Man flu strikes

I think my trip to Ikea I told you all about yesterday must have taxed me to the limit of my endurance. I woke this morning with a sore throat. Now I don’t like being sick, but what can you do?

Moan and whine a bit? Man flu can do that to a man.

But looks like I might just have to go for the plain old acceptance route, let go, park the “to do list”, and put my feet up.

Be nice to get some more time in with the Ascension meditation techniques. I saw a study once that said that meditation during a flu or cold meant whatever was ailing you healed quicker and more completely than your average non-meditating person.

Of course I didn’t keep the reference because I’m dozy like that, but closing my eyes is worth a shot anyway.

It might be something you could remember next time you are coming down with something.

Instead of pushing through, take a little more time to rest - if at all possible - and let the body heal up.

I’ve learnt the hard way that unless I listen to my body and give it what it requires, it just whacks me later, stronger and for longer. I’d rather have a quick cold than a lingering monster of one.

So to lemon and honey all round!

If you’d like to join me on the coolest meditation course since meditation was invented, one that may possibly help accelerate the healing process (scientific references depending), one that is enjoyable and so straightforward even a baboon could (possibly) learn it and practice in ease, then I have the thing for you:

Ascension meditation weekend course, 15-17 April (we begin 7pm on the Friday) https://arjunaishaya.leadpages.co/ascensionmeditation/

Any questions? Fire away. I’ll get to you as soon as, but you can understand if it’s not as speedily as usual.

Take it easy Arjuna

My worst clients … and my best clients …

This isn’t an expose or anything saucy like that. I’m just preparing for a course I have next week with the British Army.

They are my best clients, simply because I ask them to do something and they do it.

Occasionally someone will ask for clarification, and then we go.

The dream client is the one that just follows the plan.

A good coach or teacher will give you the precise plan you need to take you where you want, and all you have to do is follow the instructions and reap the rewards.

Such a simple system, yet when did simplicity ever get in the way of self-sabotage? Not often enough!

They are also great clients because they laugh, a lot.

I have never laughed so hard as having dinner with those guys.

I said they were also my worst clients?

Well, that was only because I didn’t know how to teach them in the beginning.

You see, they have such excellent poker faces.

Often times I just can’t tell if it’s making sense or not.

I guess (and I’m guessing) years of training and being yelled at by someone looking for a reaction will shut down those reactions pretty quick.

Which is all good - I’ve had to adjust my teaching style and not rely on “reading” people, but creating a means where I can get feedback.

So it is all good.

I think your worst clients are the ones that make you a better teacher.

You could probably apply that to everything you do, if you think about it.

The worst people can be a chance to bring out the best in you.

The lightening bolt I got was that sometimes the best help you can give anyone is simply to say no.

It’s been very difficult for me to say no to anyone, but I have gotten used to it.

The best help is to decline to help them in the way they want to be helped.

If that makes sense …

The best teachers I have ever had have been so because they made themselves unnecessary.

In other words, they help you stand on your own two feet.

That’s what I want to help people to do.

Sometimes clients don’t want that, and hence the power of “no”. We’re not a good match.

And so there you go.

Lessons a plenty for you.

If you want a simple plan that you just follow that brings you ever increasing levels of focus, calm and happiness …

That give you a tool to stop worry, doubt, anxiety, all of those loops in your head in their tracks …

That you can use with your eyes open so you enjoy each and every moment …

Then I fully recommend this one: https://arjunaishaya.leadpages.co/ascensionmeditation/

Ascension meditation is the one thing I have done every single day since 2003.

I think that is impressive in itself.

It’s easy and simple, fits into your life with a minimum of jostling, and it just works.

You want to get on the course.

Book your seat here: https://arjunaishaya.leadpages.co/ascensionmeditation/

Have a great day, be a good human.

- Arjuna

Dropping the story that is holding you back

Someone wise once said that the result of meditation is the letting go of what you don’t need and what you are not. What happens when what you don’t need and what you are not gets dropped?

You’ll have to tell me.

It will be individual to you.

For me what I don’t need has been always been wrapped up around doubt and worry.

The ability to have a quiet mind is incredible.

The ability to be present and really enjoy this moment has become natural, something that happens by default. Which is such a blessing.

Whatever happens for you it will be like realising that all this time you’ve been trying to move forward and your handbrake has been on.

Life without a handbrake is something to behold.

Now taking the handbrake off means dealing with your story.

Drop all the stories, even the ones that seem “real” and “valid”.

What is real and valid anyway?

What you parents told you? What other people believe? What is important to someone else?

What is true for you? For the life you want to live?

Just for a moment, ask yourself:

What if everything your mind told you was a story, an excuse?

What would happen then?

What would that mean for your experience of this moment in time?

What would that mean for future choices, for future plans?

Ahhh... so many questions.

It comes down to this:

There are two “you”s.

One is based on what you don’t need and what you are not. In other words, it is based on stress and stories.

The other is centred around on who you really are, the authentic true best version of you.

One is like driving with the handbrake on.

The other is like flying, free as a bird.

All that is required to fly is the willingness to drop everything that you don’t need and that isn’t you.

See clearly.

You don’t have to change in any other way.

I promise. I promise.

I've been doing this a long long time, and you just have to drop the story.

Easier said than done, but I know a way:

If you’d like the tools to drop everything that limits you, that really honestly works, come and get them:

https://arjunaishaya.leadpages.co/ascensionmeditation/

It’ll be a lot of fun, and super powerful too. You won’t regret it.

Have a grand day, and keep flying. - Arjuna

The simple and secret trick that means Muggles become Magical

Before I discovered the power, ease and simplicity of Ascension meditation … Was that a blatant pitch in the first line?

Seems like it.

