by Matthew Koren | Jul 31, 2019
Learn to meditate!
As we walk deeper into our practice, and the light and love of the path on which we find ourselves, more is possible. We discover who we are, our place in the universe, and of what we are capable. The truth is that no one can tell us this, we have to find it for ourselves…within.
In our Meditations for Awakening Series, we explore topics related to the process of awakening. What does it mean to be awakening? What are the unique experiences that happen during a time of spiritual awakening? How can I best equip myself for the journey?
For this meditation, we will be exploring the topic of “Creating Possibilities that Matter.” Do you ever feel like your life is going nowhere fast? Revisit what you’re creating and choose something big! Come join us to see what emerges from the meditations and discussions about this topic.
Meditating helps us relax and connect with our inner spiritual gifts and talents. It also serves as a vehicle for accessing higher wisdom and direction from within. Acting on this wisdom allows us to start to work with our life force in a new way, and access all the blessings associated with our strengths and gifts.
Benefits of this class:
- Relieve stress & tension
- Increase control over your thoughts and concentration
- Reduce the effects of drama in your life
- Encourage happiness & peace of mind
- Build self-confidence
- Enhance energy, strength, vigour
- Increase clarity and creativity
- Create a state of deep relaxation & general well-being
Drop-ins welcome! Bring a friend discount of $5 off for both of you applies.
Register Here
by user_dd | Jul 15, 2019 | Community Conversations
In every moment, we have the chance to feel fully into our present moment, or choose the next thought which our mind has thrown at us to keep us distracted. At what point do you, the consciousness, get in front of the mind-thought chatter that occupies your head minute by minute? Is there an access or an opening? At what point do we choose our thoughts?
The will is your ability, or a measure of your ability, to direct your thoughts. The will to do things not because they make sense (everyone’s rationale is different), but because you ‘will’ yourself to think the thought.
This is the fundamental reason behind why we do rituals. In rituals, even if we’re reading it out of a book, we’ve designed the thought pattern that we’re choosing to engage in. Every moment you’re in ritual is a moment you are unplugged from the collective consciousness/ego trap that has your mind running in a million directions.
The best time to meditate is when you have so many things going on, you don’t know where to start. That’s when you know you’ve fallen so deep into your ego/thought trap that it’ll take a huge crane to lift you back out. And who’s got time for that?
When you make time, despite the pressures of the world eroding your time for self-care, creative expression, fun connecting with community, and meditation you have done high magic! Creating your life because you say so, doing things because you say so is your will at work.
Succumbing to the pressures of the world with no compromise for your values of health, wealth and ecstatic joy (or whatever your values are) means you are just sitting like a passenger waiting for life to go by. A compromise looks like making sure you still have time before the end of your day for meditation, even if you miss your time to sit in the morning. Using your will means making tough choices that are oftentimes not socially popular in order to fill your life with the experiences that enliven YOU rather than please OTHERS.
This is your life. Will to live it!
by user_dd | Apr 8, 2019 | Community Conversations
My meditation practice has not been peaceful the last few weeks. What’s more is that I’ve been rather lazy in approaching how best to deal with it. It’s almost like I’m stuck in observation mode, just watching myself wallow without jumping in with a strategy or plan.
What’s great about that is for once, I’m not jumping in with a strategy or a plan! However, I do want my meditation practice to return to a time of peace and deep relaxation. So join me as we go back to the basics and improve your meditation practice with me!
Meditation Basics
There are times when the going is good. It may still be a struggle to find the time to sit down however, once you do, you can feel yourself relaxing into the peace of doing nothing. Relieving yourself of the stressors of life, if even temporarily, is worth the sore butt from sitting too long!
Then there are the times when your meditation is not working out as planned. Try as you might to wrangle the mind, it refuses to be constrained. You just can’t find the right position, cushion, background music or back support. Or worse, your body is comfortable and your mind won’t sit still!
One of the keys I offer to you is this: meditation, like emotions, have phases. You can expect the beginning phase of your meditation to be unpredictable. Sometimes it will be turbulent, and sometimes calm. Sometimes you will glide into your meditation easily, and other times, it’ll be like herding cats in your mind. This is why I highly recommend you do your breathing practices first. Once you master your breathing practice, the subsequent phases of your meditation will flow through easily and predictably.
The Key is in your Breath
Controlling your breath, or intentionally altering your breathing pattern is work you can do on the physical system that directly impacts your mind. Bringing your attention to your body and addressing what’s going on in the body is the first step to any successful meditation practice.
That’s why meditation teachers will often instruct you to return to your breath if your mind has taken over. Your mind will follow your breath, so when your meditation practice seems to be giving you diminishing returns, turn it into a breathing practice until the calm mind state you are looking for returns. And it will return. Your mind will follow your breath.
So breathe easy knowing that the solution to our turbulent meditation practice is right under your nose.If you want help, join us for a complimentary Tools for Awakening series meditation which happen regularly. Just check out the calendar to see when the next one is upcoming.
Matthew Koren founded Spirit in Transition in 2015, a business consulting firm specializing in building high-performance learning organizations, teams and individuals.
by user_dd | Jul 13, 2016 | Community Conversations
So I’m at the bakery case and know I want to cut down on the carbs. But everything looks so good, AND it’s gluten-free. The attendant looks at me expectantly and the pressure is on. What’s a guy to do? “I’ll just have an iced tea,” I say, not wanting to hold up the growing queue behind me.
