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Healthcare Breathwork Programs: Clinical Evidence Meets Business Case
Breath-based wellness programs have achieved clinical validation sufficient to justify healthcare system investment, with documented healthcare cost reductions of $724 to $2,000 per participant annually and effect sizes comparable to established medical treatments. The convergence of 45+ years of MBSR research, emerging Kriya Yoga clinical trials, and formalized yoga therapy credentialing has created an evidence…
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Qigong: An Evidence-Based Introduction for Medical Professionals and Intelligent Beginners
Ancient Chinese energy cultivation practices have entered modern clinical settings—and the research now explains why. Qigong (pronounced “chee-gong”), a 4,000-year-old system combining movement, breath control, and meditation, has demonstrated significant therapeutic benefits in over 886 clinical studies, including 705 randomized controlled trials spanning 14 countries. Meta-analyses show clinically meaningful effects: systolic blood pressure reductions of…
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Yoga by Body System: Clinical Evidence & Applications
Cardiovascular System Yoga reduces blood pressure by 11/6 mmHg—equivalent to some medications—and decreases cardiac events by 43%. Heart rate variability improves by 40%, indicating better autonomic balance. Practitioners show cardiovascular aging markers 9 years younger than their chronological age. Key Practices: Coherent breathing (5 breaths/minute) reduces BP by 5-15 points within 8 weeks. Legs-up-wall decreases…
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Evidence-Based Natural Medicine: Clinical Data and Cost Benefits
Mind-body and natural medicine modalities demonstrate measurable clinical efficacy with substantial healthcare cost implications. A landmark Harvard/MGH study found mind-body interventions reduced healthcare utilization by 43%, while research across breathwork, herbal medicine, biofeedback, and emerging therapies reveals consistent medium-to-large effect sizes for stress, pain, and chronic disease management—often matching pharmaceutical treatments with fewer side effects.…
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How Yoga Heals: The Science Behind an Ancient Practice
The human body operates as an intricate communication network where the brain, hormones, and nervous system constantly exchange signals that determine our health. Modern science has revealed that yoga works by fundamentally reorganizing these communication pathways, offering measurable healing benefits that ancient practitioners understood intuitively but that researchers can now document with precision. The Stress…
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Conscious Connection, Celebration & Relaxation: The Science Behind Ancient Wisdom
For most of human history, we didn’t need alcohol to connect, celebrate, or relax. Our ancestors gathered around fires, drummed and danced until dawn, breathed together in ceremony, and accessed profound altered states through their own biology. Then, roughly 10,000 years ago, we discovered fermentation. Within a few millennia, this discovery had reshaped human culture…
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The Biology of Understanding: How Curiosity Transforms Conflict
In the 1970s, psychologist John Gottman began filming couples in what became known as the “Love Lab.” He discovered he could predict divorce with over 90% accuracy—not by whether couples fought, but by how they fought. The difference wasn’t the issues they faced, but a subtle quality in their interactions: couples who stayed together asked…
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Meditation and Applied Neuroscience: Research Implications and Directions
Historical Context and Scientific Evolution The scientific investigation of meditation represents a remarkable convergence between ancient contemplative traditions and modern neuroscience. What began as scattered physiological observations in the 1960s has evolved into a rigorous research domain that challenges fundamental assumptions about neural plasticity, consciousness, and the modifiability of mental processes throughout the lifespan. Early…
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Kriya Yoga: An Engineering Approach to Consciousness
The story of Kriya Yoga reaching Western scientific and business minds begins with an unlikely bestseller. In 1946, an Indian monk named Paramahansa Yogananda published Autobiography of a Yogi, a work that would eventually influence figures from George Harrison to Steve Jobs. Jobs famously arranged for copies to be distributed at his memorial service, considering…
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The Somatic Turn: How Science Rediscovered What Yogis Always Knew About Emotional Integration
For most of the twentieth century, Western psychology operated under a fundamental assumption: the mind could heal itself through insight and cognition alone. Sigmund Freud’s talking cure dominated therapeutic practice, followed by cognitive-behavioral approaches that emphasized thought pattern modification. Emotions were treated as epiphenomena of cognition, problems to be solved through rational analysis. The body,…
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The Science of Breath as Medicine: Pranayama’s Clinical Promise
