Meditation Offerings
iRest
iRest is a meditation practice based on the ancient tradition of Yoga Nidra and adapted to suit the conditions of modern life. When practiced regularly - little and often - iRest enables you to meet each moment of your life with unshakable peace and wellbeing, no matter how challenging or difficult your situation.
iRest was developed by Dr. Richard Miller, a researcher, clinical psychologist, author, yogic scholar, and spiritual teacher who combined traditional jyogic practice with Western psychology and neuroscience. It is practiced and taught by thousands of people worldwide in a wide range of settings, including health centers, schools, community centers, yoga studios, correctional facilities and within military and veteran communities.
iRest has historically been endorsed by the U.S. Army Surgeon General and recognized by the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury as a form of complementary and alternative medicine, thus warranting continuing research on its efficacy in the treatment of post- traumatic stress. iRest has been shown to be effective in scientific trials for conditions including chronic pain, sleep problems, depression and anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
iRest is simple to learn and easy to practice. It can be practiced by anyone, regardless of physical ability or experience with meditation. Once learned, iRest becomes a set of tools for life.
Primordial Sound Meditation
Primordial Sound Meditation, or PSM, is a healing practice that allows us to experience inner calm and deep relaxation. For thousands of years, people have used meditation to move beyond the mind's busy activity and emotional turbulence into profound peace and expanded awareness.
In the age of digital devices, social media, and busy schedules, the restful awareness we experience during meditation is more valuable than ever. The term "restful awareness" captures the unique combination of physical relaxation and an alert yet quiet mind. The pace of life has accelerated, and every day we are bombarded with more information and stimulation than our ancestors encountered during entire lifetimes. Not surprisingly, the number of people suffering from stress, anxiety, insomnia, and chronic health problems is on the rise—and many are searching for peace of mind.
The most direct way to experience inner silence and well-being is meditation, a tool to rediscover the body's own inner intelligence. As scientific research reveals, when you meditate, your breathing slows, blood pressure decreases, and stress hormone levels fall.
Primordial Sound Meditation isn’t about forcing your mind to be quiet, it’s about experiencing the silence that's already there and making it a part of your life. Silence is the birthplace of happiness, creativity, and infinite possibilities. From this field of pure potentiality we get our bursts of inspiration, our most intuitive thoughts, and our deepest sense of connection to the Universe. Practicing meditation on a daily basis allows you to weave silence and stillness into your mind and body to create a life of greater compassion and fulfillment. Even when your mind is filled with agitated thoughts, you still have access to the inner stillness and calm that always lies beneath the choppy surface of thought and emotion.
Primordial Sound Meditation is a powerful meditation technique rooted in the Vedic tradition of India. Chopra co-founders Deepak Chopra and David Simon have revived this ancient practice of sound meditation and made it available in a format that’s easy to learn.
When you learn Primordial Sound Meditation, you will receive a personal mantra. A mantra is a specific sound or vibration, which when repeated silently, helps you to enter deeper levels of awareness. A Sanskrit term that translates as "vehicle of the mind," a mantra truly is a vehicle that takes you into quieter, more peaceful levels of the mind.
The mantra you will receive is the vibration the universe was creating at the time and place of your birth, and it is calculated following Vedic mathematic formulas. When you silently repeat your mantra in meditation, it creates a vibration that helps you slip into the space between your thoughts, into the complete silence that is sometimes referred to as "the gap." Your mind is no longer caught up in its noisy internal chatter and is instead exposed to its own deepest nature: Pure Awareness.
Mindfulness
“The awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present
moment, and non-judgmentally.”
-Jon Kabat Zinn