calmingyourworld.com

Wage Peace

Wage peace with your breath.
Breathe in firemen and rubble; breathe out whole buildings and flocks of red wing blackbirds.
Breathe in terrorists and breathe out sleeping children and freshly mown fields.
Breathe in confusion and breathe out maple trees.
Breathe in the fallen and breathe out lifelong friendships intact.
Wage peace with your listening: hearing sirens, pray loud.                     
Remember your tools: flower seeds, clothespins, clean rivers.                     
Make soup. Play music; learn the word for thank you in three languages.
Learn to knit, and make a hat.
Think of chaos as dancing raspberries; imagine grief as the out breath of beauty or the gesture of fish.
Swim for the other side.
Wage peace.
Never has the world seemed so fresh and precious.
Have a cup of tea and rejoice. Act as if armistice has already arrived. Don't wait another minute.
by Mary Oliver

Message from the Hopi Elders 2001

May there be today peace within you.
May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
I believe that friends are quiet angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly.  During these unsettling times, we need all the inspiration we can get.

Here's a timely message from the Elders of the Hopi Nation:

To my fellow swimmers:
You have been telling the people that this is the Eleventh Hour, now you must go back and tell the people that this is the Hour. And there are things to be considered.

A Global Gym 4 The Soul

 

The thinking that led to my development of The Global GYM 4 the SOUL came to me, as all my good ideas do, from my own experience and from the testimonials of my clients. For years, I resisted the notion of working out at the gym, until I met Darryl. Something about his soulful approach got me to do things with my body - I never before imagined I was capable of. “Breathe from your core and find your strength”, he kept saying. And I did. 

I recently received an e-mail from a client, a 64-year old woman I coach, who had experienced, job loss, bankruptcy proceedings, breast cancer surgery and radiation treatment, and the loss of her sister, all in 2007; a year she says will live in infamy, at least in her mind. She had seemed, at least for a while, almost a poster-child for the effectiveness of the practice of Calming Your World: Accessing the JoyOfBeing through Dynamic Mindfulness Meditation. She described a world that was suddenly inexplicitly spinning out of control for her. She had been sick for a week, not able to attend her weekly group meditation practice with others, and her weekly coaching group at my center. She wrote:  

“Samuel: This is probably an e-mail better not sent; but what the hell. I have not been well. Having a difficult time. Nothing to talk about. Can you imagine? Me, the one with the too-quick words, opinions offered whether asked for or not. It’s those words that I hide behind; keep everyone at bay, thinking that I’m all right. Heard someone say the other day at a meeting that his sponsor can always tell when something bad was up with him, by how “cheery” he sounded. Sounds like me. Maybe this place of “no-words”, this particular present moment, is actually a place of gift, allowing me to come out from under the sofa where I have been hiding. Not so sure, I am particularly grateful for this gift though, just now.”  

Nothing to talk about, but lots of feelings and images. Swimming just now in a vast cold salty sea of emptiness. Probably all those tears I have been shedding. Feel all empty inside, like a giant redwood tree was uprooted, leaving only a fragile brittle outer shell. That huge emptiness is right here at the core of my Being. The unconsummated events of this weekend have conspired to leave me thinking that I am alone, friendless, uncared for, and isolated. And if that is not enough, just for an added little twist, in case I haven’t gotten the point, I know I am, and will remain forever, unworthy of friendship, caring, and belonging. I know I have a God, the breath, global and otherwise, my books, my reading, my writing, and my spiritual practices. Yeah? So what? Somehow today that’s just not cutting it; today that is not enough. Worn out by crying and self-pity. Am going to bed, to take a nap. Am not suicidal, but not waking up would be OK, if it happened. Certainly don’t want to wake up to more of this.  

So. I woke up. Now what? One foot in front of the other. Make a cup of tea. Bundle up against the cold. Put on the Calming Your World CD. Do the practice. After doing the practice, it comes to me. I remember that the way out of this place, and back into life, is always through the breath and through doing my job – accessing the Joy Of Being in this present - very messy, not to my liking - moment. That’s what the practice of Dynamic Mindful Meditation is all about. I can use it to perform the miracle of calming my world, no matter how high the odds seem stacked against that. Do the work that partnering with the OneGlobalBreath allows me to do with great joy. So now I can get on with it doing the work I need to. Later.” 

I had a lot of reactions to this e-mail, but the main ones were that someone certainly was experiencing a major interruption, and wondered why, why, why, did she wait so long before she remembered to breathe in-tu-it? This was someone who could really make good use of The Global GYM 4 the SOUL. This new on-line gym, can be helpful at those times when schedules conflict or when we can’t be there physically, or when we may crave human contact desperately, but at the same time can’t find the emotional strength to reach out for it. At these times you could still do the practice on line, and get the benefit of Calming Your World and accessing the JoyOfBeing.  

