October - December 2016 Transformation Journal

Transformation American Meditation Institute

October - December 2016

americanmeditation.org

Self-Care for Healthy Living

AVERILL PARK, NEW YORK

20th Anniversary

Thanks-Giving Celebration Please join us for a

Dinner, Fundraiser and Chamber Music Concert

November 18, 2016 • 6:00-10:00PM See p.14 Photo by Stephanie Vasilakos

Upcoming Classes and Events Inside this Issue: Beginner’s Meditation The Heart & Science of Yoga® Making the Best Choices If you want to start and maintain a meditation practice, this course is perfect for you. / P. 5

AMI’s 6-week self-care program combines meditation, breathing, Ayurveda & Gentle Yoga. / P. 2-3

This course will provide you 10 indispensable keys to inspire your decision-making. / P. 4

Advanced Tantric Healing

8th Annual Physicians’ CME Conference

A two day course that teaches the powerfully healing Yoga Nidra practices of Tantra. / P. 4

AMI’s Comprehensive Training in Yoga Science as Holistic Mind/Body Medicine (30 CMEs), held October 25-29 at the Cranwell Resort & Spa, Lenox MA. The curriculum was developed to help relieve burnout. / P. 6, 7

COMPLETE AMI CLASS SCHEDULE: Pages 2-5

AMI Classes for October - December 2016

The Heart and Science of Yoga

®

Empowering Self-Care Program

Reduce Stress & Burnout • Relieve Pain • Optimize Health with Leonard Perlmutter (Ram Lev), AMI Founder Taught continuously since 1996 • For Mind, Body and Spirit

Introduction to Self-Care Now, in your present situation, you need to successfully balance all your many personal, professional and family responsibilities.

AMI’s time-tested Heart and Science of Yoga ® Complete Self-Care Program will help you transform your stresses into strength, sharpen your decision-making skills, and meet every one of your challenges creatively.

What is Self-Care?

Self-care is an essential survival skill. SelfCare refers to easy-to-learn daily practices that can reduce stress and maintain and enhance your short and long term health and well-being. By maintaining AMI’s Self-Care Program you’ll be able to fulfill all your personal and professional commitments effectively and rewardingly.

Purposes of Self-Care Self-Care is not simply about limiting or eliminating stressors. It is also about enhancing your overall health and wellbeing. The purposes of Self-Care include: • Strengthening physical and psychological health • Managing, reducing and transforming stress • Honoring emotional and spiritual needs • Fostering and sustaining relationships

“A problem cannot be solved on the level at which it appears.

It must be solved on a higher level.”

ALbERt EINStEIN AMI’s Heart and Science of Yoga® Complete Self-Care Program teaches you how to reliably access your own inner, intuitive wisdom from the superconscious portion of the mind.

By accessing this “higher level” of knowledge you will know (and know that you know) how to make positive, stress reducing and health affirming lifestyle choices.

Self-Care is essential to your OPTIMAL HEALTH Herbert Benson, MD of the Harvard Medical School, says the maintenance of optimal health is analogous to a three-legged stool that must be supported by SELF-CARE. Such as AMI’s

Heart and Science of Yoga ® Complete Self-Care Program

Optimal

HEALTH

Self-Care Pharmaceuticals

Surgery

Leonard Perlmutter Leonard is a noted educator and founder of The American Meditation Institute.

He is the author of The Heart and Science of Yoga® and the mind/body medicine journal, Transformation. He has presented self-care courses at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Albany Medical College, The New York Times Yoga Forum with Dean Ornish MD and the U. S. Military Academy at West Point.

2

americanmeditation.org • Tel. (518) 674-8714

What A MI’s Self-Care Program Can Do for YOU In 2007, AMI conducted a retrospective case study of participants who completed Leonard Perlmutter’s Heart and Science of Yoga ® Self-Care Program. the findings included these positive, reproducible, long-term health-promoting changes: • Reduced cholesterol levels • Significant reductions in stress and fear • Improved energy levels • Diminished or extinguished • Increased creative capacity • Decreased anxiety and depression acute and chronic pain • Diminishment of migraine headaches • Lowered blood pressure • Weight loss • Heal irritable bowel syndrome • Lowered heart rate • Increased breathing capacity • Enhanced happiness and optimism • Improved restorative sleep

the Heart and Science of Yoga ® Self-Care Program Curriculum AMI Meditation • Mantra Science • Diaphragmatic Breathing • Yoga Psychology Mind Function Optimization • Easy-Gentle Yoga • Lymph System Detox • Nutrition • Ayurveda YOGA SCIENCE How to use the mind for the best choices How to create new, healthier habits Understanding pain as an agent for healing Increasing energy, will power & creativity Antidotes for worry, stress and depression AMI MEDITATION Systematic procedure for AMI Meditation Diminishing distractions with mantra science Learning the one-minute meditation Building focus, fearlessness, and strength BREATHING TECHNIQUES Breath as Medicine How breathing irregularities foster dis-ease Complete (three-part) yogic breath

tHuRS NIgHtS: SEP 29 – NOV 10 ExcEPt Oct 27 tuES NIgHtS: NOV 15 – DEC 20 6:30 - 9:00Pm, $495. (6 WKS) Physicians $795; PAs, NPs, Psychologists: $695; RNs: $595

HEALTH INSURANCE CovERAgE Call us to discuss how your Health Insurance plan might cover this program.

