Boat Pose:Boat, Ship, Canoe, Kayak(Balance on your buttocks with your legs up. Then rock in the water like a boat.)

Bow Pose:Fish, Whale, Basket, Sleigh, Angelfish, Nest, Bow(Lie on your tummy, bend your knees, lift your chest, reach your arms back towards your toes, and hold onto your feet.)

Bridge Pose:Bridge, Boardwalk, Ramp, Overpass, Whale(Lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the ground. Rest your arms down alongside your body, tuck your chin into your chest, and lift up your buttocks and back to create a bridge.)

Childs Pose:Mouse, Mole, Urchin, Rabbit, Rock, Snail, Hedgehog, Seed, Ladybird, Turtle, Hippo, Curling Leaf, Cloud(Sit on your heels, slowly bring your forehead down to rest in front of your knees, rest your arms down alongside your body, and take a few deep breaths.)

Downhill Skier:Downhill Skier(Stand tall in Mountain Pose with your feet hip-width apart and then bend your knees. Rest your elbows slightly above your knees, clasp your hands together, keep a straight spine, and look forward, pretending you are skiing down the mountain.)

Mountain Pose:Mountain, Cactus, Helicopter (swinging arms), Bird (flapping arms), Penguin(Stand tall with legs hip-width apart, feet facing forward, and straighten your arms alongside your body.)

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58 Fun and Easy Yoga Poses for Kids (Printable Poster)

Mindfulness isnt just about the mind. Its a holistic approach to living that addresses the entire person. As we learn to monitor and direct the activities of our minds through meditation, its helpful to bring that same kind of conscious, compassionate awareness to our entire bodies. Yoga teachers frequently remind students to listen to your bodies, and with good reason. Scientific and medical studies have shown that physical ailments and pain can have their root causes in emotional traumas, stress and other nonphysiological causes.

I have come to believe that the purely physical realm of illnessthe part you can diagnose with laboratory testsis only part of the equation, the physician Lissa Rankin, M.D., has written.

Tuning in to our bodies is the first step in learning to take better care of them through proper exercise, diet and other vital lifestyle choices. Fortunately, the same Eastern spiritual traditions that have brought meditation to the West have also brought mindful forms of physical exercise such as yoga and Tai Chi Chuan, both of which have become very popular in America and Europe over the past few decades.

WesternersAmericans, in particulartend to think of physical exercise in terms of competitive sports. And while tennis, soccer, baseball, football, etc. all provide a great cardiovascular workout and can improve muscle tone, theyre basically outward-directed activities. The whole point is to beat your opponent, which means youre essentially reinforcing and acting out the same aggressive, competitive tensions you face in the workplace and other potentially stressful life situations. One might argue that competitive sports are a nonharmful way to work out these aggressionsleaving aside sports injuries for the moment. But youre not really learning much about yourself that wayabout why, for example, you feel so aggressive in the first place.

Yoga, in contrast, is an inward-directed form of exercise. Its noncompetitiveintegrating rather than polarizing. Theres no us vs. them. Theres just you and a burgeoning sense of your connection to all of life around you. The word yoga has its origin in a Sanskrit term meaning to yokethat is, to realize and actualize a connection between the individual self and the universe. And while Tai Chi Chuan has its origins in the martial arts, it too is often taught as a form of noncompetitive meditation in motion in the West. Both yoga and Tai Chi Chuan can teach you a lot about how your consciousness exists in relation to your body.

Stone carvings found in Indias Indus Valley and dating from around 3,000 B.C. depict human figures in what appear to be yoga postures. So the modern practice of yoga may go back that far, if not further. The first historic written record of yoga is a mention in the Hindu scriptures known as the Vedas, which date from around 2,500 B.C. Yoga is a comprehensive spiritual system aimed at the attainment of enlightenment. Asanasthe familiar physical postures of hatha yogarepresent only one branch of the overall yogic system.

Yoga first came to the West when the Indian master Swami Vivekananda toured Europe and the United States in the 1890s. Many yoga and spiritual teachers from India followed in the late-19th and early 20th centuries, including Paramahansa Yogananda, founder of todays Self Realization Fellowship. Yoga got a big boost in the West with the consciousness-expansion movement of the late 1960s. Another revered Indian yogi, Swami Satchidananda, was chosen to open the Woodstock rock festival in 1969.

Yogas next major upsurge in popularity came in the 1980s as its physical health benefits became better known. In 2001, there were approximately four million people practicing yoga in the United States. By 2011, that number had grown to about 20 million.

But as Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health founder Amrit Desai once said, Yoga is very popular today. But whats popular today isnt really yoga.

Meaning that the commercialization of yoga in the capitalist West has slightly warped peoples perceptions of it. The promise that doing yoga will give you tight buns and a hot little body is used to sell designer-brand yoga wear and a host of yoga-centric consumer goods. You can find fitness-oriented exercise forms that have yoga-sounding names, or that combine a few yoga asanas with more strenuous activities. These will certainly help you develop your physique. But youre not likely to develop much mindfulness that way.

So if mindfulness is your goal, youre better off sticking to one of the more traditional yoga modalities. Youll still tone and tighten your body, but youll also cultivate a beautifuland happiermind. Most yoga styles taught in America can be practiced without having to buy into a spiritual belief system and will still benefit both body and mind. While you can get the basics from books and videos, its best to learn from a certified yoga teacher, who can make sure youre aligning your body properly, obtaining maximum benefit from the asanas and, very importantly, avoiding injury. You may have to try a few different yoga studios to find one that feels right for you. Fortunately, there are many across the U.S.

While instruction styles differ, yoga classes typically begin with some kind of activity that focuses and centers the mind. Often this is done by chanting the Sanskrit syllable om. But if that seems too religious, you can find teachers and classes that use other centering exercises. Fitness centers and gyms are good places to look.

After this initial exercise, the teacher will lead the class through a series of asanas designed to work each part of the body systematicallystretching the muscles and ligaments, aligning the spine and working to keep it flexible, limbering up the joints and improving blood circulation. There are classes for every level of experience, from beginners to advanced. The class atmosphere is noncompetitive. If you find an asana too strenuous or demanding, you can simply come out of the posture. Try to avoid comparing yourself with other students in the class or trying to compete with them. Again, yoga isnt a sport. This is a different kind of exercise.

Youll also want to maintain an inward focus. This is the mindful part of yoga. Pay careful attention to how each asana makes you feel, both physically and emotionally. The teacher may remind students to focus on their breath to help with this. This is another way of meditatingone where you dont have to remain sitting on a cushion. Gradually you should feel yourself becoming more relaxed and tranquil, which is perhaps the main reason why yoga has skyrocketed in popularity over the past 20 years.

Toward the end of the class, the teacher will have students lie flat on their backs in savasana, or corpse pose. From there, they will be led in a progressive relaxation exercise, focusing in turn on each part of the body, from the feet to the crown of the head, and relaxing each part totally. After this, you will leave the class feeling refreshed and far less stressed than when you first walked in.

Yoga Journal magazine has listed 38 different health benefits to be derived from yoga. These include helping regulate blood pressure, blood sugar levels, cholesterol levels and the adrenal glands; boosting the immune system; improving balance; maintaining the nervous system; strengthening the spine and relieving pain. Yoga can also improve digestion and help you sleep better, and it has proven effective in combating depression. But perhaps the most important item on the magazines list is Number 12: Yoga makes you happier.

Mindfulness, a very simple form of meditation, has been proven to increase calm, reduce depression and help combat anxiety associated with our increasingly frantic existence. In this special guide, the technique is explained in clear, everyday language, with additional information on its spiritual roots and present-day application. Buy a copy today.

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Using Yoga and Tai Chi Chuan to Tune Into Your Body and ...

Receive profound insights, practices and teachings for connecting more deeply to the natural world and harnessing the power of plants for your health, wellbeing and spiritual transformation.

Have you long suspected there is much more to understand about plants, spirituality and your connection to the natural world?

