1. How do we break the habit of excessive thinking? 2. How to Silence Voices in Your Head 3. Don’t take your thoughts too seriously ~ Eckhart Tolle

Eckhart explores the powerful addiction to thinking, offering a handful of ways to put a stop to thoughts and choose presence instead.

Eckhart Tolle Reveals How to Silence Voices in Your Head

When we announced on Facebook that Eckhart Tolle and Oprah were sitting down once again, questions for Eckhart began pouring in. Watch as he answers two of your most burning questions: How do you calm the voice in your head, and how can you clear your mind of bad memories?

Eckhart Tolle – Don’t take your thoughts too seriously

Emptiness Dancing ~ Adyashanti

In recent years, the bold new teacher known as Adyashanti has dared hundreds of students across North America to ask, What is ultimately behind this set of eyes? For it is in the process of this inquiry that we let go of who we think we are, and begin to understand what we are.

With Emptiness Dancing, readers will explore these subtle differences, and many other human perceptions?and misconceptions that we live by, including:

• Openness: Discover the freedom available when you cultivate an open heart and an open mind, and lose your self-image to total presence.
• Love: Enjoy the peace from being the essence of love at every moment, with everyone and everything you experience.
• Ego: Unmask the fall guy of spirituality for what it is, and release yourself from the fruitless pursuit of and running away from something that doesn’t really exist.

The funny thing about enlightenment, or awakening, is that we miss it even though it’s not hidden,  Adya teaches. It is hard to find because it is right here. Destined to become a spiritual classic, Emptiness Dancing brings readers Adyashanti’s quintessential teachings in a mind-to-mind transmission from this gifted teacher.

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Stillness – from Emptiness Dancing, by Adyashanti, Chapter 8

Adyashanti “Silence”

Adyashanti is a dynamic and inspiring spiritual teacher who lives an ordinary life while demonstrating an extraordinary gift for transmitting a simple truth to thousands of students worldwide: liberation is the birthright of us all. His teachings have been compared to those of the early Zen masters and Advaita Vedanta sages.

Adyashanti began teaching in 1996 at the request of his Zen teacher, with whom he had been studying for 14 years. A native of Northern California, he now teaches extensively in the San Francisco Bay Area, offering weekly satsangs, frequent intensives, and silent retreats. He also travels to teach in other areas of the United States and Canada.

Adyashanti is the author of The Impact of Awakening, Emptiness Dancing, My Secret Is Silence, True Meditation, and The End of Your World, and has made extensive audio and video recordings of his talks and satsangs.

Adyashanti speaks to the word silence.

Amoda Maa Jeevan – Buddha at the Gas Pump Interview

Published on Apr 1, 2013

Amoda’s spiritual journey has involved a phoenix-like transformation out of the darkness of personal suffering. Born into challenging circumstances, she was classified as clinically depressed for a number of years. In spite of this, she studied intensely for a Doctorate in Psychology, but a profound unity-consciousness experience in 1989 devastated her personal and academic life and set her on the path of self-inquiry. Penniless and homeless, without the usual attachments and identifications of modern-day life, she became a “nobody”. Fueled by her own unexpected mystical and visionary experiences, the next few years were spent on a deep inner exploration which included meditation, primal therapy, rebirthing, metaphysics, psychedelics, and many other psycho-spiritual methods.

Her search for happiness eventually led her to India and to the ashram of the revolutionary mystic, Osho. Although Osho had already left his body, she recognized him as her spiritual master and she opened to the unconditional love in his invisible presence. Seeing through the identification with form, she then turned her attention towards surrender to the totality of existence; life itself became the guru. On her return to the UK, Amoda developed her own unique method of transformation using movement, meditation and breath, but despite her external success, she was still searching for happiness and love and in 2002 she experienced an extended period of “existential abandonment”. This was a deeply internal experience that took her to the core wound of separation or “dark night of the soul”. When her desire for truth finally became greater than her desire for relationship, love, happiness or even enlightenment, a “psychological death” happened and in the midst of this she received a mystical vision. This vision radically changed her life and gave her the keys to the transformation of her own personal suffering as well as the keys to the transformation of humanity’s suffering.

Shortly after this experience, Amoda let go of the transformational teaching she had developed and she entered a period of not-knowing. Whilst she continued to be touched by the fragrance of spiritual masters, in particular Ramana Maharshi, it is through the contemplation and application of the spiritual lessons received in the vision that an awakened presence became embodied as a living reality. Since then, all seeking stopped, all methods dropped, and there is a gentle coming home to rest more deeply in non-dual awareness amidst the mystery of ordinary life.