PHYSICIAN ACCREDITATION (15 CMEs) This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the Essential Areas and Policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education through the joint providership of Albany Medical College and The American Meditation Institute. Albany Medical College is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

The Albany Medical College designates this Live activity for a maximum of 15 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits TM. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

YOGA PSYCHOLOGY & AYURVEDA How the mind supports optimal health The power of the present moment Building and healing relationships Introduction to Ayurveda EASY-GENTLE YOGA EXERCISES Yoga stretches to benefit: muscles, joints, glands and internal organs Physiological benefits of yoga postures MIND /BODY CARE PLAN The healing power of prayer The practical benefit of contemplation Creating a therapeutic care plan for yourself Learning to budget your time Integrating spiritual beliefs into daily life

Required Texts: The Heart and Science of Yoga ® and The Art of Joyful Living.

Registration Includes: Lifelong support for your meditation practice, a Guided Meditation CD, a copy of The Physiology of Easy-Gentle Yoga, and a complementary subscription to Transformation, the journal of meditation as mind/body medicine.

NURSING CONTINUING EDUCATION (15 contact hours) This continuing nursing education activity was approved by the American Nurses Association Massachusetts (ANA MASS), an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.

PSYCHOLOGIST ACCREDITATION (15 CE hours) The American Meditation Institute (AMI) has been approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists.

AMI maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

the Heart and Science of Yoga ® Self-Care Program is Endorsed by Dr. Oz (Mehmet Oz MD), Dean Ornish MD, Bernie Siegel MD, Larry Dossey MD 3

americanmeditation.org • Tel. (518) 674-8714

HOW TO MAKE THE BEST CHOICES 10 Indispensable Keys for Inspired Decision-Making

tuesday, 7:30-10pm Leonard (RamJuly Lev) 19th, and Jenness Perlmutter Available by CDL (Computer Distance Learning) Now available online. call 518.674.8714 for details.

15% OFF ALL ITEMS A MI BOOKSTORE through December 31st cannot be combined with any other discount.

bOOKS • CDs • mugS • mASSAgE OILS StAtuARY • YOgA mAtS HOmEOPAtHIC mEDICINE • NEtI POtS

ONLINE mEDItAtION COuRSE g.I. SuStAIN • INCENSE • JEWELRY At AmI’s bookstore, Averill Park americanmeditation.org/ami-shop the AmI Core Curriculum is endorsed by:

Dean Ornish mD Dr. Oz (mehmet Oz mD) bernie Siegel mD and Larry Dossey mD Directions to A MI • 60 Garner Road I-90 Exit #8 (Rt. 43 E). take Rt. 43 for 4 1/2 miles. In W. Sand Lake, take a right turn at the lighted intersection onto Rt. 150.

Go 1 mile on Rt. 150. take a left turn on cnty Rd #52/Sheer Rd (at stone wall). Go 1 mile on Sheer Rd and bear left at fork onto Garner Rd. AMI is the 3rd house on the right.

4

Level II : This course offers 10 practical guidelines for better decision-making.

Known as the Yamas and Niyamas, these tools will help you reliably access your own intuitive wisdom to resolve every issue skillfully. These time-honored guidelines will teach you how to transform the contractive power of unhelpful, stress-provoking, negative emotions and habits into an expansive, creative and dynamic force. Real-life issues will be examined, including home, family, friends, work, recreation and death.

WEDNESDAY NIgHtS, 6:30 - 8:30Pm, $125 (3 WKS) OCt 5 - 19

ADvANCED TANTRIC HEALING “Yoga Nidra” Practices To Benefit Mind and Body Leonard Perlmutter (Ram Lev) –– AmI Founder

LEvEL II: This advanced two-week course provides important instruction on employing the subtle energy healing of Tantra, a system of powerfully effective tools for self-care and stress management. Each week you will be taught new skills that reduce the effects of stress, illness and physical exhaustion by purifying the mind and body. These deeply therapeutic practices minimize tension, facilitate energy flow, calm and train the mind, awaken creativity, enhance memory and retard the aging and disease processes by boosting the body’s innate healing wisdom. This course will provide complete instruction in the practices of yoga nidra, shitali karana, shavayatra, trataka and tantric visualization. tHuRSDAY NIgHtS, 6:30 - 8:30Pm, $125 (2 WKS) DEC 8 & 15 this class is open to the general public and recommended for physicians, nurses, and other healthcare professionals.

