ENJOYING MEDITATION, TASTING FREEDOM ~ Wednesdays at The Hub ~ 7:45-9pm

 

I am over the moon about this new class.  Having fallen so deeply in love with my own practice over time, I'm compelled to infect as many people as possible with what the Poet-Saint Hafiz calls "The Happy Virus".  Meditation can be FUN, and enjoying is a skill you can learn at any point, a skill that scales out to infinite depth and breadth and will impact every single area of your life.  Come! And we've made it super-affordable for you...priced like a yoga class so you can experience the cumulative effect of sitting with a group, the exponential expansion over time...

In her latest newsletter, friend, mentor, and the teacher who trained me to teach meditation, Sally Kempton, writes ~ 

"As a teacher, I've learned that the way something is said can literally shift consciousness. This is especially true of meditation instructions. When your inner field is open and receptive, a few words of guidance or a pointing-out instruction will open up pathways that can take you into the heart of being itself. That's one reason why meditating with a teacher and a group can be so instrumental in awakening your deepest experience in meditation. Because the words that point to stillness carry the energy of stillness, you can often go deeper inside with the right words than you do on your own. Then, when you're meditating on your own again, the pathway that the instructions have kindled is there to guide you."

ENJOYING MEDITATION, TASTING FREEDOM  ~  Wednesdays at The Hub  ~ 7:45-9pm

·       What if you could meditate easily and deeply enjoy it? 

·       What if meditation could open you to expanding your ability to consciously live from Joy, Love, and Freedom independent of your circumstances?

·       What if meditation could give you potent and infinite access to the very Source of creative energy fueling the greatest expressions and innovations in Art, Music, Business, Science, and Awakening?

It can, and you’re ready, exactly as you are.  Whether you’re new to the practice of meditation, a seasoned meditator, or somewhere in-between, these evenings are for you.  Drawing on a timeless lineage of Living Wisdom, we’ll dive into this deep well of Inspiration, Rejuvenation, and Revelation, using these Wednesday nights to expand your ability to access deep meditative states and bring more ease, grace, and Freedom to every area of your life.

Meditation is so much more than a daily event, it’s a place to live from.

“Meditation is also a skill.  It takes time to develop your inner ‘muscles’ of focus and to learn how to let go into the inner world.  It takes practice to discover how to let yourself move along the pathways of the inner shakti, to stay aware without thinking, and to hold an inner state when it arises.” –Sally Kempton

“Many people have difficulty when they begin to meditate.  They attempt to ‘conquer’ meditation, as if it were the enemy.  That will never work.  One must drift naturally into the meditative state.” – Dr. Svami Purna

Each week we’ll work with different entry points to deep meditation through several guided meditations and Q & A.  You will leave these evenings armed with tools to continually deepen and enjoy your own experience of mediation, yourself, and life!

Chair and floor seating are both available.

 $20 – Drop In /  $75 – 5 Class Series  /  $140 – 10 Class Series

Suggested Reading ~ Meditation For The Love Of It, Enjoying Your Own Deepest Expereince  by Sally Kempton available for purchase at The Hub.

The Truth Will Set You Free by Dr. Svami Purna available at Amazon.com

Scott Schwenk is a healer, teacher, writer, and lover of life known for his humor, appetite for Truth, and commitment to practice.  Through the Grace of great Teachers and Living Grace, he has learned to be happy, have more fun, and find freedom in the moment.  

Diving Into The 3 Faces of God ~ Fri 5/20-ECSTATIC BREATHWORK @ The Hub ~ 8-9:30pm

Friday, May 20 ~ 8-9:30pm ~ The Hub (West LA)

Diving Into Perspective ~ The 3 Faces of God

1st Person = Ecstasy,   2nd Person = Communion,   and 3rd Person = Oneness

This Friday night we’ll dive into experiencing these 3 perspectives, as the 3 faces of God.

Breath Deep. Heart Awake. Body Soft. Attention Clear and Present.

Join Us.

When:       FRIDAY night 5/20  8-9:30pm   
                    ((Arrive early to avoid being late))
Exchange:       $35
Where:      The Hub (http://thehub-la.com)
                    2001 S Barrington Ave, Suite 150, Los Angeles, CA 90025-5363 US
                    { S Barrington Ave between LaGrange and Mississippi }
                    Entrance for the Hub is located on street level at the ground floor of the
                    parking structure located on South Barrington Avenue.
Bring:          Yoga mat and/or blanket-we'll be sitting on the floor at first then lying down
                     for the breathwork.
RSVP:        You can reserve your spot through The Hub  310-575-4200


These ECSTATIC BREATHWORKSHOPS are nothing less than a journey deeper into the experience and expression of who and what you are, a journey into the Heart of Freedom within.  Through a simple and powerful breathing meditation, you gain and deepen the tools for seeing past your former limitations, gain muscle for being your own best ally, teacher, and healer, and deeply taste a place free of insecurity, full of self-love.

