Holiday Meeting Schedule - 2012/2013

The final group meditation meeting for 2012 will be held at 6.30pm on Monday 17th December.

Come and join us for group meditation and Vedic knowledge.

We look forward to seeing you there.


The first group meditation meeting for 2013 will be held at 6.30pm on Monday 21st January.

You can always check our meeting schedule via the website: Double Bay Meditation Meeting Times

Wishing you all the very best over the festive season and a Happy New Year.

Upcoming Weekend Retreat - March 7th - 10th, 2013

All Vedic Meditators are invited to attend this Long Weekend Retreat in the beautiful Blue Mountains from Thursday 7th March (6.30pm) to Sunday 10th March (2pm).

During the Retreat, you will learn and practice 'Rounding'. ‘Rounding' combines a simple sequence of yoga positions (asanas) and a Vedic breathing technique (pranayama) with your current meditation practice. The result is an 'industrial-strength' program designed to enhance the restfulness of meditation, release your deepest stresses and expand your consciousness.

In addition to advancing both your meditation practice and waking state experience of life, you will come away from the Retreat feeling refreshed and revitalised for months to come.

For further details, please click here: Weekend Retreat.

Letting go of the unsustainable

When we learn Vedic Meditation, we are taught that if at any moment during the meditation session we feel that we are beginning to forget the mantra, then we should not try to keep on remembering it, we should let it go.

One of the profound and common effects that we experience by meditating twice daily is that we are able to let go of the unsustainable in our lives.

Unsustainable friendships or relationships or careers, toxic substances or any other unsustainable habits that were able to continue to be sustained before learning to meditate are much harder to sustain once we add twice daily meditation to our lives.

Quite simply, Meditators are able to more easily follow charm, move away from aversion and let go of the unsustainable.

Vedic Meditation gives us a systematic method every day of removing stress from our physiology. This allows us to rely more and more on our intuition and we therefore find it much harder to strain and maintain the unsustainable.

So next time a life-long habit that you previously found charming starts to lose its charm, then simply apply the same instruction we use in meditation:
if we feel that we are beginning to forget it, then we should not try to keep on remembering it, we should let it go.

With love,
Limor

Special Meeting - Guru Purnima - July 3rd, 2012 at 8pm

All Vedic Meditators are invited to attend the special Guru Purnima meeting (full moon celebration) next Tuesday 3rd July, 2012 at 8pm at the North Bondi Meditation Centre; 32 Wentworth Street, Dover Heights.

The meeting will be conducted by Thom Knoles. It will be an evening of stories, eating of rich sweets together, taking in a moonlit stroll, and enjoying the great good fortune of being a meditator at the dawn of the age of enlightenment.

Please bring a flower with you and a wish!

Weekend Retreat

Weekend Retreat - May 2012, Bundanoon

A photo of the group of meditators who attended the recent Weekend Retreat in beautiful Bundanoon.

Participants learnt and practised 'Rounding'. 'Rounding' combines a simple sequence of yoga positions (asanas) and a Vedic breathing technique (pranayama) with meditation.

The depth and restfulness of meditation is multiplied exponentially as meditators extend the number of rounds through each day, from three to five to seven and beyond, diving deep into Nature and the Unified Field.

It was 3 days of deep rest, advanced knowledge, delicious food and fun.

Thank you to the highly conscious group who attended.

Object-Referral versus Self-Referral

There are two kinds of happiness: self-referral & object-referral.

When our sole source of happiness involves our dependency on "objects" (that is, "non-self"; for example, "a loveable other" behaving ideally for us) then that is object-referral happiness.  Our happiness becomes dependent on another person behaving according to rather strict relating guidelines.  The guidelines are designed to achieve zero deviation from the behavioural formula that has manifested some degree of happiness for us.  We do not want change, because change threatens our access to happiness.

