Stopping Thought

Learning to stop thoughts in their tracks can be a very useful tool to have in your arsenal of mindfulness/self awareness techniques. Keep in mind however, that gaining the ability to stop and even hold thoughts at bay for some amount of time is not a complete solution to the long term goals of ending discursive and unnecessary thought processes. In the early stages of this journey, the discursive, monkey mind Ego is strong, so when you push it or try to force it, it will push back. That is to say, that you can likely expect a flurry of activity to follow. 

However, using thought stopping techniques combined with being actively engaged in objectively, and non-judgmentally, paying attention to the thought processes, thought content, mind theatrics, emotional states, etc. by bringing full attention and awareness to them, in the present moment, as they occur, not by reflecting on them afterwards, will prove to be very effective. As one continues the practice of objective non-judgmental thought observation, patterns begin to reveal themselves, along with the consequences that follow, as well as any physical sensations that may appear, such as from the brain releasing fight or flight chemicals into the body. These patterns, when left to spiral out of control, are the various thought based disorders we all seem to inflict upon ourselves to varying degrees, such as stress, anxiety, fears and phobias, depression, anger, or any of the other thought based disorders. Through this continued observation of these patterns and thought loops, those that are no longer serving in ones best interest begin to become very evident.

It is in combination with the recognition of these thought patterns that are no longer serving in either our or societies best interests, that thought stopping techniques are most useful. Halting a thought in its tracks that you have just recognized or identified as part of a self destructive behavior can prevent the situation from escalating any further. It can stop one from saying or doing the wrong thing or doing something harmful. With sufficient practice, it can stop a fit of rage in it's tracks or halt addictive behaviours.

The simplest way of temporarily suspending thought is through taking control of your awareness and using it to control where you place your full attention. This is not as hard as it seems, there are many easy ways to do this. Simply place your full attention and full awareness into one of the five senses. Pick an object in your immediate vicinity, or an imaginary spot on the floor or wall, preferably low to minimize other visual distractions, and stare at it as intently as possible, as though you were expecting something to jump out at you and you don't want to miss it. Place your full attention and awareness into your hearing, without judging or trying to identify or name the sounds, just listening for perhaps the faintest possible sound, or trying to single out just one sound out of the many. Any of the senses will work, the faint odours that surround us that we usually ignore, the physical sensations of sitting, standing, walking, movement, etc. Focusing complete attention on the complexities of the breath is another way, what does it feel like as the air passes through the nostrils, fills the lungs, as the abdomen rises, and as the process reverses to the out breath. This is one of the practical applications of practicing breath based meditation. 

Any time your full awareness and attention are captivated completely, thought halts naturally. This pause in thought can now be used to regroup, and consciously choose not to indulge in or follow that pattern any further. As the mindfulness/self awareness practice advances, and as the stability of sustained concentration increases, it becomes easier to use the mind activity itself as an object of awareness. 

For those engaged in the full path to Enlightenment, (Nirvanna, Buddhahood, Christ Consciousness or any of the other names this misunderstood mental state is referred to as) or more simply the complete freedom from self harming discursive thought patterns, this state can be induced through the development of long term sustainable concentration trained to remain focused on the continuous movements and activity of the mind until all un-neccesary, unwanted, harmful mental activity and illusion has been seen through and by consciously choosing to no longer indulge in them. Just like un-used muscles, these patterns atrophy and start to die off eventually no longer presenting themselves.

For the brave, practicing sustained no thought states for prolonged periods of time, as long as you realize that there may be a burst of thoughts later, also has it's advantages. This helps to build sustainable concentration, which is another tool that has to be sharpened. There is nothing wrong with allowing the thought flow to burst forward afterwards. First, this whole process is about learning to regain control of one's own mind, rather than letting it run wild, so this allows some degree of control by choosing to allow the space for the discursive free flow that may follow. Besides, these free flows occur less and less frequently over time as one continues to break down and stop indulging in thought patterns that no longer serve a higher purpose. As well, it provides a somewhat controlled jumping off point, controlled in that you are now expecting thought flow, and from which you can return to objectively observing your thoughts.

