Peace within us is unconditional. It isn’t ours when something happens, or when something is resolved—it is unchanging, always available. Nothing can take that peace from us without our consent.
~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian
This season of thanksgiving offers us an opportunity to look around us and see all of the good things in our life. There may some times in our life where it may seem that there is nothing to be grateful for or we feel stressed or worried. Our meditation practice trains us to stop and catch ourselves when we are having negative thoughts. We can stop, take a breath and see the positive around us. We can especially notice those things that we often take for granted like the birds singing, the beautiful autumn leaves that are falling or the air that we are breathing. It just takes a moment. We look around, take a breath and feel that peace that is always there for us. Let's not allow anything take that peace from us. In this holiday season, let us be aware of that peace that is our innate nature, remember it and be thankful.
What we need may come to us in many different ways. It may come as insight, an awareness that allows us to know what to do; or it may be something we read, or hear someone say; it could be a material gift that is given; or an opportunity that arises. The ways are truly infinite.
~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian
There are many times in our life when we come to a crossroads of some kind. We need to make a decision, we want to say the right thing to someone, we are worried about someone or some thing and we don't know what to do. The right answer will always come to us, we just need to be open and alert to the message we are receiving and we need to trust that the answer that comes is the right one. Our practice of meditation prepares us for that knowing. Through our meditation practice we are letting our thoughts settle and allowing the wisdom that innate to us show up. Then we are prepared for the myriad ways that the answer shows up, and we can trust it. The more we allow ourselves to experience those answers, the more we notice them in our lives.
Staying in touch with the benefits of superconscious meditation is a helpful support to keep us inspired to practice every day. Remind yourself to be good to yourself by meditating today and every day.
~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian
Meditation promotes health by lowering the level of stress-inducing cortisol in the body so we experience less disease of all kinds. Meditation gives us an inner glow and promotes optimism. Meditation reduces our tendency to be reactive, so relationships are improved. Meditation helps us control the contents of our mind, which helps with our speech and actions in the world. Meditation is the great teacher of focus, so we can get more done. Meditation opens up the channels to our inner intuition, so we find solutions more easily and just know more often what is the right thing to do. Meditation uncovers the deep well of inner peace within us so naturally the world around us is more peaceful and joy filled. Begin or deepen your meditation practice today.
The actions of grace are always constructive, supportive, enlivening and redemptive, and prevail wherever there is receptivity to them.
~Roy Eugene Davis
Roy Eugene Davis, a direct disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda and the guru of our teacher, Ellen Grace O'Brian, reminds us that grace is everywhere, all around us and always supportive. Our work is to be receptive to the actions of grace. Another great sage, Ramakrishna, said "The winds of grace are always blowing, it is for us to raise our sails." Grace is like water to a fish. It is everywhere present, but we are not always paying attention and sometimes feel like we are all alone in this world, dealing with our issues and problems. When we have a regular, steady practice of meditation, we are raising our sails. We become more easily aware of the grace that is prevalent in our lives. Then we can rest in that knowing and relax. Life can be so much easier.
Don't mentally review any problem constantly. Let it rest at times and it will work itself out; but see that you do not rest so long that your discrimination is lost. Rather, use these rest periods to go deep within the calm regions of your inner Self.
~Paramahansa Yogananda
When we have a steady meditation practice and lead a life that is harmonious with our true values, we find that the answers to our problems will come to us. There is an easy path for us opened by discrimination. We can let go of the need to solve the problem our selves and trust that our own discriminative wisdom will show us the answer. The universe naturally supports our worthwhile goals when we meditate and lead a balanced life.
Change your focus of attention, change your thinking, change your mind, and change your life. It only takes a moment. This one is a good one.
~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian
Sometimes we can get caught up in our worries, fears or anxieties. It can be quite painful and all consuming. When we have a regular practice of meditation and an understanding of how to live our lives from that place within ourselves that is peaceful, calm and free from all suffering, our lives can be transformed. Then we realize how naturally and easily we can change our thinking, change our minds. One breath can change it all.