For millennia, yogic traditions have prescribed specific breathing practices—pranayama—as fundamental medicine, yet only recently has Western science begun documenting the remarkable physiological cascades these techniques trigger. The concept of “breath prescriptions” represents a convergence of ancient empirical wisdom and modern clinical research, offering accessible interventions for conditions ranging from chronic inflammation to metabolic dysfunction. The…
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The Medical Meditation Revolution Hidden in Plain Sight
The Unexpected Discovery (1983) In 1983, a chemical manufacturing plant in Detroit made a decision that would seem strange to most corporate executives. They asked their workers to meditate—twenty minutes before work and twenty minutes in the afternoon. What happened next defied conventional business wisdom and launched decades of scientific investigation. Within months, absenteeism plummeted…
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Restoring Wholeness: Exploring an Evidence-Based Protocol for Integrated Health
The body already knows how to heal. Our task is not to fix what is broken, but to remove the obstacles to its natural wisdom and provide the conditions for health to flourish. This protocol document synthesizes insights from ancient yogic traditions—particularly the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda—with rigorous scientific research from Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Stanford,…
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Daily MEDs: Minimum Effective Dose Protocol
Evidence-Based Practices for Restoring Wholeness This protocol represents the minimum effective doses that produce measurable health benefits according to clinical research. The total time investment is approximately 90 minutes daily, with practices integrated into natural rhythms rather than added as separate tasks. Upon Waking (5 minutes) Gratitude Reflection Acknowledge 3 specific things you appreciate before…
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Yoga Training Manual for Healthcare Professionals
Module 1: Evidence-Based Foundation Why Prescribe Yoga? Research demonstrates yoga’s efficacy across multiple body systems through measurable mechanisms. Neuroimaging shows structural brain changes within 8 weeks of practice, including increased gray matter density in areas controlling emotional regulation and decreased amygdala reactivity. At the molecular level, yoga increases telomerase activity by 30%, reduces inflammatory markers…
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Yoga in Healthcare: Evidence-Based Medicine Meets Ancient Practice
The integration of yoga into modern medicine represents one of healthcare’s most successful marriages between ancient wisdom and scientific validation. What began as a comprehensive system for human development in ancient India has evolved into an evidence-based therapeutic intervention prescribed by physicians worldwide for conditions ranging from chronic pain to cardiovascular disease. The Scientific Revolution…
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The Hong Sau Technique: Breath, Concentration, and the Spiritual Eye
The Hong Sau technique is a foundational meditation practice in the Kriya Yoga lineage taught by Paramahansa Yogananda. At its essence, this technique cultivates deep concentration by synchronizing awareness with the natural rhythm of breath while focusing attention at the spiritual eye—the point between the eyebrows. The Natural Rhythm of Breath Hong Sau works with…
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Medical Meditation: Clinical Evidence and Practice
The integration of meditation into mainstream healthcare represents one of the most significant developments in modern medicine’s understanding of healing. What was once dismissed as merely “relaxation” or spiritual practice has emerged as a powerful therapeutic intervention with measurable physiological effects. At the forefront of this transformation stands Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and related clinical…
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Biofeedback: From Natural Practice to Global Neural Networks
The practice of biofeedback represents one of humanity’s most elegant bridges between ancient wisdom and modern technology. At its essence, biofeedback is simply the art of paying attention to the body’s signals and learning to influence them consciously—something practitioners of meditation and yoga have been doing for millennia. When you settle into a yoga posture…
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The Millionaire Yogi: Rajarshi Janakananda and the Path of Blissful Focus
In the landscape of modern spiritual seekers, few figures embody the integration of worldly success and divine realization quite like Rajarshi Janakananda—born James Jesse Lynn. His story challenges the ancient dichotomy between material achievement and spiritual attainment, demonstrating that wealth and wisdom need not be opposing forces. From Business Titan to Bliss-Seeker James Lynn was…
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Introduction to Hatha Yoga
Hatha Yoga represents the foundational physical practice within the broader yoga tradition, focusing on the harmonious integration of body, breath, and mind. The term “Hatha” derives from Sanskrit: “Ha” meaning sun and “Tha” meaning moon, symbolizing the balance of opposing yet complementary forces within us. At its core, Hatha Yoga employs three primary tools: asanas…
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An Introduction to Meditation with Yogananda
