Gaia: Power of Now

Re: Eckhart CDs

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 21:03:21 GMT

I agree, his voice is very warm and calming. Almost like listening to a family member.

Re: Pretending to Be Necessary (Chapter 3)

http://amethyst.gaia.com — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 21:08:04 GMT

Tthis is exactly what I needed to hear at this moment! =) Thank you!

Re: Pretending to Be Necessary (Chapter 3)

http://nowhawk.gaia.com — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 19:36:33 GMT

Thank you Spirited Strider, for your post.

I relate also to what you write.

Worries and a very good "space stuffer". The moment we get to peace, silence, stillness or as E.T calls is "space consciousness", worries are one of the quickest ingrediants to compulsively fill this space falsly considered by the mind as empty.

And i learned that the worst thing is to worry about worrying... this is the beginning of a vicious circle.

More that before, I catch myself worrying, and know that the conscious is back even if only partially.

Have a great space!

Nowhawk

Re: Pretending to Be Necessary (Chapter 3)

http://143.gaia.com — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 11:54:40 GMT

I love reading your posts. You are a very good, clear writer. Do more of it!

Re: A New Earth and Christianity

http://joeyhannah.gaia.com — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 19:42:56 GMT

I find that really interesting, especially given that there are so many Christian churches that have been blasting A New Earth and Eckhart Tolle (and Oprah) from the pulpit. This has never made sense to me, as his books use examples from Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam...

I actually had to bite my tongue a few months ago when my cousin posted an anti-Tolle blog on our family website. It was quite obvious by the things she wrote that she had never cracked open a single one of his books and was basing everything she wrote off of what she'd HEARD were in the books.

What kinds of reactions (from religious communities, friends, acquaintances) have everyone else encountered to Tolle's books?

A New Earth and Christianity

http://allison.gaia.com — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:25:41 GMT

I wanted to let you all know about an upcoming e-course that may be of interest to you.

Check out the new e-course we are offering at Christ Community Church...

A New Christianity For a New Earth e-Course   

You can join the over two million people from 139 countries around the world who have found the tools to discover happiness and awaken to their potential through Eckhart Tolle's book, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose.

A New Earth offers practical advice to:  

* Awaken to your life's unique purpose 

* Become free of unhealthy anger, jealousy, and unhappiness 

* End conflict and suffering throughout the world

Participate in our upcoming e-course, A New Christianity For A New Earth to see how Eckhart Tolle's message aligns with the teachings of Jesus. This course will guide you on a path to Christ consciousness. As we unite the religious stories of our tradition with the cutting-edge spirituality of today, you will receive the wisdom needed for lasting transformation.

This five-week course begins on Monday, July 28. You will receive three sessions per week, emailed to your personal inbox for study at your convenience. Sessions will include a variety of formats such as original articles by Ian Lawton, audio and video clips, meditation and prayer practices, as well as an interactive online discussion board on which you can chat with other participants.

Do not miss this unique offering providing you the space to explore Christian concepts in a new and transformative context. You will also get the practical tools to awaken to your life’s purpose.

The suggested donation for this e-course is $27.

Check out the Christ Community Church website for more information and to sign up.

If you have any questions feel free to contact me here on Gaia!

Re: Eckhart CDs

http://nowhawk.gaia.com — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 21:53:43 GMT

you are right :
i feel the same as you and my iPod is filled with audiobooks of inspiring teachers.
have agood listenning.
NH.

Mastering the power of now - free online course

http://diana.gaia.com — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 19:02:22 GMT

Crossposted with my blog... where I invite everyone to join us for conversation here :)

If you ever wonder what Eckhart Tolle has to do with Centerpoint .... well, here's the answer !

www.masteringthepowerofnow.com/

"Seven world-famous spiritual teachers reveal powerful information and practical steps you can take right now to experience the spiritual awakening described by Eckhart Tolle in A New Earth, The Power of Now, and his online lessons with Oprah. "

What? you missed the Oprah lessons?! I really recommend you to go thru them - it was an amazing and helpfull experience with loads of insights and aha moments.

Back to mastering the power of now. Oh, the teachers?