Michael L. Fournier

An Overview of the Mindfulness Path

 

One of the things that make this practice seem so difficult is that it feels a lot like a box full of puzzle pieces thrown at us, because of the large number of teaching methods, traditions and interpretations. We are left to try and solve the puzzle when we haven't a clue as to what the picture looks like. To make matters worse, it is often steeped in mystery, the mysteries of the spiritual world. This comes about quite naturally because it is all but impossible to describe experiences that occur outside of thought using conventional language and thoughts. It's like trying to describe the smell of a flower to someone without a nose.

Fortunately, with advances in science and psychology, a very practical approach to the practice begins to emerge. The practical benefits of a meditative mindfulness practice can be scientifically proven and measured, which in turn allows for a greater interest in learning and sharing and understanding of which techniques are most productive. It basically boils down to retraining the neural pathways we build in our brains. Those that fire together, wire together. Our monkey mind thought patterns have wired together as a result of the habit of allowing our minds to wander. The Buddhist path is literally about breaking the habit of allowing the mind to wander off, by learning to pay attention to it and recognize the disharmony an unsupervised mind left running wild can cause.

As the Buddha predicted, anyone who truly wants to, can free their mind from all stress and suffering, and science is enabling us to better understand and validate methods to do so. So the talk tonight is an overview of the process from as practical of a viewpoint as I can. The more we study, learn and understand how the process works, the more we can help each other to free their minds. We need to understand what we are doing, why we are doing it, and how we go about it.

So to start off I would like to define just what it is that we are trying to accomplish, what the ultimate goal is, and to demonstrate some of the techniques that can be used.

We often hear of the practice as being about getting rid of Ego. To get rid of something, we must first clearly understand what it is that we are trying to get rid of. So lets define Ego from a practical standpoint.

Ego is simply a collection of thoughts, judgements and perceptions about ourselves, and our environment that we have chosen to accept and cling to. Because we never question the validity of our own thoughts, they have acquired the habit of running free, un-checked, un-supervised and un-neccessary. We allow those thoughts to define our sense of self, who we think we are, who we want to be, and how we remember ourselves as having been in the past. It is not who we really are.

Who we really are is that part of us that knows and is aware of our own existence in the present moment. Present moment experiences are like that awestruck moment when the mind quiets briefly to watch a beautiful sunset. Thoughts spoil such moments, don't they? Thoughts and judgements keeps us from truly experiencing the present moment by keeping us engaged in mind theatrics and judgements. Isn't it obvious that our mind created fantasy worlds are not real?

We don't need our Ego consciousness thoughts to tell us right from wrong, to to help someone in need, we can do so on instinct, we know how to do that. The reality is that far more often we allow our thoughts to prevent us from helping someone in need, we are afraid to get involved, or we don't like the way the person looks.

Most of our physical movements and actions are guided from outside of conscious thought, but when we are absorbed in thought, we fail to notice this. We don't have our Ego dictating to the foot a detailed set of instructions on how to walk. We KNOW how to do this. We learned how to do this by paying attention to what we were taught.

Every single wrong doing any of us commits, whether as an individual, or as a group, including countries committing genocide or war (which is really the same thing), always begins with a single thought in someones head. Everything that stops us from being who we want to be, from being the best person we can be, begins with a thought. Every fear, worry, anxiety, regret,or mental stress we place upon ourselves, always begins with a thought that we have entertained in our head.

These thoughts are formed from the perceptions we have of the world around us and the experiences we have, from how we think, perceive and believe that the world is treating us. We allow our thoughts to create division between us and the world. We view life in a “Me against the world” way, as we struggle to fit in, to learn what we are taught, to work hard and to pay our bills.

The Ego mind speaks to us in words and pictures, inner dialogues, in fantasies, daydreams, always with “me” as the central character, and carries us off into all sorts of apparently fascinating places that mind seem to wander to. The monkey mind neurons have become so strong that we easily become hopelessly lost in our thoughts. We become so lost that we miss out on most of what is going on around us in the present moment. It is only when we are NOT lost in thought that we can truly experience the present moment.

The present moment is not something as elusive as it may seem to be. The present moment is characterized by the mind being so completely absorbed in reality that thought subsides. When this occurs it is usually accompanied by pleasant feelings. We have all experienced being fully in the present at one time or another, such as watching a shooting star in the night sky, or an overwhelmingly peaceful moment in nature, perhaps staring at a waterfall. It can even happen in tragic moments like in the events of 911. Such an event is so shocking that it stops the mind as we try to make sense of everything we are seeing and hearing. These events have captured your attention and awareness.

