Still Is Chill

So Mobile Meditation Studio huh?!

noreply@blogger.com (Denis U.) — Sat, 09 Nov 2019 17:14:00 +0000

KALA MEDITATION BUS, Baltimore

I guess it makes perfect sense - you can't always sit down at your office even during your lunch break and simply close your eyes, and recharge in meditation. This perfect gap to fill in, especially in big city such as Baltimore, has become a conscious business opportunity for one mom with her daughter.

Athena (Tina) Stratakis, a massage therapist and life coach, and Maria Stratakis, a mental health and school counselor, created Kala. Let's see how this idea turns out. One thing is certain, there is never enough ideas to improve one's quality of life.

Good luck from us at Still is Chill :)

Little Known: Prince Harry Quietlly Began Meditating in 2018

noreply@blogger.com (Denis U.) — Tue, 29 Jan 2019 00:12:00 +0000

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle meditates

This is one of my favorite topics - finding that a celebrity is taking up ultra beneficial activity, in this case prince Harry started his daily "dose" of meditation. As you will find out in the following article published by to me little known afr.com, the meditation Harry took up thanks to his wife Meghan Markle isn't widely known, but seem to be working for them. I'm happy for them.

By Maria Lally via afr.com

If anybody needs the mind-calming benefits of meditation right now, it's probably Prince Harry. After a whirlwind 12 months that has seen him marry Meghan Markle, endure endless speculation about a family rift between him and his brother and his new bride and the Duchess of Cambridge, it seems reasonable enough for him to seek some peace and quiet wherever he may find it.

Little wonder, then, that during a visit to Merseyside last week, the Duke, formerly the "party prince", revealed, while chatting to a Buddhist monk, that he meditates "every day". The monk, Kelsang Sonam, 69, then gave Harry a copy of the meditation book Eight Steps to Happiness.

It's thought Meghan introduced Harry to meditation. In a 2015 post of her now-defunct lifestyle blog, The Tig, she wrote: "Last week marked the one-year anniversary of my relationship with meditation, something I found endlessly daunting at first (the thoughts, the distractions, the boredom of it), but soon became the quietude that rocked my world."

Pippa Middleton is also a fan and last year revealed in her column for Waitrose magazine that she had signed up to a beginners' meditation class. "This involved learning to meditate twice daily, ideally for 20 minutes, chanting a mantra, while sitting upright, eyes closed and focused," she wrote.

"I was sceptical at first – but, after practising this discipline for the past month, I have noticed a huge difference in my mental wellbeing and sense of clarity."

Its central principle is the use of a personally prescribed word repeated silently. "It's a game-changer," she said. "I'm so much sharper. I just fire up."

But while many may find it easy to pooh-pooh, meditation now has fairly sound science behind it. One recent study from the University of Miami found regular meditation improves your ability to focus and prevent age-related mental decline. "This study is the first to offer evidence that continued meditation practice is associated with enduring improvements in sustained attention," says lead author Anthony Zanesco of his seven-year study.

Other studies show it can boost your immunity, help reduce symptoms of anxiety, stress, depression and improve your sleep. Another study published in the International Journal of Neuroscience found that 54-year-old meditators had, on average, the biological age of 42-year-olds.

The type of meditation that Harry and Meghan practise is called vedic meditation, a non-religious, mantra-based method, and the type London-based practitioner Jillian Lavender teaches.

"I first got into meditation 23 years ago, when I had a very intense job in business," she says. "I had a lot of preconceived ideas about meditation, the first being how on earth would I be able to sit still for 20 minutes? I also felt it might be a little bit 'brown rice and sandals' for somebody like me, who worked in business."

But Lavender found the opposite was true and that meditation was a science-backed way of quietening down a beehive mind and, along with her partner Michael Miller, she founded the London Meditation Centre and the New York Meditation Centre.

Meditation's time has come

Meditation, like mindfulness, is being rolled out into several schools and a new book, Three Breaths and Begin: A Guide to Meditation in the Classroom, is publishing in May (available in Australia at Angus & Robertson from April 30 for $26.43).

"It's not elitist or self-indulgent, or about having lots of time and money," says Lavender, adding that everybody can fit two 20-minute meditation sessions into even the most hectic day. "Rather than seeing it as another chore that takes up precious time, meditation leaves you more able to deal with the demands of life, you get more done and conversely, have more time. .

"We teach the vedic technique – you sit in a chair, with your eyes closed, for 20 minutes every morning and afternoon. You can do it anywhere.

"The worst thing that can happen is that you gave yourself 10 minutes of quiet in an endlessly loud world."

Happy International Day of Yoga 2016

noreply@blogger.com (Denis U.) — Tue, 21 Jun 2016 18:25:00 +0000

Happy International Day of Yoga 2016

When You Combine Good Food with Meditation

noreply@blogger.com (Denis U.) — Sun, 19 Jun 2016 03:13:00 +0000

Eric Ripert practices meditation

What do you get when you combine a top notch chef and famous NYC restaurant owner with meditation? Eric Ripert! Charismatic owner of the Le Bernardin restaurant in New York City says: “it is a real pleasure to be able to meditate.”

In a video for Fast Company, Ripert owns up to how he used to be angry and frustrated chef who didn’t think anything of throwing plates on the floor to express himself. But when he started a practice of meditation, he slowly learned to make space for happiness and compassion. His spiritual epiphanies now influence everything he does, in his kitchen and beyond.

“I started to meditate, and at the beginning it was very tedious and very difficult,” he explains in the video above. But now, Ripert says, “it is a real pleasure to be able to meditate.”
Ripert, a Michelin star-winning chef who also has his own cooking show called “Avec Eric,” has been a practicing Buddhist for about 20 years and calls himself “blessed.” He also has a progressive and productive approach to failure in the kitchen (and in life), and his thoughts on failure influence his desire to be a mentor to others, in any way he can.
“Failures are not failures,” he explained. “They are basically negative experiences that can be transformed into positive when you decide to use that kind of wisdom that you have accumulated and you use it to mentor.”

