Tag Archives: Art of Living

First Step – Stress Less

07 Thursday Mar 2013

Posted by in Art Of Living

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , ,

I have been hitting on this topic for the last few weeks since I believe this the ultimate need for the hour for everyone. Why is the first step is to stress less? To completely eradicate stress in one’s life is a huge challenge- but not impossible. So the first baby step towards that would be to stress less :). Simple as that. Here are some ways on how to do that.

Ways to Stress Less

Ways to Stress Less. Picture courtesy – thepreppychicblog.com

I especially like the last two points in there. Can you look for opportunities in Life’s challenges and can you smile at the challenges? It is not easy if you have a confused and sad mind behind. This is where meditation helps. It calms you down. Helps you think clearly. A unmatched clarity dawns in you. For some, they get their answer to all their problems in meditation. That is why we have to meditate regularly.

The Stress Free Violence Free community campaign by the Art of Living provides just this. A platform for all of us to come together to build a society where there is less stress by meditating and spreading goodness around. That is why we need it more at this time. No matter where you reside, just sign up for the campaign and start spreading goodness around and you will see nature return it back to you :)). If you are in the Bay area, come and attend the launch event by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and listen to prominent members fo our society say about stress and violence.

Register @ our Website : stressfreeviolencefree.org

Also help us spread the word around! Tweet with the handle #peacestarts of what act of kindness you did today or how you spread goodness around. Come and watch the videos on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Stressfreeviolencefree.

Remember one small step for man, huge leap for mankind!

Please like and share Facebook page : https://www.facebook.com/Stressfreeviolencefree
Twitter handle : #peacestarts

Michael Fischman on Joys of Meditation

06 Wednesday Mar 2013

Posted by in Art Of Living

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , ,

Michael Fischman

Michael Fischman began his life as the son of an Orthodox Jewish Holocaust survivor in New York, and developed a successful career as a Madison Avenue advertising executive. Later through an unlikely turn of events, ended up as meditation student and teacher. He is also the author of a multi-award-winning memoir, “Stumbling Into Infinity: An Ordinary Man in the Sphere of Enlightenment”.

Here is an excerpt from his interview about the joys of meditation and why we need to meditate. Michael has been with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and Art of Living Foundation since 1988 and has been teaching meditation and other courses since then. 

Tell us about your personal meditation journey?

I started to meditate when I was 26 years old. It was a rough patch in my life, and many of the social activities I was involved with at that time I have completely abandoned. I was living a very different lifestyle. A friend told me about meditation and it seemed to make sense. I gravitated to it very quickly. In 1988, after practicing for about a dozen years, I came to Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and the Art of Living. It was a quantum leap forward in my practice. As opposed to spending a lot of time with a chattering mind in the first half of my meditation, the meditations were profoundly different. I would start my meditation in silence, and that was extremely valuable.

You are a long-time teacher of meditation. Tells us about meditation in the Art of Living?

Meditation is a key part of the Art of Living, and Sri Sri’s approach to meditation in the Art of Living is very unique. He takes a three-pronged approach. The first step is to help an individual quiet down their mind and their emotions with Sudarshan Kriya. This is the meditative rhythmic breathing practice that is taught on the Art of Living Part 1 course.

The second step is giving people instruction in the art of meditation through a course called Sahaj Samadhi Meditation. An individual is given a sound or mantra and taught how to use it,  this gives them a deep experience on the basis of regular meditation. It cultures their system to maintain an inner peace and bliss that continues to grow inside.

The third approach is to give people a deep experience of silent awareness in a retreat program called the Art of Silence course. It allows people to spend four or five days in a retreat setting, away from responsibilities. The effect is like polishing the system, expanding awareness, and going very deeply into the experience of meditation and the experience of silence.

How has your life changed since you learned meditation?

It is hard to say why my life has changed, whether it is due to meditation, to Sudarshan Kriya, the deep silence program, or due to interacting with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar as a guru and teacher. Or maybe all of it.

I can say that the deep experience of peace and serenity that I get to experience twice a day definitely sets the tone & mood of my mind for the entire day. And that effect has grown through the years. Sudarshan Kriya helped me feel the effect of meditation more during the day.

Do you think it is important to have teacher to learn meditation?

Yes, very much so. I don’t think you can learn it from book or from a seminar. People are blind to their own blind spots. You definitely need a teacher or a guru. The path of getting to the Self is a very interesting journey, and meditation is a key aspect of it. But unless you have the guidance & supervision of a Master, it would be difficult.

Art of Living enters Jamaican Prisons!

19 Wednesday Dec 2012

Posted by in Art Of Living

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

Dushyant Savadia, an international Art of Living teacher, recently took the Art of Living courses to the Jamaican prisons! He met the Director of Correction facilities in Jamaica and within 15 minutes they agreed to have the courses in two of the main prisons in Jamaica. The inmates loved Dushyantji and the course. Below are some of the pictures from the course and their experiences. It is heart warming to see how the lives of these people are touched by something as simple yet profound as their own breath!

