30/06/2010

HEALING: A personal example

WOW!
This morning I had a major breakthrough. I’m going to tell you how I:
- overcame a serious personal blockage;
- let go of an inherited fear that was preventing me from feeling great;
- paved the way for a much greater degree of success in my work.


I had been feeling 'out of sorts' for a few weeks now:
  • First of all I haven’t had much work, which means not much money - Eek! A month ago I had an average of six / seven clients a week. The last three weeks I’ve had one or two. If you've ever been self employed, with no one to pay your wages / sick leave / taxes / holidays etc. you'll know what this feels like.
  • Secondly, I’ve been feeling kind of ‘foggy’ – unable to think clearly and unable to put my resolutions into action. In a word: incoherent. For example, I haven't been able to write - even though I’ve been trying to write something every day, nothing has been coming out. Both my blog and my book have been neglected – typical example of writer's block. Every time I tried to write something I felt that it was no good: I didn't have the confidence to publish anything.
  • Thirdly, for the last three days I had a headache. Not a really bad headache – just one of those nagging, dull, annoying pains that just won’t go away; I was even waking up in the middle of the night with it.


All in all, I've been feeling pretty bad! So I knew something was wrong…

23/06/2010

MEDITATION part 2

I was very lucky - when I learnt to meditate for the first time, I had a very good teacher.

Teaching, to me, is all about transmitting - in other words beyond what you say and what you do as a teacher, there is a sharing of the essence of what you teach. As a yoga instructor, when I run a class, I am of course giving verbal instructions, and correcting poses, but at the same time I am allowing the essence of yoga to flow through me. This is what I mean by transmission.

Well, my first meditation teacher did that very well.

19/06/2010

MEDITATION

What is meditation?


I want to demystify meditation, and make it accessible to everyone. So I'm going to tell you in very simple terms what meditation is, and I'm going to share some of my experiences with you - partly to inspire, and partly to show you what is possible.


Meditation is really very simple:
It is the combination of deep relaxation, and focused concentration.

WILL you help me?

Dear friends,

Firstly:
- please let me know what you want! I have articles planned on:
  • meditation;
  • proper diet and vegetarianism;
  • exercise;
  • healing;
  • breathing exercises;
  • positive thinking;
  • yoga;
  • the placebo effect...

17/06/2010

WHO ARE YOU?!

My Father was very fond of saying:
"there are two types of people in this world..."
Well, guess what?
There are two types of people in this world :)
People who think about the question "who am I?", and people who avoid that thought at all costs. It's the difference between thinking deeply, and trying not to. As Bertrand Russell said in one of my favorite quotes:
"Most people would sooner die than think. In fact, they do so!"

16/06/2010

WHAT IS LOVE?

Love is not an emotion, although it sometimes manifests in that way.
Love is not a human trait, although sometimes we like to think so.
Love has nothing to do with relationship, except when two people are completely open to each other - and then those two don't have to be 'in a relationship'.


There are many words for love. My favorite is consciousness. But love has been called by many other names: God; Jesus; Spirit; Great Spirit; Yahweh; Nature; Universe; Reality; Tao...
The great Taoist Lao Tzu, in the opening of the Tao Te Ching says:
"The Tao that can be spoken of is not the real Tao."


14/06/2010

ENERGY: my personal experience of Kundalini Energy



 Awaken the snake: a tale of Kundalini and orgasm.

I originally wrote this article in response to the question: “How can I learn to feel my chakras?” from a student.
In answering that question, I found myself writing about Kundali.

Kundalini is a vast reservoir of natural energy that lies dormant in most people, until 'activated'. This activation is a process: it happens quite naturally and slowly as we evolve. But the process of evolution can be accelerated through disciplined spiritual practice. When the kundalini 'awakens', our consciousness changes: we become much more aware.

This article presents my own personal experience of this awakening...

09/06/2010

WHAT IS HEALTH?




Many people (including many doctors!) view HEALTH like this: "we are healthy when there is nothing wrong".
You know what? When you look at health like that, you are really just waiting to get sick!
I'm going to share with you some information that not many people know, and fewer understand.
I want to tell you WHAT HEALTH REALLY IS.
I'm also going to give you 5 practical tips which, if applied intelligently, will transform your life!
Health is not a lack of disease. It is not the absence of sickness. It is not a negative anything. But many people (including many doctors!) view it like this: "we are healthy when there is nothing wrong".
You know what? When you look at health like that, you are really just waiting to get sick!




06/06/2010

AN OPPORTUNITY

I have no idea why, but a friend of mine here in Slovenia asked me to write an article about Autism. So I will! I like a good challenge...


The reason it's a challenge is because I don't feel myself to be any kind of authority on the subject. My experience is limited:
I spent a year of my life working with young people for a charity in England called the Prince's Trust. My job was to recruit 15 young people (aged 15 - 25), and then lead them through a 12 week course, which included many different things, for example a two week community project, a week of team building exercises in Wales (canoeing, rock climbing, bridge-building), and a week with the fire brigade. I ran three such courses, and on one of them I recruited Rosie, a 16 year old girl with Asperger's syndrome - a form of autism...



05/06/2010

EGO 2 - don't fight it!

Ok, so in the first article on ego (EGO 1) I said that the ego is not real. I said that ego is really an illusion. I also said that "much of the spiritual 'work' that many people do and have done for many years, is almost a waste of time."

I have to qualify my statement that the ego is not real. So first, I need to speak about reality:


Reality is subjective. But it's also absolute!
What do I mean?
I mean that there is a subjective reality, and an absolute reality.
Two people experience one event and remember differently what happened - memory is subjective. But it doesn't mean that two different things happened does it? It means that in reality, experience is subjective.
The reason for this subjectivity is that we don't experience reality as it is - we filter it. We have a filter between the world and our brain called the Reticular Activating System (RAS). It literally filters the information that comes to us from the outside world.


If you have never heard of a car called a Saab before, then you don't see Saabs. As soon as you hear of it - as soon as it enters your awareness, you begin to see them!
How is this possible? One minute (in your experience) the car doesn't exist - the next minute they're everywhere!!...



03/06/2010

SUCCESS: coherence and intention

The following quotes are a "conversation" from my facebook page. I originally wrote  this 'status update' about intention:
"...without intention, we are like dry leaves in the wind – at the mercy of random forces far beyond our control or understanding. But with intention all of those forces are seen to be what they truly are: ours."
 My friend Metka asked me to write about it and the following conversation ensued (bear with me):


Metka: "the wind can be too strong, blowing away the ability to know the intention"


Ben: "With pure intention, the wind is always behind us."


Metka: "with pure intention the wind is positive and colourful, and you are sailing peacefuly - untill the wind decides to be naughy and stops blowing immediately, leaving you lost in the middle of the sea. Which way to choose to find intention? Or just wait for it to come itself? It is not easy and simple at all."

Metka's questions prompted me to write about a very important topic. Important to success in all areas of life - health, relationship, work, personal life: COHERENCE.


01/06/2010

COMMUNICATION, anger, and atheism

Recently, I read a very strong blog about atheism. I say strong because it's well written, and the ideas put across are well thought out. But it's also strong in another sense - there's a lot of anger! In fact one of the key articles is: 'Atheism and Anger'*.

As I read it I remembered something that Tony Samara once said:
"Anger is a lack of communication".