Have you been fascinated about systems of natural medicine like Ayurveda, Chinese wisdom and working with herbs?

Are you curious about how essential oils and herbs affect your moods and shift your consciousness?

Questions like these lead us toward a profound new understanding of medicinal plants, one that links our biology, our ecology, the growth of our consciousness and our felt sense of connection with all of life.

Scientific evidence now shows that plants are sentient beings that are connected in profound, complex and mysterious ways to the health of our bodies and minds.

We generally think of plants as sources of food, and sometimes we recognize their healing powers when they help us cure an illness, but we may not be aware of many crucial functions they perform continually inside us.

Becoming aware of these activities through simple methods of mindfulness and contemplative study opens our eyes to our deep biological unity and intimate interconnectedness with life.

Through the photosynthetic actions of plants we are directly connected to the sun: we can learn to feel this unity in the metabolic warmth of the body.

We breathe together with plants: every breath can become an opportunity to feel our kinship with other living beings that nourish us.

Plants, therefore, offer essential keys to spiritual evolution, if we know how to commune with them to discover the expressions of their life-giving intelligence.

Weve been trained to relate to the plant kingdom in a mechanistic way, cutting us off from the benefits of a real relationship with the natural world, which affects our relationship with people as well.

Becoming sensitized to our deeper biological interconnectedness is a kind of spirituality that deconstructs our false notions and identities. Feeling yourself connected to the sunlight moves you into realizing everyone is, quite literally, made out of sunlight.

As we create a different kind of relationship with plants, the path opens to a kind of spiritual awakening that is grounded, earthy and sustainable, one where we become intimately interconnected with the intelligence of nature in a very tangible way.

The links between medicinal plants and our spiritual evolution has been deeply studied in ancient systems of natural healing such as botanical medicine, Ayurveda and Chinese medicine.

When you connect with the deep sentience, wisdom and healing power within the plant kingdom, your eyes are opened to new realms of knowledge, and you come home to your body and life in a different way.

As you begin to experience your biological unity with the plant kingdom, you embark on an exciting voyage in consciousness that can open you up to a new understanding of medicinal herbs, aromatherapy, meditation and spirituality. This manifests in many ways, from the kind of herb gardens you grow to how you use essential oils in your practice.

For instance, when we smell an essential oil such as lavender, we can begin to perceive that it conveys elements of the earth, and moonlight and sunlight directly into our consciousness. So lavender is relaxing but what were looking at is why because its conveying something from the outer environment into our internal environment.

By understanding plants in a more multi-dimensional way, we open up a deeper cosmological view and a more dynamic relationship with the life force around us. We cultivate more prana or chi. We harmonize our bodily systems. We heal old traumas.

You can envision this new relationship with the plant kingdom by thinking of it in terms of growing new and deeper roots for embodied living. This strengthened root system in your consciousness allows you to weather metaphorical storms, droughts and other life challenges.

This increase in groundedness applies not just at the personal level but the collective one. If were trying to grow a healthy new culture, we need to deepen our roots by connecting to the biological realities that allow us to grow in a way that is sustainable.

Put simply, by reconnecting with plants, we re-establish a relationship with the ground of being.

Our planet is in ecological crisis at least partially because we have grown to see ourselves as separate and above nature in a way that leads us to be destructive, wasteful and neglectful, not to mention unhealthy and unhappy.

There is perhaps no better guide for the journey into a new paradigm of relating to the plant kingdom than Floracopeia founder David Crow L.Ac., who unifies wisdom from many streams of healing practices into a coherent understanding.

For more than 30 years hes pioneered a path thats about harnessing the power of plants to infuse more intelligence in your body, mind and soul giving you a more organic wisdom and sustainable connection with life.

David will show you how to relate more deeply with medicinal plants for rejuvenation, awakening and health.

Hell draw from strands as diverse as Ayurveda, Chinese medicine and essential oils to shift the foundation of how you relate to plants from seeing them as mechanistic objects to wise, sentient allies.

Youll receive a profound understanding for working with medicinal plants, food plants, flowers, aromatic ceremonial plants and essential oils as a doorway into understanding spiritual realities about the interconnectedness of life.

In every class, youll gain important practical information about medicinal plants that can be applied for several health imbalances. However, the primary focus of this course is to develop a greater sensitivity to learning how to receive the many benefits of herbal medicine and understand the deep and ancient intelligence that plants have carried long before humans appeared.

Recognizing this intelligence, the power it has to heal us individually and collectively and our biological inseparability from it, is the beginning of reverence for plants which really is the beginning of a sacred relationship with nature. This program offers a gateway to ecological spirituality the antidote for the destruction and suffering we are causing ourselves and all life on Earth.

During this 7-module program, youll:

This program is appropriate for professionals in any discipline who work with herbs, plants, oils or energy, as well as any person who is intrigued by the healing and personal evolutionary benefits of botanical medicine.

This course will draw from Davids more than 30 years of studying the healing powers of plants in various cultures with many gifted teachers, from the shamanic traditions of the Amazon to the alchemical mysteries of the Himalayas and the ancient wisdom of Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine. It is a unique offering of knowledge, information and insights that we are sure you will find deeply enriching as well as practical.

In this 7-module transformational intensive, David will guide you through the fundamental skills and competencies to become attuned and aligned to your deeper biological interconnectedness with the plant kingdom. Youll develop a broader spiritual lens that will support a deconstruction of false notions about your relationship with plants, and youll learn how to work with energy, consciousness and healing in new ways.

Each contemplation and training session will build harmoniously upon the last, so that youll develop a complete, holistic understanding of the practices, tools and principles of evolutionary healing with plants as you connect to the greater biological realities of creating a sustainable culture that supports all.

An Unprecedented Opportunity to Join The Medicinal Plants and Spiritual Evolution Virtual Training

We, at The Shift Network, feel deeply honored that David Crow has chosen to partner with us on this exclusive online training. As you may know, this is a rare opportunity to learn directly from one of the worlds foremost experts and leading speakers in the field of botanical medicine and grassroots healthcare whose powerful insights and pioneering work are helping us heal and awaken ourselves and our world.

Through this powerful online format, youll not only save time and money on workshop costs (plus travel, accommodations and meals which would cost thousands of dollars). But youll be able to benefit from Davids incredible teachings and exercises from the comfort of your home at your own pace!

If you are serious about understanding the deeper internal dimensions that are inside the plants and all around us to heal and transform, then you owe it to yourself, your loved ones and our world to take this one-of-a-kind training.

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David Crow Medicinal plants and Spiritual Evolution ...

Dear friend on the path,

Welcome to the first-ever enrollment for The Eckhart Tolle School of Awakening.

I know many of you are experiencing inner transformation. Perhaps you have begun to realize the possibility within yourself of living from a different state of consciousnessa state we call "the awakened state."

But transformation often presents challenges. A difficulty many people come up against is how to integrate and stabilize their arising new consciousness in daily life.

The dance between the world of form and the formless, or the un-manifested, can lead to suffering and confusion.

Many of you may be asking, "How do I live in this world and stay rooted in deeper states of Being and Presence?"

The School of Awakening was designed to help you transcend the egoic state of mind that makes life seem like a series of frustrating or unsatisfying experiences. Awakening is a release of the dysfunctional state of mind that creates suffering so you can discover and live from your true essencewhat I refer to as the "Deep I."

The world will continually challenge and try to pull you out of living from this awakened state of consciousness.

Your commitment is what keeps you rooted in the present moment.

This can lead to the realization that your primary purpose in life is awakeningliving consciously and being a bringer of consciousness in the world.

The School of Awakening will further the awakening of consciousness that is already happening in you and allow you to integrate it more continuously in everyday life.

Read more from the original source:
Eckhart Tolle's School of Awakening

In response to a growing number of requests from students on retreat with Eckhart, she eventually developed PTM into its current form. People wanted a form or structure for the movement, but at its deepest level, PTM is not about form. Its not about the physical per se; the physical is simply a vehicle, a portal to stillness and to essence. You can do the exercises, but if youre not tapped in to stillness, youre just doing exercises.

