Who are you and Where are you going ? These are the most fundamental questions in life.  Once you have answered them. all other questions and answers flow naturally. There will be a "fitness", and "appropriateness" of your thoughts and actions, both in relationship to yourself, to other people and to your various activities in life. You will be aligned with spirit.
 
One of the assumptions I am making is that there is nothing in this world that stands in isolation. Not just in the sense that a brick is part of a wall; rather, that everything is inter-related and interdependent. Everything is part of a greater whole. There is a force that both creates and connects everything. The philosophies of the East call that force by various names: chi, ki, prana; meaning air, breath, energy, or life force.
 
When we focus on fitness in the physical body, one of the measurements of that fitness is our aerobic capacity - our ability to take in and fully utilise the breath. The physical body and its functions are sustained by breathing.
 
The correlation between physical health and a sense of mental and emotional well-being has been well documented. An awareness of how our mental and emotional state affects the way we breathe is an essential skill in stress management. Stress reduction can be achieved with specific breath techniques.
 
How does "spiritual " fitness relate to this and what does it  mean ? Perhaps it is easier to answer that by looking at the symptoms of spiritual malaise — typically mid- life crisis or unfocused erratic behaviour. One manifestation of this is when, as an adult, we achieve the various goals we have set ourselves and have attained a standard of living we are satisfied with. Yet we say to ourselves, "is that all there is ?" When we can't answer questions about who we are, why we are here, and what the purpose of life is, we lose heart and part of our spirit begins to die.
 
One of the easiest ways of reconnecting to spirit is through mediation. The most basic mediation techniques involve a focusing on the breath. And it is through meditation that we are able to answer the question "Who am I?'
 
We begin to understand the complexity of our own body-mind, to see the inter-relationship of our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual states and understand that we are part of a greater whole — family, society, mankind — and the we are all living together on planet Earth.
 
            We begin to understand that we have a physical body, but that we are not just a body. We realise that unhappiness comes when we equate our value as a person with the type of body we have. Or conversely, disease comes when we do not take care of ourselves, when we do not realise that inter-relationship of the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual part of our being.
            Through meditation, we realise that we are not our emotions. Our emotional states come and go — sometimes we are happy, sometimes sad. We can be angry one minute and laughing the next. If we become the emotion, we ride a roller coaster: Through meditation, we learn that we can experience emotions yet not be their victim. We have emotions, but we are more than those emotions.
 
As for our ideas, they change as we receive new information. At different times in history, science has asserted different truths. Our truth as a child is often different from our truth as an adult. Our ideas are just the best tools we have at any given time to operate successfully in the world. Disaster strikes when we try to apply inappropriate ideas to particular situations.
 
So who are we ? We are physical, emotional, mental and spiritual beings, and we live in a physical world. We relate to other people physically, emotionally and mentally. We are connected through spirit.
 
What does fitness mean in this context ? It means acting in a way that is governed by and is in alignment with the principle that everything within ourselves is inter-related and that there is an inter-relationship between ourselves, other human beings and the environment.
 
The ethical implication of this is that there must be a shift from a "me and them" attitude, a "win/lose" competitiveness, to an understanding that for me to win , others must also win; for me to be happy others must also be happy. for me to be safe and secure, the planet has to be safe and secure.
 
Every individual has to find their own answers about how to relate to the world - physical, emotionally, mentally and spiritually . The answers to a particular situation come when we have a vision of the complexity and inter-relatedness of the whole and understand the relationship between the many parts.
 
This vision and this knowledge is most easily achieved through meditation. The benefits of meditation can be seen and felt in all aspects of our life, including business.

© Ann Harrison
Originally published Emotional & Spiritual Fitness, article in Fitness, Bob Pike Hong Kong,1994

In this months meditation workshop a number of the participant really wanted a definitive answer to the question – what is meditation.

Today, coincidentally, I was re-reading Breath of Life, by Abbot George Burke aka Swami Nirimalanda Giri. This book is an extensive study on the practice of breath meditation according to the Hindu, Buddhist,Taoist, Jewish and Christian traditions He began like this:

“Meditation is the process of re-centering our awareness in the principle of pure consciousness which is our essential being. We have lost awareness of our true Self through awareness of external objects, and become habituated–even addicted–to objective consciousness.

Rather than disperse our consciousness through objects that draw us outward, away from the center of our being, we can take an object that will have the opposite effect, present it to the mind, and reverse our consciousness. That object is the breath, which is the meeting place of body, mind, and spirit.

The breath and the body are interconnected, as is seen from the fact that the breath is calm when the body is calm, and agitated or labored when the body is agitated or labored. The heavy exhalation made when feeling exhausted and the enthusiastic inhalation made when feeling energized or exhilarated establish the same fact.

The breath and the emotions are interconnected, as is seen from the fact that the breath is calm when the emotions are calm, and agitated and labored when the emotions are agitated or out of control. Our drawing of a quick breath when we are surprised, shocked, or fearful, and the forceful exhalation done when angry or annoyed demonstrate this.

