Lady Tsogyal asked the master: How does one then attain enlightenment? The master replied: You are not enlightened through fabricated dharmas; You need a dharma beyond fabrication. You are not enlightened through indicated dharmas; You need a dharma beyond indication. You are not enlightened through explained dharmas; You need a dharma beyond explanation. You are not enlightened through cultivated dharmas; You need a dharma beyond cultivation.

Don’t do anything. Don’t go anywhere.
Don’t think. Don’t construct.
Don’t judge. Don’t focus.
Don’t support. Don’t take aim. Don’t cling.
Without anything whatsoever, simply remain.
Don’t even label this “Buddha.”
It is beyond thought, word, and description.

READ MORE: https://www.amazon.com/Treasures-Juniper-Ridge-Instructions-Padmasambhava-ebook/dp/B00H6UOF6W

This meditation is especially helpful if you are struggling with intense pain, either physical or emotional. This technique is something I learned from meditation master, Shinzen Young.

Instead of simply watching our breath, We're going to do so in a very special way.

The mind can only focus well on one or two things at a time, So for this meditation we're going to take a few moments to focus on your breath,

The physical sensation of breathing in and out.

We're going to explore two pleasant sensations associated with breathing in and out.

The oxygenation pleasure you feel when you breathe in,

And the relaxation pleasure that you experience when you release the breath out.

First let's explore the oxygen pleasure.

If you're not sure what I'm referring to, Breathe out for a few moments and hold it there. You'll begin to feel some tension and discomfort.

Then when you're ready, Breathe in and notice the pleasant sensation, Which contrasts with that.

The pleasure of the nurturing oxygen filling your lungs. Focus in on that pleasure as you breathe in. We'll refer to this as the oxygen pleasure.

On each in-breath from beginning to end, Focus all your attention on that pleasure.

To the best of your ability, Let your pain or pains be in the background.

Let your thoughts be in the background.

Let your emotions be in the background.

Just to the best of your ability,

Focus continually on the pleasure sensation of each in-breath.

Just to the best of your ability,

Focus continually on the pleasure sensation of each in-breath.

Now,

Changing things up a bit,

Take a slow in-breath and notice how there's some effort when you breathe in,

The muscles have to work.

Your whole body rises up slightly on the in-breath,

Contracting inward ever so slightly.

Now breathe out and notice that by contrast,

The out-breath takes no effort at all.

There's a natural quality of relaxing associated with breathing out.

Now,

On each out-breath from beginning to end,

Focus on that relaxation pleasure,

The natural relaxation of letting go.

I know this might be challenging,

The discomfort might be much stronger than the relaxation pleasure,

But to the best of your ability,

Focus on that relaxation pleasure.

From the beginning to the end of every out-breath.

Good.

Now,

On the in-breath,

Focus on the oxygen intake pleasure,

And on the out-breath,

Focus on the relaxation pleasure.

So there's an alternating rhythm of two kinds of pleasure.

Always be focusing on one of the two kinds of sensations.

Developing a high state of concentration,

Breathing in,

Breathing out,

Gradually more and more focused.

Good.

Continue to do that as I speak.

If this reduces the pain or discomfort,

Good.

There's a small chance though that relaxing in this way makes the discomfort seem to spread.

If you can tolerate that,

Keep going a little while longer,

And it may change or relent.

If you just wish to work with the sensation of breathing in,

You can do that.

If you just wish to work with the pleasure of breathing out,

You can do that.

Or you can alternate between the two if that feels more productive.

Focus in this way for as long as seems helpful...

The information and practices provided through my meditation sessions, workshops, classes, and related materials are for educational and informational purposes only and are not intended as a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

Always consult with a qualified healthcare provider before starting any new wellness practice, particularly if you have a pre-existing medical condition, are pregnant, or are taking medications. Meditation and breathwork techniques may impact physical and emotional states.

I am not a licensed medical professional, therapist, or counselor, and the techniques shared are not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any health conditions. If you experience any discomfort, distress, or adverse effects during a session, you are encouraged to stop immediately and seek professional help.

What is the best way to breathe while meditating? Why do so many meditation teachers talk about meditating on the breath?

Breathwork refers to a range of breathing techniques and practices designed to improve physical, mental, and emotional well-being. It encompasses methods that can induce relaxation, increase energy, and facilitate altered states of consciousness. Breathwork is often used in therapy, meditation, and spiritual practices.

Coherent Breathing involves maintaining a steady breathing rhythm, typically around 5-6 breaths per minute, to achieve optimal heart rate variability (HRV) and a state of balance between the body and mind. This method helps reduce stress, enhance focus, and improve overall well-being.

Pranayama is a yogic breathing practice from ancient India, focused on controlling the breath to regulate life force energy (prana). It includes techniques such as Nadi Shodhana (alternate nostril breathing), Kapalabhati (skull-shining breath), and Bhastrika (bellows breath), which aim to enhance physical health, mental clarity, and spiritual awareness.