Kim encourages practitioners of PTM to evolve the practice for themselves after learning the forms through workshops or retreats. Through stillness, your own way of moving will emerge naturally, as an unfolding practice that you create every day.

Perhaps most importantly, PTM has provided a complement to Eckhart Tolles teachings that takes people from conceptual knowing to direct experiencean experience that has proven elusive especially for those readers and followers of his work who are very much identified with their thoughts and therefore have not really had a direct experience of stillness before. Many of those people find the inner stillness through the PTM approach, Kim explains. And for those who have already had an experience of stillness, it can help them go more deeply into it.

Kim considers this practice one of many spiritual pathways to awakening and wholeness. She emphasizes, For those with whom it resonates, it is a practice that can resolve lack of alignment with Spirit and Source, especially if traditional sitting methods have not worked for you.

Read the original:
Eckhart Tolle Awakening Tour | Dubai | I Am Genie

Personal empowerment is about taking control over your life. Of course, life is multi-faceted. There could be many areas of your life that you want to improve or feel more control over for example, your finances, your career, your health and maybe even your love life.

Instead of feeling like a victim or like circumstances control you, you can become empowered. The first step to empowerment is to begin to identify goals.

Take a look at your life and start asking questions. Focus on where you feel most happy and where you feel unhappy. Unhappiness may stem from not feeling appreciated, purposeful, or respected. Explore where you feel unhappy and why. You can then set goals to reduce or even eliminate that unhappiness.

For example, if youre unhappy because you never have any energy, you can begin researching the cause of your lack of energy. You can then set a goal to get more sleep, eat better, or you visit a health care practitioner to identify the cause.

Whether you feel like a victim of circumstance, your past, or a victim of a person or organisation, you can regain control and set empowerment goals to move past this feeling. For example, maybe you feel like a victim of circumstance with your current financial situation. Assess why you feel like a victim and what you can do to turn around the situation.

What are your strengths? When do you feel most confident? In what areas of your life do you feel like youre most in control? Sometimes when you focus more on these areas of your life and strengthen your sense of joy and empowerment, it spills over into other areas of your life.

Identifying and defining your personal empowerment goals takes some time and deep thought. Give yourself time to think about how you feel about your life and what steps you can take to make your future one that youre excited about.

Grab a notebook and start jotting down goals and ideas for your future. Dont just stop at the goal that you want to set for yourself; also identify how youre going to achieve that goal. What steps are you going to take? Identifying your goals is the first step to living a more empowered life.

Read more:
How To Define Your Personal Empowerment Goals

Step 3: Identify your preferred coaching business structure

In the United States, there are six unique business structures:

Each offers a variety of legal protections and comes with a range of different tax obligations. The U.S. Small Business Administration has created an excellent resource for learning more about each of the specific types, as well as the common industries that most often take advantage of them.

In addition, one of our graduates (who is a CPA and small business coach) offers some insider tips on the pros and cons of the most popular business structure options for coaches. As you watch Ana, keep in mind the two most important details when choosing your structure: legal liability and taxation.

Coaches love to work with their clients in person. After all, we are relationship-oriented people. But the option of web connectivity provides a broader reach and more convenience, both for the coach and their clients.

This takes us to another decision in the process: should you get an office or work from home?

The decision to invest in a physical office really depends on your preferences and your budget. Having an office can feel really good. It gives your services a professional appearance, especially if you plan on offering group coaching or workshops.

If you dont need the space full-time, you may be able to sublet or rent it to other coaches if your lease allows. This is one way many coaches subsidize their office space when theyre just starting out. As their practice grows and they need the space more often, they simply scale back on the subletting. Craigslist.org is a great place to find such opportunities within your area.

One potential drawback to keep in mind: A physical office requires separate phone services, high-speed web access, and utilities. These services can add up quickly depending on your location. But there are also a number of offices you can rent by the hour.

Day offices like ShareDesk and Davinci provide a complete office setup and include all the necessary business amenities (some even come with a live lobby greeter). Prices start between $10 and $60 per hour, with day rates from $30 to $300. On-demand work spaces can be booked online and offer a variety of unique office settings, from individual work stations to full conference rooms and office suites. Theyre another great way to get started without a ton of expense.

In contrast, working from home has its own set of rewards. I love it! And the pros are obvious:

One potential drawback to keep in mind: If you end up working at home, youll need to find a way to separate your business from the rest of your life. This includes kids, dogs, and household distractions such as laundry, yard work, and the siren song of the refrigerator.

When setting up a home office, establish a place that makes boundaries clear and enables you to easily avoid the distractions and temptations that threaten to keep you from focusing on your clients. Also, consider how comfortable you feel having people over. How easy will it be to constantly maintain a clean and private environment?

That said, if you plan on coaching clients primarily on the phone or online, a home office might be the way to go.

My favorite setup is a self-contained office located on the property similar to a guest house or bungalow. Its in a separate area from the main house so it feels more professional but also offers the convenience of proximity. Its the best of both worlds.

Another version of this setup is a separate entrance into a private area of your home. But honestly, when you start packing in the clients, a separate office or location is really the way to go. And if you havent noticed the number of coaches working out of coffee shops, pay attention to whos around you the next time youre in one!

With your ideal space chosen, the final core component is to furnish it with the tools of the coaching trade. Most coaches need a good phone and a headset for phone coaching. And thats about it! I recommend a landline with a wireless headset. Although a good noise-cancelling headset and your cell phone might do just as well.

Before buying equipment, consider where youll be coaching from. To give you an example, Ive coached while traveling, using my cell and a laptop computer from as far as Indonesia with no problem. One word of caution: make sure you have a backup plan to avoid disappointing your clients if your primary means of communication fails. Wireless signals and web connectivity can be unreliable, more so in some parts of the world than others.

Skype is one of the most popular platforms for offering coaching services. Its free for most people, easy to use, and accessible anywhere and on a variety of devices, including smartphones and tablets. If you intend on using Skype, ensure that you have a strong Internet connection.

It might also be worthwhile to invest in another virtual meeting space that, for a small fee, will give you more reliable service. Popular examples include Google Hangouts (free for up to 10 participants; $5 per month for 11 to 15 participants), WebEx ($25 to $50 per month), and Fuze ($15 to $70 per month). Although in the past year, you cant go wrong with Zoom.us free to work with individuals one-on-one, and only $15 a month to work with groups.

If you decide to do group coaching, youll definitely want an online meeting/seminar service like WebEx or GoToMeeting. These platforms offer additional options and enhanced features for leading groups and managing participants.

Starting a life coaching business is similar to any other enterprise: there are a number of components that minimize cost, organize your process, and ensure success.

Among the most common, youll find:

Liability insurance. Depending on your risk tolerance and the type of coaching you plan on offering, you might want to look into liability insurance for life coaches. As a certified life coach, holding either an ICF or BCC Credential, youll qualify for discounted rates on this type of policy with many insurance companies. Start by comparing premiums directly through the ICF.

Client organization tools. For those who like to stay super organized and have a streamlined system in place, explore online platforms that minimize your administrative duties. This can include everything from letting clients self-book their appointments to managing your billing, record keeping, CRM, appointment reminders, and the hosting of client information and session data. Popular platforms include:

Taxes, write-offs and quarterly estimated taxes. You can begin writing off your business expenses once youve officially opened the doors to your business. But be aware: there are a few exceptions.

Professional services. This isnt just for coaches. Its for anyone starting their business. Create your dream support team in advance to avoid stress and unwelcome surprises. This typically includes resources for legal advice, accounting and taxes. Also, hiring a seasoned marketing coach is never a bad investment. It could save you hundreds of hours and thousands of wasted dollars. Depending on your marketing skills, you may also require a graphic artist, web developer and copywriter to help brand your services.

