Spiritual practice is not nice, sweet, or soft. Spiritual practice is not easy. Spiritual practice will turn your world upside down for the better. Spiritual practice requires rigor, vigilance and non-attachment. Spiritual practice requires humor. Spiritual practice demands surrender and redirection to what is Real. This steep path requires courage.
There are three levels of spiritual practice. Each level is more internal than the previous one. The first level uses the five senses. The second level uses the mind. It is not until we go inward enough to the third level that we actually begin to approach the real work. The third level uses the will, constantly boring inward toward the Heart—not the seat of emotion, but the ground of our being. The Heart is the cave where the Self resides. This is where our adventure leads.
We cannot simply practice on our own; we don’t have the discernment to assess where we are. This is where a teacher comes in. My teacher was Swami Muktananda; over nearly a decade, he taught me one-on-one the real internal practice that leads to liberation. Baba awakened people and guided his disciples into the Heart, so they could reside in the Self of All as he did. This is my lineage, and I teach what Baba taught me, as I continue to practice and learn.
My teaching room is both a training center and a laboratory for spiritual practice. We learn such skills as inward listening, meditation, scriptural study, stilling vibrations, burning up karma, and disentangling from our outward vehicles. This involves not only time-honored methods but also techniques I have devised, including resolving the foursquare, using the seed tool, dismantling the “love machine”, and assembling the life puzzle. At the center of our practice is actually getting out of the head and into the Heart, so that we can gain non-attachment and discernment. These tools are practiced with the grace that comes from shaktipat. Through practicing here, we come to know the whole world as a place of God. God is everywhere and with us at all times.
To that purpose, I hold group classes every week via Skype and Webex. By signing up for them, you get to participate in this rigorous and rewarding path. I have also published a book, Walking Home with Baba: The Heart of Spiritual Practice (Bancroft Press, 2012), which explains spiritual practice and contextualizes it through my own experiences.
We all need support; we cannot do this alone, nor do we have to. This online resource provides free weekly blogs, practice points, and foursquares as well as a variety of class videos.
The most complete combination of resources and support comes with a Full Subscription. For only $19.99 a month, each subscriber gets the following:
My weekly blog via email
Audio access to both current and archived classes:
Weekly and archived Lessons and Questions
Weekly and archived classes in Evelyn Underhill’s Mysticism
Weekly and archived scripture study of the Yoga Sūtras
Archived classes in the Shiva Sūtras
Archived classes in the Vijñanabhairava
Archived classes in the Pratyabhijñāhṛdayam
Archived classes in selected Upanishads
Video access to weekly and archived Lessons and Questions
Remember: Practice may not be easy, but the Love we dis-cover within is worth it all.
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