A Calm Mind A Serene Mind

Stillness and peace lies inside each of us. Take time to pause, reflect and access that calmness. Learn to disconnect from the busy-ness and noise of the world and of the many thoughts in our minds. If you practice for 1 second , then 1 more second & build up the practice.
Stop for one second . Think one peaceful thought
slowly think: “I am”.
Add another second and another thought: “a soul”.
Add another second or two and think: “I am peace”

Transcript

Why do we say focus in the centre of the forehead?

So the first thing we look at is the energy in the centre of the forehead is who we actually are.

It's our life energy,

The energy of the soul.

So everything we've ever had or used or needed or strength,

We think it comes from,

And up to a point it does,

We have to maintain our physical body.

But it goes further.

It's the soul that can give us a point in the correct direction if we're tuned into that energy.

To look after our physical health,

Our wellbeing,

Our relationships,

Everything.

All the energy for all of that is not going to come from out there.

And I think by now a lot of people have realised that no matter what we put in,

In the way of energy,

We can't change situations just by physical means.

And we definitely can't change others because everyone has their own personality.

And most people are very resistant to anyone interfering in that personality.

So Raja Yoga says we are also resistant to anyone interfering in our personality.

So the only thing we can do is to get to know the seed of our personality.

Who am I really?

I'm the life energy.

So we're going to talk about calmness,

Keeping our mind calm.

So,

Wow.

Your mind is a screen,

The screen of your mind.

All sorts of information and thoughts and distress and worries and everything all come into your mind.

And we struggle how to,

Oh gosh,

How can I fix this?

What can I do about this?

And to the best of our physical ability,

We try to make things right.

But it's successful to a point only.

Because all the answers and all the energy is in this tiny point of life energy.

And it has a mind,

An intellect and personality traits.

So this mind is simply like a screen,

Like you wouldn't ask your computer,

You'd switch on your computer and you can get all sorts of information,

But it doesn't solve your problems.

It's up to you what you do with the information and go here,

Go there,

Go somewhere else and test things out.

And it will always at this point in time be physical unless you're listening to anything to do with the soul.

So the same with us,

We spend forever struggling with information that comes into our mind and we think,

Oh,

But this must be right because that's what I was thinking and I was even seeing a solution.

Yeah,

Just like you go on the web and you see a solution,

But that solution doesn't come and solve things for you.

You'd have to figure out what to do physically.

What would you do with that information?

So it's the same when I think about the soul and things come onto the screen of my mind.

If then I go to the intellect,

My information store and start to look at how I can do something.

And usually it's to do with all the qualities that belong to me that are stored in the intellect and those qualities are available to me because they belong to me.

And they're the qualities of peace,

Calm,

Love,

Strength,

Determination,

Kindness,

All of these qualities are powers.

Anger,

Greed,

Fed up,

No faith,

Don't know what to do,

Hopelessness are not powers,

They're weaknesses.

And what we will get coming into our mind if we don't know about what I have stored within me will be weaknesses.

And I'll think,

But that didn't work and that didn't work,

Hopelessness,

Hopelessness.

But if I start to practice meditation,

I'll begin to see that I actually have energies that would make me very happy.

I have strength,

I have determination,

I have courage,

I have love,

I have kindness,

I have understanding.

And that's only a fraction of everything I could ever think of in the store of my intellect,

Which is part of this low point of energy,

Which is why we say,

Teach yourself to keep thinking.

I am a soul.

I am a soul.

Over and over throughout the day.

It's not a difficult thing to do.

What you're doing is you're creating a habit.

And when you see that only good feelings come from that habit,

You might be encouraged to keep going there.

Because if I go anywhere else,

I won't find answers.

I would struggle,

Struggle.

If I had enough money,

I could do this.

If I felt well,

I could do this.

If this person wasn't so difficult to go on with,

I could do this.

All these things are coming from the physical life of all of us.