The above topics represent broad considerations for starting your life coaching business. But as you integrate the specifics of your chosen niche, you may have questions or need additional guidance to ensure you take the most direct and economical path forward.

Coach Training World offers two business courses for coaches: Live & Brand Your Brilliance and CONVERT: From Clarity & Confidence to Clients. They are included free with our Whole Person Certified Coach Training (WPCC) Certification package but can also be taken independently. Within each, youll find a comprehensive series of strategy, tools and business resources that can simplify the often frustrating process of establishing and promoting a new coaching business.

Contact us to learn more about how you can become a successful coach and start your coaching business this year!

Read more from the original source:
How to Start a Successful Life Coaching Business - Coach ...

Vipassan (Pli) or vipayan (Sanskrit: ), "insight," in the Buddhist tradition is insight into the true nature of reality, defined as dukkha (suffering or unsatisfactoriness), anatta (non-self), and anicca (impermanence), the three marks of existence in the Theravada tradition, and as sunyata and Buddha-nature in the Mahayana traditions.

Meditation practice was ended in the Theravada tradition the 10th century, but was re-introduced in Myanmar (Burma) the 18th century, based on contemporary readings of the Satipatthana-sutta, the Visuddhimagga, and other texts. A new tradition developed in the 19th and 20th century, centering on bare insight in conjunction with samatha.[5] It became of central importance in the 20th century Vipassana movement as developed by Ledi Sayadaw and Mogok Sayadaw and popularised by Mahasi Sayadaw, V. R. Dhiravamsa, and S. N. Goenka.

In modern Theravada, the combination or disjunction of vipassana and samatha is a matter of dispute. While the Pali sutras hardly mention vipassana, describing it as a mental quality alongside with samatha which develop in tandem and lead to liberation, the Abhidhamma and the commentaries describe samatha and vipassana as two separate meditation techniques. The Vipassana-movement favoures vipassana over samatha, but critics point out that both are necessary elements of the Buddhist training.

Vipassan is a Pali word from the Sanskrit prefix "vi-" and verbal root pa. It is often translated as "insight" or "clear-seeing", though the "in-" prefix in "insight" may be misleading; "vi" in Indo-Aryan languages is equivalent to the Latin "dis." The "vi" in vipassan may then mean to see into, see through or to see 'in a special way.' Alternatively, the "vi" can function as an intensive, and thus vipassan may mean "seeing deeply."[citation needed]

A synonym for "Vipassan" is paccakkha (Pli; Sanskrit: pratyaka), "before the eyes," which refers to direct experiential perception. Thus, the type of seeing denoted by "vipassan" is that of direct perception, as opposed to knowledge derived from reasoning or argument.[citation needed]

In Tibetan, vipayan is lhagthong (wylie: lhag mthong). The term "lhag" means "higher", "superior", "greater"; the term "thong" is "view" or "to see". So together, lhagthong may be rendered into English as "superior seeing", "great vision" or "supreme wisdom." This may be interpreted as a "superior manner of seeing", and also as "seeing that which is the essential nature." Its nature is a luciditya clarity of mind.[10]

Henepola Gunaratana defined Vipassan as:

Looking into something with clarity and precision, seeing each component as distinct and separate, and piercing all the way through so as to perceive the most fundamental reality of that thing"

According to Thanissaro Bhikkhu, in the sutta pitaka the term "vipassan" is hardly mentioned, while they frequently mention jhana as the meditative practice to be undertaken.[note 1] When vipassan is mentioned, it is always in tandem with samatha, as a pair of qualities of mind which are developed. According to Thanissaro Bhikkhu, "samatha, jhana, and vipassana were all part of a single path." [note 2] Norman notes that "the Buddha's way to release [...] was by means of meditative practices." According to Vetter and Bronkhorst, dhyna constituted the original "liberating practice". Vetter further argues that the eightfold path constitutes a body of practices which prepare one, and lead up to, the practice of dhyana. Vetter and Bronkhorst further note that dhyana is not limited to single-pointed concentration, which seems to be described in the first jhana, but develops into equanimity and mindfulness,[note 3] "born from samadhi" but no longer absorbed in concentration, being mindfully awareness of objects while being indifferent to it, "directing states of meditative absorption towards the mindful awareness of objects."

Though both terms appear in the Sutta Pitaka[note 4], Gombrich and Brooks argue that the distinction as two separate paths originates in the earliest interpretations of the Sutta Pitaka, not in the suttas themselves.[note 5] Henepola Gunaratana notes that "[t]he classical source for the distinction between the two vehicles of serenity and insight is the Visuddhimagga."[29] According to Richard Gombrich, a development took place in early Buddhism resulting in a change in doctrine, which considered prajna to be an alternative means to awakening, alongside the practice of dhyana. The suttas contain traces of ancient debates between Mahayana and Theravada schools in the interpretation of the teachings and the development of insight. Out of these debates developed the idea that bare insight suffices to reach liberation, by discerning the Three marks (qualities) of (human) existence (tilakkhana), namely dukkha (suffering), anatta (non-self) and anicca (impermanence).

According to Buswell, by the 10th century vipassana was no longer practiced in the Theravada tradition, due to the believe that Buddhism had degenerated, and that liberation was no longer attainable until the coming of Maitreya. It was re-introdcued in Myanmar (Burma) in the 18th century by Medawi (17281816), leading to the rise of the Vipassana movement in the 20th century, re-inventing vipassana-meditation and developing simplified meditation techniques, based on the Satipatthana sutta, the Visuddhimagga, and other texts, emphasizing satipatthana and bare insight.[32][note 6] Ultimately, these techniques aim at stream entry, with the idea that this first stage of the path to awakening safeguards future development of the person towards full awakening, despite the degenerated age we live in.[note 7]

While the Abhidhamma and the commentaries present samatha and vipassana as separate paths,[note 8] in the sutras vipassana and samatha, combined with sati (mindfulness), are used together to explore "the fundamental nature of mind and body.[12] In the later Theravada tradition, samatha is regarded as a preparation for vipassan, pacifying the mind and strengthening concentration in order for insight to arise, which leads to liberation.

The term vipassana is often conflated with the Vipassana movement, a movement which popularised the new vipassana teachings and practice. It started in the 1950s in Burma, but has gained wide renown mainly through American Buddhist teachers such as Joseph Goldstein, Tara Brach, Gil Fronsdal, Sharon Salzberg, and Jack Kornfield. The movement has had a wide appeal due to being open and inclusive to different Buddhist and non-buddhist wisdom, poetry as well as science. It has together with the modern American Zen tradition served as one of the main inspirations for the 'mindfulness movement' as developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn and others. The Vipassan Movement, also known as the Insight Meditation Movement, is rooted in Theravda Buddhism and the revival of meditation techniques, especially the "New Burmese Method" and the Thai Forest Tradition, as well as the modern influences on the traditions of Sri Lanka, Burma, Laos and Thailand.

In the Vipassan Movement, the emphasis is on the Satipatthana Sutta and the use of mindfulness to gain insight into the impermanence of the self. It argues that the development of strong samatha can be disadvantageous, a stance for which the Vipassana Movement has been criticised, especially in Sri Lanka.[41] The "New Burmese Method" was developed by U Nrada (18681955), and popularised by Mahasi Sayadaw (1904-1982) and Nyanaponika Thera (19011994). Other influential Burmese proponents are Ledi Sayadaw and Mogok Sayadaw (who was less known to the West due to lack of International Mogok Centres); S. N. Goenka was a student of Ledi Sayadaw. Influential Tai teachers are Ajahn Chah and Buddhadasa. A well-known Asian female teacher is Dipa Ma.

Vipassan-meditation uses sati (mindfulness) and samatha (calm), developed through the practice of anapanasati (mindfulness of breathing), combined with the contemplation of impermanence as observed in the bodily and mental changes, to gain insight into the true nature of this reality.