You have to realise that I am so biased …

I am so friggin passionate (sorry dad, got carried away there) about making things easy for you who say you want to live the best life possible …

There is such relentless drive to make sure you know that the way your mind uses you means it is your worst enemy …

I will keep raving on until you take up my offer of the complete treasure map (complete with compass and shovel) to an exceptional life in all aspects…

Or you get sick of me and unsubscribe (the link is always there, at the bottom) to settle into mediocrity.

Seriously.

But I do believe I’m not alone.

Here’s Julia who wrote to me the other day on Ascension meditation: ___________

“I'm like a different person, well the same but what is left is the best version of myself. It's the ONLY thing that allowed me to drop the anxiety and depression I'd been carrying with me throughout my life! I didn't even have to deal with it anymore, it's like gone!! Weird to think how consumed my life was by that before- like some weird nightmare.

Now I'm living a life I could never have dreamt of! So full, content and amazing!! And it's all a choice, I have an actual choice to live my life that way with the techniques you taught. I'm one for adventure, and this opens up that sense of wonder and amazement in the most 'mundane' of tasks. Life is just amazing now!!”

____________

One happy bunny. I didn’t pay her, promise.

You ever read Harry Potter?

My life (and Julia’s) before Ascension? Mugglez 4 Life

I didn’t realise that. You don’t know what you don’t know. Though there were hints of something else …

… Moments and snippets of “Yes! This is what life should be about!”

But what if every single moment could be filled with that?

Filled with contentment, clarity, calm, focus, happiness, peace, potential and purpose?

What if magic was hiding, just around the corner of your being?

How about if magic was always there, always within you, you just needed reminding how to access it?

What if you were the finest wizard pretending to be a muggle?

Superman pretending to be Clark Kent?

Thor without his hammer?

Dude - there isn’t a moment to waste.

You don’t have to settle for less. You can if you want, but why would you?

So my answer is: Ascension meditation weekend, 15-17 April: the beginning of the rest of your life.

£200 - get complete blueprint with money back guarantee, and all the support you need/want for the rest of your life, have magic.

Bargain: click here to book seat:

https://arjunaishaya.leadpages.co/ascensionmeditation/

Remember, no matter what you do, the magic is within you, always, no matter what.

Always.

- Arjuna

HOW to get the meditation six pack abs and be the envy of all your friends

Dave, my friend from yesterday, also asks: How do I know I am meditating right? Good question.

If you go to the gym you kinda know what to expect if you have a good programme and you follow it.

You do the programme and get the six pack abs. Or whatever it is that you want.

Meditation is slightly different, but only because it’s likely you haven’t done it much.

“How should it feel, how should it be, what am I doing?”

Do worry if you’re doing it right or not, because…

The answer is found in consistency.

Consistency will show you everything.

You have to do it every day for a while to see what happens, to see what the results are.

You can’t just pick up a piano and expect to play Beethoven. Or Elton John for that matter.

You can’t just wander into a gym and bench press your body weight.

You can’t just swing into a car and drive like Nigel Mansell.

You need to practice.

And the practice gives you the results.

And the results give you the motivation to practice.

So here is the plan - the challenge:

1. just do it, right now, before things get painful, or just so things can be even better

2. do it every day, for ten minutes. Set an alarm/reminder and do it, regardless. If you’re a tough guy/girl do it twice every day. Rah!

3. set a calendar - do it every day for 30 days

4. tell people you’re going to do it. Facebook your mum and tell her too. They all won’t understand, but you aren’t doing it so they can understand, you’re doing it to be mentally awesome. And you’re telling them so you don’t sneakily give up - so you’re accountable!

5. reap the rewards. Be calm and focussed like a laser. Be happier than ever, for no reason. Develop a meditation “six pack” that every one will envy.

As my friend (I wish) Bruce Lee once said: “The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus”.

Focus is a simple by-product of meditating every day.

So is happiness. Uncaused happiness. Is great, you should try it.

So is a sense of utter calm.

Work is mad, you are behind, there is no time, home is the kids running up the walls, there are bills to pay, meals to cook, you got to get to the gym or go for a run …

And you just don’t care. Well, you care, you just aren’t caught up in it all. You just deal with it, simply and as is required. Boom, boom, boom. Job done, next one.

Bottomless calm and clarity. Which is awesome too.

As always, if you need help in any of this meditating business, if you want a programme that just works without you thinking about it, you might be interested in jumping on the course I have coming up:

https://arjunaishaya.leadpages.co/ascensionmeditation/

It’s going to be a hoot, and will be of immense value to you.

I’m so convinced of the fact I will give you your money back if, after doing the course, you think I’m delusional.

Prove me wrong, I dare you:

https://arjunaishaya.leadpages.co/ascensionmeditation/

Take care - keep the peace! - Arjuna

Will it get better if I do it every day?

My friend Dave wrote and asked me if meditation would help him at the moment. He’s been down a bit lately, his business is going slowly, and his head is full of anxiety and worries. He’s just not generally in a good space.

I said something to the effect of “heavens to murgatroid, yes!”.

Meditation helps everyone, no matter who they are and where they’re at.

But often it takes an event, or a pit, perhaps a chasm, to open beneath someone before they do anything about it.

First thing I want to say, and most of you will probably ignore this, don’t wait to get down and into a hell puddle before you do something about the renegade nature of your own mind.

Don’t wait for things to turn sticky and painful before you get mentally in shape.

It’s so much easier to turn around than when you’re suffering.

You know the other day I was talking about my moths eating my underwears?

How the need to overcome the inconvenience of doing something about it wasn’t that great, yet, but how stupid it was of me to wait until my beautiful bespoke suit got holes?

Don’t wait till the pain of doing something (meditating) is greater than the pain of not doing something (the ticking time bomb that is your head creating havoc).

