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When I met Jenness in 1971, the very first question I asked the
woman who would eventually become my wife was, "Do you have a
philosophy of life?" At that moment we began a series of
conversations about the meaning of life and how best to experience
happiness. By the mid 1970s, those talks had led us to the practice
of Yoga Science and marriage. The conversations have never stopped.
They continue to this day.
People marry for many reasons: love, security, pleasure, and to
provide a safe, nurturing environment in which to raise children. If
you are already married, or are contemplating marriage, Yoga Science
offers many helpful and practical insights that can make your
marital relationship more loving, creative and deeply rewarding. For
the past 31 years the Yoga of marriage has consistently provided
Jenness and me with practical wisdom and inspiration. Through our
yogic marriage each of us serves the other as the instrument of
Guru (the universal force of light that dispels the darkness of
ignorance), encouraging one another to act skillfully in all
relationships--including those with health, food choices, family,
finances, work and sexuality.
In Yoga Science the institution of marriage is considered to be an
ashram--a structured framework or community fostering spiritual
practice (sadhana). Ashrams, in slightly varying forms, have
existed all over the world for thousands of years--throughout India,
the far East and even ancient Greece. At the threshold of the
Christian era, the Jewish communities of Essenes were based on the
ashram tradition. According to Olivier Manitara, author of the book,
"The Essenes--From Jesus to our Time," Jeremiah, Isaiah, St. Ann,
Joseph, Mary, John the Baptist and Jesus Himself were all Masters of
the Essenes. During at least part of their lives, each of these
sages lived as sadhakas (spiritual aspirants) in a
spiritually directed ashram community where they studied and
practiced many of the principles taught today as Yoga Science.
The word ashram is derived from the Sanskrit shram
which means "hard work." In marriage as an ashram, the couple
consciously and willingly undertakes the physical, mental and
emotional work of transforming the power of their individual
debilitating habits. This ashram is the place where they
continuously attempt to practice Karma Yoga with one another. Karma
Yoga asks both husband and wife to serve the other with love and to
base all their actions on their own inner intuitive
wisdom--renouncing, rather than claiming the fruits of their
actions. The results of all actions, Yoga teaches, belong not to the
individuals, but to the Divine Origin of the wisdom that inspired
the action.
The word ashram is also related to the Sanskrit root, ashraya,
meaning refuge or retreat. When a marriage is grounded in Yoga
Science, it becomes a retreat from the anxiety and pressures of the
world. It provides the necessary refuge within which individuals may
look inward to examine the deeper aspects of life.
All Yoga practices--such as hatha (physical postures),
meditation, Ayurveda and pranayama (breath work)--have one
and the same goal: unbounded happiness and fulfillment. When two
human beings consciously join together to practice Yoga Science,
every relationship that takes place within that union (including
relationships with their children) is viewed as a means to fulfill
the purpose of life. Every thought, word and deed becomes an
integral part of sadhana. Such skillful action provides both
husband and wife the fearlessness, nourishment, inspiration, inner
strength, compassion and creativity necessary to meet all the
challenges of everyday life.
But even if only one person in a marriage can courageously follow
the principles of Yoga Science--without expectations or
judgments--enormous benefits accrue to the entire family. Such
skillful action is highly contagious.
In our Western culture, the wedding ring is the symbol of commitment
and fidelity. In Yoga Science the ring is seen as the joining
together of two distinct half circles; two individual and limited
egos. When the two are made one through the Yoga of marriage, the
husband and wife no longer consider themselves to be separate
individuals. Each is now half of a newly created whole--an expansion
of their prior individual identities. This yogic concept has been
echoed through the ages by many philosophers. The Greek philosopher
Aristotle, student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great,
spoke as an intuitive Yoga scientist when he said, "True love [as in marriage]
is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies."
