Conscious Elements

Adam Buddy.

And all that shopping.

Settle your mind, and soften your energy.

Now is a good time to really be settling in.

We are waiting for you.

Everybody is sitting on...

Just take another minute or two and become settled.

Namaste, everybody, welcome! What a nice group we have today.

So, last time we talked about silence. I hope everyone had a wonderful week of silence and stillness, contemplating and practicing it.

I am excited for our talk today. It is actually an unusual topic—a little different from what we normally do. Usually, we have quite an esoteric conversation. For example, talking about silence is quite esoteric.

I also want to say welcome to the new people. Thank you for being here—hello.

Today, we will be discussing something more exoteric. The difference between esoteric—something that is hard to understand, more subtle, where you can read the words but it requires a lot of contemplation, meditation, and depth—and exoteric, which is something you can really read as very specific instructions that you can grasp immediately.

So, today, I would like to talk about conscious environmental elements. This is a very exciting topic, I think, for everyone, because you can really make a significant change, and I believe you will find it enjoyable.

What does that mean? I want to discuss all the spiritual things you can do to your space to create an ambiance—an environment that supports greater consciousness and awakening.

There are many things you have probably heard before, but we are just going to go over them. I am going to share everything I can in this first 20 to 30 minutes before our meditation, so you can go on and start curating your space and trying things out.

One of the things I just did is I burned resin—myrrh and frankincense resin. Perhaps you have never heard of this before, but you can put a little coconut coal on the stove, make it red hot, and place resin on the coal. There are different kinds of resins.

My favorite ones are myrrh and frankincense. They bring a certain energy with them. The whole idea is that we are doing these things to curate an energy. It helps you in your meditation, it helps you sleep differently, and it helps you create insulation against the world, so that you can be in your ashram, in your own home. We are creating a space that is conducive to a meditative mindset.

Many of the things I am going to share with you today are practices that a lot of spiritual people follow. You might also see them in temples or ashrams.

So, I am just starting with this one example: resin—frankincense, myrrh, and copal. I will provide this entire list to everyone, so do not worry about taking notes. You can take notes if you like, but I am going to prepare a complete document.

You take these small pieces and place them on the coal, and they burn with a very pure smoke that purifies the aura. When you become more sensitive and start to feel your energy beyond your body—even if you do not feel it yet—you will notice how, when the resin smoke moves through your aura, it does something to you. It changes you. Perhaps something in the molecular structure, or the energy, or the gestalt of it, affects you.

We want to curate our space—our environment—so that it is conducive to spiritual practice and supportive of it. We want to do this in all the different dimensions of self: sight, smell, all of our senses.

There are also aspects like ideas—the mental space—and how the environment interfaces with our mental state.

You can also think of them as the five elements: air, water, fire, earth, and ether. These five elements also correspond to the five Platonic solids, for those who appreciate mathematics.

The five Platonic solids actually embody each of the five elements. I do not have one with me, but each one represents an element.

Let us see, where do I want to start? First of all, perhaps, David, what do you think? I know David spent some time building his altar. He was in the course this summer. Yes, you saw the pictures.

So we are going to go all out and share everything I can suggest about building an altar and more.

David I am very excited that you are going to make this list, because for me it was—well, building my ashram, as you said—it was like a starting point. It was crucial. It was like having a root, and circling around that root.

Adam Yes.

David You know, so...

Adam It holds the wavelength. We are very susceptible—I do not know if you have ever learned about Pavlov's dogs. There was a psychologist who rang a bell and made dogs salivate when he rang the bell, whether he gave them food or not, and he essentially conditioned them. We want to condition ourselves.

We want to use that conditioning. Usually, in spirituality, we say, "Do not condition yourself," but we can use these signals.

For example, as soon as I smell the sandalwood incense burning in the evening, I know it is meditation time. Everything I have done to cultivate a meditative state of mind in my consistent practice over many years is intertwined—enmeshed—with the smell of sandalwood.

So this is one element: the conditioning factor. Another element is that things hold energy.

We want to use, intuitively, things to evolve our energy, to balance our energy. For example—

Feel this, everyone. I am going to say a word, and I want you to feel into it and notice how it changes you.

Vanilla.

It is so smooth, warm, and sweet, is it not? Where does all that come from? It comes from our understanding of subtle energies. I like to call it the knowledge of vanilla. Vanilla carries an intelligence and a certain knowledge within it. Whenever you experience vanilla, it has an effect. Sometimes you might find yourself thinking, "I need vanilla right now. It has been really harsh out there in the world." Vanilla brings balance. It makes you feel safe and comfortable.