It's not when you start doing this suddenly you've not got a physical life.

You have a physical life.

But you learn how to work with that in a way that's beneficial for even stubborn,

Angry people around you.

Don't go there.

Don't go there.

Be quite gracious about a lot of things.

Fine,

That's what you think,

That's what you think,

That's what you want to do,

That's what you want to do.

But I'm not going to be a partner in that.

I'm going to just be my own person.

I'm learning how to be myself.

I'm learning who I am.

A calm mind,

A serene mind.

So what is the opposite of a calm and serene mind?

It is a dissatisfied mind,

A needy mind.

Okay.

One with a negative inner world.

So all I can see are the physical aspects in my life.

That's why it's negative.

Remember we all have a physical life,

But we learn to manoeuvre and not go too far into getting upset.

But in contrast to the negative inner world,

The serene mind is a contented mind.

Like it's okay,

This is how it is.

If I just don't go there and I keep calm,

It can only get better.

So I get agitated and have a little bit of an interaction with someone that's a bit upsetting.

I can't keep a contented or a serene mind because it'll take ages to get rid of the anxiety and distress.

It can take ages,

Days,

Weeks,

Even years as you go back to it over and over again thinking,

Oh,

For goodness sake.

But then you teach yourself to start to say,

Don't just,

It's past,

Don't go there,

Don't go there.

So a serene mind is a contented mind and it's a mind full of appreciation and gratitude.

Appreciation and gratitude for beginning to know what I contain in my container of my intellects.

A mind that knows that it is fulfilling its own potential.

I don't want to fulfil the potential of getting upset,

Angry,

Dislike,

Worried,

All this.

I don't want that potential.

I mean,

We've been doing that for a while.

We've fulfilled that one enough,

I think.

We've taken enough sorrow and blows.

So it's also a mind that's filled with wisdom and understanding.

Why?

Because I'm beginning to know who I am.

That's maybe not who that one is or that one is,

But that's up to that one and that one.

I'm beginning to know who I am.

And it's a mind that is healing for others.

So as I start to use my spiritual qualities,

I'm healing myself.

And therefore,

I begin to heal others just through that vibration and understanding.

I begin to heal others.

Now,

It may not be obvious like,

Wow,

Because no one would actually maybe even know that they're not going to be angry for a minute or two.

They've just kind of stopped that.

That is like amazing.

But it happens.

It's a mind that becomes really strong and can weather all storms.

So I fill my mind with all these beautiful qualities that belong to the energy of the soul.

And therefore,

I can use these qualities.

So inside each of us,

It's not just the people who do meditation.

But meditation is the key to unlock those energies,

Because inside every human being on the planet,

Even those who are doing terrible things,

Is stillness and peace.

Hard to believe when you see some of the things,

But their nature,

Their natural nature is stillness and peace.

That's how we started off our journey.

Peaceful and calm.

But life prompts us into emotion,

Big emotion and bigger emotion,

Trying to sort everything out and reacting.

And we get stuck in as well to have a goal to think that that will make things work.

It doesn't.

It takes time.

So take time to pause.

Reflect and access that calmness that is inside.

It's definitely there.

And learn how to disconnect from the busyness and the noise of the world and of the many thoughts that will come into our minds.

All this worry,

Anxious concern that comes into our mind.

Oh,

What can I do here?

Oh,

Oh.

Because there's a lot of thought,

A lot of force in the world.

And sometimes we just don't feel up to getting into that force to retaliate.

It takes a lot of energy.

And usually whoever it is that's being very forceful has that forceful power.

And so it's almost a waste of our time to try to challenge that kind of force.

You just end up very upset and shaking,

Actually,

With the trauma of that forceful energy.

So in Raj yoga we say,

Because it's not just the meditation,

We have to live.

Every day we have to live our lives.

And all the situations come from living our lives.

So if you can learn,

Teach yourself to stop for one second,

One second.

Think one peaceful thought.