In keeping with Aristotle's sentiment, a modern yogic marriage makes
it possible for a husband and wife to experience the true merging of
souls. The process is analogous to the metallurgic phenomenon of
amalgamation. For instance, if copper and zinc are heated together
sufficiently, the resulting alloy of brass displays more highly
prized qualities than did its original constituents. Similarly, as a
wife and husband make conscious, discriminating choices based on
their shared, inner, intuitive wisdom, they merge into a new, common
alloy, one with new capabilities greater than the sum of its parts.
The two evolve into a unified consciousness with new attributes like
stability, flexibility and strength that perfect and surpass the
original characteristics of the individuals. Through the process of
sadhana, selfish, fearful and resentful aspects of each
partner's old personality are transformed into expansive qualities
of creativity, selflessness, compassionate love, mutual respect and
gratitude.
Every yogic principle and practice can be enlisted in the
transformation of an unexamined or unfulfilling marriage. The
following specific applications may serve as inspiration.
Ahimsa: Yoga's Highest Principle
In the Yoga of marriage every action (mental, verbal and physical)
is guided by the highest yogic principle of ahimsa. The
practice of ahimsa means that every thought, word and deed in
every relationship is to be non-injurious, non-harming and
non-violent.
In practical terms, ahimsa is the same wisdom as the Golden
Rule that instructs human beings to "Do unto others as you wish to
have done unto you," or as Jesus the Christ teaches: "Love thy
neighbor as thy self." Mahatma Gandhi always insisted that, "Ahimsa
is an attribute of the soul--to be practiced by everybody in all
affairs of life. If it cannot be practiced in all circumstances, it
has no practical value." The logic behind all these instructions is
one and the same: on the highest level of consciousness, your
neighbor (and therefore, your husband or wife) is also your Self.
The sages of Yoga Science teach that if a husband and wife serve
ahimsa in mind, action and speech with each other and with their
children, they automatically live in harmony with the universal law
of dharma--that which guides the family toward its highest
good. If they practice ahimsa, they will experience a loving,
healthy, creative and rewarding life together. If a couple does not
practice ahimsa, the consequence will be some form of
physical, mental, emotional or spiritual dis-ease or pain.
Yoga Science acknowledges the multiplicity of changing names and
forms, but recognizes them to be only limited manifestations of the
One Absolute Reality. If a husband or wife thinks, speaks or acts in
a harmful or injurious manner within the family structure, that
injury will ultimately come back upon them since, in truth, there is
only One Reality. The Bible teaches that, "As you sow, so shall you
reap," or, in modern parlance, "What goes around, comes around."
For most of us, the senses, ego and unconscious mind took control of
the city of life many years ago. Yoga Science helps both husband and
wife rectify that situation by placing all their mental forces in
service to an intelligence greater than the mind and a truth that
never changes. Even in the midst of the challenges and cultural
pressures of modern marital life, the wisdom of the eternal soul
serves as a beacon leading the married couple toward their mutual
highest and greatest good.
The present cultural view of marriage does not wholeheartedly
embrace the concerted application of this philosophy, and in some
situations might even view ahimsa as a display of selfishness
or weakness. But that is a misunderstanding of the principle. People
may say, "If I refuse to agree with my husband or wife, it might be
criticized as selfishness and that's not good." But Yoga Science
explains that there's nothing wrong with being selfish--if the real
Self being served, in a marriage and in every other relationship, is
the Lord of Life.
Detaching from Old Habits
What, you might ask, saves a yogic husband or wife from acting
habitually in an unskillful manner? The answer lies in vairagya:
the practice of detachment or non-attachment. When practicing
vairagya, a husband, for example, is always first aware that
both he and his wife are essentially manifestations of the Supreme
Reality--One pure consciousness having an intimate human
relationship as husband and wife. Secondly, the husband is aware of
his own and his wife's samskaras--unconscious attachments
that inhibit skillful and loving action. Through the regular
practice of meditation the husband can learn to center himself in
the fullness of his Essential Nature and detach himself from both
his own and his wife's limitations. Freed from such powerfully
debilitating habits, the husband, again through skills learned in
meditation, can more reliably follow the promptings of his own
conscience (buddhi). Utilizing his will power, the husband is
able to freely serve the discriminating choice of shreya that
will enhance his marital relationship, and he can sacrifice the
preya--those ego or sense gratifications that would have
eventually brought the couple pain.