I don’t care who you think you are - your head has a trojan, a worm, a nasty little queen moth that will pop out when you least expect it and bite holes in your happiness and your goals.

No matter who you are, no matter if you are the happiest person in the world right now, you can be even greater with a solid mental foundation.

I promise you that.

Meditation is like flossing.

Not everyone does it, but they should. Ha!

Make a plan to do it, everyday.

How? Just sit down, and close your eyes. If you know Ascension meditation, do that (obviously!).

If you don’t, just close your eyes and notice your breath coming in and out. Don’t look for anything to do, or to get, just sit.

Doing nothing is a wonderful cure all for doing everything.

But say you are in a little sticky puddle at the moment?

It’s super important you notice how you are talking to yourself in each and every moment.

Be vigilant.

Notice what you are mentally dwelling on. Don't go there.

Be as present as you can, in this moment.

Don’t worry a jot for what just happened or what you were just thinking about, become super alive here and now.

Everything will get better, simpler, more fun.

If you want help with this, if you want a fool proof plan to follow, tools that meditate for you (you just have to use them), if you want all the support you want and need for the rest of your life, then Ascension meditation might be for you:

https://arjunaishaya.leadpages.co/ascensionmeditation/

It's a beautiful course but it's not for everyone.

It's not a magic pill - you have to do the work.

Though if you're committed to being mentally "fit" ...

AND you will do the small amount of enjoyable practice after the course,

AND you're happy to ask for help when you need it,

then you are welcome.

Here's the link:

https://arjunaishaya.leadpages.co/ascensionmeditation/

Have a great day. If you need anything just email, ok?

- Arjuna

My confession (nothing big, but a little embarrassing anyway)

I run my own business, and I do it because I love it, I love the freedom to sit on my floor with my back to the radiator and create something that helps people.

It’s a challenge for sure, but I love challenge, I love seeing what happens when I take a step outside my comfort zones.

Aptly enough, everything that I write about is for own education and growth.

The reason I teach meditation is because I need it. I need to constantly let go.

I love the challenge of my work, but sometimes it takes over.

Yesterday and this morning has been a case in point.

I’ve been obsessing over a minor point, constantly.

It’s a bit embarrassing to admit - since my job, and my business, is about not obsessing, not getting caught up in stuff.

And that is exactly what I was doing.

You see, and you’ll know this whether you’re self-employed or not…

You’re sitting there with your fiancee, having some quality time, and you’re actually thinking about work, and not hearing a single word she said.

Oops.

You’re in bed, trying to sleep, and she turns to you and says “are you still thinking? Stop it, I can hear you”.

Oops.

I wake in the morning and the problem is still there, and I’m teasing it through in my head, over and over again.

The fiancee gets exasperated and slaps me on the head (figuratively).

Oops.

Then I realise what I’m doing. And that I don’t need to. That constant working it through is just creating stress, pointless stress, for me and for her.

It took that reminder to walk my own talk and actually use the tools I teach:

• to detach, to stop obsessing, to be present again, to come back to balance.

When I actually sit down and use the Ascension meditation techniques, they work, beautifully. The turmoil I’ve been creating begins to settle down.

I’m actually clearer, even though I still don’t know what to do. But the answer will come, in clarity not from stress.

Seems like there is no end to the lessons I learn, or no end to the reminder to get out of my head and be alive to now.

And actually, honestly: long may it continue.

Long may I see the times when I’m “asleep”, or making choices that aren’t useful - to clarity, to my stress levels, to my relationship.

Just gotta get back on the horse, again and again. No matter what you’re doing.

There you go. A little story for you. Surround yourself with people who can remind you!

If you want to learn great techniques that work to stop stress and obsession, when you use them, come along to my course:

15-17 April. £200. All support, and reminders should you ever need them, for free for your lifetime.

Email me for a seat.

Have a great day - and take it easy!

- Arjuna

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FREE ebook and email coaching on meditation and mindset for ending stress and self-sabotage, and living an exceptional life:

www.arjunaishaya.com/discovermeditationandmindset

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Meditate Like A Monk

Ask a monk (who knows that they are doing) what they do when they meditate the essence of their answer will be “nothing. I just sit and don’t do anything”. True, very true - meditation ultimately is about doing absolutely nothing.

But doing nothing isn’t so simple in practice. How on earth do you do nothing?

If you’re like me before I entered into this meditation business then you are very good at getting busy.

You’re probably more busy in the head than you actually are in real life.

Plans and schemes and dreams and to do lists, all jostling for attention.

When you close your eyes, that’s all you see, that’s what you get sucked into - leaping from one thought to another, one plan to another, one past moment to another.

And that’s the thing - stopping on demand (when you want to) is the tricky part.

It takes practice to do nothing, to let go.

The more you practice, the better you get, for sure.

Meditating like a monk involves not stopping the thoughts, but letting them go. Not being attached to them.

It’s a completely new and different skill - and you have to see it like a skill.

You don’t have to shave your head and wear robes, promise. It isn’t some hoodoo mystical path that involves complex wisdom.

It’s actually quite straight forward (to explain at least).

It is simply the skill of being able to watch and be aware.

So practice - don’t worry about getting caught up, it’s just a habit. Come back now, come back now, come back now.

Practice makes perfect.

The more you watch, the stronger that skill gets.

You'll want to develop that skill if you want to be able to:

- appreciate the wider, more subtler picture of what is there beyond your mind - find presence, aliveness and focus in this moment - stop getting caught up in the past and the future, the thoughts and emotions - be at peace and be happy, for no reason whatsoever - get anchored in a sense of stability and permanence. You won’t get lost, no matter the changes in life.

It is the one thing that makes all of life shine brighter, it makes you more effective in whatever you do, and it means you can enjoy each and every single moment.

OK? So practice.