Ripert’s spiritual beliefs and behavior set him apart from other chefs of his caliber who embrace the persona of the ego-driven, aggressive creative. His dedication to compassion at work and in life is a far cry from the violence of his youth; when he was young, he was abused by both his stepfather and a priest. And then as he came up as a young cook, he lived in constant fear in the demanding and, at times abusive, kitchen environments.
“Today I’m someone who is very happy in my life, [and] I’m very compassionate in the education of our team,” said Ripert. “The idea is to have a cook who is happy to cook for the client, and not shaky and scared.”

Research shows that meditation can help people reduce stress levels, sleep better and, perhaps most crucially for chefs like Ripert, can boost focus and promote creativity.

Mahashivaratri 2016

noreply@blogger.com (Denis U.) — Mon, 07 Mar 2016 17:01:00 +0000

The night before second new moon of the year is known as Mahashivratri. A gift from nature, the unique planetary positions on this night initiate an upsurge of energy in the human system. By staying awake and keeping the spine erect one can reap immense benefits. Spending Mahashivratri at the The Abode of Yoga can be a profound experience and step towards one’s inner growth.

Celebrated with great fervor and enthusiasm at the Isha Yoga Center in India, one million people join from around the world to spend this spiritually significant evening in Sadhguru’s presence.
This year marks the first opportunity to spend this evening at AdiYogi: The Abode of Yoga at the Isha Institute in Tennessee.

Paris Attack: Killing in the Name of Religion

noreply@blogger.com (Denis U.) — Sat, 14 Nov 2015 20:02:00 +0000

The whole world is still recovering from the shocking events that took many innocent lives in Paris earlier today. What is it that makes someone to kill in the name of religion? Sadhguru explains the dynamics of various belief systems, politics and more.

In the video below, Sadhguru who is a yogi, mystic, visionary and humanitarian talks
about the root of the problem, which according to him is essentially one's man believe versus another man's believe and how these two are bound to clash in the course of life.

Hillary Clinton: It's Yoga That Helped Me Through The Benghazi Hearing

noreply@blogger.com (Denis U.) — Fri, 23 Oct 2015 14:28:00 +0000

Hillary Clinton practices yoga

Here we go again, yet another key person in our political system practicing yoga. After the most recent political hearing on Benghazi that lasted for over 12 hours, Hillary Clinton replied that it was yoga that helped her to tay alert and energetic during the extensive meeting.

Last year, Clinton told People Magazine that water aerobics and yoga were her exercises of choice. The New York Times also reported on her stamina-building practice, citing friends who said that she had more energy and was practicing yoga while spending more time on her physical fitness.

How can a person with so much on her plate have room for a couple sun salutations each week? Chances are it's the bendy practice that helps: Yoga has been shown to make people more productive, less stressed and generally happier. As the saying goes, if you don't have time to meditate for 20 minutes, you should meditate for an hour. Perhaps the same can be said for yoga.

Christina Aguilera finds inspiration in Yoga

noreply@blogger.com (Denis U.) — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 14:23:00 +0000

NEW YORK (AP) - Yoga is serving as inspiration for Christina Aguilera's upcoming album.

The pop star says that the physical and mental exercise is helping her find inner peace, and that's influencing her music-making process. "Taking a love for yoga and breathing ... not looking at it as an exercise, but just feeling more one with the Earth and everyone being connected, it'll definitely have a reflection on the new record," Aguilera said in a recent interview. She has "loosely been working on my record for a couple years now," even when she was pregnant with her daughter, who is 1.

And now, "it's like really down to business and I've made a lot of headway and progress on the record, and you will see sort of the difference between this record and others in the past."
Aguilera, 34, said she wants to release a new album next year. It would be the follow-up to 2012's "Lotus." I am hoping for it to be next year and maybe around the time ... I return for (live episodes of) 'The Voice' season 10," she said. This month she is pre-taping the beginning of season 10 of NBC's "The Voice," which will air next year. Season nine, with Gwen Stefani in Aguilera's chair, premiered last month. The Grammy winner said because two seasons of the show tape simultaneously, she has had to take breaks from the Emmy-winning series.

"I absolutely need those breaks," she said, laughing. "I will wholeheartedly, openly be honest about it and just say that. I think it's a little easier for Blake (Shelton) and Adam (Levine) - the show has definitely catapulted their careers to new heights and it's awesome - but they're not parents yet. ...I love being a mom and I think life is all about balance and to me it's really important to take time off from the show." "It also keeps things fresh," she continued. "They pump it out twice a year so for me personally, I feel like I'm better at my position on the show and being a coach to people if I'm not juggling two teams at once while one season is being pre-taped and the other's airing ... which is what ends up happening." Aguilera says she's been keeping her big voice intact in between albums and tours, and she's learned to care less about being a technical singer and has learned to develop a "signature style." "Maybe when I was younger and very green ... to the business and just wanting to emulate my idols, I would try probably harder to cross T's and dot I's and hit certain notes," she said. "But music is such an emotion to me and it's so felt from the heart, that at this point in my life it's really not about the image of a great singer, but the emotion of a great singer."

City Officials in Russia's Nizhnevartovsk Attempt to Ban Practicing Yoga

noreply@blogger.com (Denis U.) — Sat, 04 Jul 2015 14:13:00 +0000

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Nizhnevartovsk yoga studio

Yoga is inseparably part of the modern culture in many countries across the world. This is also true for the people of Nizhnevartovsk in central Russia,.Recent attempt by local official to prevent yoga studios and organizations from teaching has left people stunned. Ironically, Russia's prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev himself is known to be a yoga enthusiast.

Here is the full report as published by the Radio Free Europe today:

When rumors began swirling that authorities in the central Russian city of Nizhnevartovsk intended to ban yoga, practitioners of the ancient Indian discipline thought it was a prank.

It soon turned out Nizhnevartovsk officials were dead serious.

Several yoga studios received letters from city authorities asking them to stop holding classes in municipal buildings in an effort to "prevent the spread of new religious cults and movements."

Private studios started to receive the warnings, too.

"It really stunned me, to put it mildly," says Inga Pimenova, an instructor at Nizhnevartovsk's Ingara School.
The apparent ban took Nizhnevartovsk by surprise, especially since yoga is officially recognized as a sport in Russia and has its own national federation.

In December, Russia became one of the 177 co-sponsors of a resolution to the UN General Assembly to make June 21 International Yoga Day.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev himself is known to be an enthusiast.

