Joel and Michelle Levy Clear mind. Meditation and fitness for the mind

To our many kind teachers and the wisdom awakening in each of us

Foreword

We live in a culture where happiness as the most common state of mind is constantly being replaced by stress. Despite the accelerated development of technology and the increasing availability of material goods, the results of social surveys show that the average modern American in the prime of life is ten times more likely to fall into depression than our grandparents were. Those "benefits of civilization and progress" that are supposed to help us by saving us time and allowing us to relax and enjoy life are often the main cause of anxiety and nervous breakdown.

We, figuratively speaking, choke in an abundance of information and find ourselves buried under piles of paper and an avalanche of electronic correspondence. The realization of the fact that the Earth is depleted and its natural resources are exhausted plunges into melancholy and despair. The usual reaction to such a situation is denial: “Let's mind our own business!”, As if it is not ours.

"Run faster! Work harder! Take stimulants! Follow the routine! Don't forget to relax!”… That's when you start thinking: relax? Scheduled? Is this another important task that needs to be put into a tight schedule of urgent cases?

The truth is that we cannot heal the world until we ourselves reach a state of inner balance. We won’t even be able to fully realize our creative abilities or experience the blessed joy of intimate relationships if we suffer from a state of chronic anxiety and overload. In the early one900s, two Harvard University physiologists, Robert M. Yerkes and John D. Dodsoy, discovered that a little stress improves performance, while excessive stress can paralyze.

In the one980s, I ran a specialized stress relief clinic at one of the training centers based at the Harvard Medical School Hospital. Many of my clients worked in large corporations and were very afraid that, having learned to meditate and relax, they would lose their grip. Subsequently, they turned out greatly surprised to realize how much their performance increased after mastering a few simple exercises, brilliantly described by Joel and Michelle Levy in this book.

By developing our limits, we are actually learning the tools that will keep us from overreaching. And in the process of this learning, we receive unexpected and invaluable instructions about the nature of the human mind and the deep relationships that form the complex web in which we live, move and develop. As we clear and focus our minds, our senses become sharper, our creativity becomes more active, and we begin to notice that we are once again enjoying the joy of being alive. We begin to see the world again, regain the lost ability to be surprised and believe in miracles.

All spiritual leaders gave similar recommendations.

All people are alike. We all want happiness. The road to it is simple - a path paved with our actions, determined by our intentions - to be kind and compassionate, fair, honest and decent. The legend says that once a skeptic asked Rabbi Akiva, who lived in the onest century, to retell the entire teaching of the Torah, standing on one leg. The Goth replied: you must be kind to other people and not treat them the way you don't want them to treat you. The teaching of another teacher, Jesus, is the same. We know it as the Golden Rule, and although most of us agree with it completely, it is very difficult to implement in practice. What a level of consciousness and concern for others is required for this! Over time, when kindness and concern for others become second nature, the true value of meditation is also comprehended. Regular practice brings much more valuable results than just reducing anxiety, improving health and increasing efficiency. When we learn to let go of the superficial chatter that clogs our mind, we begin to understand that our true nature, our true self, is the center of awareness, peace, and compassion. And now actions filled with love and kindness become a reflection of our true nature, and not posturing.

A holy man from the Lakota tribe named Black Elk said: “There can be no peace among nations until we know what true peace in the human soul. A person acquires such a world when he realizes his unity with the Universe and all its elements, that the Great Spirit is in the center of the Universe, and that everything is His creation, that this center is, in fact, everywhere, inside each of us. Joel and Michelle echo this Black Elk teaching when they remind us that “relaxation is not a ‘some’ activity. Relaxation is a natural reaction that you simply allow to happen. When you stop straining, there is relaxation.” When the tension is gone, we find ourselves at rest, at the center of Creation, with the most genuine empathy from all over the universe. When I worked in the clinic, I told my clients that they were already whole and healed (these are the same root words, and the same root is present in the English word "holy" - "holy" [one - The root of the Russian word "whole" and the English "holy” go back to one Indo-European root. - Hereinafter note. per.]). The purpose of the therapy they received at the clinic was, so to speak, to peel away the layers of stress that had built up around their hearts—the receptacles of natural wisdom, compassion, and peace.

As I read this book, I was struck by the humble clarity with which it describes these fruitful teachings. I have known Joel and Michelle for ten years now and admire their great and unwavering desire to serve others and share with everyone the wisdom they have received from the most brilliant spiritual teachers of our time. I always feel joyful to feel their genuine compassion in me - as a reminder that through time-tested practices, we too can achieve peace and happiness. I was honored by their offer to write a preface to this, as they put it, "simple" book, which, in my opinion, is the most complete introductory course on meditation and spiritual practices ever written.

You are holding a real treasure in your hands, a real jewel that can change your life for the better and heal the world. Use it wisely, share your knowledge and experience with others. We are all blessed to have the deepest teachings of the world's greatest spiritual traditions recounted with stunning simplicity, beauty, and grace. In modern conditions, when so many superficial reading, we are given the rarest opportunity to acquire a book of such depth and scope, written in such a way that each of us gets the opportunity to develop his mind and heart at the pace that suits him best.

Joan Borisenko, MD

Awaken your integrity and unleash your potential

Man is a part of that whole that is called the "Universe": he is a part of the Universe, limited in time and space. The fact that our sense of ourselves, our thoughts and feelings are experienced by us as something separate from everything else, is a kind of "illusion" of our consciousness. This deception is a kind of prison in which we are imprisoned: we are doomed to imprisonment within our personal desires and our attachment to those few whom we call our loved ones. Man's task should be to free himself from this imprisonment so that his compassion embraces all living beings and all nature in all its beauty ...

To survive, humanity will need a fundamentally new way of thinking.

Albert Einstein

In the LIFE of EACH OF US there were moments when we experienced a sense of belonging to everything, a sense of unity with the whole world, a sense of unity with the Universe and our own integrity, which sometimes happens more intensely than usual. It is probably not a mistake to assume that in your life these moments - experiences of some deeper wisdom, love and animation - always came out of the blue. Hold on for a moment! Try to revive in your memory those special moments when you - suddenly - began to feel absolutely alive and full of joy! When you felt delighted solely because - here and now - you live! When you allowed your heart to open to love and be loved tenderly, when you were in a flow of harmony with the world around you. Remember all these important moments of your life! Remember when the fruits of your labor turned out to be something outstanding, when you helped someone or, on the contrary, allowed someone to take care of you, when - at some point of timelessness - you were able to embrace with a single glance the whole indescribable picture of Creation, understand it and realize that you belong to her.

If you investigate the properties of your sense of self yourself in these special moments, you may find that then your attention was completely and completely focused on what was happening, and the mind acted in oneness with the body. It is this property of our sense of ourselves that can be developed, cultivated, awakened in ourselves with the help of meditation. The ability to remember and appreciate the moments that allowed us to know and feel life most fully serves us as a help in realizing our capabilities. Such moments of deep awareness awaken in us the desire to discover our own fullness and authenticity in ourselves, they can lead us to decide to dedicate our lives to helping others on this