Atlanta Restaurant Tours
As a treat to ourselves, the members of Mistaken Identity on occasion put on
our finest clothes and visit an upscale restaurant.
To keep these outings exciting for us and to allow room for our individual taste
buds, each member has an opportunity to select the restaunt of her choice.
uuumm . . . sounds delicious.
A Little Bit of Jazz ~ Visit Some of Our Favorite Hot Spots in Atlanta
Cafe 290 290 Hilderbrand Dr NE, Atlanta GA 404.256.3942Cafe Tu Tu Tango 220 Pharr Rd NE, Atlanta GA 404.841.6222
Sambuca Jazz Cafe 310 Piedmont Road NE, Atlanta GA 404.237.5299
Dante's Down The Hatch Underground, Atlanta GA 404.577.1800
Hairiston's 1273 S Hairston Rd, Stone Mountain GA 770. 322.9988
The Sun Dial 210 Peachtree St Nw, Atlanta GA 404.589.7506
The Ritz 181 P'tree St 404. 659.0400 & 3434 P'tree Rd 404.237.2700
Churchill Grounds 660 Peachtree St, Atlanta GA 404.876.3030
Ying Yang Music Cafe 64 3rd St, Atlanta GA 404.607.0682
Literally, It's Time To Get Literary
All those interested in taking part in the Literary Meeting
should let Liz know at their earliest opportunity
We need to choose a book, the date & location
for our upcoming monthly gathering
What is Meditation
The
basic idea generally associated with why people meditate is that
throughout the day, while our minds are in the process of actively
thinking, we are constantly subjected to sensory input. For example,
when we read the newspaper or study a book, engage in a conversation,
or simply solve a problem, our minds are in a state of constant
activity. Meditation allows
all this activity to settle down, and often results in the mind
becoming more peaceful, calm, and focused. In essence, meditation
allows the awareness to become 'rejuvenated'. Meditation can be
considered a technique, or practice. It usually involves concentrating
on an object, such as a flower, a candle, a sound or word, or the
breath. Over time, the number of random thoughts occurring diminishes.
More importantly, your attachment to these thoughts, and your
identification with them, progressively become less. The meditator may
get caught up in a thought pattern, but once he/she becomes aware of
this, attention is gently brought back to the object of concentration.
Meditation can also be objectless, for example consisting of just
sitting.
Experiences
during meditation probably vary significantly from one individual to
another, or at least if different techniques are involved. Relaxation,
increased awareness, mental focus and clarity, and a sense of peace are
the most common by-products of meditation. While much has been written
about the benefits of meditation, the best attitude is not to have any
expectations when practicing. Having a sense of expectation of
(positive) results is likely to create unnecessary strain in the
practice.
As
well, since meditation involves becoming more aware and more sensitive
to what is within you, facing unpleasant parts of oneself may well be
part of meditation. Regardless of the experience, the meditator should
try to be aware of the experience and of any attachment to it.
Failure
to experience silence, peace of mind, mental clarity, bliss, or other
promoted benefit of meditation is not in itself a sign of incorrect
practice or that one can't concentrate properly or concentrate enough
to be good at meditation. Whether one experiences peace or bliss is not
what is important. What is generally considered important in meditation
is that one is regular with their meditation -every day- and that one
make a reasonable effort, but not strain, to remain with the object of
concentration during the practice. With regular practice one inevitably
acquires an increased understanding of and proficiency with the
particular meditation technique.
Some
people use the formal concentrative meditation as a preliminary step to
practicing a mindfulness meditation during the day where one tries to
maintain a calm but increased awareness of one's thoughts and actions
during the day.
For
some people, meditation is primarily a spiritual practice, and in some
cases the meditation practice may be closely tied to the practice of a
religion such as, for example, Hinduism or Buddhism.
Try a Few of These Meditation Techniques
Watching the Breath
Just
find a comfortable upright sitting position, close your eyes, and begin
to notice your breath passing in and out of your nostrils. Should your
mind wander, gently bring your attention back to the sensation of the
air passing through your nose.