Sometimes, though, you need something completely different.

Maybe you need jasmine.

Jasmine offers something very distinct from vanilla. It is perhaps best suited for the summer, and less so for the winter.

You see, you can begin to read the templates of existence. They are all present. We all have these intuitive faculties to sense what a particular fragrance means, or what a particular incense does.

I am going to go through all of these.

Another point is that these things possess very strong spiritual energy—the things I am about to share.

We live in a world that, for the most part, is not spiritually focused. We are very westernized; it is about ambition, success, pleasure, and pride. Most people are not trying to let go of all their pride, or to be austere in their pleasures, or to be accepting in their state, non-ambitious. These qualities are, in many ways, antithetical to the world we live in.

So, when we create with these elements, we help ourselves feel as though we are in an ancient realm—an ancient temple, an ancient space that is consecrated to something beyond the worldly. Then we can turn back and bring that energy into the worldly as well. But it is valuable to have our roots, as David said, in the spiritual, and to reach out from there.

Then our work becomes divine; our work becomes empowered in a different way than if we are simply working on behalf of our own indulgence, which is often the case in many societies.

So, let us proceed. First, I am going to go through each of the elements. I will give you an overview, so you have a sense of where we are headed.

Fragrance and air is the first category. Fire and light is the second. Water and earth, the third. Sound and silence. And ether—that should be the fifth. Mind and spirit. Clothing and color. Order, simplicity, and integration.

I am going to go through all of these. This is quite a rich subject, and it comes from many years of being around certain individuals who approached things in their own unique ways—very spiritual, mystical, or metaphysical people.

I have picked these things up, explored them myself, and truly integrated them into my own curation, which I encourage all of you to do as well. Let this be a seed of an idea. I will give you a list, but you can also find your own version of this. Many of these are quite central and you will likely want to include them, but the enjoyable part is that you get to curate your own energy. This becomes an expression of your own self.

In Sanskrit, there is a word, monotman. Perhaps someone knows this word. Atman means soul, the self. Monotman is your self as it is expressed in physicality.

So, your body is part of your monotman, but so are your—Sam's headphones, for example. Those are very much Sam's monotman, and they carry Sam's energy. Or David's collared shirts—they have David's energy in them. If you have had a backpack for a long time, or a pair of shoes, or a necklace, these things are monotman, and they hold your wavelength.

It can feel a bit strange to give these things to someone else. They do not feel entirely new; they feel as though they carry your energy. So, we are creating monotman throughout our entire home. It is not just our personal items, but we are creating the monotman of the home—the dwelling monotman. M-A-N-A-T-N-A-N. Manatman.

So, let us begin with fragrance and air. First of all, incense. Incense is wonderful. However, it can be somewhat problematic for your lungs, so you want to be careful with it. Do not burn it excessively. Sometimes, burning it for just a minute or two and then extinguishing it is enough to permeate the space with that energy.

I almost stopped using incense this year because of the fires in Los Angeles, which made me more aware of the effects of smoke on the air. As a result, I have scaled back significantly.

Nag Champa is a truly wonderful incense made by an enlightened being named Satya Sai Baba, one of the great enlightened beings of the twentieth century. He created this brand—actually called Satya Sai Baba Incense—and Nag Champa is one of their offerings. Perhaps you have smelled it before. It is absolutely lovely, and I highly recommend it. I will include these on a list.

Sandalwood incense is especially meaningful to me. It has a deep austerity; you feel truly consecrated in your practice. I love sandalwood—it is very grounding, austere, and strong. It carries a beautiful energy that I personally appreciate.

I also really enjoy—oh, Jenna, I feel like you are enjoying this discussion. Hello, Jen. Dragon's Blood reminds me of Jenna, because I have seen that she uses this one. Dragon's Blood is another wonderful incense, and it is very uplifting. It cuts through impurity, so it is quite different from sandalwood. You learn to use these incenses as your tools of spiritual consecration and cultivation.

There is also rose incense—beautiful. I recommend Satya Sai Baba; I believe he offers the highest quality incense I have found, for the most part. It is also widely available; you can purchase it almost anywhere.

Resin—so, resin. There are three types I want to mention. This may be a bit more obscure, as you may not have seen people burn resin before, but I highly recommend it. I actually learned about this from friends in Pakistan who have an enlightened teacher, someone very metaphysically aware. We discussed this years ago.

Frankincense and myrrh are absolutely delightful resins. Copal is also very good. Frankincense has a very sweet quality, while myrrh is more on the lower tone. Remember, it purifies your aura, or has an effect on your aura, so we should also talk about sage.

