We Can Prepare for Meditation to Support our Practice

In today’s world, amidst the hustle and bustle of everyday pressures and the nonstop digital universe, the idea of a regular meditation practice can seem daunting or even impossible. Let this be easy. Be gentle with yourself. Allow this to be part of how you prepare for meditation.

Set yourself up for success by preparing a sacred space to set the tone for your practice, and it’s helpful to establish some level of consistency. For some, that means taking time during their commute to meditate and journal. For others, that means sitting on the back porch early in the morning or meditating for a few minutes on the couch. Still others will have a sacred corner with an altar, a few candles, an image of Christ and a place to store your journal. Find a comfortable place, where you have enough privacy to go inward and are unlikely to be interrupted.

While a dedicated place to hold your practice can be very helpful, it is actually not necessary. As children of God, we are walking portals to the Divine, and the Kingdom of Heaven is within. Through us, the Spirit moved through the Earth, and an important part of the journey of individual spiritual development is learning to create a sacred path with our faith and reverence.

People all over the world choose to meditate in many ways, following a wide variety of recommendations. You may choose to sit cross-legged for your meditation or recline in your favorite chair. Some meditations ask you to hold your hands against your heart. Others will suggest holding your hands open in your lap or opening your eyes.

Relax and Focus on the Meditation

The most important thing is to be comfortable, awake, and relaxed. If that means meditating cross-legged on a cushion with your hands in a yogic mudra, or posture, so be it, but it’s not at all necessary. Regardless of your exact posture, the goal is to be focused on the meditation itself.

The brief time for your practice should be dedicated solely to your meditation. It is not the time to solve all of your problems. The miracle of the meditation often happens afterward, out in the world, while living our lives.

Meditations on Christ

Excerpted from Meditations on Christ: A 5-Minute Guided Journal for Christians by Benjamin W. Decker.

Ben Decker

Declared by Conscious Lifestyle Magazine as “one of the world’s leading meditation teachers,” Ben hosts popular classes, trainings, and events on meditation, social justice, and related studies at The Den Meditation, Wanderlust Hollywood, Divine Meditation, and Unplug Meditation.

Once praised by Forbes as a “legendary PR maven,” and “a shining example of the talent the philanthropic community needs to attract,” Benjamin W. Decker left a prolific career in Hollywood to dedicate his professional life to conscious activism.

He has worked closely with humanitarian organizations including anti-human trafficking organizations Unlikely Heroes & Saving Innocence, as well as Generosity.org, Children of the Night, the American Red Cross, and many others.

Decker is the Founding Executive Director of The Providence Project, President of the Board of The inerHEALTH Foundation, and Founding Spiritual Director of Full Circle Venice.

The post How to Prepare for Meditation appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

About Real Love

In Real Love, Salzberg suggests mindfulness as a way to develop an objective view of ourselves – the stories we tell ourselves, and the stories others tell about us. She acknowledges cultural and historical influences on these narratives including the archetype of the soulmate who will fix our lives, the entertainment industry’s failure to promote non-violent heroic action, and common negative associations with “loving everybody.”
 
“We live in a world punctuated by horrifying acts of violence, in which entire groups of people are marginalized by virtue of race, class, religion, nationality, and sexual preference. How is it even possible to be loving it all?” Salzberg asks.
 
The work of healing and personal growth through the practice of real love expands our ability to experience the depth of the present moment – a spectacular tool in your mindfulness toolkit. To become masterful, one must use the tool, again and again, increasing in understanding and refining in technique.
 
Salzberg says, “I’d be the first to acknowledge that this work is never done…Inspiration points us to a bigger world than the one we may have been inhabiting, where we suddenly can see that human beings can go through so much and still be kind.” Salzberg suggests that “loving everybody” might just be the only “real love” there is.
 

Ben Decker

Declared by Conscious Lifestyle Magazine as “one of the world’s leading meditation teachers,” Ben hosts popular classes, trainings, and events on meditation, social justice, and related studies at The Den Meditation, Wanderlust Hollywood, Divine Meditation, and Unplug Meditation.

Once praised by Forbes as a “legendary PR maven,” and “a shining example of the talent the philanthropic community needs to attract,” Benjamin W. Decker left a prolific career in Hollywood to dedicate his professional life to conscious activism.

