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A resource for Yoga, Meditation and RelaxationYogaYoga is an ocean fed by many rivers, each one fed by many streams. The range of techniques and tools of yoga is impossible to enumerate or classify extensively, however historically there have been five main branches of yoga: Raja Yoga, the Royal Path with emphasis on meditation: Jana Yoga, The Path of Wisdom, with emphasis on self-enquiry; Hatha Yoga, The Path of Energy, with emphasis on energetic balancing: Bhakti Yoga, The Path of Devotion, with emphasis on worship; Karma Yoga, The Path of Action, with emphasis on service. Most typically when people think of yoga, it is Hatha Yoga that comes to mind and it's physical postures. Practiced at its highest level, hatha yoga uses anatomical, physiological, neural, energetic, emotional, rational and intuitive aspects of our being to access our spiritual nature. While Hatha Yoga is a river in itself, it is one that has generated many rivulets; the different schools of yoga which all have their own distinct styles. These differences are mainly on emphasis. What they all have in common is the use of the physical body, especially through the yoga postures known as asana. The Roots of YogaPatanjali's Yoga Sutras, a scripture some have likened to the Bible of yoga, says it best right up front, in verses 1.2 a:nd 1.3 1.2 Yoga citta vritti nirodhah; "Yoga is the resolution of the agitations of the mind." 1.3 Tada drashtuh svarupe avasthanam; "Then pure awareness can abide in its true nature" Translations of ancient scriptures/sutras/aphorisms can be quite different. Though there is no ambiguity in a sutra, it's exactness lies in layers and richness of meaning that generate endless commentaries and lifelong study and contemplation. Patanjalis Yoga Sutras describe the nature and workings of the human mind; the techniques for its mastery, the acquisition of heightened qualities and the progression thoward a state of tranquility, happiness, and perfected unlimited comprehension (T.K.V Desikachar). A more detailed translation of sutra 1.2 is as follows: 1.2 Yoga citta vritti nirodhah; "Yoga is the ability to direct the mind exclusively toward an object and sustain that direction without any distractions." So we see that far from being about physical postures per-se, ultimately the practice of yoga is all about building awareness. Don't be surprised by this, after all, Buddhism also is nothing other than over two and a half thousand years of skillful techniques for cultivating the same 'quality'; awareness. (For an interesting audio on this have a listen to 'The Yoga of Self Acceptance' which you will find in the 'audio' section further down this page). If you care to find out more on where Christanity is on all of this, have a listen to the audio featuring Fr. Thomas Keating and Ken Wilber listed in the section on Centering Prayer.
Yoga AsanaHatha Yoga Breathing (HTML) Yoga Postures Guide (1) Yoga Postures Guide (2) Ten Suggested Postures (Main) Ten Suggested Postures - Overview (MS Word)
MeditationMeditation is a natural method of working with our mind so that we can experience contentment and live a more fulfilling life. It involves the cultivation of positive states of mind such as calmness, awareness, patience. The beautiful thing about meditation and yoga practice for that matter, is that you can approach it from so many different places. You can approach meditation as a way of calming your mind say before you go to the doctors' office, which is a very practical use of it and you can approach meditation as a door-way into the deepest part of your spirit.
Essays on Mindfulness Meditation:Mindfulness Meditation Placed in Context Factors supportive of good meditation posture Supportive Attitudes and Awareness Traditional roots of Meditation Alternative Options for focusing the mind on Mindfulness of Breathing Practice (1) Mindfulness of Breathing Practice (2) 'Cultivating the Heart' Meditation - Part A
Research on Mindfulness Meditation:http://www.mbsr.co.uk/mindfulness.html
Audio:* To download audio files, position cursor over link, right click mouse, and choose 'Save Target As...' David Smith (founder of the DharmaMind Buddhist group) Awakening to Buddha Nature. (1Hr 5 Min, MP3) Coming into relationship with Buddha Nature. (1Hr 7 Min, MP3)
Iintegral strength training (35 Min MP3: Part 1) Integral strength training (33 Min MP3: Part 2) Three Faces of God: Reconciling the Theistic and Non Theistic views of the Divine (1:44 Min MP3: 3 Facesof God)
Ripples on the Surface of Being (24 Min MP3: Part 1) Ripples on the Surface of Being (20 Min MP3: Part 2)