Tapas: The Heat that Transforms
The word tapas means heat. It is a sadhaka's acts of surrender or
renunciation that generate the heat necessary to facilitate
transformation. When a husband and wife consistently sacrifice the
preya, their offerings purify the mind and body and increase the
energy, will power (sankalpa) and creativity that are necessary to
realize greater unity, understanding and joy. Tapas does not require
the renunciation of every pleasurable desire and emotion. The
beneficial results associated with tapas do, however, remind us that
self-discipline is a necessary ingredient in every successful
relationship. As the insightful twentieth century mythology scholar,
Joseph Campbell observed, "When you make a sacrifice in marriage,
you're sacrificing not to each other but to unity in a
relationship."
Heart Chakra
The heart chakra (anahata), found at the level of the
physical heart, is considered a demarcation between the animal
consciousness of separateness and pain and the Divine consciousness
of unity and happiness. Its symbol is two intersecting
triangles--the same symbol that represents modern Judaism as the
six-pointed Star of David. The first triangle is turned upward--an
ascending triangle symbolizing the fire, or resolve (sankalpa),
of human effort. The ascending force is our conscious discrimination
between the short-term ego or sense gratification of preya
and the perennial joy of shreya. The descending triangle
represents grace (kripa).
If a husband and wife prepare their hearts and minds by consistently
serving their inner intuitive wisdom, the descending force of grace
is thereby given access to their lives and blesses the marriage with
the fulfillment of needs. But the sequence of events is critical.
First and foremost, individuals must base their actions on the
Divine wisdom of the buddhi. Then, Divine grace descends.
Jesus the Christ spoke of casting seeds on various kinds of soil,
but only where the farmer had prepared the soil would those seeds
sprout and prosper.
Teaching Our Children
When a couple regularly practices the Yoga of marriage in this
manner and tells the child, "No, don't do that," the instruction is
understood yogically as intuitive wisdom reflected from the
discriminative faculty buddhi. A young child faced with a
thwarted desire is likely to turn down the volume of the parents'
instruction as a method of dealing with his or her own anger. But
even if the child chooses not to hear the parents on this particular
occasion, she continues to observe the parents to see if Mom and Dad
heed their own discriminative advice when dealing with their own
desires and attachments. If, during the formative years (age 2
through 12) the child perceives no conflict between what the parents
instruct and the manner in which they handle their own personal
issues, at a certain point of maturity the child will begin to
recognize the profound truth--that they too possess the very same
discriminative faculty the parents use to make skillful decisions.
If, however, the child observes a disparity between what the parents
instruct the child to do and how they face their own fears, anger
and desires, a serious conflict is created in the child's mind. This
inner conflict places a tremendous pressure on the child to
experiment in order to discover the truth about how best to act in
the world. Such children of unskillful parents often feel compelled
to touch every burner on the stove and suffer all the consequences
in order to learn which are safe and which bring pain.
Growing Together
The ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu observed, "To love someone
deeply gives you strength, and being loved by someone deeply gives
you courage." When a husband and wife view their marriage as a
framework for Yoga Science, they gain strength and courage from both
loving and being loved. True love cannot be expressed by an
unconscious addiction to old, harmful habits, nor by merely
acquiescing, nor by being angry about a spouse's unskillful and
debilitating actions. On the contrary, true love between husband and
wife means consciously facing every situation together and making
earnest, discriminating choices that lovingly question old mental
and emotional conditioning. Because of a spouse's love and respect
for the truth that is spoken by their soul-mate, there is no
perceived threat, resentment nor acrimony; only a humble recognition
that the old tapes of ignorance--powerful and attractive as they
might be--are not in the best interest of the individual, the couple
or family.
