read sample
Stress Kills
Stress has become the #1 silent killer of the 21st century.
More than 75% of all physician office visits are for stress-related ailments and complaints”, according to the American Psychological Association. Chronic stress is linked to six leading causes of death, based on the same source: heart disease, cancer, lung ailments, accidents, cirrhosis of the liver and suicide.
If you find yourself stressed and constantly behind, you are a strong candidate for frequent doctors’ visits, hospital stays and mortality statistics.
What is the way out? The way out is in. A 10-letter cure of meditation.
Based on the APA peer review of 200 studies on meditation, meditation is found to be the “cure” for stress, anxiety and depression. Meditation literally changes the brain’s structure with measurable effects on the prefrontal cortex associated with our brain health and executive functions, such as our perception and decision making.
Here comes a simple and practical guide, deep rooted in ancient traditions, which teaches you how to meditate in order to rewire for a healthy brain. It is written by LoLo Shaw, a former television host who followed the footsteps of ancient yogis all the way to the Himalayas.
Read it and share it. With regular practice, you are on your way to self mastery. Master your emotions, you shall master your health and life in one breath.
If you had a few minutes left to live, what would run through your mind?
The Ultimate Practice
Beginner Meditation for Everyone
Rewire for a Healthy Brain
Balboa Press
A Division of Hay House
Excerpt From the Book
Preface
If you had a few minutes left to live, what would run through your mind?
That happened to me fifteen years ago. I was in an allergy-shot clinic in Ottawa. Suddenly, I could not breathe. My head was clear, but the air was leaving my lungs fast, like air letting out of a balloon. My chest became tight. A numbing sensation quickly enveloped my torso. I had a feeling that my death was imminent.
I thought about my two boys, then ages eleven and twelve. It was only a few months after they had lost their father. What would become of them if I died? They would become orphans. I told myself: “I cannot die. I shall live.” And I survived, thanks to the doctor on duty.
Having lived through a near-death experience, I had an aha moment. I asked myself an important question: How will I redesign my life if I get out of here alive? I decided to stay at home and become a full-time mom. After resigning as a radio host and the chief editor for the largest ethnic newspaper in town, I joyfully faded away as a “personality” to a person.
One day, I walked into the Rama Lotus Yoga Studio in Ottawa to relieve a recurring back pain from a long sitting job. Little did I know I had become an accidental yogi, fifteen years later. In 2018, I traced the roots of the ancient yogis all the way to Rishikesh of India at the foot of Himalayas. I arrived at the birthplace of yoga, the cradle for mind–body science for thousands of years. Being surrounded by yogis and grounded by swamis, I came back with a renewed sense of purpose and energy.
I started to practice every day, even for just 10 minutes at times. After thousands of hours of personal practice on and off the mat, the transformative power in me and around me has not gone unnoticed. My ninety-three-year-old mama started to call me Buddha’s daughter. My youngest son calls me Mama Swami. My students and former colleagues call me Buddha Goddess. All these affectionate terms have humbled me and prompted me to write a book for more people beyond my class. If I can do it, my students can do it, you can too.
Holding in your hand is this book The Ultimate Practice: Beginner Meditation for Everyone. The book has been condensed from a 3-book draft volume to a short guide, over the course of 13 years. It is a five-step guide on how to start a solo meditation practice in the comfort of home and office, along with lessons I have learned along the way from monks, yogis, and Zen masters.
Let The Ultimate Practice be your daily breath. Emotional self-mastery is within the reach of everyone. Master your mind and emotions; you become the master of your health and life in one breath.
“Maybe you are searching among the branches for what only appears at the roots” ~ Rumi
Table of Content
Foreword
Preface
Introduction
Part I: Meditation Made Simple
Start a Home Practice in Five Simple Steps
- Step 1: Get Your Body Ready Sit Like a Pharaoh
- Step 2: Get Your Mind Ready Turn Your Gaze Inward
- Step 3: Experience a Yogic Meditation Japa for Inner Freedom
- Step 4: Let Meditation Carry You Your Daily Breath
- Step 5: Download a Yogic Mind Think like a Yogi
Part II: Science of Meditation
6. Secret to Emotional Mastery
Part III : Experience Yogic Mind
7. Encounter with the Tallest Monk in India
8. Practise Your Alchemy
Questions and Answers
How to Live at Peace with Yourself and Others …
Acknowledgments
A Deep Bow to Five Masters
About the Author
Swami S. Brahmananda
Forward
Meditation has become increasingly popular in the West. Yet it remains the most difficult practice and has caused enormous confusion.
Why does meditation appear difficult?
