The greatest revolution in our generation is the discovery that human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.
—William James
Our friend Charles Tart, a pioneer in the scientific research of consciousness, once said, “We don't understand the operations of our minds and hence we don't operate them very well.” While many people regard the state of their mind as an unalterable “given,” our research and experience has demonstrated that “upgrades” in the quality of attention, intelligence, creativity, and other mental capabilities can be dependably achieved through proper training and discipline. Motivated individuals are capable not only of improving their health but of building their “brain power,” enhancing creativity, extending the length and quality of their lives, awakening greater empathy and compassion, and expanding the scope of their contribution to the world. While the multiple and complex dilemmas of modern life present multiple challenges and needs, the inner sciences of mindbody development offer a variety of profoundly practical and compassionate solutions. Once “online” and integrated into our lives, these inner skills are generative, self-reinforcing, inexpensive, portable, reliable, easily diffusible and value-adding as they breathe life and vitality into virtually every personal and professional situation.
Regardless of the work we do or the position that we hold, our mindbody is our primary instrument. This is a truly miraculous, mysterious, and universal tool of infinite potential. With it we create and guide the use of all other tools. Yet growing up, in school, or on the job, few of us learned even the most basic skills for assuring its optimal maintenance and fine-tuning.
Consider—did your parents, teachers, health care providers, or clergy ever teach you techniques to let go of stress and tension, to harness and focus the power of your mind, or to gain deep insight through meditation? Did they themselves practice or even know of the value of these profound and useful skills? Most likely not. Lacking an education in even the basics of these skills, most of us have been virtually illiterate when it comes to the inner arts and sciences. Yet times are changing and, due to many factors, interest in these fundamental human disciplines has skyrocketed over the past thirty years.
Faced with the growing complexity of the modern marketplace we are required to think, gather, and process information, evaluate, communicate, and act at increasingly high speeds. When the situational demands—work-related, social, physiological, or psychological—exceed our capabilities to adequately respond, we experience strain and distress. Barely equipped to cope, let alone break through to higher and sustained levels of performance, many people become caught in a downward spiral that depletes their vitality and undermines their health. As a consequence, we are witnessing a growing epidemic of stress-related diseases and a host of related accidents, problems, and liabilities for business and society. The more intense our distress, the poorer the quality of the attention, judgment, creativity, and skill that we bring to our work, and the more mistakes we make. Similarly, the greater our distress level, the more likely it is that we will face conflict in our relationships or develop a life-threatening disease.
According to recent research, as much as 95 percent of disease is stress- and lifestyle-related. Assistant Surgeon General William Fogey told us that two-thirds of all disability and death prior to the age of 65 is preventable—and many researchers would extend this to 85 years. So the good news is that if you really care about the quality of your life and health, you can make a difference!
Every moment of the day our mindbody is providing us with the information and inspiration needed to avert most of our problems. Learning to listen to this subtle stream of inner whispers gives us access to both warning signs and intuitive insights which, properly monitored and taken to heart, can cue us into recognizing the raw material for breakthroughs in creative design and problem-solving, as well as alert us to the early warning signs of accumulating stress or encroaching disease. All too often, however, the sensitive mental and physical circuitry of most individuals is so overloaded that the subtle whispers of insight and revelation that are a natural part of our life are ignored. We wait until the whispers of tension in our bodies, our relationships, and our world have become heart-wrenching screams of pain before we wake up, fully acknowledge them, and take action to restore harmony and balance. So much needless suffering could be avoided if we only learned to listen to the whispers and didn't wait for the screams!
How many moments of struggle, pain, and grief—how many billions of dollars and years of research and development—would be saved if we, as individuals and organizations, devoted more attention to refining and developing our capabilities for being truly present, and for increasing awareness through the inner technologies of mental development?
When we consider the enormous costs and damages incurred by our bodies, our relationships, our businesses, and our environment, or the multitude of valuable insights and breakthrough ideas we have missed because our inner noise level was so high, it may inspire us to learn and practice the skills presented in this book. Can we afford to not listen to the inner warnings and inspirations that may determine the course of our personal, organizational, or global future?
The disciplines of inner transformational work empower us because they are about learning to change the world from the inside out. Gandhi once said, “We must be the change that we want to see in our world.” Speaking at Harvard University, the Dalai Lama, one of our most inspiring teachers, said:
In this century, human knowledge is extremely expanded and developed but this is mainly knowledge of the external world.…We spend a large amount of the best human brain power looking outside—too much, and it seems we do not spend adequate effort to look within, to think inwardly.…Perhaps now that the Western sciences have reached down into the atom and out into the cosmos finally to realize the extreme vulnerability of all life and value, it is becoming credible, even obvious, that the Inner Science is of supreme importance. Certainly physics designed the bombs, biology the germ warfare, chemistry the nerve gas, and so on, but it will be the unhealthy emotions of individuals that will trigger these horrors. These emotions can only be controlled, reshaped, and rechanneled by technologies developed from successful Inner Science.
TOOLS FOR INNER WORK
This book is designed as a collection of tools for the inner work of enhancing the quality of the many dimensions of our lives. Learning to quiet the noise in the body through relaxation greatly enhances our successful practice of meditation. By practicing the skills of dynamic relaxation, we learn to master stress and recognize and reduce unproductive tensions and anxieties in our lives. By freeing ourselves from the burden of accumulated tensions and inner conflicts, we are better equipped to rest and renew ourselves, to think more clearly, keep stress from accumulating, increase our efficiency and productivity, and generally enhance our overall well-being.
On this foundation, we can begin to cultivate the disciplines of meditation presented in this book. Here you will find a wide variety of meditation practices inspired by many teachers and traditions. For simplicity, we have organized the sequence of training into five general categories:
Concentration Meditation—the focused mind; Mindfulness Meditation—presence of mind; Reflective Meditation—the inquiring mind; Creative Meditation—the transformative mind; and Heart-centered Meditation—the mind of loving-kindness.
Approached in this way, meditation techniques enable us to build the power and peace of mind needed to awaken insight and understanding. Awakening and embodying wisdom is the true goal of meditation. This awakening is necessary to consciously recognize and transform the harmful or unproductive patterns of our lives, and to consciously strengthen the mind's full potential for wisdom, love, power, and creative compassion. As we develop a deeper understanding, our appreciation for the true nature and potential of ourselves and others grows; inner and outer conflicts diminish; and we become more joyful, creative, and effective in living life, helping others, and stewarding the world.
Quality relationships are both the foundation and the fruit of meditation practice: by reducing the turbulence in our outer lives, we reduce the turbulence and stress in our minds and bodies. When our body is relaxed and our mind is calm and clear, we are better able