Cool - if you want to dive into this “doing nothing” business, there’s an Ascension meditation course coming up - 15-17 April, £200 with all the follow up and support you need, and you get to resit for free.

Email me for more details and if you want to reserve a seat.

You won’t regret it. And I’ll give you your money back if you do. But I doubt that very muchly.

Have a great day, enjoy it all. - Arjuna

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FREE ebook and email coaching on meditation and mindset for ending stress and self-sabotage, and living an exceptional life:

www.arjunaishaya.com/discovermeditationandmindset

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The problem people have with thoughts and meditation

The biggest problem everyone has with meditation is thoughts.

Pesky, pesky thoughts.

Everyone believes that they need to get rid of thoughts and then meditation begins.

The fact is:

You can’t stop your mind.

It’s busy and active because you are alive.

If you’ve ever tried to shut it down you’ll know it’s only possible for a few seconds, maybe a few minutes, tops.

There is an easier and much more fruitful way.

It is one of the key things that I teach on the Ascension meditation weekend, and crucial for you to get to become the boss of your own mind.

You need to come to a place where you can be at peace with your mind, no matter what it looks like.

Let it run, let the mind chatter, good, bad, horrendous.

Doesn’t matter.

You are not the content of your thoughts.

If you allow the mind, you can then find a way of going beyond it.

You can be aware of what else there is.

Now, where ever you are, just relax into yourself. Open your senses right up to everything. Stop and do nothing, just for a moment.

Just notice what it like to be alive and present right now.

Simply - without changing a thing, or straining, or pushing - just be aware.

That is part of what I teach people to do in Ascension mediation. The other, probably most important part, is the tool you use from there to bring you deeper in.

When you use the Ascension meditation techniques they meditate for you - no matter what your mind is saying.

It’s like gravity. No matter what your mind believes or says or thinks, if you jump in the air, you’re going to come back down (let me know if you don’t).

Same, same. The techniques mean thoughts become irrelevant.

Whatever you do the bottom line is that you need not stop your mind. So stop trying to stop it. Find a way around it.

If you’re interested:

Ascension meditation course 15-17 April, £200 for everything, all the follow up, and the ability to resit as many times as you like for free.

Complete beginner or expert meditator, I guarantee you’ll find this course just the ticket. If you don’t, I’ll give you your money back.

Send me an email to say you want in.

Job done.

Keep the Peace!

- Arjuna

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FREE ebook on meditation and mindset for ending stress and self-sabotage, and living an exceptional life:

http://www.arjunaishaya.com/discovermeditationandmindset

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7 secrets to mastering meditation

You want secrets and tips to mastering meditation?

The trick is that meditation is nothing like everything else you have ever learned to do. It takes some right unlearning to undo some of the knots and bad mental conditioning you have picked up.

All those bad habits that lead to stress and self-sabotage … no deal, becoming mentally flexible and fluid is simple when you know how.

Right here … I gotcha some “right understanding”. Let’s call it Right Understanding Thursday (RUT for short).

1. Just Do It

I would say the number one secret is consistency. Pick a time and stick with it. No matter what your mind says, stay for the time - don’t cut it short.

2. Learn to ignore everything your mind says

Just for the time you have your eyes closed consider everything, and I mean everything, to be irrelevant. If you think you’re doing good, if you think you’re doing bad. Just ignore it all.

3. Don’t try

The more you try in this game, the more you try and get anywhere or anything, the less you’ll be meditating. The game is to try and give up all straining, trying and controlling for the time you have your eyes closed.

4. Give up a sense of progress

If I could go back and talk to young Arjuna and whisper some wise words of wisdom born from experience, one nugget I would impart would be stop looking to get somewhere with meditation. Give up the need to develop or master or become.

5. If you need to judge…

If you really need to, judge not on what happens in your meditations, but the changes in your life. Is life getting easier, simpler? Is there more headspace, clarity and calm, with less reaction? Are you having more fun? Of course you are.

6. It’s not about the thoughts

What you focus on grows. So if you focus on trying to stop your thoughts, that’s all you’re going to get: lots of thoughts. If you have the right tool, you can focus on that and let it take you beyond thought, back to the part of you that never changes.

7. Learn to be more and more present during the day

Consciously and (again) consistently pause during your day to become less entangled in the details and more aware of this moment in time. Stay there and then get stuck back in, but without getting lost in the busy-ness.

So hopefully you might have a sense that you won’t master meditation. The truth is meditation masters you.

The only thing you can do is consistently show up while (in its own good time) meditation has its way with you. Easy huh?

If you would like the right tool (in fact the best tool I have ever seen in my 20+ years of meditating), and not be a right tool, come to the weekend I got for you - 15-17 April.

Everything you need to bust free of all negative and limiting patterns, habits and mental conditioning so you can be free to live the life you want to live.

£200 is the fee, a small price to pay for not only the tool, but all the understanding you can soak up: for the rest of your life.

Email me if you want in.

Keep the Peace

- Arjuna

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FREE ebook on meditation and mindset for ending stress and self-sabotage, and living an exceptional life:

http://www.arjunaishaya.com/discovermeditationandmindset

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Why is Formula One just like meditation?

There are two parts in becoming the Lewis Hamilton of meditation.

I have to be careful here because my knowledge of Formula One is limited, in fact non-existent.

I should have conferred with my friend Jivana who, in between teaching Ascension meditation, actually has a gig flying around the world commentating on races in hospitality tents for high flying companies, i.e. he knows everything.

(Do you think he enjoys his job? I suspect very much indeed.)

Nonetheless, I will pursue my metaphor … perhaps to my doom.

Right understanding, the first part, is like being trained to drive a car proper. It isn’t the vehicle, it is the knowledge on how to get the best out of what you got.

It is training and use and tactics and how to look good in a onesie with sunglasses on.

Very very important.