With this understanding, the Yoga of marriage is a genuine union of
two human beings. It is a mutually respectful and beneficial
relationship grounded in the desire to serve the Divine in each
other. Neither of the two is separate nor superior to the other.
Yogic marriage is a shared experience that is fair, mutually
responsible and uplifting because both husband and wife agree to
place themselves in service to a wisdom greater than their
individual habit patterns. In the Bhagavad Gita, the Lord in the
form of Krishna, speaking to his disciple Arjuna (who represents the
limited
personality of the human being) says, "Abandon all other supports.
Make everything an offering to Me, and I will shine forth through
you."
True marital happiness lies in service; serving one's inner
intuitive wisdom and truth and serving the "other" as the Supreme
Self. The more a husband and wife are willing to base their choices
on Yoga Science, the more completely they experience the fullness
and bliss of the Supreme Reality that lies at the center of their
being. When a sculptor stands before a raw block of marble, she
might have a vision of an elephant. As she takes hammer and chisel
in hand, she proceeds to remove everything that is not the
elephant--until all that remains is the elephant.
Similarly, the Yoga of marriage is a practical method of discovering
that beneath all the layers of debilitating habits and emotion,
unbounded happiness and eternal love is the natural state of our
being. "Love," Swami Rama of the Himalayas taught, "is the most
ancient traveler in the universe--traveling from eternity to
eternity." If you acknowledge that you and your life-mate are
essentially spirit having a human experience, Yoga Science can help
you realize your own eternal, bliss-filled essence by inspiring you
to remove all the ignorance that is not the real You. Then, centered
in the fullness and contentment of your true Self, your skillful
actions will make you a prophet of love, both inside and outside the
marriage.
In Yoga Science, married individuals are asked not to love their
spouse until it hurts, but to love their spouse even when it hurts.
In his famous sonnet to love and marriage, William Shakespeare
observed that true love remains strong and dedicated to eternal
truth even during the most challenging and hurtful circumstances.
True love, Shakespeare says, is constant, unmovable and reliable. It
is not weakened by difficulty or hard times. It is not bound by
youth or beauty. Love, true love, is forever.
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! It is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown,
although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool,
though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not
with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
William Shakespeare
(1564-1616)
"When you
recognize and serve your wife or husband
as a reflection of the Supreme Reality,
your marriage will help you attain
the highest state of enlightenment."
Leonard Perlmutter
Philosopher, educator,
author and founder of the American Meditation Institute
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Gary's girlfriend is threatening to leave him. She's demanding he marry
her now or their relationship is over. Gary had asked for more time
to think it over, but that was a year ago. Laura has finally had
enough; if he's not willing to tie the knot, she's going to go out
and find a man who is.
Gary is completely distraught. He enjoys Laura's company, he tells
me; she's smart, funny, and affectionate. But her fiery temperament
drives him crazy. And Gary prefers an orderly environment, while
Laura's apartment looks like a tornado hit it. Could he actually
live with a woman who leaves her hairbrush on the bathroom counter
rather than placing it neatly in the cabinet?
I told Gary if after several years of seeing this woman he's still
not sure he wants to make a commitment, then it's time to end the
relationship and let Laura get on with her life. But he's reluctant
to let her go. He's worried he may not find another woman he likes
better.
"How do I know I'm really in love?" Gary asked me. "And even if I
care about this woman, how do I know it will last? What does Yoga
say about love anyway?"
Yoga texts describe three different levels of love between a man and
a woman. The first is moha, romantic infatuation. You glance
across the room and he (or she) walks in. From that first glance
you're utterly smitten. You can't think of anything but him, you
rise in the morning hoping only for another glimpse of his beautiful
face. If he hints he feels the same way about you, your heart soars
as if it could lift you into the sky. There's no more exhilarating
sensation in the world than falling madly in love. You've never felt
more alive, more giddy with the promise of life.