AMI Classes for October - December 2016

BEGINNER’S MEDITATION the basics for getting Started Mary Holloway, Doreen Howe, Beth Netter MD Bob Iwaniec, André Tremblay, Sandy Vo

LEvEL I: Have you thought about trying meditation, but wanted to learn and experience a little before you registered for AMI’s 6 week Heart and Science of Yoga® Complete SelfCare Program? This two session course will provide you step-by-step guidance on how to start—and stick with—a daily meditation practice. It’s easy to learn the basics: how to deal with distractions, reduce stress, enhance your body’s immune system and become more focused, creative and content. This class also includes a FREE “guided meditation” CD. SAtuRDAY mORNINgS, 9:30 -11:00Am, $95. (2 WKS) OCt 8 & 15; NOV 5 & 12; JAN 7 & 14

*

YOGA PSYCHOLOGY BHAGAvAD GITA STUDY

Leonard (Ram Lev) and Jenness Perlmutter

*LEvEL II: In continuous six-week installments Available by CDL (Computer Distance Learning)

this course presents the profound teachings of the Bhagavad Gita as a handbook on the science of life and the art of living. If you are seeking a manual or guide for the supreme task of living well in the world today, this ongoing study offers you practical wisdom, meaning and purpose for your life. Each week Leonard and Jenness will teach you how to reduce stress, enhance your health and creative abilities, and will provide you a fresh, positive perspective on every relationship. mONDAY NIgHtS, 6:30 - 8:30 Pm, $150. (6 WKS) OCt 10 - NOV 28 (ExcL. Oct 24 & 31); DEC 5 - JAN 9

20th Anniversary Appeal The American Meditation Institute Since 1996

AmI has taught classes to thousands.

Help Keep the Light of this Teaching Shining in the World!

Call (518) 674-8714 or Donate Online at: americanmeditation.org/annual-appeal 5

CAlENDAR FREE: SUNDAY GUIDED MEDITATION & SATSANG

PHYSICIANS’ CME CONFERENCE Comprehensive training in Yoga Science as Holistic mind/body medicine

October 25-29, 2016 Cranwell Resort • Lenox, MA • 30 CMEs

Sundays 9:30-11:00 AM with Leonard (Ram Lev) and Jenness

OCTOBER 2016 SEP 29- NOV 10: THE HEART & SCIENCE OF YOGA see p. 3 complete Self-care Program thurs. Nights, 6:30 - 9:00 PM (6 weeks)

OCT 5 - 19: BEST CHOICES

see p. 4

Weds. Nights, 6:30 - 8:30 PM (3 weeks)

OCT 8 & 15: BEGINNER’S MEDITATION

see p. 5

Sat. Mornings, 9:30 - 11:00 AM (2 weeks)

OCT 10- NOV 28: GITA/YOGA PSYCHOLOGY see p.5 Mon. Nights, 6:30 - 8:30 PM (6 weeks)

NOVEMBER 2016 NOV 5 & 12: BEGINNER’S MEDITATION

see p. 5

Sat. Mornings, 9:30 - 11:00 AM (2 weeks)

NOV 15- DEC 20: THE HEART & SCIENCE OF YOGA see p. 3 complete Self-care Program tues. Nights, 6:30 - 9:00 PM (6 weeks)

NOV 18: THANKS-GIVING DINNER see p.14 Fri. Night, 6:00 - 10:00 PM (RSVP by Nov 16)

DECEMBER 2016 DEC 5- JAN 9: GITA/YOGA PSYCHOLOGY see p.5 Mon. Nights, 6:30 - 8:30 PM (6 weeks)

DEC 8 & 15: ADVANCED TANTRIC HEALING

see p. 4

thurs. Nights, 6:30 - 8:30 PM (2 weeks)

DEC 31: NEW YEAR’S EVE see p. 11 Sat. Night, 6:30 - 10:00 PM (RSVP by Dec 28)

JANUARY 2017 JAN 7 & 14: BEGINNER’S MEDITATION

see p. 5

Sat. Mornings 9:30 - 11:00 AM (2 weeks)

JAN 4- FEB 8: THE HEART & SCIENCE OF YOGA see p. 3 Wed. Nights, 6:30 - 9:00 PM (6 wks) complete Self-care Program

American Meditation Institute

Self-Care for Healthy Living October - December, 2016 • Vol. XX No. 1 ©2016 60 Garner Road, Averill Park, NY 12018

6

upon Completion of this 30 CmE Conference, Participants will be able to: 1. Demonstrate knowledge of how Yoga Science as mind/body medicine can help heal disease, manage addictive habits, alleviate stress, inflammation and physician burnout.

