American Meditation Newsletter: "Transformation".

Monthly Essay: "Quieting the Mind..."
New - Transformation: "Archives"
How American Meditation Benefits You
Sages Speak on the Meaning of the Journey
AMI Yearly Memberships
2004 Weekend Retreats
Classes, Workshops & Special Events
Important Messages
Questions and Answers
Tell a Friend About Meditation
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"Quieting the Mind..."

Winter Morning in Averill Park, Oil on Mahogany Panel, 18 by 24 inches

Namaste. We pray to the Divinity in you.

Quieting the Mind By Diminishing Distractions

It’s hard to avoid hearing about the benefits of meditation. Even mainstream publications like Time magazine and Readers Digest are reporting that meditation can reduce stress, boost immunity, lower blood pressure, increase energy and enhance creativity. But when you sit for meditation and your attention is assaulted by unrelenting whims of the mind, it may feel as though you’re adding stress to your life instead of subtracting it.

If your meditation practice is not the enjoyable and energizing experience you anticipated, remember that meditation is first a method of training and calming the mind. In truth, it is not meditation that creates a healthy body and mind, but a healthy body and mind are the consequences of skills you learn in meditation. When you are able to disempower potential distractions by exercising detachment, discrimination and willpower, the mind is free to serve the wise and nurturing advice of the buddhi whenever a decision is required. These decisions, in turn, have healthy, energizing and creative consequences.

In seated meditation, the mantra is always considered to be the shreya, that which will lead you for your highest and greatest good. During this time any competing thought, image or sound--no matter how important or alluring--is always considered the preya (short-term ego or sense gratification).

The totality of mind is vast, but at any given moment only a small portion is conscious. Most of the mind is unconscious--an immense storehouse of merits and demerits, attachments, memories, emotions and unfulfilled desires created by your previous attention.

During meditation, you close off the normal avenues through which information comes into your awareness. Your eyes are shut, so you’re not seeing anything. You’re not tasting, smelling, listening or touching. But the mind is an instrument of thought, habituated to the stimulation of new and varied information. When the mind is required to give attention to only one object, it quickly becomes bored and yearns for greater stimulation. After all, that is its habit, and you’ve rarely deprived it before.

As you try to focus your attention on the mantra, the unconscious mind (chitta) will issue forth from deep storage all sorts of attractive thoughts and images to satisfy the habit of thinking. “Hey, what’s for dinner tonight?” or “How will I pay my bills at the end of the month?” or “My children’s lack of respect makes me furious!” or, “I have a wonderful idea!”

Your attention might repeatedly wander away from the mantra to some visual or conceptual imagination or an external sound, but this behavior poses no problem for the detached Eternal Witness. Meditation is the practice of continually redirecting attention from the preya to the shreya. Do not confuse this process with samadhi, or union with the Divine, which occurs when the mind has learned to direct the flow of attention continuously--like an unbroken stream of oil poured from one container to another.

It is the nature of the mind to think. Anyone who tells you that meditation will stop you from thinking does not completely understand the process. Meditation teaches you how to manage your thinking process by developing practical skills for determining which thoughts deserve your attention.

Remember, as the highest precept of yoga science, ahimsa requires that your response be non-injurious. Therefore, do not follow the distraction; it is the preya. Instead, after you have respectfully witnessed the thought, gently and willingly withdraw your attention and offer the distraction back to the Origin from which it has come. Then return your attention to the mantra. Do not resist the thought, image or sound by pushing it away. Do not dismiss it in frustration. Do not become angry, and do not criticize yourself for being a poor meditator. Such reactions are not kind and they are not in harmony with ahimsa.

If you remain patiently centered in the Eternal Witness during meditation you will increasingly exhibit vairagya (detachment). When you discover that you’re not listening to your mantra you can calmly acknowledge that it’s not appropriate to give attention to the contending thought. If the thought is important, trust that it will reappear after meditation.