Burning sage—sage is a dried plant, and even if you burn just a small amount, it has a very powerful purification property. You can feel the world accumulate on you, and one thing you can do is take a shower. Another option is to get some sage and move it around your body—on your feet and hands, between your legs, under your arms, around your head, and on your back.

Sage is almost indispensable. I cannot imagine not having sage. When I travel, I usually bring a little with me, even just a small amount. Sometimes it feels like an emergency—you need some sage. That is how it feels. However, do not get too attached. Sometimes I wonder if I have become too attached to it. So I always have my sage with me.

One practice that I do not do, but an old teacher of mine used to, is using feathers. This is less about fragrance—perhaps it belongs in a different category—but having a feather on your altar or in your home, a beautiful feather, helps you connect with the energy of birds and with nature. There is a bit of a Native American influence in doing that, in having beautiful feathers around. Sometimes you see people really tap into that energy. It is not something I do as much, actually, but I am sharing everything with you, because some of you might resonate with it—perhaps you think, yes, feathers. It is nice, right?

So, we need to talk about essential oils. Essential oils are essentially spiritual perfume. They are fragrances that help you protect or move your energy, but they also become an embodiment of you, much like your clothing.

You might want to have a particular fragrance that creates a certain experience for others when they encounter you. The way people experience you is important, because they direct energy at you, and it affects your mind and your metaphysical state. If you walk around dressed in a certain way, you will receive different energy from people and have to deal with it—or benefit from it—than if you dress differently. The same is true with fragrance.

It is also part of the careful curation of how you present yourself. You can do it for those reasons, but it is especially important to use the intelligence of these plants to move your mind and spirit in different directions.

Sam, what are you thinking, Sam? I feel your thoughts turning. Would you like to share where your thoughts are going? You do not have to.

Eslam Just humans?

Adam What was that?

Eslam I love that you—Elements.

Adam It cut out a little bit; I am not sure if anyone heard that.

Eslam I hope you can hear me now.

Adam Yes, much better.

Eslam Okay. So, I said, I love that you labeled this Conscious Elements, and you have been talking about incense and resins with nuance. There is some rich detail and vivid imagery in your descriptions. I can feel the consciousness and awareness you have imbued into them, and you have deepened their meaning and specialness. They have become a kind of attractor for integrity, coherence, and harmony.

Adam Yes, beautiful! I love it. I love how you are receiving this. Beautiful. Thank you, thank you for seeing that.

Eslam And I agree with you. When it comes to plant intelligence, they are hyper-intelligent, they are truly intelligent.

Trust me, I work in AI, and I have seen radical intelligence, and we cannot compete with…

Thousands of years of planetary Gaian connection, Gaian mind, and mycelium networks…

Adam Well, a plant grows from a seed, and that seed has DNA, which is essentially information. Right? We have the four different nucleotides. It is like binary, but it is not binary—it is quadrinary, or whatever the correct term is. That information expresses into these plants, and just like with AI, where we have all these dimensions of possibility, all these variables we adjust—all the weights—we are able to reach somewhere in that metaphysical, metadimensional space, these qualities of existence.

So each plant arose. The gift of the rose to humanity and Earth, for example—what would Earth be without the rose? Consider that. We would be a different world, because the rose brings a dimension of possibility with it, as itself, an embodiment of it.

Eslam Something you said the other day—that a plant knows something about the universe that you do not, or it has some sort of intelligence, and it shares its secrets with you. Ever since you said that, I have been looking at every single thing in my day-to-day life, and I am asking, what do you know about the universe? What can you teach me?

Adam Beautiful. Yes, beautiful. Everything has that. Every color has that. You could even— I mean, you can also see human beings in things. For example, if I were to write a computer program—when I write my computer program animations, they are imbued with something that was an expression of an energy and essence that I was emanating.

This is art, right? That is what artists do. We hold an energy, and then we express it, and then the expression becomes a means by which it is transferred. And that transference, just like the transference of a rose—a rose says, be like me. We have roses… we get to be like a rose when we have rose essential oil on.

We are not only learning from a rose, but we are stepping into the possibility that is Rose.

Colleen, mom, hi. Yes, you can use a feather to—that is a good idea—to, you know…

Colleen Smoothly around. Spread it around, yes.

Adam That is actually—I have seen people do that sometimes before, especially with sage. It is often better than waving the sage around, where it burns and drops on the floor.

Colleen I just want to say something, which is a family thing, sorry everyone, but your Auntie Lise—her two favorite things were myrrh and frankincense.

