Category: Ayurveda

The ancient science of life.

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Immunity to Quiet the Spirit

Quiet your Emotions to increase your Immunity.

Did you know there is such thing as Spiritual Immunity?

Focus on breathing & bring yourself back to your true essence of calm.

Pranayama – Energy breathing exercises for immunity.

We all (should) know how our thoughts can affect things & create a cascade of activity within our body.  Now is a great time to shift from negative thinking to positive thinking.

The mind-body link is so very important for our wellness but if we focus on the present drama & get hooked into it, then it will constantly be driving the mind perhaps to madness.

This kind of impact reduces our immune system – simply known as stress! Why run on the hamster wheel of negativity?

Shifting thoughts to – ‘What can I be grateful for?’ is a quick & easy exercise to shift the mind & embrace a healthy outlook.  Look, see & find the smallest things in your life you can be grateful for. Acknowledge what is going right….right? Recognizing the subtle small thing, triggers our ‘YES’ response – to acknowledge the ‘things’ that are going well! So be sure to inquire honestly and drop the mask(s).

Integral to Wholeness.

Future projecting will not help us in this time, nor is it productive to mourn the past. Be fully present to empty out, deal with & complete any unfinished business with yourself. This is a good time to clear the slate & avoid rehashing the same old patterns. Get back to zero when you can. Some of us are still working, so when you have 5-10-30 minutes do nothing but rest, on your back, or relax & sit alone. Take your time & eat consciously at every meal. Daily get up at a regular time & move your bodies, meditate, meditate, meditate, then go to sleep & keep that time regular as well. (eg; up at 6am, asleep by 10pm) Routines are good for us, we are creature of rituals, aka habits.

Realize that everything we do & every thought _is_ significant, though we may not realize it.   Open up the doors of perception to greater potential & when you do ride the positive waves. Remember the saying: “What we think about most of the time comes about”. Become a Master of your inner dialogue & be part of the solution.  The ancient yogic Sages taught: “What we focus on expands”. What do you want to grow?

Sadly, many people are drowning in fear & panic, at this time.  However, many people were drowning in fear and panic even before this event. We need to choose not to contribute to it any longer – the choice is yours.

What humanity – our world – needs now is a Collective Consciousness to maintain greater balance, more peace, more hope, more gratitude, a greater sense of acceptance, coherence & positivity from our inner being toward the greater good.   “What the world need now, is love sweet love”

Meditation is a huge tool to bring that quietness to our minds.

Be Still – Concentrate

Stress, biologically is hard on our immune system.  To put it simply, our amygdala & the brainstem produce cortisol, then the stress hormone affects our digestive system, etc. If our gut to brain communication is negatively affected then we produce less serotonin & eventually get depressed. The result is an ever lower immune system. To have a good strong immune system, we need to reduce stress. To increase our physical & spiritual immunity be careful to watch what is hooking you…..on the media roller coaster. Unplug & disengage by coming to a place to quiet your emotions & settle down your central nervous system. This too shall pass.

What is hooking you?

Thinking on a long-term basis, make the subtle changes now in your life to harness your inner power for wellbeing & turn on your spiritual immunity.  Ask yourselves: “Who Am I?” , then arriving at “Know thyself” – a Greek aphorism; come to know who really you are… beyond your roles…. beyond the masks you wear in this life. Avoid trying to rehearse your future, for now!

Spiritual Immunity

This experience will one day seem to be a just blink of the eye. This time – is real & it is just a small blip compared to our cosmic existence.  Not saying it is not happening, of course….

Yoga & Ayurveda teaches that we are not just this physical body. There are many layers to ourselves, & these layers or Kosha, (which I teach especially in the Primordial Sound Meditation Course,) helps us understand who we are.

We are infinite & our potentially able to create more power.

The Seven Spiritual Laws of Yoga:

  1. Law of Pure Potentiality
  2. Law of Giving and Receiving
  3. Law of Karma
  4. Law of Least Effort
  5. Law of Intention and Desire
  6. Law of Detachment
  7. Law of Dharma

Tat Tvam Asi,” meaning: “I am that, you are that, all this is that, & that’s all there is.”

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Body of Light

The Harvest moon is in full bloom today and it is time to celebrate under the skies glow. Fell how it pulls your focus on your commitments to others. What have you or are you building together, through dreaming and doing?  Reflecting, what has recently come through within your most important relationships, leaving a long-lasting impact on you, and them?

Do not underestimate how this is a time of heightened sensitivity and power. As this Full moon becomes a gateway to radical change – should you need it – allow the pulse of the prana (life-force) to flow.  Just be sure to be gentle and tender with your heart and from the drama – which may be drawing your attention. 

Be prepared and be sure to find balance as you take deeper leaps of faith into the Divine.  Seek clarity in meditation and be sure to physically gather together (Satsang) with like-minded souls, to ‘practice’. The practice never lets you down, as it has a way to prepare you to gain insight and clear direction. Trust how nothing is ever wasted (think composting) – think about the process of abundance and let the rest take care of itself.