Practice begins with the preparatory stage, the practice of sila, morality, giving up wordly thoughts and desires.[45] Jeff Wilson notes that morality is a quintessential element of Buddhist practice, and is also emphasized by the first generation of post-war western teachers. Yet, in the contemporary mindfulness movement, morality as an element of practice has been mostly discarded, 'mystifying' the origins of mindfulness.

The practitioner then engages in anapanasati, mindfulness of breathing, which is described in the Satipatthana Sutta as going into the forest and sitting beneath a tree and then to simply watch the breath. If the breath is long, to notice that the breath is long, if the breath is short, to notice that the breath is short.[46][47] In the "New Burmese Method," the practitioner pays attention to any arising mental or physical phenomenon, engaging in vitaka, noting or naming physical and mental phenomena ("breathing, breathing"), without engaging the phenomenon with further conceptual thinking.[48][49] By noticing the arising of physical and mental phenomena, the meditator becomes aware how sense impressions arise from the contact between the senses and physical and mental phenomena,[48] as described in the five skandhas and paiccasamuppda. According to Sayadaw U Pandita, awareness and observation of these sensations is de-coupled from any kind of physical response, which is intended to recondition one's impulsive responses to stimuli, becoming less likely to physically or emotionally overreact to the happenings of the world[50]

The practitioner also becomes aware of the perpetual changes involved in breathing, and the arising and passing away of mindfulness.[51] This noticing is accompanied by reflections on causation and other Buddhist teachings, leading to insight into dukkha, anatta, and anicca.[52][51] When the three characteristics have been comprehended, reflection subdues, and the process of noticing accelerates, noting phenomena in general, without necessarily naming them.[53]

Vipassan jhanas are stages that describe the development of samatha in vipassan meditation practice as described in modern Burmese Vipassana meditation.[54] Mahasi Sayadaw's student Sayadaw U Pandita described the four vipassan jhanas as follows:[55]

The north Indian Buddhist traditions like the Sarvastivada and the Sautrantika practiced vipayan meditation as outlined in texts like the Abhidharmakosha of Vasubandhu and the Yogacarabhumi. The Abhidharmakosha states that vipayan is practiced once one has reached samadhi (absorption) by cultivating the four foundations of mindfulness (smrtyupasthanas).[56] This is achieved according to Vasubandhu:

By considering the unique characteristics (svalaksana) and the general characteristics (samanyalaksana) of the body, sensation, the mind, and the dharmas."'The unique characteristics' means its self nature (svabhava).The general characteristics" signifies the fact that "All conditioned things are impermanent; all impure dharmas are suffering; and that all the dharmas are empty (sunya) and not-self (anatmaka).[56]

Asanga's Abhidharma-samuccaya states that the practice of amatha-vipayan is a part of a Bodhisattva's path at the beginning, in the first "path of preparation" (Sambharamarga).[57]

The later Indian Mahayana scholastic tradition, as exemplified by Shantideva's Bodhicaryavatara, saw amatha as a necessary prerequisite to vipayan and thus one needed to first begin with calm abiding meditation and then proceed to insight. In the Panjika commentary of Prajnakaramati on the Bodhicaryavatara, vipayan is defined simply as "wisdom (praja) that has the nature of thorough knowledge of reality as it is."[58]

Mahyna vipayan differs from the Theravada tradition in its strong emphasis on the meditation on emptiness (shunyata) of all phenomena. The Mahayana Akayamati-nirdea refers to vipayan as seeing phenomena as they really are, that is, empty, without self, nonarisen, and without grasping. The Prajnaparamita sutra in 8,000 lines states that the practice of insight is the non-appropriation of any dharmas, including the five aggregates:

So too, a Bodhisattva coursing in perfect wisdom and developing as such, neither does nor even can stand in form, feeling, perception, impulse and consciousness...This concentrated insight of a Bodhisattva is called 'the non-appropriation of all dharmas'.[59]

Likewise the Prajnaparamita in 25,000 lines states that a Bodhisattva should know the nature of the five aggregates as well as all dharmas thus:

That form, etc. [feeling, perception, impulse and consciousness], which is like a dream, like an echo, a mock show, a mirage, a reflection of the moon in water, an apparition, that is neither bound nor freed. Even so form, etc., which is past, future, or present, is neither bound nor freed. And why? Because of the nonbeing-ness of form, etc. Even so form, etc., whether it be wholesome or unwholesome, defiled or undefiled, tainted or untainted, with or without outflows, worldly or supramundane, defiled or purified, is neither bound nor freed, on account of its non-beingness, its isolatedness, its quiet calm, its emptiness, signless-ness, wishless-ness, because it has not been brought together or produced. And that is true of all dharmas.[60]

The Sthaviravda, one of the early Buddhist schools from which the Theravada-tradition originates, emphasized sudden insight:

In the Sthaviravada [...] progress in understanding comes all at once, 'insight' (abhisamaya) does not come 'gradually' (successively - anapurva).

The Mahasanghika, another one of the early Buddhist schools, had the doctrine of ekaksana-citt, "according to which a Buddha knows everything in a single thought-instant".[citation not found] This process however, meant to apply only to the Buddha and Peccaka buddhas. Lay people may have to experience various levels of insights to become fully enlightened.

The Mahayana tradition emphasizes prajna, insight into sunyata, dharmata, the two truths doctrine, clarity and emptiness, or bliss and emptiness:[63]

[T]he very title of a large corpus of early Mahayana literature, the Prajnaparamita, shows that to some extent the historian may extrapolate the trend to extol insight, prajna, at the expense of dispassion, viraga, the control of the emotions.

Although Theravada and Mahayana are commonly understood as different streams of Buddhism, their practice however, may reflect emphasis on insight as a common denominator:

In practice and understanding Zen is actually very close to the Theravada Forest Tradition even though its language and teachings are heavily influenced by Taoism and Confucianism.[64][note 9]

The emphasis on insight is discernible in the emphasis in Chn on sudden insight, though in the Chn-tradition this insight is to be followed by gradual cultivation.[note 10]

In Chinese Buddhism, the works of Tiantai master Zhiyi (such as the Mohe Zhiguan, "Great amatha-vipayan") are some of the most influential texts which discuss vipayan meditation from a Mahyna perspective. In this text Zhiyi teaches the contemplation of the skandhas, ayatanas, dhtus, the Kleshas, false views and several other elements.[66] Likewise the influential text called the Awakening of Faith scripture has a section on calm and insight meditation.[67] It states:

He who practices 'clear observation' should observe that all conditioned phenomena in the world are unstationary and are subject to instantaneous transformation and destruction; that all activities of the mind arise and are extinguished from moment or moment; and that, therefore, all of these induce suffering. He should observe that all that had been conceived in the past was as hazy as a dream, that all that is being conceived in the future will be like clouds that rise up suddenly. He should also observe that the physical existences of all living beings in the world are impure and that among these various filthy things there is not a single one that can be sought after with joy.[68]

The Chan (Zen) Buddhist tradition advocates the simultaneous practice of amatha and vipayan, and this is called the practice of Silent Illumination.[69] The classic Chan text known as the Platform Sutra states:

Calming is the essence of wisdom. And wisdom is the natural function of calming [i.e., praj and samdhi]. At the time of praj, samdhi exists in that. At the time of samdhi, praj exists in that. How is it that samdhi and praj are equivalent? It is like the light of the lamp. When the lamp exists, there is light. When there is no lamp, there is darkness. The lamp is the essence of light. The light is the natural function of the lamp. Although their names are different, in essence, they are fundamentally identical. The teaching of samdhi and praj is just like this.[69]