The problem with all this begins in two areas (and rapidly engulfs the whole of life):

1) no thing or person is designed to sustain non-change or non-variation from a formula that merely brings happiness to another; evolution enforces progressive change,

and

2) it is an unsustainable living technique to source our personal inner experience in another, to make them responsible for what we are experiencing.  Attempts to do this will turn one into a control fanatic, attracting destruction to that method of relating.

The behaviour of another is neither the source of one’s happiness nor the source of one’s suffering.
“Others" are not responsible for our internal experience.

Self-referral happiness is the true fulfilment that comes from the mind incorporating the inner bliss of Being into our conscious daily experience.  Self-referral happiness allows us to have adaptive responses to demands (changes of expectation) and find within ourselves solutions to life's challenges.

In the words of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi:

“A strong mind is tolerant; a weak mind is easily overcome by the surroundings.
If one doubts another's behaviour, one will continue to have doubts even if he expresses love & joy when one meets him, because the doubts were present before the conversation started.  So a doubting or unkind mind fails to enjoy even the joyfulness and sincerity of the prevailing surroundings.

To improve relationships we must first improve our own minds and then we shall begin to behave well.  Surroundings respond to us best if we are grounded in the art of Being, which is the technique that places our lives on a high level so that we naturally and innocently behave well in harmony and joyfulness.

Contact with Being (through meditation) not only improves and satisfies the individual life but improves the atmosphere, increases harmony and reduces fear, hatred, tension, cruelty, and antagonism.  When Being is infused into the minds of individuals, social relationships improve in the most automatic and natural way, great harmony is produced in the atmosphere.”

With love,
Limor

Thom Knoles tour of Australia - June/July 2012

My brilliant and inspiring teacher, Thom Knoles will be touring Australia in June and July this year.

Thom has been teaching meditation for the past 44 years.  He is a master of Vedic Meditation as well as an expert in physics, psychology, cognitive neuroscience and consciousness.

 
Thom will conduct two meetings at the Double Bay Meditation Centre: 

An INTERMEDIATE MEDITATION MEETING - Monday 11 June 2012, 7pm to 8.30pm - free and open to all Vedic Meditators.

An ADVANCED KNOWLEDGE MEETING – Sunday 8 July 2012, 7pm to 9.30pm - attendance fee of $55 per person. Pre-registration required.  Topic:  PERFECT ORDER: Your Life, Your Universe.

All Vedic Meditators, regardless of experience level, are welcome to attend both meetings.

For further details of these meetings and Thom's tour of Australia, please click here: Thom Knoles Tour of Australia 2012.

Movie night - The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel - Thursday 22nd March at 6.31pm at Event Cinemas, Westfield Bondi Junction

All meditators (and non-meditators) are invited to join us on Thursday 22nd March at 6.31pm to view The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel - a hilarious film about our beloved India.

You can read more about the film and watch the trailer by clicking here: The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

If you would like to come then you need to simply purchase your tickets in advance by clicking here: Purchase Tickets and then scrolling down to "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" and clicking on the 6.31pm (NFT) session time next to Thu 22 Mar. 

We will then see you in the cinema.

Please feel free to bring family and friends.

The Solution to Problems

"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."

Albert Einstein

This quote from Albert Einstein beautifully expresses the cognition of the Ancient Vedic Rishis (See’ers) - that all problems are based in a lack of consciousness.

If a man has 2% vision then crossing a road is an enormous problem.  When we analyse this, it is clear that the problem isn't the road but rather the man's lack of vision.  Trying to solve problems by manipulating the elements of the problem (in this case - the road, the cars, the people on the road etc.) is not the solution. The solution is to add a second element - Consciousness.

We need to expand consciousness.  In the above example, if we could give the man more vision then crossing a road would become less and less of a problem and with 100% vision it wouldn't be a problem at all.

In our example vision is an analogy for consciousness.

In unconscious (stressed) states, we experience a disorderly world full of suffering and neediness.  In this state of mind, we attempt to control other people, places, and things.

As we upgrade our own state of consciousness, we experience a shift in the world around us.  Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change.

If you would like to shift your experience of life, you need to shift the one who is experiencing it: YOU.

