Hello, friends. We have moved into a new set of seasons for the next round of the Practice of Living Awareness. Late autumn and winter will be with us throughout, as well as the holiday season and a new year. It sounds like a perfect time to settle into meditation; although, which season … More A New Round of Meditations Begins on Monday, November 18th
“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 have acquired over the … More The Realm of Infinite Possibilities
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. In particular, joy … More Joyful Awareness
We’ve arrived! The final week of meditations in this current round is here. The secret is, we’re arriving continuously. 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 to make each experience one … More The Practice
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 to follow, our experiences would … More Ripples of Hope
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 reality. Energy follows thought and … More Lighted Expression
The energy flow of the torus is experienced at this point in our practice. This flow is related to the spiraling nature of everything from the water going down a drain to the spiraling arms of our galaxy. The truth is, we are a mini-galaxy with similar internal properties. Our chakras are toruses, ensuring … More The Torus
Conditions reveal rainbows. With the right combination of sunlight and water droplets, the full spectrum of color comes forward as radiant magic. Sunlight always holds the potential of a rainbow. Today’s meditation reveals the radiant potential of the chakra system. Enjoy. Central Channel – Day 3
Meditate in the splendor of autumn in New England. This year’s Deepening Retreat will focus on Goodness, Truth, and Beauty… three distinct qualities that are innate to our human experience. Meditation and mindfulness allow them to come to the forefront of our awareness and our lives. Spirit Fire Meditative Retreat Center offers an environment which … More Deepen Your Practice with a Living Awareness Retreat
Meditation is often promoted as bringing about 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 work of Vipassana, or Insight Meditation. In … More Seed Thoughts for the Chakras
The Central Channel step of our practice brings awareness to the stream of energy that moves along the spine connecting our energy centers (chakras) to higher levels of consciousness. Now that body and ground are part of our meditation training, we can rely on them for the stability required to focus on some … More Your Aspiration Mechanism
Meditation is a celebration of what is. There’s nothing more clear as an is than your body. It is and it does. It responds. It breathes. It moves. It has the potential to move wildly. Today’s meditation is simple… dance! Sometimes we just need to shake things up. Happy shaking! Ground of Being – Day 3
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 the earth. They purify the atmosphere, … More The Lungs of the Earth
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… this place is called YOU, or YOUR BEING. … More As Above, So Below
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 self sits in waiting for the … More Let’s Go Galactic
Luminous Perception, as a step within the Practice of Living Awareness, wants to generate the awareness that there is always more to perceive… just add a little light. Isn’t it so that more details of a room appear when we turn on the light? There’s always more to experience, more to receive, more … More There’s Always More
Activity generates energy; just continuously rub your hands together faster and faster and faster and you’ll notice energy being generated. The acting of rubbing your hands together also takes energy… it’s an exchange. As we’ve said many times, life is all about flow. The mind is no different. As we aspire to … More Your Luminous Perception
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, how tightly it’s packed in. … More Above the Clouds
How attached are we to ourselves and to our sense of self? How does our sense of self affect our sense of others? How do we see beyond the self? And when we do this, who is doing the looking if it’s not the self? These are all valuable ponderings. Not because you may … More The Observer Self
All teachings that surround meditation have one clear purpose: to assist you in getting to know the mind. Why is that? For your own good! The Buddha observed that the source of our suffering is to be discovered within the mind. If we’re feeling stressed or worried, it originated in the mind. If we … More The Mind’s Eye
Proper asana is about free-flow. It’s not necessarily about uprightness… which may come to mind when we think about posture. Proper asana is about the absence of resistance, obstruction, and distortion. Proper asana allows for energy to move freely, insights to be received spontaneously, and expression to be released gracefully. Asana is flexible … More Truth in Form
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 spiritual nature that attract the … More The Inner Creates the Outer
Last week’s break, or interlude, from online meditations signals that we are half way through this round of meditations. You might consider this the center of the practice. Seven specific tools to work with in meditation lie behind us and seven new tools to work with in meditation lie ahead of us. And … More Finding The Center
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 as the body’s rest & digest system. Typically … More Practicing Pranayama, Practicing Presence
Noticing is a skill. It reveals the incredible abundance of life on earth. Why? Because there’s just so much to notice. How do I develop this skill of noticing? It comes down to sensing when to shift your attention to the next noticing. It comes down to satiety, to noticing when you have … More Satiety, Silence, and Stillness
We will work with interludes this week, which means we will be paying attention to the space between. The space between thoughts. The space between breaths. The space between moments. Once again, we find ourselves allowing. Allowing the precious space between to become the noticed space. In doing so, a new space arises as the … More Ripples of Awareness
