Realizing Silence

Begin with the thought of “silence”.
Hold that thought in mind for a while;
perhaps repeating the word “silence"
or a holding a picture of silence.
Allow mind to drop into actual silence -
not the symbol but the living reality of silence:
the silent mind.

Move around with silent mind.
Come back to it (silent mind),
again and again as the day flows on.

A day lived in silence is a good day.
A day of peace and love.

Don't Write

3 x 3 Meditation Practice

3 x 3 Meditation Practice

It's not in the books. It's in our hearts.

Spend 3 minutes, 3 times a day, in stillness. 

A total of nine minutes.

Doing this practice connects you back to 

being more-here-now as you live your whole life.

Pay attention to the "in and out breaths".

Watch the mind for three minutes without judgement.

Morning, early afternoon, and early evening;

or, just whenever. There are no fixed rules here.

Do this practice without judging how well you did;

a subtle and beautiful transformation will dawn.

In Our Heads

Our minds are trainable. But we must also discipline our bodies with gentle breathing and movements to get out of our heads. Academic people - students and teachers alike - suffer from being too much in their heads. 

nothing to do

Nothing to do, no place to go
Time passing without limit
Dropping back into the ocean of Being
   here and now
“I want to say or do something profound!”
Instead, know the truth:

   It does not matter what I do now
   except to allow doing-not-doing
   to take over

Let the breaths in and out,
come and go. That is enough
Relax now
I’ve waited all my life
for this moment
Why pass it up? 

Sound Right

Seventh Day

"Practice and Actualization" Americ + Josh

Americ Azevedo - Voice & Thoughts

Josh Williams - Music ( Acoustic Drumming, Acoustic Guitar, 

Electric Guitar, Drum Programming, Synths, Sounds )

Mystical woodland walks

Sometimes I find life kind of overwhelming. On those days, I really like to go to the woods. There’s a place I go to in Mill Valley, a walk that takes about 35 to 45 minutes that ends at a waterfall, and I delight in taking this walk. At the waterfall, I can smell the air of the forest, and sometimes the fresh air of the ocean not too far way, meeting at the same place. The process of walking here is like shedding layers of clothes, shedding the cares of life, and slipping, falling, surrendering to meditation, a sense of unity, where self and Universe become one, and I cannot know whether the Universe creates me, or I create the Universe. It is just so, it is just this. And in having this experience, this meditation, I feel revived, cleansed, new.

In truth, I can often have the same experience in my own room, a place that’s quiet, and just let myself settle down, settle down and fall into that state of being present, fully in the moment at hand. So a mystical woodland walk can happen anywhere, even in one’s apartment, or home, or perhaps in some quiet room in a coffeehouse.

The above text is based on an audio snapshot recorded with a Sony microcassete recorder, passed the audio to my computer, edited it, and converted to mp3. The sound is poor, but you can hear the waterfall in the background. It's raw and real - in the spirit of being in the woods.

To listen: http://soundcloud.com/americ/mystical-woodland-walks

Our work

Our work, our labor, is to awaken to our true nature which was forgotten due to false identification with the content of consciousness. The theory and practice of meditation help us again realize (make real) our true nature. When I speak, write or listen to these words, I am in the realm of theory; when I take in the meaning of these words, I inform and transform myself along the path of self realization. It’s very, very important to remember that words are not what they refer to. “The map is not the territory.”* Speaking or writing about meditation is not meditation. Meditation is in the gaps between the words, between the thoughts. But the word “gap” is not the same as a gap itself as-it-is. Get past the word – allow the great silence to come. At the point of great silence is the great labor of liberation. **

* Famous phrase summarizing one of Alfred Korzybski’s great work on general semantics.
** Published in Meditation: Waking Up to Life by Americ Azevedo, Cognella Academic Publishing, 2010.

Focus on one thing for a while

Focus on one thing for a while…

Just a little longer than usual

Watch your footsteps on a woodland walk

Sit, follow your in-breath and out-breath

Stand and look into the distance with a quiet mind

Feel the contact between your hands in prayer

When your mind goes elsewhere

Come back to the object of awareness

Moments of peace and stillness come of themselves

Without effort

Doing nothing, everything is done

At our root

We're not the endless thoughts and images

That stream through our minds

At our root

We're limitless beings of light, love, and peace

At our root

Pure consciousness