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    Learning to Listen: Simplifying Spiritual Practice
    Learning to Listen: Simplifying Spiritual Practice
    Learning to Listen: Simplifying Spiritual Practice
    Ebook97 pages59 minutes

    Learning to Listen: Simplifying Spiritual Practice

    By Jonathan Reynolds

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    About this ebook

    "When we can learn to listen, we can hear, when we can hear, then we can know, when we can know, then we may become, when we become, then we can be."

    -Sharon Gannon

    Co-creator of the Jivamukti Yoga method



    "Learning To Listen is a clear and concise introduction into the practical dimensions of a personal practice. Easy to read and understand, its informal presentation allows those new to 'the path' access to the mindful life. As a reference, Learning To Listen is a daily reminder to those with an already existing dedication to limitless growth. For any yoga lover wishing to deepen their practice beyond the physical, it is a powerful tool."

    -Baron Baptiste

    Author of Journey Into Power (Simon and Schuster)



    "Learning to Listen is an excellent guide to spiritual work. Jonathan Reynolds presents a grounded, practical program for developing the inner ear."

    -Bhagavan Das, Nada Yoga Master

    Author of It's Here Now, Are You?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisheriUniverse
    Release dateNov 15, 2005
    ISBN9780595811328
    Learning to Listen: Simplifying Spiritual Practice
    Author

    Jonathan Reynolds

    Jonathan Reynolds is a meditation teacher and therapist trainee living in Berkeley, California. He has trained extensively in the fields of Buddhist meditation, classical yoga, and both Eastern and Western philosophies. Drawing on many wisdom traditions, Jonathan’s teaching and clinical orientation are centrally rooted in a mindfulness-based perspective, and he is currently in the process of completing JFK University’s Transpersonal Psychology Program with the intention of further integrating the practices of meditation, therapy, embodiment, and conscious relationship into his own life and work. Jonathan is co-founding editor of the Journal of Holistic Psychology, and is also moderator of the Dharma & Psychotherapy Institute, an online consultation group for clinicians seeking to integrate Buddhist teachings and Western-based therapeutic practices. Jonathan is a husband and a father, and he currently offers psychotherapy sessions at Grateful Heart Holistic Therapy Center (he is supervised by Mary Owen, MFT #14190). For further information on his work, please visit: www.ayogisway.com.

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      Book preview

      Learning to Listen - Jonathan Reynolds

      Contents

      Introduction

      P A R T I

      SIMPLIFYING

      SPIRITUAL

      PRACTICE

      A PERSONAL PRACTICE

      FOUNDATIONS

      SEATED MEDITATION

      EVERYDAY EXPRESSIONS

      GOING IN TO GO OUT

      DEEPENING DEVOTION

      P A R T II

      SIMPLIFYING

      EASTERN

      THOUGHT

      BAHA’I

      BUDDHISM

      HINDUISM

      ISLAM

      JAINISM

      SIKHISM

      TAOISM

      YOGA

      P A R T III

      REFERENCES

      RELIGIOUS THOUGHT: A TIMELINE

      RECOMMENDED READING

      SETTING UP LEARNING TO LISTEN IN YOUR AREA

      Learning To Listen

      Simplifying Spiritual Practice

      Copyright © 2005 by Jonathan Reynolds

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

      iUniverse books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

      iUniverse

      2021 Pine Lake Road, Suite 100

      Lincoln, NE 68512

      www.iuniverse.com

      1-800-Authors (1-800-288-4677)

      ISBN-13: 978-0-595-36710-8 (pbk)

      ISBN-13: 978-0-595-81132-8 (ebk)

      ISBN-10: 0-595-36710-0 (pbk)

      ISBN-10: 0-595-81132-9 (ebk)

      Printed in the United States of America

      Let this collection be an offering to all my teachers:

      To that teacher that is this life I have been born into,

      To that teacher that is this life I continue to lead,

      To that teacher that is the hardships entrusted to me,

      To that teacher that resides within me,

      To that teacher that resides without, and

      To that teacher beyond all things, formless and divine.

