The Art of Easy Joy

Concentration is a mental process of reducing diverse multilayered, multidimensional aspects of consciousness to a single point of awareness. The technical term for this is bindu and it is the development of this ability of the mind that gave the founder of Aikdo, Morihei Ueshiba near miraculous powers.
In a documentary film, ‘Divine Techniques’ he is [...]

First, close your eyes and allow your attention to collapse inward toward you. Be aware and feel your body right where you are. The trick is to be aware of the dimensions of your inner space, left - right - up - down - back -forward. Just be aware of here and now as it [...]

Pranayama is far more than simply breath control, control of the attention and thoughts as well as other vital energies all must fall within your field of self-determinism.
Breath is a vital force and function to organic life; an external respiration as opposed to true respiration (internal cellular) which provides oxygen for the aerobic process of [...]

Posture, by which is meant both pose & poise, is one of the key elements to achieving enlightenment and is tied tightly to our breathing and to the emotions we feel and experience moment to moment. The word posture has both noun and verb forms; the noun meaning ‘relative position of parts, especially the body [...]

Observances: Rules of Conduct ~ Niyama

Purity (Saucha)
Contentment (Santosha)
Singing, chants & praises ~ (Kirtan)
Austerities (Tapas)
Study (Svadhyaya)
Surrender to God (Ishvarapranidhana)
Truth* (Satya) added here by Lord Shiva

According to the book ‘Laya Yoga‘ - Observance contains the following ten practices:

Ascesis ~ Tapas, the practice of severe self-discipline
Contentment ~ Santosha
Faith ~ Astikya
Charity ~ Dana
Worship of God [...]

Control & Purification, traditionally called Yama, is the first stage of meditation procedures. It is a set-up to put the individual on stable ground in order to make advancements along the spiritual path they have chosen. (Yes, all effective techniques use these in one guise or another.)
The practise is one of abstinence and observation. There [...]

Native State is the natural, original state of conscious awareness; capable of knowing anything; a potentiality of total knowingness, it is a being who is not literally in contact with space, energy, matter, who is capable of creating and continuing to create their own universe or living in the physical universe able to create illusions [...]

Bliss is a natural state of conscious being which naturally attends enlightenment ~ the influence of a divine blessing. In fact the Concise Oxford dictionary defines the word as perfect happiness and a state of spiritual blessedness; the word stems from the Germanic term blithz ~ blithe, joy.
Anyone with even a smattering of knowledge will [...]