Adam Oh, wow! You know, those are two of my favorites!

Colleen Let us.

Adam I was just burning myrrh and frankincense to get into the mindset for this sermon today. I just burned them, and that is wonderful. Elise, my auntie. Okay.

So let us keep going. I am going to go through a few essential oils. Rose, frankincense—frankincense is a resin, but it is also a great essential oil. Sandalwood, jasmine—really lovely. Jasmine is just so, just, remarkable. Clary sage has a very strong spiritual quality.

Yeah, that one really left an impression on me a long time ago. Vanilla is a wonderful essential oil, and lavender is also very wonderful. You can bathe with them—just put them in your bathtub. There are many ways you can use these oils. You can put them in an air diffuser or a water diffuser, those small devices with lights on them. They are inexpensive; you can find them on Amazon. You add the oil, and it releases a mist by turning the oil into vapor. That is a little better for the lungs.

Alright. So, that covers one category. Let us move on to fire and light.

And just to add, lavender is very calming, soothing, and peaceful. Each oil has a different quality. Jasmine is very uplifting and vitalizing; clary sage carries a sense of wisdom. It is hard to put these qualities into words. Frankincense is very purifying. Rose has a romance, a love, and a beauty—very heart-centered.

So, everything has its own qualities. You can sit down with them and ask, "Who are you? Who are you, my friend?" For example, "Who are you, my vanilla essence friend?"

So, let us move on to fire and light. Candles. Candles are very—safe, as long as you burn them safely. Please be very careful. Take every precaution you can. If you are burning candles, you should have fire extinguishers nearby. Do not leave them burning unattended. Place them on a proper plate, and make sure nothing is going to fall on them. Be especially careful if you have pets—perhaps it is better not to use candles in that case. I just want to remind everyone to be careful.

Candles have, obviously, an ancient quality. It is wonderful to burn candles at night and keep the lights down. It helps you fall asleep. Blue light, on the other hand, wakes up the brain. Candlelight is very organic; it is not electrical, and it has a unique quality.

Sadhguru—I like how he describes it—calls it a "fire wash." If you have never watched Sadhguru, by the way, I highly recommend you go on YouTube and listen to him. He is a really lovely man, and right now, probably the most famous guru in the world. Very, very lovely.

Who is alive. Yes, he talks about a fire wash. If you are burning one candle in a room, that candle will clear your aura.

If you burn two, it has a very different effect, because you have "stereo" going—those are the stereo candles. It actually changes something, because two points make a line, while one point does not.

So you get a different quality, mathematically speaking. Burning candles is lovely—even just tea light candles. It is a wonderful way to be intuitive.

Sometimes your aura does not want fire, but sometimes it does. Candles are good. Another thing I have not done, but I really want to, is use an oil lamp.

An oil lamp is a great way to shift energy. Sadhguru actually says it is good to sleep with an oil lamp; it will change the way you sleep.

These are occult metaphysical practices I am sharing with you. They may seem mundane, but these things have effects through the occult. Occult simply means hidden and metaphysical. There are all kinds of things happening.

Humans tend to be very materialist in our modern culture. Materialist means if you can see it, then it is real; if you cannot, it is not. But there are many things we cannot see that are still happening.

When you burn an oil lamp or a candle, it changes something. You do not have to fully understand it, but you can observe the effect.

You can always observe the effect, and if it helps you, it is good. You do not have to approach it like a physicist, thinking, "I have to understand everything before I try it." I fell into that trap when I was younger. I thought if I could not understand it, it was not real—but it is real. There are so many things we cannot understand.

Tell me the science of love, right? You can try to explain it with chemistry, but there is so much more to it.

Okay. Another one is the salt lamp. Does anybody have a salt lamp? Nice, David. Salt lamps are these orange, glowing, giant chunks of salt with a bulb inside. The bulb heats up the salt, and apparently ions come off of it and purify the air. It has a warm, deep glow.

It is similar to a candle, but it is still electric. I highly recommend a salt lamp.

Alright, let us go on to earth and water. Oh my gosh, it is 6:37. Okay, this is going on a bit long. We are supposed to start meditating.

Alright, I am going to go much faster here. I will just go right through it, and I will have this for you. Earth and water.

Flowers. It is good to have flowers. Jasmine and rose are wonderful, but any flowers you like—be intuitive about it. Having flowers in the house changes things.

I used to visit a very wealthy family some time ago, and she always had her assistant place brand new flowers every day. There were flowers everywhere. You do not have to be wealthy to do this. They spent about $100 a month on flowers.