There is always a way out of your trouble; and if you take the time to think clearly, to think how to get rid of the cause of your anxiety instead of just worrying about it, you become a master.
~Paramahansa Yogananda
A steady meditation practice brings many gifts. We become accurate observers of our thought process. We get control over the contents of our minds, and when we are able to let negative thoughts subside rather than becoming attached to them, we reach the level of mastery and find an end to mental suffering. To reap these many benefits, strengthen your meditation practice beginning today.
Sit in meditation.
The door of the heart opens to the inner world.
After that,
nothing is ever the same.
The knots around your life,
all the reasons for doing and not doing,
loosen and fall away.
Then, there comes the glorious choice.
Some close the door and try to go back
to an anxious way of pretending they don't know.
Others leave the door open and
walk through it to a new life,
full of wonders,
only now perceived.
Sit in meditation.
The door of the heart opens to the inner world.
~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian
Don't look for solutions to problems in meditation. Rest in that state beyond problems, where only divine harmony exists. Divine guidance will emerge from that consciousness. Bring light into a dark room, and the darkness vanishes as though it had never been.
~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian
Meditation is not a time to work out issues. Our time of meditation is a time to move deeper than the level of thought. Important problems cannot be solved on the same level of consciousness as the problem because a focus on the negative just attracts energy which enlarges the problem. We can let go of issues and just sink into the inner peacefulness of real meditation. Then later on we will be happily surprised by the ease with which marvelous solutions appear.
Imagine what it would be like to accept life as it is. Now imagine what it would be like to accept yourself just as you are. When there is no desire for life to be different than it is, peace arrives. ~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian
Meditation and our practice of non-attachment can lead us to that
enduring peaceful state where we no longer worry about desired outcomes.
After we have done our best with each task at hand, we know that the
results are not up to us and we can release anxiety about what will
happen. Our inner peacefulness is dependent on our meditation practice and our acceptance of not being in control of the outcome of our actions, either positive or negative. What a relief!
If you encounter an obstacle, imagine that it is only an obstacle because you allow it to be one. Ask yourself: What can I let go of that would transform this situation?
~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian
When we first begin our meditation practice, it is easy to find many things that become obstacles to our taking time to sit in the silence. We haven't gotten up early enough, we have to go to work early, someone or something needs our attention, maybe I can meditate better in the evening—so I'll just wait until then or oops- I forgot. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, scripture from the east that teaches us about meditation, tells us that there are several main obstacles such as laziness, illness, lack of progress, doubt, distractions and cravings for sense-pleasure. The Yoga Sutras also give us antidotes to these obstacles. For example, practice the opposite. If we are intent on making sincere, positive changes in our life, through meditation, that's all we need to do. We just need to recognize the obstacle and decide what to do to overcome it. We realize our strengths through overcoming obstacles.
Arjuna [the stuggling meditator]: "The mind is unstable, troublesome, strong and obstinate; it seems to be as difficult to control as the wind."
Krishna [our innate wisdom]: You are right, Arjuna; the mind is restless and hard to master; but by constant practice and detachment it can be mastered in the end.
Bhagavad Gita 6:34,35
The Bhagavad Gita is ancient scripture from India that tells the story of Arjuna, who represents those of us who are seeking a better way of life, and Krishna, who represents our own inner knowing, our inner wisdom. This is from the chapter on meditation.
We are not the first ones to experience our minds running wild during meditation. The great promise from this scripture is that the mind can be trained to come to single pointed focus and take us into the depth of meditation called yoga. Modern science echos this promise with our attribute of neuroplasticity. Our regular meditation practice creates new neural networks which strengthen our ability to focus and control the contents of our mind. This is what is life changing.
There are often numerous things we say we want and far fewer that we truly commit to. But when we determine we are ready and truly commit ourselves, breakthroughs become not only possible but predictable.