We are all a part of the fabric of life… each and every one of us. Those we love. Those who challenge us. Those we admire. Those we fear. Those who shape us. At times this human experience can seem merciless and at times it can seem blessed beyond belief; this is the … More Loving Kindness
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 to express and receive … More All Heart
You! Your expression! Your joy! Your enthusiasm! Your passion! Your creativity! Your vision! Your splendor! Your heart! Your mind! We all share in the glory of its revelation! Heart-Mind is both a quality and a vehicle. As a quality, it is omnipresent; we simply need to tap into it. As a vehicle, it is … More In Love with Cosmological Love
Allowing thoughts to come and go can take quite a bit of practice and meditation offers the perfect opportunity to do just that… to allow. As we allow, we are actually practicing detachment… allowing thoughts to arise and allowing them pass teaches us to be at ease with ourselves and at ease with … More Forgiveness as Release
In 1947, Alice A. Bailey wrote The Problems With Humanity. In many ways, it was a response to WWII in its exploration of evil expression on our earth. It feels as if it could have been written yesterday. Below is an excerpt: “At the very outset of our discussion, it would be wise to remember … More Releasing Separateness
Receive, release, and receive again. This is a natural flow of occurrences that affects our lives in the grandest and the most subtle ways. Yet, this process can easily become distorted. We often resist receiving and releasing. It is easy to cling. We cling to the past. We cling to our fears. We cling … More The Sweetness of Letting Go
We must soften to another to build a meaningful relationship. Union of any sort takes softening. The wintery ground must soften to take in melting snow and summon life-force to the surface as Spring approaches. There is great power in softening so as to allow for union, integration, and cooperation. This meditation references Lao … More Softening to the Moment
The brain is a data bank. It stores pertinent information that is collected from our experiences. It arranges data to formulate thoughts. The thoughts that we think again and again become our beliefs. Beliefs paired with our actions form our morale. So where does the mind fit into this picture? The mind is at … More Opening to the Expanse
The meditative experience is found in the allowing. It is found in the softening. It is found in the opening. It is found in the receiving. When the body, mind, and spirit are receptive, we catch a glimpse of our innate interconnectedness. Connected to what? The ALL. Happy meditating! Soften, Open, and … More Receptive and Serene
Molten magma from deep in the Archean Earth flowed to the surface to create vast expanses of land which allowed for life on the planet to move from the sea and diversify. As in the photo above, when fiery lava hits the water it turns from liquid to gas in the form of steam … More Earthly Flow
We are surrounded by activity. We are immersed in it. The breath is a source of consistent, rhythmic activity. As our awareness meets the breath and lingers alongside its gentle flow, it becomes entrained; it gathers momentum. And what does momentum look like in terms of awareness? Spaciousness. Happy meditating. Flow – Day … More Spacious Momentum
Day flows into dusk which flows into night. Night becomes dawn which flows into day. Youth flows into adulthood. Migrating animals follow the flow of available resources. Words flow from an inspired writer’s pen. Flow is fundamental to each and every aspect of life. Life is flow – steady and continuous, like the breath … More Life is Flow
We experience the outside world with our senses; we hear it, touch it, see it, taste it, smell it. They help us navigate the terrain and inform our choices. Meditation allows us to give our sensory organs a rest from their usual roles… the eyes catch a break from judging proportion and tracking movement; … More Follow Your Nose
The essence of this week’s theme, Tip of the Nose, is captured in the photo above. This child is still, focused, captivated, and fully present. Perhaps the outer environment is crowded and hectic, and needless to say, the plane is moving 600 mph… but no worries because from his perspective, there’s nothing to do … More Taking It All In
We meet here again to meditate. Wonderful! Meeting places can be quite specific. Perhaps you have readied yourself for meditation in a specific place; perhaps a designated “peace” zone for an allotted time each week which allows for quiet reflection, your own specific meditation place. This week we are going to explore … More The Meeting Place
“Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile is the source of your joy.” – Thich Nhat Hahn Happiness is a brainwave, and smiles directly affect your brain. It is a physiological fact. It’s revealed in the delightful quote above. The very fact that you can always offer a smile, to yourself … More Respond with a Smile
The shape of a smile is quite common: raised at the edges and curved from side to side. It’s the shape of a bowl or a basin. It’s the shape of the hammock above… it has a similar function as well. A smile holds and supports; it contains and carries. Create the time and … More Delightfully Held
“We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do.” – Mother Teresa This is true… a smile has a vibrational ripple effect that extends far beyond our perceptive reach. But, we can sense quite a bit of the goodness that it brings by simply wearing one and sharing one. And … More Smile and the World Smiles Back
Sparks initiate. They bring each new moment to light. Sparks reveal. They bring forward the possibilities that each one of these moments hold: creativity and peace, truth and insight, or goodness and beauty. Meditation could be likened to a spark that leads us through the doorway of “now” and into the field of … More And Begin Again
The latest round of online meditations has completed and we will pause for a bit before beginning again. The full round of meditations is on the blog if you’d like to enjoy a guided meditation during the break. Perhaps you’ll take-up self-led silent sittings for a while… set a timer and go. If … More Meditative Momentum