He has worked closely with humanitarian organizations including anti-human trafficking organizations Unlikely Heroes & Saving Innocence, as well as Generosity.org, Children of the Night, the American Red Cross, and many others.

Decker is the Founding Executive Director of The Providence Project, President of the Board of The inerHEALTH Foundation, and Founding Spiritual Director of Full Circle Venice.

The post Real Love by Sharon Salzberg: A Book Review appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Reinvent Self-Help with Camilla

Reinvent Me is broken down into sections designated by the acronym of R-E-I-N-V-E-N-T, consecutively guiding the reader to identifying their unique passion and purpose, helping create clarity, balance, and excitement around what could otherwise be considered the daunting task of reinvention.
 
You’ll have to pick up a copy of the book to get the low-down on each step, but the process takes us from: Recognize where you are and where you need to go all the way to: Transformation – embracing the “new you.” Like an ally and friend to the reader, Camilla thoroughly addresses the major barriers and challenges that come along with every step, including fear of failure, impatience, financial blocks, relationship issues, and busy schedules. There isn’t much she leaves out of the equation!
 
Camilla’s approach to the book, the program, and the exercises she includes is flexible and comfortable. She encourages people to read at their own pace and even skip around through the book, depending on where they find themselves in the process of reinvention.
 
This flexibility is somewhat surprising considering Camilla’s famous dedication and precision in her longtime career as an athlete and professional dancer. This is a practical, touching, light-hearted but powerful guide that uses tools like affirmations, meditations, goal-setting, and self-inquiry for anyone looking to reset, recalibrate, and reinvent themselves.
 

Ben Decker

Declared by Conscious Lifestyle Magazine as “one of the world’s leading meditation teachers,” Ben hosts popular classes, trainings, and events on meditation, social justice, and related studies at The Den Meditation, Wanderlust Hollywood, Divine Meditation, and Unplug Meditation.

Once praised by Forbes as a “legendary PR maven,” and “a shining example of the talent the philanthropic community needs to attract,” Benjamin W. Decker left a prolific career in Hollywood to dedicate his professional life to conscious activism.

He has worked closely with humanitarian organizations including anti-human trafficking organizations Unlikely Heroes & Saving Innocence, as well as Generosity.org, Children of the Night, the American Red Cross, and many others.

Decker is the Founding Executive Director of The Providence Project, President of the Board of The inerHEALTH Foundation, and Founding Spiritual Director of Full Circle Venice.

The post Book Review: Reinvent Me by Camilla Sacre-Dallerup appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

“A broken heart is also an open heart… our willingness is all it takes for healing to begin.” – David Kessler

I had the opportunity to study with David Kessler, who is the world’s leading grief expert, and I found his work to be revolutionary and insightful – simple and poignant. I bought a copy of every one of his books that day including You Can Heal Your Heart: Finding Peace After a Breakup, Divorce, or Death, which Kessler co-wrote with Louise Hay.

You Can Heal Your Heart includes people’s stories of loss and grief as well as insight into these stories gleaned from years of Kessler’s experience combined with Hay’s teachings on the power of thoughts and the use of affirmations. As the subtitle says, topics covered range from breakups and divorces, to the deaths of loved ones and pets, while also acknowledging a wide range of other forms of grief.

“Your loss will also be a window into your old wounds,” the authors say. When we experience a loss, our entire world changes, and in that moment of transition, we even have the grace and gift of the opportunity to heal old wounds that may have been suppressed and ignored. You Can Heal Your Heart provides tools for accepting and healing these existing emotional wounds. Many people, even those experiencing deep grief, often avoid the pain of allowing themselves to experience their grief fully.

“Hard times can serve as a reminder that our relationships are a gift.” The contrast of challenging experiences reveals the positive experiences. Looking at the way we grieve, we can begin to understand the grieving process and better support ourselves and loved ones. As new ideas are introduced, and new stories shared, there are new affirmations included, affirming healthy, healing beliefs around self-worth, love, and wholeness.

Through You Can Heal Your Heart, readers learn to harness the power of their grief and to “allow a new life to unfold,” guiding them on to the next chapter of their lives without ever escaping or denying the feelings that come with living through loss.

