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
Read MoreCompassion 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!
Read MoreThe 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.
Read MoreVedic 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…
Read MoreLockdown 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?
Read MoreIt 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.
Read MoreNivartatvam
Transcend where you are
and go where you are not
Surrender to the mind’s yearning to expand
Beyond the limiting beliefs and rigid attachments that cause suffering
For when we step beyond the thinking layer of the mind
We go to the source of thought
The source of pure creative intelligence
Of pure potentiality
And enliven our true nature
Our inner fulfilment
And the more we establish ourselves with inner fulfilment
The more life flows frictionlessly
Read MoreThe One Reason You Shouldn’t Meditate
The benefits of Vedic Meditation are countless:
greater physical health
accessing your full mental potential
increased happiness
releasing accumulated stress from the body
developing a deep inner contentment regardless of the demands you face
The list goes on..
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However, there is one reason why you shouldn’t learn to meditate:
Masculinity - Creating A New Narrative
Most men know in their hearts and minds that it is time to create a new narrative for strong and positive masculinity. Most women have known this for a while now (thank you for your patience ladies!) It is pretty obvious, that the exaggerated and warped expressions of traditional masculine traits that characterise toxic masculinity are not relevant nor serving men anymore.
Sure, men were taught that to be successful in a patriarchal society, they needed to align with the ‘be a man’, ‘toughen up’ ‘grow some balls’ narrative. They were encouraged to be stoic and unemotional and at the same time were judged as weak for showing vulnerability and sensitivity. Certainly men have lacked positive role models due to the tens of millions of men that died in the many 20th Century wars. Or as an example, that over 40% of all births in the U.S.A in 2015 were born to single mothers.
As with all natural cycles, when things are no longer sustainable, they disintegrate leading to new creations and innovations.
Read MoreThe Medium is the Message
When we take a rusty, steel chisel and carve a line into granite, it leaves a deep and lasting impression.
When we take that same rusty, steel chisel and carve a line into sand, it leaves an impression that, over some time, will disappear.
Take that same rusty, steel chisel again and carve a line into water. On this occasion, no impression is left.
In life, we are constantly being challenged by the ‘chisels’, the demands of our experiences, whether they relate to the pressures of work, family, love or society. We all face these demands, no one is exempt. The message lies not in the demand itself or how intense it is but rather who we are and how we deal with such demands.
Read MoreHappy New Year
The earth has made one more revolution around the sun and as my friend Cindy recently said, we are reminded again to be happy. Be happy. How do we ‘be happy’? What is the source of our happiness and how do we stay happy? The source of our happiness is either external to us, which is called Object Referral Happiness, or it is internal, called (Self Referral) Baseline Happiness.
Read MoreSo much of the world's attention is focused on the result of the US election and there is not doubt, it has big ramifications worldwide. The thing is, we place such a great emphasis on these so called world leaders and sometimes we forget our role in the big picture of evolution.
Read More7 Years Ago Today
I learnt Vedic Meditation.
I had never meditated before but always had a sense there was something more to my experience of life. At the time, I didn’t know if meditation was going to unlock that ‘something’ but gave it a try nonetheless.
Read MoreA Precious Human Life
“Everyday , think as you wake up,
Today I am fortunate to have woken up,
I am alive, I have a precious human life…
Read MoreThe Real News
The constant bombardment of news updates and social media rabbit holes can leave the head spinning. Not only can it sound like the same cycle of news over and over (the ever repeating known), it can be overwhelming trying to decipher what is a credible source of information and how much emphasis to place on this information.
Read MoreTranscend
When we meditate, we transcend, we go beyond all the layers of our limiting beliefs, that we are just this body, these thoughts, these emotions.
Read MoreI’ve recently befriended one of the ‘old salty dogs’ down at the beach. He’s an elderly gentleman with sun weathered skin and walks with a cane. He’s a special man and I see him most days enjoying the sun. He’s a Russian Jew in his late 80s and lives in an apartment up the road from mine.
Read MoreTo remove a thorn that has imbedded into the skin, we need a needle that is as sharp, or sharper than the thorn itself. Recent global events have highlighted just how deep the thorn of racism has been imbedded into society’s skin.
Read MoreVedic Meditation doesn’t just provide us with a systematic way of releasing stress from the physiology. It gives us a twice daily reminder of our true nature. When we allow the mind to settle to its least excited state of awareness, a state beyond thoughts, we make contact with bliss and we realise we are much more than our thoughts and emotions and we are not bound by the physical body.
Read MoreThis is no pause. We pause in speech, we pause a movie, but this, this is no pause. For when this is over, things will not recommence as they were. The fact is, they never do. They always change. It’s all that is ever happening. Progressive change.
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