Tummo, or "inner fire" breathing, is a Tibetan meditative practice involving controlled breathing and visualization to generate heat and awaken energy within the body. It has gained attention for its ability to enhance focus, build resilience to cold, and elevate consciousness.

Holotropic Breathing is a powerful breathwork technique developed by Stanislav Grof, used to achieve altered states of consciousness for emotional healing and self-exploration. It involves deep, rhythmic breathing combined with evocative music in a controlled setting, often facilitated by trained practitioners.

Resonant Breathing, also known as Resonance Frequency Breathing, involves breathing at a specific rhythm (around 5-7 breaths per minute) to synchronize the heart, lungs, and nervous system. This practice is often used for stress reduction, emotional balance, and improved cardiovascular health.

These practices collectively explore the transformative potential of conscious breathing to enhance well-being, mindfulness, and self-awareness.

Mokshadas explains the best meditation postures for achieving relaxation and focus, emphasizing the importance of finding a comfortable position that suits your body. Here are the key positions covered:

Learn More: https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/meditation-positions

A convenient way to classify meditation techniques. Five main ways to focus. Try each type many times. Only then can you skillfully choose whichever works best for you, and when.

Focus Out   (the objective external world)

Focus on Rest  (peace, stillness, relaxation)

Focus on Change  (impermanence, emptiness, flow)

Focus on Positive  (images, words, feelings)

You want to see things from the mountain top? According to Vedanta, these are the four main ways to ascend to the mountain top of Enlightenment. Ideally, we recommend combining the four main practices or alternating between them, for the integral development of body, mind and soul.

Karma Yoga is the path of physical action and suits people with active temperaments . To practice this path involves performing actions selflessly – without thinking of success or reward – which purifies the heart and reduces the ego. 

Bhakti Yoga is the yoga of devotion and is perfect for people who are emotional by nature. Through prayer, worship and ritual, one comes to see the Divine as the embodiment of love. Chanting mantras is an essential part of Bhakti Yoga.

Jnana Yoga is the yoga of wisdom/philosophy, and is most suitable for intellectual people. The philosophy of Vedanta teaches analytical self-enquiry into one’s own true nature, with the goal of recognizing the Supreme Self in oneself and in all beings.

Raja Yoga is the science of silencing the mind, and directing the flow of vital energies. The asanas (body postures) and pranayamas (breathing exercises) are an integral part of this yoga path. The main practice of Raja Yoga is silent meditation.

LEARN MORE: https://ebooks.advaitaashrama.org/product/four-yogas-of-vivekananda-1

Meditation is generally considered safe and beneficial for most individuals, offering advantages such as reduced stress, improved concentration, and enhanced emotional well-being. However, some people may experience challenges or adverse effects, particularly if they have certain mental health conditions or engage in intensive meditation practices without proper guidance.

Potential Risks:

Recommendations to Mitigate Risks:

If you experience persistent negative effects from meditation, it's important to consult a healthcare professional to discuss your experiences and consider alternative approaches to well-being.

What does renunciation mean? Try not to see it only through a negative lens. Renunciation is not just about giving things up. More than just dispassion for "the world", it means even more so, longing for communion with God.

"Sell all that you have and give it to the poor, and follow me." - says the Christ.

True renunciation is the total absence of selfish motives not the mere abstinence from physical contact. True renunciation does not come by laborious efforts but comes spontaneously. You don't really renounce things so much as they drop away from you on their own.

You are attached to only that which has meaning for you. When things become irrelevant and useless to you, when things lose their meaning and value, you automatically detach from them.

The beginning of the realization of your aloneness / all-one-ness provides the spark which ignites the spirit of detachment in you.

(However...)

Once you have realized the eternal relation between the eternal God and the eternal Soul, the scene begins to shift. You are now ready to embrace what you had renounced earlier. All the apparent contradictions stand resolved. In that state, says Vivekananda, all delusion disappears.

Maya, instead of being a horrible, hopeless dream, becomes beautiful, and this earth, instead of being a dungeon or a prison house, becomes our playground. Dangers and difficulties, even all sufferings, become deified and show us their real nature. That behind everything, God is standing as the One.

You don't renounce anything anymore, because you are All and are Everything. You began the spiritual quest by renouncing, by negating, by separating.. You now end it by embracing, affirming, unifying.

The book Monasticism: Ideal and Traditions offers a comprehensive exploration of monastic practices across various religious traditions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Jainism. It features contributions from scholars and practitioners, including Swami Vivekananda, Swami Lokeswarananda, and Swami Swahananda, providing insights into the evolution and ideals of monastic life.

This compilation highlights how the Ramakrishna Order, inspired by Vivekananda's teachings, integrates elements from multiple religious traditions into its monastic practices. The book serves as a valuable resource for understanding the diverse facets of monasticism and its role in spiritual growth.

