Pondering the New Year Using the 5 Fundamental Elements of Evolution
Looking for something different to New Years Resolutions? This year, I used the 5 Fundamental Elements of Evolution as the basis for my New Year pondering.
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Daily Global Vedic Meditation Sessions
The below is from Thom Knoles’ email to Vedic Meditators 16/10/23 following recent escalation in terror attacks and violence in the Middle East.
Thom's wish is that we do our part as Vedic Meditators to help settle the collective into a less-excited state and create greater worldwide coherence. Meditating together as a global family encourages orderliness and can aid in the cooling effect. As such, we can make no greater contribution to peace in the collective consciousness than to come together as a community to coordinate the timing of our meditation sittings.
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Drawing Back The Bow
he art of archery in Dhanurveda has been used as a metaphor for the transformative effect meditation can have on our ability to achieve positive, right action. When making a successful shot, the bow must be drawn back fully and held in a state of absolute stillness. Any movement from this state or slackness in the bow will cause a deviation from the target. In order to produce a truly transformative shot, you and your bow and arrow must be establish in a state of Being and stillness and only when this state is established, let go of the arrow and perform action.
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What You Need To Know About The Stress Response (Part 1)
Well, there is bad news and good news… let’s start with the bad news, with reference to the ‘father of stress research’ the Hungarian endocrinologist, Hans Selye.
Selye developed the ‘general adaptation syndrome’ model which describes the impact stress has on the human body. Each time the body is exposed to a potential stressor (demand, change in expectation, pressure etc.) it has a limited amount of adaptation energy to cope or deal with the demand.
Become the sanctuary
Have you noticed how we isolate our time to rest, to switch off, to holiday periods? You feel rested and refreshed only to open your inbox to 165 unread emails or go into overdrive getting the kids ready for school etc.? Our next thought is often, when is my next holiday?
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BEing
I was able to stop myself from the cascade of ‘doings’ and asked myself, “how do I want to BE today?”. The answers probably won’t surprise you - moving slowly with presence, grateful, curious and open hearted. Of course the answer may change on any given day, depending on your mood, energy levels, day of the week etc., however stepping beyond the doings and thoughts is what allows us to be more process orientated and non attached to the specific timings and outcomes of things.
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Infinite Adaptability, Absolute Groundedness
Every time we practice Vedic Meditation, we increase our ability to adapt to changes in demand or expectations. This is important when we consider that all that is ever happening is change. The process of evolution is a result of progressive change. Without change, there is no progress. 🦍🚶🏽♀️In order to not only survive, but also to grow and flourish with change, being able to adapt and stay grounded is vital.
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Consistency is Key
Consistency is key in any practice and Vedic Meditation is no different.
(Cue pep talk motivational track)
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Releasing the clenched fist
Only four or so decades ago, it was popular for wealthy travellers to leave India with a pet monkey. Monkey catchers would dig a small pit, pop in some fruits and nuts and covered it with a heavy slab that had a tiny hole, big enough to fit a monkey’s arm. The monkey would come along, stick their hand in, grasp a delicious snack only to realise that their fist would not fit through the tiny hole. In would swoop the monkey catcher and voila! Another monkey to be sold. Had the monkey simply let go of the food before the monkey catcher swooped in, it would be free.
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Understanding the need of the time.
It has been quite a month, both locally here in Australia and globally. At times it has heartbreaking and at other times, has motivated change. It is clear that we have been called to interact with each other and with our daily demands with more compassion, love and adaptation.
The world needs a harmonising and cooling force to counter the excess heat we are currently witnessing. In particular, the excessive heat in the climate and the excessive heat that creates division and war.
Vedic Meditation creates greater coherence in the brain and this enhances stability and order in our thinking and action. This is achieved through allowing the mind and body to settle into its least excited state. Making contact with this state creates more harmony in our inner and outer environments, flushing the system with bliss chemistry and releasing stress from the body…
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A self sufficient practice that leads to a life of self sufficiency
Vedic meditation is a self sufficient practice meaning we are not reliant on anything external to us (app, class, guiding voice) to practice it. All we need is some back support and somewhere to safely close our eyes. Noise is no barrier, movement around us is no barrier.
Vedic Meditators are not reliant on focusing or emptying the mind to experience deep inner contentedness during our practice.
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Mind Reset
Practicing Vedic Meditation gives the mind the chance to reset, twice a day.
It allows us to move beyond the layer of beliefs and stories that loop through our mind each day. The stories about who we are, the things we think we need to acquire to feel satisfied and the people or things that stand in our way of acquiring those things.
My worth as a man
My worth as a man, is not measured by dollar signs, Nor is it measured in finish lines or pick up lines, It is measured in the depth of my being, the depth of my presence, I felt it in my spine, Strong full of courage, integrity and resilience; And in my heart; Soft and open in loving compassion; My worth as a man does not happen in isolation; And is strengthened when in community; So when I come together with a group of men…
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Staying Grounded When The Ground Keeps Moving
I heard Esther Perel use this saying on a podcast recently. It summed up the challenges of the past two years so well. The solution is much more simple than you might think, provided we can access the quieter states of the mind and step beyond the thinking processes.
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The Path Of Least Resistance
The cold water engulfs my body
In the distance, the unbounded ocean
River always flows to ocean
Near the banks, rocks and debris bruise my limbs
A safe but bumpy, friction full ride
I abandon the safety of the banks and drift into the unknown
Into the slipstream and away we go
On the path of least resistance
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Compassion and The Stress Response
When the Sabre tooth tiger approached our ancestors in the cave, they didn’t stop to count how many teeth the tiger had, wonder how hungry it must be and how many tiger cubs it needed to feed. No, our ancestors, with the help of their in-built physiological stress response, which was designed to save their lives, either fought (fight) or fled (flight). When a tiger is staring you in the face, ready to make you it’s next meal, there really isn’t much time to waste being empathetic, compassionate and understanding towards the tiger. Thankfully the stress response makes this very difficult to do in the moment anyway!
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The anchor sits at the base of the ocean. It is calm and quiet down there, despite all the activity on the surface. Turbulent waves and strong winds combine and water is splashed across my face. Unrelenting.
The information overload, the constant barrage of expectation to adapt. Yet I am anchored. Anchored in my simplest form of awareness, my simplest state of Being.
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Vedic Meditation is a lot like brushing your teeth. We brush our teeth twice each day (I hope?!) because it is good for our oral hygiene and hopefully means we don’t have to spend big at the dentist with all the drills and pain! Vedic Meditators practice twice each day because it is good for our overall health, releasing accumulated stress from the physiology meaning we are less likely to be impacted by poor health and poor lifestyle choices caused by stress…
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Lockdown has brought about another test of our resilience. Does the uncertainty of it all makes us question how little we control externally or, is it highlighting our capacity to change and expand our internal narrative and personal agency?
Is your locus of control focused externally, believing that everything is happening to you? Do you often internalise things as devastating, shocking and/or have feelings of helplessness?
Or is your locus of control focused internally, embracing challenges as opportunities for growth and understanding your power in making things happen?
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It is inherent within us that we want to achieve things as humans.
We have jobs to do, families to raise and legacies to leave. There is no question that we have a great deal of skills, capabilities, motivation, love and passion that help us to achieve any of the things we set our hearts to.
However, our ability to achieve these things is often not a question of skills and capabilities, but rather a question of state. State of Consciousness. Put simply, the degree to which we are aware of our internal and external experience.
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