Meditation is an ancient practice that offers a pathway to inner peace, self-discovery, and spiritual awakening. At its core, meditation is the art of turning awareness inward, quieting the restless waves of thought, and discovering the profound stillness that exists beneath the surface of our busy minds. The Nature of Meditation In his spiritual classic…
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The Law of Exchange: Seeking Through Giving
There’s a paradox at the heart of human fulfillment: we often find what we seek only after we’ve learned to give it away. This isn’t merely poetic wisdom—it’s a fundamental principle that operates across spiritual traditions, psychological development, and even the basic mechanics of how energy moves through systems. The yogic tradition calls it karma…
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How Karma Decides Your Life: Learning Lessons and Breaking Patterns with Asha
The Living Wisdom of Asha Nayaswami Nayaswami Asha, one of the foremost teachers in the Ananda tradition founded by Swami Kriyananda (Yogananda’s direct disciple), embodies a unique gift: making ancient Vedic wisdom vibrantly relevant for contemporary seekers. For over five decades, she has demonstrated how Yogananda’s teachings aren’t merely philosophical concepts but practical tools for…
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Breath Mechanics & Restorative Yoga Science: Protocol & Action Plan
A Guide to Pranayama, Stillness, and the Restoration of Prana 🕉️ The Yogic Foundation Prana: The Breath Behind the Breath In yogic philosophy, you are not merely breathing air—you are circulating prana, the vital life force that animates all existence. Your physical breath (the air moving in and out) is simply the vehicle for prana,…
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Breath Mechanics & Restorative Yoga: Anatomy and Physiology
🫁 Understanding Breath Mechanics The Diaphragm: Your Primary Breathing Muscle The diaphragm is a dome-shaped muscle that separates your chest cavity from your abdomen. Here’s how it works: The Breath-Nervous System Connection Your breathing pattern directly determines your stress level: Breathing Pattern Nervous System State Physical Response Rapid, shallow chest breathing Sympathetic (Fight/Flight) Increased heart…
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Breath Mechanics & Restorative Yoga: Healing Deep Patterns
The foundation of restorative yoga’s healing power lies in understanding how breath mechanics interact with your nervous system. The diaphragm, a dome-shaped muscle separating your chest from your abdomen, serves as the primary engine of respiration. When you inhale, this muscle contracts and moves downward, creating negative pressure that draws air into your lungs. During…
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Breath Mechanics & Restorative Yoga: The Basics of Breath Healing
Understanding Breath Mechanics The Diaphragm’s Role The diaphragm is a dome-shaped muscle that separates your chest from your abdomen. During inhalation, it contracts and moves downward, creating negative pressure that draws air into the lungs. During exhalation, it relaxes and moves upward, allowing air to be expelled. This simple mechanical action is the foundation of…
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Regenerative Medicine: Qi Gong, Nei Gong, and Inner Energy Cultivation
The Foundation of Energy Medicine Energy medicine represents one of humanity’s oldest healing traditions, with documented practices dating back over 5,000 years, rooted in the understanding that life force energy flows through all living beings like rivers of light coursing through invisible channels. In Chinese medicine, this vital essence is called “qi” (氣) – the…
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The Value of Relationships in Personal Evolution
The Nature of Growth Through Relationships Relationships serve as catalysts for personal evolution, showing us pathways to becoming who we aspire to be. The fuel for this growth comes in many forms—joy, sorrow, conflict, and collaboration. Each experience offers lessons, and the more we embrace grace and acceptance, the more readily we learn, regardless of…
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Meditation Research: The Science of Stillness
Meditation research has evolved from studying basic stress reduction to investigating the fundamental nature of consciousness and developing precision interventions for mental health and human flourishing. The field now demonstrates that meditation induces profound neuroplastic changes observable within 2-4 weeks, with effects ranging from structural brain alterations to significant improvements in clinical conditions. Recent breakthrough…
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The Ocean and Waves, of Human Experience
The human experience mirrors the ocean’s nature – we are mostly water, just as Earth’s surface is mostly water. When we witness waves crashing or feel energy moving through us, these are temporary surface phenomena, while the vast ocean of our being remains infinitely deeper than any passing wave. Living from this deeper awareness means…
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Light Being Practice: Awakening Memory of Energy Resonance
Introduction: The Science of Energetic Coherence Learn more: https://lightbeing.podia.com/regen At the intersection of ancient wisdom and modern neuroscience lies a profound truth: your body possesses extraordinary regenerative capacities that activate when your nervous system, energy field, and consciousness align in coherent harmony. As Dr. Joe Dispenza’s research demonstrates, when we shift from chaotic to coherent…