Amoda’s work today has evolved out of her direct experience of awakened awareness and is free of all tradition, dogma or ideology. Her message of Radical Awakening and her passionate desire to shape a more loving world inspires people of all ages and backgrounds to live an authentically awakened life. Amoda’s work is attracting a growing global audience and she offers satsangs and retreats around the world. She is the author of How to Find God in Everything (Watkins, 2008), Change Your Life, Change Your World (Watkins, 2012), and is currently working on a third book. She is also the founder of the Foundation for Conscious Change, a non-profit organization that aims to support her teaching via outreach programmes.

Books: 1. How to Find God in Everything: An Invitation to Awaken to Your True Nature and Transform Your World, 2. Change Your Life, Change Your World: Ten Spiritual Lessons for a New Way of Being and Living

http://www.AmodaMaaJeevan.com or view here

The Mirage of Separation ~ Billy Doyle

The Mirage of Separation is a collection of poetry and verse reflecting different facets of the non-dual perspective. Billy Doyle lives in London and teaches yoga in the Kashmir Tradition, an approach brought to the West by Jean Klein.

Click here to read a sample.

Billy is a Spiritual Teacher and Yoga Teacher in the Kashmir Tradition, and author of the book “The Mirage of Separation”.

He had a strong spiritual orientation early in life and started to explore non-dualistic teachings in his twenties. He met Jean Klein, a master of Advaita and Yoga who became his teacher for 14 years. He practiced ‘Art of Listening’ and self-inquiry and then one day, while on a silent retreat, “all identification with a separate Entity dissolved” and he then knew himself as Silence.
Billy Doyle ‘The Mirage of Separation’ Interview by Renate McNay

The Power of Silence: The Riches That Lie Within ~ Graham Turner

In the modern world, we are assaulted on all sides by noise, but silence can change your life—this book explains why and how.
Many people find the very notion of silence uncomfortable, even alarming or embarrassing. They are gripped by a kind of agoraphobia of the spirit. Many try to obliterate silence by turning up the volume control of music or television, or the volume of their days.

The Power of Silence explores the world of silence—a mysterious and unfathomable realm, perhaps the most underused of all resources—and those who recognize its value. It is based on extensive interviews with those whose business is silence and who understand its creative and therapeutic uses.

Graham Turner explores how the desert fathers sought silence and solitude. Psychotherapists talk of the creative value of silence in their practice as do—perhaps surprisingly—musical composers. The great Catholic centers of contemplation are investigated, as are the practitioners of Zen and those who try to heal the sickness of the mind.
A silent moment is time for tranquility and reflection—something beyond ourselves. The value of welcoming quiet has become a great gap in modern human awareness, and this book seeks to restore our belief in the power of silence.

After gaining a first class degree at Oxford, Graham Turner worked for The Scotsman and The Sunday Times. He then became nationally recognized as the BBC’s first Economics Correspondent. Thereafter he worked for The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph writing substantial features which had considerable national influence. He currently lives in Oxford.

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I Am Boundlessness ~ Ilie Cioara

A practical book on meditation and enlightenment, a must read for any spritual seeker.A less rational and more poetic Eckhart Tolle; Kahlil Gibran meets Krishnamurti.

Ilie Cioara’s message is original and unique, as he never traveled to India and never belonged to any traditional school. By practising the silence of the mind, through an all-encompassing attention, we discover and fulfill our innermost potential of becoming one with the divine spark that lies dormant within us. I Am Boundlessness I am spontaneous simplicity Mind, heart and feeling, A whole being, absolute fullness Love in action.

This state Reveals itself naturally; When the mind is awakened, All becomes One. The past melts away In the light of all-encompassing Attention; In emptiness, the Sacred reveals itself In its natural brilliance. Experiencing the moment, The personal mind is dissipated Expanding into Infinity As Universal Mind. Each such encounter Transforms us radically, For in each sparkle of consciousness We are newness, Divinity, Reality!

Ilie Cioara was an enlightened mystic who lived in Eastern Europe. His writings in 16 books describe the experience of meditation and enlightenment, as well as the practice of Self-knowing using all-encompassing Attention. Like Ramana Maharshi, Krishnamurti, Ekhart Tolle, his is a simple message of discovering our inner divine nature through the silence of the mind. The Silence of the Mind is the first in a tetralogy by Ilie Cioara to be published by OBooks, to be followed by The Wondrous Journey into the Depth of Our Being , Life is Eternal Newness and I Am Boundlessness.

The author’s description of enlightenment.

