path.

When we meditate, we deliberately nurture and cultivate in ourselves the highest quality of the feeling of life; without practice, it manifests itself as a short glimpse, felt only in especially fertile moments. All in all, our minds are quite fragmented, and the lives that most of us lead are falling apart. Our mind seems to be separated from our body. We often get lost in the wilds of our thoughts; our connection with reality and with inner and outer sensations remains superficial. How often will we be able to be collected, maintain inner calm and clarity of mind and at the same time be open - in order to be clearly aware of the subtlest game in which our inspiration, intuition, possible revelations are involved, which are a natural, albeit extremely imperceptible part of our life? How many invaluable insights, amazing ideas and discoveries passed before our mind's eye, which, flashing for a moment with the purest clarity, then disappeared without a trace, because the level of noise in our mind-body system was too high and did not allow us to recognize this subtle sublime whisper? How many problems could be avoided if we were properly rooted in our own integrity and in the present moment!

Although our body is not very different from that of our ancestors, we live in conditions that are extremely different and much more demanding than those in which they happened to live. We come to the end of a single day with so much information processed and so many decisions made that another ancestor of ours might not have come to the end of his life! And given that the pace of change is constantly growing, and with it - the uncertainty in the world around us, as well as the scale of the crisis - both the global and the crisis of the individual, how many choices do we have to face every day? So is it any wonder that very often we feel exhausted, tired, exhausted to the limit? As a result, we break down.

When so many people in our society endure meaningless suffering and die from diseases caused by stress that could be easily prevented, what is surprising that so much attention is paid today to finding a real alternative to a modern lifestyle that has turned out to be destructive both for the individual and for nature? In modern conditions, we have to learn to know ourselves and control ourselves.

It is not surprising that so many people rushed to search for deep, life-giving forces. It can be generally accepted that the art of meditation and relaxation should be considered as vital skills that give peace to the mind and heal the body and relationships.

Mind Development

The revolutionary discovery of our generation lies in the realization that by changing our conscious attitudes, we can change our lives.

William James

Our friend Charles Tart, a pioneer in the scientific study of consciousness, once said, "We don't understand the operations of our minds, and therefore we don't operate them very well." Many people believe that their state of mind is an unchanging and unchanging “given.” However, our research and experience confirms that "upgrading" qualities such as attention, intelligence, creativity, and other mental abilities is quite feasible. Subject to appropriate training and practice. Those who are motivated to do this can not only improve their health, but also increase “brain energy”, increase the ability to be creative, make life longer and better, awaken the ability to empathize and sympathize more strongly. And in general - to bring more benefits to the world. The multiple, complex dilemmas of modern life continue to present us with their demands and complex challenges, and the science of the internal body-mind system and its development sympathetically offers us several practical solutions to choose from. How as soon as a person "connects" to these inner skills, they breathe new life into his personal or professional atmosphere. While these skills are highly productive, they reinforce and strengthen themselves. To master them and to use them, no financial costs are required; they are reliable, easily penetrate into any area of ​​​​application and give new value to our lives.

No matter what kind of work we do or what position we hold, the body-mind system remains our primary tool. It is truly a magical, mysterious and versatile tool of endless possibilities, thanks to which we create new tools and use them intelligently. However, while we are growing up, going to school, mastering a profession, few of us can learn at least the elementary skills of "effectively managing" this tool and its "fine tuning".

Think for yourself: did your parents, teachers, doctors, confessors ever teach you ways or techniques by which you could “let go” of stress from yourself, relieve tension, concentrate and direct the power of your mind in the right direction, achieve deep insight into the help of meditation? Do they themselves do something similar? Or do they even have an idea of ​​the benefits of this subtle and practical art? Probably not. With no knowledge of even the basics of this skill, most of us remain virtually illiterate when it comes to inner practices and knowledge. However, times are changing, and due to many factors, interest in these fundamental human skills has skyrocketed in recent decades.

Faced with the increasing complexity of today's market, we are forced to constantly increase the speed with which we think, receive and process information, draw conclusions, communicate and act. When the demands of a situation (be it work, society, our physiology or psychology) exceed our ability to adequately respond to them, we experience tension and discomfort. We are barely equipped to deal with these complexities, let alone break through to higher, more stable levels of performance, so many people get caught in a downstream web, thinning their vitality and undermining their health. As a result, we are witnessing epidemics associated with stress, and a whole host of accidents and problems associated with this phenomenon, both financial and social. The stronger the stress, the weaker attention, the ability to judge, creative self-expression, professional skills. And, accordingly, the more mistakes we make. Similarly, the higher the level of shock, the more likely we will begin to conflict in relationships with loved ones or fall ill with some unpleasant, life-threatening disease.

According to statistics, ninety-five percent of all diseases are related to diseases caused by stress and lifestyle. At one time, Deputy Minister of Health William Fogie said that two-thirds of all cases of disability and death before the age of sixty-five could be avoided (and some researchers, I must say, raise this bar to the age of eighty-five). Here it is, the good news: if you really care about your life and health, it is in your power to change something!

At every moment of our lives, the mind-body system provides us with the information and inspiration we need to avoid the difficulties that arise. By learning to listen to this stream of very quiet inner voice, we have access to both warning signs and intuitive insights. If we track them and take them seriously, the signs can tell us where to find "material" for the next breakthrough in the field of creativity or solving pressing problems, as well as warn of mounting stress or impending illness. For too many people, sensitive mental and physical "receivers" are sometimes so overloaded that this barely audible voice of intuition - a completely natural part of our life, is lightly ignored. We play for time until the whisper, letting us know about the tensions in the body, in relationships, in the world, does not turn into heartbreaking cries, cries of pain. And only then do we wake up, fully recognize what happened, and set to work to restore inner balance and harmony. How much unnecessary suffering could be avoided if we only learned to listen to this whisper, without waiting, until it turns into a scream!

How much suffering, grief and pain could be avoided, how many billions of dollars would be saved, how many years would not be wasted or spent in research and development laboratories if people and organizations paid more attention to developing our human ability to “be here and now.”» thanks to mind development technologies?

Imagine the huge cost you have incurred, or the significant damage done to your body, relationships, activities, environment, or the many valuable insights and ideas you have missed due to the increased “inner noise level”. Think of everything, and the present may inspire you to work with the practices and techniques presented in this book. Can we afford not to heed the inner warnings and the voice of intuition that can determine the further course of our personal future, of the whole society, and even of the whole world?

The disciplines of inner transformation empower us because they tell us how we can change the world, starting with ourselves. Gandhi put it this way: "We ourselves must become the change we want to see in the world around us." In a speech at Harvard University, the Dalai Lama, one of the most remarkable teachers, said:

In our age, knowledge is constantly growing and spreading, but all of it is about the outside world ... We spend a huge amount of mental effort on looking outward, wasting it and not paying due attention to learning to look inward, looking inside ourselves ... Perhaps now, when the science of the Western world, having reached the depths of the atom and the heights of the cosmos, finally realized the extreme vulnerability of life and its price, it becomes easy to believe in the significance of the