General Articles 
Two Wings to Fly
17 March, 2013 @ 1:42 am
Last year after my silence practice, I felt like I had never felt before. My meditations were deep and powerful, my mind was calm, my energy level was high and my love for others was intense. I only had positive things to say about my practice. People were surprised when I told them that this year I experienced almost three weeks of intense mental suffering. I would like to share with you what I learned from that suffering and I hope it helps you in your meditation practices. The two main causes of my suffering were self-condemnation and expectation. Let me try to explain how self-condemnation affected me first. One of the interesting things that I have observed in myself since beginning the practice of yoga, is a very strong idea that I need to improve myself, that I need to become perfect, so that I can experience ‘samadhi’, ‘enlightenment’ or some other over-my-head kind of thing. I do not know if that idea was there before I learned about spirituality or if the practice of yoga gave that idea a chance to manifest itself, but that is actually not so important.
An Interview with Pandit Hari Shankar Dabral
17 March, 2013 @ 1:29 am
A disciple of H. H. Swami Rama of the Himalayas, Pandit Hari Shankar Dabral has been trained by Swami Veda Bharati. H. H. Swami Rama sent Pandit Dabral to the United States in 1992 and in 1994. Trained and authorized by Swami Rama to give initiations, Panditji has initiated many hundreds of people. He is a member of the AHYMSIN Adhyatma Samiti, or Spiritual Committee, and the Spiritual Director of The Himalayan Yoga Meditation Center, Calgary, Canada. He is also an international teacher within our tradition. In late August 2011, Panditji gave an extensive interview covering a multitude of questions that his family of students put forth.
Sing like the Birds Sing
17 January, 2013 @ 1:59 am
Now I have the time to complete the sharing of the lessons learned during my silence practice this year. What I want to share on the blog here is a bit too much to share in one post, so there will be one follow-up post to this one. The most important thing that I learned in my practice this year is the importance of remaining mentally free. When I use the term ‘mentally free’, I do not mean something over-your-head. I mean being free from ideas of how life should be and accepting life as it presents itself to you, by remaining free from judgments and expectations. Allow me to illustrate this concept in this article, and explain how I learned about it in the next article.
My Friend the Mantra
17 January, 2013 @ 1:56 am
When I was new to the Himalayan Yoga Meditation Tradition, I heard two things that I didn’t understand. Both of them were about the mantra that’s given at initiation: The first was that one should “listen” to the mantra when meditating rather than “thinking” or “doing” the mantra, and the second was that over years of practice, the mantra becomes a friend in our mind that can lead us toward wisdom.
Elaboration of Meditation as “Indwelling”
17 January, 2013 @ 1:46 am
The true treasure found within the Himalayan Tradition is the initiation of the Mantra Meditation Tradition of the Himalayas. It contains the science of sound and word as its essence. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word.” Everything on earth is developed out of the original vibration of that Word – the original creative sound. This means that sound and word are the most important principals of existence. They are both the source and originator of matter, and the Keys to becoming free from it.
With Gratitude
17 October, 2012 @ 10:18 pm
Gratitude. It is a magical, life changing word. It is only one word, but it is so powerful. Learning to live life with an attitude of gratitude is a simple, natural and easy way to bring an immediate positive change into your life. It is the key to opening the door to the seemingly elusive world of joyful living. Everyone would like to bring more joy into their life. Cultivating more gratitude is a clear path to unlocking this state of mind. Bringing gratitude to one’s heart and prayers can immediately make life more positive. It means learning to give thanks for what we have. During especially challenging times it can seem very difficult to do this, but the key is shifting the mind to see things in a little different way. With practice it becomes easier.
Destiny Crossroads – Why Meditate
17 October, 2012 @ 10:15 pm
In our life there comes a time, an event where nothing seems to work where and how it used to work before. This creates a shock to the system – and out of this comes a range of emotional responses that disrupt us. Here we are at a “Destiny crossroads” which implies a choice - but we miss the nature of the cross roads and act as if we have no choice. In fact, we fall into negative reactive patterns and responses. Then we feel we must act decisively and react at greater and greater speed. We fall into stress and distress. We begin to create a dissociation and loss of contact with our deeper selves and our capacity for mindful awareness.
Yama and Niyama Kriya
17 October, 2012 @ 10:10 pm
Yama and Niyama Kriya - Part One I have yearned for a deeper understanding and experience of the yamas and niyamas for many years. Their promises, as revealed in the Sutras, are filled with hope and mystery for me. I still yearn for that state of existence in which these ten topics are effortlessly and perfectly expressed. This yearning has given rise to a very very long experiment.
Breath
17 September, 2012 @ 10:24 pm
NOW, it is time to change our language according to the breath flow and Asana. Most Yoga teachers think that we have to link Asana and Breath in such a way that they always say:"While you do this, breathe in, and while you do that, breathe out ". Students are coming to the teacher asking: "Did I do this right or wrong"? Now the teacher can realize that he taught in a way making the student dependent instead of guiding him into the freedom of self discovery.
Purusharthas: The Four Purposes of Life
17 August, 2012 @ 10:28 pm
When I got the “job” to talk about “the four purposes of life,” I was puzzled. As far as I understand, each one of us has a purpose of life; that’s why we here on this planet! A divine spark, surrounded by subtle mind-stuff - yes, you could call it Purusha - chose this incarnation, infused by life-energy (prana) and called it “me,” as far as time, space, family, problems and joys are concerned. I am here, we are here, because there is something to work out, something to learn in the school that we call life on earth.