Ben Decker

Declared by Conscious Lifestyle Magazine as “one of the world’s leading meditation teachers,” Ben hosts popular classes, trainings, and events on meditation, social justice, and related studies at The Den Meditation, Wanderlust Hollywood, Divine Meditation, and Unplug Meditation.

Once praised by Forbes as a “legendary PR maven,” and “a shining example of the talent the philanthropic community needs to attract,” Benjamin W. Decker left a prolific career in Hollywood to dedicate his professional life to conscious activism.

He has worked closely with humanitarian organizations including anti-human trafficking organizations Unlikely Heroes & Saving Innocence, as well as Generosity.org, Children of the Night, the American Red Cross, and many others.

Decker is the Founding Executive Director of The Providence Project, President of the Board of The inerHEALTH Foundation, and Founding Spiritual Director of Full Circle Venice.

The post You Can Heal Your Heart by David Kessler appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Counter-cultural icon, Daniel Pinchbeck, known for his controversial views on the shamanic and medicinal use of psychedelics, brings us what appears to be a personal messianic manifesto, his new book How Soon is Now. With a preface by living musical and philanthropic legend, Sting, and an introduction by actor and Transcendental Meditation poster boy, Russell Brand, Pinchbeck’s latest book is poised to be a guaranteed commercial success.

Pinchbeck calls for a “planetary initiation,” in which all people of the world (or at least a critical mass), must come to a collective understanding of the immense proportions of the challenges we face. In a surprisingly thorough outline, we journey through what Pinchbeck believes to be the primary concerns of our time – including climate change, sex, religion, farming, money, and energy.

A survival guide to the millennial generation (and really – all of humanity), How Soon Is Now is written by a man humbled by his own taste of fame, world travels, and exposure to some of the brightest minds of our time. Pinchbeck draws upon the teachings of these elders (living and dead), in each of the many areas he covers. Always giving credit where credit is due, readers are introduced to fascinating characters and underserved content, doing a powerful service in promoting other influential works.

More than just a drawn out explanation of “everything wrong in the world,” and more than a polarized spiritual or political response, Pinchbeck feels like “one of us.” He’s calling for a maturation that wisely integrates the darkness of our psyches, the desires of our hearts, guided purposefully by the forces of light every step of the way. How Soon Is Now is made up of scientific intelligence, spiritual understanding, ancient wisdom and objective finesse, brought together with revolutionary fervor and a refreshingly humble tone – most of the time.

Easy to read, well-organized, legitimately entertaining, and contextually profound – How Soon Is Now is easily the most important book of the year.

Join Ben Decker and Daniel Pinchbeck for a conversation related to How Soon is Now? at the Den Meditation on March 19 5:30-7:30pm. 

Ben Decker

Declared by Conscious Lifestyle Magazine as “one of the world’s leading meditation teachers,” Ben hosts popular classes, trainings, and events on meditation, social justice, and related studies at The Den Meditation, Wanderlust Hollywood, Divine Meditation, and Unplug Meditation.

Once praised by Forbes as a “legendary PR maven,” and “a shining example of the talent the philanthropic community needs to attract,” Benjamin W. Decker left a prolific career in Hollywood to dedicate his professional life to conscious activism.

He has worked closely with humanitarian organizations including anti-human trafficking organizations Unlikely Heroes & Saving Innocence, as well as Generosity.org, Children of the Night, the American Red Cross, and many others.

Decker is the Founding Executive Director of The Providence Project, President of the Board of The inerHEALTH Foundation, and Founding Spiritual Director of Full Circle Venice.

The post How Soon is Now by Daniel Pinchbeck appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

“Depression can be a sacred initiation into the journey of enlightenment” reads the new book by Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph, The Spiritual Journey from Suffering to Enlightenment.

If you’ve ever heard her speak live, this book follows a familiar rhythm. Williamson teaches from personal experience and relevant mainstream knowledge, making her relatable and understandable. In Tears to Triumph, she processes the issue of emotional, spiritual, and psychological suffering through the wisdom of various religious traditions – including, but not limited to Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, and A Course in Miracles. Rediscovering these universal spiritual themes, Williamson provides an intelligent, open, practical look at surviving and transcending our personal and collective suffering.