Dushyant Savadia teaching the Art of Living course to Prison inmates in Jamaica
Art of Living course in Jamaican prison
Yoga, Pranayama from the Art of Living course in Jamaican prison
Dushyant Savadia with prison inmate

Sharing from the inmates

“This course had been a great help to me as to say. I thought it was all but a joke at first until I made myself a part of it and the truth is I learnt a lot and I am grateful for the experience”. – Tommy  

“Very good to me. In 12 years this is the best thing in my life. I would like this to continue for next seven months until I leave this institution. It has made me a better man going out to the society back. It will be good for my kids and wife also. I was going to a doctor and was supposed to get an ultrasound. Since this program everything is gone. I sleep better and eat better”. – Leon 

 “I found this class so amazing it help me a lot to control my temper. It helps me breathe properly cause I have asthma and it is fun also with the teachers as they teach a lot things to us so it is helpful and amazing to me”. – Swight 

 “I feel as though I am alive for the first time in my life”. – Paul 

 “Makes me feel like a changed person, makes me feel like doing this everyday. It cuts my temper down. Best thing ever happened to me. It frees my lungs and joints in my body. Makes me happy when we do it, like in school again. I love it” – Jessie 

 “This 6 days course was special to me personally it’s a life time experience for me, it changes my breathing systems and also my mind functions and it makes me think and act positive and also reduces my bad temperament. Thanks a lot to both of you and your team”. – John 

“Well, I am not going to tell any lie, I love it and I don’t mind doing it again”. – Daniel 

“This program has done so much for me I must say as it taught me to be stress free. I am confident in my anger management, I hope to see them again”. – Ricardo 

Quote

Q: What happens…

28 Wednesday Nov 2012

Posted by in General

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , ,

Q: What happens in death?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You will just see the body out there.
Once you come out of the body, you will see your whole life flashing like a movie in a few minutes, and you will only know how much love you gave and how much knowledge you received.

These will be the only two questions that will stand.
1. How much love you gave! Not how much love you received, and
2. How much knowledge you gained.

This question will come and you will say, ‘I will do better in the next’, and that is it. Then there is peace. It is like, sometimes at night before sleeping you review what all work you have to do the next day. You say, ‘This all has to be done tomorrow. Okay, I will do it’, and then you go to bed, isn’t it!

Same thing happens after death. Then that intention of what you will do next life will bring the next body and the next birth to us. Then we choose our parents, the place, and everything else and then we come to this world.

So nothing to be worried about death!

A question was asked to Sri Sri Ravi Shankar about what happens after death and he replies on what are the two questions we are asked. Beautiful answer!

Breath vs Grand Canyon!

26 Monday Nov 2012

Posted by in General

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

, , ,

This thanksgiving weekend, I was on a road trip with other friends to the Grand Canyon, Arizona. This is my first time to the Canyons and it was an amazing sight to see the splendor of nature. The vast land sculptured by the flow of the almost extinct majestic rivers of the lore! The perfect ridges along the edges on the giant piece of land were like the scars of an age old warrior who lived to tell his survival story against the mighty waters. We watched a beautiful sunset along the south rim of the canyons. The colors of the rock was just amazing. The shadows of the giant rocks falling on each other as though . Pure bliss! Here is a picture of international Art of Living teacher, Dushyant Savadia, standing at int eh grand canyon at the time of sunset. It was taken by my iPhone5 in the panoramic mode.

Dushyant Savadia in the Grand Canyons’s south rim at the time of sunset!

Let me just stop there because this post is not to describe the beauty of the canyons :(. I noticed something when I was there seeing my friends walk to the edge of the cliffs in the south rim. I had a fear of heights! This was stopping me from getting to edge of cliffs whereas few of my friends were sitting at the edge with their legs handing down to more than thousand feet drop! I just couldn’t imagine getting there, leave alone sitting and looking down.

Have you witnessed this before – one person walking confidently towards the edge of a cliff or the edge of a tall building whereas some people just stand back at a safe point and shouting instructions and warnings to them? Well, I was one of those shouting instructions, at least to start with. My mind would start imagining different ways I could slip and fall down the cliff. Here are some of the funny ones – strong wind would just hit me alone and I would fall face down; My right shoe would slip on me and I would be falling from the edge like in the movies, etc.

If you watch someone with a fear of heights walking along the edge, you can see them suffering from one of these – freezing sensation of being stuck –

  • STUCK – cant move back or forward,
  • Heart beats getting harder and louder
  • A sudden feeling that you are going to fall down right now
  • Mind not ready to assimilate any instructions – You will look down when you are told to not look down!