Up until the letters, Nizhnevartovsk authorities had actually sponsored yoga classes in state-run premises.

"How can you prohibit people from being healthy? This is absurd," asks Yelena Kolchanova, another yoga teacher who runs the city's Ganesh House of Yoga. "They'd better ban eating sausages."

Nizhnevartovsk Yoga Ban

The leaked letter (click to enlarge)

The yoga controversy started in late June, when a leaked letter from Nizhnevartovsk's department for social and youth affairs referring to the "occult" character of yoga appeared on the Internet.

The letter instructed the city's culture, sports, and education department to "take measures to stop the practice of yoga in municipal institutions."

It described yoga as "inseparably connected to religious practices" and called on city officials to curb the spread of practices "of a destructive religious nature."
"Occult means invoking higher forces," says Pimenova. "We don't invoke any higher forces. Yoga is a science, a science of the body."
News of the Nizhnevartovsk yoga ban spread like wildfire across Russia and beyond, prompting critics to heap scorn on Nizhnevartovsk authorities.

Mayor Alla Badina swiftly recalled the letters and pledged to punish the officials guilty of sending out "incorrect information."

Irina Rybina, the acting head of Nizhnevartovsk's department for social and youth affairs and the author of the leaked letter, is also playing down the scandal.

"People may be seeing what they want to see in this information," she told RFE/RL. "The motives to send the letter were good; it was for prevention."

Local authorities have scheduled consultations on July 7 to determine whether yoga classes should be permitted in municipal buildings.

With the danger of a shutdown now behind them, yoga teachers joke that the incident may actually play in their favor.

"I thank our administration for promoting yoga," laughs Yelena Kolchanova. "People are now showing an interest in yoga, asking what it is and what the noise is all about."

Can we overcome our addictions and compulsions?

noreply@blogger.com (Denis U.) — Tue, 30 Jun 2015 21:25:00 +0000

Can we overcome our addictions and compulsions? The yogic tradition says we can. Through meditation and heightened awareness we can change our behaviors.

Neuroscientists are now taking a deeper look at meditation and noticing how the practice can actually create new neural pathways in the brain. Neuroscientists found that after just five 20 minute sessions of a meditation technique, people had increased blood flow to an area of the brain vital to self-control, the anterior cingulate cortex. After 11 hours of practice, they found actual physical changes in the brain around this area, which can help with the impulsivity that accompanies excessive drinking.

Researchers from Yale recently found that a 4-week meditation training program was more effective as a treatment for addiction for smoking than the American Lung Association’s ‘gold standard’ treatment. Over a period of 4 weeks, on average, people saw a 90% reduction in the number of cigarettes they smoked-from 18/day to 2/day and 35% of smokers quit completely! In a four-month follow-up over 30% maintained their abstinence. Although rigorous research on the use of meditation for addiction relief has only begun, the results show great promise for binge eating disorder, cigarette addiction and alcohol relapse prevention.

In this short video that could shed some more light, Sadhguru speaks about how to overcome addictions and compulsive behavior:

All You Need to Know About the Upcoming International Day of Yoga #IDY

noreply@blogger.com (Denis U.) — Thu, 18 Jun 2015 23:21:00 +0000

The story of how yoga originated is filled with intrigue and a like a lost artifact, it is an ancient one. There are many theories about the origins of yoga. You might have heard that yoga originates somewhere from India and more specifically, the Himalayan region. While yoga originates from that region, it is now a worldwide phenomenon.
It is estimated that over 300 million practice hatha yoga and over 2 billion people practice other paths of yoga. On June 21st, 2015 the world will celebrate yoga on the first ever International Day of Yoga. The United Nations has declared this day to recognize the importance of yoga.

Organizations from all over the world are working together to combine efforts so that the message of yoga can be made available to all. A message that is universal in its appeal: reduced stress, peace, happiness, improved relationships, mental clarity and vibrant health.

The world is made up of various cultures that could be celebrated and appreciated. Although we are enhanced with technology to learn more, we are instead in an age of global crisis where there are armed conflicts happening all over the world. So it is now critical that we have a culture of harmony and interconnectedness. If we have to establish this, then we need a global tradition, which transcends all boundaries.

Slowly, people around the world are awakening to this and are looking into systems that can bring a certain unity and harmony into their lives. A system that has been spreading organically over the past few decades is yoga. Yoga is a practice that transcends boundaries and helps the individual to connect with all of life.

So how did yoga originate and how did the tradition spread? Also, to whom does yoga belong? Is it limited to a geographical region or culture?

Sadhguru, a foremost authority and living yogi explains the yogic lore:

In the yogic culture, Shiva is not known as a god, but as the Adiyogi or the first yogi – the originator of yoga. He was the one who first put this seed into the human mind. According to the yogic lore, over fifteen thousand years ago, Shiva attained to his full enlightenment and abandoned himself in an intense ecstatic dance upon the Himalayas. When his ecstasy allowed him some movement, he danced wildly. When it became beyond movement, he became utterly still.

People saw that he was experiencing something that nobody had known before, something that they were unable to fathom. Interest developed and people came wanting to know what this was. They came, they waited and they left because the man was oblivious to other people’s presence. He was either in intense dance or absolute stillness, completely uncaring of what was happening around him. Soon, everyone left…

Except for seven men.

These seven people were insistent that they must learn what this man had in him, but Shiva ignored them.

So they started preparing. Day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, they prepared. Shiva just chose to ignore them. On a full moon day, after eighty-four years of sadhana (spiritual practice), when the solstice had shifted from the summer solstice to the winter solstice–the Adiyogi looked at these seven people and saw that they had become shining receptacles of knowing. They were absolutely ripe to receive. He could not ignore them anymore.

They grabbed his attention.

For the first time, the entire science of how a human being can evolve into his or her ultimate possibility was taught to these seven men, the celebrated Saptarishis or Seven Sages. Adiyogi put seven different aspects of yoga into these seven different people. This became the foundation for the seven basic forms of yoga. Even today, yoga has maintained these seven distinct forms.

Adiyogi expounded these mechanics of life to the Saptarishis for many years. When all of the seven disciples had fully attained, he told them, “Go out into the world and spread this.”