Egoic thoughts, monkey mind, are where attention wanders to when you do not have control of it. This is just a bad habit, and all bad habits can be broken. This entire practice is about learning how to regain control of your attention and to free your self from the ever wandering Ego, by learning to observe and understand how your own uniquely programmed mind works.

The ultimate goal of getting rid of the Ego means retraining the mind, out of its habitual practice of wandering off into inner dialogues and fantasy worlds. It means learning how to recognize and curb thoughts that are not serving you in your best interest, by no longer indulging in them. When you stop indulging in them, they begin to occur less frequently. Just as neurons that fire together wire together, the ones you ignore and don't indulge in, atrophy, they wither and die. This is characterized by a mind that abides in silent awareness rather than being lost in thought. In the present moment. The ultimate goal is to completely break the habit of allowing the mind to wander off unsupervised.

This does not in any way inhibit your ability to think constructively, or creatively, it does not inhibit the ability to reason, problem solve, learn, or understand. It does not give you a new personality. It is simply learning how to shut off the free flowing repetitious monkey mind. In freeing the mind this way, awareness grows of the senses and the world around you. It is as though you begin to merge with reality instead of the fantasies and mind theatrics.

Because everyone's journey through life is so unique, the teachings can get confusing for some. Every person alive has undergone a completely unique set of experiences, and a completely unique set of personal judgements about those experiences. Every Ego is unique. This in turn means everyone's solution to solving the Ego problem is also unique. This is why objectively, observing thought is so important. You are the only person capable of figuring out what is going on in your head because you are the only person capable of seeing it.

To learn and understand the mind, it has to be put into learning mode....paying attention mode........and learning how to maintain and sustain that attention through concentration, and without judging. Judging only creates new neural pathways by making use of the ancient survival mechanism that the Ego developed from.

So in terms of the teachings, one size does not fit all. It is important therefore to always monitor your progress, by paying attention to your reactions to changing situations around you in daily life, especially the unexpected or unwanted ones, and observe what works and what doesn't. Use what is useful and discard what is not.

The Ego is the basis of our entire world view, but it is created from incomplete, biased and usually flawed information. Our judgements are tainted by our beliefs, which by their very nature have little or no basis in truth. They lack any substantial proof, but we choose to accept them as truth. None of our beliefs should ever be beyond questioning. Blindly accepting a belief can only lead to inner disharmony especially if it is ever proven wrong.

Beliefs are a symptom of a closed mind. Only an open mind can be free.

Our 5 senses can not possibly perceive every bit of information available in the moments we form our judgements from. Especially considering that the mind is far more likely to be lost in thought anyway, since that seems to be where it usually is, and thereby misses out on even more of the information that was available to us because we weren't paying attention.

Our judgements are tainted by other peoples opinions and ideas. They are tainted by our judgements of similar experiences. And there is always much more going on than we can possibly be aware of. As a result, our judgements are often severely flawed. Yet we still want to be able to trust our own thoughts, and rarely ever examine how trustworthy they really are. It is only through paying attention to our thoughts objectively that we can start to understand them. This means we have to learn how to separate ourselves from our thoughts. Objective observation. Observing them as though they were objects separate from us, which they are! Otherwise, how could you be aware of them.

This is a difficult concept to explain, the best way is with an analogy. Being absorbed or lost in thought is like watching a movie or TV show that has you so interested, so captivated, that you completely forget that you are sitting in your chair watching it. You forget that you are in your living room. You loose yourself in the drama and become completely absorbed in the show. It is almost as though you become part of the movie or show. This is similar to the state our thoughts take us to when we become lost in them. Learning to observe your thoughts is like remembering that you are still in your body, and in your living room, watching TV objectively, you are separate from the show, and no longer mentally absorbed into it. When you are no longer mentally absorbed into thought, you fall back into the position of being an objective observer. You become aware of your thoughts by actively placing your attention on them rather than passively being absorbed into them.

The Ego developed as a self preservation and survival technique, and is most assuredly responsible for our very existence today. It formed as an ability to judge our surroundings and activities, and decide if they were safe or not, is it a snake or a stick? They look similar, but one might bite. Our judgements, then combine with our perceptions of our 5 senses, and a memory signature of the chemicals that washed through our body, such as adrenaline, and store this into a very quick reacting part of our memory. In this way, when we recognize danger, the same chemical wash is released causing us to experience the fight or flight response.

