Clear Sky Meditation & Study Center

  Do you ever feel anxious? I do, quite often. But it’s turning into a lot of fun. I’ve realised my baseline anxiety is actually a reservoir, an asset for a really exciting life. I’m learning to transform anxiety into excitement, into desire to really live each moment. And you could too. How so?   I remember reading a quote in an Osho book once and hearing repeatedly from my meditation teachers, that anxiety is repressed excitement. Repressed excitement I wondered? Surely not!? That’s not really what science says, is it? For Guided Meditations and to Know further about “Why Anxiety is Worth Getting Excited About” https://bit.ly/3sIC5dz

  It’s amazing when you enter a clear and radiant state on the meditation cushion. But can you keep it as you put the cushion away? How about during difficult times? In 2019, I participated in Clear Sky’s Karma Yoga program (Three-Month Intensive). During the program, the  founding teachers Qapel and Sensei  explained one good measure of how well your meditation practice is going: how well you can experience non-clinging awareness while doing a seemingly insignificant task. If we are training to sit and focus on the breath, then surely doing it while cleaning a sink should be easy. But it isn’t. Because as soon as we are not “meditating” anymore, we allow our ego to take over again. Three Month Intensive Program  brings spiritual awakening into the modern context – by integrating meditation, psychology, environment, career, and community.

The six Paramis– generosity, virtue, patience, effort, concentration and wisdom –take seconds to read and a lifetime or more to master. So, this blog offers an introduction to them, or perhaps a reminder that they are there to be practiced, contemplated, and shared. https://bit.ly/3esQMsX  

  If you find that you’re also struggling with deeper questions that modern society doesn’t answer, if you’re trying to live out the script of the standard western life while feeling more depressed, disconnected and dissatisfied, perhaps you can ask yourself, “How attached am I to my suffering? Do I believe the script I’m following?”   I’d been willing to continue to suffer because I believed it was my part in the script, my lot in life. I was attached to my suffering. Once I saw how this belief kept me trapped I felt free to make a different choice. I could take on a new role, become part of a different play. I chose to get off the pot. A few months later, with my marriage ending, I asked to move to Clear Sky to further my awakening and dive fully into spiritual life . Since then, my life has changed in ways both subtle and profound. Doug Sensei and Cata Sensei are both my teachers, and together they have helped me to continue and deepen my spiritual practice and unfoldmen

  Your time for meditation can be limited. Yet there are ways beyond simple mindfulness that can help you bring your spiritual practice into your working day. The spiritual teachings and meditation entered my life in a life-changing way while I was living in Japan. Yet, after just a few months, I found I was using most of my energy for work and commuting. I was struggling to find time to sit in meditation. Often, I had to start work across Tokyo at 7:30 or 8 am. On those days, I was skipping my morning meditation then feeling too tired to sit at night. Here are some tips to fit your meditation hours into your busy working days: https://bit.ly/3J397dY

  What comes to mind when you think of the word meditation? Does an image of a yogi in a cave high up on a mountain come up? Or maybe of the sage levitating above a cushion? Perhaps mindfulness-based stress reduction, meditation apps, or envisioning yourself on a tropical beach come to mind. https://bit.ly/3EgwVHG

  I’m part of an amazing spiritual community and I work with great people and yet, like many of us, I’m prone to this modern dis-ease, loneliness. The thing is, I recently moved to a new town where I was starting from scratch. Staying busy kept the loneliness bug at bay, for sure. When I wasn’t engaged in some project or other, however, my peace of mind deteriorated and in the end I had to admit that keeping loneliness at a distance just doesn’t work.  Luckily, over the years I’ve learned some tools that helped me explore what was going on. Here, I share some insights that I hope will help others dealing with loneliness.  https://bit.ly/3IVc1kZ

  When I first started meditating, it felt great. I’d had a little instruction and I started sitting at home, alone, every morning. With that, I was leaving for work every day with a state of calm and bliss, and my days were simply going much better. The fact was, I knew my initial enthusiasm would start to subside. Then I’d stop and regret it, something I’d done over and over, with many interests. Because I knew it mattered so much, I took a leap of faith–I booked my first retreat, several months in advance. I wanted to have that commitment even if I stopped meditating in the meantime. This is a short story. Jump down below to get the three ways to keep your meditation practice going : https://bit.ly/3s6nKHk

  We all have individual Dharmic paths that lead towards our own unfoldment. For some, it’s meditation. For others, it’s service. For me, it’s sex. Well, technically, for me it’s all the above. And, I feel so grateful to have discovered the central role that sex plays for me. Read more