2. Develop equanimity, discrimination, will power, creativity and energy through meditation and diaphragmatic breathing.

3. Incorporate long-term strategies for healthy lifestyle choices using Yoga Psychology.

4. Demonstrate knowledge of the principles of both Ayurveda and Epigenomics.

5. Recognize the physiological benefits of Easy-Gentle Yoga (exercises for lymph system detox, joints, glands, muscles and internal organs).

6. Help themselves and their patients reduce conditioned habits of negative thinking and other symptoms of burnout through the healing powers of mantra science.

7. Utilize Food as Medicine (Diet, Nutrition, Functional Medicine) to maximize personal well being.

8. Use Chakra Psychology (subtle emotional/mental causes of stress) to diagnose and treat dis-ease.

FOR mORE INFORmAtION: (518) 674-8714 OR VISIt:

americanmeditation.org/cme 20th Anniversary

americanmeditation.org \ Tel. (518) 674-8714 ami@americanmeditation.org

GivinG CampaiGn

AMI is a tax exempt, non-profit 501(c)3 educational organization. Donations are fully tax deductible.

ank you for your generosity. americanmeditation.org/annual-appeal

American Meditation Institute’s Yoga of Medicine Program Presents

8th Annual Conference for Physicians • RNs • NPs • PAs • Psychologists Comprehensive Training in Yoga Science as

Holistic Mind/Body Medicine A unique Curriculum Developed for Clinical Application • Personal Health • Relieving Physician burnout and building Resilience

30 CMEs

The Heart and Science of Yoga

®

Meditation • Mantra Science • Diaphragmatic Breathing • Yoga Psychology Mind Function Optimization • Chakra System • Easy-Gentle Yoga • Lymph System Detox Yoga Nidra • Functional Medicine • Ayurvedic Medicine • Food as Medicine Epigenomics • Trauma • PTSD • Resilience • Neuroplasticity Meditation Practices to Relieve Physician Burnout

OCTOBER 25-29, 2016

Self-Care For Healthy Living

Albany Medical College

Lenox, Massachusetts

5 1/2

The only 4-Diamond Resort in the Berkshires

Hour Online Video Course & Book

Space is LIMITED

Please Register EARLY!

FREE!

Leonard Perlmutter Susan Lord MD

Beth Netter MD

REgIStER ONLINE:

Mark Pettus MD Jyothi Bhatt BAMS Tony Santilli MD PrashantKaushikMD Sara Lazar PhD

americanmeditation.org/cme •

JennessPerlmutter

Jesse Ritvo MD

tel. (518) 674-8714

Core Curriculum Endorsed by: Mehmet Oz MD, Dean Ornish MD, Larry Dossey MD and Bernie Siegel MD 7

The Birth of AMI

by Leonard Perlmutter (Ram Lev)

Photo by Stephanie Vasilakos

July 26, 1995. It was an unusually hot and humid day for the opening of thoroughbred racing in Saratoga Springs. For the nineteenth year in a row, we had completed the arduous three-day task of hanging our annual exhibition of paintings and preparing for the opening reception. Satisfied that all was ready, we left the gallery and tried to unwind during the fifty minute drive back to our home in Averill Park.

As we drove, we began to reminisce and take stock. As usual, the final days of preparation were physically and emotionally draining. We weren’t kids anymore, and the pressure had been building for months.

Painting, framing, transporting and hanging seventy-five works of art had made us, at the age of fifty, keenly aware of our own mortality. Through it all, the familiar uncertainty of having a financially successful exhibition only added to our weariness. We were looking forward to a restful night’s sleep before the opening reception the next evening.

Since 1974, we had lived and worked in a converted barn in Averill Park, New York––a quiet, unassuming upstate town.

Our summer exhibition in Saratoga gave us our only glimpse, from our rural location, of an art market capable of supporting a contemporary artist.

8

All year, working under the professional name Jenness Cortez, Jenness painted images depicting the pageantry and excitement of horse racing at the prestigious Saratoga racecourse. Then, each summer, we hung our exhibition in the ballroom of a major hotel hoping that the money we earned through the sale of paintings would keep us going for another season.

Over the years, Cortez paintings provided the public a poetic reflection of a world filled with fast horses and colorful people––horse owners, trainers, jockeys, breeders, show business personalities, race fans and politicians. Through Jenness’s creations and my efforts to sell them, we were able to support ourselves, and the Daymon Runyon-like cast of characters and wannabes were able to see themselves as part of a time-honored tradition. Without exaggeration, by 1995 Jenness’s paintings and the public perception of Saratoga had become virtually synonymous.

When we began to prepare for our first Saratoga show back in 1976, doors of opportunity were graciously opened to us. Public relations officials from the New York Racing Association (owners and operators of the racetrack) literally took us on guided tours of the facility to point out dozens of scenes they

thought would make beautiful paintings.

Over the years, we happily granted the Racing Association (NYRA) permission to reproduce many of Jenness’s paintings on their daily race program, Christmas card greetings, promotional calendars and newsletters––all without financial remuneration.

