If life is a game of focus and what we focus on grows, then what happens when 100,00 people come together to meditate for world peace?
On November 29, 2015, more 100,000 people (in-person and online) joined the Naam Yoga Superclass dedicated to Love, Peace, and Light in Mexico City’s Angel of Independence.
With so many disturbing headlines today, can group meditation on peace truly create an impact in our world?
Meditation experts and yogis answer with a resounding yes!
EcoSalon caught up with Alyssa Gaustad, a leading member of the Naam Yoga Therapies International Teacher Training Team to discuss why group meditation is important today and the huge difference it makes.
EcoSalon: What happens when 100,000 people come together to focus on peace? For the individual and the world?
Alyssa Gaustad: Sometimes we think that the problems of the world are too big for us to make an impact. But each person and each thought do make a difference! According to The Institute of Noetic Sciences, “There is data to suggest that it takes only the square root of 1 percent of a population to align their thinking for mass consciousness to change.” Imagine then, what the impact is with 100,000 people coming together as we do in the Superclasses. The impact of 100,000 people gathered together and focused on peace affects the equivalent of 1 trillion people!
ES: Why specifically is meditation so important?
AG: For our world to change, we ourselves have to be willing to change, and that is why we meditate. Naam meditation causes us to be more universal and to let go of the conditioning that causes us to feel that we are separate from each other. It helps us to face ourselves and to change with grace. How can we expect the world to change if we ourselves are not willing to change? Meditation cleanses the mind and frees us from the shackles of this conditioning, making us more tolerant, flexible and compassionate. We work with breath, rhythm, and sacred words to shift our nervous system out of a state of stress and reaction, into a place of calm and peace. By shifting out of a state of automatic behavior to a state of consciousness and awareness, our perception shifts. We become more creative in the way we face the various challenges in life. We move into a state of creating our reality through the lens of positivity and our life changes for the better.
Cultivating inner peace through meditation creates peace in our outer world and this has an incredibly positive and healing impact on the planet. It also helps us to see the universality of all teachings and embrace the fact that we are all interconnected so that we may see the divine in every teaching, in every person and in ourselves.
It doesn’t matter what language you speak or what your religion is, at the Superclass prayers and meditations are performed from many backgrounds and in many languages such as English, Spanish, Hebrew, Latin, Gurmukhi and Sanskrit for instance. Everyone can feel at home. It is a beautiful reflection of unity and universality.
ES: Is this just a once a year event? Or can we keep the positive energy going in our daily lives?
AG: An event like this opens the door for what is possible for us to create in this world. Dr. Levry the founder of Naam Yoga says, “It has never been more important than it is right now for the world to envision peace and create it.” It is important for us to take responsibility individually and collectively to help heal our planet. Each of us can make the world a better place by becoming softer, more tolerant and more compassionate, not only toward others but also toward ourselves.
We can focus on peace everyday, in each moment. We can make it a daily practice. Every thought, every word and every feeling is a prayer and every day we have a chance to uplift others. By consciously directing and redirecting our thoughts and words to focus on love, peace and light each day, we keep the positive effects of the Superclass flowing and have a powerful influence on the planet.
Reciting the Prayer of Love Peace and Light given to us by Dr. Levry is a beautiful way to focus on peace and it is the prayer that we close all Naam Yoga classes with. This prayer is a simple, universal and practical way to keep contributing to the movement of peace on this planet.
ES: How does meditation change us?
AG: We have the power, through the Superclasses for Peace, to meditate with hundreds of thousands of people at the same time in order to generate a magnitude of high pranic energy that can affect the minds and hearts of everyone. In so doing, we positively change our molecular vibration and raise our frequency to new heights of compassion and tolerance. Through the principle of resonance, the lowest vibrations in a group naturally attune to the highest vibrations, thus we are collectively transformed.
Today science has accepted the health benefits of meditation and there is a rise of studies on the direct affect group meditation has on reducing violence and war.
Peter Oppermann, founder of the Future Self Meditation Method adds that “If our mind is at peace, we see peace all around us. If our mind is angry and agitated and ‘at war’, we see war all around us. Our perception of the outer world is colored by our own state of mind. In (group) mediation, we drop into a unified field that dissolves the sense of separations, we feel more connected to others. A sense of natural loving awareness arises which is the opposite of being at war. We literally become the peace we long to see in the world.”
While there are different types of meditation, the goal is the same: to unify beyond the individual ego to help create a tangible high vibration of peace that proliferates. And it’s not just for the world’s benefit but also for the individual. Suze Yalof Schwartz Founder/CEO of Unplug Meditation says, “The group energy when meditating- you feel it – and it elevates you.”
Are you inspired to help create world peace? Do you want to start now?
With meditation, it’s never been easier to be part of a positive tipping point in the world. You can even do it your pajamas. Turn off the news, close your eyes and turn your attention to a unified vibration of peace that always is available to us through meditation 24/7.
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Images courtesy of Naam Yoga