Through such respectful renunciation of the preya, you automatically increase your internal reserves of energy, willpower and creativity. As the rival thought returns to the unconscious mind, its samskara becomes shallower. Furthermore, as you redirect your attention to your mantra, the samskara of the mantra deepens--generating love, fearlessness and strength.

In effect, meditation reduces the constrictive power of fear, anger and self-willed desire while it increases your access to the expansive qualities of the mantra. Science teaches us that energy cannot be created nor destroyed, but it can be transformed. Meditation is the process for transforming debilitating and destructive power into serviceable energy, will and creativity. The key is learning how and when to direct your attention so that the power of the unconscious mind comes under your control. If you put crude oil directly into your car’s gas tank it would ruin your engine, but if you first refined the oil into gasoline, its energy would power your automobile quite efficiently. Raw oil and the refined gasoline are two separate forms of the same energy, but only one of these forms is an appropriate fuel for the combustion engine.

Consider your fear, anger and greed; each represents a valuable portion of your own personal reserves. Nevertheless, for the human being, these attachments are seldom beneficial forms of energy. They must first be refined into a useful form, and meditation is the refinery. Through meditation, potentially hazardous energy can be transformed into beneficial reserves for performing any action the buddhi suggests we should undertake.

But the ahamkara (ego) is a clever character--capable of many disguises. She’ll disguise herself as an itch on your nose, a spider crawling up your leg, a foot that’s asleep, a breath that seems to be non-existent, a smoldering resentment, some overwhelming desire or flight of fancy.

The thoughts that come forward from the unconscious mind during meditation reflect our many attachments. They represent things we like or dislike (raga/dveshas). That’s why it’s essential to develop sankalpa (determination) prior to meditation: “I want to do it, I can do it, I have to do it, I am going to do it, no matter what charm, attraction or temptation calls my attention.”

Before you meditate, pledge to yourself that even if an overwhelmingly attractive or important thought, image or sound demands your attention you will be firm in your focus on your mantra. No matter what the competing thought may be, it is always only a suggestion. It may be significant, delightful, frightening or anger-provoking, but your meditation is simply not the appropriate time to think about it.

The thoughts, desires and emotions that arise during daily meditation often represent issues of importance to be addressed during your contemplation practice. Contemplation (practiced at another time; not during your meditation) helps you review the habitual ways your sacred energy is currently being used. It allows you the insight to make conscious choices that will lead you to freedom from pain, misery and bondage.

Distractions in your meditation practice are not something “bad” to be summarily dismissed or filed away for future retrieval. By patiently practicing ahimsa when sacrificing the preya in seated meditation, you diminish distractions and establish a quiet, contented and relaxed mind. Once you experience that profound peace, your consciousness will flow in new, creative ways that motivate you to make different choices. Then the consequences of those actions will begin to bring you the Life, Liberty and unbounded Happiness you deeply desire and richly deserve.

In service - with love,
Leonard Perlmutter & Jenness Cortez Perlmutter.

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AMI YEARLY MEMBERSHIPS

Dear Fellow Seeker,

Since its founding in 1996, the American Meditation Institute has been able to serve over 1,500 students--teaching practical skills to enhance personal, professional and spiritual growth.

During this past year, AMI has hosted such notable visiting speakers as 115 year-old Swami Bua, Vedic scholar Swami Veda Bharati, Vedic astrology author Linda Johnsen, Ayurvedic physician Dr. Abbas Qutab and Swami Hariharananda. In addition to its annual Guru Purnima celebration and bi-weekly dinner and movie series last winter, the Institute has offered weekly courses and retreats on meditation, hatha yoga, the Bhagavad Gita, chakras, Yoga Sutras and Katha Upanishad.

As you can clearly see, Leonard and Jenness's vision of building a spiritual community has become a reality. Now it is our turn to support this sacred teaching.

We are currently asking for your financial support for the American Meditation Institute. Won't you please take time from your busy schedule to become an active member of our AMI family? Whatever membership level is comfortable for you will help immensely. If you are in a financial position to make a contribution beyond the basic membership rate, many people will benefit. But no amount is too small. And the love, prayers and good wishes accompanying your membership will be just as important.