Swami Sarvapriyananda explained it this way: “Meditation is difficult because only parts are taken out. Many techniques of meditation have come to existence for quick consumption to suit various personal tastes. There is a supermarket of techniques out there, many of which are promoted like another form of commodity.”
Meditation can relax you, but it only scratches the surface. If you are unable to make peace with yourself, the same disturbed mind remains after your practice. Being able to sit still and feel calm during meditation is one thing, your ability to remain calm after sitting is the true practice of a right meditation.
Ancient yogic meditation does just that. Meditation is described as chitta vritti nirodja in the Yoga Sutra of Sage Patanjali. It means to quieten the constant mental chatter, through simple and powerful techniques, which are deep rooted in the ancient yogic mind-body science, as an organic whole.
When LoLo Shaw asked me to read her manuscript, I was very pleased. Many teachers and writers tend to add colour and mysticism to meditation, she managed to explain the ancient practice in the simplest terms without losing its profundity. Straightforward and engaging, LoLo’s book The Ultimate Practice is a timely gift. It is a short and concise guide for anyone who wishes to start a solo practice, at home or in the office.
Take a few moments each day from your busy and hurried life just to be with yourself. With regular practice, peace, health, and happiness will naturally come to you. When you are peaceful and happy, you are ready to take on the world, working toward a larger goal that is good for you, good for your family and good for the larger community, in health, beauty and all-around success.
LoLo Shaw is a modern yogi with the mind of a Zen teacher. Her blend of Eastern and Western experience and dedication to personal practice exemplify the integration of the mind, body and spirit. Let the Ultimate Practice show you the way. You can read the book in a day, but the benefits can last a lifetime.
Whether you are a meditation teacher or someone who has never meditated before, the book is written for you.
May you know the power of your mind. Let The Ultimate Practice show you the way.
Swami Shiva Brahmananda Saraswati
Rishikesh, India
The Ultimate Practice
The Art of Looking in
Excerpt from the Book
“Turn the gaze inwards wherein your true Self is found.”
~ Swami Vivekananda
HOw to Meditate
Step 2: Turn Your Gaze Inward
The first step of a yogic meditation is how to sit and sit like a pharaoh. Now we come to the second step: turn your gaze inward and withdraw like a turtle.
Why Turning Your Gaze Inward?
We live in two worlds: the outer and inner world. Which world determines the quality of your life? Keep this question in mind while we explore further.
The gaze and focus of an untrained mind are constantly on the outer world. With nonstop distractions, the hustle and bustle that overwhelm our senses, the outside world becomes a roadblock to understanding our inner world.
“The outside material world is devoid of Self, thus a hindrance to self-understanding and self knowledge.” Stated in the Yoga Sutra of Sage Patanjali.
What is self understanding? The ability to know and understand your true Self, the very spirit that animates you as a human being, not just a human machine.
Cosmic Wisdom
A classical yogi is often compared to a tortoise who retracts the head and limbs for self reflection and self growth, particularly in times of uncertainty.
“One who is able to withdraw the senses from outside objects, just as a tortoise withdraws its limbs into its shell, is established in cosmic wisdom.” (Bhagavad Gita 2.58)
What Determines Your Lasting Happiness?
Two Worlds: Inner and Outer
Since we were little, we have been taught to soak up knowledge from the outside world in order to be successful and happy. Yogic teachings, along with many other great spiritual traditions, have been prescribing to us that it is vitally important to learn about yourself first, your inner world. Life renders you little meaning if you fail to know about yourself.
Mind is the source of everything, success or failure, health or ailment, joy or misery, happiness or agony, freedom or suffering. To turn failure into success, from disease to healing, misery to joy, agony to happiness, we start with the mind.
Take a look at your own lives and those of your family and friends, neighbors and coworkers. Some people are happy when getting married; some are happy when getting divorced; some are happy when having children; and some are happy without children. Having wealth or having less amount, one can be both happy and troubled.
Obviously, it is not our external situations that determine our inner happiness. Rather, it is our self knowledge and self understanding that create our inner experience and lasting joy.
If you are happy inside, you can move mountains. If you are not happy, walking out of your door for work can be a tremendous drag. When you place your happiness on external conditions or make it conditional upon something to happen or someone to complete you, your future and your happiness are bound to be conditional and accidental.
Meditation is a simple and powerful tool to align yourself with your inner nature and discover your true identity, which in turn brings you deeper fulfillments and lasting joy.
Turn your gaze inward and listen to the gentlest whispers. Use meditation as a mental crutch to manage your emotions, so your mind starts to work for you, instead of working against you.
“The problem is you and the solution is also you.” Said the guru of my yoga teacher Swami Dayananda.
Before the sun goes down today and after the sun rises tomorrow, sit with yourself for a little while. Meditate and go gently inward.
om