This list forms the basis of our online and teleseminar meditation classes Meditation Teleseminar Classes Click Here. Note: The class will be a teleseminar, so you can attend regardless of whether or not you are in Southern California. All you need is a telephone and a commitment to start putting the tools you will learn over the course of the six-week class into practice. Join our list to be sure you receive registration info.

Also listen to a Podcast on 18 Ways Meditation can change your life.

We also have frequent meditation retreats at Manzanita Village .

Note: This list of 18  is the ‘Why’. The ‘What’ and the ‘How’ will be covered in the upcoming class.

1. Focus
   Focus is first because it is the most basic. Every other benefit of meditation comes from your increased capacity to focus; how you focus; and what you focus on.
2. Sensory Perception
   Through focus you derive increased sensory awareness, as well as increased awareness of your own internal process. The world becomes more vivid as does your own internal representations of it.
3. Open options and choices
   With greater awareness and clarity comes a greater range of behavioral choices and options, how you live, what you do, the choices you make.
4. Change State
   With more focus comes the realization that you have the ability to choose your emotional state, just as you choose how you respond to events. It’s all up to you.
5. Let go of what doesn’t work
   You can let go of what doesn’t work. Happiness is a real option.
6. Change perspectives
   Meditation leads to greater flexibility and flexibility means that you can change your perspectives as you learn new information
7. Flexibility
   Changing perspectives means that you have greater behavioral flexibility
8. Deduction and Induction
   With focus comes clarity of mind and the ability to learn, inductively and deductively, rationally and intuitively.
9. Empathy – respecting others’  point of view
   When you are able to naturally respect others’ view of the world and interact with them based on who they are rather than who you might like them to be you communicate and empathize naturally.
10. Gratitude
    Appreciation for others, and for the miraculous circumstances of living.
11. Generosity
    A sense of unlimited potential, a sense of intrinsic abundance
12. Love
    Love is an expression of generosity and joy, in celebration of others
13. Energy
    Focus and congruence bring energy
14. Health
    Freedom to make the choices outlined above lead to less stress and greater health
15. Motivation
    Focus brings clarity and the means to effect strategies that work. Clarity also means being clear about and congruent with your intentions, plans, and aspirations.
16. Levels of perspective and priorities
    Focus also brings the ability to see things from multiple levels of abstraction, to see the big picture as well as being aware of the necessary details.
17. Time and time-line flexibility
    Your experience of time is relative. Standing in line at an airport for an hour can seem to take longer than a leisurely afternoon spent with a good friend. Skills learned in meditation allow you to speed things up or slow them down at will.
18. The Transpersonal Dimension.
    All the above contribute to a sense of the interplay and interconnection between the elements of your life and the life of those around you. The world is your lover, the world is you!

These are just a few potential benefits. The specific ways meditation benefits you is something that is revealed over time.

'the monk was smiling'

“would you like to test-drive it?” asked the monk, handing me the keys with a smile..

“Of course,” I replied, feeling a little nervous, knowing how much power was under the hood, knowing how fast this baby could go, when you want it to.

I mean, that’s what spiritual practice is – knowing that the resources you have at your disposal are virtually limitless. And by power I mean love, patience, creativity, humor, intelligence.

Practical spirituality isn’t about rules, you can call it “everyday mysticism” – that’s not to diminish it in any way. By everyday mysticism I mean keeping the big picture, keeping balance. Seeing the road ahead and enjoying the landscape, and remembering where you’re coming from.

And celebrating the journey, celebrating your accomplishments.

He opened the door for me. It was the kind of door that looks like seagull wings. He lifted it up, and I ducked under his am and sat down in the driver’s seat.

It was surprisingly comfortable. “I thought this was supposed to be difficult,” I said.

“Have a great ride,” said the monk. He was still smiling.

continued



Well, silly everybody if we think we can get a Lamborghini just by wishing, wanting, praying, or chanting for it. Well, actually the truth is, we can! AND we have to pay for it, learn to drive it, take care ot it. Like you have to study to get good grades, AND having a positive attitude will help. More than help, it’s essential!

So, law of attraction, and positive thinking is “essential but not sufficient” as they say in the language of statistics. You get what you expect, AND what you expect is very much based on what you do, how you prepare,how you act.

This is actually very much aligned with Buddhist teaching. Thought leads to action. And by the way, the Buddha never said that there was anything wrong with Lamborghinis either. But he did mention that is was worth checking the consequences of your actions. He never said that there was anything wrong with desire either. But he did suggest that it was worth choosing where you put your attention, and that if you don’t desire leads to distraction, confusion, regret, and a whole series of altogether useless internal activities.

.. “would you like to test-drive it?” asked the monk, handing me the keys with a smile..

continued