Or, it depends where you live. That is what it is like in LA. You can enjoy flowers.

Plants. Plants are very important. Plants do something for us psychically. They are our allies in the psychic space. They hold an energy, and you can draw on your plants when you are away from home. They provide a kind of psychic pivot and support, and you can develop a relationship with your plants.

I have many, many plants, and I use them, and they help me. That is one aspect. Plants are also wonderful because you can love them.

You learn to listen to your plant, and this helps you become more empathic. You should know when your plant is thirsty. You should know when your plant is getting too much light. That is a practice in empathy and listening.

Snake plant is a very good plant. It brings a lot of oxygen into the air, so there is also a chemical benefit. Snake plant has long, skinny leaves that stick up. If you do not have a snake plant in your house, it is a great opportunity to improve your air quality.

You know how people can breathe concentrated oxygen and it makes you feel good? Well, this is simply more oxygen from having these plants in your house.

Pothos vine—this is the one right here. I love this plant. So those are two of my major recommendations. It will just keep growing down and down, like a beard of plants. It is wonderful.

Another thing is to have a fountain. You can buy a really beautiful, affordable fountain for $50, and the gentle trickling of a fountain in your house is truly lovely.

We could have a whole week on crystals, but I will just mention them briefly right now. Crystals are absolutely so important. If you have never had a piece of selenite, this is the sage of crystals. Sage purifies; selenite purifies. It is invincible purification—pure purification.

Keeping it on you is very powerful, and it is also inexpensive. It is good to have black tourmaline as well. Black tourmaline absorbs negativity. It works a little differently than selenite but has a similar effect. Sometimes you need absorption, and sometimes you need purification.

One of my favorites, especially for math people, is blue fluorite. Blue fluorite has a square crystalline structure that brings clarity to the mind. The blue color also brings tranquility. I love this stone—it has been one of my favorites for a long time.

And because we are all into the Bhakti tradition here—I think most of us are—quartz, especially gross quartz, is very good for Bhakti and for the heart. It brings gentleness.

Other things you can use are shells. They are very good to have around. Feathers, too—I think maybe those should have been in this section. Whoops.

Okay, let me finish up—I am almost done. Something I have not done as much, but is good to have, is curating sound and silence. Music is very beneficial—having peaceful music throughout the house, or various kinds of ancient music, oming, chanting. These can be very good, or simply your favorite music.

There are also chimes, singing bells, singing bowls—anything that brings vibration into the air. There is energy and knowledge in that.

Next, mind and spirit. It is wonderful to have a book like the Bhagavad Gita sitting on your table in your living room, or the Dao Te Ching, or any of those wonderful Taoist, Indian, or Japanese texts. These things hold a wavelength. They remind your mind to stay with the sacred.

They are little memorabilia—very valuable for that. Images and photos have a similar effect. You can have a picture of Sadhguru, Ramana Maharshi, or your family members who you feel bring a lot of clarity. Especially when you have pictures of saints or teachers—they embody that energy, and it helps you draw from what they have achieved, which is part of their value to the world—they have embodied these energies.

Things like mandalas, yantras—these are visual Indian patterns that have a similar effect. Statues, too—a Buddha statue, a mathematical statue, a platonic solid statue, for example—these have energy as well. Any kind of art that is conducive to spiritual energy works. So, surround yourself with art and books, things like that.

Real quick, clothing and color. There is a problem with the way the world is promoting clothing—the Lululemon trend is all synthetic, synthetic, synthetic. It is very bad for the energy body to be constantly touching synthetic, plastic clothing. These are chemically made clothes. It is good to have plant-based clothing—cotton, linen, hemp, bamboo. You can buy these things; they are very affordable.

It is very significant for your metaphysical energetic flow. Also, white clothing has a very powerful energy. Black is good too, but black has a very different effect. I recommend trying white clothing. Sometimes, if you have never done it, it is hard to do. I used to wear all black all the time, and I was a very different person. When I moved into white, it really changed me a lot, and I liked it. No judgment if people are wearing black—that is fine—but I recommend trying it. Beige, orange, ochre—like the ochre robes of the monks—bright colors, like bright pink or green, all of these are good.

I suppose this is a whole big discussion, so I will leave it at that. There are many ways you can use colors in your clothing. If I need tranquility, I will put my light blue shirt on, and it helps me.

Almost done. Minimalism—it is good to have a very orderly, clean space. Clear the clutter, keep things minimal, organize. It is a very zen sentiment: as within, so without. What is outside of us is an expression of our inside, and what is outside also informs our inside. Your mind will be different when your space is different.

