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MEDITATION Imagine yourself away from all of the turmoil of daily life. Imagine yourself in a consciousness where only the quiet and calm of the present exists. There is nothing from the past. There are no thoughts of the future. Only inner peace. The mind is not jumping from thought to thought thinking, "What is going to happen next?" or maybe "What am I going to do about that?" or "How will I work that out?......There is nothing......just inner peace. That sounds good, you say. How can I get that? How much will it cost? Maybe, you're a skeptic; you think that this is not possible. After all, we are living in this world. We are living with and are part of all of these problems. Besides, if we weren't, it would just be escapism. In that state you're not dealing with daily life; you're just running away. Many people have had similar conversations with themselves. Their rational minds have taken them to the point where the only solutions to life's problems can be achieved through a rational thought process. Everything has to have a logical, mechanical or mathematical solution. This kind of thinking is not bad in itself, but there is so much more beyond this. There is so much more to our consciousness than what exists on this level. We have all heard about meditation before. We know many of the commonly touted benefits. For many it sounds too "far out". This is a hold-over from the sixties. Is meditation a practical, applicable tool for my life in the 21st century? To answer that question we must first look at the mind, how it works, and how meditation affects it. From the yogic perspective, the mind is a collection of habits (samskaras). These samskaras make up most of our daily lives. How we act, how we think, how we emote are just habits of the mind, conditions that have been embedded and reinforced through repetition over extended periods of time. These habits can be both desirable and undesirable. The undesirable habits are obvious; they are things like anger, anxiety, etc. things without which we would be much better off., On the other hand, desirable habits such as kindness, responsibility and so forth are habits that enhance the quality of our lives and also the lives of those around us while at the same time giving us inner peace and contentment in themselves. The undesirable habits make the mind turbulent and unquiet, making us go outward looking for things to quieted the mind while thinking that these external things will make us happy and give us peace of mind. For example, we think, "If I had that new car, then I would be happy." We get the new car; what happens? Yes, it does make us happy ......for a while. How is that mechanism working? Why does the new car (or whatever thing we are desiring) make us happy, but just for a while? When the mind is happy, or even as in the beginning of this article, it is in a blissful state, it is focused, the scattered rays of the mind have become one-pointed; the mind is concentrated on one particular thing. When the mind focuses on one thing, whether it is an event, a person, etc. outside of itself, it becomes quiet. These external focal points are transitory, however, and conditioned in time and space. By their nature they are impermanent. Consequently, the concentration wanes. We attempt bring the focus back to them over and over again, but, as we experience over and over again, after a period of time, they fail to bring the desired satisfaction. We seek happiness in something else external, repeating the cycle over and over again. With meditation, we are also focusing the mind. But instead of going to external points we are going within, going beyond the rambling, scattered rays of the mind to a an inner peace. We are using the mind as a tool to change itself. Through regular practice of meditation we're creating new, positive, uplifting mental habits. As the mind becomes quieter, it also becomes more focused, more powerful, able to accomplish whatever task is placed before it more easily and quickly and more effectively. At Yoga and Inner Peace we offer FREE daily guided meditation services. We have 6 AM meditations Monday through Saturday (during teacher training courses)and 5 :45 PM on Sundays that help you to experience a little of this mental peace. On Sundays we have a 4 PM yoga class before the meditation. After meditation we have a vegetarian pot luck dinner. What a great way to prepare for a new week! PLEASE JOIN US EACH THURSDAY FOR A SUNRISE BEACH MEDITATION
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YOGA & INNER PEACE 3964 Lake Worth Road Lake Worth, FL 33461 (561) 641-8888 YOGA ALLIANCE CERTIFIED 200 HOUR TEACHER TRAINING SCHOOL Yoga & Inner Peace is an affiliated yoga center with the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers, a non-profit, worldwide network of ashrams and yoga centers founded by Swami Vishnu Devananda to spread the teachings of yoga.
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