The Global GYM 4 the SOUL is a new part of my web site I am developing where you can hang out on a daily basis, with like-minded others, handle daily interruptions, calm your world, access the J.O.B., share hope, inspiration and life-celebration.  

What is an interruption? When is the last time you had one? What did it cost you? How did you handle it? Did you have one today?

Wondering one morning recently about an interruption I was feeling, I came across this quote from Martin Luther King’s, Jr. last writings. "The major problem of life is learning how to handle the costly interruptions -- the door that slams shut, the plan that got sidetracked, the marriage that failed, or that lovely poem that didn't get written because someone knocked on the door."  

I had received a check from a client, put it in my jacket pocket, I thought. As I was filling the deposit slip at the bank, I couldn’t find the check. Needless to say I panicked, and a familiar track in my brain started broadcasting dishonoring, shaming words. “You scatter brain!"  “You ditz!” “You loser!”. Luckily, I didn’t spend too long in this stressful-self-judgmental state. I breathed in-tu-it surrendering the stress to the OneGlobalBreath, filling the space in my diaphragm that felt empty - with the calming spacious breath. When I got back to my office, I called my client and told him about losing the check. He very calmly said he would make a stop payment on the check and send me a new one. Now that was easy. The OneGlobalBreath version of the Staples EASY button. 

“The major problem of life is learning how to handle the interruptions.” Learning how to connect to Being, to Spirit, to the breath; to something bigger than ourselves, something that we can surrender our interruption to, and trust that it would take care of us – and fill us with spaciousness - in a way that we by ourselves - cannot. The Global GYM 4 the SOUL is a place where you can get connected instantly to your authentic Self, your Soul, Presence, and access the JoyOfBeing with OneGlobalBreath – from anywhere in the world. 

Wishing you a self-honoring February. If you have any ideas, suggestions or testimonials you want to share – please don’t hesitate to write me; samuel@livinginthepresent.com.  Join me this Saturday, February 16, 2008 for my free introductory teleclass, Calming Your World at 10:00 a.m. 

 

Register here for the first free tele-class: The J.O.B. - Calming Your World with Dynamic Mindfulness Meditation Saturday - 2/16/08 10:00AM (Eastern) 

Check out Calming Your World With Dynamic Mindfulness Meditation 6-week Teleclass Series, Saturdays, 2/23. 3/1, 3/8 3/15, 3/22, 3/29 at 10:00am  eastern  6-week Teleclass Series - $120

Namaste. 
Samuel

NAMASTE - 2008 The Inside J.O.B. of World Peace

When you google NAMASTE here is what you get:

* “I honor the Spirit in you which is also in me."

* "I honor the place in you in which the entire Universe dwells”

* "I honor the place in you which is of Love, of Integrity, of Wisdom and of Peace”    

* “When you are in that place in you, and I am in that place in me, we are One."

* "I salute the God within you."                               

* "I recognize that we are all equal."

* “The entire universe resides within you."

* “The divine peace in me greets the divine peace in you."

* "Your spirit and my spirit are ONE."

* "That which is of the Divine in me greets that which is of the Divine in you."

* "The Divinity within me perceives and adores the Divinity within you".    

Something about this greeting - which comes from the East, and the gesture of bowing from the heart, has always compelled me, way before I knew what it meant. It was not part of the culture I grew up in.

As much as I love touching, hugging, and feel comfortable with showing physical affection, aesthetically and energetically, NAMASTE feels right, because there it is an honoring of the One Self. You have to be confident, sincere, self-contained, and dwell in your own body, in order to bow and not fall, stumble or feel ridiculous, when both your hands are touching together at the level of the heart, and when you're facing another.

As a westerner, you have to be sufficiently free of your ego - in order for such a gesture to be authentic. Whenever I see the Dalai Lama bow and smile, I can feel the lightness of heart, that has come to symbolize an inner peacefulness that is honoring of the One Self, and yet it feels whimsical and funny at the same time.

In 2007, I had to learn through some very challenging experiences, the virtue of Self-honoring. That if I didn't do my part in honoring my Self - NAMASTE was not complete. It could become yet another co-dependent, looking-good, yet, feeling-empty-inside deal. And I don't mean emptiness in the Buddhist way, but rather feeling damaged, lost and bruised-at-the ego way. I had to learn how to take full responsibility for NAMASTE.

Would You Like To Calm Your World This Holiday Season and Everyday?

Can you . . .                     
Imagine that your REAL JOB as a human being, is to access the frequency of the JoyOfBeing – with One Global Breath.                  