Candle Meditations
This
is the same as the breathing meditation, but you will be focusing on a
candle flame instead of your breath. Place the candle a foot or so in
front of you, and just look at it. As your mind wanders, bring it
again, back to the flame. This method is a bit more difficult, because
it requires greater focusing effort.
Third Eye
The
third eye is a point on your lower forehead, just above where your
eyebrows would meet. This point is used in many Indian meditations.
Third eye meditations are noticeably transcendental. You may feel quite
altered for several hours afterwards. For this meditation, find a tree
and sit or stand five to fifteen feet away from it. Choose depending on
its size and how you feel. Imagine a silver thread connecting your
third eye with a specific point on the bark of the tree. Concentrate on
the point on the bark and your connection to it. Do this for 45
minutes. There are two variations of this method that involve chanting
the sound "OM."
If you are seated, chant the sound in one long "OOOOMMNM" on each
exhaling breath. If you are standing, do the same chant, but also
slowly step three or four steps towards, the three or four steps away
from the tree as you breathe and chant. Your arms should be at your
sides, with your palms facing back.
Sublime
The
next time you are in a truely beautiful place, try this simple
meditation. Sit somewhere comfortable, facing the most majestic vista
you can find. For example, face the peak of a mountain, or the top of a
waterfall. Put your wrists on your knees, and gently tap your index
finger and thumb together, once a second or more. During this, as
slowly as you can, open and close your eyes repeatedly. The process of
getting your eyes open should take thirty seconds or so, and after they
are completely open, you should begin to close them again, in a
controlled movement taking just as much time. Do this for at least
fifteen minutes.
Sah
Tah Nah
Mah
This
is one of the first meditations a Kundalini student learns. Sit on a
pillow or on the floor and close your eyes. Concentrate on the third
eye as you slowly chant the sounds "SAH TAH NAH MAH." Use the melody of
the first four notes of "Mary had a little lamb." (MA-RY HAD A...)
Begin by chanting in normal voice. After five minutes, go into a
whisper. Then, after another five minutes, do the mantra mentally. As
you chant each syllable, gently tap each of your fingers against your
thumbs. The index fingers on SAH; the middle fingers on TAH; the ring
finger on NAH; and the pinkie on MAH; then repeat.
If
you have trouble concentrating, or experience any uncomfortable
physical symptoms during the meditation, focus on each sound of the
mantra passing down through an opening on the crown of your skull and
out again through your third eye. When you are finished, gently stretch
before opening the eyes.
Sat Nam
This
mantra is an abbreviated form of Sah Tah Nah Mah. We include this
meditation because the first time our friend Sarah tried it about eight
years ago, she went out of body. Needless to say, she was on a relaxed
high for a week or so afterwards. Again, if this works for you, please
seek out a real Kundalini yoga teacher. If these exercises are to be
done every day, they should be done correctly, and as part of a planned
program.
The
exercise has several parts: 1. Five minutes: Sit, inhale through
puckered lips to make a whistling sound, and exhale through your nose.
As you inhale, imagine the sound reverberating at your third eye. 2.
Two minutes: Change your breathing so that you inhale through the nose
and exhale, whistling through the puckered lips. On inhaling, thing of
the sound "SAT" and on exhaling, think of the sound "NAM."
3. Three minutes: Lie on your stomach, put your palms on the floor next
to your chest and push up, arching your back. (This is not a push-up.
Do not pivot at the feet. Leave your thighs on the floor, arching your
back.) Breathe as you did in part 2. Stare at a point on the ceiling
directly above you. 4. Three minutes: Relax, exhaling, and roll onto
your back. Close your eyes. Pull your knees into your chest and clasp
your arms around them. Pull your head up between your knees, and chant
the sound "NNNNNNNNN." 5. Five minutes: Rest, by lying on your back and
crossing your legs.