Yoga adepts consider this type of love to be a potent form of
self-delusion. Once you've been through it a few times, you may
begin to suspect as much yourself. When you mistake a fallible human
being for an idealized fantasy partner who actually exists only in
your imagination, disillusionment generally follows at a gallop. The
sweetness of romance begins to curdle in your mouth.
Our culture greatly values romantic love. We all know someone
addicted to it, who runs from one relationship to another convinced
each time she's finally found "the one," and equally certain when
the intense high wears off that the relationship isn't worth saving.
Indian scriptures suggest that the asuras ("beings without
light") love this way. They're always chasing the nymph Mohini,
the incarnation of moha, a fantasy figure they're infatuated
with. Therefore they miss their opportunity to taste the nectar of
immortality.
While the story of Mohini cheating the asuras of
immortality is a famous Indian myth, the truth behind it reflects a
very real problem in the lives of Yoga students. Especially while
reproductive hormones are pulsing through their veins in the full
vigor of youth, students can find it hard to meditate with
one-pointed focus. It's difficult to reach the immortal part of
themselves because they're constantly distracted by sensual
fantasies. They need to bargain with their mental apparatus that for
the next 20 or 30 minutes, their lover is going to have to wait on
the back burner of their consciousness while they shift their focus
from visions of heated passion to quiet absorption in meditation.
In India the sages developed an ingenious method for helping
spiritual aspirants redirect their passion to the divine within.
They offered wonderful fantasy figures like the breathtakingly
attractive cowherd Krishna or the devastatingly voluptuous Lalita
for young people to fantasize about. But these are more than
ordinary fantasy figures. Krishna is understood as an embodiment of
God and Lalita is thought of as the Mother of the Universe.
While imagining the romantic escapades of these delightful
characters, one also contemplates their many divine qualities
including their all embracing compassion and selfless efforts to
help others. In this way the natural tendency of the mind to slip
into romantic reverie is transformed into an easy form of spiritual
practice.
Mature Love
In many traditional cultures like India, there's a certain distrust
of romantic love, which so often ends as abruptly as it began.
(Witness the numerous divorces in American culture, where
relationships are often based largely on sexual attraction.)
Therefore arranged marriages are preferred, where parents apply
their years of experience to find a partner they believe will make
their son or daughter happiest over the long term. Few of us in the
West would be satisfied with this type of arrangement!
Fortunately for us, sometimes romantic love blossoms into prema,
deep and abiding love. Prema is not so much thrilling as it
is patient, content and good humored. If moha is associated
with the excitement of the first kiss, prema bonds the couple
as they change diapers, pay the mortgage, and nurse each other
through illness and old age. It is the cheerful commitment to stand
together no matter what life throws at them, "for richer or poorer,
in sickness and health...."
When I look at emotionally balanced couples who've demonstrated this
type of mature love in their marriage over the decades, what I
especially note is radical acceptance. John, for example, is a
classic air head. He spaces out on important appointments,
constantly misplaces his cell phone and car keys, and is so
distractible he frequently misses his exit on the freeway. As his
wife Patty laughs, "He would forget his head if it weren't screwed
on."
Patty, unlike John, is unadventurous, detail oriented, adamantly
punctual, and careful with money. Their personalities could hardly
be more dissimilar. "If we had met in our teens, we wouldn't have
been able to stand each other," Patty confided. "I would have
thought John was irresponsible and he would have thought I was an
stick in the mud. But when we did meet we were both mature enough to
focus on each other's best qualities-like John's kind-heartedness
and loyalty-and keep the negative stuff in perspective. I find
John's spaceyness to be endearing actually, and he's very patient
with my stickling over details."