But useless without the second part: What you do drive.

Obviously driving something beautifully made and engineered will be a completely different experience from driving something like those three wheeled numbers that certain gentlemen of a rougher persuasion like to cause sport with through tipping them over onto their side while they are stationary at traffic lights.

Three wheels? Made to fall over? Not much fun, slow too. Uncomfortable really. Perhaps even embarrassing if your friends saw you.

The “right tool” is an important part of the equation.

Not “a” right tool as in a derogatory term for a chap, but “the” right tool as in the perfect vehicle to take you where you want to go, speedily, simply, efficiently, enjoyably, and perhaps even with the window wound down, elbow resting like so, and with the stereo suitably turned up. Seat warmers for winter? Check-a-rooney.

You see the difference?

Why would you take the stairs when you could take the express elevator?

Why express elevate when you could fly?

Why fly when you could teleport?

The right tool is 80% of it. Very important, but not the whole picture - you could have the perfect tool, the perfect vehicle, and through zero understanding, stall at every opportunity.

In the Ascension meditation course we spend much time on right understanding. But I have the luxury of having the right tool to give.

Because even with a tiny amount of instruction (the right understanding) the right tool will start to teach you.

That is why I can run a less than 20 contact hour course and confidently send people away knowing in my heart of hearts that they have everything they need to be free of their minds and master all sorrow, struggle, and suffering, and start living truly exceptional lives.

I was going to give you some tips on right understanding but looks like I’ve ran out of time.

Tomorrow I promise: secrets of right understanding.

But remember, the right tool is 80% of it.

You want that?

15-17 April, £200 for the complete package - right everything.

Email me for your own, very very comfortable, seat.

And remember to look out for tomorrow’s email. Sorry to be a tease but I got carried away.

- Arjuna

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FREE ebook on meditation and mindset for ending stress, struggle and self-sabotage, and living an exceptional life:

http://www.arjunaishaya.com/discovermeditationandmindset

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Lose Everything - Learn Ascension Meditation

“What do you hope to gain from this meditation course?”

It’s one of the first questions I ask people when they come to learn Ascension meditation.

I love their faces when I tell them that they will gain nothing, that they will lose everything.

I’m not lying - it’s true. You gain nothing from your practice of Ascension meditation.

Nothing at all.

You lose, and thank the stars for that.

What is lost, what is left behind is all the bad habits, the over-thinking things, the impatience, the worry and the doubt, the missing out on what is right in front of you by being lost in your head, the limiting beliefs, all of that.

Which is what you want. You lose the mind being your (awful) boss.

You lose everything that limits you from getting everything you want from life.

What is left is pure, simple, unrefined, exceptional YOU-ness.

You regain the lost art of effortless focus. To ignore distractions and doubts just like a champion.

You are happy, just happy. Happy for no reason.

Centred too. Knowing what is the right decision for this exact moment.

Don’t forget infinite patience. And the ability to be direct, but relaxed about it.

Sidestepping anxiety and worry is one of my favourites.

This, and more, is You at your core, when you put your limited habits in their place.

How do you begin?

Just be present. Drop all the mental chatter and be right here. Move beyond the little tin can of your mind and notice what is around you and what is within you.

Be present and attentive to your presence in this moment. No need to strain or create a mood - it’s You after all.

You are that. You have a mind but you aren’t the mind. Make sure you live like that.

Simple, definitely simple.

But perhaps not so easy.

To make it easy, truly simple and easy, you need the right tools and understanding.

If you’re interested in the simple tools that have changed my life, and the thousands that I have taught since 2003, reply to this email telling me you want a seat at the weekend course 15-17 April.

It’s in Richmond, North Yorkshire but a bit of travel is a small sacrifice compared with what you get.

If you are tired of messing around and are ready for the simplest yet most powerful practice that will give you an exceptional life, then just do it - hit reply.

If you’re like me, you’ll kick yourself that you didn’t learn earlier.

Otherwise, just hang tough till the next course. Do the best with what you have. Be present and enjoy each and every moment.

And always, always, keep the Peace.

- Arjuna

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FREE ebook on meditation and mindset for ending stress, struggle and self-sabotage:

http://www.arjunaishaya.com/discovermeditationandmindset

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What exactly is meditation? A quick how to …

Someone asked me this the other day. It was a great question, actually. I’ve been doing this for so long that sometimes I forget that it’s become kinda natural part of my life.

Meditation should be the simple practice of being aware, present and alive in this precise moment. Without judgement, evaluation, criticism, striving to become anything.

It is doing nothing, except for watching and resting.

I say “should be” because meditation has become many different things to many different people. In that it has become something complicated, something requiring lots of knowledge, which is a shame.

The truth of the matter is that you were born in a state of meditation. Since you were born this way, it is simple to return to. All that is required is practice.

But I digress … in this state of awareness, of watching, and of allowing, you have choice.

If you are aware, you have control. What you are not aware of controls you. In awareness thoughts and judgements are optional, not the truth but simply an opinion of your mind.

If something is optional, it doesn’t need to affect you. It can be like watching the weather howl as you are inside, warm and toasty with a cup of tea in hand.

This way even the strongest addictions can be overcome because you start to see the urges sooner and you can choose to do something else. It does require practice and persistence, and the willingness to go beyond limitation, but it really is a simple matter.

In this you can come to realise that if you can see your thoughts, you aren’t them. You are something else.

What would this be?

You are awareness itself. You who are looking through the eyes, aware perhaps of the edges of your eye sockets, the blurred shape of the nose, looking into the screen.

You are that part of you that never changes.

You are presence and awareness. Nothing can touch that. It’s a source of great contentment, great joy, great peace.

How do you return to that?

Simply close your eyes, and bring yourself back to watching when you get distracted.

If you know Ascension meditation you are set. The tools will show you exactly what to do.