Legend has it that he sent one to Central Asia, one to South America, another to North Africa and the Middle East, another to South East Asia, another came down to the lower parts of the Himalayas, which is now considered as the Indian Himalayas, one stayed with him, and the last one came to the southern part of India.

Therefore, the history and origin of yoga is an international one. Yoga originates in a global tradition. For thousands of years, from teacher to student, the teachings have been spreading across lands and cultures. The origin of yoga is not limited to a geographical region or culture. Perhaps that is why it is now so well received by an international body such as the United Nations and all the world leaders who supported the resolution. They recognize that people all over the world are enjoying the benefits of yoga. What is happening with the International Day of Yoga is a significant step for many more to enjoy the benefits and indeed, is a historic event.

Sadhguru shares why this is important for the whole world and emphasizes the need for everyone to invest considerable time and effort to explore their inner wellbeing. He explains:

Today, with the tools of science and technology we have brought ourselves to a self-threatening situation that everybody in the society needs to invest in their inner wellbeing and live with a sense of peace and joy in their hearts. Modern technology has tremendous capability for both: creating wellbeing or total destruction. Without deepening the inner experience and becoming all-inclusive individuals, it will surely bring destruction – not just to humanity, but the planet itself.

Isha Foundation is one of the organizations that have partnered with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Indian Ministry of External Affairs to strategize and plan the celebration of the first International Day of Yoga in all the Indian Embassies and cultural centers worldwide.The Isha Foundation will support all the Indian Embassies worldwide to offer free yoga workshops, demonstrations and classes on the day of, and the weeks leading to June 21st, 2015.To support this worldwide effort, the Isha Foundation will have thousands of trained teachers to offer free yoga so that everyone can make use of these technologies for wellbeing.

To learn more, please visit: http://sadhguru.org/dayofyoga/.

SOURCE: https://www.innerengineering.com/online/establishing-a-global-tradition-international-day-of-yoga

Inclusive Business; The Yogic Method

noreply@blogger.com (Denis U.) — Mon, 23 Mar 2015 03:37:00 +0000

Steve Jobs Success

One man, one vision and the world will never be the same. Of course Steve Jobs did not work all by him self, but he definitely was the spine of the Apple Inc. Apple's market worth is billions of dollars and Steve Jobs has become an icon for many business leaders, but most importantly does everyone know where did his genius come from?

Believe or not, the main figure in achieving his knowledge was a yogi. A yoga master named Paramhansa Yogananda who him self was a businessman. His book, the "Autobiography of a Yogi" was the only book Jobs ever uploaded to his iPod.

Apparently all whom came to say good by to him at his funeral received this book, this was Jobs's legacy.

Here are 15 key points or quotes that Jobs followed also known as "15 quotes on enlightened business practice" which helped him to reach the top:

Most of you have had the feeling that you could be great, and do great things; but because you have lacked intuitive power, that potential has, for the most part, remained dormant. To progress and avoid the misery of mistakes, you have to find what is the truth in everything. This is possible only if you develop your intuition. That is the practical truth of the matter. That is why I am asking you to cultivate and use your intuitive power in everything. In your relationships with others, in your business, in your married life, in every part of your life, intuition is essential.

By not developing the faculty of intuition, you make wrong decisions, pick up the wrong business associates, and get caught up in wrong personal relationships. …intuition will never make such a mistake. It will not look at the magnetic power of the eyes or at the attractive face or personality of a person, but will feel and perceive accurately in the heart what that person is really like.

Business life need not be a material life. Business ambition can be spirituality. Business is nothing but serving others materially in the best possible way. Those stores that start out with the idea of only making money are readily recognized as commercial money-making dens, but stores that concentrate on serving customers with the best articles at the minimum cost will succeed, and will also advance the moral development of the world.

You must not let your life run in the ordinary way; do something that nobody else has done, something that will dazzle the world. Show that God’s creative principle works in you.

Good judgement is a natural expression of wisdom; but it is directly dependent on harmony within, which is poise of mind. When the mind lacks harmony, it has no peace; and without peace it lacks both judgement and wisdom. Life is full of bumps and knocks. In the hours of trials, which demand your keenest judgement, if you preserve your mental equilibrium you will attain victory. This is equally true in any type of organization — any structure that has interacting parts, from nature as a whole to human relationships to corporate businesses and spiritual societies. Harmony is the soul of organization; disharmony is death.

The great man doesn’t think he is great. Those who say they are great are not. And those who are great are too busy being great to think about their greatness.

As certain training is needed for engaging in the art of war, so does our engagement in battling with active life. Untrained warriors are soon killed on the battlefield; so also persons untrained in the art of preserving their inner peace are quickly riddled by the bullets of worry and restlessness in active life.

Learn to be very active in this world, doing constructive work; but when you are through with your duties, turn off your nervous motor. Retire to the center of your being which is calmness… If you have a calm nervous system, you will have success in everything you undertake…

Good selfishness should be practiced by the businessman, who, by sincere, honest, wholesome, constructive actions and labours, enables himself to look after his own and his family’s needs and provides a useful service to others. Such a businessman is far superior to one who thinks and acts only for himself, with no regard for those he serves or those dependent on him for support.

Simple living does not mean poverty or poverty consciousness.

If material poverty is to be avoided, spiritual poverty is to be abhorred; for the latter is the underlying cause of all human suffering. A practical spiritual man is a happy man, and only a happy man is a successful man. One hundred percent material prosperity among the inhabitants of a city will not prevent murders and crime. Following the universal principals of mutual service, spontaneous cooperation, love for the spiritual life, and disciplining the human sense cravings is wholly necessary for the harmonious, happy, healthy, prosperous life of any community.

In order to lead a balanced life, adults must educate themselves to realize that business ambitions should be only for making ourselves and others happy. Without this ideal, over-strenuous business activity produces nervousness, lack of harmonious social qualities. Miserliness, greed, and disrespect for all good principles. By realizing the true purpose of business activity — service for the benefit of others as well as oneself — life can really be happy.

When one has made a great deal of money, and simultaneously helped his workers and associates to become more prosperous, and then uses his wealth for helping others to help themselves, that is spiritualistic ambition.