The
legs are crossed as if you were sitting up "Indian style." 6. Two
minutes: Sit cross-legged. Put your hands on your shoulders, thumbs
behind and fingers in front. Swivel your torso, leading with your
elbows, left and right like the inside of a washing machine, pivoting
at the spine. Inhale as you go left, and exhale as you go right. For
the second minute, change your position so you are sitting on your
heels, with your knees in front of you. At the end, take one last deep
inhalation, hold it in, and exhale, proceeding to step 7. 7. Five
minutes: Lean forward over your knees until your head touches the
floor. Allow your hands to slide back toward your feet, palms up. Relax
as far as you can.
The Relaxations
It
is in the final relaxation that you feel the full effects of these
meditations. After either one of these meditations, try the following
deep relaxation technique. Lie on your back. Imagine energy flowing up
from the base of your spine all the way past the window of your third
eye and out through the top of your head. With your eyes closed,
imagine the slow mantra "SAH TAH NAH MAH" four times as you inhale
slowly through the nose and hold the breath in long enough to complete
the mantra. Exhale more quickly and with a little sound of air against
your lips, as you imagine the faster mantra "WUH GROO." Your mind may
wander from the mantra and breathing technique, so if you realize this
is happening, bring yourself back to the practice. We can't
overemphasize how powerful this technique can be. When you are
finished, it might be a good idea to hum a little tune or random notes
to yourself before opening your eyes. We would also suggest gentle
stretching before you try to stand.
The Kabbalah
Kabbalah
is the much misunderstood and much underestimated mystical branch of
Judaism. Do not expect to learn much about it at most synagogues. While
Judaism, because of the way it is popularly conceived, is not the first
place most people turn to find transcendental meditation techniques,
those who do are often surprised by how much Jewish mystics understood
about states of consciousness.
Shin Mem
This
is a short, easy meditation with quickly observed effects. You
alternate between making the sound SHHHH and the sound MMMMM. Hold each
for fifteen or twenty seconds then switch to the other. What this
meditation does is alternate your consciousness between the chaotic
white noise of "shh" with the higher, focused, and directed "MMM"
sound. The kabbalistic tradition states that the way to higher
consciousness involves just briefly experiencing higher states, so that
they can be readily integrated into normal life. The alternation
between the two sounds of this meditation does just that. You only need
to do this meditation for a couple of minutes.
Alphabet Soup
In
Path of the Kabbalah, David Sheinkin outlines an ancient meditation
technique based on the Hebrew alphabet. The letters of the Hebrew
alphabet are thought of as more than just representations of sounds:
they are mystical symbols. Each has its own special resonance. All you
have to do is pick a letter (any Hebrew text or lesson book should have
them all). Stare at the letter, and meditate on its shape. Once you
have the letter committed to memory, close your eyes and continue to
visualize it. Another form of the meditation is to imagine sculpting or
chiseling the letter out of stone. Keep sculpting until only the letter
remains in blank space. The most difficult of the techniques is to
attempt to imagine the letter as black fire, and the background behind
it as white fire. If these techniques resonate for you, contact a
Kabbalistic institute if you can find one. There are places to study in
New York and Los Angeles.
Otherwise, find some good books and translations and explore it
yourself. The Jews spent hundreds of years traveling with books and no
teachers, but managed to do a pretty good job of preserving the mystic
texts, even if you have to go digging through the back shelves of
bookstores in order to find them.
The Arts
Travel
When Mistaken ID Members want to make travel plans, they can . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . drop me a line at
mymistakenidentity..com
Yoga ~ Yoga ~ Yoga ~ Yoga
The Four Yogas
RAJA YOGA.
Raja means king and Raja Yoga is known as the kingly Yoga. This Yoga is
usually attributed to Patanjali who first codified this system,
although he didn't call it Raja but simply a vision of Yoga.
