Posts authored by westley adam eckhardt
Liz's Workshop
Liz Lark's Workshop
We had a great weekend with LIz again. She always comes ready to inspire us with her 'go for it' way of life. She brings new ways to sequence the asana practice.
We want to thank her for her creativity and integrity. We look forward to more ways to collaborate with Liz. Perhaps we will have her with us this summer. Thanks Liz. Lots of love.
Madrid Apartments
An ideal place to stay if you are thinking of visiting us at Yoga Center Madrid and wish to be close to the best of Madrid.
Mira Mehta Workshop 12.2011
New Yoga Teachers 2011
Yoga Teacher Training Graduates
We are proud of our new Yoga Teacher graduates. We have just completed 3 of our Yoga Training courses. This year for the first time the 3 training programs concluded on the same weekend. Congratulations to all of you for your outstanding effort and well deserved results.
Hatha Yoga Instructor Training
Iyengar* Yoga Postgrads
Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga Instructors
Don't Panic Meditate
Don't panic Meditate
If you have ever had an anxiety crisis you may find this recent article that appeared in the Los Angeles Times interesting.
As someone who treats individuals for Panic Disorder, I can highly recommend learning and practicing mindfulness meditation.
Mindfulness Modulates Pain
"Brain Mechanisms Supporting the Modulation of Pain by Mindfulness" The Journal of Neuroscience, April 6, 2011
Mindfulness reduces the Experience of Pain
The Journal of Neuroscience has just published research which gives evidence the practice of mindfulness meditation can help to reduce the experience of pain. For centuries those practicing meditation have claimed that the nonevaluative representation of sensory events such as pain, influenced the very experience itself. The current study claims that 4 days of mindfulness meditation training reduced "pain unpleasantness by 57%" of "the noxious stimulation" and the "pain intensity ratings" were reduced by 40%. The study noted that meditation reduced the activation of the "contralateral primary somatosensory cortex" which affects one's pain related experience.
Mindfulness affects Multiple Brain Mechanisms
The effect of Meditation in pain intensity ratings were associated with greater activity in the "anterior cingulate cortex and anterior insula" that influence our "cognitive regulation of nociceptive processing". The resultant reductions in the experience of pain were associated with orbitofrontal cortex activation. This area of the brain influences one's contextual evaluation of sensory events. Such reductions in pain were also associated with "thalamic deactivation, which may reflect a limbic gating mechanism" that modifies interactions with the "executive-order brain areas". All of these observation associated with the practice of mindfulness meditation, suggest that meditation affects multiple brain mechanisms that alter the subjective experience of pain.
Mindfulness Programs at 'Yoga Center' Madrid, 'Yoga Sananda' Vigo and Hotel Spa Balneario****
I would like to remind my readers that we offer regular meditation classes, meditation instructor courses, mindfulness for stress reduction courses and mindfulness based psychotherapy in our 'Yoga Center' Madrid and 'Yoga Sananda' Vigo as well as our summer intensives offered at the Hotel Spa Balneario**** in Mondariz-Balneario in August.
New Calle Serrano
The New C/ Serrano
The C/ Serrano construction has finally ended and we can now enjoy walking along a very broad pedestrian avenue. It is lined with new Plane trees, interspersed with benches and includes a bicycle pathway.
Underground Parking
The construction of the underground parking is about to finish. More than half of the underground parking is already open. Last Saturday I saw more people enjoying Serrano than in the last 12 years.
The Miracle of Christmas
The underground parking at the height of our center will open in a few weeks. It will be a comfortable feature for our students because the pedestrian entrance to the parking is right at our entrance. A small miracle of Christmas after 2 years of public works at our door step.
Higher Orders of Consciousness
Questions I have spent a lifetime trying to answer
I am in the throws of choosing a topic to research for my doctorate in Psychology. i personally am interested in a number of areas. One interest regards the Oriental and Western mystical notions of elevated states of consciousness or mystical states. Such states are clearly referred to in Patanjali's Sutras and in the Cloud of Unknowing. Some Psychologists in the humanistic tradition, from William James to Maslow and more recently Robert Kegan claim that adults are capable of higher orders of consciousness. I would especially like to research the following two questions: Is there any empirical evidence for higher order consciousness besides anecdotal evidence?; is there any evidence that higher order consciousness can be taught?
