The Subconscious mind is the band of the mind that stores memory, organizes and processes experience, utilizes the faculty of imagination and visualization and operates the subtle mechanisms of karma. It lies between the Conscious mind and the Metaconscious mind. We access the Subconscious mind through psychotherapy, hypnosis, and meditation. It is the repository of the totality of our past experiences and is our link with the higher bands of awareness, the Metaconscious and Superconscious bands of the mind. In this podcast, George Boyd, the founder of the Mudrashram Institute of Spiritual Studies, and Lawrence Castilia dive deeply into the functioning of the Subconscious mind. This podcast is part of the Mudrashram Maps of Consciousness series.

The Conscious mind includes your experience in the present time. When you're meditating on the centers of the Conscious mind, you become aware of what you are experiencing in the present time. Through meditation on the Conscious mind, Buddhism developed the idea of impermanence. In this podcast, Lawrence Castilia interviews George Boyd, the founder of the Mudrashram Institute of Spiritual Studies as we examine the different centers of the Conscious mind: Awareness of the current unfolding moment of time as your life. Awareness of the external environment through the five senses. Awareness of the present time experience of the physical body. Awareness of present time emotions. Awareness of behavior, repertoire, analogical reasoning and deductive reasoning. Ego awareness (ego being the integrating center of the Conscious mind). Pre-conscious awareness (awareness of ideas, memories, images and impressions arising from the Subconscious mind). Finally, you have the gate of the subconscious, also called the ethereal veil, which keeps the attention within the sphere of the Conscious mind. This podcast is part of the Mudrashram Maps of Consciousness series.

Mindfulness meditation (also known as Vipassana) consists of a number of techniques that focus your awareness on what is arising in the present time. In this podcast, George Boyd explains how basic Vipassana brings you to the state of Being – one step beyond the active Self – a place we can recharge, relax and release stress. However, specific forms of Vipassana can create what George calls a “transcendence experience” at various points across the Continuum of Consciousness. George also discusses how the highest forms of Vipassana are used to achieve Enlightenment at the level of the Supercosmic band of the Superconscious Mind.

In this podcast, George Boyd and Lawrence Castilia explore the popular myth that the ego is a barrier to higher consciousness and must be defeated or destroyed in order for the spiritual seeker to achieve enlightenment. We look at the ego complex in-depth and describe the role the ego plays in our lives through the 7 functions (or postures) it assumes. This podcast is part of the Mudrashram Maps of Consciousness series.