The breath and the mind are interconnected, as is seen from the fact that the breath is calm when the mind is calm, and agitated, irregular, and labored when the mind is agitated or disturbed in any way. Our holding of the breath when attempting intense concentration also shows this.

Breath, which exists on all planes of manifestation, is the connecting link between matter and energy on the one hand and consciousness and mind on the other. By sitting with closed eyes and letting the mind become easefully absorbed in observing and experiencing the movements of the breath we enter into the consciousness from which it arises–the eternal Witness Consciousness.

We start with awareness of the ordinary physical breath, but that awareness, when cultivated correctly, leads us into higher awareness which enables us to perceive the subtle movement behind the breath.

Ultimately, we come into contact with the Breather of the breath, our own Spirit-Self.

www.ocoy.org

I was listening recently to Sally Kempton, a scholar and spiritual teacher known for the depth of her own practice and the clarity with which she guides others.  She was speaking of the Divine feminine – suggesting that the time has come to work for change through love, through ‘fierce compassion’.

In her book  Awakening Shakti: The Transformative Power of the Goddesses of Yoga she describes the qualities of the various Hindu goddesses and gives practical ways of working with those energies. Following are notes that I made listening to her recent talk.

The goddess Lalita helps you fall in love with life and at the same time demands that you become free.
There are four practical ways you work towards this goal:

1.     Let the creative force enter you through the breath.
One of the ways that Shakti, the Divine Feminine manifests in human body is through the breath
Tune to the breath and let it come in as a gentle caress. Caressing your heart.
Breath and awareness are making love to each other

2.     Allow yourself to be seen
Still. Opened eyed. Feel/imagine yourself being seen by the ecstatic creative force of life.
All the things in your environment are seeing you. You are seen. You are part of a pulsation of life.

3.    Feel the energy
Feel the energy in your body, in the air, in the earth all around you.
Allow the feeling to build until you know you are that energy. You are that ecstatic creative energy.

4.    Visualise
Visualise the goddess as strongly as you can. Then merge your body with hers

Sally Kempton will soon be running a 7 week course that you may be interested in
http://wisdomgoddesscourse.com/course/WisdomGoddess

I recently held a wonderful meditation workshop.

Why do I say wonderful? Because the participants all had valuable insights about themselves, meditation and life to take away with them.

I always explain that sometimes the process of meditation is not always easy. Traditionallly meditation is described as a ‘purification practice’ i.e. getting rid of what stands in the way of peace of mind and contentment.

One of the recent workshop participants wrote to me and said:

"After the group meditation I had a head ached and felt a little anxious. So I did your Relaxation meditation just before going to bed. This morning I woke feeling wonderful. I feel there has been a big shift. Hard to explain but feel lighter. Those things I have been telling myself about my worth for quite some time I actually feel today."

This illustrates the point. Seemingly the result of the workshop was a headache. Actually this headache was a sign that something deep inside was working itself up and out.

A meditator should not be discouraged by their seemingly unsuccessful attempts to meditate.  It is those very attempts to meditate that are meditation – especially when they are showing the nature of the relationship between body, mind and emotions.

The more you know and understand yourself, the more able you are to effectively deal with what life hands you.

Meditate.

NEXT MEDITATION WORKSHOP - 14 SEPTEMBER 2014 9.30am -12.30pm

I have been meditating now for over 30 years. It is part of me, part of my life.
The video by the David Lynch Foundation share how one particular school of meditation - Transcendental Meditation, has helped people.
There are many many different meditation techniques. Many different schools and teachers. You can find one that suits you and then you will experience the benefits that others speak of.

“I do your meditation nearly daily and it is great. It is so relaxing that I often fall asleep towards the end of track one and wake up towards the end of track 2…..! It helps a lot” 

I received those words in a recent email and was delighted with the timeless benefit of the guided meditations that I made in 1991 to help my clients.


Meditation techniques are many and they all require focus, concentration and awareness.

Paradoxically it is when we focus and concentrate our mind that we allow it to rest. There is no longer a flitting from this thought to that, and the creation of stories and emotions that take us outside the present moment.

Breath is our constant companion. It is our life. We can use it to focus ourselves in the present and find a little peace of mind.

Now, for many that is an impossibility – to just be quiet and focus on the breath. If you are one of those people I offer two tips:
The first is to move.
Focus on your walking, dancing, bicycling – whatever you like best. Feel your different muscles engage and your breath give you energy. This might be enough.

Yet if you want to train yourself to sitting meditation then you can sit down the very instant you stop moving. Close your eyes and concentrate on feeling your body. Get to know yourself in a different way and gradually over time you will be able to sit for longer and longer periods of meditation.

The second tip is to use a mantra.
It is a great way of short circuiting mind chatter.
Mantras traditionally are given by a spiritual teacher and there is a certain energy that accompanies them. The mantra that I use is “om namah shivaya” – I acknowledge the divine – in myself, other and all of creation. You may like to use a simple uplifting phrase like ” I am present here and now. This moment is a new beginning”

Meditation is both a process and a state of mind. It is a  way of knowing yourself deeply and accepting what is. When