LOVE,
SCOTT
http://trustthebreath.com
http://scottschwenk.blogspot.com
http://huffingtonpost.com/scott-schwenk   

Initiation Part 1&2 ~ Fri 4/29 & Sun 5/1-ECSTATIC BREATHWORK @ The Hub

 

Friday, April 29 ~ 8-9:30pm & Sunday, May 1 ~ 6:30-8pm ~ The Hub (West LA)

Initiation 1 & 2:  Opening To Grace, Receiving Support, & Doing Your Part

What are you longing for in your life?  What are you ready to awaken to and embody on your Path?  At the beginning of every leg of a True journey, there is an Initiation within through Grace.  The more clear your intent, the more aligned your life, the deeper the Initiation.

We’ll work with Awareness, and the Power that moves through the Breath to invite Initiation.  Between now and the weekend contemplate a bit on what you can let go of in your life, and what you’re being nudged to go deeper with.

Friday night, we’ll clarify and focus the intentions and plant the seeds.  Sunday night, we’ll look at what actions your seeds/intentions need for you to move forward with and how.  Come to either night or both!     

Breath Deep. Heart Awake. Body Soft. Attention Clear and Present.

Join Us.

When:       FRIDAY night 4/29/11  8-9:30pm AND  SUNDAY night 5/1/11 6:30-8pm
                    ((Arrive early to avoid being late))
Exchange:       $35 each night
Where:      The Hub (http://thehub-la.com)
                    2001 S Barrington Ave, Suite 150, Los Angeles, CA 90025-5363 US
                    { S Barrington Ave between LaGrange and Mississippi }
                    Entrance for the Hub is located on street level at the ground floor of the
                    parking structure located on South Barrington Avenue.
Bring:          Yoga mat and/or blanket-we'll be sitting on the floor at first then lying down
                     for the breathwork.
RSVP:        You can reserve your spot through The Hub  310-575-4200


These ECSTATIC BREATHWORKSHOPS are nothing less than a journey deeper into the experience and expression of who and what you are, a journey into the Heart of Freedom within.  Through a simple and powerful breathing meditation, you gain and deepen the tools for seeing past your former limitations, gain muscle for being your own best ally, teacher, and healer, and deeply taste a place free of insecurity, full of self-love.

LOVE,
SCOTT
http://trustthebreath.com
http://scottschwenk.blogspot.com
http://huffingtonpost.com/scott-schwenk   

The Golden Vessel, an ancient story of Awakening

An excerpt from an article I'm working on, this is my rendering of one of my all-time favorite of the Indian teaching stories I've heard over the years.  Enjoy!!!

The Golden Vessel

Once there was a young seeker.  From the moment he heard there was such a possibility as liberation, his heart ignited into a great blaze of mumukshutva, the burning desire for Enlightenment.  With unquenchable thirst for the expanse of limitless freedom as his active companion, he set out in search of a Being who could lead him across the seemingly interminable ocean of human drama into the realization of the peace that passes all understanding.

He wandered for three full years from one end of India to another, sometimes going a week or more with only so much as a handful of dry mung beans to nourish his body.  With a stone for his pillow, and a blanket of stars for his cover each night, the seeker began to get weary and depressed on his search.  Would he never find such a One as could awaken him to the Truth of his own Self?

One day in a small Indian town bordering Nepal, he overheard some women gathering water from the local well animatedly discussing meeting “a being like no other” whose “mere glance opens the door of the Heart.”

A lightning bolt of energy shot through his nervous system.

“Where is He? I must see Him!” shouted the boy.

Looking down at his torn rags for clothes and his cracked, swollen feet, the women could easily have mistaken the young seeker for a common beggar.  Yet the intensity of his focus, the trembling tears in his eyes, let them know this was no ordinary boy.  It was clear he was on a mission, and wasn’t going to relent until they gave him some clue to the great Guru’s whereabouts. 

Not only did they give him directions, these hidden angels of Grace helped clean him up with a bath, fresh clothes, and a steaming pile of chapattis for his journey.  Precisely following the directions of the sweet Mothers, the boy climbed and climbed through jungle, over boulders, and barely through one very nearly overflowing river, bursting from the recent monsoon rains.

After three days journey, he made it to the Guru’s encampment.  With folded hands and tears cascading down his flushed cheeks, the seeker found himself face-to-face with the great Master.  Every sinew in his body was trembling in the somehow deeply familiar Presence.

“Why are you here?” asked the Teacher.

“I have heard that you are a friend of the Great Friend,” said the boy, “all I wish is His Liberation through Your Grace.  Please Sir, would you initiate me as your disciple and show me the Path?”