Wealthy parents who leave too much money for their children choke the evolutionary development of self-created, self earned success and happiness in their offspring.

There is no difficulty that cannot be solved, provided you believe you have more power than your troubles, and you use that power to shatter your impediments.

~ A Wisdom Pills Original Article

A modern engineering miracle

noreply@blogger.com (Denis U.) — Sun, 01 Feb 2015 21:55:00 +0000

Because of the world's growing population, it comes natural to reduce, reuse and recycle. For example the basic recycling process is very common in many US households - plastic bottles, aluminum cans, glass etc. But some ideas grow much wilder - for instance the Janicki's Omniprocessor which will soon provide drinking water to thousands of people in need!
What exactly is Janicki's Omniprocessor? Here is what Bill Gates says about it:

"I watched the piles of feces go up the conveyer belt and drop into a large bin. They made their way through the machine, getting boiled and treated. A few minutes later I took a long taste of the end result: a glass of delicious drinking water."

An insignificant thread

noreply@blogger.com (Denis U.) — Fri, 02 Jan 2015 04:24:00 +0000

Albert Einstein

"One cannot help but be in awe when one contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries to comprehend only a little of this mystery every day." -Albert Einstein

"Life is a great tapestry. The individual is only an insignificant thread in an immense and miraculous pattern" -Albert Einstein

SoI New Single: Madhyamavathi

noreply@blogger.com (Denis U.) — Tue, 02 Dec 2014 21:10:00 +0000

While words have their intellectual appeal, instrumental music can sometimes create an openness that language cannot. Among the many instrumental pieces Sounds of Isha has created to manifest different ambiences, Madhyamavathi is one of the more beautiful ones. The name reflects the raga on which the song is based.

We have also had the fortune of some part-time volunteers, who have contributed to our music. We could use this opportunity to say how Sounds of Isha is not just some small group of people in the ashram but consists of so many meditators all over India and the world, all contributing to the music and connected with the common bond of Sadhguru's Grace.

The flute melody for this piece was composed by one of our meditators. He wanted to offer it to sadhguru and as we worked with it to create a song, we had the fortune of roping in a few more contributors from amongst our volunteers. The result is what you hear.

We had no particular plan as to what ambience to manifest through this song. However, from our experience, we find that it can be soulful, meditative or relaxing–soothing and settling.

Let us know how you experience it!

To download the song, Pls visit : https://www.ishashoppe.com/downloads/...

What should a 20-year-old do in life?

noreply@blogger.com (Denis U.) — Sat, 04 Oct 2014 16:24:00 +0000

At the threshold of our adult life, there are many things we can choose to do. The only question is how to make the right choice? How do I know I'm choosing the right course of my life? What are the checkpoints to consider? There isn't easy universal answer to this; we are all unique and because of that it takes each one of us to look at it individually.

Growing up I never knew what I will do in life, I barely spent any time thinking about it. I'm sure many of you were like that, simply living joyfully day by day. When I was about 15 or 16 my father and I got in to an argument, he got really mad seeing no concern about my future in me ( I was supposed to look anxious about it or something) "What are you going to do in life?!" he shouted. I looked at the question sincerely, looked outside of our living room window for a moment and said to him something that only stirred more heat in him "I don't know, all I know is that I'm going to be happy in life" I said. Because such was my state at the moment - what else to seek? bliss is here!

This changed later in life as I got sucked in the ways of the society.. it wasn't anything short of a step backwards in the evolution - don't underestimate the power of the herd ;)
It took a lot of work to bring my self back to a point where simply just by siting I feel fulfilled, by simply walking I can experience deep sense of joy, looking at the sky can be such a profound experience, no need to pursue anything, once again "it's all here"
For many of us dropping the idea of erecting a goal somewhere in the future doesn't come easy. Majority usually end up running towards it believing that one day... one day I reach it and I'll be happy. This will NOT happen, nor did it ever truly happen for anyone in the passed.

This 7 minutes short discourse by a humanitarian, yogi and mystic Sadhguru could make a world of a difference when it comes to deciding your future.

Blacksmith's Scrap Pile

noreply@blogger.com (Denis U.) — Sun, 31 Aug 2014 15:06:00 +0000

Do you sometimes wonder why to hell all the ups and downs in my life? Why is it that things cannot remain constant? It seem like there is a great benefit to going through a hard times in life.

"There is a beautiful story in the yogic lore. Once there was a blacksmith in a village, a very poor man. It looked like he acted like a magnet to all the problems in the world. They were visiting him too often. But he was a devout, very prayerful person. Once, a friend of his who did not believe in all this came and said, “What nonsense, you going on praying to your god. Look at your life! All the time you are in trouble.”

So the blacksmith said, “See, I know only this profession. Everything I have learned, I have learned by being a blacksmith. If I want to make a useful tool, I take a piece of steel, heat it, beat it, cool it, heat it, beat it… If a piece of steel cannot take the heating and beating and cooling, then I throw it on the scrap heap. Otherwise it becomes a useful tool. So my prayer is only this: “Dear god, heat me, beat me, cool me, do whatever– but don’t ever throw me on the scrap heap.”

The scrap heap is a comfortable place. Nobody beats you, nobody heats you, nobody does anything to you, but you are on the scrap heap. You should not be afraid of pain, you should not be afraid of hardship, you should not be afraid of death. “Don’t put me on the scrap heap.” That should be the only fear for a person on the spiritual path." ~Sadhguru

Knowing of the 'Knowing' - A Spoken Word Story by Sadhguru

noreply@blogger.com (Denis U.) — Fri, 08 Aug 2014 03:09:00 +0000

Holi: Festival of Colors in Awesome HD Video

noreply@blogger.com (Denis U.) — Fri, 08 Aug 2014 03:03:00 +0000

Holi is an annual Spring festival celebrated across India on the day after the full moon in early March. On this day, or sometimes several days, people come together across social boundaries, putting aside their differences and expressing their joy by holding public bonfires and throwing brightly-colored powders, liquid colors, and perfumes onto friends and family. The event commemorates several events in Indian lore, as well as the arrival of spring and it’s bright colors.

Sadhguru relates a story about the celebration of Holi:

"Any kind of celebration in this world is essentially feminine. There is a very beautiful story in the Mahabhar-ata that describes this.

