Taking of The Armor

“I made myself a hut within human borders, but there is no noise of wagon or horse.
You ask me how this can be so?
When the mind is far away, the land follows of itself.”
Tao Yaun - ming.

Breath the Inner Mountain Into Existence

Notice how easy it is for our tools to become our masters.

Phones. Computers. Work. Time. Money. Mind. Ego.

Put down everything for a moment & simply Be. |
Step away from busyness, reactivity & roles and visit a space of restful awareness.

Still, Silent, Listening.

Go beyond the ego that clings & grasps and get's distracted & deceived
Beyond impulse and compulsion
Into peace
In this space the master see the tools & realises the master.

From this place the way unfolds.

Om Sri

Knowledge Can Be Shared, Wisdom Must Be Realised

"The effort you yourself must make,

The Perfect One's simply Point the Way"

Dhammapada

Meditation is a Great Teacher

If practiced diligently, ardently , patiently and consistently meditation will offer you many lessons.

If you are willing to take those lessons and implement them into your life you will be changed.

Meditation can change your brain, the way you see the world and the way you experience yourself.

It can help reduce stress, lead to more focus and clarity and improve your relationship with emotions.

Meditation works - we know this through science, personal accounts and the test of time.

But if meditation is to work for you,

YOU MUST PRACTICE!

Try this…..

Just One Thing


”Do one thing at a Time, and while doing it put your whole Soul into it to the exclusion of all else.”

Swami Vivekananda

The Path to Mastery can seem exhausting to the one who's mind is impulsively orienting to to what's next & compulsively clinging to what's been.

The daunting task seems exhausting to the mind that perceives all the possibilities as an impossible to do list.

But the master who practices mindfully, focuses only on the task at hand is blessed with potency & peace that empowers purpose with an enthusiasm that's near inexhaustible.

Om Sri.

Try This:

Practice doing just one thing at time.
Offer what you’re doing your full attention and energy.
If you notice you’re getting distracted come back to the task at hand.

In a distracted world the capacity to focus is super power.
This super power can free you from overwhelm and exhaustion an support you in executing with excellence.


Learning To See

You seek to the view at the top of the mountain, first you must learn to see at the bottom.

Often we set intentions that speak to a change we seek to make.
And often these intentions do not come to fruition.

If we a determined and have a change worth making we may continue to seek.

But if we want to realise that which we seek we must learn to see.
To see our past beyond the fog of rumination
To see the present moment in the light of mindfulness.
To see our future as product of our choices & actions (and some luck), not what we passively hope for .

Reflection is a way of seeing our past in a skilful light.

Some questions that might help you see your past in a way that might empower your future
What did I do well last today?
Did I do what I set out to do? If so what helped me do that? How can I keep it up or improve? If not why not? What do I need to do differently to improve?
Am I closer to my Vision thanks the choices and actions I made today?
What will I do tomorrow in service of my vision?

What do I have to be grateful for?
What did those moments feel like?
What people did you share today with?
How did you relate to those people?
How did you feel today?
How did you relate to your emotions?
What made toady meaningful to you?

How will you live this tomorrow to make it better than today?

These questions, or some version of them, can be asked daily and/or weekly.
They are great support in staying on track and course correcting when needed.Mindfulness is a way of tuning into the present moment so we can be there for life and respond in service of our Vision.

You can do this right now -

Notice what you're thinking?
What are you feeling?
What sensations can you notice in your body (feet, legs, hips, spine, arms, hands, neck, head)?
What do you sense (see, hear, smell, feel, taste) all around you?
What's it like to slow down enough to pay attention to your experience in this moment?

What would the best version of you do next?

Challenges & Resources

Alterpiece - Hilma af Klint

On the path to greatness there are many challenges (both internal and external).
Navigating these challenges skillfully is the path to greatness.

The Resources we use (both internal and external) to navigate these challenges are the essence of your greatness.

Know Your Self
What are some challenges you've faced in the last week on your Vision Quest?
What resources did you (or could you have) used to skillfully navigate these challenges?

Honour Your Self
What can you do for yourself so that you're more ready to meet challenges skillfully and resourcefully?

Grow Your Self
If the same challenges came up again how could you handle them even better?
What challenges might you face this week and what would the best version of you do in response to these challenges?

Why Do You Meditate

Hung Ying - Ming, Master of 3 Ways.

Hung Ying - Ming, Master of 3 Ways.

Why practice meditation?

To know yourself deeply?

To free your self of stress?

To harness your power of attention and focus?
To rest in peace?

To expand your consciousness?

But why????

What would you do with your life if you were more self aware, less stressed, well rested, more able to focus and more conscious?

When you find the Why behind the Why.

When you live with a sense of intention.

When you orient toward the person you want to be, not just the stuff you want to collect.