And then, you can bring all of this together in an altar. An altar is a small table where you can put certain things in a certain way to store, hold, and direct energy. You can have a feather, a candle, an incense burner, a book, and a picture of a saint on a little table. You can sit there, and it is a very powerful way to direct your energy and hold your practice.

Whew! I suppose that was a long talk today. Guinness.

Sorry for the new people who wanted to meditate. I hope this is not too far from what you wanted.

I would just love to see if anybody does something interesting with this, and it affects your life in a beautiful way.

Alright, let us get meditating. Do you have any questions?

Eslam Hey, Adam, just a quick question about wearing all black versus wearing all white. From my understanding, if you wear black, that means you are in the absorption mode, or you are in the intake mode, right?

Adam Yes, there is an absorption factor. You will absorb the energy of others. White will reflect and actually protect your energy—keep your energy pure. That is one factor.

Eslam Oh, no, we eat energies for breakfast and we transmute them, so I think I am good. I think it is working.

Adam Well, you are going to have to deal with some of the energies you are exposed to. And when I say energies, I do not mean just energy—I mean frequencies of vibration, particular frequencies.

It is something to explore, right? You might actually want to absorb the energies. And sometimes you might not want to absorb the energy.

Another thing about black is that it is a kind of discipline color. It is very focused. White, on the other hand, is a little more in the moment, a little less disciplined, and a bit more peaceful.

You can experiment with it. What would it feel like? When I wear black, I feel really intense. It almost makes me feel a little bit crazy—too intense. I do not like it. It makes me feel almost powerful, but also almost mean. That is how it feels for me. I am not saying that is true for everyone—my mother is the kindest person in the world and she wears black all the time. But for me, it makes my intensity almost... I do not know.

It might just be conditioning, but it is not only conditioning. These are things to consider, and there are energetic factors to keep in mind.

Eslam I feel like it brings me closer to chaos, or malleability, or flexibility. If I am being intentional and conscious about it, I think that is a good practice. As you said, it is intense; it forces you to pay attention, to be aware.

Adam Yes, I mean, Bruce Lee wore a lot of black, right? It carries a bit of that martial arts energy.

White is a little more pacifist, and black is a little more warrior. We all know these things, right? So it is good to explore—what would it feel like if I just wore all white all the time? I love to wear all white. White linen, top to bottom. It is a really wonderful feeling. It is a very Indian thing to do, actually. They do that in India quite a bit.

Alright, good question, thank you. And I know you look good in black, Sam. You look impressive—it has a cool vibe.

Sometimes I feel too cool in black. It is almost as if I do not want to look cool. It is an interesting, odd paradox—why would I not want to look cool? It feels like it is challenging my humility.

Okay, so... Alright, let us play some music.

Alright, we have a 10-minute meditation. I am not sure how this happened today. Alright.

So it is about bringing intention.

And...

Body... a heart center...

We want to really slow down.

Not everything... It is tough.

So in meditation, one of the...

Points and focus is the body.

Noticing the wave. We are holding our energy. We want to become aware of the way the energy is reverberating through the body.

Actually, I am going to go back and start with our regular music in the beginning. So let us really focus on a heart-centered meditation today.

The heart is in the center of the chest. If you were to say, "I am so-and-so," and put your finger there, intuitively you would very likely place your finger on the heart center.

Find this place. And if you actually try placing your finger there, you bring attention to that part of your body. One can begin to gather their attention in the center, where the heart is.

Now, bringing your attention is the beginning. It is the beginning of bringing vitality to the heart—physical transformation.

The nerves, in the fascia.

And whatever is happening there biologically.

1, 2...

Awaken the heart.

Failed.

It is a very powerful practice—to shift your habitual focus to the heart. Usually, we are in the head. Move it to the heart. I am here, in my center.

Fingers there.

Keep bringing your attention back to the heart.

Introducing a transformation.

Your energy.

So we are simply doing something that is profoundly simple. We are simply feeling the heart.

Let us move from the passive feeling.

Jude.

Trying to awaken the heart. Think of it a little bit as willing.

An act.

Patient at the heart center.

Tried to...

Generate.

Oh.

In your heart. What a profound thing. Yes, we sat down and we generated love. That is what we can do. Or that.

You can feel the warmth. Find a way to create more of that warmth.

The point where your heart literally feels like it is expanding—because it is accumulating the substance of love. One of the most dignified things a human being can do is bring more love into this life and this world.

I am gently pushing… against… Or, let us rather say, you are gently building this reservoir of that substance. With each breath, finding your way. Just fill the heart with that warmth.