Awareness isn't angry. (1Hr 6 Min, MP3) Abiding in space. (1Hr 4 Min, MP3) Polishing the brick. (1Hr 21Min, MP3)
Shrink Rap Radio, Psychology Podcasts (If you're curious about the human mind, i really recommend you visit this site and review the podcast topics) #180: Consciousness and Technology (1 Hr, MP3) #191: Stopping Self Sabotage (1Hr, MP3) #206: The Yoga of Self Acceptance with Tony Wolfe (1Hr 2 Min, MP3) #210: Harnessing Synchronicity (1HR 10 Min, MP3) #214: Focusing (1Hr, MP3) #216: Michael Meade, Finding the Light in Darkness (1Hr 11 Min, MP3) #223: Seeking Wisdom in Solitude (1Hr 12 Min, MP3)
Miscellaneous 'The Tug of The Future', Radio documentary on the practice of mindfulness and being in the Now. Christian and Western perspective. (30 Min, MP3) Fr Thomas Keating (Centering Prayer: It's history and importance) in conversation with Ken Wilber: (38 Min MP3) American teachers, Bill Harris and Sally Kempton dialogue about meditation and spiritual practice. (1Hr 19 Min, MP3)
Mindful Movements:(Gentle movement to help release stress and assist relaxation: For more info reference Thich Nhat Hanh) Mindful Movements Practice (MS Word Document) Mindful Movements Practice (PDF File)
Web:Jon Kabat-Zinn giving a talk on Mindfulness Meditation (Google Tech Talk: YouTube 1:12:05) Philippe Goldin talk on Cognitive Neuroscience of Mindfulness Meditation (Google Tech Talk: YouTube 48:53) Don't be put off by the title. This talk is quite accessible and outlines how meditation may influence brain functions.
Inspirational:Where The Hell is Matt. (Over 24,000,000, views last time I looked. Somehow he's managed to capture something about the human heart)
Carl Sagan: Pale Blue Dot
Miscellaneous Links
Christian Contemplative Meditation/Centering Prayer* To download audio files, position cursor over link, right click mouse, and choose 'Save Target As...'
Kaizen:Kaizen is a Japanese manufacturing concept which as its name and geographical birthplace suggest, is influenced by Zen philosophy. The basic idea is that of continual small improvements, an idea that has been adopted by some life-coaches in dealing with their clients. It's a philosophy that I am bringing ever more to my own personal practice. At times when I feel uninspired to practice, or get caught up in negative thinking about progress or rather lack of it, I try to recall this notion of continual small improvements. Just do the practice and have faith that the body will respond. In fact quite often I will have what I experience as a really difficult practice, one in which I wonder why I do yoga at all. And then, very next practice I find myself achieving a posture that I had always struggled with. It's weird but that has happened me quite often. Or else, maybe not having tried a posture for some time, you come back to it and are surprised by a degree of freedom in the posture, or ease in moving into it, for example in lifting up into a backbend. It's easy to wonder if anything is happening at all, when in fact all the time, continual small improvements are occuring.
Suggested Reading:The following is a list of some of the books that i have read. It's difficult to recommend any particular book as that would require knowing what a reader is interested in discovering more about, or might be inspired by. Also, as is evident from various amazon customer reviews, a book that one person finds amazing, is a disaster for another. (With regard to this, i suggest you consider the total high ratings against low ratings. Or if something about a book strikes you, forget what others have to say. Some of the following books i have been happy to read for just one sentence!) So i simply offer to you names of some books that i have found beneficial to have read, with links to more detailed information that hopefully will help you decide further about buying the book or not. As we discover when we come to practice meditation, the techniques of meditation can be quite simple to learn, however very difficult to do. So while a meditation manual may be useful to consult, quite often it will be be 'over the top' for what we need. Having said this, the first book on the list below is a meditation manual; it may be useful to have at hand when beginning to meditate and unable to directly avail of the help of a more experienced meditator. The majority of books that we will come to read will be more of an inspirational nature. Material that perhaps will assist in our discipline and motivation to stick with the trainings. I've sort of categorised the list below, but many of the books could appear in more than one category. Please feel free to contact me with titles of books that you have found beneficial also. I'll add them to this list.