When Krishna was eight years old, he moved from Gokul to Vrindavan and became immensely popular among the village folk.

It was at the time of Holi, just after spring, when everything is in full bloom. On a certain full moon evening, the village boys and girls gathered on the banks of river Yamuna.

They started playing and having fun, throwing water and sand at each other. After some time, the play broke into a dance. They danced and danced because they were in such an exuberant and joyful state.

But slowly, the clumsier ones dropped off. When Krishna saw this, he took out his flute and started to play. His music was so enchanting that everyone gathered around him and again swayed, for almost half the night.

This is the first incident of Raas Leela, where a simple, joyful mingling of people rose to a transcendental state.

The word “rasa” means “juice”, but it can also indicate passion. This was the dance of passion. The fragrance of this dance spread and people came to know that on full moon nights, this dance happened, and more people came to participate.

It also fell on Shiva’s ears that a fantastic dance happened on the banks of Yamuna. He became aware that people just danced their way to what he had achieved through meditation.

Shiva, being also called the Nataraja (the lord of dance), was very amused that this little boy (Krishna), his devotee, was taking people to transcendental states simply by dancing and blowing upon his flute.

He wanted to witness this. So he walked from the Himalayas to the Yamuna and said to a boatman there, “Take me across to Vrindavan.

I want to see Krishna’s Raas.” The boatman replied, “You cannot go like this. When you go to the Raas, Krishna is the only man, everybody else is a woman. If you want to go, you have to go as a woman.”

Shiva is considered the ultimate of the masculine — the purusha among purushas. So it was a strange request that Shiva had to become a woman. But the Raas was in full swing and Shiva wanted to go there.

Shiva looked around. Nobody was looking, so he wore the clothes of a Gopi and went across. He is such a sport.

So there is something very feminine about celebration. Feminine means exuberance and that is how you should be every moment of your life — exuberantly alive. We did not come here to avoid life, rather to know and experience life. And you cannot experience life un-less you keep yourself as intense and exuberant as possible.

Holi is an opportunity for the whole community to come together and celebrate the coming of spring with great joy and enthusiasm.

But celebration should not be limited to a particular occasion. Your whole life, your very existence should become a celebration."

Video Credit: Holi from Variable on Vimeo.

Kedarnath: A Tremendous Space

noreply@blogger.com (Denis U.) — Thu, 03 Jul 2014 15:26:00 +0000

Sadhguru: Kedarnath is a tremendous space. The utterance of the sound “Shiva” attains a completely new dimension and significance in Kedar. It is a space which has been specially prepared for this particular sound. When we utter the word “Shiva,” it is the freedom of the uncreated, the liberation of one who is not created. It is not right to say this, but it is almost like on this planet, the sound “Shiva” emanates from this place. For thousands of years, people have experienced that space as a reverberation of that sound.

When we say “Shiva,” it is not about creating one more idol or god that we can ask for more prosperity or better things in life. The word “Shiva”means “that which is not.” Today, modern science is proving to us that everything comes from nothing and goes back to nothing. The basis of existence and the fundamental quality of the cosmos is vast nothingness. The galaxies are just a small happening – a sprinkling. The rest is all vast empty space, which is referred to as Shiva.
A heady mixture of energies

Kedarnath is a very heady mixture of energies. This is a place that has witnessed thousands of yogis and mystics of every kind. When I say every kind, you cannot imagine those kinds. These are people who made no attempt to teach anything to anyone. Their way of making an offering to the world was by leaving their energies, their path, their work – everything – in a certain way in these spaces.

Adishankaracharya was last seen at Kedarnath, before he set off into the mountains. This wall with a hand and staff marks the spot.

When you think of someone on the spiritual path, you would probably think of them within a certain kind of framework in terms of a certain kind of behavior, dress or speech. But this is not a land of just that kind of spiritual person. The kind that fits into your ways of understanding has been here. But there have been many more who are utterly wild, whom you can never recognize as spiritual. But these are people who have touched the very peaks of existence. When we say “a yogi,” we do not mean someone of a certain behavior or morality. A yogi is perfectly in tune with life. So tuned in that he can dismantle life and put it back together again. The fundamental life that is you, if you can dismantle that completely and put it back, only then you are a yogi. There have been many such incredible human beings.

For a person who is seeking some kind of spiritual uplift, Kedar is a boon whose proportions you cannot imagine. That’s how it is, if one is open to this. It is very difficult to explain what it means. After all, it’s just a mountain, an outcrop of rock. But what makes an enormous difference is what has done to the space by the type of people who lived here for thousands of years. This is the place where so many yogis shed their bodies. It is something you must experience. After being born in India, before you are too old and no good for anything, you must make it once to the Himalayas.
The Hump of the Bull

There is a legend that after the Kurukshetra war, the Pandavas were very affected because they had killed their own kinsmen – their own brothers and relatives. This was called Gothravadha. They felt guilty and soiled by this act and were looking for a way to absolve themselves of it. So they went looking for Shiva.

Shiva did not want to give them the pleasure of suddenly becoming free from this horrible act, so he converted himself into the form of a bull and tried to escape. But they espied him and followed him to try and catch him. Shiva went into the ground and when he came up, different parts of the body came up in different places. The forehead is Pashupathinath in Nepal, considered as the most significant. The hump of the bull is Kedarnath, the two forelegs are Tunganath, which is on the way to Kedar. The navel appeared in a place in the Indian part of the Himalaya called Madhya-Maheshwar which is a very powerful Manipuraka linga, and the matted locks of Shiva appeared in what is called Kalpnath. Like this, different parts of the body appeared in different places.

The sacred Nandi at Kedarnath temple

This description of body parts has something to do with the seven chakras. These temples were established as a human body. It was a great experiment – trying to create a huge body with a tantric possibility. One such body happened in the direction of the Indian Himalayas. Another such body flowed towards the western direction where they tried to convert Nepal itself into a body.
Kantisarovar – Lake of Grace

The legend goes that Shiva and Parvati lived on the banks of Kantisarovar, and in Kedar, there lived many yogis whom they would visit. Kantisarovar is the lake that burst out and came to Kedar during the 2013 floods. Today, it is being called Gandhi Sarovar. It is actually Kantisarovar. Kanti means grace, sarovar means a lake. It is a lake of grace. In the yogic culture,Shiva is not seen as a God. He was a being who walked this land and is the very source of the yogic traditions. He is the Adiyogi or the first yogi, and also the Adi Guru, the first Guru. This first transmission of yogic sciences happened on the banks of Kantisarovar, where Adiyogi began a systematic exposition of this inner technology to his first seven disciples, celebrated today as the Sapta Rishis.

