About Leonard Perlmutter (Ram Lev)

Founder and director of The American Meditation Institute, Leonard is the author of “Transformation,” The Journal of Meditation as Mind/Body Medicine and the award-winning book “The Heart and Science of Yoga® : A Blueprint for Peace, Happiness and Freedom from Fear.” His AMI MEDITATION entry-level course has been accredited by the Albany Medical College, American Medical Association, American Psychological Association, the Massachusetts Association of Registered Nurses and American Nurses Association to receive medical education credit. Leonard has been a student of Yoga Science since 1975 and a direct disciple of mind/body medicine pioneer Swami Rama of the Himalayas.

The Bhagavad Gita: Transforming Character, Conduct and Consciousness

Without question, these are the times that try the soul. Certainly each of us must deal with occasional traumas like illness, the loss of loved ones and financial reverses, but recently all of us have been bombarded by an onslaught of momentous circumstances. Consider the crises we’ve lived through in recent years: the shock and heartbreak of 9/11, the Iraq War, Abu Ghraib, Afghanistan, Darfur, Katrina, terrorist attacks in Mumbai, the unending insanity of the Middle East, and the Great Recession of 2008.

The weight of any one of these situations might feel overwhelming; their cumulative effect could well be traumatic. […]

QUIET TIME

  Study finds a peaceful interlude refreshes
 by Molly Belmont

ALBANY, New York.  September 9, 2008 (The Times Union)

If you’re like most people, your day is so packed with obligations you don’t have time to breathe, let alone think. The computer, TV, and even radio only add to the confusion, overloading you with information, and making you feel worse, not better.

“We’re in a society that is filled with noise and stimulation, and the body and mind get stressed by that,” said Beth Netter, M.D. Netter is a holistic doctor with the Center for Integrative Health and Healing in Delmar. She said over-stimulation […]

2008-09-09T15:08:50-04:00September 9th, 2008|News Article|

Hidden Benefits of Stress and Pain

Swiss psychologist Carl Jung observed that, “There is no coming to consciousness without pain.” Jung’s insight may initially offend or cause us woe, but it accurately reflects a truth stated in every spiritual tradition. In this world, the seed must be split in order for the plant to sprout, and the decomposing hull of the seed inevitably fertilizes new growth.

To understand why pain and stress are such powerful catalysts in our evolutionary journey toward Self-realization, remember the Law of Karma: every thought, word and deed is followed by a consequence, and each consequence leads either toward unbounded happiness and freedom […]

Finding Yoga Science in Higher Jihad

Television host Chris Matthews and a distinguished panel of experts were debating the efficacy of America’s global war on terror. The commentators were Katty Kay of the BBC, Dan Rather, former CBS News anchor, Andrea Mitchell of NBC News and Lawrence Wright of The New Yorker. Matthews asked this provocative question: “Imagine you are having coffee with a group of young men and women in their 20s and 30s in a Cairo cafe. Is there any way to change that conversation from ‘Screw the United States’ to ‘I want to go to Michigan State and get an engineering degree’?”

The panel […]

Finding The Right Balance

Plate_spinner

As children, Jenness and I often watched Ed Sullivan’s “Toast of the Town” television show on Sunday nights. Among the performers we saw over the years, one old-time vaudevillian, named Erich Brenn, always held our attention, and we’ve thought about him often in relation to yoga science.

This performer had a rather simple act. Before him stood three long banquet tables. Secured to the tables were upright wooden dowels, each measuring about three feet in height. The performer proceeded to balance a spinning dinner plate atop one of the […]

DON’T LET FEAR, ANGER TAKE OVER

by Leonard Perlmutter

ALBANY, New York.  September 24, 2005 (The Times Union)

Every American has experienced some effect of hurricane Katrina. Even if we did not feel her destruction firsthand, we have been caught in the mental and emotional floodwaters of shock, helplessness, anger and fear. In the face of Katrina’s physical fury, we are called to deal with our emotional storms to heal ourselves and the nation.

As we watch and read the news, it takes courage to witness our own emotions and judgments without giving in to negativity, despair and unproductive criticism. If we can recognize and utilize certain eternal truths […]

2005-09-24T15:24:19-04:00September 24th, 2005|News Article|

A NOD TO ELVIS ON YOGI’S SPIRITUAL JOURNEY

The King’s music helped lead author/teacher to Eastern traditions
by Paul Grondahl

SAND LAKE, New York.  September 7, 2005 (The Times Union)

Leonard Perlmutter is totally serious when he calls Elvis Presley “my guru.”

The 59-year-old yoga and meditation teacher, in fact, thanks the King in the acknowledgments to his new book, “The Heart and Science of Yoga.” Perlmutter began listening to Presley’s gospel recordings as a boy growing up in Albany. He was moved by Presley’s voice in a way he would not fully appreciate until much later, after decades of studying Eastern philosophy, world religions and mysticism.

“When I gave my attention to […]

2005-09-07T15:51:20-04:00September 7th, 2005|News Article|
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