As the informal relationship developed and continued, the thought of charging NYRA money for the rights to reproduce Jenness’s paintings never even occurred to us. This was simply a mutually beneficial relationship. NYRA was able to use the romantic Cortez images to promote its business and Jenness’s art received an entree to a responsive audience.

The Lawsuit By the early 1990s, however, the relationships began to change.

Technically, NYRA is a privately run, non-profit corporation––granted permission by the State of New York to own and operate a thoroughbred racetrack in Saratoga and to administer wagering for the state. However, because NYRA collects hundreds of millions of gambling dollars and its administrative operations fall under the legislative scrutiny of state government, the courts have determined that NYRA is legally a “quasi-governmental agency” of New York.

As the decade of the 1990s began, the thoroughbred racing industry was under intense financial pressure from an array of factors. These included an aging and dwindling fan base, the proliferation of numerous state lotteries and casino gambling operations, and the appearance of off-track betting parlors in virtually every neighborhood in the state.

In light of the competition, NYRA officials sought to maximize profits. One novel idea they considered was to enter the burgeoning business of sports licensing. NYRA was aware of the lucrative trademark licensing programs already instituted by other sports. Major League Baseball, the National Football League and the National Basketball Association were already making millions of dollars by reproducing team logos on an array of products, and NYRA decided to

explore the financial potential for its own sport.

Against this backdrop, NYRA filed a federal trademark for the word “Saratoga” in 1990––claiming it owned exclusive rights to the word “Saratoga” in connection with horse racing, as well as the right to all images of horse racing at the Saratoga Racecourse.

For many residents of Saratoga County and the City of Saratoga Springs––the history of which dates to the American Revolution, this action was shocking.

Even though the law allows an individual or corporation the legal right to trademark any word, enforcing a trademark claim is a different issue altogether. Usually, in order to substantiate a contentious claim, a powerful corporation like NYRA––in this case, with the muscle and influence of the State of New York behind it––would first try to intimidate a smaller and weaker competitor into conceding its own legitimate rights under the threat of expensive legal proceedings. If that approach failed, the owner of a trademark would then have to rely on the courts. In other words, a non-acquiescing competitor would be sued in an attempt to convince a judge to enforce such a claim.

By the time our summer exhibition was hung in 1995, NYRA officials had already approached us about their trademark claims.

They demanded that we pay them 15 percent of our income generated through the sale of Jenness’s artwork containing the word “Saratoga” in the title or depicting images of Saratoga horse racing in its composition.

With the sole exception of original paintings, NYRA demanded payment on original, hand-drawn lithographs and etchings, signed, open-edition prints, greeting cards and art shirts.

When pressed by our attorneys to explain their legal justification for such demands, NYRA officials claimed they did not want to explain their rights because, in their own words, “We don’t want to be limited by what we say. What if an artist comes up with a novel idea we hadn’t considered?

Would it mean NYRA didn’t own the image?”

Our legal research, however, had concluded just the opposite––NYRA had no legal precedent to justify its claim. Counsel 9

advised us that we had not broken any laws; that NYRA was merely trying to increase its own revenues by rewriting the intellectual property law. But this intimidating negotiation tactic ended abruptly.

When we arrived home from Saratoga on that July afternoon in 1995, we were informed that a reporter from the local NBC affiliate had telephoned. When Jenness returned the call, the question awaiting her was anything but usual. It was a bombshell!

“What is your reaction,” the reporter asked, “to the lawsuit filed against you in federal court by the New York Racing Association?”

We were in shock––filled with embarrassment, fear and then anger. We felt as if an intruder had broken into our home in the middle of the night and slammed us from behind with a two-by-four. Totally abandoning their negotiating strategy, NYRA had abruptly decided to litigate. We had become the legal test case for their trademark claims, and the events that followed would forever change our lives.

The next days, weeks and months were filled with meetings, affidavits, court appearances, emotional roller coaster rides, the slow deterioration of income, and the loss of many social and business associations because we were on the politically incorrect end of the lawsuit. And, of course, piles and piles of bills. Our attorneys had told us right from the first legal volley that our position was sound; that we had not broken the law, and that NYRA was merely exhibiting greed.

In moments of frustration and doubt, we would have preferred to run away or just accept NYRA as an undesirable partner. As we analyzed our situation, we understood how Arjuna must have felt on the eve of his great battle in the Bhagavad Gita. Like Arjuna, we faced powerful emotions of fear, anger and despondency that were undermining our willingness to fight. Yet, despite the anguish, we knew intuitively that we were being asked by Divine Providence to fight this fight; to protect ourselves and to fulfill our duty (dharma) by defending every artist’s constitutional right of free expression.

After much deliberation, we decided to commit ourselves (and our limited resources) to what local newspaper columnists were 10

already calling a real-life David and Goliath battle.