‘I was 55 years old. One morning, waking up from my sleep, I noticed that, psychologically, I was functioning differently from the night before. The mind had lost its usual turmoil. In a state of serenity I had never felt before, I was functioning in perfect communion with my whole somatic structure.

Only after a couple of hours I realized what had happened to me, without pursuing this ‘something’ as an ideal to accomplish. I was, to use a simile, in the situation of a man blind from birth, who had just gained his sight after undergoing surgery. Everything around me was as new. I had an overall perspective on things. A silent mind allows the senses to perceive things as they are.

The mind in its totality had become, through silence, an immense mirror in which the outside world was reflected. And the world I was perceiving directly through my senses revealed its own reality to me. My fellow beings, close friends or complete strangers, were being regarded indiscriminately, with a feeling of love I had never felt before.If any reaction of the mind surfaced, it disappeared immediately in contact with the sparkle of impersonal Attention. A state of quiet and all-encompassing joy characterized me in all circumstances, whether pleasant or painful. My behaviour was that of a simple witness, perfectly aware of what was happening around me, without affecting my all-encompassing state of peace.’

Browse Inside here

Click Here for Ilie Cioara’s previous books and reviews.

The Perfume of Slience ~ Francis Lucille

This book is about enlightenment, spiritual awakening, self realization, meditation, awareness, consciousness, happiness, love, relationships, psychological suffering and human predicament. Based on actual dialogues between Francis Lucille, a spiritual teacher of non-duality, and some of his disciples, the music of freedom that it conveys resonates between the words, and gives the reader an inkling of the peace and happiness that are experienced in the presence of an authentic master.

Francis Lucille was for over twenty years a close friend and disciple of Jean Klein, a well recognized French teacher of non-duality. They both belong to a lineage of Advaita Vedanta teachers stemming from India. (Advaita Vedanta is the main nondualist Hindu spiritual tradition). Jean Klein’s guru, Pandit Veeraraghavachar, was a Professor at the Sanskrit College in Bengalore. Their teachings, despite some superficial similarities, are quite different from those of most contemporary western neo Advaita teachers.

They emphasize for instance the importance of the direct transmission from guru to disciple, through presence, beyond words, and they recognize that the same universal truth was expressed by various saints, philosophers and teachers throughout history and across the world. That which matters here is not the form of the teaching, direct or gradual for instance, as much as the authenticity of the teacher, the vibrancy of his realization, the outpouring of his love, the freedom of his humour, the brilliancy of his intelligence, the splendor of his poetry, the spontaneous sharing of his peace.

Nonduality is the common ground of Buddhism (especially Zen and Dzogchen), Advaita, Sufism, Taoism, the Kabbalah, the Gnosis and the teachings of Jesus in the Thomas Gospel, the teachings of Parmenides, Plotinus, Gaudapada, Abinavagupta, Meister Eckhart, Ramana Maharshi, Atmananda Krishna Menon, Ananda Mai and many others. For more info on Francis Lucille: http://www.francislucille.com

Biography
A graduate of the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris where he studied Mathematics and Physics, Francis Lucille managed missile tests for the French armed forces, then ceased all weapon related activities after discovering the writings of J. Krishnamurti. This discovery triggered an intense quest for Reality that found its resolution shortly after his 1975 encounter with his spiritual teacher, Jean Klein. His friendship and close association with his guru lasted until the death of J. Klein in 1998.Â

He was a friend of Robert Linssen, Wolter Keers, Yvan Amar, Douglas Harding, William Samuel and Robert Adams. He was also influenced by J. Krishnamurti, Krishna Menon and Wei Wu Wei whom he knew personally.Â

Francis transmits the ancient teaching of nonduality, the common ground of Advaita Vedanta, Ch’an Buddhism, Zen,Taoism and Sufism. Many contemporary spiritual teachers have attended his teaching events.

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Western Masters of Non-Duality. Francis Lucille: What is Self Inquiry?

Francis Lucille speaks answers the question, “What is Self Inquiry?”

True Refuge- Finding Peace and Freedom in Your Own Awakened Heart ~ Tara Brach

How do you cope when facing life-threatening illness, family conflict, faltering relationships, old trauma, obsessive thinking, overwhelming emotion, or inevitable loss? If you’re like most people, chances are you react with fear and confusion, falling back on timeworn strategies: anger, self-judgment, and addictive behaviors. Though these old, conditioned attempts to control our life may offer fleeting relief, ultimately they leave us feeling isolated and mired in pain.