The holiday times and their aftermath blues in the New Year can often be filled with great stress, anxiety, and disappointments. It is a time when the incessant fast-paced thinking chatter of the  E.F.M (EgoFearMind) frequency is at full blast, distorting our experience, and robbing us of

• all peace,
• calm,                    
• authenticity,
• and joy;             

the very thing the holidays are supposed to be all about.  For more information go to
Calming Your World with One Global Breath.

Living Inside the Breath

Recently, as a friend and I were sitting on a bench in an area that reminds me of being in Paris, having Chai tea, he asked me recent – “What have you learned in the last 20 years? 

"What a big question….”.  I thought, trying to think of the answer. I found myself closing my eyes, turning my intention inside to my breath.

"This is what I learned", I responded. “When asked a question, rather than having the answer automatically in my head before I even heard the whole question, I turn it over to the breath, and wait for the answer. Like I'm doing now"

I couldn't have planned for such an answer in my head - if I tried.  And for many years I have really tried to have all the answers just off the top of my head, so people would think me smart and able to think quickly on my feet. Because when the breath is in-charge, there is a different pace present, the pace of Now, of this moment - just like the rising and falling of the breath.

Becoming one with the breath... living inside of it...  is just like Kabir said: “G--d is the breath inside the breath"  The visceral-sensed-in-the-body-connection with something I can trust beyond any doubt, not just as a mental concept of a higher power, but as something I can access at any time, anywhere inside myself. This trust in something so immutable - is what I have been seeking and needing more than anything else in the world for most of my life.

To actually be able to discover the higher power in the breath I take 50.000 times a day - is no small change, nor is it something I want to pontificate, or get too manic, about. After all - the breath is a personal experience about an impersonal force of life - which makes it the Global Breath.

It is not an experience we can experience for another - although we can connect through the global breath to the breath of others, and inspire it in them by demonstration. Like praying, we can send love, encouragement and peace through the breath, because the breath is the most natural and energetic connection to, and inherent in, all life.

Melissa was breathing for her dying sister - who had breathing difficulties, and was living far away. She felt connected and at peace about her sister dying, and continues to feel connected to her through the breath, and when she dances. "Nothing feels more joyful and connected than when I breathe and dance with her"

I find myself connecting to my ex-partner's soul - through the breath. It helps me keep things in perspective. While continuing to feel occasional sadness about the break up of the form of our relationship, I don't feel like a victim. I connect through the breath to the love I vowed to share from my soul to his soul. An unconditional love that helps me to keep loving him and my own soul-self. While I continue to dislike what happened and how it was done, maintaining a soulful-loving connection through the breath feels REAL and authentic.

When we generate our understandings and responses to people and the world from inside the breath, and not from a response informed by the frequency of the EgoFearMind, we can maintain a soul connection. It means that the breath allows us to stay in tune with the music and rhythm of our soul, which is more important than the music or rhythm of whatever distracts us.

And at times this distracting music is what we abandon our lives to. Even if the music that's playing out there is compelling, don't make it more important than the music of our own soul. When you're dancing with abandon - you don't have to abandon yourself, but rather surrender to the rhythm of your breath and soul, igniting your spirit. You can bring your ignited-through-the-breath-spirit into the dance, rather than be dancing to the rhythm set down by the DJ’s choice of music.

The gift of living in the present - is living inside the breath, from the inside - out.

Thanks-giving is about giving thanks for the breath of life now - because life is the real gift, rather than having the perfect turkey.

 

It Takes One Conscious Breath to Calm Your World

It Takes One Conscious Breath to Calm Your World

It can take One conscious breath -  to wake us up and out of the trance of suffering and separation that our traumatized minds are engaged in broadcasting - much of the time.

We are all too familiar with this suffering trance on a daily basis when we find ourselves stressing and being anxious over things that we have no control over - like the future.... "When will the subway arrive?",
    "Why haven't I heard back from this person?", "When will this pain be over?", "What's wrong with this world?", "Why can't things be easier?"

How often do we fall into this trance, not even realizing that we're in it, mentally straining to resolve the issues of our lives, believing that if we only tried harder, perhaps be more demanding of ourselves and others,we will find our ways to the panacea on the other side; only ending up more exhausted, as we are using that same fuel that produces more adrenalin, more anxiety, more suffering...

So addictive and pervasive is this process, and so prevalent it is in today's world, tat we literally have no time to take a breath, because we are too busy accomplishing and tending to our chores and must-do

lists, particularly the mental ones that negatively predict where we should or shouldn't be at this stage our our lives....