In today's world, the sort of things that cause us stress worry, anxiety fear or whatever personal blend of mental suffering you choose to impose upon your self, neither fight nor flight is usually a practical response. You make a mistake at work or knock over Grandma's antique vase. You can't fight it, you can't flee, so instead you are afraid or worried or anxious, and since you did not engage in a fight or run away in terror, your body has no means of burning off these chemicals. This is the physical manifestation of stress and this takes a physical toll on the health of the body.

Just to be clear then, this practice is about eradicating the Ego, the fantasy version of the sense of 'I'. In other words, putting and end to the discursive free flow of thoughts that sit at the root of all mental disharmony. This is what is meant by the Pali term Niroda, or cessation. And to repeat again, it does not in any way inhibit your ability to think constructively, or creatively, it does not inhibit the ability to reason, problem solve, plan, learn or understand.

The practical path is twofold, first to develop concentration by learning to sustain awareness and attention, and to use that concentration to observe and understand how our mind works, by turning that sustained attention and awareness inwards, in learning mode, without judgements, observing thoughts as they occur, without allowing ourselves to get drawn into the inner drama, learning to regain control of the mind, and to keep it from wandering off into useless trivial inner mind theatrics. Concentration then can be defined as the ability to maintain attention through sustained awareness. We are learning how to be aware of where our mind is, and if it wanders, pull it back by controlling where you place your attention.

For most of us, the habit of allowing our attention to wander into mind theatrics began in our most formative years, our early school years. How many times did the teachers have to repeat the phrase 'pay attention'. Attention is the minds learning mode, and if we didn't feel like learning, we allowed our mind to wander off into our imagination instead. You can not learn anything unless you are paying attention to it, and that includes the mind itself. When you are paying attention to something, you are learning. If you want to understand your mind, you have to pay attention to it. When you place all of your attention onto one of your 5 senses, or perhaps switching from one to the other, giving them your full attention, you are in learning mode. You are learning what it feels like to experience your environment.

Now lets look at what awareness is. Awareness is that part of you that knows without the need for thoughts to run through your head to validate it. You know you are in this room, because you are aware of your surroundings, and you can know that without the mind having to hold an inner dialogue with you about it.

A simple easy practice that can develop the ability to sustain the attention is by focusing your attention directly and intently onto one of the 5 senses and sustaining it by means of awareness, by knowing when your attention is there, and holding it there as long as possible, and pulling it back whenever you recognize that it has wandered. When the mind wanders, pull it back to awareness. You will have to do it over and over and over again, as patiently as you can, until the mind becomes accustomed to staying where you put it.

Thought is always suspended whenever you place all of your awareness and attention totally, and completely on any of the senses. Pick an object in the room, or a spot on the wall, or on the floor and stare at it very intently, as though you were expecting something to happen at any moment and you don't want to miss it, and you will notice thoughts subside momentarily. Give it a try.

That moment of silent mind was free from Ego and completely in the present moment.

If you listen very intently to sounds around you, perhaps picking out one dominant sound, or perhaps trying to pick out the faintest sound you can hear, and thought will again subside. Give that a try as well.

This also applies to physical sensations, which is one of the reasons breath meditation and walking meditation work so well, but only so long as sustained concentrated attention and awareness is held there. When you are eating, know that you are eating, when you are sitting, know that you are sitting.

Other physical sensations such as pain or an itch can also be used as a meditation object to help quiet the mind. The same applies to odours and tastes. When you place all of your attention and awareness into a sensation so intently that the mind quiets, you often become aware of some of the more subtle aspects of the experience that you would have otherwise missed. Like eating pizza and noticing the subtle hints of the different spices, or picking out the individual flavours of the toppings. You become aware of the more subtle levels of the experience that would otherwise be missed or ignored.

You might try staring intently at a candle flame. Anything that helps you develop and strengthen the ability to sustain concentration and awareness.

The second part of the practice is to learn how to turn that awareness and concentration inward. To observe all of the minds movements, thoughts, emotions, reactions, feelings, sensations. Again, it is important that this is done in a completely non-judgemental way. You do not want to start building new thought patterns, and creating new karma.

Remember, concentration and awareness place the mind into learning mode. All the mind has to do is pay attention and observe without judging. Judgements are flawed and will taint the learning process. With sustained practice, the mind starts to connect the dots. It experiences with pure attention what a silent peaceful mind feels like, and it also experiences what the thinking mind feels like, and begins to recognize and learn from the repetitious thought patterns and the emotions that accompany them, and compares this with the quiet peaceful states of concentrated awareness.