As we’ve come to expect from her, Marianne Williamson addresses the elephant in the room – a few of them, actually.

“Sometimes neurosis is best measured not by the things that make us sad, but by the things that do not make us sad.” She goes on to say, “Where would we be if abolitionists had not been upset about slavery, or suffragettes had not been upset that women could not vote?”

Marianne Williamson points out that grieving the death of a loved one, the end of a relationship, or the fact that your nation is in a time of war, is not mental illness. Such a “knee-jerk pathologizing of emotional pain is a dysfunctional reaction to the experience of being human.” She proposes that allowing ourselves to experience deeply the ups and downs of life is part of a spiritual initiation that can take us to new depths of understanding, even reminding us that, “…it was after Moses had committed murder that God appeared to him in the burning bush.”

Calling to accountability major industry giants and celebrity personalities, Tears to Triumph is not without its politico pop culture juice – delivered with just the right balance of classy and sassy. However, Williamson’s message is more than a message of spiritual growth, welcoming the experience of suffering, and taking responsibility for our cultural missteps – her message, as always, is the message of unity, the peace of God, and of course, miracles.

Ben Decker

Declared by Conscious Lifestyle Magazine as “one of the world’s leading meditation teachers,” Ben hosts popular classes, trainings, and events on meditation, social justice, and related studies at The Den Meditation, Wanderlust Hollywood, Divine Meditation, and Unplug Meditation.

Once praised by Forbes as a “legendary PR maven,” and “a shining example of the talent the philanthropic community needs to attract,” Benjamin W. Decker left a prolific career in Hollywood to dedicate his professional life to conscious activism.

He has worked closely with humanitarian organizations including anti-human trafficking organizations Unlikely Heroes & Saving Innocence, as well as Generosity.org, Children of the Night, the American Red Cross, and many others.

Decker is the Founding Executive Director of The Providence Project, President of the Board of The inerHEALTH Foundation, and Founding Spiritual Director of Full Circle Venice.

The post Marianne Williamson’s Tears to Triumph appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

At first glance, Ora Nadrich’s book Says Who? How One Simple Question Can Change the Way You Think Forever is a self-help title focused on positive psychology. While she definitely encourages remaining on a “positive track” with our thinking, and rerouting negative thinking in a productive direction, she explains that her Method isn’t all about thinking positively. It’s about mindfully identifying the source of our thoughts and beliefs and then objectively (using the Method’s set of seven questions) analyzing whether they are true and whether they support our well-being. 

Her decades of study in Buddhism, Jungian analysis, and Kabbalah, combined with motherhood and working in the entertainment industry, have mixed the perfect cocktail for a 21st century guide to thinking differently. As accessible and practical as it is, the questions the book encourage us to enter the transformative space of sincere self-confrontation — in the temple of our own mind.

“You are the master and creator of your internal dialogue, which creates your reality,” writes Ora. Says Who? seems to answer a need left by The Secret, the cultural phenomenon which introduced the excitement and possibilities of positive thinking with The Law of Attraction. The Secret left us empty-handed regarding tools to manage the negative thinking we had been taught. With the Says Who? Method, we know what to do when we have a negative thought: Face it head on, find out where it came from, and ultimately ask ourselves, “Do I want to keep this thought or let it go?”

Buy Says Who? here. 

(Morgan James Publishing)

Reviewed by Ben Decker, a public relations professional, community activist, event planner, and lifelong meditator who teaches at Unplug Meditation, Wanderlust Hollywood, Den Meditation, and Thrive Market: benjaminwdecker.com.

Ben Decker

Declared by Conscious Lifestyle Magazine as “one of the world’s leading meditation teachers,” Ben hosts popular classes, trainings, and events on meditation, social justice, and related studies at The Den Meditation, Wanderlust Hollywood, Divine Meditation, and Unplug Meditation.

Once praised by Forbes as a “legendary PR maven,” and “a shining example of the talent the philanthropic community needs to attract,” Benjamin W. Decker left a prolific career in Hollywood to dedicate his professional life to conscious activism.

He has worked closely with humanitarian organizations including anti-human trafficking organizations Unlikely Heroes & Saving Innocence, as well as Generosity.org, Children of the Night, the American Red Cross, and many others.