And slowly think,

I am.

Add another second and add another thought,

A soul.

And add another second or two and think,

I am peace.

I am peace.

It's recorded in me.

It's the biggest energy I could ever have.

Long before I became angry or upset or anxious,

There was peace.

So if we repeat these thoughts gently to yourself,

Paying special attention to them.

I am a soul.

And I am peace.

Be very definite,

I am peace.

There's no need to rush throughout the day.

Gently but deeply repeat this.

One thought,

One second,

One thought,

It's a meditation exercise.

Okay.

So when you go home and look at your computer screen,

You can look up lots of wonderful things,

But it's just there.

You don't become it.

It's not empowering you.

It might show you this is good for your health.

Here's some good food.

Here's a good thing.

This is what you can buy.

This is this.

That's your physical world.

So you want to look at your inner world.

When we look at who am I?

Is it we are all?

A soul.

So in that way we're all the same.

I am a soul.

You're a soul,

You're a soul,

You're a soul,

You,

You,

You're all souls,

We're all souls.

And it's quiet and it's subtle and it's peaceful.

But it's the truth of what our original nature is,

Peace.

And we're living in a world of disturbance.

And some of us reach a stage where we can't do it anymore.

And we try all sorts of things.

We were discussing this.

Some of us go away to be on our own.

We can't face the trauma because whoever challenges you out there is stronger in the physical than you are.

It's a non-win situation.

And you might have a good go,

But you'll be,

You'll feel dreadful afterwards.

You'll feel exhausted.

You'll feel non-success.

You'll feel very despondent.

And that's the outcome of challenging the physical.

So I'm sure you know because you've all got your memory track and you know what it's like.

I know I know what it's like,

Most definitely.

And we try always to cope with that.

But after a while you can't cope anymore.

And you think of other ways and other things.

But if you do rajyoga meditation,

There's a good chance you can cope with the physical and the spiritual.

Because you're learning who you are.

And that will have an impact on even the most angry,

Irritated person.

The mind and the intellect are like a married couple.

If you could think of it that way.

They're partners.

They support each other.

And at the moment,

In the whole world,

Apart from people who are doing their best to understand through meditation,

They're all divorced.

Because they don't work together.

And all they look at is what's available out there.

What's available out there.

What can I do?

How can I do?

When I get it,

Can't afford it.

How can I do that?

Can't go there,

Can't go there.

Oh,

It's too much effort.

So it's the mind's trying to work on its own.

And the mind's just a screen of what's recorded on the intellect,

On a physical as well as a spiritual way.

But once the mind or the soul wakes up to remember it actually has a partner and that partner has all your good qualities in it.

And so once I know that,

Then I can start to remember that I do have peace and love and power,

Happiness,

Strength,

Courage,

Cooperation,

Understanding.

Everything in me.

And when I think like that,

It's like the intellect comes to support the mind.

So suddenly the mind's not just like,

What's on the screen of the mind?

What do I do about that?

The intellect comes to support the mind.

And then you can see that you do have peace and strength and happiness.

It's recorded on us.

Everything we've ever done is recorded on us.

The negative is recorded on us.

That's why it's a challenge.

And the beautiful stuff that we've ever done is recorded on us as well.

But we forget what's recorded because today's life is at the front.

And it's showing us this is reality.

This is the real.

This is,

Oh no,

No,

This is what we are.

This is,

Oh for goodness sake,

Never mind all that.

This is how it is.

So the screen of my mind is polluted with simply the physical.

And I can't access the other stuff.

I can only do that when I remember I'm a soul.

And I remember that I can come and support the mind.

It's a learning curve this.

And you're not going to go,

Squish,

I've got it.

It takes time.

And the strongest energy within us at the moment is physical.

And the other stuff's just getting wakened up.

But the other thing is,

The good news is,

Is every time you come to a place like this,

Because we've spent a little bit of time listening to this,

Thinking of this,

Your personal energy,

Your good energy has gone up.