Many years ago, I used to travel alone for a month or two every year in the Himalayas. At that time I just went by myself, by local bus. Generally I sat on top of the bus and went because I didn’t want to miss the mountains. These were crazy buses! They started at 4 or 4:30 in the morning from Haridwar and went straight to either Gaurikund or Badrinath. They didn’t stop anywhere except to pick up and drop people – not even for food. They used to be called Bhook Hartal buses, which means “hunger strike” buses. The driver would have his rolled up chapatti which he eats as he is driving while you sit there wondering about lunch!

When I got to Kedar after a long trek from Gaurikund, I heard about Kantisarovar, so one afternoon, I set forth around 2 or 2:30 p.m. and got there in little more than an hour’s time. There was the lake and snow-capped mountains around it. In terms of nature, it is fantastic – this huge lake of absolutely still water, no vegetation and all the snow-covered peaks reflecting in the totally still water. It was an incredible place.

Sadhguru at Kantisarovar, where the first transmission of yogic sciences took place.

I just sat there, and the serenity, silence and purity penetrated my consciousness. The climb, the altitude and the desolate beauty of that place left me breathless. I sat in that stillness on a small rock with my eyes open, imbibing every form around me. The surroundings gradually lost their form and only nada – sound – existed. The mountain, the lake and the whole surroundings, including my body, did not exist in their usual form. Everything was just sound. Within me a song arose: “Nada Brahma Vishwaswaroopa.”

Nada Brahma Vishwaswaroopa
Nada Hi Sakala Jeevaroopa
Nada Hi Karma Nada Hi Dharma
Nada Hi Bandhana Nada Hi Mukti
Nada Hi Shankara Nada Hi Shakti
Nadam Nadam Sarvam Nadam
Nadam Nadam Nadam Nadam

I am somebody who always avoided learning the Sanskrit language. Though I like the language very much and I know the depth of the language, I avoided learning it because the moment you learn Sanskrit, you will invariably end up reading the scriptures. My own vision has never failed me in anything even for one moment, so I did not want to clutter myself with scriptures and all these traditions. So I avoided Sanskrit.

While I was sitting there, my mouth was definitely closed and my eyes open, and I heard this song in a big way, in my voice. It was my voice singing, and it was a Sanskrit song. I heard it clearly, loudly. So loud, it was like the whole mountain was singing. In my experience, everything had turned into sound. That is when I perceived this song. I didn’t make it up, I didn’t write it – it just descended upon me. The whole song flowed out in Sanskrit. The experience was overpowering.

Slowly, after some time, everything fell back into its earlier form. The fall of my consciousness – the fall from nada to rupa – filled my eyes with tears.

Nada Brahma simply means experiencing the world as a sound, not as a form. Modern science also says that every sound has a form attached to it, and every form has a sound attached to it. This is a scientific reality. And today we also know that there is no such thing as matter anymore as far as science is concerned. Where there is a vibration, there is bound to be a sound. So in yoga, we say the whole of existence is sound.

If you just give yourself to that song, there is a kind of power to it. It has a power to dissolve a person, if you really throw yourself into it.

Solar Roadways; The Future is Here

noreply@blogger.com (Denis U.) — Sun, 08 Jun 2014 03:07:00 +0000

This video is currently going viral and has been seen by over 8 million people. A crowd funding campaign is currently underway for “Solar Roadways” which would essentially turn all roads into ways solar panels, which would end our reliance on oil. I, for one, support this project. Wouldn't you? Watch the video below and if you want to participate in the campaign, then click here. Please SHARE with others!! It would be amazing to see something like this in our lifetime!

OUTSOURCED FROM: WHYDONTYOUTRYTHIS.COM

Inclusiveness: The Very Basis of Spirituality

noreply@blogger.com (Denis U.) — Fri, 02 May 2014 13:43:00 +0000

Inclusiveness

SADHGURU: Spirituality is inclusiveness. The very basis of spirituality is inclusiveness, because exclusiveness comes because of physicality, because physicality means boundaries, boundaries means exclusiveness. Boundaries means you are on one side, I’m on the other side. Spirituality means going beyond the physical, going beyond the physical naturally means going beyond boundaries, going beyond boundaries is inclusiveness, isn’t it? Right now people are struggling to think inclusively.
That struggle is not needed if your experience of life becomes absolutely inclusive. That is the spiritual process. Is spirituality the only way forward or can non-spiritual people also have a dire of inclusive growth? There is no one who is non-spiritual. Either you can be consciously spiritual or non-consciously spiritual. Can you just be physical? There are other dimensions of who you are. Physical is what you have gathered over a period of time, is that so? Whatever you gathered can be yours but it cannot be you, isn’t it?

Right now you sit on this stone and say this is my stone. After some time, if you sit long enough, you say, “this is me”. That is madness, isn’t it? That is what is happening with your body and your mind. Whatever you collect, whatever you accumulate can be yours but it can never be you. If you get out of that foolishness, if you get out of that illusion, then you are spiritual. Whatever you are not conscious of does not exist for you, that is a problem with life, isn’t it? Right now behind you a huge elephant is standing. Don’t turn back and see! Such a big animal; you are not conscious of it so it does not exist for you, isn’t it? Life is like this, only what you are aware of exists for you, what you are not aware of does not exist for you. Spiritual process means that whatever this is [the whole you] you are aware of; that you do not want to leave this piece of life unexplored, that you want to know it through and through. That is the spiritual process.

Watch the original video:

http://www.allreadable.com/vid/sadhguru-spirituality-is-boundary-less-%3B-inclusiveness-is-the-very-basis-of-spirituality-118363.html

Why CARE for Teachers Matters

noreply@blogger.com (Denis U.) — Fri, 18 Apr 2014 15:02:00 +0000

A Unique Approach to Professional Development

Most teacher professional development focuses on curriculum delivery. CARE for Teachers is different because it promotes core skills and dispositions teachers need to create and maintain supportive learning environments while retaining their well-being and love of teaching.