“Yes,” said the Guru with a deep knowing smile, “But first, you must bring me the milk of a lioness, and only then I will initiate you.”

Thinking the area to be a jungle, and jungles as filled with tigers, he assumed such a task would be simple and set out immediately.

The task of gathering this milk is fodder for a whole other tale, for what he came to discover was that even more critical to the task is to have a vessel that can hold this rare substance.

At first he put it into a leather water skin whose membrane the milk promptly ate through and soaked into the dry earth.  His second try was a wooden bowl, which he carefully balanced, endeavoring to preserve every drop, until three kilometer’s walk later he looked inside to see it barren.

Dejected, the boy crumbled on the weaving roots of ancient banyan tree.  Already exhausted, the last little bit of energy he had left burst through his chest in a wild wail, melting through his eyes in a waterfall of tears of deep visceral longing.  When he could cry no more, he fell into a deep, deep sleep.  In this womb of silence the Devi of the forest appeared to him.

“My Son,” she said, “Your quest is not a loss.  Now that you have used up all that you know, you are ready to learn.  The milk of a lioness is the most acidic substance.  The only vessel that can possibly hold it is one of pure gold.  Between the roots where you are sleeping, about one meter below the earth, is such a bowl.  It has been purified in a great fire, such that nothing but gold and gold alone remains.  Dig it up and go to your Master, for you are now fit to be His student.  Remember this lesson as your sadhana progresses; know what to hold and what to discard in the fire of Grace.”

Mortal Coil (POEM)

Luminosity of cobalt

Weaving through the realm

My cells pulsing

With Your fragrance

Humming

Gravity

Instinctively drawn

Within

A breath releases

All and everything

From the grasp of separation

As a new door inaugurates

It’s first door-hinge creak

Swinging open to mark

An entrance and

An exit

From and to

What does not change.

The blessing of timeless wonder

The blaze of azure

Consuming change

Revealing

Voiceless voice

Infinite echo

A swirling dance of Your name.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED  2011  Scott Patrick Schwenk 4/15/2011

Returning (POEM)

A spiral staircase,

A cozy nook,

Seeking happiness

In yet another book

Veils come down

A parting of the mists

The Avalon you seek

Always in your midst

The central channel throbs

Inviting you deep within

Humming

Pulsing

Dispersing all the din

Find your seat

Ride the breath

Sing the Name

Coursing through your veins

The nameless Name

Wordless Word

Felt

Unspeakable Silence

Full Summer Moon

At the trailhead

Of your weathered fingertips

Ganges

Galilee

Ride the breath

Find your seat

Sing the Name

Sink and be dissolved

In Her timeless mystery.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED  2011  Scott Patrick Schwenk 3/31/11

A Thousand Beatiful Swords (POEM)

A thousand beautiful swords

Gleaming and graced,

How will you wield them

Will you deform your own face?

If your face be near

As well as far

Every stranger a looking glass

To see and heal

All your ancient scars.

A thousand beautiful swords

Full of strength and might

How will you wield them

To ravage another’s sight?

The brother’s eye you seek to

Pluck,

My dear one,

It is your own.

All this world’s

A hall of mirrors

No other faces,

Always your own.

Drink deep this elixir

Contained within my words

Let it reach every sinew

Every fiber

Every nerve,

Let it heal you of your afflictions

Your sorrow and your pain

Your oft regarded memories

So twisted, distorted, stained.

The fable writer lives amongst you

In your very house

Always crafting

Scheming

Have you feeling less than, scorned.

Drink deep this balm of Gilead

Let it lift your gaze

To the One who is eternal

Birthless, Deathless

Never on display.

These shops and stores

Catering to your tastes

Never quenching deep your seeking

Distractions for your pain.

Drink deep this clean elixir

Shake off your mortal coil

Come alive as Spirit

Amongst your brethren

And their toil.

You hold the light you seek

Dear One,

It’s never in another’s cave

It’s time to see the mirror clearly

Returning, free, unscathed.

There is no battle to be won

No flag that need be raised.

Your Holy Oaths

Serve only to protect you

While walking through illusion

Remembering This Grace.

Put down your weapons Dear One,

Sit tall

Breathe deep

And turn within

All answers of your seeking

Pulse bright along your veins

Be grateful I have told you

These words your soul lays bare.

Your faith is your protection

It’s drumbeat sings your Name.

The trust you hone

Will lead you home

Cleanse all the splinters

Beams and motes

From your downward gaze.

Join me on this journey

Dance o’er the quicksands

Lifted in your stage

You’re ready for this

Great emancipation

You never were a slave.

Freedom lives within you

Dear One,

And long before your grave,

If you choose it deeply

And walk it in my Name.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2011  Scott Patrick Schwenk  3/30/2011