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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 2 from the "Be Here Now" Talks with Ram Dass

We are delighted to offer this transcribed excerpt from another rare lecture from Ram Dass which became the basis of his international best-selling book Be Here Now. The following excerpt is from a talk he gave on March 31, 1969 in New York City as part of the Buck’s County Seminar House series. 

Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of Heaven. Ye are the living temples of God. I and my Father are one.

There is one alone and there is not a second, and we if we only know are eternally it.

From a fortune cookie, the wild geese do not intend to cast their reflections. The water has no mind to receive their image.

(the folks at BetterListen! are extremely proud to have the inspired art from Peter Max gracing this programs' cover)

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Ram Dass bio and links

 

Excerpt 1 from "From Bindhu to Ojas" with Ram Dass

"From Bindhu to Ojas" are talks offered by reknowned teacher Ram Dass in 1969.  We are so delighted to have access to these talks and to be able to share them with you.  Following is a transcribed excerpt from these exciting talks.

Everything up to there describes the western culture and 99.9% or whatever absurd number of the people of the world never have energy available to them at any center higher than those three, except in just moments, rare moments.

Everybody’s got rare moments. It’s like for almost everybody, it’s all available in the first, second, and third chakra. So you meet somebody who is primarily a first chakra person and what you’re doing is you’re really helping them come into the second chakra. And when they are in the second you are helping them get into the third. You are helping a lustful being develop an ego. And that in a sense is what western religions have become about, the super ego, the super third chakra. 

According to the Freudian system, it treats one, the first chakra as id, as uncontrollable animal impulses, the second chakra as sexual desire, and the third chakra as super ego. That’s in that system. I’m just translating systems just for the fun of it, because many people think in these western systems and it is fun to make these translations of them. So Freud talked about religion being perverted sexual energy and the reverse side of that coin is that sexual energy is blocked religion. Pay your money and you pick your chakra. Pick your center that you want to be dominated by. 

Excerpt 2 from "From Bindhu to Ojas" with Ram Dass

 
We are thrilled to be able to present another transcribed excerpt from "From Bindhu to Ojas" -- part of powerful talks Ram Dass offered in 1969.

What would happen is that it was extraordinarily contagious. That everyone that I could cross the moat with, that I could love in spite of all the drama and completely irrelevant of all that drama. If I could find that place and just love it enough that resonated with that place in them who after all, they are.

And the same thing happened as it happened to me with Maharaji. I started to watch it happen. And it was extraordinary. It wasn’t any secret or mystery. And if it was, you could call it the touch of the guru that he had touched me by showing me that who I was - was loveable --and I in turn was able to show someone else that who they were was loveable. And who they are is enough just the way they are. 

Excerpt from "The Tibetan Book of the Dead"

"The Tibetan Book of the Dead" is a classic text of liberation and the practice of preparing for death as a path to recognize the true nature of the mind. This translation by Chögyam Trungpa and Francesca Fremantle is read by actor Richard Gere. Following is a powerful excerpt from this recording.

 

Homage to the Gurus, the three Kayas: Amitabha, Infinite Light, the Dharmakaya, Peaceful and Wrathfull Lotus Deities, the Sambhogakaya, Padsamambhava, Protector of Beings, the Nirmanakaya. 

 

This “Great Liberation through Hearing,” the means of liberation in the bardo for yogins of average capacities, is in three parts: the introduction, the main subject-matter, and the conclusion. Firstly the introduction --  the means of liberating human beings. First of all, one should have studied the instructions, which should certainly liberate those of the highest capacities. But if they do not, one should practice the ejection of consciousness, which liberates spontaneously as soon as it is thought of, in the bardo of the moment before death. This should certainly liberate yogins of average capacities, but if it does not one should strive in this “Great Liberation through Hearing” in the bardo of dharmata. Therefore the yogin should first examine the sequence of signs of death according to the “Spontaneous Liberation of the Signs of Death,” and when they are definitely completed he should effect the ejection of consciousness, which liberates spontaneously as soon as it is thought of. If ejection is affected there is no need to read the “Liberation Through Hearing,” but if not it should be read clearly and precisely, close to the dead body. If the body is not present, one should sit on the dead person’s bed or seat, and proclaiming the power of truth call on his consciousness and read, imagining him sitting in front listening. 

Excerpt from "Be Here Now" Talks with Ram Dass

   We are thrilled to offer these rare lectures recorded live in NYC in 1969. Available for the first time in digital download, these talks given by Ram Dass went on to become the basis of his international best-selling book Be Here Now.  Following is a transcribed excerpt from one of these seminal teachings.

We are also extremely pleased to have the inspired artwork of Peter Max on this digital download cover.

If I think life is just a game, then I am taking from it the meaning of its acts. I am denigrating the precious nature of the life process.

Do you think the man that made the music stand was able to make a more exquisite music stand because he was not attached to making a music stand?

Do you think he really got closer to the essence of music standness because he did not remain in subject object relation to the music stand? That’s the issue.

Let’s say you want to get close to somebody. Do you get closer to them through playing out the love story of Hamlet? Or do you get closer through getting beyond the interpersonal, beyond the subject/object to the place where both of you are one consciousness? If we can be us here, us, more us, just here and now us, forget where you came from, where you are going, that I’m talking, that you’re listening, here we are, just us and more us and more us and more us and finally right here on this world, right there here, huh -- here we all are.

How much intimacy do you want? I can feel it. I can be it. Do you think we would be any closer if we were all rolling on the floor together? Really? The thing you are seeking, the very thing you are seeking in life is so within your grasp if you but only know how not to grasp for it. It’s already here. It’s here. 

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Excerpt from "Boomer Yoga" by Beryl Bender Birch - Part 3 of 3

Following is the last part of the inspiring Introduction from the latest book by renowned Power Yoga instructor Beryl Bender Birch - Boomer Yoga: Energizing the Years Ahead for Men & Women.

Whether you want to develop the strongest asana practice you can or tone down a blazing training routine you’ve been doing for years, boomer yoga can help you to turn up the heat or dial it down. The practice will slowly lead you through each of the eight limbs of classical yoga and help you move from the postures (asana) to energy control (pranayama) to concentration (dharana) and meditation (dhyana). So, whether you’re starting a regular meditation practice for the first time or you’ve been practicing meditation for a long time, here is a tool, a method to follow that will easily bring you greater health, stability, balance, and peace of mind.  But the biggest thing I hope you will learn from Boomer Yoga is that asana is the equivalent of kindergarten in yoga. It is important to do for life, for health and fitness, but it is still only a small part of what is meant by yoga. Asana is only meant to be an aid to preparing us for the deeper work of yoga, specifically meditation. Can asana keep us healthy, agile and pliable, and more resistant to injury in our sports activities and everyday life? No question. And that is certainly why we get started in yoga and an important reason we continue. But it’s still only a gateway to a vast unlimited awareness of our own boundlessness. That is the experience of yoga. The Boomer Yoga routine takes only 40 minutes, but the true practice of it, of learning to be fully present, happens 24/7. 

Beryl Bender Birch Bio and Links