This practice was inspired by many things. A conversation with friends after a heart-opening Bhakti practice about the nature of the spiritual path. An understanding that opening the body was all very well, but unless the heart also opened, essentially meaningless. A desire to experience more equinimity, more joy, more bliss, more love. And a book called A Path with Heart. … [Read more...]
What is meditation? How do you do it? Why would you want to do it? Is it fun? Find out the answers to these questions and more in the articles and stories below.
How to connect to other people while holding your centre – a new loving-kindness sadhana
Perhaps my biggest discovery this year has been the power of sadhana. I started my new years with a Forty Day Sadhana of Sodarshan Chakra Kriya. It took me a bit longer than forty days to finish it, as I missed a day at day 35 and had to start all over again... but boy was it powerful when I finally finished. I was super excited when I started my next sadhana - all about accessing infinite energy and prosperity. Unfortunately, I had to stop that one at Day 15 because I discovered I was … [Read more...]
How to Choose the Right Meditation Technique for You
by Kara-Leah Grant, Musings from the Mat This is an interesting question - how can I possibly know what meditation might suit you, especially when I don't know 'you' at all? There is therefore no definitive answer I can give you to this question. However, what I can do is take you through a process which can help you determine which type of meditation might be best for you. In essence, I ask you questions, and you answer them. Because who knows best, what's best for you? You, that's … [Read more...]
Day 1 to 15: Forty Day Sadhana of Infinite Energy and Prosperity Meditation
These are interesting times. It's getting harder and harder to ignore the fact that we live on a finite planet, yet continue to promote a consumerist, throw away society that generates money for the few while decimating the planet. These were my thoughts as I sat outside this morning on my deck, eating porridge, watching the sunrise, and enjoying the presence of a handful of sparrows attracted by the stale bread we'd thrown on the lawn. They pecked and chirped, hopped and nibbled. Read … [Read more...]
How to access infinite energy and prosperity using a sadhana
I'm so excited! Today I started a new sadhana. The results from the last sadhana I did, Sodarshan Chakra Kriya were fantastic, and I'd been waiting for another sadhana to make itself known. What's a sadhana? Simply a daily spiritual practice like meditation done for forty consecutive days. On the weekend, while cleaning out my bedroom, I stumbled across a copy of Infinite Energy and Prosperity Meditation, taken from Anmol Mehta's wonderful website. … [Read more...]
What it means to embody presence in all that you do
by guest author Peter Fernando, A Month of Mindfulness One of the first times in my life I remember feeling fully present in the body was when I was in my early twenties. It was a time when I was in quite a lot of mental distress. My life at the time was all doing – doing this, achieving that; fixing this, making that. It was all about activity. To be honest I was a bit compulsive – I felt I had to constantly be doing something to prove my worth to others. … [Read more...]
My nine favourite places to practice asana, pranayama and meditation
Part of my mission as a yoga teacher and writer is to show people that asana, pranayama and meditation can happen anywhere, anytime - not just in a yoga class, at a yoga studio, in a gym or on your mat at home. Breaking free of our ideas of how asana, pranayama and meditation "should" be practised gets yoga off the mat and integrates it into your everyday daily life. And when you integrate your practice into your everyday, daily life, you will see great gains, giant leaps, and experience … [Read more...]
Because you want to make a million and meditate on it too
Every now and then, you read a book that stops you in your tracks. It blasts through your mind and fires up your heart. It makes you leap out of your seat and want to run around yelling the message from the top of your lungs. These are the best books - books that speak to my heart, reminding me of all I already know. The kind of books that I read and I feel like I'm not just reading the messages contained within, but that I'm remembering them. The first is The Diamond Cutter, about … [Read more...]
How do I squeeze yoga and meditation into my jam-packed day?
It’s the end of the week and while you managed to make it to two yoga classes, you haven’t unrolled your yoga mat at home once. Family, work, & household commitments make finding a 90-minute slot during the day next to impossible. Short of getting up at 5am, or re-prioritizing your life to ditch other commitments, there are other ways to regularly practice yoga. After all, home practice is where the deeper rewards of yoga blossom. So how do you manage to fit regular yoga and meditation … [Read more...]
How do I Stop These Compulsive Thoughts Invading My Brain?
by Kara-Leah Grant It happens all the time - people tell me they can't meditate because they think too much. They can't stop themselves from thinking... But none of us can stop ourselves from thinking, even when we've been meditating for a long time. Meditation is the process of being aware of the thoughts... The following dialogue was inspired by a couple of emails from readers, who wanted to know how to control their thoughts. How do we stop compulsive thoughts from invading and taking over … [Read more...]