Genpo Roshi, creator of the Big Mind process, a method for quickly experiencing profound transcendent states of awareness (what Tolle calls Presence) usually taking decades to master...
World-famous philosopher, author, spiritual teacher, and founder of Integral Institute and the Integral Spiritual Center, Ken Wilber...
Renowned spiritual teacher and meditation master, Diane Hamilton...
Enlightenment teachers, authors, and workshop leaders, Saniel Bonder and Linda Groves-Bonder...
Sally Kempton, Yoga Journal columnist and one of today's most insightful and experienced teachers of meditation and spiritual growth...
And , Bill Harris, Director of Centerpointe Research Institute and creator of Holosync meditation technology.

I invite you to join me on this course if you have time ... present yourself here if you're in!

Re: Allowing Presence to Arise

http://worldpeace.gaia.com — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 06:19:59 GMT

Thanks a lot for sharing these. I appreciate the time and effort you had to make to get in online for us to download. I have been listening to these on my I-pod...listening feels good.....but I still need the books..am focusing on .."Practicing the Power of Now" these days.

Re: boredom

http://worldpeace.gaia.com — Tue, 20 May 2008 06:23:35 GMT

Great discussion going on here...

There are patches in life when I am busy doing things one after the other, so there is no time left to feel boredom. But then there comes a patch, when I feel restless. During this phase I don't want to be where I am but I don't also know where I would rather be...this is a phase where I want to escape from my present moment. The next time this phase arises, I will try to pay attention into it and accept it as is.

Re: Pretending to Be Necessary (Chapter 3)

http://worldpeace.gaia.com — Mon, 19 May 2008 08:28:47 GMT

Hi!
I loved reading that post.
I know you are not worrying about being understood or not, but please know that what you wrote makes perfect sense.

I read this book last year and am reading it again now, and loving it. Reading that post reinforced the idea that things will be fine without my worrying about them.

I am now struggling with the idea that - that which you react to the most in others, you strengthen in yourself. Please do share your thoughts on the same.

Kyo

Re: Experiencing Inner Body..

http://dasanisprings.gaia.com — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 06:27:45 GMT

I think for myself, his explanation of the inner body as the feeling of knowing your hand exists with your eyes closed and simply directing your attention into your hand, was most helpful. I don't think he stated this in the Power of Now, but in A New Earth and/or his other writings.

I have also found that there is a tendency to "think" about what this is feeling like, rather than just feeling.

-e

Experiencing Inner Body..

http://mirapatel.gaia.com — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 19:51:10 GMT

I'm reading Power of Now .. it was very interesting to know about "inner body".

However, I've kind of difficulties feeling inner body energy field in the way Eckhart Tolle has described.

It would help if someone who has felt and experienced this can shed some light or discuss few things.

Thanks much,
-Mira

Pretending to Be Necessary (Chapter 3)

http://spiritedstrider.gaia.com — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 02:55:07 GMT

Pretending to Be Necessary

There were so many parts of Chapter 3 of "A New Earth" that resonated with me that I found it difficult to decide what to write about here. I ended up re-watching the online class tonight as I wanted to understand and review it in greater depth. In that review, I was struck by Eckhart Tolle's comment that "Worry pretends to be necessary but serves no useful purpose." He was talking about the core of ego. He goes on to make the point that no matter how much you worry, it won't bring about change. In other words, no amount of worrying will bring the change you may be seeking. The same goes with complaining.

Yet around us, and within us, we probably hear those voices of worry and complaints often. Often they are expressed as voices in our heads. Sometimes we verbalize them to others or hear others verbalize them to us. Some people may spend their entire days thinking about their worries or complaining about situations, people or their problems. These voices are all the ego.

The ego loves drama. The more attention we give to our worries and complaints, the more worries and complaints we'll have. It's a concept from the law of attraction: "What you think about comes about." (or) "What you resist, persists," or as Eckhart says, "What you fight, you strengthen and what you resist, persists" (page 75).

What is even more powerful to realize is that when we verbalize our worries and complaints, the more we are likely to attract others to join our "worry circle" or "complainers' corner." Think about how office gossip spreads, or how two parents can stay up late with worry over their teenage child's failure to make a phone call saying that he or she was running late. We can get so wrapped up in the complaints or worry that we only see the negative in a person or situation. This leads to imagining all kinds of things, such as untrue motivations of another person, or imagining the worst case scenario in all cases. The drama of all of this can erupt into misunderstandings, hurt feelings, arguments, fights, and even violence, if the ego identifies passionately about the matter.

