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Excerpt from Pema Chodron's "The Fearless Heart"

In this wonderful transcribed exerpt from Pema Chodron's talk on "The Fearless Heart: The Practice of Living with Courage and Compassion", Pema tells us how we may begin to work with fear by not shutting down or running away from it, as is our first inclination, but by going into the fear.

This morning I wanted to begin with a short teaching on working with emotions that comes from Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, and if you would like to write this down, the name of the teaching is “The Lion’s Roar” and it appears in the March 1997 edition of the Shambhala Sun, which had a picture of me on the cover. So maybe there is some way you can locate that article and read it.
 
This is a teaching that has influenced me a lot over the years, and I was re-reading the article last night and I thought that I would begin this morning with this instruction that comes from Trungpa Rinpoche. One of the opening sentences is that enlightenment is not just for pacifists,

Free Monday MP3 - Walden, by Henry David Thoreau

An all time classic on living simply and mindfully. This timeless audiobook from our friends at Shambhala is free through Wednesday Evening. Enjoy.

When I wrote the following pages, or rather the bulk of them, I lived alone, in the woods, a mile from any neighbor, in a house, which I had built myself, on the shore of Walden Pond, in Concord, Massachusetts, and earned my living by the labor of my hands only. I lived there two years and two months. At present, I am a sojourner in civilized life again.
 
I would fain say something, not so much concerning the Chinese and Sandwich Islanders as you who read these pages, who are said to live in New England; something about your condition, especially your outward condition or circumstances in this world, in this town, what it is, whether it is necessary that it be as bad as it is, whether it cannot be improved as well as not. I have traveled a good deal in Concord; and everywhere, in shops, and offices, and fields, the inhabitants have appeared to me to be doing penance in a thousand remarkable ways.

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Excerpt 2 from Morihei Ueshiba's "The Art of Peace"

This transcribed excerpt from  Morihei Ueshiba's The Art of Peace stresses the utter importance of practicing peace every day, in every moment, and in that practice, we find can begin to live in true -- and peaceful -- warriorship. 

Daily training in the art of peace allows your divinity to shine brighter and brighter. Do not concern yourself with the right and wrong of others. Do not be calculating or act unnaturally. Keep your mind focused on the art of peace and do not criticize other teacher or traditions. The art of peace never restrains or shackles anything. It embraces all and purifies everything. Train hard. Experience the light and warmth of the art of peace and become a true person. Train more and learn the principals of nature. The art of peace will be established all over and it will have a different expression in each place it takes root. Continually adapt the teachings and create a beautiful environment.

Excerpt 2 from Chogyam Trungpa's "Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior"

This powerful excerpt from Chogyam Trungpa's profound work Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior addresses fear -- and our desire to escape from it -- head on.  Trungpa also addresses the true notion of fearlessness, and the importance of seeking a true state of fearlessness in our day to day lives. 

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In order to experience fearlessness, it is necessary to experience fear. The essence of cowardice is not acknowledging the reality of fear. Fear can take many forms. Logically, we know we can’t live forever. We know that we are going to die, so we are afraid. We are petrified of our death. On another level, we are afraid that we can’t handle the demands of the world. This fear expresses itself as a feeling of inadequacy. We feel that our own lives are overwhelming, and confronting the rest of the world is more overwhelming. Then there is abrupt fear, or panic that arises when new situations occur suddenly in our lives. When we feel that we can’t handle them, we jump or twitch. Sometimes fear manifests in the form of restlessness: doodles on a notepad, playing with our fingers, or fidgeting in our chairs.  We feel that we have to keep ourselves moving all the time, like an engine running in a motorcar. The pistons go up and down, up and down. As long as the pistons keep moving, we feel safe. Otherwise, we are afraid we might die on the spot.

Excerpt 2 from Richard Rosen's "The Practice of Pranayama"

The following transcribed excerpt from Richard Rosen's The Practice of Pranayama: An In-Depth Guide to the Yoga of Breath shows the extraordinary and deeply helpful detail in which Rosen describes breathing and meditation practices and offers basic instruction on classic pranyama practice.

We will open this practice with “join” breath, the formal version of channel cleaning. Then we will work for a few minutes with “sun piercing” breath followed by the new breath I have been saving for just this occasion. If, as claimed, sun piercing breath heats the body, then it seems reasonable to follow this practice with a breath designed to cool things down. That would be the aptly named cooling breath. Next, we will move to a sun piercing influenced version of contrary breath, which we will call contrary sun piercing breath. “Conquer” will follow using the classic ratio one to four to two to one. That is for every one count of inhale, we will count four for inner attention, two for exhale, and one for outer attention. Finally, we will end with corpse.

Excerpt 3 from Chogyam Trungpa's "Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior"

The following excerpt is from Chogyam Trungpa's classic and masterful text Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior.  From the chapter on "Authentic Presence", Trungpa defines for us exactly what authentic presence is -- how it comes to be and how it affects ourselves and the world around us.

Achieving the realization of the universal monarch, which we discussed in the last chapter, is the fruition of developing what is called “the warrior’s authentic presence.” In Tibetan, authentic presence is "wong tong," which literally means a field of power. However, since this term refers to a human quality, we have loosely translated it here as authentic presence. The basic idea of authentic presence is that because you achieve some merit or virtue, therefore that virtue begins to be reflected in your being, your presence.

Excerpt 1 from Richard Rosen's "The Practice of Pranayama"

Starting a mediation practice or yoga practice?  Pranayama - or working with the breath -- is critical for both practices.  This transcribed excerpt from Richard Rosen's The Practice of Pranayama: An In-Depth Guide to the Yoga of Breath highlights the importance of having a solid foundation in pranayama and offers very specific instruction on how to begin.

Many of the old yoga books such as the yoga sutra begin with the Sanskrit word “atta” which means “now.” Atta is said to be a blessing indicating that now at this most fortunate juncture the student is ready to hear the teaching and take up the practice of yoga. And so now let’s prepare for our practice of pranayama.
 
Folding a blanket, introduction: First, I will briefly explain how to fold and use a blanket for a reclining support and then I will give you three preliminary breathing practices. At the start of the practice we will be reclining for breathing for awhile, so let me remind you why many schools of modern yoga sit for breathing practice right away. But the approach I’ve learned over 25 years ago begins by reclining and stays in that position for many months to come. The reasoning is that most Western students are not accustomed to sitting on the floor. We are a culture of chair sitters. And chair sitting is much different than and not conducive to floor sitting. Most of us slump when we floor sit even if we’re propped up on a folded blanket or cushion, and this misaligned posture makes even everyday breathing difficult, not to mention pranayama. But reclining is something most of us can do relatively easily, and getting aligned while supine on the floor is relatively easier than when sitting. The premises is then that reclining frees us from the concern of maintaining a proper sitting alignment and allows us to concentrate solely on our breath.
 
You’ll need the following props. At least one blanket is required. A second is optional to use as a neck and head support. If you’re practicing on a bare floor, you might also want to pad yourself with a sticky mat, folding and reclining on a blanket for support. To prepare for reclining practice, I will describe how to fold your blanket for two different forms of support. The first one we’ll call narrow, the second we’ll call broad. The narrow support is generally comfortable for most students but not for all because of its narrowness; some students find it unstable and as a result have a difficult time relaxing. So I’ll offer you an alternative broad support that you might try if the narrow support doesn’t suit you. Even if the narrow support feels fine, you might want to try the broad support. So I’ll offer the folding instructions and then we’ll ask you to lie down on each support so you can feel what works best for you.

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Pranayama (Wikipedia)