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India’s Vegetable Mind: The Ancient Science of Plant Consciousness
The concept of “India’s vegetable mind” represents one of humanity’s oldest continuous explorations into the relationship between plant intelligence and human consciousness—a sophisticated system of knowledge that emerged over thousands of years on the Indian subcontinent. Far from primitive animism, this tradition developed through methodical observation, experimentation, and documentation, establishing a scientific framework for understanding…
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Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
In 2011, a relatively unknown Israeli historian published a book that would fundamentally alter how millions of people understand their place in the universe. Yuval Noah Harari’s “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind” has since become a global phenomenon, translated into over 60 languages and selling more than 20 million copies worldwide. Far from being…
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Spiritual Emergency: Understanding Transformative Crises
Stanislav Grof, a Czech-born psychiatrist and researcher, pioneered the concept of “spiritual emergency” throughout his career, most notably in his 1989 book “Spiritual Emergency: When Personal Transformation Becomes a Crisis,” which he co-edited with his wife Christina Grof. The concept of spiritual emergency represents Grof’s revolutionary approach to understanding certain psychological crises as potentially transformative…
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Initiation: Love, Wisdom and Power
“Initiation” by Elizabeth Haich stands as one of the most remarkable spiritual memoirs of the 20th century, offering a profound exploration of consciousness that transcends the boundaries between ancient wisdom and modern understanding. The book operates on multiple levels simultaneously – as autobiography, spiritual teaching, and metaphysical investigation into the nature of existence itself. At…
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Healing Chronic Stress with Emotional Intelligence
In a world that celebrates selfless giving, caregivers often find themselves caught in an impossible paradox: how to nurture others while sustaining their own wellbeing. Dr. Gabor Maté’s groundbreaking work “When the Body Says No” confronts this dilemma with compassionate clarity, revealing how our bodies ultimately enforce the boundaries we fail to establish consciously. Through…
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The Obstacle as the Path: Lessons in Working with Energy
There exists a profound paradox in our human experience: what we perceive as obstacles are often our greatest teachers. The energies that disturb us—fear, anger, grief, confusion—are not punishments but invitations to deeper awareness and authentic freedom. When life presents challenges that make us uncomfortable, our instinct is to resist or escape. We see these…
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The Metamorphosis of Self: From Belief to Knowledge
In the quiet spaces between who we think we are and who we truly are lies a journey of profound transformation. This path—from believing in ourselves, to knowing ourselves—represents one of life’s most essential pilgrimages, yet often remains uncharted territory in our fast-paced world. Like the caterpillar that must surrender to radical change before emerging…
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The Art of Giving Solitude: A Profound Expression of Love
Giving solitude is among the most sophisticated expressions of love, yet it remains largely uncelebrated in a culture that prioritizes constant connection. This seemingly paradoxical gift—of absence rather than presence—reveals a deep understanding of human nature and represents love in its most mature form. The Nature of True Solitude True solitude is not merely physical…
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A Guide to Embryonic Breathing and Rebirthing
Embryonic breathing and rebirthing are two distinct but complementary breathing practices with profound effects on physical, mental, and spiritual wellbeing. Embryonic breathing originated in ancient Taoist traditions over 2,500 years ago and draws inspiration from the natural breathing pattern of a fetus in the womb. It focuses on diaphragmatic breathing with minimal physical movement, emphasizing…
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The Spectrum of Consciousness: An Integral Approach to Human Development
The image depicts a color-coded spectrum of consciousness development that draws from integral theory, developmental psychology, and cultural evolution. This framework represents not just a linear progression, but rather a complex, multidimensional unfolding of human consciousness across history and within individuals. The evolutionary journey begins with what’s labeled “Archaic” consciousness (infrared), characterized by raw survival…
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Communing with The Inner Vibration of Om
Swami Kriyananda emphasizes the profound importance of communing with Aum as a means to spiritual awakening. He begins by reminding us that we are all divine beings, made in God’s image, and the only difference between an enlightened master and an ordinary person is the level of spiritual awakening. Once we awaken, we too will…