Decker is the Founding Executive Director of The Providence Project, President of the Board of The inerHEALTH Foundation, and Founding Spiritual Director of Full Circle Venice.

The post Says Who? Book Review appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

These are some of the questions addressed in the new film about beloved author Paulo Coelho (who famously penned The Alchemist and a long list of other best-sellers). Paulo Coelho’s Best Story is a dramatized portrayal of personal story. From the author of The Alchemist, we might expect a mystical story of epic adventure, but this might be even better; this is the story of a new mind in an old world, and all that comes with it…including plenty of adventure.

Let’s get some of the obvious points out of the way. This is an autobiographical look at legendary author Paulo Coelho’s personal journey.  It is told using multiple timelines bringing together the constantly changing dynamics of the various stages of his life, including the stifling moments in his childhood and creatively blocked moments of his early adult life, and then juxtaposing them with moments of extreme success he experienced when the popularity of his words led to his celebrity. We see him unchanged by his success, exhibiting the same stoic depth along with a disinterest in pleasantries and a simultaneous innocence and sweetness.

Maybe I’m biased, because I was able to relate so directly to Coelho’s upbringing in a world where everything was provided… with the exception of encouragement to pursue his creative passions.

Yet he finds ways to follow them anyway, with a similar dogged purpose as many of his protagonists (think about the main character in The Alchemist). In the film, we share his excited teenage grin while he eagerly opens the box containing his first typewriter. We follow Coelho through seemingly exciting years as a musician, lover, and tortured writer who can’t bring himself to even type one word on a typewriter. We spy upon his growing success, revealed in glimpses crowds of adoring fans and the patter of a gregarious chauffeur on a two-hour drive. Through this intimate portrait, we learn something about the person behind the pages and how we negotiated the path of indulgence and appreciation of the sum total of his own personal journey.

When watching this Paulo Coelho’s Best Story, we know the end. At least we think we do: We do know that this man who struggled with finding his creative voice and space to express it, has to date sold more than 160 million books worldwide. We already know this while we are watching his family disregard his dreams as they frenetically attempt to uncover “what is wrong with him” for years. This man had to become himself, experience life for himself, and learn to love in a way he hadn’t been loved before.

This impeccably casted film is filled with honest performances and excellent chemistry between actors who portrayed the emotional pain as if it were their own. Which in a way, is why Coelho’s words speak to us with such resonance; we feel the desire to be heard, we long to be loved.

After watching, I found myself immediately interested in watching it again, knowing that this brilliant novelist shared more about life in the nuances of each scene than could be noticed at first glance. This film is deeply inspiring and real, beautiful and dark, tragic …but triumphant. A guaranteed classic. See it more than once.

Playing in LA at the Laemmle Music Hall through August 6 and on Amazon Instant Video.

Benjamin W. Decker, referred to by Forbes Magazine as a “legendary Hollywood PR maven,” got his start in the Los Angeles PR scene producing celebrity-driven red carpet movie premieres, concerts, gifting suites, fashion shows, galas and other special events.  A lifelong meditator, he teaches Mindfulness Meditation to private clients and executive teams, including the corporate staff at wholesome wholesaler Thrive Market. He also leads a weekly Mindfulness Meditation class at Unplug Meditation in Brentwood, CA.  https://ben-decker-5ucg.squarespace.com

Ben Decker

Declared by Conscious Lifestyle Magazine as “one of the world’s leading meditation teachers,” Ben hosts popular classes, trainings, and events on meditation, social justice, and related studies at The Den Meditation, Wanderlust Hollywood, Divine Meditation, and Unplug Meditation.

Once praised by Forbes as a “legendary PR maven,” and “a shining example of the talent the philanthropic community needs to attract,” Benjamin W. Decker left a prolific career in Hollywood to dedicate his professional life to conscious activism.

He has worked closely with humanitarian organizations including anti-human trafficking organizations Unlikely Heroes & Saving Innocence, as well as Generosity.org, Children of the Night, the American Red Cross, and many others.

Decker is the Founding Executive Director of The Providence Project, President of the Board of The inerHEALTH Foundation, and Founding Spiritual Director of Full Circle Venice.

The post Film Review: Paulo Coelho’s Best Story appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.