There is another way. Beneath the turbulence of our thoughts and emotions exists a profound stillness, a silent awareness capable of limitless love. Tara Brach, author of the award-winning Radical Acceptance, calls this awareness our true refuge, because it is available to every one of us, at any moment, no exceptions. In this book, Brach offers a practical guide to finding our inner sanctuary of peace and wisdom in the midst of difficulty.

Based on a fresh interpretation of the three classic Buddhist gateways to freedom—truth, love, and awareness—True Refuge shows us the way not just to heal our suffering, but also to cultivate our capacity for genuine happiness. Through spiritual teachings, guided meditations, and inspirational stories of people who discovered loving presence during times of great struggle, Brach invites us to connect more deeply with our own inner life, one another, and the world around us.

True Refuge is essential reading for anyone encountering hardship or crisis, anyone dedicated to a path of spiritual awakening. The book reminds us of our own innate intelligence and goodness, making possible an enduring trust in ourselves and our lives. We realize that what we seek is within us, and regardless of circumstances, “there is always a way to take refuge in a healing and liberating presence.”

About the Author
Tara Brach, Ph.D., is the author of Radical Acceptance, winner of a Books for a Better Life Award. She is the founder of the Insight Meditation Community in Washington, D.C., and has conducted workshops across the country. She lives in Great Falls, Virginia, with her husband, her mother, and three dogs.

Finding True Refuge – Tara Brach

Tara Brach shares an emotional story how meditation helps her find peace and refuge every day as she learns to live with a genetic condition that affects her mobility. She tells a touching story of her whole family going to the beach without her and the realization that she needed to find peace and happiness in her life no matter what.

Embodied Spirit – Part 1A (09-19-2012)

Our body–this changing field of sensation–is a portal into pure Being. These talks explore the resistance we have to embodied presence, the pathways that enable us to awaken through our bodies, and the blessings of realization that arise as we let go over and over into the aliveness of our senses.
Embodied Spirit – Part 1B (09-19-2012)

The Joy Compass: Eight Ways to Find Lasting Happiness, Gratitude, and Optimism in the Present Moment ~ Donald Altman MA, LPC

What would life be like if we could get beyond the everyday worries, troubles, and stress that keep us from enjoying the joy in every moment?

The Joy Compass is the little book that leads readers toward this possibility with tips and strategies for overriding the brain’s natural negativity bias so that they can reset their moods, release their laughter, and fully appreciate happy moments. Readers learn to recognize their negative moods as early as possible and override them to refocus their attention toward the people, events, and thoughts that bring them joy.

The eight unique mindfulness strategies in this book help readers position their joy compass toward the present moment and develop the capacity to always have joy within arm’s reach, no matter the situation. The strategies include laughing, expressing gratitude, forgiving others, self-soothing with music, and spending silent time in contemplation or prayer.

Contents

1: Developing Attention & Intention

1. Becoming Friends with Your Mind and Body

2. Using Intention to Show Who’s in Control

2: Mindfulness Pathways to Joy & Positive Moods

3. Laughter Really Is Powerful Medicine

4. Get an Attitude of Gratitude

5. Finding Forgiveness

6. Music Is the Magical Mood Manager

7. Contemplation and Meditation

8. Mobilize Resources through Affirmation

9. Get Grounded in the Here and Now

10. Thrive through Love and Social Connections

Click Here To Browse Inside

Donald Altman

Donald is a psychotherapist and former Buddhist monk. Born in Chicago, he now resides in Portland, Oregon, where he teaches at Portland State University as an adjunct faculty member of the Interpersonal Neurobiology Program, and is an adjunct professor at Lewis and Clark Graduate School of Education and Counseling. Donald also serves on the board of directors of “THE CENTER FOR MINDFUL EATING.”

In his own words: “Mindfulness is my passion. I ordained in a Burmese Buddhist monastery with a wonderful mindfulness teacher– the venerable U. Silananda (author of The Four Foundations of Mindfulness). Later, while leading workshops on spiritual eating, I found many people coming to ask me about eating disorders that they were struggling with… and so I returned to school and am now a licensed psychotherapist. I believe it only takes a few grains of mindfulness each day to deepen enjoyment in daily life, and I have seen how it has changed lives in a positive way… one moment at a time!”

In addition to bringing practical mindfulness skills and strategies to anyone wanting a less chaotic life, Donald also travels around the country teaching therapists and professionals how to use clinical mindfulness interventions for anxiety, depression, and stress.

Donald Altman author of One-Minute Mindfulness
Donald Altman author of ONE-MINUTE MINDFULNESS (New World Library) explains how a simple task like washing the dishes is a wonderful opportunity to practice mindfulness on this AM Northwest interview in Portland, OR.

Eckhart Tolle – Death and The Eternal (video)