Our meditation technique is not only a profound system for releasing stress but also a supreme tool for the expansion of consciousness.

With love,
Limor

Embracing Change

A Meditator Asks:

I have heard you say that I should embrace change.   How can I overcome my fear of change and embrace change in my life?

Evolution means progressive change.  There is no progress in life without change.

Fear of change develops from a lack of awareness of that deep, inner quiet, non-changing aspect of consciousness that we refer to as "Being" or "Pure Consciousness" - the underlying or transcendental aspect of our consciousness.

Being is the foundation of consciousness.  Without a foundation, instability is guaranteed and from that fear develops.

When a change occurs and we have insufficient adaptation energy to adapt to that change then we
mal-adapt and our body begins to try to fight or flee from the change.  The fight or-flight/stress reaction is a well-known reflex where the nervous system mobilizes a set of physiological responses to a demand/change in environment when it is unable to adapt to the demand marked by an increase in the stress chemicals plasma cortisol and arterial blood lactate, increases in blood pressure, heart rate, blood flow to the muscles and oxygen consumption.  This leads to the accumulation of stress in the body.

How can we avoid having this stress reaction in response to a demand or change of expectations?

The most effective course of action is to stabilize our own state of consciousness; to make our own capability, adaptability, creativity, and happiness non-variable.  A non-variable, high state of consciousness is the only basis on which we can embrace progressive change in our life and we can consistently meet the demands in our lives without unconsciously resisting the process of evolution and thereby accumulating stress.

We need to simply sit twice a day for 20 minutes and practise the technique that we have been instructed in.

Our technique of meditation is designed to deliver that deep inner quietness to the mind in meditation, and over time with consistent regular practise allows us to experience this with our eyes open - first for a little while and then as time goes on more and more until it becomes a permanent, 24 hour experience - "Being" becomes well established in our awareness.

As our state of consciousness grows and we begin to stabilize that state of Being in our awareness we begin more and more to have adaptive responses to change and our desires become more easily fulfilled.  This is the way to live a blissful life.

We can make a decision to stop resisting change and start embracing it by bringing more of that deep, inner quiet, non changing, transcendental aspect of consciousness into our awareness.

If you have lapsed with your practice, you can simply sit and practise your technique again - it will come back to you naturally.  Join Group Meditation Meetings - these provide the opportunity to strengthen your practice of meditation through a review of technique, and to broaden and deepen your personal experiences and results through more advanced understanding.  Lapsed meditators find this an ideal way to get refreshed.  Come and ask questions about your experiences.

With love,
Limor

Upcoming Weekend Retreat - May 24th - 27th, 2012

All Vedic Meditators are invited to attend this Long Weekend Retreat in beautiful Bundanoon from Thursday 24th May (6.30pm) to Sunday 27th May (2pm). 

During the Retreat, you will learn and practice 'Rounding'.  ‘Rounding' combines a simple sequence of yoga positions (asanas) and a Vedic breathing technique (pranayama) with your current meditation practice.  The result is an 'industrial-strength' program designed to enhance the restfulness of meditation, release your deepest stresses and expand your consciousness.  

In addition to advancing both your meditation practice and waking state experience of life, you will come away from the Retreat feeling refreshed and revitalised for months to come. 

For further details, please click here: Weekend Retreat.

A weekend of Ayurveda and cooking with Tim Mitchell

My dear friend and Master Ayurvedic Chef Tim Mitchell will conduct a weekend of Ayurveda and cooking as follows:

Friday 30th March, 6-9pm

Saturday 31st March, 1-5pm

Sunday 1st April, 1-5pm

The course will be held at The Intuitive Well in Bondi Junction and is suitable for everyone. You will learn the basic principles of Ayurveda (the science of longevity) and how you can bring balance to your mind and body through food.  You will also enjoy feasting on Tim's delicious cooking.

For further details, please click here: Ayurveda and Cooking March-April or visit the website, Tim Ayurveda.