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
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 are the electromagnetic byproduct of … More Luminous Expression
Luminous Perception Meditation – Day 1 Luminous perception is both a result and a fact. In a meditation practice, it is the result of establishing a peaceful abiding, then noticing the usually not noticed. A sense of spaciousness within one’s practice allows them to notice more of the wonders of life. Wonder gives way … More Life Illuminated
Mind Meditation – Day 3 There are levels of density to everything in our world… seen and unseen. Ice is more dense than water. Water is more dense than steam. The density of a substance is the relationship between the mass of the substance and how much space it takes up, or simply put, … More Above the Clouds
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