals … More Our Playground
Ground of Being Meditation – Day 2 Have you ever spent time in the forest? It is rejuvenating. In fact, the health benefits of time spent among trees have been proven; so much so that it’s got a name: forest bathing. The air is alive. It is pure and rich. Trees are the lungs of … More The Lungs of the Earth
Step #11, Ground of Being – Day 1 This particular tool within the Practice of Living Awareness explores the ground upon which our “being” sits. It explores the various bodies (physical, emotional, mental, spiritual) through which consciousness expresses and awareness arises. After all, your luminous perception must have a place to preside; and it does… … More As Above, So Below
Luminous Perception – Day 3 Let’s go galactic. Better yet, let’s go UNIVERSAL… and beyond. Within the light of the mind anything is possible. Today’s meditation one of our favorites and one we like to share at this point in the practice. It is a journey into the realms of the creative imagination, where your luminous … More Universal Light
Luminous Perception – Day 2 Light is nature’s way of transferring energy and information through space. And oh, how it moves through space! The sunlight that allows us to perceive the natural world around us actually left the sun ten minutes prior to reaching our eyes. Within us, light is traveling as well. Biophotons, which … More Luminous Expression