In July, 1996 we received a letter from Swami Rama, our spiritual teacher who was living in India. Although we knew he was ill at the time, we had no idea he would live for only another four months. The letter itself was unusual. It marked the first and only occasion in our relationship when Swami Rama gave us such a direct and unequivocal order. The entire message read: “Start teaching now.”

While succinct and emphatic, the letter did not instruct what, where or how we were to teach––only to begin now! Yet, even in the face of this seeming vagueness, the instruction left us no room for misunderstanding.

By using the word “now” in his instruction, the universal light of guru, through the personage of Swami Rama, was clearly reminding us of how that same word is used in the opening verse of the Yoga Sutras. In that ancient text, the Sanskrit verse states: Atha yoganushasanam: “Now begins instruction in the discipline of Yoga.”

As Swami Rama himself had previously taught us, the word “now” in the Yoga Sutras is used to note an auspicious moment of transition. The sages of Yoga Science carefully chose to use the word “now” to indicate that satisfactory preparation had been completed, and that the student was ready to undertake a new aspect of his or her spiritual practice. By using the phrase “start teaching now,” Swami Rama was disclosing to us that we were adequately prepared in our studies and that now, at this auspicious moment, we were ready to become teachers in the tradition of Yoga Science.

As we read and reread Swami Rama’s written instructions to “start teaching now,” two important memories came to mind.

The First Memory Our first meeting with Swami Rama took place in May of 1991. Although Jenness and I had been studying Yoga Science as serious students since 1975, it was not our habit to attend lectures or retreats. Our personalities seemed better suited to reading the classical and contemporary writings of both East and West, and to fashioning our own spiritual

practice based on what felt right in our hearts, minds and bodies.

However, our spiritual practice had accelerated and expanded to such an extent that we were curtailing social and business relationships in order to give more attention to our studies and meditation. As we simplified our lives, we felt healthier and more content, but grew uneasy about the many and profound changes we were making.

Although the alterations were benefiting us, no one in our immediate circle of friends or family had any interest in, nor understanding of, our spiritual practice. Feeling a bit as if we were out on a limb, we decided to seek advice from someone who had walked this path before––someone we respected.

Although we had never met Swami Rama, by 1991 we had been studying his books for thirteen years. Since both of us acknowledged him as our primary teacher,

we decided to write to ask if he would see us.

Two days after we mailed our letter, Swami Rama’s secretary, Kamal, telephoned us from his teaching facility in Pennsylvania to say Swami Rama wanted to initiate us into the Himalayan tradition as soon as possible. We subsequently learned that Swami Rama had already begun to retire from his worldly activities at that time, and was only rarely initiating students. We now cherish that experience as an auspicious gift.

The night before our initiation, we met informally with Swami Rama for the first time. He asked if I were a teacher. “No,” I replied, “I’m an art dealer.” His response was swift and precise: “You are a teacher, and many people will come to you. And I will help you.”

The Second Memory As we contemplated the instructions to “start teaching now,” the second memory that came

New Year’s Eve

CAFE

SOCIETY Written and Directed by

WOODY ALLEN

FREE Pitch-In Dinner Vegetarian Dish

Movie Fire ceremony RSVP by Dec. 28

Saturday, December 31st 6:30-10:00 Pm 11

to mind was of an August day in 1992.

Swami Rama had accepted our invitation to visit Jenness’s annual painting exhibition in Saratoga Springs. We were very proud and excited as Swami Rama, dressed in his burgundy robe, strolled regally into our gallery with three of his disciples trailing behind him. The August show represented a year’s labor and, as we had discussed with him before, it was our only opportunity to sell Jenness’s paintings so close to home.

After respectfully greeting the Swami, we slowly escorted him around the exhibition, stopping at each painting as Jenness presented personal and artistic insights. The entire tour took about twenty minutes and, when it concluded, we and his entourage stood at his side, eagerly anticipating the master’s comments.

A few suspenseful seconds of silence passed. Then, Swami Rama’s lips began to move and his words became audible. “This should not be here!” he decreed.

What could he mean?! We were both in shock. We knew from studying his writings and through our own experience of him, that Swami Rama measured his words very carefully. He was known as a “seer,” one who sees things as they are rather than as they appear. His spare sentences were often like riddles to be studied and deciphered. But, “This should not be here!” Why would he say such a thing? Did he think we could have found a better location for the exhibition?

In the interlude of silence that followed, both of us independently decided we could make no immediate reply, although we knew we’d have to contemplate his words very seriously. Under the circumstances, “Anyone for lunch?” seemed the easiest response.

Three years later in 1995, after we were sued by the New York Racing Association, the meaning of Swami Rama’s pronouncement that “This should not be here” began to make sense. It became clear that attachments to the status quo had been clouding our vision at the time Swami Rama visited us in Saratoga, but the subsequent pain of the unwarranted NYRA lawsuit helped us to sacrifice many of our limitations and re-order our priorities.