Meditation Wildmind: A Step-by-Step Guide to Meditation; Bodhipaksa (Amazon Product Description) Full Catastrophe Living; Jon Kabat Zinn. (Editoral Reviews) Where Ever You Go, There You Are; Jon Kabat Zinn (Editorial Reviews) The Miracle of Mindfulness; Thich Nhat Hanh (Easons Product Description) Awareness; Anthony De Mello (Editorial Reviews) New Seeds of Contemplation; Thomas Merton (Description) Be Here Now; Ram Dass (Amazon Customer Reviews) Change Your Mind: A Practical Guide to Buddhist Meditation; Paramananda (Amazon Customer Reviews) The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment; Eckhart Tolle (Editorial Reviews) Zen Mind Beginners Mind; Shunryu Suzuki (Editorial Reviews) Breath by Breath: The Liberating Practice of Insight Meditation; Larry Rosenberg (Amazon Customer Reviews) Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness; Sharon Salzberg and Jon Kabat-Zinn (Amazon Customer Reviews) Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism; Lama Anagarika Govinda (Said to be one of the most valuable books ever written on Tibetan esoteric principles. Lama Govinda explains the esoteric principles of mantra and completely discusses the meaning of OM MANI PADME HUM -- the path of universality, the path of unification, the path of creative vision, the path of integration -- ending with the path of the Great Mantra. This is a rather terse book, not easily read or readily 'digestable'. Not the sort of book for a light read before sleeping, but maybe well worth working through in an open devotional state of mind. On Having No Head; Douglas Harding
Yoga Yoga: The Spirit and Practice of Moving into Stillness; Erich Schiffman (Amazon Customer Reviews) Yoga as Medicine: The Yogic Prescription for Health and Healing; Timothy McCall (Amazon Customer Reviews) Yoga: The Iyengar Way; Silva Mehta (Amazon Customer Reviews) Light on Yoga: The Bible of Modern Yoga; B.K.S. Iyengar (Amazon Customer Reviews) Dancing the Body of Light; Donna Holleman (Amazon Customer Reviews)
Buddhism The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying; Sogyal Rinpoche (Editorial Reviews) Record of Awakening; David Smith (Reader Reviews) Dharma Mind Worldly Mind: A Buddhist Handbook on Complete Meditation; David Smith (Description) The Art of Happiness; HH The Dalai Lama (Editorial Reviews) Introducing Buddhism; Chris Pauling (Amazon Customer Reviews) Dhammapada: The Sayings of the Buddha; Penguin Classic (Amazon Customer Reviews) Dhammapada: The Sayings of the Buddha; Sangharakshita (Amazon Customer Reviews) Dhammapada: The Sayings of the Buddha; Oxford University Press (Description) A Flash of Lightning in the Dark of Night: A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life; HH The Dalai Lama (Amazon Customer Reviews) Life as a Siamese Monk; Richard Randall (Synopsis) (Amazon Customer Reviews) A Guide to the Bodhisattvas (Meeting the Buddhas); Vessentara (Description) History of My Going for Refuge; Sangharakshita (Description) Principles of Buddhism; Kulananda (Amazon Customer Reviews) A Taste of Freedom: Selected Dhamma Talks; Ajahn Chah (Amazon Customer Reviews) Survey of Buddhism; Sangharakshita (Description) The Five Pillars of Transformation: The Core Practices of the DharmaMind Group; David Smith (Description) The Crystal and the Way of Light: Sutra, Tantra and Dzogchen: Tibetan Buddhist Philosophy; Chogyal Namkhai Norbu (Amazon Customer Reviews) From the Zen Kitchen to Enlightenment: Refining your Life; Zen Master Eihei Dogen (Amazon Customer Reviews) Ground, Path, And Fruition: Teachings of Tsoknyi Rinpoche on Mind and Mind Essence (Description) The Ten Pillars of Buddhism: Buddhist Precepts; Sangharakshita
Poetry The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain; Translator, Red Pine (Amazon Customer Reviews) - Zen Poems of Hanshan Dewdrops on a Lotus Leaf: Translator, JD Stevens. Zen Poems of Ryokan. RUMI - Voice of Longing; Translator, Coleman Barks (Amazon Customer Reviews) - Poetry of Sufi Mystic Rumi The Clouds Should Know Me By Now: Buddhist Monk Poets of China; Red Pine (Editorial Reviews) See also movie: Amongst White Clouds What Book!?: Buddha Poems from Beat to Hiphop; Peter Cyote (Editorial Reviews) The Poetry of Enlightenment: Poems by Ancient Chan Masters; Master Shen Yeng (Amazon Customer Reviews) See also movie: Amongst White Clouds Book of Hours: Love Poems to God; Rilke; (Amazon Customer Reviews) One Robe One Bow:Zen poetry of Ryokan; Translator John Stevens (Amazon Customer Reviews) Japanese Death Poems: Written by Zen Monks and Haiku Poets on the Verge of Death; Yoel Hoffmann (Amazon Customer Reviews)