Your thoughts and suggestions
First I would like to ask what your opinions are regarding my two principal questions. Have you or anyone you know exprienced higher order states or something similar. If so how did you or they do it? How doe you know that it wasn't just siggestion and wish fulfillment fantasy? I would also appreciate your comments and suggestions regarding any books, essays, journal atricles etc that you feel could help answer my 2 questions.
Western Ashrams
Ashram
My recent trip to the ashram made me reflect on some of the functions of an Ashram. In India an ashram is a place of refuge, sanctuary or retreat.
Time Out
My own observations during my role as ashram director for many years brought me to similar conclusions. What I observed is that many come seeking shelter from the turmoil or crisis in their life. The ashram provides a safe place to care for their emotional wounds and to take the time necessary to rebuild themselves, their new world view, their new identity - a life moratorium.
1 to 5
I found that most stay for somewhere between 1 to 5 years at most and then return to the fray. The ashram plays a principal role in their personal life renewal. A wonderful service indeed!
Conflicting Views
As I reflected upon my own experiences I realized that there was one aspect which I found missing in this healing environment - the open expression of conflicting opinions. It is a kind of groupthink. It occurs throughout our society, especially in businesses, corporations, religious communities, and many other organizations and groups. The problem is that growth is stifled. Transformation is limited. There occurs almost no thinking or being outside the box. This is what I feel is missing.
Mixed feelings
As you can see I have mixed feelings about ashrams. I guess they serve their function/purpose of giving us comfort and removing the need to reflect upon conflicting opinions. We are surrounded by one blanket of sameness. Like going home. Just what the doctor ordered - time out from the game of life.
Transformative Learning
Transformative Learning
I mentioned that I was at the Yoga Congress a couple of days ago in Germany. One of the themes that I mentioned as I introduced myself and my background interests, concerned transformative learning experience.
Mystical Traditions
I have had an interest in mystical traditions since I was a teenager. Probably because of curiosity into what my ancestor Meister Eckhardt was all about. One of the common themes in Christian and Indian mysticism is tranformative development or higher stages of consciousness. The mystics claim that they have been able to experience higher levels of consciousness or what Psychologists would call higher complexity.
Disorienting Experiences
Psychologists since William James have been interested in the possibilities of adult transformative changes. These are usually provoked by crises which cause a disorientation deep enough to provoke questioning long held beliefs, values or assumptions. Spiritual heroes usually have such experiences which result in new perspectives on life and its meaning.
Transformative Teaching
I am interested in learning more about how such transformations could be assisted or actually taught to others. This is very much like what I looked for in the Yoga tradition and the Christian mystic tradition. I have been somewhat encouraged in my pursuit by the developments in what is called the study of Transformational Learning. I am considering the possibilities of investigating adult transformational development and how it compares to the mystical traditions as part of my doctoral thesis.
Any suggestions or bibliographic recommendations will be greatly appreciated.
Narayani Coming to Madrid
Yoga Congress
I told you that I just got back from the International Yoga Congress, but I forgot to mention that I met a lot of old friends from my years as a swami. I felt a special warmth throughout my being to be there with so many long time friends and gurubhais. Sukadev aka Volker Bretz, the director of Yoga-Vidya was a fellow swami when we both served Swami Vishnuji. I have a great respect for Sukadev and more so for his humility in spite of his outstanding achievements of creating the largest Yoga organization in Europe with an Ashram capapble of accomodating comfortably close to 1000 people.
Narayani
Narayani was also there. She arrived from her recent programs in the USA with her daughter Amari. Narayani gave a very inspiring talk full of beautiful mystical Sufi poetry, life lessons and of course the next day she gave a joyful yoga class to hundreds of attendees from all over Europe.
In Madrid
I reminded Narayani I will be seeing her at her upcoming weekend program November 19, 20, 21 in Madrid. I am sure you won't to miss it either. Narayani becomes more and more a voice of loving kindness and inspiration. She always touches my heart.
International Yoga Congress
Lots of Yogis
I just got back from the International Yoga Congress in Germany. It was held at Yoga-Vidya headquarters in the spa resort town of Bad-Meinberg. There were over 600 people attending. Yoga personalities from most European countries and the USA came to contribute a lecture and workshop.
I decided to offer my views on how contemporary Psychology can complement and enhance what many practitioners of Yoga want to achieve - personal change and well being.
My Workshop
My workshop was on how we can make changes in ourselves in spite of our own usually unconscious resistance to changes. I was happy to see that many of those attending the workshop gained new insight into their own resistance to change. I didn't have the time to assist the workshop participants with their practical change process. Many asked me afterwards if i could come back and give a longer set of workshops on "How to overcome our immunity to Change". However for now, I hope, many will continue the process on their own.