As the mind begins to discover and uncover the negative effects of an Ego that runs wild, wisdom begins to develop. Wisdom manifests itself as the ability to discern useful thought patterns from harmful thought patterns. And as wisdom begins to emerge, you gradually stop indulging in your impulse reactions to your thoughts, you stop entertaining thought patterns that are no longer serving in either your or someone else's best interests. You start recognizing what your thought patterns are doing to you, you see clearly how your thoughts are the sparks that ignite the fires of mental stress, and you become aware of your reactions to your thoughts, and your reactions to life, and the impact that your actions and reactions have on you and the world around you, and the impact this has. In other words you start to see your own karma in action.

There is one thing however, that has not changed throughout the entire history of spiritual teachings and practice. And that is the one simple fact that it makes no difference how many books you read or how many talks you listen to, none of it matters, unless you actually do the work yourself.

Formal sitting meditation then, can be thought of as the classroom. It is where you sit and figure out how to develop concentration, practice sustaining quiet minded awareness, teach yourself how to observe thought objectively, and practice diligently observing thought objectively until no thought passes unobserved. Formal meditation is really just removing yourself from as many worldly distractions as possible so you can spend some time alone, just you and your mind, exploring your inner world.

But in order to gain any benefit from these skills, they have to be developed into a new habit, the habit of paying attention and always being aware of where your attention is at. This skill has to be transitioned into all facets of life, every waking moment, building new neural pathways that will develop into long lasting inner peace, tranquillity, and happiness. They have to be practised in the real world, in every waking moment that you can possibly remember to practice. Practice makes perfect.

What I have explained to you is the relationship between samadhi meditation, the concentrated sustained awareness, and vipassana meditation, the inner objective observation of thought. These two practices work hand in hand and compliment each other. You need the skill of sustained concentrated awareness to reflect inward and observe the mind movements, and the more time spent figuring out the mind, the less time the mind becomes willing to spend engaged in harmful, wasteful, or useless thought patterns. This results in a natural calming and quieting of the mind, in turn allowing greater concentration and better sustained awareness. They work hand in hand, complimenting each other. Which one should you develop first? Conventional teachings usually recommend training in samadhi first, but experiment with both and go with what provides the best results for you. Ultimately, both need to be developed.

Michael L. Fournier

Can inner change really change the world?

How does inner transformation change the world? As one studies their own mind, (observing thoughts and the co-dependent relationship they have with emotions) one gains awareness of how their thoughts and actions cause ripple effects, and the occasional tidal wave, out into the global consciousness. We see how our thoughts influence our words and actions, and how our words and actions influence others. 

Global consciousness is constantly being shaped and influenced by the quality of thoughts and memes that permeate society. Unfortunately, most people are oblivious or feel helpless about the influence their thoughts have in shaping both their inner and outer worlds. It is the chaotic thought processes of the masses, fuelled by individual desire and greed, that have allowed mankind to create such a chaotic world as the one we currently live in. 

Global consciousness is currently undergoing its own transformation or awakening. There are masses of people in the world today that are waking up into various levels of higher consciousness and awareness. This is being witnessed around the world as an unprecedented numbers of people keep coming together in extremely large unified groups all around the world, pushing for change, and standing up to the powers that be, exposing corporate greed and political corruption at an ever increasing rate.

People are standing up for environmental issues, political rights issues, economical and resource sustainability issues. They are standing up to the excessive greed and lavish excess enjoyed by a very tiny minority, while billions are left to starve in abject poverty. They are standing up to the concentration camp animal abuses that have become a normal practice in the food industry, and exposing corporations who are putting public health and safety at risk. And they are waking up the impossible sustainability of a monetary system that depends on continuous infinite growth at any cost in order to survive, while depending on a finite world of resources that are no longer viable, such as carbon fuels. Our very survival as a species may well depend on this awakening in order to avoid extinction.

More often than not, this global awakening is being fuelled by people who have undertaken various inner trans-formative paths, such as yoga or meditation, or one of the many other paths of Ego transcendence. And this can be witnessed as well by the rapid spread in the Western world of businesses and institutions that teach yoga and meditation, and in the increased interest in Eastern philosophies such as Buddhism and Hinduism, as well as many other other spiritual practices.