Samatha and vipassana are explicitly referred to in Tibetan Buddhism. According to Thrangu Rinpoche, when shamatha and vipashyana are combined, as in the mainstream tradion Madhyamaka approach of ancestors like Shantideva and Kamalashila, through samatha disturbing emotions are abandoned, which thus facilitates vipashyana, "clear seeing." Vipashyana is cultivated through reasoning, logic and analysis in conjunction with Shamatha. In contrast, in the siddha tradition of the direct approach of Mahamudra and Dzogchen, vipashyana is ascertained directly through looking into one's own mind. After this initial recognition of vipashyana, the steadiness of shamatha is developed within that recognition. According to Thrangu Rinpoche, it is however also common in the direct approach to first develop enough shamatha to serve as a basis for vipashyana.[70]

In Tibetan Buddhism, the classical practice of amatha and vipayan is strongly influenced by the Mahyna text called the Bhavanakrama of Indian master Kamalala. Kamalala defines vipayan as "the discernment of reality" (bhta-pratyavek) and "accurately realizing the true nature of dharmas".[71]

Indian Mahyna Buddhism employed both deductive investigation (applying ideas to experience) and inductive investigation (drawing conclusions from direct experience) in the practice of vipayan.[note 11][note 12] According to Leah Zahler, only the tradition of deductive analysis in vipayan was transmitted to Tibet in the strayna context.[note 13]

In Tibet direct examination of moment-to-moment experience as a means of generating insight became exclusively associated with vajrayna.[74][note 14][note 15]

Mahmudr and Dzogchen use vipayan extensively. This includes some methods of the other traditions, but also their own specific approaches. They place a greater emphasis on meditation on symbolic images. Additionally in the Vajrayna (tantric) path, the true nature of mind is pointed out by the guru, and this serves as a direct form of insight.[note 16]

AN 4.170 (Pali):Yo hi koci, vuso, bhikkhu v bhikkhun v mama santike arahattappatti bykaroti, sabbo so cathi maggehi, etesa v aatarena.Katamehi cathi? Idha, vuso, bhikkhu samathapubbagama vipassana bhveti[...]Puna capara, vuso, bhikkhu vipassanpubbagama samatha bhveti[...]Puna capara, vuso, bhikkhu samathavipassana yuganaddha bhveti[...]Puna capara, vuso, bhikkhuno dhammuddhaccaviggahita mnasa hoti[...]English translation:Friends, whoever monk or nun declares the attainment of arahantship in my presence, they all do it by means of one or another of four paths. Which four?There is the case where a monk has developed insight preceded by tranquility. [...]Then there is the case where a monk has developed tranquillity preceded by insight. [...]Then there is the case where a monk has developed tranquillity in tandem with insight. [...]"Then there is the case where a monk's mind has its restlessness concerning the Dhamma [Comm: the corruptions of insight] well under control.[23]

AN 2.30 Vijja-bhagiya Sutta, A Share in Clear Knowing:"These two qualities have a share in clear knowing. Which two? Tranquility (samatha) & insight (vipassana)."When tranquility is developed, what purpose does it serve? The mind is developed. And when the mind is developed, what purpose does it serve? Passion is abandoned."When insight is developed, what purpose does it serve? Discernment is developed. And when discernment is developed, what purpose does it serve? Ignorance is abandoned."Defiled by passion, the mind is not released. Defiled by ignorance, discernment does not develop. Thus from the fading of passion is there awareness-release. From the fading of ignorance is there discernment-release."[24]

SN 43.2 (Pali): "Katamo ca, bhikkhave, asakhatagmimaggo? Samatho ca vipassan".[25] English translation: "And what, bhikkhus, is the path leading to the unconditioned? Serenity and insight."[26]

According to Grzegorz Polak, the four upassan (foundations of mindfulness) have been misunderstood by the developing Buddhist tradition, including Theravada, to refer to four different foundations. According to Polak, the four upassan do not refer to four different foundations, but to the awareness of four different aspects of raising mindfulness:

More here:

Vipassan - Wikipedia

by Nicolya Christi: The following is excerpted fromContemporary Spirituality for an Evolving World: A Handbook for Spiritual Evolution

There is no coming to consciousness without pain. People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own soul. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.Carl Gustav Jung

The 1960s saw an unprecedented reactive kick against the Western establishment. The sixties proved to be a decade steeped in rebellion, revolution, experimentation, reaction, liberation, and reevaluation. Even though the foundation stones of mainstream society and established religion withstood the powerful undercurrents of revolutionary change, substantial cracks appeared marking a moment in human history, which revealed how the manipulation and control of the masses, by the few, had entered the earliest stages of breakdown.

At first, evidence of this was subtle. However, fifty years on, those underground rumblings have resurfaced into a world now ready for a new conscious infrastructure within society, politics, media, religion, and spirituality.

Psychological Evolution

In the late nineteenth century came the timely arrival of Freuds work, with a message that his twentieth-century protg, student, and successor Jung evolved and profoundly refined. However, the emerging psychological mind dates back to Plato (ca. 424348 BCE), Pliny the Elder (2379 CE), and Paracelsus (14931541 CE). Moving forward once again to the twentieth century, further evolutionary contributions to psychological development have hailed from those such as Roberto Assagioli, Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, and more.

Many years ago, I sat with an accomplished psychotherapist and supervisor who was well versed in the ways of the First Nations Peoples. I always recall him saying to me that the psychological is the second gateway, the first being the physical. I have no idea what the other levels of such a model might be composed of as we never discussed it further and yet, this statement really struck a chord within me, ringing true at a more deeply felt level of knowing. What I do know is that psychological exploration is an initiatory gateway to self-actualization. We could say that it stands as a gateway to the Self.

By the mid-1900s Roberto Assagiolo, an Italian psychiatrist, had developed a spiritual psychology known as psychosynthesis, which began to be internationally recognized in the 1950s and 60s. The focus of this psychotherapy is the means by which the psyche can and does synthesize all parts of the personality to work together to reach the highest human potentials. Assagioli drew upon both Eastern and Western philosophies in developing the core concepts of psychosynthesis, and his work has been continued and further developed by others in the field since his death in 1974.

My own personal introduction to this psychotherapy has had a profound impact upon my life.

When I first encountered the psychological arena, I had been looking to engage in some psychological self-exploration and had been searching for a psychology with a soul. I was seeking a psychology that was not going to label me or put me in a box and was not going to offer me textbook answers to the questions I was asking about myself. I was looking for a psychology that held a holistic approach and viewed a human being through the lens of body, feelings, mind, heart, soul, and spirit. I spent several weeks of searching and finally discovered the transpersonal psychotherapy known as psychosynthesis. So, aged twenty-nine, I arranged an appointment with a psychosynthesis psychotherapist and began a revelatory and transformational journey of my Self.

By the end of the first session I was hooked. It was one specific insight that resulted in never viewing life again without using the lens of psychological awareness. I had been asked a question by the therapist, How do you feel about that? in relation to something I had shared with her about my earliest experience of trauma. My response was to spiritualize and rationalize, which was something I had done for years about this core trauma. She asked me again, How do you feel about that? Confused, I continued to recite my well-rehearsed script, which at the time I believed to be my actual true feelings.

Recognizing how out of touch I was with the authentic-feeling level of my experience of this core trauma and myself, she invited me to close my eyes and imagine myself at the age I was when the trauma occurred. She encouraged me to share with her how the infant in me was feeling. This was a light bulb moment! Suddenly and unexpectedly I connected with a level of feeling and realization that I had no idea existed. It was an evolutionary leap in the journey of my Self.

Several months later, experiencing a noticeable personal transformation taking place within me, I signed up for the psychosynthesis psychotherapy training. The first year covered what was termed the Fundamentals of Psychosynthesis. One year later at the end of this process of self-exploration, I found myself wishing that everyone could be given the opportunity to make the one-year journey of the Self. It was truly incredible. The discoveries, the realizations, and the breakdown in order to breakthrough that occurred during this one year alone contained all the possibilities necessary to catalyze a personal shift of consciousness and support peace in the world.

At the close of that year I felt profoundly changed. I was experiencing my life force as being stronger than ever; my skin was warm and full of color, my eyes were shining, and my heart was opening with a sense of wonder because of who I was discovering myself to be. What inspired me even more was the promise of who I could become if I continued on this journey of psychological awakening and healing. I had stumbled upon my Self and there was no turning back.