~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian
The news is out! You have heard us talk many times about the benefits of meditation. Now medical doctors are prescribing it. There are articles about the benefits in the newspapers. The benefits of meditation are real and easily attainable. All that is required on our part is our commitment to sit — our commitment to stay focused on our practice. It is our commitment to ourselves. When we do make that commitment, the benefits will appear quickly.
Avoid worry or concern about your progress... Exceptional meditative
experiences are not necessary. ~Roy Eugene Davis
We should not judge the usefulness of meditation practice by what
happens during the time of meditation but by our unfolding life
experience. This may take some time. After a couple of months of daily
practice others will notice that we are calmer, less reactive and more
joyful. We will find our useful goals more easily accomplished. It is
important not to become discouraged or quit before this remarkable
process of transformation can begin to unfold.
The key to the peace, security, and happiness we yearn for is within our own consciousness. The resources needed to make a difference in the world are hidden in our own hearts.
~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian
This is what we all want; peace, security and happiness. Often we think that if we had some material object or a certain relationship, these qualities of life that we seek would be ours. We forget that everything outside of ourselves changes. Relationships change and evolve; material objects get broken or damaged. A quiet mind, cultivated with a regular meditation practice, allows us to experience what we seek. These qualities are unchangeable when we experience them from within. Acting from this place of inner peace and contentment affects the world around us in a positive way.
Practice [meditation] once or twice a day. Early morning meditation will enable you to be poised and to more skillfully perform your duties during the day. Late afternoon or early evening meditation will reduce stress that may have accumulated during the day, calm your mind, and settle your emotions.
~Roy Eugene Davis
For most of us, at least twenty minutes of meditation soon after we first wake up works well because the mind is not yet cluttered with the events of the day. Experiment with the time of your meditation session, but then settle on a time to strengthen the habit. In order to promote restful sleep, you may find that a shorter second meditation just before bed time is very helpful. The effort you put in to your daily meditation practice will be rewarded many times over.
A harmonized mind produces harmony in this world of seeming discord.
~Paramahansa Yogananda
Sometimes, when we read the news, we can get overwhelmed with the suffering that people are experiencing all over the world. We wonder what we as individuals can possibly do to make a difference. When we are feeling calm and content, that energy affects those that we meet. They then pass it on to those they come in contact with—like a ripple in a quiet lake, when you toss a stone into it. Through your meditation practice, you can be the center of that ripple. You can contribute to the harmony of the world!
Easy and natural, meditation can be defined as turning our attention within to the clear aspect of our own being. In the initial stage of meditation practice, we focus our attention and allow the restless mind to become calm. As the activity of the mental field settles down, we experience inner peace. Surrender to the process allows our experience to deepen until we feel a sense of completion or fulfillment on that occasion.
~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian
Meditation itself is easy, even joyful. What is difficult is arranging our lives so that we can regularly devote at least twenty minutes a day to meditating in the silence. The effort we expend to reach the chair or the cushion every day is rewarded to us many times over once we form a stable habit of daily meditation: we become less reactive, life seems easier, our worthy endeavors are fully supported and life just seems to smile on us on so many ways.
Meditating, while remaining alert and observant, enables us to easily experience pure (clear) levels of awareness or states of consciousness.
~Roy Eugene Davis
Meditation is a practice but it is also the goal of the practice. It is resting in the awareness of our pure essence of being. When you feel yourself move from concentration into a more peaceful, tranquil state rest there. Remaining alert and observant allows us not to miss that peak experience. Even though these experiences may seem short, these tranquil moments are what affect our physical and our mental states and if you are so inclined, our spiritual awakening.
The successful practice of meditation requires balance and focus — qualities that are essential to a happy, successful life. Cultivate balance today.
~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian
Just think about how most broadly successful days start. For many of us, these days begin with meditation and gentle exercise. Life can be a blissful dance when we balance work, satisfying and supportive relationships, moderate healthy eating, and uplifting play. We all know what it feels like when we lost this balance, so why not make those wise choices that benefit us and all those around us?