Many couples marry with the thought at the back of their minds that
they'll remold their new spouse into someone they like better,
someone closer to their fantasy ideal. But relationships only work
over the long term when two people accept each other for exactly who
they are. It's important to enter a marriage knowing your partner is
no more perfect than you are, but loving and supporting them totally
anyway.
That's why I advised Gary, "If there are parts of Laura's
temperament you can't make peace with, the two of you will never be
happy. But you need to look inside yourself to check whether any
woman will ever meet your standards. You may spend the rest of your
life alone because no flesh and blood person will ever satisfy your
unrealistic demands. Then the problem isn't really Laura, it's your
own inability to love, accept and forgive."
If you're lucky enough to find someone you want to spend your life
with, how can you be sure your love will last? Romantic love turns
on and off like a faucet, but mature love lasts not only for this
incarnation but for lifetimes to come. It may move through different
stages, from passionate ardor to warm friendship to deep spiritual
empathy. But it won't ever end. In order to experience this full
blossoming of love though, both partners must resolve from the
beginning to stand by each other through tough times.
Today we see celebrities spending two million dollars on their
weddings, and divorcing two years later. The wedding party itself
was clearly more important to them than the spiritual commitment
they made when they took their vows. In the ancient Indian
tradition, rita or keeping one's word was a topmost priority
in life. (Our words "right" and "righteousness" come from rita.)
A marriage commitment was a solemn oath, that you broke at the risk
of angering the gods.
Ammachi, the famous hugging saint from India, says that depression
is the most common problem she sees when she visits America. "Many
people in your country don't keep their marriage vows and their
families break up. Then when they get old, they find themselves
alone and deeply depressed." Whether or not we're angering any gods,
our inability to accept each other's foibles and stand by each other
through thick and thin comes at a terrible emotional cost.
The Yoga tradition teaches that "the wise see the Self in all beings
and all beings in the Self." When the hard shell of our egotism
begins to dissolve through meditation practice and selfless service,
it becomes easier to love unconditionally because loving others is
literally an expansion of loving one's Self. The petty aggravations
we all meet in relationships, which seem overwhelmingly frustrating
in the moment, dissolve against the backdrop of eternity.
Spiritual Love
Robert has immersed himself in spiritual practice since he
discovered Yoga eight years ago. Now he's confused about whether he
should look for a partner at all. He's convinced in order to be a
successful meditator he needs to become a monk. The ideal of
renunciation strongly appeals to him, yet his meditation is often
interrupted by mental images of attractive women he's met.
I finally sat Robert down to explain the spiritual facts of life.
Many of India's greatest yogis-including the brahmarishis who
created the Yoga tradition in the first place-were married.
Supporting a family drains a lot of time and energy away from
spiritual practice, but few aspirants are ready to meditate 18 hours
a day anyway. Classic texts like the Yoga Vasishtha advise
aspirants to marry and perform their duties in the world in addition
to doing their inner work. Family life becomes the testing ground in
which the steadiness and insights we gain in meditation are applied
and refined. The Vedas themselves, India's most holy
scriptures, urge us to fulfill our human potential in fulfilling
personal relationships and careers.
In traditional Indian culture, men and women spend the first 50
years of their lives immersed in worldly commitments, with spiritual
practice forming a small but vital part of each day. From the age of
50 to 75, they relinquish their responsibilities to the next
generation, and spend more of their time in concerted spiritual
work. After 75, they devote themselves entirely to prayer and
meditation preparing for a smooth transition to the next state of
existence. So marriage and asceticism are both part of life, each at
the appropriate period.
