Showing results for "practice" in Religion & Spirituality

What is tantra? Who is qualified to practice it? How should it be practiced? What are the results? According to Buddhism, every human being has the potential to achieve profound and lasting happiness. And according to the tantric teachings of Buddhism, this remarkable transformation can be realized very quickly if we utilize all aspects of our human energy - especially the energy of our desires.

Jan Chozen Bays, MD - physician and Zen teacher - has developed a series of simple practices to help us cultivate mindfulness as we go about our ordinary, daily lives. Exercises include: taking three deep breaths before answering the phone, noticing and adjusting your posture throughout the day, eating mindfully, and leaving no trace of yourself after using the kitchen or bathroom. Each exercise is presented with tips on how to remind yourself and a short life lesson connected with it.

Practicing the Power of Now is a carefully arranged series of excerpts from the The Power of Now that directly gives us those exercises and keys. Return to those words, reflect on the words, reflect even on the space between the words and - maybe over time, maybe immediately - you'll discover something of life-changing significance.

Easwaran's classic manual is a unique source of practical spiritual support for new and experienced meditators and gives all the instruction needed to establish a vibrant meditation practice and keep it going. In passage meditation you focus attention on passages, or texts, drawn from all the world's sacred traditions. You choose the passages that appeal to you, so this universal method stays fresh and inspiring, prompting you to live out your highest ideals.

In 2008, celebrating the long-awaited completion of the English-language translation of The Great Treatise, the Dalai Lama gave a historic six-day teaching at Lehigh University to explain the meaning of this classic text and to underscore its importance. It is the longest teaching that he has ever given to Westerners on just one text, and Westerners have never before had the opportunity to receive such a complete teaching that encompasses the totality of the Buddhist path from the Dalai Lama.

In this volume, Traleg Kyabgon offers a fresh translation of the slogans as well as in-depth new commentary of each. After living among and teaching Westerners for over 20 years, his approach is uniquely insightful into the ways that the slogans could be misunderstood or misinterpreted within our culture. Here, he presents a refreshing and clarifying view, which seeks to correct points of confusion.

The deceptively simple three-phase method presented here is a meditation practice that can be worked with for a lifetime. Larry Rosenberg looks to Zen, to Insight Meditation, and to the teachings of J. Krishnamurti to find three kinds of meditation that anyone can do and that complement each other in a wonderful way: (1) breath awareness, (2) breath as anchor, and (3) choiceless awareness. Having the three methods in one's repertoire gives one meditation resources for any life situation.

The Art of Lucid Dreaming is a quick and easy guide to help you get lucid fast. Dr. Clare Johnson, world-leading expert on lucid dreaming, shares her best practical tips and a unique Lucidity Quiz that identifies your personal sleeper-dreamer type so you can fast-track to the techniques that work best for you. When you are lucid in a dream, you can choose to ask your unconscious mind for guidance, perform healing magic, seek creative solutions to problems, and explore the dream realm more profoundly than ever before.

Joseph Selbie explores the current understanding of the brain's dismaying life-controlling influence on our thoughts, emotions, and behavior, and balances that understanding with neuroscience's discoveries of neuroplasticity and our innate ability to rewire the brain for any new purpose. Break Through the Limits of the Brain delves into the scientific support for the existence of a subtle, nonlocal reality that strongly suggests that we exist simultaneously in both a subtle and a physical reality—and that our thoughts, life force, emotions, and memories originate nonlocally.

Lojong is the Tibetan Buddhist practice that involves working with short phrases (called "slogans") as a way of generating bodhichitta, the heart and mind of enlightened compassion. Though the practice is more than a millennium old, it has become popular in the West in only the last 20 years or so - and it has become very popular indeed because it's a practice that one can fit very well into an ordinary life, and because it works.

Anatta is the Buddhist teaching on the nonexistence of a permanent, independent self. It's a notoriously puzzling and elusive concept, usually leading to such questions as, "If I don't have a self, who's reading this sentence?" It's not that there's no self there, says Rodney Smith. It's just that the self that is reading this sentence is a configuration of elements that at one time did not exist and that at some point in the future will disperse.

Each day we deal with the challenges of ordinary life: a series of mundane experiences that could be summarized by the title of this book, Work, Sex, Money. We all hope that these aspects of our life will be a source of fulfillment and pleasure, and they often are. Yet they are also always sources of problems for which we seek practical advice and solutions.

Healing is coming home to one's own authentic self - to the loving presence that is the ground of our being. But we often get trapped by the false refuges of fear-based habits and judgmental thoughts. Created for mental health professionals and illuminating to anyone interested in the core techniques, practices and insights of Buddhist psychology, this experience-focused audio-learning program helps us find our way back to natural presence, a place where peace and our deep love for life grows.

What if we could learn to look instead of see, listen instead of hear, feel instead of touch? Priest and best-selling author Ryunosuke Koike shows how, by incorporating simple Zen practices into our daily lives, we can reconnect with our five senses and live in a more peaceful, positive way. When we focus on our senses and learn to re-train our brains and our bodies, we start to eliminate the distracting noise of our minds and the negative thoughts that create anxiety.

Some 25 centuries after the Buddha started teaching, his message continues to inspire people across the globe, including those living in predominantly secular societies. What does it mean to adapt religious practices to secular contexts? Stephen Batchelor, an internationally known author and teacher, is committed to a secularized version of the Buddha's teachings. The time has come, he feels, to articulate a coherent, ethical, contemplative, and philosophical vision of Buddhism for our age.

Brother Lawrence, a 17th century cook and shoe repairman in a monastery in Paris, was known for his peaceful devotion to God. Though not formally educated, his life experiences in war and his humble service in the priory led others to look to him for wise counsel. His words were later collected into this marvelous short audiobook that has inspired Christians for centuries. The Practice of the Presence of God has been of great help to believers such as John Wesley and A.W. Tozer.

Hexes, curses, and other unsavory notions - most magical practitioners won’t even discuss them. Why? Because they’d much rather find a positive solution that benefits all concerned. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Occasionally, though, our problems are such that nothing in the positive solution arena will handle them. It’s time to make a decision to stand tough, be strong, and take definitive action to defend ourselves. And if you‘re ready to do that - if you‘re ready to own that action, and take responsibility for it - then Utterly Wicked is for you.

Are you feeling overwhelmed by the relentless stress of the world? Do you find yourself lost in the chaotic whirlwind of daily life? If yes, it’s time to discover a path to inner peace.From Chaos to Calm by spiritual guru Gauranga Darshan Das is an enlivening journey designed to help you break...

In The Practice, you will learn that a wellspring of inner peace and happiness exists inside each one of us and that it is easily accessible with simple techniques that require only minutes a day. Using timeless wisdom and truths from a variety of religions and teachings, author Barb Schmidt has structured an easy-to-implement, three-part daily routine that will guide you to deep happiness, security, and confidence. The Practice fits busy lives because busy lives need it most.

Tantra Illuminated takes the listener on a fascinating journey to the very heart of original Tantra: its key teachings, foundational lineages, and transformative practices. Since the West's discovery of Tantra 100 years ago, there has been considerable fascination, speculation, and more than a little misinformation about this spiritual movement. Now, for the first time in the English language, Tantra Illuminated presents an accessible introduction to this sacred tradition that began 1,500 years ago in the far north of India.