Then life begins to make sense and it's easier to know what to do.

Then you're life force feels like it's been given meaning.

This is a great blessing

Hung Ying - Ming, Master of 3 Ways.

Hung Ying - Ming, Master of 3 Ways.

Are You Me?

Do you realise you're a you?

Or do you only recognise yourself as me?

Could it be that the “reality” of me is an illusion of the mind (& the culture we live in)?

Me cannot exist without We

And are We just a bunch of You’s?

We are not separate from that which gave US life

We are not separate from life itself

And what are We here for?

To other and destroy?

To love and enjoy?

OM SRI

WE

A Transmission from the Sun

Listen to the penetrating warmth of the Sun as it vibrates through you being

Listen to your body with your body
Listen with your whole being to your whole being
Listen to as opposed to listen for
Listen to the moments which feel sweet & free
Listen to the penetrating warmth of the Sun as it vibrates through your being
Listen to the silence of the subtle breath, if you can bear it
Listen to the harmonizing amplified breath if you can’t
Listen to the noise for long enough to hear the signal
Listen to the Signal
Listen to Life.

OM SRI>

Gratitude

“By recognising our blessings we begin to realise we are blessed.”

How you perceive the world is how you receive the world.
By reflecting on the positive moments that litter our lives we begin to tell a fuller, more inclusive picture of our past.
We come to know those moments in life which brought us a sense of joy.
The more familiar we become with these moments the more likely we are to notice them when they are upon us.
This can allow for a richer, more joyful and tuned in experience of presence.

These positive moments of reflection & presence can also empower our future.
When challenges present themself they are balanced with recognition of many moments of gratitude which makes it easier to access a sense of resilience and hope.

Try this very simple practice : Everyday write down and reflect on 1 - 3 things you are grateful for.

The following questions might help deepen your reflection.
*What happened?
*Who was there?
*Where were you?
*How did you feel?
*What were you thinking?
*How did you body feel?

Catching up with the New Year

January comes to a close and it can be a reminder of how fast time can pass us by.

It can be a reminder that good intentions and good deeds require some discipline if they are to be united.

If you think that the first month of the year went too quick for you to execute on some of your resolutions then perhaps it may be helpful to slow down a little.

To take the time to reflect on the month that was so that you may learn from it and step more wholeheartedly into the one that will be.

A simple framework for stepping into our greatness can provide us with an empowering and insightful tool for reflection and projection

A Framework to Support Greatness

Plan - set a plan for what you want from the day, week, month, year ahead.

Preparation - prepare your self and your environment as best you can

Practice / Execute - do the thing, the task, the activity, the work, the behaviour, the action - that's going to get you closer to your destination. Execute with excellence.

Reflect - an opportunity to review our process, to recognise what we did well, where we could improve and how we can make this month better than last (remember that consistency is a key quality - repeating a winning process is strengthening that process.)

The gift of reflection is the power to engage constructively with what we know of our past so that we might learn and grow more strongly into our future.

This can be a step beyond  mindless rumination and disempowering self criticism.

With that being said lets use the same framework to guide our reflection\

Reflecting to Learn and Grow

How did you go?
Did today, this week, this month fee like a win?
Did today, this week, this month bring you closer to your goal?

Did you plan well?

Did you prepare appropriately?

Did you execute with excellence?

Did you reflect consistently, honestly, productively?

What challenges did you face?

How might you handle those challenges better in the future?

Does anything else seem helpful of relevant as you look back on the month that was?

Begin Again

Based on this reflection and your goals repeat the above process so you might move forward more strongly

Plan . Prepare . Practice . Reflect

Plan - What's you plan for the month ahead?

Prepare - How will you prepare yourself and your environment to make this month a success?

Practice -  Execute with excellence. What will you do? When will you do it How will you do it?

Reflect - Did you plan well? Did you prepare appropriately? Did you execute with excellence? How will you improve?

The Tiger & The Monk

Without the Monk the Tiger is a slave to impulse.
Without the Tiger the Monks freedom is trapped with in.

Stillness

“Rest in the Mystery of Stillness,
Allow it to be your guide.
Be taken into the mystery.
Even though you don’t know where you’ll be guided to
Because you don’t know where you’ll be guided to  
If you knew you wouldn’t need a guide.” Om Shri

Momentum and Motivation During Lockdown


The gym is place where we train more than just our bodies 
It's a sanctuary in which we can cultivate the energy, resilience and momentum that helps us thrive during the day. 
It can be a powerful, experiential reminder of our physical and mental strength, our personal evolution and our capacity for growth. 
Being in lock-down can be quite challenging, it can be a little disorientating having a new schedule and way of being to deal with. 
Not having access to the gym can add to our sense of loss. 