We came to realize that Yoga Science 12

was our strongest and most reliable ally.

Nothing else could make sense of our predicament. The difficult circumstances motivated us to intensify our sadhana and earnestly align our thoughts, words and deeds with the intuitive wisdom of the buddhi.

By making every choice a means for our spiritual unfoldment, we came to see, in retrospect, that the beneficent force of guru had been subtly advising us that our creative energies had been misdirected for quite some time. At long last we knew the time had come to move on, and that the suffering we were experiencing by defending the artist’s constitutional right of free expression was only a reflection of our personalities’ resistance to that transformation.

Challenging and painful as the battle was, it provided a catalyst for seeing many issues in clearer perspective. NYRA’s incomprehensible legal actions were instrumental in our decision to follow the intuition of our hearts, and not to continue business as usual.

In fact, we could find only one real motivation for maintaining the status quo, and that was fear––fear that we wouldn’t be able to find another creative outlet for our energies and talents while still making a living.

Ultimately, however, our fear, powerful as it was, was not enough to keep us from exploring other possibilities the universe was presenting to us.

In retrospect, we recognized that we had spent twenty years creating and selling horse racing paintings of Saratoga. At the half-century mark of our lives we had to ask ourselves realistically, “How many twenty-year periods do we have remaining to give to any worthwhile project?” The answer was sobering, and although we found it difficult to admit, our course now seemed obvious.

Although we ultimately won the lawsuit, as part of our sadhana we decided to renounce our attachment to fear. Jenness would no longer paint images of Saratoga horse racing. As an act of faith in Yoga philosophy, we sacrificed the art market that had supported us for most of our adult years, opening ourselves up to whatever Divine Providence would bring into our lives. From that moment on, we agreed, Jenness would apply her artistic talents to other subjects,

and together, we would offer to students a practical teaching we understood through our own personal experience.

What Should We Teach?

Having received direct instructions in the summer of 1996 to “start teaching now,” we began to discuss the form, content and location of that teaching. At first we assumed that we should teach at Swami Rama’s ashram in Pennsylvania where we had been initiated.

To our surprise, however, the new director of that organization refused our numerous attempts to discuss the matter.

After that rejection and a great deal of soul searching, I finally understood the meaning of Swami Rama’s first words to me in May of 1991: “You are a teacher, and many people will come to you. And I will help you.” Had Swami Rama known immediately that students would seek me out where I lived? Suddenly, my path was clear: I was to teach where I lived, and through our earnestness, Providence would sustain that effort.

We also gained clarity on the issue of what to teach. We decided that the only teachings we could offer with honesty and authority were those we practiced. We knew their merits well. Throughout the emotional onslaught of the legal battle, the dissolution of our livelihood and the loss of friends and business associates, our spiritual practice had kept us balanced, upright and creative.

If the practical application of Yoga Science and philosophy worked so well for us in such demanding circumstances, we concluded, it could work for others as well––assuming they were interested and earnest. So, we started outlining a curriculum of the practices that formed our own daily sadhana.

What evolved was the birth of a growing number of classes and an association of students that we eventually named The American Meditation Institute for Yoga Science and Philosophy. We did not choose this name casually. In addition to honoring the lineage of teachers who preceded us, we wanted our teaching to reflect our own American roots. After all, we were part of the post-World War II American baby boom. We

were the first generation influenced by such cultural personalities as Eleanor Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan and the Beatles.

Our early lives had been shaped by experiences of the Cold War, the Peace Corps, the civil rights movement and Vietnam; by liberalized sexual mores, the increasing availability and reliance on drugs and by a rampant materialism embraced as a remedy for our persistent mental and emotional pain.

Although we were Western by birth and experience, our earnest desire to diminish our own dis-ease had led us to investigate the messages of the East as well as the West. In that search, we discovered that the essence of Eastern thought is present in Western philosophy and science. Through our study and practice, a rich tapestry of Eastern and Western wisdom began to reveal itself.

Again and again the same message appeared to us in the context of many different traditions. The scriptures of the Torah, New Testament, Quran, Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads, Dhammapada, Talmud and Kabbala supported and enriched one another.

The philosophies enunciated by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, St. Francis of Assisi, Shakespeare, Meister Eckhart, Teihard de

Vyasa Love and Live there is an adage, “We make a living By what we get, But we make a life By what we give” to me, the only life lived Without regret, Is the life that helps others to love and live Thank you AMI for 20 years of loving and dedicated service

Robert j Iwaniec 13

Chardin, Rumi, Kabir, Black Elk, Emerson, Thoreau and Whitman all began to echo and reinforce one another. Our study and practice helped us realize that on the highest level of consciousness, only one truth exists. Names and forms, places of origin, personalities, historical and cultural contexts may differ, but truth remains the same.

