Let go of hurry and worry. Let your thoughts settle. Allow wisdom to arise. ~ Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian
One of the great blessings of a meditation practice is that it gives us control over worry about the future and regret about the past. We learn to objectively watch thoughts and feelings arise in the mind and can let those fall away that are not really useful. As our practice deepens, we sense a harmony in the flow of events and can tune our actions to them without being caught up in negative drama. We experience a supportive universe as we follow our enhanced intuition. Life can be a flow of harmony in freedom.
In meditation, lift your gaze above the inner horizon. Seek the light of wisdom at the third eye center as one waits for the sun at dawn. ~ Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian www.ellengraceobrian.com
A basic tool used to quiet your mind when you sit to meditate is to focus on the quality of your breath — feeling the quality of the air when you inhale, feeling your chest and abdomen rise, then feeling the quality of the air as you exhale. We often teach the technique of imagining that you are breathing through the third eye or the spiritual eye, that point just above and between the eyebrows. In the philosophy of Yoga, this is an important energetic point in our subtle body, the sixth chakra. The sixth chakra is associated with wisdom and intuition. In her book, the Jewel of Abundance Yogacharya O'Brian says "Lifting our awareness to these centers (higher chakras)....encourages vital force to flow upward and contributes to being more awake, aware, and open to inspiration." You can practice this any time during the day, just by taking one conscious breath with awareness at the third eye. Lift your gaze and seek the light of wisdom.
Take a step away from identifying with changing mental states by discerning the dominant quality in the mind such as peace, passion, or inertia. You are not the quality; you are the Seer, the Observer. ~ Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian www.ellengraceobrian.com
There are three qualities that imbue all of nature including our mind. The first is the uplifting quality of peacefulness or harmony. The second is passion, activity or restlessness. The third is inertia and is often associated with negative thoughts. Our meditation practice shows us that as the nonjudgemental Observer we can moderate our mental states and when overtaken by inertia we can use activity or passion to move us away from inertia. Then we have the freedom to make those useful choices that move us towards balance and harmony where we can a positive support both ourselves and others. Observe your mental state and exercise your innate freedom to take full control of it.
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 wide 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 from her book of poetry One Heart Opening www.ellengraceobrian.com
Self-discipline is fiery energy that can burn through obstacles and light up your path. ~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian
Many of the obstacles we encounter in life are self created, and our meditation practice teaches us the skills we need to avoid and overcome these. We become intensely aware of the thoughts that occur in our minds, so we can let those fall away that are not useful. Meditation is simple but not easy. Only self-discipline enables us to sit until the chatter in our minds quiets and we encounter the deep peacefulness that is our true nature. When we exercise the discipline to turn away from arising anger, a mental heat is generated that gives us the extra energy we need to persevere when encountering serious problems. Our freedom is forged in the fire our meditation practice both when we sit to meditate and when we act in the world.
Look to the root of anger to find the desire it springs from. Trying to dissipate anger by venting it is like blowing dandelion seed in the wind. They will take root and spring up again. Use the trowel of discrimination and pull out the root. ~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian
Our meditation practice quiets the thought waves in our mind. As we become more aware of the observer, the consciousness that is non-judgmental, observing ourselves meditating, we also become more aware of the observer during the day. When we notice ourselves becoming angry about something we can thoughtfully discern what is causing the anger. Discovering the cause can then allow us to discern the best way to pull out the root of the anger. Get rid of the anger once and for all!
When the mind becomes still, inner wisdom opens and is revealed. ~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian
After as little as eight to ten weeks of daily meditation practice, we can begin to experience the benefits. Because we gain increasing control over the contents of the mind, stress diminishes and our ability to concentrate improves. We spend more time experiencing joy since we find this is our core state of being in the depth of meditation. The unexpected surprise is that we are more attuned the graceful arrival of deep insight and solutions to problems the previously eluded us. We experience the world as innately supportive feel a deep sense of freedom despite circumstances.
Comparing oneself to others is like driving down a road trying to find your way while using a map from another city. ~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian
We have all had experiences of comparing ourselves to others. We wonder why they have something we don't have, why they have accomplished something we haven't, or even thinking that they must be better meditators than we are. Yogacharya is telling us that we are all unique, with different ways of living our lives. Comparing ourselves to others isn't useful because we each have our own characteristics and our own experiences that shape us into who we are. We only cause ourselves suffering when we compare. We can't live someone else's life. We can't get to our goal using someone else's map. Our goal should be to live our lives as the best person we can be, in the highest way, using our own unique gifts and talents. Our meditation practice quiets our minds and allows us to experience the fullness of who we uniquely are, allowing us to then offer that out into the world with grace, joy and love.