That's why it's quite auspicious.

Your personal energy has definitely gone up,

Which means you have,

You might have experienced it if you've been doing this long enough,

But you'll have a bit more strength to recognise when you're getting all upset by the physical.

You have a bit more strength to go,

Stop.

I'm not going there.

Slowly,

Slowly your strength will grow.

But it can't just go whoosh like a miracle.

Because the whole thing is to empower you,

Empower the self with the understanding of your spiritual identity.

And so the more that you remember,

And the more you would say,

This was quite simple,

That I am a peaceful soul.

That,

If you said that over and over,

Just simply that.

We were talking about that because we've been practicing this a lot.

Suddenly you find that you have a bit more strength than you had yesterday.

It's subtle,

But it's not going to solve all your personal stuff because your personal stuff is there to challenge you and for you to start to understand where it's coming from and not react to it.

Or find a solution to be beneficial for everybody involved,

To have respect for everyone,

No matter what.

Just the same as it took us a journey to accumulate lots and lots of physical ways of thinking and distress and dislike.

And in ourselves,

I mean,

We'd have hatred and annoyance and all of that.

So it's an opportunity to conquer all of that,

Not to let that upset us anymore,

But to put the good side of ourselves in place.

And even to do a touch,

Even a touch,

When you leave here today,

You're leaving with some power.

Even whenever I see you again,

You're leaving with some power and that power will never be destroyed.

Because you've touched your original self,

Which is most unusual at this point to life's drama,

Where everyone's in to push,

Shove,

A want,

A want,

A want.

So you've just,

Even you've learned a tiny bit and you've even for a minute thought,

Oh I am a soul.

Your energy's gone up.

OK.

I think it doesn't happen automatically.

I think you have to practice.

You have to practice things like you change the word detachment and don't go there.

But full stop.

I'm not going there.

That is,

You're deciding not to go into that situation.

You're becoming detached.

You're just not going there.

And that's very good what you said,

Because if someone's been practicing aggression for a long,

Long time and getting away with it,

Because most people absolutely crumble in the face of aggression.

Then how are we going to just go beyond our peacefulness and go,

I'm going to sort this out.

We don't have a chance.

And just to get that little phrase into your mind as well with little tiny,

It's good to practice with little things.

Just say,

Don't go there.

Just don't go there.

Just don't get into that.

Don't get into that.

To keep yourself away from,

Because we have such a habit for birth after birth for a long time of reacting.

You see,

We have habits as well,

And our habit is in for the reaction.

And that's quite difficult to stop.

But you just say,

Don't do it.

Don't do it.

Don't go there.

Keep smiling.

Just don't go there.

So you have to remind yourself.

So that's a practice as well.

Early in the morning when you first wake up,

Before all the things are starting to happen in the day,

And you're using up your energy and you're challenged and everything,

But you make some rules to yourself,

Like I'm going to stay very peaceful and calm.

I'm just not going to go there.

So you start to make your own inner programme,

If you like.

And you might want to succeed a little bit,

Not to think it's going to be,

Wow,

But I thought that and look what's happened.

Because it's a journey.

But every time you think that you are the soul and your peace,

You're moving your energy up.

And every time you come to a place like this and we talk about these things,

You're moving your energy up.

But it's not just when you come once a week or whatever.

It's every day of the week you have to think of something to do with the good qualities that are within you.

With the eyes open,

I can rest my eyes on the centre of the forehead of the person at the front.

And bring my attention to my own forehead with the thought,

I am a peaceful soul.

In the centre of the forehead,

Just above and behind the eyes.

I,

The soul,

A being of peace.

I'm seated.

And from here,

I look out through the eyes.

I am a thinking being.

So in my meditation,

I don't try to stop thinking,

But my thoughts naturally slow down as I think of Om Shanti.

I am peace.

Reviews

Quite nice, made me heel better enough to get out of bed!