Happy New Year! Do you find this wish pleasing, if somewhat shallow? Indeed, it’s a common seasonal wish, but one that is often empty of content, a social custom, habitually repeated millions of times over the festive season. Together as Daily Meditators, however, let’s charge these words “Happy New Year” with power and meaning, with intention and truth. 2018 has … Read More
Our soul is, in reality, free, joyous and powerful spirit. But in our present egoic state – i.e. in which our soul identifies with the body and in which we perceive ourselves as “John” or “Mary” – it is as though we had built an egohouse around our spirit, complete with walls and roof. In this way, it receives much … Read More
Dear Daily Meditator, Usually when talking about meditation, we focus on going inside. In fact, the meditative steps, as described in antiquity, are pranayama, withdrawal of the inner energy, and pratyahara, interiorization of the senses and the mind. Once we are in this inward state, we experience dharana (concentration on an inner experience); then dhyana (oneness with that experience); and … Read More
Dear Daily Meditator, What a special moment! A New Year is waiting for us, full of golden opportunities. Let’s remember: the way we begin it is essential. As Aristotle said, “Well begun is half done.” All of us, the family of Daily Meditators, may therefore determine to begin our New Year with a positive impact. Will the year be easy? … Read More
Let’s explore one of the sweetest, but also most powerful, secrets of meditation: chanting! Do you have a guitar a harmonium, or a keyboard at home? Or else, do you have an Ananda chanting CD? Because what you will be reading is meant to inspire you to get your voice moving right away, more than ever. As the poet Goethe … Read More
Namaste great soul! We have a marvelous topic this time, both highly important and highly practical: the spiritual eye. Swami Kriyananda touches on it in one of his Secrets of Meditation: The Secret of Meditation is… to focus your gaze and attention at the Christ Center between the eyebrows — the seat of ecstasy in the body. The Seat of … Read More
Did you know? This year Yogananda is celebrating 100 years of his divine energization exercises. He is extremely happy, and so he recently organized a heavenly party in the astral worlds, to dance and rejoice with all the angels. As they were making merry, suddenly an idea popped up into Yogananda’s mind: he decided to send some angels down to … Read More
Dear Daily Meditator, One of Swami Kriyananda’s secrets of meditation deserves special attention, because it has the potential to become a great inspiration for our practice: The Secret of meditation is… to feel SPACE in the body, and gradually expand that feeling from the body outward, into infinite SPACE. Here is a proposal: this week let’s use this Secret as a … Read More
Dear Meditator, Let’s have a closer look at another one of Swami Kriyananda’s precious Secrets of Meditation. At first glance, they seem quite simple and unassuming, yet behind them lies a profound yogic teaching. The Secret of Meditation is… deep relaxation: Inhale, tense the body; throw the breath out and relax. Release into the surrounding atmosphere, like wisps of vapor, … Read More
In his booklet Secrets of Meditation, Swami Kriyananda offers as his second secret a vital key to our success in meditation: correct posture. Even though it is the very first thing a beginning meditator learns, alas, often it turns out that even after years of regular practice this important foundation of our “house of meditation” still requires some additional “cement,” … Read More