Let us move our fingers away from the heart and instead, hold our palm facing the heart center. Essentially, we are expanding. We feel the spot enough now that we can simply hold our palm 6 to 12 inches in front of the chest and hold space for the heart to expand.

You simply find a way to will that expansion. Generate the substance of love. Open and purify this energetic vortex of the heart.

And we only start from where we are, taking that one sacred step toward the highest possibility. We are always just taking a single step.

Now we can put our hands down if you already have, or if you want to now. Just allow the heart to expand well beyond the reach of the arms. Feel that your heart is pulling you into the sky.

Evoke that clarification, that cultivation—a lion's heart. Source of dignity, freedom, peace, love.

Let us enjoy this for the rest of this song. I am taking a deep breath. Hmm…

Taking note of the transformation in the heart that we have experienced here—that is being centered in the heart. Take a moment, simply hearing the silence around you.

Ariella Notice. Let us go down.

Noticing that all time and space exist within the here and now, flowing through it like water through riverbanks. Just turning to the here and the now.

And when you are ready, coming out of the meditation. Simply feeling gratitude for the opportunity to become more conscious, and gratitude for being ready for that.

Boom. Everything is beautiful. These are practices that we can do.

Colleen, would you like to share? We will have perhaps three people share briefly, and then we will conclude.

Colleen Very quickly, when you said to move your hand six inches from your heart—my arm was not moving, but my hand… I was not moving my arm, but my breath was moving my arm.

Adam Wow.

Colleen I was absolutely amazed.

Adam Wow.

Colleen So, there must have been some expansion, or otherwise my mind is working very well.

Adam I love it!

Colleen So you felt…

Adam The energy or something—your breath—was moving your hand away.

Colleen Beautiful. I just want to say quickly that I saw a red light immediately, and you can see that I am in the dark. I was amazed that I actually could see this light—yellow and then white. It was momentary, but it is dark, and I did have that experience, as if someone almost switched the lights on.

Adam Oh, beautiful.

Colleen Thank you, Amy.

Adam I am good at accessing the light. You are welcome. Love you, good job. Amazing. How about you, Ariella? No sneezing. Bless you.

Ariella Oh! That was amazing. I cannot even remember the words that you just said, but I… I felt like… I was in…

I do not know, in the universe, it was…

Adam Hmm.

Ariella Just amazing.

Adam I think you felt the awareness that all of time and space are in the here and now.

Ariella Yes.

Adam Good job, way to connect with that. I am sharing something subtle when I say that. You can really find that everything is in the here and now. The only reality that we can make contact with is the here and the now. Then you ask yourself, well, what is the rest of it?

Well, we can see that they are conceptualizations—conceptions of the past, conceptions of the future, conceptions of the created self. These are all deep yogic philosophies that you can explore and come to know firsthand, directly, and change your experience of the universe.

So, nice job. You are in the universe.

Ariella Because I… I also lost consciousness of… of this… specific space.

Adam Beautiful. So that is another thing that can happen. Everything is a mental formation. If you stop thinking entirely, there is none of this.

Ariella Mmm.

Adam In yoga, they call it Maya. It means illusion, right? And so we can actually see that the world exists because you think it to be. If you stop thinking, there is no self, and there is no world. Those are actually inside of you and created, like a mirage or waves in the ocean.

But the real substance is the substance of being, and being needs no self-identification. It simply is.

And you can touch it when you become so still that there only is this primordial substance of being.

Yoga describes different qualities of that essence. It is unknowable as a being, though.

Ariella You would have to…

Adam It is what we are, and we can never not be.

Ariella Mmm, thank you, Anne.

Adam Yes, beautiful. Namaste, Ariella. Thank you. Mark, would you like to share for a moment? Thank you for being here. You do not have to, though. Just keep your camera off if you do not want to.

Alright. Well… David, would you like to share briefly? Just real quick. But it has to be quick, thirty seconds.

David Yes, I keep connecting more and more easily with the expansion of the heart, and each time…

Adam Beautiful.

David I cannot… This is not the first time I am telling you this, but the air is different. And I think you mentioned prana.

Adam Hmm.

David So every time I do this, the heart expansion, I just breathe this different air. My nostrils just open very wide, and it happens without thinking. It just happens, so…

Adam Yes, use the energy. There are all different kinds of energy, and then opening the heart is a very, very important thing.

David It is like I am really generating something here, and then I am breathing it. So it is very powerful.

Adam Yes. I think of love as a substance that we can generate. When we sit down and meditate, we are generating love—a substance that will actually grow.