But it doesn't have to be that way. 
With a little bit of reflection, creativity and discipline you can build the inner resources and outer environment to help you thrive and grow in these strange times

Reflection 

Why did you start training in the first place? 
What are your goals?
What would you like to achieve from being at the gym? 
These could be physical or psychological attributes, they could just be a way of feeling.
E.G Stronger, more muscular, more mobile, leaner, more energy.  Confidence, discipline, personal autonomy, achievement. A feeling of being energised, pushing your limits, honouring your health and your body by moving regularly etc, etc…

If you can get really clear on this why and it's still meaningful you’ll have some fuel for the fire. 
For some of us a strong why/goal got us into the gym but then something else took over and (whether we realised it at the time or not) we fell in love with something about the experience.

Why Do You Love Training?
What is it about the experience of hitting the gym that you really dig?
This can take some time to figure out, be patient.
Reflect on what you love about the gym - this is likely to be a combination of certain thoughts (or lack of thinking), feelings or emotions, physical sensations or a general state of being that you experience before, during or after the gym. 

Creativity 

Once you're clear on why you got into the gym and what you got from the gym you can set a plan to develop (or at least maintain) the qualities that support your why and create an environment that supports the thoughts, feelings and sensations that shape your experience. 

Some questions to help this process

What can you with what you've got to work toward your goals? (There's always something.)

How could you replicate some of the environmental factors that shape your gym experience? 

What internal qualities can you cultivate in the current circumstances? 


Discipline 

Creating plan is like drawing a map, you are no closer to your destination until your walk the path you've set out for yourself.
Have a whole hearted crack, do it for a week and reflect. 
Did it work?
Do you feel fulfilled?
Do you feel better than when you didn't do it?
What can you do to improve next week?
How can you make this new way of being even better? 

Resources - Routine - Rituals

Routine

Consider your priorities - what’s most important to you?

How might you honour those priorities today or this week?

What do you hope to get out of this week or each day? 

Recognise that consistently trying for too much is a way to set yourself up for stress and a sense of failure? 

You might consider what’s the least I can do and still feel a sense of achievement and honour my priorities?

Have considered the above make a plan for the day or the week and experiment with how it works

Resources


What tools, skills, practices, tricks do you have that help bring you back into your window - a place where you can think clearly enough, feel well enough - to choose what to do next (& that what to do may be nothing)?

Rituals



What can you do before key moments in the day to help harmonise your body, mind and energy with the task at hand?

Intentions to Support Meditation

It’s quite common for our mind to wander during meditation. The instruction when you notice this happens is to kindly direct your attention back to the focus of your attention.
Setting simple intentions before practice can serve as guiding lights for you to stay on your path (and kindly guide yourself back when you fall off.
For one pointed awareness our primary intention might be
”To direct attention to the Om, the breath, the body (whatever you’ve used as the object for meditation)”
The secondary intention could be
”If i notice my mind has wandered I will kindly and gentley guide it back to the breath”.
Just setting these intentions before practice primes your for focus and kind guidance.

Connection

To connect with our own highest values and ideals and express them as often as possible

To connect with our chosen path and step toward our ideal destination

To connect with our resources, inner and outer, consistently

To connect with our past, future and presence

To connect with that space inside of you where you can rest in peace, that space inside where we are all one

To realise that we are all connected to each other and to Mother Earth

To connect with a way of thinking, living and being that honours that connection

To connect with each other and ourselves with an open mind and open heart that we may navigate our challenges, our suffering, our separateness and live peaceful, joyous, flourishing lives.

Intention + Practice = Outcomes

Intention
What are you here for? Do you have an idea of how this session is going to bring you closer to your goal?

Practice
What are you going to practice during the session? Technique, Mindset, Mind Muscle Connection, Strength, Endurance, Energy Management? The gym is a place to practice the things you'd like to become (the coaches are there to guide you around how and what to practice to become that person).

Outcomes
The outcome of one session should be that you’re one step closer to who you set out to become when you started the session. This could mean “I added extra weight to the bar”, “I nailed every rep perfectly”, “I took it easy when my body really needed it”. Almost all outcomes are going to be (at least) supported and (more likely) defined by what you do outside of the gym. Get your rest, nutrition and stress right and your work in the gym will be paid off.

YOU LIVE IN A CAGE

You mind was caged at school when they told you what to think instead of how to think

You desire is caged by advertisers telling you what you need
Your food has been caged by corporations putting it in boxes
The media sells to your fear, ignorance and anger and keeps you caged in these primitive states of mind
Your attention is caged by phones, apps and ads
Your body is caged by lack of strength, movement and mobility

You may not know, it may be invisible to you, but you live in a cage

The exciting and daunting thing is you have the key
The truth the cage only exist if you let it

BE FREE