Become the Body of Light you long for, make peace & let go.

Love, Light Wisdom, Aum Shreem

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How complex can mediation be anyway?

Today there is a huge interest in the benefits of meditation. The enthusiasm seems to be in the “scientific proving” of its effectiveness for reducing more than just stress.

Because it is being catered on a grand-scale and many platforms; including teachers, practitioners, visionaries and counsellors alike, the problem arises as to the efficacy and proper guidance.

Let us not delude ourselves into thinking meditation is okay to be ‘packaged’, ‘commercialize’ or ‘secularized’.

You see, meditation was not meant to be commercially packaged, any more than yoga was meant to be ‘westernized’, since arriving about 65 years ago to North America.

There are many common elements and just as many forms of meditation out there with the essence of variety.

In presenting such a sacred tradition, I see and have seen the dangers for those embarking on the ‘journey’ only to be left unfulfilled.

Meditation when properly instructed, is meant to become an inner form of Yoga and can be the most wonderful adventure you will ever embark on. It can unfold vast new knowledge, joy, and awareness and inner peace. It is known as a path of self-discovery for unfolding our higher levels of consciousness and opening up a magical world, while being in complete stillness.

Science can examine it and analyze it but when we close our eyes only we can open up to the delightful dimensions, beautiful fields of unity and inner calm.

Did you know, traditional yoga does not teach meditation right away? In fact, establishing the right foundation (physically) in our lives must first be established. With the right preparation, meditation can be achieved.

Properly performed, asana or yoga postures & Chi Gong is meditation; a form of motion brought into the body with awareness. Remember, yoga is not just one thing!

The first three limbs of yoga consist of preparing ourselves in this fashion for meditation. The first three Limbs of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras abide in the teaching of: Dharana (concentration), Dhyana (reflective meditation) & Samadhi (unified awareness).

As I’ve learned, meditation is not separate from how we live; it becomes the product of integrating and harmonizing with nature.  Think of it as a farmers field that must be cultivated with care and as with daily meditation the blossoms of life emerge from the soil.

What is also crucial is to recognize how the spiritual doctrines, which usually accompany traditional meditation practices are just as necessary today as they were a thousands of years ago.

The evidence of jet-setting meditation will cause more defects and/or dissolution, which already can be found in so-called “secular meditation”.

Do not assume the goal of meditation is something physical and concrete or a temporary relief. Developing one focus of attention and concentration with time is necessary. So let ‘Science’ do what it think it is doing.

Allow yourself the luxury to sit in asana practice and become comfortable. The suggested period, up to 30 minutes once or twice a day, is enough to reap the benefits. Allow your body to become the vehicle for meditation, and avoid using background music or other distractions. Just sit still and be….

Pranayama (the 3rd Kosha/layer) is another dimension of our life force.  It is with the breath that we infuse greater potential for success during meditation. The energy needed to call in the flow of breath is needed to keep us in the state of “focused-awareness”, otherwise we just fall into dull awareness, blank out or even fall sleep.

Pratyahara is defined as restful awareness.  When the attention of the senses are internalized, then in subtle ways we achieve pratyahara in meditation. 

Concentration (Dhyana), another limbmust be exercised or else we are simply spinning with our thoughts. The power of using a personal mantra to harness the attention and develop our inner gaze is taught only by qualified practitioners. In this way, concentration is stabilized and we become less distracted.

Mantras are great ‘divine names’, sounds, words or syllables. The mind tool of a mantra becomes the vehicle to take us into finding the essence of love in the heart.  Pranava (Sanskrit) means Primordial Sound and this form of Meditation is what I specialize in.

Meditation in a higher sense is about self-inquiry, known also as the observance of ‘witnessing’.  Questions such as: Who Am I? What do I Want? How can I Help? What am I grateful for? can be briefly contemplated. Then the reflection exercise, like mirror exercises bring into view our true self. The practice should be effortless…effortless effort, relinquish control and surrender to the divine.

By the way, putting meditation into practice after a “3 or 8-week workshop or course must continue to be cultivated for the cumulative effects can take place.

Whenever you approach meditation, make the space and time you’ve set aside sacred, be humble and established in devotional ‘practice’.

Do not presume that Meditation will only deliver results in a smooth linear fashion.  As an experienced meditator, I know this is false and such presumptions are used to validate only short-term durations as most will experience, leaving us to crave.

In conclusion, meditation can enhance our self-esteem, encourage feeling good and alleviate stress. In today’s demanding world would you not rather have inner calm?

Om Mani Padme Hum ~ Hail to the Jewel in the Lotus

Lynn C. Pell, Cl. H. Vedic Practitioner, Certified Chopra Center Teacher

Foundress: In The Quiet ~ A Meditation Practice

http://inthequiet.ca