The good news in all of this is that when we are awakened, we can step back from our ego, from the drama and see the play that is being acted out in our heads and in those of others. Worry and complaining are only pretending to be necessary as our ego demands drama for its survival. When we recognize these feelings and behaviors as our ego, we can begin to seek peace within ourselves and are one step closer to our own awakening.

I don't know if that made sense to any of you, but I'm not going to worry about it! (The old me would have worried I wasn't being understood.)

What things, people and situations worry or provoke complaints within you?

Am I Still Breathing?

http://spiritedstrider.gaia.com — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 15:11:48 GMT

Reflections from Chapter 2: A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose

Author Eckhart Tolle writes in Chapter 2 of A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose, "When you don't cover up the world with words and labels, a sense of the miraculous returns to your life that was lost a long time ago when humanity, instead of using thought, became possessed by thought. A depth returns to your life. Things regain their newness, their freshness. And the greatest miracle is the experiencing of your essential self as prior to any words, thoughts, mental labels, and images. For this to happen, you need to disentangle your sense of I, of Beingness, from all the things it has become mixed up with, that is to say, identified with. That disentanglement is what this book is about."--Page 26

In last Monday's web class with the author and Oprah Winfrey, the class began by taking ten seconds of silence. Ten seconds of silence in any televised or webcast media is not commonplace, yet it was a wonderful way to begin the class by serving to center ourselves from the thought processes of the day or tomorrow's concerns. Tolle explains that our thinking mind is usually thinking in the past or the future; whether it be about our past experiences (good or bad) or tomorrow's concerns (good or bad). This past and future thinking is not who we are, yet we have come to label ourselves by these thought processes. In other words, our identity has become these thought processes, and doesn't represent our true self. One can easily illustrate how we identify ourselves through these labels when we ask ourselves, "Who am I?" and the answers really are labels that represent "me and my story,"-- that personal story or history that we label ourselves.

Spiritually, this isn't who we are at all. Yet everywhere we look, we are labeling ourselves and everything and we attach labels everywhere: a tree, a parent, an accountant, a positive person, etc. So in order to get in touch with our true self by getting in touch with our inner processes, Tolle suggests that we ask ourselves, "Am I still breathing?" Our focus becomes our breath, the inhaling and exhaling and our attention turns inward. This creates a deeper awareness within us. Eventually, we will become better at these spiritual practices and be more present: to our surroundings, other people, and to ourselves.

So I invite you to try this technique, 10 seconds a day, for the next week and come back and record your reactions here.

My Five Moments: Reflections on the First Class/Chapter 1

http://spiritedstrider.gaia.com — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 11:18:02 GMT

Last Monday, I had trouble viewing the online class about "A New Earth" with author Eckhart Tolle and Oprah Winfrey due to technical difficulties. Like many who experienced the same, I was relieved to know that the class would be available for viewing the next day and for downloading. Feeling like a college student again, trying to catch up on the week's homework over a weekend, I found time today to go back and listen to the online class . I have to admit that on Monday night, I was wondering how beneficial for me the class would be because the pedagogy didn't seem too appealing as an educator that likes to interact with her audiences as much as possible. (In all fairness to Oprah, it is difficult to interact with 700,000 people!) Much to my delight, I found that first class to be more than I had ever imagined it could be and ended up taking 8 pages of notes, and filled with an inspiration to write about it.

There were so many quotes and discussions from the first class that resonated with me. Rather than go into great detail here, I decided to share 5 moments from the class that really moved me.

1. Tolle says that we should ask "What does life want from me?" I prefer to ask "How may I serve?" but it's the same idea and I totally can relate to it.

2. "Practice inviting moments of stillness into your life." This is the key to awareness. It begins with small steps. While Oprah advocates the easiest way to accomplish this is by spending time with nature, the road to finding the stillness for me began by a series of traumatic events and changes in my life (which Tolle claimed sometimes happens to people). I had to reach one of my lowest points in order to turn to the power of prayer. The study of the power of prayer led me to meditation, which has since led me to rediscovering the beauty of nature that I once so highly valued as a child. As a child, I always appreciated nature and felt one within it. Now I am finding that my meditative practices have led me to many moments everyday where I am with nature. I live in New York City and I find everyday that I am in awe of the nature around me.