Can you imagine what happens to your system, when a part of you is racing for imagined destinations - with no proper fuel to getting there. Its like trying to run faster - when your system is dehydrated.

Can you imagine, what it would be like to take a break every so often, and breathe... Not just in desperation - the kind so well expressed in an 'Oy' or even in sating 'f---ck', which certainly does the job for a moment, but not in the same way as: "How can I take a breath, surrendering my burdains into this breath?"
    "How can I find my pace - by listening to my breath?",
    "Can I let go of my struggling to my breath - ? and
    "How can I trust that no matter what I may think -  that life is good,  and support myself by allowing life to breathe goodness into me - through this next breath?"  There has never been a time like now - when while the world around us is in such a mess, so many of us are so ripe and ready for the full experience of life as co-creators and participators - rather than critics and whiners.

If we trust that life is good and is here to support us - we can demonstrate it by starting with co-creating ourselves.  And that part - starts with the essence: letting life happen through us and not to us.... Taking often that One

breath that reconnects us to our souls, to the oneness of life - when we most need it - now!

The Joy Of Being You

How many of us go through our daily lives far too tightened up and contracted, reacting to stressful circumstances with numb hearts and shallow breath?

This way of being lessens our aliveness, compromises our health and robs us of joy. Simple techniques of conscious breathing, body grounding and thought investigation can help us calm our world and open our heart to life’s invitation to fully participate and become present. Discover that you can be grateful for the journey of life regardless of your circumstances or conditions, moment-by-moment, breath-by-breath.

When it comes to happiness, we tend to think of it as something that depends on having. Having the right relationship, the right body, the right house, the right job, the right life. What if happiness was a given, something that is in our Being - independent of what we have or of external circumstances and conditions?

What if happiness was a chemical, a hormone wired in us biologically, which we could activate any time, any place, and under any conditions. What if you had the skill to access happiness with yourself - being the one you have been waiting for,  your beloved - when you most need it: when you're in pain, under stress and pressure, insecure, anxious or feeling depressed? 

The purpose and mission of our work is to help you cultivate the skill of accessing happiness with yourself - presence, and bring it into everything you interact with -your own life, the life of others, the environment and the world.

The purpose of The Joy Of Being You- book and 2 CD's is to help you become open and allow love to enter, fill you with spaciousness and heal in you what you’re mostly afraid of, resistant to and stuck on - on a daily basis. It provides you with simple skills and practices of:

• Calming Your World - clearing stress, pain, anxiety and insecurity
• Accessing your spiritual Intelligence, intuition and good sense, and becoming the one you have been waiting for by:

Aligning with your breath... Synchronizing to the rhythm of your body... Investigating your thoughts..... Waking up your heart... Freeing your spirit... Dancing with abandon...

Our programs include: Introductory six-week courses, intermediate 12-week group training, coaching programs for groups and individuals, and individual and couple sessions. We conduct workshops, lectures and retreats. We offer CD’s, DVD’s Books, articles, and online support and demonstration.

For more information on our fall programs clock: http://tinyurl.com/2s9ets

Read Excerpts from The Joy Of Being You

HUman BrEathing

How to use the breath to transform pain, stress and anxiety, create more happiness, and make love real.

Breathing is something we do automatically.  But, did you know that most people only use 20% of their breathing capacity (10% of their brain capacity, and who knows how much of their heart capacity)?  How can you access the other 80% – and have fun doing so?
Improved breathing capacity can:
·      Strengthen your immune system
·      Increase metabolic rate (which can help with weight loss)
·      Equalize blood pressure
·      Cleanse your body of waste materials
·      Allow your body to use oxygen more efficiently to improve health
·      Calm and steady your mind
·      Increase lung capacity
·      Provide your brain with more oxygen, improving concentration and emotional balance

All of us experience stress, fear and anxiety from the challenges we face – whether we are dealing with pain, loss, illness, or adversity.  Our bodies tighten, our minds become frozen with fear, and the anxiety makes us want to flee. Learning and practicing breathing skills can make a dramatic difference in the quality of our lives.

Hey hUmanBEing --- take an ego-break...

Why don't you stop for a moment whatever you're doing and take a break from your ego.... You know; the anxiety, the stress, the insecurity about the future... The regrets, the guilts, the hurts of the past.... Take a break even from what to do next... It's OK, you'll know when the moment comes... Now, take a deep breath.... Notice the tightness in your body.... the constricted thoughts... Let go into the next breath... Open up to the newness of this moment.... Give yourself space to be fully who you are - now.... Not who you think you are - but who you really are... The way you feel deep inside - undisturbed and connected to life... Calming your mind-made world in the presence of this moment makes love real, and contributes to a calmer world...