My heart feels so warm and fuzzy right now. I do not know if you feel this, but it is full and warm and fuzzy. It makes me want to skip and dance, and smile at people, and see mathematical equations clearly, and feel peaceful. Sometimes I want to sleep, or I want to run. I just feel so good, right? The heart does this because you are getting closer to your center.

And when you are at your center, you are not in the precariousness of form. You are moving towards that certainty of formlessness. We are going to what we are, deep down.

The heart is one of the metaphysical expressions of going to that being that Ariella and I were talking about. We want to go to the heart—the heart here, and then deeper into the heart, the center of all things, the source of all things.

Alright, namaste, everybody. Good job. If you want to donate, it is always appreciated—even a small donation. You can do it on my website, on the meditation page.

I hope to see you next week. We will be here every week at the same time. Good job, thank you for being here. This was really wonderful. I really enjoy connecting with all of you like this. It is really wonderful. Namaste. Thank you.

David I…

Adam Hi. Bye, Mom!

Curate your space (and your senses) as a living support for awakening—using simple, intentional elements to hold a spiritual wavelength and to return more easily to the heart and the present.

• The teaching contrasted esoteric topics (subtle, contemplative) with exoteric topics (practical and immediately usable), and focused on practical ways to support awakening through the environment.
• Conscious environmental elements can be used to curate an ambiance that supports meditation, sleep, and a sense of being “in your ashram, in your own home.”
• Use the senses as doorways: sight, smell, sound, and the overall mental space of the home all interface with consciousness.
• Conditioning can be used skillfully: repeated cues (like a specific incense) can become a signal that the body-mind associates with meditation.
• Fragrance and air: incense (used carefully), resins (myrrh, frankincense, copal), sage for purification, and essential oils as “spiritual perfume” (rose, frankincense, sandalwood, jasmine, clary sage, vanilla, lavender), including diffusers as gentler on the lungs.
• Fire and light: candles (with strong safety precautions), the “fire wash” effect, the different quality of one candle versus two, and the possibility of oil lamps; salt lamps as a warm, purifying glow.
• Earth and water: flowers, plants as psychic allies, relationship and empathy through caring for plants; specific mentions included snake plant and pothos vine; fountains for gentle water sound.
• Crystals: selenite as “the sage of crystals” (purification), black tourmaline (absorption of negativity), blue fluorite (clarity and tranquility), and quartz for heart and Bhakti gentleness.
• Mind and spirit: sacred books (Gita, Dao Te Ching), images of saints/teachers, mandalas/yantras, statues, and art that holds a spiritual wavelength.
• Clothing and color: synthetic clothing was described as disruptive for the energy body; plant-based fabrics (cotton, linen, hemp, bamboo) were recommended; white and black were discussed as having different energetic effects (reflection/protection vs absorption; pacifist vs warrior).
• Order and simplicity: minimalism, clearing clutter, and keeping an orderly space were emphasized as mutually shaping inner and outer experience.
• An altar can integrate many elements (candle, incense, feather, book, saint image) as a place to store, hold, and direct energy for practice.
• Meditation focus: shift habitual attention from head to heart; gather attention at the heart center; “generate love” as a substance; allow expansion beyond the body; rest in silence and the here and now.

Let your home become a gentle extension of your practice: notice which elements (a scent, a light source, a plant, a book, a color, a small altar) naturally help you settle, soften, and return to the heart, and let yourself be guided by observing the effect.

• Attention to fragrance as a cue: noticing how a specific incense or essential oil changes your state and signals “meditation time.”
• Attention to purification and sensitivity: noticing how sage or resin smoke affects your aura and energy (without overdoing smoke).
• Attention to light at night: noticing the difference between candlelight/salt lamp glow and bright electric/blue light.
• Attention to plants as allies: noticing your relationship with a plant and what empathy/listening it draws out of you.
• Attention to sound and silence: noticing how music, chanting, chimes, or bowls change the vibration of the space.
• Attention to what you place in view: noticing how sacred texts, images, and art “hold a wavelength” in the mind.
• Attention to clothing materials and color: noticing how plant-based fabrics, white, or black affect your energy and interactions.
• Attention to order: noticing how clearing clutter and simplifying the space changes your mind.
• Attention to the heart: returning to the heart center and sensing warmth, expansion, and the feeling of generating love.

• What in my space already feels like an “ancient temple” to me, even in a small way?
• When I shift from head to heart, what changes in my breath, warmth, and sense of presence?
• What element (scent, light, plant, sound, color) feels like it is “teaching me” something this week?