Everything in the universe vibrates, all the way down to the bedrock of existence. From the smallest part of the atom all the way up to pulsating stars, everything vibrates. Atoms upon atoms, upon atoms, a whole ocean of electrons, protons, neutrons - making molecules upon molecules upon molecules.  

Light is just vibration. Colors are just vibrations. Sounds are vibrations. Many of these things can be measured. Brainwaves like alpha, beta, and delta, are just vibrations of mental energies. Your whole life, and the whole Universe, is vibrating. The fundamental laws of nature are what keep everything in a state of coherence. That’s one of the reasons things seem so solid and stable.

The body itself is nothing but vibrations. We are giving off vibrations and absorbing vibrations from the environment around us. The sunlight, moonlight, the trees, and ocean tides.. Everything vibrates at its own frequency - and affects the human body in some way. We affect other things, and other things affect us. Have you ever tried influencing a plant? If you are mean or kind to a plant, it will respond. It’s not the exact words you use when you communicate with the plant, but rather the quality of your energy - the tone of your message.

On very subtle levels we are interacting with everyone and everything around us. They yogis of ancient times figured out that sound and other energy waves are typically distributed in a circle. From a central point, energy ripples outwards in a circle. This is why so many objects in space are circular or spherical. So you could say, one way to look at it all is to say, we are all a bunch of intersecting circles. This may be why some of us are good at intuitively knowing about far off people, places, or things.

Another idea to explore is, within our own personal sphere of energies, can we balance and harmonize all of our circles, all of our organs, our frequencies and vibrations? 

We can theorize that when we are ill, or confused, or upset, it could be because our energies are in disharmony, out of balance, with too many conflicting frequencies, disrupting our prana.

When we are peaceful, healthy, intuitive, focused, and resilient, it could be because the frequencies of our heart, mind, and soul, are resonating together in harmonious balance.

The organs in the physical body and the wheels of energy in the subtle-body all have unique vibratory frequencies. How can we harmonize them? Mantra. If you harmonize them - you can then be in greater harmony with the whole universe. 

We want to harmonize our physical, mental, and emotional energies. We want to harmonize our gross, subtle, and causal bodies. And we can do it by repeating a mantra. The mantra itself is made of special vibrations. Every time you repeat the mantra, you are raising a wave in the ocean of your mental energy. That wave then pervades the mind stuff, and ripples out into the universe.

The reason everything is vibrating, the root cause of vibration, is called prana. The sum total of all energies in the universe. Gravitation, electromagnetism, the strong and weak nuclear forces, etc. All these things together are prana. Prana also makes up mental energy, thoughts, words, etc. In the body we think of it mostly as the “vital force” and we often work with it through breathing techniques called pranayama. But the best and most efficient way to harmonize all the systems and get all the factors working together is - mantra repetition (in a slow, smooth, steady rhythm).

We will harmonize the heart and mind. We will harmonize the gross, subtle, and causal bodies. Thereby harmonizing our self with all of creation - and the sum total of all energies - all the way down to the bedrock of existence.

“If you are a poet, you will see clearly that there is a cloud floating in this sheet of paper. Without a cloud, there will be no rain; without rain, the trees cannot grow; and without trees, we cannot make paper. The cloud is essential for the paper to exist. If the cloud is not here, the sheet of paper cannot be here either. So we can say that the cloud and the paper inter-are.”  - Thich Nhat Hanh

The Buddha called this Dependent Origination, sometimes also known as Interdependent Co-arising, or even Inter-being, a term coined by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. It is an understanding that no thing spontaneously exists all on its own. All things are influenced by many others. 

“This is, because that is.

This is not, because that is not.

This ceases to be, because that ceases to be.”

We begin to understand that nothing is an island unto itself. No thing is separate all on its own, and that no thing is completely self-contained or self-reliant. Everything that is, exists solely because of other events that have also co-arisen. All things are dependent upon cause and effect. Everything is connected. and there is nothing more profound.

Up can’t exist without down, that East can’t exist with West, that wealth cannot exist without poverty, that life cannot exist without death. 

All things are empty of their apparent separate self . all things are interdependent. 

We see that the cup of coffee in our hands could not exist without the woman who ordered the bag of beans into her store. Looking deeper, we see the truck the beans arrived on, and its driver. We see the fuel in its tank and the man who pumped it.

We see the woman who roasted the beans and packaged them. We see the ship the beans sailed on from Peru, and all of the hands on deck who ensured its safe arrival. We see the farmer who cared for the soil, who planted the crop, and who picked the beans.

We see the sunshine that made the plants grow. Furthermore, each and every one of these conditions each had their own complex web of factors that contributed to their unique arising as well.

We see the clouds the water fell from that landed on the crop. We see the rivers in which they once flowed. We see all of the decisions in each of the people’s lives that led to their interaction with the coffee bean, and we see all of the things which then influenced each of those decisions too.

Infinitely.. it goes on. Everything impacts everything else. And everything depends upon everything else.

When we intimately understand the interconnection and interdependence that exists between all things, We see that all things are truly equal, man or animal, river or rock.