3. I LOVE the idea of "Be there as a witness." I find myself in what is becoming a consistent state of observation, so yes, I am a witness to it all! What a creative way to be present, in the now. The idea of being a witness is one I will write about later.

4. Tolle says that "becoming still doesn't mean you go to sleep; it means you're more alert than when you were thinking." This to me was a brilliant way of clarifying that one! If you are not spending time being still, you may not understand the profound nature of how much more alert you become being still than when you were thinking. The only way to really know it is to start practicing it. Then you will know what he means.

5. I was really impressed Tolle's explanation of his ego dying at the moment he was about to take his own life. In explaining that his thought processes had created his own suffering and therefore, the ego was "the me: the unhappy story," he had an AHA moment when he went behind that and woke up and asked, "Who is that self that I cannot live without?" At the risk of sounding inarticulate, all I can say is WOW. This was my jaw-dropping moment from the first online class!

Re: The shift in consciousness

http://joeyhannah.gaia.com — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 17:50:05 GMT

I just went on a meditation retreat this weekend, my first ever, and on the drive out there, we were discussing just this topic!

For so long, I've been the butt of many jokes from my friends. They tease me about being "new agey", "totally granola", and other things like that. They do it lovingly, but they think I'm "cute but weird." But now, those things seem to be becoming more "socially acceptable."

In the last two months, I've had friends come up to me with various problems, looking for answers. One is 30 years old and has hypertension, he's on blood pressure medication, he feels awful most of the time. He asked me if I thought Holosync could help with his stress levels and if he could borrow a yoga video. I've had several other friends ask about the meditation group I attend and also ask what kind of yoga class I would recommend for them to take.

My point is, I DO think that we're on the verge of a shift in consciousness as a planet. People are starting to see the value in things that for years have been labeled as being "weird" and "out there". My INSURANCE COMPANY now pays for massage therapy, acupressure, yoga classes. An insurance company!

And when Oprah Winfrey gets several million people across the country to read a book like A New World... something is definitely happening here. And maybe not all of them will "get it" when they read the book. But some of them will.

Black Samba - in regards to introducing people to Tolle's writings and not knowing if anything ever comes of it... Sometimes, the first time you're introduced to an idea, you're just not ready for it. But it'll still be there in the back of your mind. I know that happened for me. And when you ARE ready for it, you'll now know where to start looking. Just like my friends who teased me and teased me. They weren't ready to make changes in their lives yet. But now they are. And they knew they could come to me for more information.

For me, Tolle's books have been a stepping stone into delving further into wisdom literature of other cultures. We're VERY ethno-centric in this country, but his writings helped me to stop putting up those brick walls. My favorite thing about Tolle is how he uses the wisdom of different religions - Buddhism, Christianity, Islam - and he makes reference to them all, yet he takes the religious vocabulary OUT so that people don't get hung up on it. That's why I'll send people to his books first before I recommend any of the more heavy-duty Buddhist or Toltec writings.

Re: Eckhart Tolle Live

http://joeyhannah.gaia.com — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 17:23:04 GMT

I've had my ticket for this event since December. :) I'm excited! It's part of my birthday trip with my sisters.

On Saturday, I went on a one-day meditation retreat and I met some girls who attend a meditation group in Walla Walla, just an hour down the road from here. Anyway, the book they're reading in their discussion group is A New Earth and one of them was also going over the mountains to Seattle for this.

I'm hoping the weather clears up this week because the mountain passes have been closed for the last few weekends. I'm still going, one way or another, even if I have to drive all the way to Portland first and then up I-5 (that's something like a 9 hour drive).

Re: Eckhart Tolle Live

http://rainbow-bright.gaia.com — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 18:37:26 GMT

I haven't seen him live but am excited for the A New Earth webcast that he and Oprah Winfrey are teaching starting March 3 for 10 weeks!! You can find all the info here: http://www.oprah.com/anewearth

If you haven't seen the video yet, I highly recommend watching this!!!
Quite inspirational. Can't wait for March 3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE_YFiAkgDU

Re: The shift in consciousness

http://zigo.gaia.com — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 04:20:07 GMT

cool piece of Eckhart/New Earth video content:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx526pO9UV0