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The Tapestry of Ancient Yoga: From Divine Origins to Modern Western Practice
The Roots of Ancient Yoga: Translating the Core Messages The roots of yoga run deeper than most modern practitioners realize, extending into the earliest Vedic cultures of the Indian subcontinent. Archaeological evidence from Indus Valley sites like Mohenjo-daro suggests yogic practices may date back to 3000 BCE, with seals depicting figures in meditative postures. However,…
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Scientific Frontiers, Genetic Memory, and the “Hard Problem of Consciousness”
Rupert Sheldrake’s Morphic Resonance Theory: Origins and Development Dr. Rupert Sheldrake, a Cambridge-educated biochemist and cell biologist, developed his theory of morphic resonance after confronting what he saw as fundamental limitations in conventional biological thinking. While working at Cambridge’s Plant Physiology Department and later as Principal Plant Physiologist at the International Crops Research Institute for…
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Medical Meditation
In today’s increasingly complex healthcare landscape, a promising new approach merges the ancient wisdom of Raja Yoga with modern medical practice to create a structured meditation program designed specifically for clinical settings. Table of Contents — This innovative framework distills the eight limbs of Raja Yoga—from ethical foundations to meditation practices—into accessible interventions that complement…
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Yogananda’s Final Advice to Monks
Quotations from Conversations with Yogananda, by Swami Kriyananda The following words were among the last advice Paramhansa Yogananda gave to the monks: “No one can give you the desire for God. You must cultivate that desire in yourselves. God Himself couldn’t give it to you. For when He created human beings, He didn’t make them puppets.…
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Putting Down the Burning Coal, Letting Go
Buddhist monk, Ajahn Chay, a vessel of pure being, was immersed in the symphony of existence. Sunlight, a vibrant tapestry of light and shadow, danced upon the forest floor. His mind, a tranquil mirror, reflected the boundless love that permeates all beings. Suddenly, crack! The unity of Ajahn’s heart momentarily formed into the illusion of…
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The Nectar of Immortality: A Heart of Gold
“I cognized the center of the empyrean as a point of intuitive perception in my heart. Irradiating splendor issued from my nucleus to every part of the universal structure. Blissful amrita, the nectar of immortality, pulsed through me with a quicksilver-like fluidity.” — Yogananda — Welcome. Make yourself comfortable. Now breathe, and relax… Let’s greet…
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Neuroplasticity: Brainwaves, Meditation, and Relaxation
Everyday, the world gives us opportunities to expand into a new version of ourselves in ways that are more loving and authentic… We simply have the opportunity to witness the importance of relaxation and gratitude in everyday life. Gratitude has been shown to detoxify emotions and increase brain activity in the pre-frontal cortex. (UC Berkeley)…
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Breathing, The Ocean, and Emotional Healing
I know a lot of people recovering from this or that, and at times, I remember how powerful of a role the ocean plays in reconnecting to a sense of inner wholeness, which is exemplified through the graceful movements of sea creatures like jellies, whales, and turtles — and the simple, relatable, childlike wonder that…
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The Art of Total Relaxation at Home
The Art of Going on Retreat Many of us reflect on exotic locations, spa treatments, and catered meals for a yoga retreat, and yet, another option remains accessible (perhaps with a bit of preparation, communication, and cleaning) to let you transform from your bedroom into a regeneration portal for the weekend. Most of us, at…
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At The Intersection of Yoga, Christianity, and Quantum Physics
The Story of Babaji, Jesus Christ, and You in a Technological Time Over the course of millennia, a few souls have ventured deep into the heart of existence to bring back treasures for everyone else living on earth. This time calls for examination of that wisdom, and those messages from wherever they emerge — from…
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Compassion and Social Action: Ram Dass and Thich Nhat Hanh
Today offers a deep dive into mindfulness, compassion, deep listening, holding anger with tenderness, and the role of technology in social action. The 1995 World Forum interview between spiritual teachers Ram Dass and Thich Nhat Hanh, explores mindfulness, anger, compassion, interbeing, and the transformative power of spiritual practice. This dialogue offers a profound examination of…
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Adapting Eastern Practices to Western Life
Today offers a deep dive into mindfulness and self-regulation, common experiences when beginning, and bridging the wisdom of East and West with a few practical methods that anyone can start with today. Plus, this groovy video of Ram Dass chanting. Here’s a perspective on adapting Eastern practices to Western life while maintaining their essence: Start…