      Thank you: Erich Schiffmann, Jack Kornfield, Sharon Gannon, Richard Miller, Ganga White and Tracy Rich and the White Lotus Foundation, Swami Prabuddhananda, Bhagavan Das, Krishna Das, Baron Baptiste, Ram Dass, Rodney Yee, Larry Schultz, Clayton Horton, Jen Burk, Darren Waterston, Darren Main, Rusty Wells, Philips Sweet, Gandhi, Einstein, Buddha, Krishna, Patanjali, Jesus, Muhammad, Lao Tzu, Shankara, Ramakrishna, Mom and Dad, Joe, Toby, Glenn and Pearl Kolbow, Joseph and Harriet Peot, Nicholas Fairweather, Christopher Andre, Erin Tordeur, the Bauch Family, Elliot Fairchild, Charles Timm-Ballard, Nick Maravolo, Kate Savage, Zach Antonio, Amir Salim, Jason and Meighan Stellmacher, Meg Symington, Toni Ortiz, Kent Bond, Dan Putnam, John Donne, Ivan Soll, Stuart Sarbacker, Andrew Fearnside, Allie Learn, Carla Raushenbush and The Perfect Knot, Frank Morales, Michael Ahrens, Andy Lambert, Chad Ernst, Jill Newman, Elena Martin, Anil Vyas, Eryka Fiedler, Michael Cooper, Brenden Bon-ick, Kourosh Gorji, Shohreh Khazraei, Kelly Mueller, James Hig-gins, Janet Stone, Christopher Love, Darshana Weil, Jamie Lindsay, Amme Hill, Josyln Hamilton, Alex Sinunu, Elizabeth Rosser, Francisco Morales-Bermudez, Jason Nemer, Peter Chandonnet, Jay Kumar, Leila Easa, Tara and Tim Dale and The Yoga Tree, Tom Fuhrman, Bill Carangelo, David Lurey, Ashana Austin, Sam Mangoba, Jesse Jacobs and Karter Louis and Samovar Tea Lounge, Karen Matthews, Abina Benson, Cathy McQuaid, Michael Sig-mann, Sylvie Dutaret, Lynne Sandler, Daniel Rogers, Casey Con-roy, Shawn Bates, the Goelz and Reynolds Families, the LearningTo Listen Family, all students and teachers everywhere, and God.

      Introduction

      Over the years, my practice of awareness has gone through many phases and expressions. At times, these expressions are quite disciplined, while at others discipline cannot be further from the focus. However, through the continual ebb and flow of my own growth, there has been a gravitational tendency toward one thing: simplicity. Simplicity is a powerful tool, in that it allows the electrical storm that is the mind to rest, and thus acts as a port in the storm of life. Without an emphasis on simplicity, the mind’s tendency is often to occupy itself with this delusion: if something is complicated, it must also be clever and useful. However, if you notice over time what some of the greatest minds have done, nearly all of them have taken the complicated and expressed it in the simplest of terms. From Einstein’s general theory of relativity to Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra, from Gandhi’s concept of Satyagraha to Shankara’s Advaita Vedanta, each has strived to resolve the largest of confusions so all of humanity may more readily participate in the evolution of consciousness. Humbly put, this is the same endeavor that Learning To Listen attempts. In the spirit of Taoism—simple, humble, and patient—I want to offer a resource that supports anyone’s personal practice of mindfulness, from my very own to that of the freshest beginner to that of the most dedicated aspirant. If this small book assists even one person’s practice along the path to liberation, I will consider it a profound success. In this statement is a valuable lesson: define success in a way that your own success is guaranteed. It’s your path, and there are no rules, only the tools that you visit and revisit as you so choose. Happy reading, practicing, loving, and living—I’ll see you out there on the adventure. Remember often and love always.

      Love again,

      Jonathan

      San Francisco, California, 2004

      P A R T I

      SIMPLIFYING

      SPIRITUAL

      PRACTICE

      A PERSONAL PRACTICE

      A personal practice is a beautiful thing—magical but not magic. Having a practice is having a relationship with yourself, noticing whom you truly are and how you relate to the life that you are living. It answers the question Who am I? and results in freedom from self-imposed limitations. A practice is something you do, not something you talk about doing. So, let’s do.

      There is a hope of finding something. One doesn’t proceed in darkness, but takes a lighted candle, which is sadhana [practice]. The more you step forward, the more the path appears in the light of that candle.

      —Baba Hari Das

      Just as the sun gives light to the moon, the heart lights the mind.

      —Ramana Maharshi

      FOUNDATIONS

      Waking Up

      Waking up refers to two things: the literal

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