Double Bay Mediation Website

DOUBLE BAY MEDITATION WEBSITE: http://www.doublebaymeditation.com.au

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Holiday Meeting Schedule - 2013/2014

The final group meditation meeting for 2013 will be held at 6.30pm on Monday 16th December.

Come and join us for group meditation and Vedic knowledge.

We look forward to seeing you there.

The first group meditation meeting for 2014 will be held at 6.30pm on Monday 6th January.

However, there will be no group meditation meeting on the Australia Day Holiday; Monday 27th 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. 

Saturday, July 13, 2013

Thoughts are not the enemy ....

Thoughts are a part of meditation.

Having lots of thoughts during a meditation session is not an indication of incorrect meditation.  In fact, thoughts are one of the symptoms of correct meditation.

Thoughts during meditation are caused by the body purifying itself of accumulated stress (overloads). This process of purification causes the mind to become more active which in turn leads to thoughts as the mind cannot be active without content.

In order to get a picture of what happens to a person’s body during meditation, scientific studies on meditators require them to wear so much invasive instrumentation and apparatus that no meditator being measured scientifically ever has had anything but a thought-filled meditation session.

Imagine wearing an electrocardiogram on your chest, 16 electrodes for EEG on your head, having a catheter inserted into your forearm artery, a gas mask over your nose and mouth, and a rectal thermometer taking your temperature, along with several other devices in place - all at once - and then being asked to meditate in the laboratory while knowing you were being measured.

Yet every scientific study published on the wonderful effects of meditation has asked the meditator to meditate under these or similar conditions.  After each study, when interviewed, meditators confirm typically that the session was far more thought-filled than their most thought-filled home sessions.  Yet it is these studies that demonstrate repeatedly beneficial physiological changes during meditation.

The lesson from this is that a meditator’s subjective assessment of the benefits of a meditation sitting is not an accurate tool for determining what is the full effect of a particular session.

Scientific studies ask the meditator for ten minutes both before and after the proper meditation-measuring phase of the study simply to sit with eyes closed and not use the mantra - to measure the difference between “sitting merely with eyes closed” versus that phase of the sitting during which the subject is “intending to meditate”.

The distinction between these two phases always is dramatic; the “intending-to-meditate” phase of sitting, however thought-filled, will show invariably powerful physiological changes - mostly those related to release of stress and of deep levels of rest, typically up to five times more restful than sleep.

When the body throws off stress during meditation, this causes the mind to march into thoughts and a feeling of buoyancy instead of diving.  The benefits of that phase of a sitting (even if it is the nature of an entire sitting) are mostly deferred benefits; those being detected outside the practice.  In other words, you will feel better for having done it, even if during it experiences are not as settled as in other sittings.

So continue to give meditation the priority it deserves in order to receive the wonderful benefits noticed by millions of people around the world.

With love,
Limor

Friday, July 12, 2013

Guru Purnima - Monday July 22nd, 2013 at 7pm

Special Meeting for Vedic Meditators to be conducted by Thom Knoles

GURU PURNIMA - Monday July 22nd at 7pm

Venue: The Life Pod Yoga Studio; Level 1, 1A Victoria Street, Paddington

Celebrate Guru Purnima (the full moon in July) which traditionally honours the Vedic Masters who brought to light the Vedic knowledge we all enjoy today. Thom will perform “Puja” - the ceremony of gratitude that you witnessed when you learnt to meditate.  It is part of the mythos of Guru Purnima that a boon is granted in response to a wish offered with one’s flower at the culmination of the Puja.  It is an evening of stories, eating of rich sweets together, taking in a moonlit stroll, and enjoying the good fortune of being a meditator at the dawn of the age of enlightenment.

The evening will include group meditation.

Please bring a flower with you and a wish!

Free event.  No RSVP required.

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Initiator Training 2014

Initiator Training is a dynamic and transformative process designed to train practitioners of Vedic Meditation to be professional Initiators - teachers in our Vedic tradition.

The next Initiator Training course will be conducted by Limor Babai, Thom Knoles and Christian Bevacqua in Rishikesh, India from January 15th to April 9th, 2014. 

This will be a full time 12 week residential program.


For further details and to complete the Application Form,  please click here:  www.vedicmeditationit.com

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Thom Knoles Tour of Sydney - July/August 2013

My brilliant and inspiring teacher, Thom Knoles will be in Sydney for 3 weeks this year.

Thom has been teaching meditation for the past 45 years.  He is a master of Vedic Meditation as well as an expert in physics, psychology, cognitive neuroscience and consciousness.
 
Thom will conduct Private Consultations for Meditators at the Double Bay Meditation Centre for 5 days only - on July 24th and July 30th to August 2nd.  If you would like to make an appointment with Thom for a Private Consultation please contact Anna Dudek at: annadudek.meditation@gmail.com

For further details of Thom's tour of Sydney, please click here: Thom Knoles Tour of Sydney 2013.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Transcending isn't the goal

It is important to remember that the goal of Vedic Meditation is not to transcend thought in every 20 minute meditation session.

Vedic Meditation is a practice which systematically
de-excites the mind.  However, we may not experience pure silence in every meditation session.

As we de-excite the mind in meditation, the body follows and we experience a profound state of rest.   This causes the body to unwind stress.  As the body releases stress during meditation, the mind can become active with thoughts and we may even experience emotions or body sensations.  Those experiences are the after effect or by-product of the body unstressing, de-toxing and healing.
When there is more stress in the body, there are more opportunities for stress to be released.  During the early days of meditation, when the body is still holding a lifetime backlog of stress, only very little
de-excitation is needed in order to trigger its release.  As we clear out that backlog through regular daily practice, the trend is toward more sustained periods of depth in meditation.

Meditation is a process, not an outcome.  The process during the 20 minutes session is to effortlessly favour the mantra whenever we remember to do so.  If we follow this instruction then we have meditated, whether we transcend or not.

The outcome of meditation is how it enhances our activity and life when we come out of meditation. 

The wonderful benefits that come from meditating twice every day, such as:

- greater physical energy
- greater mental clarity
- feeling happy for no reason
- being calm in demanding situations
- having adaptive responses to changes of expectations

are some of the outcomes of meditation.

Therefore, when we meditate it is best not to have any expectation of any particular result during the 20 minute session.  We can look for the results after meditation in our daily activity.

Ultimately, the perfect prescription is simply to keep regular with our practice, and take the whole experience as it comes, without judgement or concern.

With love,
Limor


Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Ayurveda and cooking with Tim Mitchell

My colleague and Master Ayurvedic Chef Tim Mitchell will conduct a course on Ayurveda and cooking as follows:

Friday 2nd August, 6-9pm

Saturday 3rd August, 11-5pm


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.

This course is highly recommended for anyone who wishes to learn more about Ayurveda, Ayurvedic cooking and how to balance your body for optimal health.

For further details, please click here: Ayurveda and Cooking August 2013.