Global consciousness will continue to awaken as inner trans-formative practices continue to bear fruit, as practitioners continue to see the positive benefits within themselves. As the practitioner continues to maintain focus on the inner world, the positive ripples will occur on their own.

It is important that the focus of the practice not be allowed to become distracted by the desire to change the world, that is always Ego driven. Maintain the inward focus and the right outer ripples will always take care of themselves. As positive ripples continue to radiate out into the collective consciousness, their influence will help others to see the benefit of engaging in some form of inner transformation.

To change the world, change the self first.

“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” ― Mahatma Gandhi

Michael L. Fournier

ego vs. Ego

ego vs. Ego

What is Ego? From a psychology viewpoint, Ego is viewed as a necessary and intrinsic part of our psychological makeup. It is viewed as something we need to strive to constantly improve, we need to build our self-esteem. From a spiritual view, Ego is something we are striving to free ourselves from, to transcend, rise above, and eliminate completely.

Thus we have two somewhat opposing viewpoints of Ego, one says we can't ever be free it but must constantly strive to improve it, and the other that Ego can and should be transcended and eliminated.

Why is it that the logical, highly educated minds behind psychology believe the Ego can not be perfected and thereby transcended, but Self-Esteem and therefore Ego can be improved upon?

The simplest answer is that they find themselves unable to control their own Ego, let alone transcend it. Likewise for their colleagues, friends, family members, and in-fact everyone they know of, or have ever heard of, except for a small handful of Enlightened monks, gurus, and perhaps a few others who have laid claim to transcending their Egos. Since Ego transcendence into a silent state of mind is purely subjective, and there is no known method to prove or disprove the existence of Ego, these claims tend to be simply disbelieved and summarily dismissed. This dismissal is a very typical reaction of Ego, whether individually or as a group. Egos are only interested in anything that validates their own views and opinions, and quickly dismisses anything else as being irrelevant, unreliable, or some other reason it can find to justify the dismissal. Sweeping this relatively small amount of evidence under the carpet and relying completely on their own subjective experience, they find themselves justified in their reasoning that the Ego can not be "gotten rid of".

If this viewpoint was correct, one would have to wonder then, how methods that teach the path and steps that lead to this mysterious state of consciousness have managed to continue being handed down so successfully for thousands of years. Any teacher within any of the non-dualistic traditions will quickly tell you it is because it works, spiritual transcendence is a real phenomenon. It is important to note here that not all who successfully transcend their Egos are as publicly visible as the teachers and gurus or as highly revered as the Buddha, or Jesus, or His Holiness The Dalai Lama. They can exist in any walk of life including a homeless person.

If then, the spiritual teachers and gurus are correct, why is it that so few people are able to attain this state of consciousness? 

First lets look at the two ways one can reach this state, one is spontaneously, and the other is through extensive practice. There is no possible way to predict or deliberately bring about a spontaneous transcendence. It does seem to be brought about as a result of enduring tremendous suffering and stresses (physical, mental, emotional, or a combination) and the resulting mental activity spiralling out of control, causing so much disharmony and anguish, that a breaking point is reached. This causes the mind to "step out" of its own activity, almost as though it self destructed. This is not something most people are willing to voluntarily attempt, and there are no guarantees it will produce the desired result.

The second method is extensive practice. Before practice can begin, one must first figure out exactly what to practice and how to go about it. This requires trying to somehow comprehend methods that are purely subjective and experiential. It is like trying to understand a description of the taste of chocolate, or the smell of a rose, from someone else's experience if you have not yet had a comparable experience. Once one has figured out what to do and how to do it, the real practice begins. Practice continues until perfection is reached. 

The practice requires maintaining constant sustained observation of every thought and every emotion, from that place of non-judgemental detached awareness, and constantly pulling back to this place whenever you catch yourself having drifted out of awareness and into the Ego's mind theatrics.

To perfect this technique requires a level of daily practice that begins in the first moments of awakening in the morning and continues until one falls asleep at night.

This is a level of commitment that few seem to be willing to commit to. Such a level of commitment exceeds the level of commitment that world class musicians, singers, and athletes commit to, since they are afforded time away from their practice.

The results of this practice are directly proportional to the effort put in. 100% effort yields 100% results. Ninety minutes a week in meditation because that's all the time you have, well ???????

Michael L. Fournier