The mission of AMI is simple: to help uncomplicate modern American life. If you have personally benefited by reading the Transformation newsletters or by attending any of our classes or workshops, we humbly ask for your support now--to keep the teaching of yoga science alive in our community.

With love and respect,

Mary Balsam, Dan Beer, Kathie Carroll, Melanie Gloeckner and Jim Whiting,
Membership Committee for the American Meditation Institute

AMI Membership Benefits

• 10% Discount on all books, tapes and Meditation Supplies
• 10% discount on all classes, seminars and retreats
• Use of the Institute library of books and video tape lectures

• Complimentary Individualized Self-Therapy Counseling
• Subscription to the AMI newsletter, Transformation

Your Membership Supports

A 6,000 year-old tradition

The perennial knowledge as taught by Leonard and Jenness Perlmutter

AMI newsletter, Transformation

A variety of classes, seminars and retreats

Special seminars with visiting national and international teachers

An authentic spiritual perspective in the midst of our busy, modern lives

A unique environment to enhance your personal meditation practice

The new AMI Home Center and teaching facility

The production of instructional videotapes on various aspects of Yoga

Science Essential office supplies and equipment

Classes for corporate, government and religious organizations

AMI Speakers' Bureau

The Himalayan Institute Hospital Trust, which serves the rural poor of the Himalayan Mountain region of India

How American Meditation Benefits You

If you did not desire your present situation,
you would not be doing everything possible to maintain it.

Leo Tolstoy

Namaste. We pray to the Divinity in you.

In March, 1775, a group of patriots convened at St. John's Church in Richmond, Virginia. At that convention a thirty-nine year old man rose to his feet to deliver one of the most inspiring speeches in world history. Although he spoke about the desire to be free from the tyranny and oppression of the British Crown, Patrick Henry’s words could very well apply to the stressful, complicated and uncertain nature of modern American life and our own personal desire for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. “They tell us that we are weak, unable to cope. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week or the next year? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction---by lying supinely on our backs hugging the delusive phantom of hope---until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak---if we make a proper use of those means which the God of Nature has placed in our power.”

Names and forms have changed dramatically since Patrick Henry’s “Give me liberty or give me death” speech, but most human beings are no less plagued today by the painful stress of daily life, the desire for freedom from worry and the endless search for happiness. In addition to our own personal duties and responsibilities, the world around us presents many challenging uncertainties. With apologies to Thomas Paine, “These (too) are the times that try men’s souls.”

With history as our guide, it’s easy to conclude that the desire to end pain, misery and bondage is universal and timeless. How to fulfill that desire---in the midst of every circumstance and relationship---is the essence of American Meditation.

Concerning such provocative questions, Henry David Thoreau offers some helpful insight. “I went to the woods,” Thoreau explains, “because I wished to live life deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” Unlike Thoreau, American Meditation does not require that we “go to the woods . . . to front the essential facts of life.” True freedom and happiness can only be experienced from within our own constellation of relationships. Toward that goal, life itself is the greatest of all teachers---if we can develop an ear to hear and an eye to see.

American Meditation provides the framework to experience the peace of mind and happiness we seek. Unlike the physical sciences which investigate the laws of the external universe, American Meditation is a tool for knowing our internal landscape, the nature of our consciousness. The sages teach that we are citizens of two worlds---the outer world of names and forms and the inner world of thoughts, desires and emotions. To be free, we must learn to act skillfully according to our objective knowledge of both worlds.

American Meditation provides step-by-step instruction on how to create a bridge between these two worlds. By employing scientific techniques, American Meditation teaches how to access the wisdom of the inner world, and how to employ that knowledge skillfully in our relationships through mind, action and speech. American Meditation teaches how to control, conserve and transform our greatest human resource---the energy of the mind---to attain our most deeply held desires.