In the last state of life Indians cultivate the third form of love
recognized in Yoga. Vairagya is usually translated
"dispassion" or "renunciation." This gives Western students the
impression it means cold indifference and not caring. Yet advanced
Yoga masters who practice vairagya, like Ammachi or Ramana
Maharshi or my teacher Swami Rama, are the most loving people you'll
ever meet. They have evolved past romantic love and even mature
human love to all embracing divine love that, "includes all and
excludes none," as Swami Rama so often said. Vairagya means
yogis renounce selfishness, the desire for personal gain, and
preoccupation with their own needs. It's not that they love their
families less, but that they love everyone else equally. All
creatures become one's family; the whole universe becomes one's
home. The ability to unconditionally love others, which we learn in
marriage, is practice for union with our own inner Self in everyone
around us.
Linda Johnsen is a regular contributor to Transformation and
author of eight books on spirituality including "Kirtan! Chanting as
a Spiritual Path" and "Lost Masters: The Sages of Ancient Greece."
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Individual Counseling
Yoga Self-Therapy
Leonard Perlmutter
AMI Founder and Director
Member: International Association of Yoga Therapists
Yoga Self-Therapy is
based on the perennial psychology of yoga science. Each
individual counseling session will teach you how to free
yourself from habits and expectations that cause stress and
give rise to illness. By observing and training your internal
processes, you can become creative in all relationships while
establishing a state of personal contentment. By learning to
rely on your own Divine inner wisdom you become free to make
choices in life that continually improve your physical, mental
and emotional wellbeing.
AMI Home Center, 60 Garner Road, Averill Park
By appointment only.
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The Heart and Science of Yoga:
A Blueprint for Peace, Happiness and Freedom from Fear
Review by Gregg St. Clair, Healing Springs Journal
We live in
glorious times don't we? We have information available to us
today that we never transferred to only an inner circle of top
students. This usually involved years of dedication proving
your desire to learn, followed by years of practice in the
more external realms of knowledge, and only then would a
master be willing to share the deepest levels of their art,
most highly guarded secrets. But today every esoteric subject
matter is available through books or just a quick click away
on the world wide web.
Everything has pluses and minuses and this is no exception.
Yes, it is all right there for us, but so is fast food. So how
do we discriminate what is valuable or not for our total well
being? Trial and error is, of course, an option, and something
most people have to go through on their path--be it with diet,
exercise or meditation. But when you find the right thing you
know it. This is how I felt when I read The Heart and
Science of Yoga: A Blueprint for Peace, Happiness and Freedom
from Fear by Leonard Perlmutter. I keep wanting to call it
the "Art" instead of the "Heart," probably from being
conditioned by other book titles, but "Heart" definitely works
better. Why? Because you can tell that that is where the book
comes from and that is where it is aimed.
The Heart and Science of Yoga is a manual showing how
ancient wisdom can help us with life today in an increasingly
chaotic world. No longer does one need to travel to India to
learn the deepest secrets of yoga for it is all contained in
this one book. Some might claim that there is too much
information (and at 538 pages they may be right), but not me.
It is written in a style so easy to read and so relevant to
spiritual development today that its information will be
beneficial, almost crucial, for everyone, not just yoga
practitioners.
Leonard Perlmutter has something rare among yoga practitioners
and meditation instructors today, not only a blessing from his
famous teacher Swami Rama, but a direct request to pass on the
knowledge he transferred to him and to become a full time
teacher. Leonard and his wife Jenness have founded and operate
the American Meditation Institute in Averill Park, New York--a
short drive from the capital city of Albany. A tranquil oasis,
the Perlmutters are dedicating their lives to creating
positive change in the world based on the teachings of yoga
with meditation as the key.
The book covers in detail the eight limbs of yoga is of course
more than different contortionist postures and includes a
blueprint for spiritual growth including, proper disciplines,
proper conduct, proper exercise, proper breathing, proper
control of the senses, proper concentration, proper meditation
and finally self realization. I particularly like how they use
quotations and references from all of the worlds religions,
including literature and even current sources (did you know
Elvis was a guru?), making the book very accessible if not
down right enjoyable to read.