Many were mothers or fathers who wanted to change the way they communicated with their children. This was very close to home for me. I have also faced this particular personal change challenge. i wish them big success.
My Lecture
My lecture was on Positive Psychology and what it may contribute to the Yoga community. I told everyone that Swami Vishnuji always made fun of psychology. He repeated a 1000 times the joke: "A neurotic builds castles in the air. A psychotic lives in them. A psychiatrist collects the rent." I got a lot of laughs.
My challenge was to show that these mindsets which are apparently contradictory, are just different filters of reality. No single worldview is sufficient. Psychology is a resource that can be a gold mine for those Yogis who want to understand and accept themselves better while learning how to live a fuller life.
Health Benefits of Regular Yoga Practice
Chronic Stress
Chronic stress causes damage on a cellular level to the body. Such prolonged stress leads to cardiovascular disease, cancer, stroke, osteoporosis, diabetes and frailty. Feelings of being overwhelmed by our circumstances contributes to physical effects such as stress-induced chronic inflammation - the result of an immune system in a constant state of high alert.
Research on Hatha Yoga and Stress in Women
Janice K. Kiecolt-Glaser, PhD has researched how chronic stress harms the body. Her investigations have led her to look into the mechanisms underlying Hatha Yoga potential stress-reduction benefits. She has compared inflammatory and endocrine responses of novice and expert female Yoga practitioners before, during, and after a Hatha Yoga class. She found that a Hatha Yoga class boosted students' positive emotions, but there was no overall difference in inflammatory or endocrine responses as a result of the Yoga class.
Regular Practice of Yoga
But Dr. Kiecolt-Glaser found that Yoga experts had 40% less serum interleukin(IL)-6 levels than novices following a stressful experience. She concludes,in the Journal "Psychosomatic Medicine" March 2010
"The ability to minimize inflammatory responses to stressful encounters influences the burden that stressors place on an individual. If Yoga dampens or limits stress-related changes, then regular practice could have substantial health benefits."
A fun way to get more exercise
How to get people to use the stairs
I received this from Enrique, a dear student of ours, and I thought it was worth sharing with you. I am not into advertising any particular firm but the idea merits exposure.
We mispredict our happiness
Pleasure or Displeasure
“People routinely mispredict how much pleasure or displeasure future events will bring.” according to Tim Wilson and Daniel Gilbert, two happiness researchers.
Who is happier? Lottery winners or accident victims?
In 1978 three psychology researchers decided to study the difference in the happiness of lottery winners and that of accident victims compared to a random sample of regular individuals. Their study, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, is now considered one of the founding texts of happiness studies. The results were a surprise to them and to most of us. Winning the lottery not only failed to lift the spirits of the winners but it resulted in less enjoyment of daily activities. The sample of regular individuals rated themselves just as happy as the lottery winners but they got more pleasure from regular activities than the winners. However, even the accident victims believed they would be happier than the lottery winners in a few years.
Just not as we expected!
It is not just winning the lottery that does not make us happier but a whole range of activities that don't turn out as we expect. Studies show that getting a raise or having kids do not have the expected effect. It has been found that many women find caring for their children less pleasurable than napping or jogging and only a little bit more satisfying than washing the dishes.
The "Hedonic Treadmill" and "The Happy Peasant"
One explanation for this state of affairs is the so-called “hedonic treadmill” hypothesis, which claims that people rapidly adjust to improved circumstances. Another hypothesis is that people are relativists and are interested in having more than those around them. Perhaps it is genetics, or that malcontents strive harder, or it is simply adaptation - people adapt to winning millions or to living on a Euro a day.
People do not always know what will give them lasting satisfaction.
Daniel Gilbert, a psychology professor at Harvard, has pointed out some of the ways that people misjudge their own satisfactions. We feel we’ll be happier with more variety, yet, we get more pleasure from the same thing over and over again. We will pay more to keep our options open, but we’re more satisfied when we commit to a particular choice. We anticipate being thrilled by events that, when they actually occur, leave us flat. Our economic growth and increased consumption has not increased our satisfaction.
Happiness is not the only thing!
Many people place their hopes on higher incomes, just as many countries do on higher G.D.P., and yet both end up disappointed. Happiness is good but it is not the only thing. There is more to life than subjective happiness. As John Stuart Mill, the English philosopher stated, “It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied” .
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