As we learn to master our internal states through regular meditation practice, the vast, hidden, habitual power of the unconscious mind is slowly transformed into healthy, creative, loving, nurtured and rewarding relationships and experiences. This bridge between the inner and outer worlds coordinates all our assets by harmonizing the body and mind with the Divine wisdom of the spirit.

Though the basis of American Meditation is the ancient Himalayan tradition of India, its truth is echoed in every major religion and indigenous tradition: Hebrew, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim and Native American. But American Meditation is not a religion. It is an educational body of knowledge that does not interfere with any religious or cultural belief. On the contrary, American Meditation enhances the understanding of, and appreciation for, every religion and culture.

In practical terms, American Meditation provides the technology for creating new mental software that empowers us to make conscious, discriminating choices---choices which unerringly lead us for our highest and greatest good. The basic American Meditation instruction is found in Psalms: “Be still and know that I am God.” This is accomplished through the practice of seated meditation. The root of the word meditation is related to the root word for medical and medicate. It means attending to or paying attention to something. In seated meditation, you pay attention to inner dimensions of yourself that are seldom observed or known. Meditation involves an inner attention that is concentrated, quiet and relaxed. There is nothing strenuous or difficult about creating this inner attention.

In seated meditation, we try to let go of all the many mental distractions, preoccupations, and the fleeting thoughts and associations of our normal waking experience. We do this, not by attempting to stop or repress our thoughts, but by encouraging the mind to focus on one subtle element or object in the present moment. This internal focus of attention helps the mind cease its other constant and stressful mental processes.

In seated meditation, you are fully alert, but the mind is not thinking about a problem nor analyzing a situation. Instead, the mind is asked to slow down its usual chatter by letting go of its everyday tendencies to solve problems, analyze, remember or focus on the memories of the past or concerns the future. American Meditation is not letting the mind wander aimlessly, nor having an internal conversation with yourself. American Meditation is simply a quiet, effortless, one-pointed focus of attention and awareness.

The skills we gain in seated meditation---to witness and transform the power of our thoughts, desires and emotions, can then be employed in all our relationships throughout the day through the practice of meditation in action. Instead of always reacting impulsively to our fears, anger and desires, we learn through meditation how to observe and transform their energy into thoughts, words and deeds which bring us to a level of greater happiness and contentment.

For individuals recuperating from any kind of surgical procedure or emotional trauma, meditation is therapeutic from the very beginning. Meditation helps relax the tension of the gross and subtle muscles and the autonomic nervous system, and it provides freedom from mental stress. Individuals who meditate attain a tranquil mind, and this helps the immune system by limiting its reaction to worry and anxiety.

After just a few days of sincere efforts, meditation will begin to establish new, healthy, habit patterns. These skills increase individual willpower and help a person to make beneficial choices in life. Sound decisions concerning a beneficial diet, daily exercise, diaphragmatic breathing and lifestyle selection all become possible when the mind is not controlled by habit.

In life everything is constantly changing, and yet the habits of the mind resist that change. To facilitate positive change, American Meditation practices have one singular goal: to know the true Self in every circumstance and relationship. After all, if you don’t know your true essence; if you don’t know who you are, it's impossible to make reliably beneficial choices.

To put an end to stress and dis-ease we must begin the earnest exploration of the frontier that lies within. To find true joy and contentment, we acknowledge and serve the wisdom of our spiritual core by learning to steward the power of our thoughts, desires and emotions. American Meditation is a roadmap for this inward journey. American Meditation is a program of holistic practices and time-honored techniques to improve mental, emotional and physical well being. The only two requirements for benefiting from its use are your own personal determination and earnestness.

In service - with love,
Leonard Perlmutter & Jenness Cortez Perlmutter.

Click to view our
2004 Weekend Retreats Schedule

January 2004 - Feburary 2004

In This Issue:

"Quieting the Mind..."

Sages Speak on the Meaning of the Journey

AMI YEARLY MEMBERSHIPS

Important Messages

Guided Meditation Audio Tape:

Questions & Answers

Tell a Friend about Meditation