If you don’t it’s a little trickier, but not much.

A simple way of starting would just be to close your eyes and breathe. Imagine you breathe in and out through your heart. Put your hand on your chest if you need to locate it physically.

When you feel like you have a nice sense of the breath, the sound, the feel, just noticing it, then imagine pure, clear air coming in as you inhale, and as you exhale think of a loved one. Don't strain. Just a brief thought is fine. If you can feel a sense of gratitude or appreciation for that person that's good too but don't worry if you can't. Just have a thought about them.

Do it everyday for ten minutes or more and see what happens in your day.

If you like that, then you’ll love Ascension meditation. It’s about a zillion times simpler. 15-17 April is the next course. Email me if you would like to make sure you have a seat.

Keep the Peace!

- Arjuna

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FREE ebook and emails on meditation and mindset for ending stress, struggle and self-sabotage:

http://www.arjunaishaya.com/discovermeditationandmindset

You don’t realise how much you’re being kicked about, until …

Your mind is like a little tin can you rattle around in, constantly.

Stay with me …

A little tin can that is filled with spikes and soft squishy padding in between (you get me metaphor? i.e. bad thoughts and good thoughts).

You may have more or less spikes than the next person, but the thing is that you’re never quite sure where you're going to land one moment to the next.

It’s like some kid is kicking your tin can down the street - you roll and bump and crash around unpredictably, sometimes landing on squishiness, sometimes landing on a spike, but always moving, always banging around on the inside.

Occasionally you stick your head out and the vision of which invokes a response of:

“Whoa! This is a pleasant land indeed!” because beyond is wide, and vast, and peaceful. There is no attempting to grab something good or trying to avoid pain, just a long relaxing sigh of ease …

… only for you to pull your head back in, all just through habit.

bom, bash, ahhhh, crunch, ouch.

There is one way out - and that is through sedation. Alcohol and drugs, food, TV, porn, whatever people can find to switch off.

But then you wake up, and you’re back in your little tin can again.

In order to free yourself from the tin can of your mind, you have to learn to do something different from thinking.

The bottom line of mastering your mind is not force or strain, it lies in being more aware than just this little world of your thoughts.

Exercise your choice for something else beyond and this will become a habit.

See the bigger picture, just see your mind clearly for what it is.

It really doesn’t matter what your mind says, you are not it. There is nothing wrong with it - it just is sometimes spiky, sometimes soft.

Choose to experience more than just that. Choose to have consistent peace in your head - a little bit of calm in a busy life. Choose to have consistent headspace, consistently free from the ouches of the little spikes.

Stick your head out, learn to experience more than just your mind. It’s a simple thing - just be aware of everything else.

And through practice is becomes normal.

Happy, calm and focussed becomes the new normal.

Want that kind of normal?

15-17 April - Ascension meditation course with moi, Richmond North Yorkshire.

We begin at 7pm on the Friday, you can go home, or if you want to stay we have beds in our retreat centre so you can stay.

I’ll give you everything you need so you can make calm and cent redness the new normal

• let me know if you would like a place, hit reply.

Till then, keep the peace!

- Arjuna

The little old lady who gave me a “word or two of advice” on how to meditate proper

Just the other day I was giving a talk on meditation, and having a jolly time of it.

A lady, who did have quite a severe countenance (who had confided in me earlier that she was practicing the meditation technique of another tradition), piped up, exclaiming:

“WHY are you slouching?”

I was tickled by this comment, a memory floated through my brain of being a school lad and having if not similar comments, similar attitudes be directed at me.

I attempted to sit up but for this lady, nothing less than ram rod straight would do.

I think I let her down that day both in my general disinterest in sitting “correctly” as any “meditator” worth their “salt” would do, but taking her very seriously at all.

Never mind.

The thing I want to pass on to you is that meditation gets taken very seriously. However, as I have learnt, an unhappy path does not have a happy ending.

It cannot.

I wanted peace and laughter and rest, not more harshness. Hence why I didn’t sign up for her brand of enlightened torture.

I have tried sitting on the floor with a super straight spine and the fact of the matter is that I was more grateful to finish my session and be able to move than I was for any noticeable benefit in maintaining such an awesome posture.

So I’m a ball of jelly, perhaps. and yes, slouching isn’t so nice for the spine, but I am sure there is a happy medium in there somewhere.

Didn’t big Buddha say something very wise about taking the middle path? Just like Goldilocks - not too hot, not too cold, not too harsh, not too sloth-esque.

Be comfortable when you sit!

If you’re not comfortable you’re not going to come back time and time again.

If you don’t come back to meditation time and time again, you’re not going to discover how peace is a choice away, or how the only limits to your life are the ones cycling around in the back of your sub-conscious. In other words, you’re not going to live as the best version of yourself.

… and you, you of all people, deserve that.

Keep it easy, it has to be easy, and relaxing, and in that way it will be rewarding and quickly so.

OK?

If you’re interested in joining me for a weekend course on Ascension meditation, book yourself a place on 15-17 April - Richmond, North Yorkshire.

If you’re tired of doing it “hard style”, or trying to do it on your own, if you’re not sure what to do, if you want more from your meditation - come.

I’ll give you everything you need - super simple yet powerful techniques to rise beyond any limitations. And comfortable chairs. And a nice cup of coffee should you want one.

Hit reply and I’ll send you the details.

Keep it easy! Have more fun for less effort.

- Arjuna

The cool name for my friend's business - and what it means for you

My friend has just started a dog training business. Guess what it’s called?

That’s right:

“Sit Happens.”

Isn’t that cool? Well I thought it was just perfect.

Your dog is a lot like your mind.

Your dog doesn’t get to be perfectly behaved by mistake. Neither does your mind.

But you train it - you consistently point it in the right direction, bring it back, bring it back, and sit indeed does happen.