Prose: Non-Fiction Autobiography of a Yogi; Paramahansa Yogananda (Editorial Reviews) Moon in a Dewdrop: Writings of Zen Master Dogen (Amazon Customer Reviews) Zen in the Art of Archery; Eugen Herrigel (Amazon Customer Reviews) The Way of the Wild Clouds; Lama Anagarika Govinda (Amazon Customer Reviews) Cave in the Snow: Tenzin Palmo's Quest for Enlightenment (Amazon Customer Reviews) No Boundary: Eastern and Western Approaches to Personal Growth; Ken Wilber (Editorial Reviews) I AM THAT: Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj (Synopsis) After the Ecstasy, the Laundry: How the Heart Grows Wise on the Spiritual Path; Jack Kornfield (Editorial Reviews) One Taste; Ken Wilber (Book Description) A Gradual Awakening; Stephen Levine (Amazon Customer Reviews) When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times; Pema Chodron (Amazon Customer Reviews) There's a Spiritual Solution to Every Problem; Wayne Dyer (Amazon Customer Reviews) Collision with the Infinite: A Life Beyond the Personal Self; Suzzane Segal (Amazon Customer Reviews) Way of the Peaceful Warrior; Dan Millman (Editorial Reviews) Seealso Victor Salva movie of this book; Peaceful Warrior Freedom in Exile: The Autobiography of the Dalai Lama (Editorial Reviews) See also Martin Scorsese movie of this book; Kundun Grace and Grit: Spirituality and Healing in the Life and Death of Treya Killam Wilber; Ken Wilber (Amazon Customer Reviews) A New Earth: Awakening to your life's purpose; Eckhart Tolle (Amazon Customer Reviews) Hidden Journey: A Spiritual Awakening; Andrew Harvey (Amazon Customer Reviews) Phra Farang: An English Monk in Thailand; Phra Peter Pannapadipo (Amazon Customer Reviews) The Spirit of Tibet: The Life and World of Khyentse Rinpoche, Spiritual Teacher; Matthieu Ricard, Khyentse Rinpoche, The Dalai Lama (Amazon Customer Reviews) The Diamond Cutter: The Buddha on Managing Your Business and Your Life ; Geshe Michael Roach (Amazon Customer Reviews) Man's Search for Meaning; Viktor E. Frankl (Amazon Customer Reviews) Pure Heart Enlightened Mind: The Life and Letters of an Irish Zen Saint; Maura O'Halloran (Amazon) All Will Be Well; Michael Meegan (Michaels Website) Landscapes of Wonder: Tuesdays With Morrie; Autobiography of an Awakened Creature; Wassermann The Monk and the Riddle
Prose: Fiction Siddharta; Hermann Hesse (Amazon Customer Reviews) The Razors Edge; Somerset Maugham (Amazon Customer Reviews) Briefing For a Descent into Hell; Doris Lessing (Amazon Customer Reviews) The Snow Leopard; Peter Matthiessen (Amazon Customer Reviews) The Celestine Prophecy; Jack Redfield (Amazon Customer Reviews) The Prophet; Kahlil Gibran (Amazon Customer Reviews) The Monk who Sold his Ferrari; Robin Sharma (Amazon Customer Reviews) The Alchemist; Paulo Coelho (Amazon Customer Reviews) The Dharma Bums; Jack Kerouac (Amazon Customer Reviews) Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia; Elizabeth Gilbert: (Amazon Customer Review) Another Heart in His Hand; J. Jaye Gold (Amazon Customer Reviews) Boomeritis: A Novel That Will Set You Free; Ken Wilber (Amazon)
Lucid Dreaming Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming; Stephen Labarge (Amazon Customer Reviews) The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep; Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche (Amazon Customer Reviews)
Other The Power of Intention; Wayne Dyer (Amazon Customer Reviews) Quantum Healing: Exploring the Frontiers of Mind/Body Medicine; Deepak Chopra (Amazon Customer Reviews) Perfect Health: The Complete Mind Body Guide; Deepak Chopra (Amazon Customer Reviews) Awaken the Giant Within : How to Take Immediate Control of Your Mental, Emotional, Physical and Financial Destiny!; Anthony Robbins (Amazon Customer Reviews) Power vs. Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior; David R. Hawkins (Amazon Customer Reviews) Emotional Intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ; Daniel Goleman (Amazon Customer Reviews)
Magazines What is Enlightenment (Web) Yoga Journal (Web): Available in Easons
The Following Meditation BooksI haven't read, but they look good: Intimacy With God: An Introduction to Centering Prayer; Thomas Keating (Amazon Customer Reviews) Satipatthana: The Direct Path to Realization; Analayo (Amazon Customer Reviews) Touching Enlightenment: Finding Realisation in the Body; Reginald Ray (Amazon Custoimer Reviews) Meditating; Jinananda (Description) Deeper Beauty; Paramananda (Description)
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