While we are training the mind to be still, we reap numerous benefits from our practice —our stress level is reduced, we become more peaceful, our ability to concentrate improves, and we notice more frequent bouts of contentment. ~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian (from her book The Jewel of Abundance: Finding Prosperity through the Ancient Wisdom of Yoga)
When we begin a daily meditation practice, it can be discouraging to notice for the first time how busy our mind wants to be. However, after as little as eight to ten weeks of daily practice for twenty minutes or more, we begin to reap the benefits. Our default mental state becomes more peaceful and it takes more external stress to knock us off balance. We notice thoughts of anger or fear as they arise and can more easily deflect our attention to a more positive place. One of the nicest benefits at this stage is enhanced intuition. We notice serendipitous little mental breakthroughs that open our consciousness to solutions we may have missed before meditation. We are on the path to contentment and freedom.
Every thought is a prayer. Every word is a blessing. Every action is a meditation. When daily meditation and conscious activity work together in our lives, the line that separates them disappears. Our life becomes our meditation ~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian (from Living for the Sake of the Soul ~ Ellen Grace O'Brian)
Our daily practice extends out from our meditation chair to everything that we do, say and think. This is the goal of meditation. Meditation and conscious living are key components to our well-being. Our interactions with others—our way of being then comes from that place of peace and love at the core of our being. Our life is our meditation. It is all One.
Gratitude comes when we let go. When we cease fighting what is, the glory of what can be emerges. ~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian
Often in our lives things don't go the way we planned or we wish things were different in some way. Maybe we wish that things in our past were different and if they were, our lives would be better now. Or we may think that if a circumstance or relationship were different then we wouldn't be unhappy now. If we look at life from a grateful viewpoint, we can positively change our thinking. When we are able to do that, we let go of trying to fight something that we can't change and see the good around us we can more easily move into the flow of blessing, rather than fighting what is. Life is full of ups and downs and we can learn to align ourselves with the positive flow of the energy of the universe.
Although happiness depends to some extent upon external conditions, it depends chiefly upon conditions of the inner mind. ~Paramahansa Yogananda
Our daily habit of meditation gives us control over the contents of the mind. Just our practice of concentration - which precedes the peace of meditation - allows us to let thoughts fall away which are not useful. We bypass recrimination about past events and avoid wasting energy by worrying about the future. We gain the mental strength to retain equanimity when events do not go as planned, and can learn from this helpful feedback. In the depths of meditation we reach that true happiness which we call bliss and experience as our own inner nature.
An enlivening power is nurturing the Universe and we can learn to cooperate with it. ~Roy Eugene Davis
Roy Eugene Davis passed away on March 27, 2019. He was the one of the last living direct disciples of Paramahansa Yogananda and was still teaching meditation and spiritual living principles up until a few days before he died. Read about the lineage of Kriya Yoga teachers here. He taught for over sixty five years. He is also the revered teacher of Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian who has been studying with him for over 40 years. He has been an inspiration for our work here in Santa Rosa.
We dedicate this week's inspiration to this devoted teacher.
"The highest good we can have includes enlightened spiritual awareness, psychological and physical well-being, harmonious relationships, prosperity, and circumstances that enable us to most easily accomplish purposes that are of value to us and to others and to the environment." ~Roy Eugene Davis
Attachment is blinding; it lends an imaginary halo of attractiveness to the object of desire. ~Paramahansa Yogananda
Our challenge is to use mental discipline and wise habits to escape attachment to the allure of objects and to the outcome of events. When we notice we are attracted to a material object, we can ask if acquiring it will satisfy ego or serve a higher good. The steady practice of meditation and attention to the results of actions in our own life can lead us to mastery of non-attachment. Not to be confused with lack of concern, this practice helps us separate our intentions from the outcome of our actions. If we carry out a task to the best of our ability and the results are as expected we easily see the benefit. If the results are not what we intended, life has presented us with an opportunity to learn. Over time we come to realize that we are not in control of outcomes but that our pure intentions are often rewarded. This practice leads to freedom from attachment.