Consistency means you can use your own mind for good, and not let the “mad man who lives upstairs” go wild and create havoc.

Like a well trained pooch, your mind can be your best friend, and not a cause for embarrassment or regret or angst.

Getting stuck in the darker, more negative regions of your untrained mind is an unpleasant place to be. I know all about that.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

It doesn’t have to be “normal” to have a even a slightly average outlook on life.

You don’t need to settle for less.

The key is in practice - in consistency, and that’s what is missing for so many people. They try and give up, after a session or a day or a week or something.

Don’t you think having a perfectly behaved mind is worth some kind of investment in time and money?

I think once you learn how to train your mind you would agree.

It doesn’t have to be hard work. I tried a few meditation techniques before I settled on one. Some of them were hard work indeed. Some of them required me to give up too much.

All I wanted was to live my life as best I could, and I wanted a tool that would support that.

The only thing I wanted to give up was limitation.

If you are the same - and I suggest you are since you are reading this - and you want more from life, come and learn Ascension meditation with me 15-17 April (we begin 7pm on the Friday so you can make it after work)

It’s in Richmond, North Yorkshire, in a beautiful comfortable location. No sitting on the floor - comfy chairs for us.

If you want a place, email me and I’ll book you in.

If you don’t, no problem - just keep bringing that dog back to where you want it to be - gently is the key.

Have a great day, if you need anything, just ask.

- Arjuna

Tips on being the best from gentleman spy training school

I’m away on holiday with the family, and it’s persisting down, as in raining. So we’re sitting around the table, drinking coffee and telling stories. It’s wonderful to take the time to sit and chat with them all.

Last night we watched “Kingsman” - if you haven’t seen it, an excellent film.

Colin Firth trains up a young fellow from the streets to be a gentleman spy, teaching him the ways of the world.

There’s a beautiful quote from Ernest Hemingway:

“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow men. True nobility lies in being superior to your former self.”

I’ve met a few people whose only aim in life is to better than someone else, and all of them I found to be arrogant. I’ve attempted to leave their presence as soon as humanly possible.

Fortunately they have been in the minority.

I have met many more people who are of the category of true nobility in that they are genuinely interested in constantly improving themselves.

All of them have been humble and caring people, a fascinating thing to me that the more you focus on yourself in the sense of wanting to be become a better person, the more you care about others.

I’ve seen over the years that the fastest growth is nothing that can be forced. It comes most quickly and gracefully through greater awareness. Awareness tells you everything you need to know about the things that get in the way of being truly noble.

Other people can guide you and help give advice, but ultimately no one can tell you. You need to see - become aware - and choose for yourself.

That’s where the beauty of Ascension meditation comes in. It uncovers habitual beliefs and reactions so gracefully so it’s obvious where you can just let go and make another choice.

It gives you the headspace to make different choices so simply.

It gives you the awareness to be a gentleman, or a lady, of the highest order without you having to conform to any ideas of what you “should” be doing.

If I could go back into the past and give myself any advice, it would be learn to Ascend sooner.

I stalled and postponed for quite some time, and yet when I finally learned I was kicking myself. So simple, so powerful, so … gentlemanly

Join me for a course here in Richmond, 15-17 April. Day or retreat, up to you.

Email me and let me know. You won’t regret it. Life is too short not to.

Keep the Peace!

- Arjuna

People are strange

Loved that song “People are Strange” when I was a wee fellow.

Picked it up via The Lost Boys soundtrack. Remember that film?

My favourite film for a long time. I tried to get my hair just like Kiefer Sutherland’s. Didn’t work, think I was probably starting to go bald very early on. Anyway, I do digress, you’re not here to hear about my dubious cultural tastes …

When I look around and study our fellow humans, we do some strange things.

One of the strangest is when someone comes to me and says they need help with being more focussed, or not worrying, or sleeping better, or being more calmer, or whatever …

(There are so many problems that can be solved by training your mind, by learning how to use it properly it’s hard to pick one)

It’s a real problem for them, it’s really affecting their life …

Had an email this morning just like this, which mabee explains why it is forefront of my attention.

And they are there when I talk (or write), asking questions, interacting, findings out more.

When it comes the moment to jump in to learn Ascension meditation?

— “Sounds good but I don’t have enough time to practice” —

I’ve heard it a lot and it still makes me almost slap my forehead in disbelief (not very hard though, I’m not much of a masochist).

Maybe “not having time” is code for they don’t like me and are finding a nice way to remove themselves from my surroundings, which is fine.

But I’ve talked to so many people, and the trouble with everything, they say, is “there isn’t enough time”.

Curious - humans are constantly delaying - “I’ll do it later”, as if they had all the time in the world, and then there is the problem of not enough time.

The problem of struggling against a mind that won’t be still, won’t stop worrying, or doubting, or stressing about every single thing … and then there is the problem of time.

Here is the thing:

You don’t have time not to practice.

There is nothing in the world that will help you without you putting a modicum of time and effort into it.

But closing your eyes every day and doing your Ascension meditation gives you more time.

It stretches the mindspace - time continuum. I just made up that term, but I’m serious: it gives you the ability to transcend the very thing that takes all your time away!

(that’s your mind, btw)

You need to do the work. If you want different fruit, you need to plant different trees.

Otherwise you just get the same old, same old.

And if you’re happy with living a life of less than optimal, of dealing with stress and struggle and self-sabotaging your happiness and goals on a daily basis then that is fine with me.

Just be honest with yourself. If you are happy with that, be happy with it.

Keep a track of what you say you want, and what you’re actually prepared to do about it.

That in itself may just fundamentally change how you live life.

But if it’s enough of a problem, then devote the time and effort to learn how to move beyond the problem.

You never will regret it.

