Your Personal Practice evolves in stages. Usually the sequence is this:
1. The initial awakening
2. A clear view of the Goal
3. The yearning and the intention to awaken fully
4. Seeking guidance and learning skills
5. Practice with single-minded effort
6. Deepening Realization
7. Liberation from the cycles of transmigration and suffering
Judging from your interest in reading this, you most likely have already had one or several initial awakening experience(s). We can help you then with steps 2, 3, 4 and 5.
> A clear view of the Goal
Are you confused about the goal and purpose of your life the spiritual path? You are not alone. Here is how you can clear up your vision.
Go back to whatever moments of awakening you have experienced. For some people they are very powerful and create an instant clarity and a deep and focused yearning arises. But for many people the beginnings of the spiritual calling are much more subtle.
Subtle moments could be a sensation of peace, a deeper love, a time of stress-free relaxation, a powerful sense of aliveness or of a greater capacity, a flash of joy or connectedness to other beings, to nature or a higher reality. All leave their traces. To clarify where they lead, recall the best of these memories one by one. Then ask yourself:
- What was the essence of this experience?
- What would it be like if I could enjoy this experience as a constant state?
- Could it be possible that I can indeed live in this state?
The answer to the last question is a clear and definite YES. In fact you would not have had the experience if it would not be possible. The experience is a sign-post that shows you the way. It is a small taste of one aspect of the enlightened Self. It says, “Come this way, this is the way for you.”
If your awakening was a little moment of peace – your Goal may be the deepest and constant peace you can envision. If you tasted love, imagine it to be vast and universal, without a trace of fear. If you sensed a connection to God or to nature, imagine it to be complete and profound…
Your view of the Goal is the essence of your sign-post experience magnified. As you have other awakening moments, this view will become increasingly clear. Follow it. It is the way you are called. Jesus said, “Many are called but few are chosen.” You can be one of the chosen. It is up to you to choose yourself. This you do by setting an intention and by deep yearning.
> Setting the intention to awaken fully
Once you have a view of the Goal, you can then create a powerful connection to the Goal with your Heart and your will.
A yearning for the realization of your Goal may arise in your Heart. Deepen it. You can do that by association with those in whom that yearning is also alive. This is called satsang, a Sanskrit word meaning the company with those who are pursuing truth. It leads to the development of devotion.
While deeply concentrating on your highest Goal, in a one-pointed, powerful state of concentration set the intention to reach this Goal in this life time and to do whatever it takes to reach this realization. Such intentions are powerful, so ask only for what you truly want.
This setting of intention and the developing of devotion can be part of consultations and coaching with Ram Giri.
> Seeking guidance and learning skills
Guidance comes in so many forms today that the challenge is to separate what is truly effective from what is merely good. As the saying goes, “The good can be the enemy of the best.”
It is therefore best to seek guidance from those who are able to lead others from deep compassion and wisdom and without self-interest. Such masters have been known by various titles such as mahasiddhas, avadhuts, etc.
The Skills for Awakening are practices given by such great teachers, Neemkaroli Baba, Byron Katie and Eckhart Tolle. In addition Ram Giri has spent many years thoroughly testing numerous other methods and approaches. While there are many good techniques that are also helpful, he found that the Skills for Awakening represent the pure essence of the world’s wisdom traditions as well as of the most current approaches.
Here are the links to free instructions in the Skills for Awakening:
Living with a Full and Open Heart: HeartSourcing
Emotional Balance and Harmony: Open Attention
Clarity and Peace of Mind: The Work of Byron Katie
The Skills can be combined with each other and any other teaching or practice you follow. We are always here to support you.
> Practice with single-minded effort
“The great Way is easy,
yet people prefer the side paths.” [1]
Love, bring peace to the mind, live and spread harmony – that is the truth of the ages, yet it is too simple for the complicated mind. The simple truth threatens the mind of complexity, the ego; it prefers knowledge that cannot set it free.
Truth is simple and straightforward; so is the sacred life. To realize that, we need to practice it. We have practiced confusion, judgments and pain for life times. They have become deeply rooted habits and can be replaced by habits of truth, of love and of harmony. We build habits by repetition.
Developing and sticking to a daily practice is not easy. The ego mind is too easily distracted; it clings to distractions. To sit still, to question one’s mind, to love, this does not interest the ego. If we want to build a habit of sanity, the distracting forces of the ego need to be overcome.
This can happen in two ways. Suffering motivates us at first. Then, once we have a taste of the benefits practice can bring, we no longer have to rely on suffering. We can practice because of our yearning for freedom. Then we will not be so easily distracted.
> Your Personal Practice
Fit your practice into your life. You have to give it some time, make it a priority, but making huge changes can backfire. If we try to do more than we’re ready for we may become discouraged and give up. Better to do less regularly than more irregularly.
A way to start is to set a regular schedule that is manageable and then slowly expand on it. It is helpful for most to pick a convenient time of day and/or a specific place for the practice. This too creates a support of regularity for the new habit. The following is an example of a regular practice:
- Do one 10 minute meditation
- Complete 1 One Belief at a Time Worksheet
- Spend about 10 minutes on Open Attention
Adjust your practice up or down as fits your needs and level of commitment. Stick to your practice especially on days when you really don’t feel like it. The mind will come up with all kinds of very important reasons of why you can’t do it today. Expect that. It is the job of your pain body to try to derail your practice. You don’t have to listen.
On the other hand, a firm commitment needs to be balanced by kindness. There are days when you will fall short of your commitment. That’s okay; you are a human being, not a machine. It is most important to treat yourself with kindness. Tread the middle path; be neither too loose nor too tight in your practice.
Connect with people who also practice. This is crucial support. Nothing is more encouraging than friends who value and give a boost to your attempts to be free.
Use this site and our blog to get more assistance and insights.
We are always here to support you!
Go to:
Mentoring with Ram Giri
[1] Tao Te Ching, tr: Stephen Mitchell
