Sublet Available —
inspiration
Expand Your Practice
their bodies while running, while short-
distance runners sometimes experience
Sublets available in GREAT
Spirit Zone
a phenomenon called ‘tipping’, in
LARCHMONT location for
the Hidden side of sports
which they feel that they are rising into
the air and becoming extremely light as
practitioners, therapists
they run. More dramatically, an athlete
& counselors.
by steve taylor
might feel a sudden inrush of strength
and energy, as if they’ve made contact
1-day & half days available.
T
he connection between sports with a huge, normally inaccessible,
3 month commitment requested.
and spirituality might seem hard energy reservoir inside themselves.
Space available for group events
to see at first, but the desire for Russian weightlifter Yury Vlasov
too, mid-afternoon or evenings.
spiritual experience is one reason why describes a state of being he often
people play sports. experiences during competitions: “At
For more info please email Mark: Renowned psychologist Mihaly
the peak of tremendous and victorious
addchiro@mindspring.com Csikszentmihalyi has observed that
effort, while the blood is pounding in
sports are an effective way of generat- your head, all suddenly becomes quiet
ing the state he calls “flow.” This occurs within you. Everything seems clearer
when our attention is completely and whiter than ever before, as if great
absorbed in an activity,
Sports seem
spotlights have been turned
and awareness of our sur- on. At that moment, you
roundings and our selves
to have the
have the conviction that
fade away. Chaotic thought
power to generate
you contain all the power
chatter gives way to inner
peace and a sense of being
spiritual states.
in the world.”
Advanced practitioners
energized and more alive than usual. of martial arts like judo and karate are
For a sportsperson, flow may lead traditionally expected to smash bricks
to a state of being ‘in the zone’. Every- with their bare hands or knock over op-
thing clicks, and they shift to a higher ponents with the lightest of touches, per-
level of performance, capable of as- haps without touching them at all. The
tounding feats. Without trying hard, ev- prerequisite for these feats is the ability
erything seems naturally and inevitably to cultivate a state of intense absorption,
perfect. Time moves slower, giving them which enables them to tune in to a more
more time to anticipate others’ actions subtle and powerful form of energy.
and to better position themselves. Sports can even—if only rarely
New age writer David Icke, once —take sportsmen to a state of true
a professional soccer player, regularly samadhi, a mystical state of union with
experienced this state. As a goalkeeper, the cosmos. Climber Richard Byrd de-
a player once fired a shot from close scribes his mystical experience explor-
range that looked unstoppable. He ing the Arctic Circle: “Out of the silence
notes, “All was like a slow-mo replay [came] the strain of a perfect chord,
and everything was quiet, like some the music of the spheres, perhaps. It
mystical dream, until my hand made was enough to catch that rhythm,
contact with the ball. Then, every- momentarily be a part of it. In that
thing zipped back into conscious instant, I could feel no doubt of
time; I landed and bounced on the man’s oneness with the universe.”
floor and the noise erupted, as Steve Taylor is the author
if someone had turned off the of The Fall: the Insanity of the
mute button.” Ego in Human History and
Paranormal experiences the Dawning of a New Era,
are not uncommon amongst commended by Eckhart Tolle
athletes. Many distance runners and Colin Wilson. His website
have reported glimpsing inside is stevenmtaylor.com.

Westchester/Putnam Counties
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48