I embarked upon a further two years of intense training and continued in weekly therapy throughout the three years I was studying psychosynthesis. By year four I decided to leave the psychosynthesis training, having a strong sense that whatever I had needed from it had been completed. However, three intense years of continual training, group work, client work, ongoing supervision, and therapy had set the groundwork for what was to come.

After leaving the training, I still felt there was something core that I had yet to heal and integrate in my psychological healing journey up to that point and so I found myself searching for what I knew I needed in order to become healed and more whole in my Self. My search did not take long, and just weeks after leaving my former training course, I found myself with a leaflet in my hand, intrigued by a title that had really grabbed my attention. The course advertised was titled, The Mustering of the Warrior Angels. This was not a terminology particularly representative of the psychological, yet gnosis told me to follow it through and contact the organizers.

I called the number on the leaflet and a very, very gentle yet strong voice answered. I made inquiries and the woman who answered listened with great patience and sensitivity before responding to my many questions. At the end of the call I had to raise the inevitable subject of the cost of the nine-month course, which I realized I would not be able to afford. This humble woman responded with deep understanding and a willingness to support and enable me to attend the course. I informed her that I would consider it and would get back in touch with her. The course was due to commence within one week.

During that week I battled with myself in terms of my worthiness to merit the kind offer and unconditional support of this woman who was facilitating the course. Her approach was unlike any I had ever encountered in my life. And so, I wrestled with myself, reeling at the new experience of really feeling seen, heard, valued, acknowledged, and validated for the first time. Even though the part of me that represented my then unhealed and unintegrated ego resisted the willingness of this woman to meet my need to attend this course, I was able to find my yes and accept the hand that was reaching out to me. That nine-month course transformed my life.

For the first time I experienced what it felt like to be unconditionally loved and at all times be held in unconditional positive regard, deep love, empathy, understanding, and compassion. For the first time, I experienced the kind of love an integrated, psychologically healthy and spiritually balanced mother would bestow upon her child. For the first time, I experienced what it felt like for someone to continually find ways of saying yes to me, when my experience of cultural conditioning and family history repeatedly said no.

Throughout those nine months, in the presence of this woman, I was exposed to a way of being that prioritized the needs of all concerned. This was done in groundbreaking and unconventional ways that entirely respected the morals, values, and ethics of each individual present.

When I look back over the past fifteen years and contemplate the single most profound and transformational experience I have had the blessing and grace to undergo in this lifetime, my thoughts always turn to that woman and that nine-month course I had the courage to say yes to. I am blessed to say that when the course finished, the ongoing unconditional love and support of the woman who facilitated my deepest healing continued. This was a woman whose humble wisdom ways and truly authentic spiritual example proved to be the most powerful healing force and influence in my own self-actualization process. This was a woman who eventually became my mentor, and ultimately one of my dearest, closest, and most cherished friends. Her name is Wendy Webber.

Conscious Evolution

In essence, conscious evolution represents our capacity to evolve consciously and not merely by chance. Humanity is consciously evolving at an exponential rate and it is doing so through the wide-scale spread of expression, connection, love, compassion, innovation, co-creation, and recognition that has been made possible by advances in technology that have initiated a viral awakening of personal and collective consciousness. It was the great futurist and pioneer of free energy, Nikola Tesla, who first introduced the idea of a global brain when he said, When wireless is fully applied the Earth will be converted into a huge brain, capable of response in every one of its parts. It was indeed Tesla who first introduced the concept of what Jose Arguelles later termed thenoosphere.

Humanity has evolved a highly sophisticated and vastly upgraded global nervous system and brain known across the world as the Internet. This online phenomenon has given birth to a social media gone viral that has connected people, communities, countries, nations, and the world. Extraordinary advances in technology have enabled the covert and secret governmental agendas regarding interplanetary, off-planet, and extradimensional experiments and research to be made possible. These include the reality of other life-forms within the cosmos, wormholes, time travel, and extraterrestrial contact and communication.

This new global nervous system and brain, also known as the noosphere, has given people choice, a collective voice, and the capacity for empowerment. This is a fact that global agenda authorities have recognized and are now seeking to control, as humanity campaigns for human, animal, and planetary rights, including the replacing of existing power resources, such as oil, electricity, and gas, with free energy. This becomes possible with online freedom technology.

The consciousness model of human beings is changing from one of dysfunctional instant gratification to that of a more healthy and functional model of instant manifestation. This proves how we can indeed become manifesters and co-creators. It is new technology that has made this potential a reality. It is critical that we campaign and seek to eliminate the government agendas to control the new global nervous system and brain, and protect the rights of the individual and the collective.

Conscious evolution is an aspect of human evolution that has been slowly but surely emerging in this past decade. Those who run the major self-development training institutions and organizations are now studying conscious evolution in order to introduce it as a new training module into their curriculums, training programs, and educational teaching models.

The woman most renowned as the matriarch of conscious evolution is futurist Barbara Marx Hubbard who, at eighty-two years of age, has dedicated her entire adult life to the conscious evolution of humanity and the world. American systems theorist, architect, engineer, author, designer, inventor, and futurist Buckminster Fuller said of her: There is no doubt in my mind that Barbara Marx Hubbardwho helped introduce the concept of futurism to societyis the best informed human now alive regarding futurism and the foresights it has produced. And her good friend and biographer Neale Donald Walsch refers to her asThe Mother of Invention.

Barbara Marx Hubbard defines conscious evolution as the following:

Conscious evolution is the evolution of evolution, from unconscious to conscious choice. While consciousness has been evolving for billions of years, conscious evolution is new. It is part of the trajectory of human evolution, the canvas of choice before us now as we recognize that we have come to possess the powers that we used to attribute to the gods.

We are poised in this critical moment, facing decisions that must be made consciously if we are to avoid destroying the world as we know it, if we are instead to co-create a future of immeasurable possibilities. Our conscious evolution is an invitation to ourselves, to open to that positive future, to see ourselves as one planet, and to learn to use our powers wisely and ethically for the enhancement of all life on Earth.

Conscious evolution can also be seen as an awakening of a memory that resides in the synthesis of human knowing, from spiritual to social to scientific. Indeed, all of our efforts to discover the inherent design of life itself can be seen as the process of one intelligence, striving to know itself through our many eyes, and to set the stage for a future of immense co-creativity.

This awakening has gained momentum as three new understandings (the 3 Cs) have arisen:

Cosmogenesis:This is the recent discovery that the universe has been and is now evolving. As Brian Swimme puts it, time is experienced as an evolutionary sequence of irreversible transformations, rather than as ever-renewing cycles.

Our New Crises:We are faced with a complex set of crises, most especially environmental. We are participating in a global system that is far from equilibrium, conditions that are known to favor a macroshift. This kind of dramatic repatterning can be a sudden shift toward devolution and chaos, or it can be an evolution toward a higher more complex order. At this moment in evolution the outcome depends on our choices, and time is running out. We must change, or suffer dire consequences. Our crises are acting as evolutionary drivers pressuring us to innovate and transform.

Our New Capacities:The advent of radical evolutionary technologies such as biotechnology, nanotechnology, quantum computing, space exploration, etc., offer us the possibility of profound change in the physical world. At the same time that we are facing the possible destruction of our life support systems, we can also see that the tools are there to transform ourselves, our bodies, and our world. We can and are actually moving beyond the creature human condition toward a new species, a universal humanity, capable of coevolving with nature.*

*Barbara Marx Hubbards official website, accessed March 18, 2013,www.barbaramarxhubbard.com/site/node/10.Spiritual Evolution

For millennia humans have been engaged in varying forms of spiritual practice, be they sacrificial or reverential. Many have immersed themselves, for better or worse, in the aspirational or dogmatic interpretations of world religions, spiritual ideals, and philosophies. Throughout history, religion has been grossly distorted beyond all recognition. Humanity has been exposed to a version of worship and religion that has had the pure heart ripped out of it. However, a true religion is seeking to emerge now, a religion in which the heart remains intact.