Patanjali's teachings are found in a treatise consisting of four
volumes or books which go into analysis and explanation of psychology,
the body, mind, psychic system and the cause and removal of suffering
and delusion. His two most quoted sutras are "Yogas chitta vritti
nirodaha", and Yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana,
dhyana, samadhi. They are translated in various ways, often with subtle
but profound differences. The first, for example, as "Yoga is the
stilling of turbulence in consciousness" or "Yoga is the control of the
mental modifications." The second might be translated as Yoga consists
of observances, purifications, posture, control of life force, turning
the senses inward, concentration, meditation and super-consciousness or
re-integration." These are usually seen as the eight limbs or steps of
Yoga and hence this system is also called Ashtanga Yoga or eight limbed
Yoga. Hatha Yoga is often included as part of Raja Yoga but many also
see it as separate and complete.
One
of the appealing things about Raja Yoga is also its very limitation. It
appears to be a scientific, step-by-step path to truth or
enlightenment. This makes it especially attractive to the western mind
which seeks order and explanation for everything. It is the Yoga of
control and what is more controlling than a king? Most interpretations
of Raja Yoga emphasize controlling the mind, the senses, the life
force, thought, breath and most other aspects of life. Hence when
imbalanced it can become rigid and mechanical.
BHAKTI YOGA
is the Yoga of devotion. It is the most like world religions in that it
consists of prayer, singing, devotional practices, study of scriptures,
remembrance of God, service and rituals. Bhakti Yoga is based on
cultivating faith and its goal is total self-surrender to God. It
acknowledges that our own mind and understanding are quite limited and
therefore it behooves us to attune to and serve God or, for the less
theistic person, the higher intelligence in the universe. Bhakti Yoga
seeks to lead one to the bliss and ecstasy of oneness with God. It is
the path of the heart but followed blindly or to extremes can lead to
the ignorance of ritualism, emotionalism and mindlessness.
JNANA YOGA
is the Yoga of wisdom. It is based on the study of oneself. Jnana Yoga
suggests that the supreme in life, such as divine love, truth, or
God-consciousness, cannot be cultivated. These non-things cannot be
brought about by our little minds and actions. Rather they come into
being when we remove the obstruction of our ignorance and illusions. In
it's purest, non-dualist form Jnana even denies that we are ever
separate from God. It says that acts of worship or seeking of God in
fact deny the oneness that already exists! A famous great Jnana Yoga
saying is Tat Twam Asi or Thou Art That. This not only asserts oneness
but carefully uses the word that which points to truth instead of
naming or defining it.
Rather
than being based on faith, Jnana Yoga encourages enquiry and
questioning. It is the Yoga of Seeing and Being, asking us to look and
discover rather than to follow and believe. Jnana Yoga has been called
the pathless path. It endeavors to free one from conditioning and the
limitations
of knowledge. It shows us that when we open our eyes and begin to see
the beauty and sacredness around us we do not need techniques, rituals
or beliefs. We need to end our illusion and delusion. This happens
through the awakening of perception and watchfulness in our daily life.
But imbalanced Jnana can lead to intellectualism and dry, mental self-
indulgence.
KARMA YOGA
is the Yoga of Action. We must act in the world and this Yoga seeks to
bring awareness to our actions. It deals with both the quality and the
motivation of action and might be called the Yoga of doing. We can
learn to act with more clarity, completeness, beauty and meditation in
action. Our businesses, our bodies, our relationships and even how we
do the dishes, with right understanding, all become an expression of
our Yoga. Our actions are the manifestation of our inner reality. As
has been said, we can talk the talk but do we walk the walk?
Karma
Yoga is the place where all Yoga systems can come together. No matter
what one's point of view, when spiritual awareness awakens and the
heart opens with love and compassion its expression is in sharing with
others. A danger of Yoga, and of life itself, is self- centeredness.
Most Yoga practices deal with improving our minds, bodies and hearts.
So we must be vigilant about becoming preoccupied with ourselves. Yoga
is something far deeper than developing the body beautiful or
increasing one's bliss. Karma Yoga reminds us to think of and serve
others, especially those who cannot help themselves--the very poor,
sick or old. It asserts that "you are the world."
To
our unawakened eyes these systems may seem to contradict each other.