I saw these either in me or in another friend of mine. These were stopping me to get to the edge. This is when my breathing techniques and teaching came in handy. I had to calm my mind to take in any instructions. Otherwise it is caught up in the whirlwind caused by fear. I consciously closed my eyes and started to slow down my breathing to calm myself down. I started to do until my mind started to listen to my intellect to calm itself. Once the breathing came back to normal, I started to notice the sensations in my heart region. This the region where emotions like love, fear, hate arise. I calmed my heart beat with deep breath in and out. This stopped the shivering inside me. Then I told myself that I would go to the edge – one step at a time. I imagined myself at the edge and how I would enjoy it. Then I opened my eyes and started walking towards it. Went as far I can and joined my friends there. It was a wonderful experience to be there.

Our breath has got so much power over our body and mind. If only we know how to harness it, it can help us in any situations we face. If you have the fear of heights, try using your breath to calm you down and then start telling your mind that you can do it and take it step by step.

Just for your eyes only – I still had the jitters when I recollected the height of the grand canyon and me walking towards it while writing this post!

Breath and Emotions – The Unknown Duet

17 Saturday Nov 2012

Posted by in Art Of Living, General

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , ,

I had written a post about how the outer environment affects our inner world in the previous post and promised to speak more about how our breath can help us. Well, here is how it can help us! You can read the previous post here.

Recently, I was involved in a altercation with someone and it turned into a heated argument. We both were going head on head with each other about our opinions and what had happened until I noticed something. I was feeling so hot! My head, face, palms and chest were so hot and it was suffocating! The moment I noticed it, I started to let go of the argument and started taking my awareness inside me to observe all these sensations in the body. This helped me cool down a bit.

Have you been in a situation like this before? What has helped you to come out of it? What helped me to control my emotion at that time was my BREATH.

Every emotion in the body – anger, sadness, joy, etc. has a corresponding rhythm in the body. If we notice our breath when we are angry it is shallow, fast and hot. Yes, our breath can be of various temperature! When we are sad, we sigh – which is long, deep and our exhalation is longer than our inhalation. When in joy or happy – it is long, deep and inhalation is longer than exhalation. Like smelling something really nice or delicious! These emotions trigger these different patterns of breathing in our body. This is done automatically by the body with out any intervention from us.Now here is the best part – We can use the breath to control the emotions too! When I heard this for the first time, I was like – “REALLY? I am not sure about that!”. But this was until I experienced it myself. Breathing in a particular pattern can induce a corresponding emotion. So instead of being overwhelmed by our emotions, we can transform those using specific breathing techniques. You can listen to Sri Sri Ravi Shankar explaining in the video.

This is the not the first time we have heard this. We have been doing this for a long time. Have you heard people asking you to take deep breath in and out when you were excited or angry? This is to come out of anger by using your own breath. When you take long deep breaths, the breath induces a sense of calmness or happiness which acts against your anger and helps you snap out it! This the secret behind the technique.

Now we need the skill to know which breath to use when and how. This is where the Art of Living course has helped me. These techniques are taught in such a superb way in this course that anyone can learn and practice it. You learn something called the Sudarshan Kriya in the course which helps you de – stress and release the built up emotions that are hidden deep in your body. You also learn pranayamas – techniques to control your breath, in the course. They teach you the link between the body, breath, mind and emotions that will help you manage your emotions next time. You do a lot of yoga and meditation in the 20 hour course spanning across 4 days which helps you to release the tensions in the body and mind. This is what Sri Sri Ravi Shankar says about Sudarshan Kriya –

The Sudarshan Kriya incorporates specific natural rhythms of breath which harmonize the rhythms of the body and emotions and bring them in tune with the rhythms of nature. The breath connects the body and mind. Just as emotions affect our patterns of breathing, we can bring about changes in our mental and behavioral patterns by altering the rhythms of our breath. It flushes our anger, anxiety and worry; leaving the mind completely relaxed and energized.

Try it out to experience it yourself! Here is the link : http://www.artofliving.org/us-en/public-programs?center=&scenter=8512&ctype=9142

It is natural for the mind to get caught up in emotions. The duet of the breath and emotions has been there since we came into this world. But we dont have to be stuck in emotions the whole time and lead a life dictated by emotions. When we learn these techniques, it helps us to dance better to this duet. More importantly, it helps us to control the duet! So the next time you are caught up in any emotion, take a deep breath, SMILE and remember – YOU ARE IN CONTROL!

Guinness Records by the Art of Living Foundation

14 Wednesday Nov 2012

Posted by in General

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , ,

Art of Living Foundation has got a total of 8 Guinness records currently. You can take a look at all their records here  https://samarpayaami.wordpress.com/guinness-records/. A list of all their records in the Guinness website is here http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/Search.aspx?q=Art+of+living