For many thousands of years, from the worship of Sun Gods, Mystery religions, Paganism, and more (with Hinduism being the oldest of the existing major religions), humans have been guided (controlled) by external moralistic, authoritative, retributive, punishing, distorted, judgmental, accusative, warring, and misrepresentative unearthly Gods. Sacred texts have been delivered with misinterpretation and distortion in contradictory sermons paraded as rules and regulations to a vulnerable global congregation.

Mainstream religion and spiritual practice dates back to the Vedas, which predate Hinduism in India. For the Abrahamic religions, Judaism is the mother religion, established around 1500 BCE. Christianity was established in the first century CE and Islam around the eighth century CE. Billions of people have perished throughout human history as a result of ancient worship, which caused wars and entailed human sacrifice. Untold millions of men, women, children, and animals have lost their lives in the name of religion in the past four to five thousand years.

The most peaceful spiritual practices in modern history appear to be Buddhism and Hinduism, yet even these have ancient roots in battles and war. However, over time, they do seem to have evolved a more authentic expression of their fundamental spiritual teachings based upon love. It is also interesting to note that both encourage and practice vegetarianism, as regard for all life is a fundamental value and ethic.

As the psychological and conscious evolution of the individual and collective begins to establish a firm foothold as a reality, we find ourselves in the midst of a global evolution. Our relationship with our own spirituality is subject to radical questioning as we sense the rumblings of change beneath the surface of the spiritual and religious ground we have stood upon for thousands of years.

As psychologically and consciously evolving individuals, we are seeking and needing a more authentic expression of spirituality that speaks to who we are now in the twenty-first century. As the many layers that hide the heart of the true Self are peeled away through psychological processing and conscious awakening, so too are we now seeking to align with an authentic spiritual and religious practice for the new consciousness and the new world paradigm that is also emerging.

The time is upon us to strip away the many layers that have hidden the heart of religionlayers that were put in place in order to control and manipulate our ancestors who had not attained the degree of conscious evolution that is possible and can become a reality for the twenty-first-century awakened human being. Twenty-first-century humanity seeks a spiritual path that reflects our present time and one in which the heart of religion is laid bare. Our conscious evolution calls for a new spiritual practicea contemporary spirituality for an evolving worlda religious practice, an authentic teaching of what has lain at the heart of all religion. Just as all rivers lead to the ocean, what takes us to the heart of all religion is love.

Conscious evolution began with spirituality. Yet, owing to the adoption of the widespread distortion and misrepresentation of original religious and spiritual teachings over millennia, the conscious evolution of the human being became buried, along with the pure, peace loving, and peace seeking heart of true religion and spiritual practice.

Following the explosion onto the human evolutionary scene of the psychological Self, some forty or more years ago, we find we have now arrived at the gateway of individual and collective conscious evolution. As the psychologically integrated self establishes within the personal, cultural, and collective fabric of human reality, so too rises the star of conscious evolution, lighting the way ahead for our ongoing evolutionary development. Psychological evolution is followed by conscious evolution and then spiritual evolution, or more accurately, a spiritual reevolution, which reflects the consciousness of the twenty-first-century human being and a new world paradigm.

Standing upon the bridge of conscious evolution, we remain at the same time connected to both the psychological and spiritual. By simultaneously remaining connected to all three, an unprecedented evolutionary leap becomes possible within the human being. Never before, in the history of humankind, have we stood upon such a threshold that, for the first time, allows us to experience and manifest the greater potential we each hold as consciously evolving human beings. Our full capacity for the expression of this has remained dormant. We use just 8 percent of the human brain. In the words of Roberto Assagioli, just imagine What we may be. This is the promise of the times we are living in.

The gateways of psychological, conscious, and spiritual evolution are wide open and invite each and every one of us to align with a consciousness and a new world that reflects a twenty-first-century personal and collective shift from an old to a new paradigm. To do so will initiate and activate the vastly unrealized human template we are each born with and, until this century, have barely touched upon.

These three gateways present us with a new human experience and a world that, until this time, has been just a fantasy or a dream. The glimpse we have seen of a utopian world in which all are equal, all are abundant, all are peaceful, and all are well is now within our grasp. We have only to step through these psychological, conscious, and spiritual gateways to realize and manifest a utopian world as a reality.

The Three Foundational Levels of Human Evolution: Psychological, Conscious, and Spiritual

The time is upon us now to align and harmonize these three foundational levels of our intrinsic evolutionary naturea process I often refer to as realigning the personality with the Soul, and not the other way around, which is primarily the case in the unintegrated individual.

The most profound and transformational journey any of us will ever experience is the conscious evolutionary journey of the Self. The journey of true awakening is catalyzed when we turn our attention to our psychological level, which enables us to evolve in a more conscious way. This in turn profoundly influences and accelerates our conscious and spiritual evolution.

Self-awareness and self-realization lead to self-actualization. When we embody and live the Truth of who we really are, this enables global evolution and the attainment of the utopian ideal of a world at peace to become a tangible reality.

When enough of us are psychologically, consciously, and spiritually awakened, we can and will coevolve and co-manifest a new golden age and a thousand years of peace. This has been prophesied by ancient indigenous wisdom keepers for millennia, a fact that rare astronomical alignments and momentous Earth changes indicated would unfold post-2012.

The rise of conscious evolution as an intrinsic developmental reality for the twenty-first-century human being marks the arrival of the new human. This human being is not randomly shaped by circumstances of chance and current themes within society, but one who is conscious and fully engaged in their own evolutionary process as well as working toward the evolution of humanity.

The individual and collective psyche is now ready for a personal and global progressive evolutionary awakening. The twenty-first-century new human seeks a contemporary spirituality that reflects an evolving world. The psychological aspect of human evolution first entered the public domain in the late nineteenth century with Freud and then exploded onto the scene in the 1970s, at which point we entered into the era of psychological evolution. Now as we move further into the twenty-first century, we find we have arrived at a bridge that invites us into a new era of human evolutiona new epoch of conscious evolution. The twenty-first century will catalyze an exponential shift in this in both the individual and the collective and so materialize an aligned spirituality, a twenty-first-century global-spiritual evolutiona contemporary spirituality for an evolving world.

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Psychological, Conscious, and Spiritual Evolution | Awaken

Alan Watts was a British philosopher, writer, and speaker. His powerful speeches and words challenge the status quo, and they encourage each of us to discover our true personal divinity. We are all infinitely powerful beings. We just need to remember. Here are 12 Alan Watts Quotes And Inspiring Speeches On The Power Within

You are divine in nature. There is no need to seek out God as God is within you.

Trying to label something that is so unique is futile. There is no way to describe the layers of wonderment that exist within you.

Spending time in nature reminds us that we are nature.

The Real You Alan Watts Speech

Fighting and resisting life does not serve you. Let go of the struggle, breathe, trust the magic of your destiny.

The only truth is right now. Dont waste your life being somewhere else.

Youre It Alan Watts Speech:

When we open ourselves up to life, we are receptive to it all, not only those aspects that we would choose.

Life is not as serious as we make it out to be. Let your life be a dance, an expression filled with joy!

Being present brings you closer to yourself, and that is where your power lies.

Life is an ebb and flow, all of nature goes in seasons, as with your life.

If you find yourself in struggle, be still and let clarity come. Do not busy yourself in an attemptto find it!

You cannot adjust the world around you by criticising or cajoling it. Let it be. Be thankful for what it.

The way you perceive your life will greatly affect your experience. You can choose to see life as beautiful, even in the challenges. When you can do this, you will be blessed with all of the happiness that your heart desires.

The Dream Of Life Alan Watts Speech

What are your favourite Alan Watts quotes? Share them in the comments.

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12 Alan Watts Quotes And Inspiring Speeches On The Power Within