Bhakti says have faith, Jnana says question everything. Raja says
control your mind, Jnana says the controller is that which you are
trying to control! But the problem is the medium, not the message. The
limitation of the very structure of mind, thought and language create
the division. When you explain that which can never be put into words,
the closest you can get is paradox!
Perhaps
the metaphor of a sage will help. He likened the four yogas to a bird.
Raja Yoga is the tail, steering, steadying and guiding the bird with
control. Bhakti and Karma, love-devotion and action are the wings
propelling it onward. Jnana is the head, seeing and guiding the bird
toward the light. Which part can you deny? Which can you deny and still
fly?
To
answer the question, what has created all this division in the science
of oneness? Perhaps it is our very chattering mind. The first statement
in the Tao te Ching says, The Tao that is explained is not the Tao.
And, as ancient Yogis have said, "To define Truth is to deny it." These
great sayings point out that we must become aware of the limitation of
words. As soon as you explain oneness your words become a viewpoint,
one perspective, and not the whole.
In
doing the headstand Hatha Yogis learn to see things from a different
perspective. Perhaps an upside down way of looking at the unity in Yoga
could be that all paths are one because no path alone leads to truth.
Therefore it is not a question of finding the right system or even the
best one. What is important is realizing that no explanation or system
can contain the wholeness of life.
Five Points of Yoga
Proper Exercise (Asanas)
Proper Breathing (Pranayama)
Proper Relaxation (Savasana)
Proper Diet (vegetarian)
Positive Thinking (Vedanta) and Meditation (Dhyana)
Eight Limbs of Yoga
Yamas -
The Yamas or restraints (Don'ts) are divided into five moral
injuctions, aimed atdestroying the lower nature. They should all be
practiced and developed by the letter but also more importantly in the
spirit.
They should all be practiced in word, thought and deed.
Ahimsa or non-violence Satyam or truthfulness Brahmacharya or moderation in all things (control of all senses). Also refers to celibacy. Asteya or non-stealing Aparigraha or non-covetousness
Niyamas - The Niyamas or observances (Do's) are also divided into five and complete the ethical precepts started with the Yama.
These qualities are:
Saucha or purity - this internal and external cleanliness.
Santosha or contentment Tapas or austerity
Swadhyaya or study of the sacred texts
Ishwara Pranidhana which is constantly living with an awareness of the divine Presence (surrender to God's Will)
Asanas - Postures
Pranayama - regulation or control of the breath. Asanas and Pranayama form the sub-division of Raja Yoga known as Hatha-Yoga
Pratyahara - withdrawal of the senses in order to still the mind
Dharana -
concentration. The last 3 steps constitute the internal practice of
Raja Yoga. When Dharana is achieved, it leads to the next step:
Dhyana -
meditation is that state of pure thought and absorption in the object
of meditation. There is still duality in Dhyana. When mastered Dhyana
leads to the last step:
Samadhi -
the superconscious state. In Samadhi non-duality or oneness is
experienced. This is the deepest and highest state of consciousness
where body and mind have been transcended and the Yogi is one with the
Self or God.
It's Tee Time !!!
At The 18th Whole . . . . . .
EXECUTIVE WOMEN'S GOLF ASSOCIATION,
a national organization of women golfers interested in golf for
recreation or business. Monthly outings, weekly league play &
professionally-led golf clinics. All levels welcome.
For more info, call 770-984-7617.
SISTERS WHO GOLF is
a new organization looking for African American women interested in
learning or playing golf. Leagues are forming for veterans and novices.
For more info, call 404-794-7000.
Community Service
American Cancer Society
American Heart Association
American Red Cross
Atlanta Urban Ministry
Big Brothers/Sisters
Children’s Restoration Network
Children’s Rights of American
Compeer
Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
Food Not Bombs
GA Council On Child Abuse
Habitat For Humanity
Hands On Atlanta
Make A Wish Foundation
Project Open Hand
Project Read
Ronald McDonald House
StandUp For Kids
The Samaritan House
The United Way