I always laugh at my observing self in these situations, agonizing over the plethora of choices this American lifestyle affords me. By what measure am I making these decisions, and how conscious am I really?
The Tibetan Buddhists believe there will always be suffering in this world of samsara, that for every degree of joy and wonder and hope, there’s also the equivalent in anger and anguish and despair. To me, there is a deeper teaching here which I won’t really get into in this post, but it does seem to point to a more commonplace principle—everything in moderation.
I can see the good intentions behind this phrase. How can I know sadness if I haven’t actually experienced joy? If there is loss and anguish around me all the time, does that make it easier to feel joy around the small respites in life? If I didn’t want so much, maybe I wouldn’t suffer over my choices, and would be happier with what I have.
You gotta watch Buddhist philosophy–it really makes you think!
The history of Buddhism spans the 6th century BC to the present, starting with the birth of Buddha Siddhartha Gautama in Lumbini, Nepal. This makes it one of the oldest religions practiced today. How could I argue with a 2,500 year old tradition?
Yet, we hear a different story from a similarly influential tradition: the Islamic, mystical tradition of the Sufis. Why was Rumi so happy-go-lucky in his writing? He is much more emotional in how he presents his spirituality.
A mystic from the 13th century, Rumi’s writings inspired us to focus on direct union with God, through love alone and no intermediaries. His philosophy inspired the famous Order of the Whirling Dervishes to commune with God through music and joyful, meditative dance. It’s important to note that Rumi was not seen as a prophet in the Islamic faith, although his writings were treated with the same honor as scripture in other traditions.
Despite his almost Tantric philosophy of becoming deeply present to adore the divine in every moment, inflaming ourselves with prayer and devotion of God, Rumi is also quoted as writing “Having suffered a blow, I shall know a caress.”
To me this sounds like it draws from the Buddhist principle mentioned earlier, but given the context of his writings, it seems like he is coming to a very different conclusion. My interpretation is you learn how an experience feels good when compared to a painful experience, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t seek out joy.
Assuming both approaches have merit, how can they leave us with such different feelings about the nature of our spiritual journey? Are they just two sides of the same coin?
At risk of taking teachings from these two traditions out of context, I’ll ask the question: can’t we just have joy?
What do you think?
by user_dd | Jun 2, 2016 | Community Conversations
A couple weeks ago, I was researching global warming…and became terrified and angry that it was way more urgent than I had imagined. I went through a dead feeling that day, looking around me and seeing how so many people are still stuck in the idea that they can disrespect nature without any repercussions.
Contempt arose for those who keep the people in ignorance, and for people like Donald Trump who still don’t believe global warming is even real, let alone a priority. Of course, it wasn’t just global warming I was thinking about. It was a lament for all of the ways we are blind and manipulated.
With the help of wise words and reflection, I came to a deep realization later that day, one which infiltrated my core and renewed me. This epiphany was that IT DOES NOT MATTER what happens, if we are aligned with our true nature and act from that alignment. Alignment itself is the real goal.
I used to be so inspired, and yet so frustrated, with Mohatma Gandhi’s axiom of “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” I wasn’t sure how to implement it. Not genuinely. Not in a way that felt right.
But something clicked this time. Synchronistically, I was also reading a book and taking a class that touched on how to contact our deeper nature and release our potential. All of the emotion, knowledge, and support I was receiving collided.
I began feeling my latent qualities and allowing them to organically emerge. The mythologist Joseph Campbell once said “A vitalized person vitalizes.” By living your vision, you energize and inspire others. I noticed the shifts around me as I found more and more alignment within myself.
The change you wish to see represents YOUR greater potential wanting to express itself. If you want to experience a compassionate world, there’s a part of you that is compassionate. It just yearns to be freed through you. And this is a never-ending process, an action recreated in each moment.
You can start to access this potential with a few steps:
RELAX
Get comfortable and get into a meditative state. Breath slowly and deeply, close your eyes, and let yourself melt.
FEEL
Get mindful of your body and the energy behind it. Try to feel the blood pumping through you, and the air moving in your lungs. Then imagine the essence of who you are–just as a feeling, subtle at first.
ENVISION
Keep the feeling in mind and heart. Now, ask your essence to reveal your ideal self. Focus on this as a strong intention. Then ease, and be open to what comes. Stay relaxed. See if you can naturally picture what this ideal self looks and acts like.
ENHANCE
Zero in on the feeling underneath any images or experiences that arise. This is the feeling of your ideal self and greater potential. As you inhale, let the feeling expand through you. Immerse yourself in it!
You can learn to experience this anywhere. Eventually, you can just jump straight to the feeling and not necessarily go through the whole series. It helps at first, though.
Try to focus on this feeling several times throughout the day, in short bursts. Then act on the inspiration that comes from this feeling (of course, be wise about your actions while also not tripping yourself up). You may start to see others becoming interested in your changes and seeking to do new things with their lives! We’re really more interconnected than it seems–a change in one place tends to elicit a change in another.
No politician or corporate leader can take away our power to co-create the society we want. Each of us is a building block. But regardless of what happens out there, the truly important work begins inside.
Good luck on your journeys!
Let us know
What do you feel describes the essence of who you are? What does your ideal society look like?
