practice

Swami Tyagananda begins all of his talks this way, and i find it beautiful, inspirational, helpful... etc.  i'd like to return back to this more frequently.  today i'll see how often i can do that.  :)  it's friday, after all.  what better way to celebrate the end of the work week than wishing all beings happiness and freedom. 

may all be happy and healthy
may all see what is good and may no one experience misery.
may all overcome their obstacles and acquire good tendencies.
may people everywhere find joy and fulfillment.

let us now spend some time touching the center of peace and joy in our heart.

a good way to begin the practice is to withdraw the scattered energies of the mind and bring them to rest on one point.
that point can be our own breathing.

let us therefore practicing breathing with awareness.

as we breathe in let us visualize that our body and mind are being filled with love, strength and compassion
and as we breathe out let us release all the stress, anxiety and exhaustion in the body and mind.

let us practice this way for a while.

let us now turn our attention to the region of our heart.
although the God is present everywhere and in everyone the Divine Presence can be felt most clearly in our hearts.
we can meditate in any way we have been taught.
to remain focused we can take the help of a short mental prayer or a mantra or a divine name.

let us now spend some time dwelling on the presence of God in our hearts.