Teaching is one of the most rewarding professions, but it can also be one of the most stressful. CARE is a unique program designed to help teachers reduce stress and enliven their teaching by promoting awareness, presence, compassion, reflection, and inspiration – the inner resources they need to help students flourish, socially, emotionally, and academically.

Cutting-edge neuroscience confirms that practicing mindfulness facilitates awareness and self-regulation and develops the capacity for a calm, focused mind — a mind with the openness, responsiveness and sensitivity for optimal teaching, guiding, and learning. For teachers, these resources can provide the inner strength to be powerfully present and emotionally responsive. As a result, teachers become effective guides, and influential models of healthy social and emotional behavior.

"Education is not about molding children the way you think they should be. Education is about organizing the natural longing in a human being to know."

~Sadhguru

Video: Donna Karan and Sadhguru On Education

Angamardhana - An Ancient Fitness System

noreply@blogger.com (Denis U.) — Fri, 04 Apr 2014 22:07:00 +0000

Angamardhana is an ancient yogic process for absolute fitness. Angamardhana is unique when compared to other exercise regimes since it requires no equipment -- just a 6x6 foot space. It uses the momentum of the body to exercise every major muscle, and energizes the system in just 30 minutes. Taught exclusively as part of Isha Hata Yoga programs, Angamardhana is the ultimate workout.

Isha Hata Yoga School delivers classical Hata Yoga in its full depth and dimension. It is Sadhguru's vision to revive this ancient science in all its purity and make it available to every individual. The school conducts teacher training programs as well as Hata Yoga classes, which offer many unique processes not found in any yoga schools today.

For More Information visit:
http://www.ishahatayoga.com

This Dad's Letter to His Son About the Only Good Reason to Get MarriedWill Blow Your Mind

noreply@blogger.com (Denis U.) — Fri, 04 Apr 2014 03:06:00 +0000

Dear Son,

It seems like yesterday you were blowing poop out of your diaper onto your mother's lap. Yet here we are, on the verge of the birds-and-the-bees conversation. The poop was way easier.Before we talk about sex, though, I want to talk about marriage. Not because I'll shun you or shame you if you don't put them in that order -- although I hope you will -- but because I believe the only good reason to get married will bring clarity to every other aspect of your life, including sex.

Buddy, you're probably going to want to get married for all the wrong reasons. We all do. In fact, the most common reason to get married also happens to be the most dangerous: we get married because we think it will make us happy. Getting married in order to be happy is the surest way to get divorced.There are beautiful marriages. But marriages don't become beautiful by seeking happiness; they become beautiful by seeking something else. Marriages become beautiful when two people embrace the only good reason to get married: to practice the daily sacrifice of their egos.

Ego. You may be hearing that word for the first time. It probably sounds foreign and confusing to you. This is what it means to me:Your ego is the part of you that protects your heart. You were born with a good and beautiful heart, and it will never leave you. But when I was too harsh toward you, or your friends began to make fun of your extracurricular choices, you started to doubt if your heart was good enough. Don't worry, it happens to all of us at some point.

And so your mind began to build a wall around your heart. That happens to all of us, too. It's like a big castle wall with a huge moat -- it keeps us safe from invaders who might want to get in and attack our hearts. And thank goodness for your ego-wall! Your heart is worthy of protection, buddy.At first, we only use the ego-wall to keep people out. But eventually, as we grow up, we get tired of hiding fearfully and we decide the best defense is a good offense. We put cannons on our ego-wall and we start firing. For some people, that looks like anger. For other people, it looks like gossip and judgment and divisiveness. One of my favorite ego-cannons is to pretend everyone on the outside of my wall is wrong. It makes me feel right and righteous, but really it just keeps me safe inside of my ideas. I know I've fired my ego-cannons at you from time to time, and for that I'm truly sorry.

Sometimes we need our cannons to survive. Most of the time we don't.
Both men and women have ego-walls with cannons. But you're going to be a man soon, so it's important to tell you what men tend do with their ego-walls -- we justify them by pretending they are essential to being a "real" man. Really, most of us are just afraid our hearts won't be good enough for the people we love, so we choose to stay safe and protected behind high walls with lots of cannons. Can you see how that might be a problem for marriage?If you fall into the trap of thinking your ego-wall is essential to being a man, it will destroy any chance of having an enduringly joyful marriage. Because, in the end, the entire purpose of marriage is to dismantle your ego-wall, brick by brick, until you are fully available to the person you love. Open. Vulnerable. Dangerously united.

Buddy, people have sex because for a moment at the climax of it, their mind is without walls, the ego goes away and they feel free and fully connected. With sex, the feeling lasts for only a moment. But if you commit yourself to marriage, you commit yourself to the long, painful, joyous work of dismantling your ego-walls for good. Then, the moment can last a lifetime. Many people are going tell you the key to a happy marriage is to put God at the center of it, but I think it depends upon what your experience of God does for your ego. Because if your God is one of strength and power and domination, a God who proves you're always right and creates dividing lines by which you judge everyone else, a God who keeps you safe and secure, I think you should keep that God as far from the center of your marriage as you can. He'll only build your ego-wall taller and stronger.

But if the God you experience is a vulnerable one, the kind of God that turns the world upside down and dwells in the midst of brokenness and embraces everyone on the margins and will sacrifice anything for peace and reconciliation and wants to trade safety and security for a dangerous and risky love, then I agree, put him right at the center of your marriage. If your God is in the ego-dismantling business, he will transform your marriage into sacred ground. What's the secret to a happy marriage? Marry someone who has also embraced the only good reason to get married.Someone who will commit to dying alongside you -- not in 50 years, but daily, as they dismantle the walls of their ego with you. Someone who will be more faithful to you than they are to their own safety. Someone willing to embrace the beauty of sacrifice, the surrender of their strength and the peril of vulnerability.

In other words, someone who wants to spend their one life stepping into a crazy, dangerous love with you and only you.

With my walls down,
Dad

This post originally appeared on DrKellyFlanagan.com