Sweep away negative and self-defeating thoughts with a conscious out-breath. Welcome happiness back into your heart and mind with a conscious in-breath. It only takes a moment. One transforming moment. ~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian
Using the technique of observing our breath we become aware of how the breath is a powerful tool to help us in calming our thoughts and clarifying the mind. We always have this tool with us. When we are going about our daily life and we notice moments when we are becoming anxious or angry, before reacting, we can take just one conscious breath. We can touch that place of happiness within us. This is how we learn to control our thoughts, rather than have them control us. We can be transformed in just one moment.
Want to feel radiantly alive? See the miracle of your life unfolding right now. ~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian
Spring is such a wonderful reminder of the radiance of life. We see it all around us as nature wakes up from its winter slumber. We see it in the flowers bursting into bloom, in the radiance of the daffodils greeting us each day. We hear it through the birds singing their sweet songs. Each day as we look around, we can offer gratitude for this life unfolding. Each day even if we think there is only gloom in our life, we can be grateful for the air that we breathe, for the sunshine that nurtures life around us and for the beauty that is nature. Our meditation practice calms our minds and allows us to slow down and see those miracles. That is the miracle of our life and it is unfolding all around us and within us.
When you sit in the silence of deep meditation, joy bubbles up from within, roused by no other stimulus. The joy of meditation is overwhelming. ~Paramahansa Yogananda
Meditation brings many levels of benefits. When we begin meditating, we learn to become more aware of the the contents of our mind. We watch unhelpful thoughts or emotions arise and fall away. As we persist, we find a new kind of rest in meditation as thoughts are stilled. Beyond thought we discover that our underlying inner state is joy. We find that we can touch up on this during normal activity with just one conscious breath. Persist in your meditation practice and discover that your own nature is joy itself.
Meditation is easy and natural. We can make it difficult by trying too hard, having unrealistic expectations, or approaching it haphazardly, but at its core, meditation is simply being awake and aware—mindful. ~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian (from The Jewel of Abundance: Finding Prosperity through the Ancient Wisdom of Yoga)
For those who are new to meditation or even if we have been meditating for a while, it is good to remind ourselves that meditation is a natural state of consciousness that we have all experienced. The tools and techniques that we learn help us to create the conditions for meditation to happen, just as we create the conditions for sleep to happen. It is good to remember the four stages of meditation practice: Foster- Create an inner and outer environment that is conducive for meditation to occur. First, find a quiet private space. Then, with an upright posture so that we can remain awake and aware of what is happening, we become aware of the breath and we internalize our attention. Focus- Use a technique such as focusing on the breath or a mantra to focus our attention on a single point. Flow - We allow ourselves to let go as we move into the flow of meditation. Finish - We end our meditation consciously taking a few moments to feel the peace we have experienced in our bodies and our minds. We take a few moments to have appreciation for this time of renewal and to send this peaceful energy out into our day and to others. (adapted from The Jewel of Abundance: Finding Prosperity through the Ancient Wisdom of Yoga by Ellen Grace O'Brian) These four stages are the foundation of our meditation practice and will support us in letting go of expectations of what happens when we sit and opens us up to to the awareness of the benevolent power of the universe.
Meditate on your intuitive ability. Where does it come from? ~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian
This is one of the great gifts of meditation, our intuitive ability. We quiet our minds in our daily practice. Even after a few weeks of regular meditation practice, the quietness of the mind continues into the rest of our day. When the thought waves are calmed, our deeper knowing, our awareness of our intuition becomes more acute. As we get used to observing our minds we begin to trust our intuition more and more. That inner knowing guides us into doing the right thing, saying the right thing or maybe not saying anything when it is appropriate. Decisions that we need to make are guided in the right direction. Listen when you hear that still small voice. It is quiet and it is powerful. Listen and be guided.
Stillness of the breath is stillness of the mind. ~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian
Our primary practice as we sit to meditate is to focus on the breath. This helps us direct attention inward and provides a single point of focus. It becomes easier to overcome distractions from thoughts, sounds and sensations. As we sit the breath slows and when our attention becomes entirely focused we move from concentration to meditation. The mind grows quiet and the breath can become very still. We can reach freedom from the tyranny of mind.