For us, the science and philosophy of Yoga represents a practical, common sense methodology for experimenting with truth––a profound process for transforming the energy of the mind into meaningful, creative and joyful life experiences.

But please, don’t believe us. If you are at all interested, take the knowledge we offer and experiment with it every day in your life

like a real Yoga scientist, because your own experience is the only mechanism by which you will come to know the truth of this knowledge. Then, experience by experience, take what resonates as truth and consciously discard that which does not. On your journey, never be guided by the suggestions of others––unless those suggestions are endorsed by your own common sense, your own discrimination, your own heart, your own inner guru.

Reprinted from “the Heart and Science of Yoga.” A second, revised and expanded paperback edition will be available march 1, 2017 through AmI and bookstores nationwide.

Celebrate AMI’s 20th Anniversary

Thanks-Giving Dinner, Fundraiser And Chamber Music Concert

Friday, November 18th 6:00 -10:00 Pm Donation: $75

Save this Date 17th Annual The Heart and Science of Yoga®

AMI SUMMER RETREAT July 13-16, 2017 14

Performed by

Capitol Chamber Artists RSVP by Nov. 16

Since 2005 The Heart and Science of Yoga® Complete Self-Care Program for Physicians

Has Impacted Over

1,000,000 People* * the doctors and those they serve Please Donate to our Annual Appeal And help continue AMI’s important work!

Gratitude, Love and Joy

By Anita Burock-Stotts MD It seems particularly appropriate, in a season of harvest celebration, to appreciate the gift of the American Meditation Institute. I welcome the opportunity to express deep gratitude for the teaching and support I have received, and to recount the story of finding my way to AMI in 2003. Current and past students will no doubt be recalling their own introductions to AMI as we observe the 20th Anniversary of its founding. To readers who have not yet experienced the bounty of knowledge and spiritual riches available in this remarkable institution, please consider these words to be your invitation to the feast.

For years prior to becoming a student at AMI, I had attended typical yoga classes, consisting of physical postures, breathing exercises and a taste of guided relaxation.

But none of this offered a deep or thorough understanding of the rich philosophy, psychology and science of Yoga.

Admittedly, my motivation for taking AMI’s core six-week curriculum (which proved to be a turning point in my life) was intellectual curiosity––not a desire for spiritual growth. I planned to learn techniques to help patients in my primary care medical practice. Many of them suffered from maladies induced or worsened by stress, and my intuition told me they might benefit from Eastern wisdom. In the first week of class Leonard challenged me to employ Yoga’s highest precept of Non-injury, non harming (ahimsa) toward myself first.

At the conclusion of the course Leonard explained that, according to tradition, he would always be available as our teacher, and he has been true to this generous promise. Although happy to have my own meditation practice and touched by his generous and comforting words, I had no plans to return.

However, the hook was in place, and six months later I reeled myself back to AMI to continue my studies and to become part of the community. Every day of my life I am grateful for the teaching, for the devotion of

my teachers, and for the fellowship of my spiritual family. Here are just a few fruits harvested from my own experience at AMI: a steadfast meditation practice, my own nurturing mantra, participation in classes such as the Psychology of the Bhagavad Gita, weekly group meditations and discussions, a deeper understanding of the human mind, and practical breathing and exercise techniques proven to relieve stress and improve health.

As a result of what I learned at AMI, I am happier, healthier and more resilient. And yes, my patients have also benefitted from my association with AMI. My ability to connect with others has grown. I am kinder, and a better listener. I am immunized against the burnout so prevalent in the healing professions, and have a philosophy to share with patients, many of whom now meditate.

It was my extraordinary good fortune to find a center of wisdom and love here in upstate New York, and to meet two remarkable teachers. Leonard and Jenness have been studying and practicing Yoga Science for four decades. They were students of Swami Rama, a modern sage who taught and challenged them to become teachers. And what a blessing it has been to receive their deep understanding of the scriptures that form the foundations of Yoga Science and all the world’s great spiritual traditions.

AMI offers students the opportunity to explore important questions asked by human beings for millennia, but seldom addressed in the dominant culture. At AMI it is a central part of the experience to ask, “Who am I?” and “What is the purpose of life?” At AMI experienced teachers, long term initiates and brand new students support and guide each other through life’s most rewarding adventure––the journey to Self Realization.

In closing, I offer my love and deep respect to Jenness and Leonard, and to all of my fellow students, and I once again invite readers to explore the cornucopia of spiritual wisdom available at AMI. 15

American Meditation Institute Self-Care for Healthy Living Tel. 518.674.8714 • americanmeditation.org 60 Garner Road, Averill Park, NY 12018

“As AMI celebrates our 20th Anniversary, we urge each of you to generously support our Annual Appeal. Please help us serve the world with the timeless wisdom of Yoga Science. Now more than ever, this practical, loving teaching is a dire necessity. ”

Leonard Perlmutter (Ram Lev) Founder, American Meditation Institute