With the invention of the airplane, the telephone and now the
world wide web, it has become obvious that it is one world and
we must act together if there is going to be hope for the
future. Unfortunately people become so caught up in their own
realities that they fail to see the bigger picture. But we are
spiritual beings, and as we busy ourselves with the illusions
of the world it separates us from our spirit, creating a
source of suffering that is only going to continue. I take
comfort in the fact that yoga has an 8000 year old history and
though I am a scientist, I don't need another double blind
study to know that it works. The key is, we have to practice
something to take control of our mind & lives, or they will
take control of us. If you are looking for a tried and true
system that has helped millions of people, then The Heart
and Science of Yoga is the perfect companion. I recommend
it for everybody.
http://www.amipublishers.org/movie/ |
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All events are held at the AMI Home Center in Averill Park unless
otherwise indicated.
Every Sunday Meditation & Satsang is FREE
Every Sunday 9:30-11:00 AM. Love donations accepted.
MAY 2008
MAY 1 - JUN 5:
EASY
GENTLE YOGA
Thurs Nights, Kathleen Fisk, 6:30 - 8:00PM (6 wks)
MAY 22:
INTRODUCTORY LECTURE
AMI Meditation: The Heart and Science of Yoga
Thurs. Night, 6:30 - 7:30 PM, Mary Holloway & Doreen Howe
MAY 22:
TEACHINGS
OF THE BUDDHA
Wednesday Night, 6:30 - 8:30PM, (1 evening)
JUNE 2008
JUNE 2 - JULY 7:
EASY
GENTLE YOGA
Monday Nights, Kathleen Fisk, 6:30 - 8:00PM (6 weeks)
JUNE 2 - JULY 7:
GITA STUDY,
Chapter 4
Monday Nights, 6:30 - 8:30 PM, "Renouncing Fruits" (6 weeks)
JUNE 7:
KITCHEN
YOGA
All-day Saturday workshop, 7:30AM - 5:30PM
JUNE 3 - JULY 8:
AMI MEDITATION
Tues. Nights: The Heart and Science of Yoga,
6:30 - 8:30 PM (6 weeks)
JUNE 12 - JULY 17:
EASY
GENTLE YOGA
Thursday Nights, Kathleen Fisk, 6:30 - 8:00PM (6 weeks)
JUNE 19:
INTRODUCTORY
LECTURE
AMI Meditation: The Heart and Science of Yoga
Thurs. Night, 6:30 - 7:30 PM, Mary Holloway & Doreen Howe
JULY 2008
|
|
JULY 2 - AUGUST 6: HIGH SCHOOL MEDITATION
CLASS
JULY 14 - AUGUST 18: EASY-GENTLE YOGA
JULY 15 - AUGUST 19: AMI MEDITATION
JULY 18-20: WEEKEND RETREAT
JULY 18: GURU PURNIMA BONFIRE
Full Moon Bonfire Ceremony
JULY 19: RAGANI CONCERT
Call-and-response Kirtan
chanting.
 |
Tell
a Friend about AMI
If you know someone who might benefit from our American Meditation class, let them know
about the AMI program or call us with their name and address and we'll send them a
brochure with our current class schedule.
Karma Yoga --- the practice of selfless and skillful action
If, as part of your practice, you have a few extra hours during the week
and are interested in helping grow the American Meditation Institute, we need your
dedicated, volunteer energy. As a student of yoga science, you are already familiar with
the kinds of practical services the Institute provides. Each month we write, edit and
publish this newsletter, teach an average of thirty new meditation students and present
stress-reduction seminars to various businesses and organizations. We also invite visiting
speakers of interest to our area, organize seminars on yoga science and do continuing
personal counseling.
Our immediate needs include press relations, seminar management,
clerical assistance and general delivery work. Remember, whatever time or talents you
possess will be put to meaningful, productive use.
If you have the time, please call the Institute at (518) 674-8714.
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©Copyright 2008
American Meditation Institute for Yoga Science & Philosophy. All
Rights Reserved |