Boom. Life is too short to live with a problem that can be solved.

Solution:

Course here, my place (big house), 15-17 April. Richmond, North Yorkshire (may involve some simple travel)

Only 12 mind space explorers at one time, £200 for the whole shebang. Bargain, price will go up for the next course.

If you are at all interested - email me, and I will put you on the list so you know first when registrations are open.

Wunderbar!

Have a great day. As always, let me know if I can help.

- Arjuna

When living a normal life means dealing with mental obesity

Don’t you ever wonder why you can’t just switch your mind off?

Don’t you ever wonder why you succumb to worry or stress or struggle?

Don’t you ever wonder why life isn’t a cool, happy, content adventure all the time?

See I used wonder all the time why I couldn’t be present and happy all day, day in, day out.

What was going on? What was I doing that meant my mind went mental?

What was I doing when everything was easy? How could I have that more?

I think for some people they just consider these ups and downs normal.

BUT sometimes - don’t you ever consider that normal just isn’t normal??

What if there was so much more to be had than “normal”?

I get so passionate about this I want to shout it from the rooftops.

There is so much more to be had. Don’t settle for less!!

What humans consider normal is just mental obesity.

Fat, lazy, channel surfing, couch potato minds.

The mind, and how you use it, is at the core of everything you do. It effects everything.

If the average human exercised their mind just a little bit it would be a lot more friendlier, a lot more stable, a lot more able to deal with the challenges of life.

It would start to become a ally, not a hinderance. A source of peace, not a source of angst and drama.

And when I say exercise, I don’t mean hard work.

Meditation and mindset if probably more about having a simple tool, and consistency.

The hardest thing you will find about my method is finding the time to sit down every day and close your eyes in a comfy chair (hint - not really that hard).

I want to share with you a bit of an email I got from Bernard a few days ago …

—————-

“I’ve gotten more peace. More laughter. More joy. Relationships that are more real, more honest, more open. The ability to be fully present with my partner and kids, which was something I’d craved but didn’t know how to do - I’d spent a long time in my head. A more creative, authentic life.”

—————-

Isn’t that cool? I love hearing from people who’ve learnt to Ascend. All of them, all of them, if they follow the instructions find a quality of life well beyond what they used to consider “normal”.

If you want more than normal - if you want an end to mental obesity - find a way to learn. Scroll down to the PS for details of a course here.

If you’re happy with the status quo, then just do nothing and get the same old, same old normal lardy brain.

If you already know how to Ascend - let this be a reminder to prioritise your practice. Make use of the community around you too - you know how great it is to plug in, however you can, in person or in the Facebook group, on Insight Timer … however, do it.

Excellent! So, here I raise my coffee to a live lived in pursuit of the not-normal.

Have a great day, and keep your Peace. It’s one of the most precious things you have.

- Arjuna

PS.

The course here in Richmond, North Yorkshire is 15-17 April (we begin 7pm on the Friday).

I’m giving you guys advance warning so you can get yourself together. Let me know if you are interested in a place by emailing me, before I open up registrations.

We can only take 12 you see - otherwise I start to “lose” people, I can’t make sure you’re getting the attention you need.

Distance isn’t a deal - we had a girl come from Sweden for the last course. Close to train lines. You can stay at the center too - plenty of bedrooms.

The price is £200. A bargain when you consider it covers the weekend, repeating for FREE anywhere in the world, and a lifetime of follow up and support. You have a question 12 years from now? No worries - you can tap into the Ascension community of teachers and practitioners and get the help you need.

Let me know if you are interested.

My totalitarian dictator of a swim coach

When I was young I was a swimmer. I spent a lot of time in the pool, doing laps, working on techniques, getting fitter, stronger, better.

All that mileage was just to get better at being more fish like. Perhaps, if you excuse the pun, more e-fish-ent …

Some days I felt great, some days I felt awful.

Sometimes I didn’t want to get out of bed. Sometimes I didn’t want to get wet, again.

But it was simply a case of applying what my coach said to the best of my ability, consistently.

My coach was a bit like a happy totalitarian dictator. You just submitted to the whim of his regime, completely.

You showed up and did the work the best you could, day in, day out.

That is the athlete’s life.

But the truth is anything you want to get better at is exactly the same.

Any skill requires nothing but practice. You practice, you do it every day, bingo, you get good.

It’s just about doing it again and again and again, no matter how you feel or what you think.

What ever you do - what ever you want to get better at - you need to ignore the doubts.

Don’t let those little doubts of “I'm not good” turn into beliefs that “you can never do it” because that means you stop doing it.

You put your doubts completely to one side - in fact bypass any limitation at all - by specifically engaging a system, a method of practice.

So instead of listening - and stopping - you just do - and you become great.

Now, being the best possible version of yourself involves the skill of mastering your mind.

In other words, get better at the inner game and the outer game shifts accordingly, and instantaneously.

The practice is to be completely present, aware and alive to this exact moment in time. Actually it involves not so much being present, but noticing your own Presence, beyond thought, beyond the body, beyond time.

(bit mystical that)

The system, or the method of practice, is to do that repeatedly. Constantly make the choice, return, no matter what the thoughts say, because they say all sorts of things. All you have to do is not listen.

Return. And once again, return.

What you want will become a habit if you engage this simple system.

If you need a tool to help, and I did, learn to Ascend. Think of it like a completely non-harmful performance enhancing drug for your practice.

Just makes the practice of return so much more simple and effortless.

Be smart, be smarter than Lance Armstrong and his buddies - next course here in Richmond is early April, either of the first two weeks, having a moment getting things scheduled at the venue  that I want.

It’s not so far to the train lines, you can stay if you like, there are B&Bs as well.

SImple, and easy, and totally performance enhancing.

I’ll let you know.

Thanks for reading, and have yourself a superb day.