March in Amonines

Continual new beginnings

Spring is showing itself, sometimes shy and hidden in the mist, but undeniably here in the blooming of the trees and the plants, in the bees already buzzing under the trees and in the birds looking for partners to mate. New beginnings everywhere.
That is how it feels right now in Amonines. New courses, new rooms, investigating new approaches to increase our visibility on the internet, new cooks and every week new people getting to know Amonines.

 

Always in the present

We seized the moment when Isabel was in Amonines who apparently has the quality to look at the guest rooms with the eye of an artist. The rooms were almost finished, but could use a last touch in creating the desired harmony in colour and decoration to give each room its own character. So we dropped our original plans and got to work.

Life takes care of itself

Since we have a clear intent to increase our visibility online we were approached by different media to do an item on us. The result is that one journalist will come to write about her experience in the yoga and meditation retreat.
In a perfect synchronicity Marlies, who is a regular visitor and specialist in this field, came and explained what we can improve technically on the website with the same aim of becoming more visible and easier to find on the internet. 

 

Food does not take care of itself

Food is an important theme in Asharum Amonines. It gives a clear structure to the day, but more importantly, food relates to physical and psychological health and has an effect on happiness.
We already started buying most of our vegetables in the ecological shop, but to create a meal needs special care. And what better care can you wish for than the very owner of the ecological shop volunteering to cook in our kitchen next week?
This past month we also had another cook. She saw our advertisement on Facebook and had already heard about Asharum Amonines from a friend of hers. She decided to come for a weekend and cook for us.
Unobtrusively, she became part of the happenings in Amonines and quietly found her way as if she had been coming here for years. We are just as happy as she is that she found the Asharum. She leaves a memory of beautifully prepared meals and we are looking forward to see her again. 

Happy guests

The 4-day stay at Asharum Amonines helped me get back closer to myself, which was my intention. The combination of the meditation, silence, and the warm and quality-filled welcome did the trick. The cosiness of living space and rooms and the nature in the surroundings also contribute. The food is tasty and healthy. Yoginâm is mentioned, texts are offered but in no way imposed. Many thanks to the volunteer staff for their daily efforts!!!!

Carla

 

A lovely weekend. A gift for the soul. 

Rosemar

February in Amonines

Silence

It snowed for one day in Amonines. The temperature hovers around freezing point which keeps the snow on the ground. The reflection of the snow breaks the surrounding grey and provides much-needed light. It is quiet outside. Nature’s retreat has its own charm.

In reflection of the retreat outside, inside the Nâm Retreat of Silence was starting. There was a nice combination of three experienced and three new participants. Diving into the deep, without any previous practice was difficult and for some the stillness became a deafening silence. As often happens at such moments during a retreat, openings appear that can turn the situation around. In this case one of the participants decided to take a book from Yoginâm to her room, opened it and read precisely the passage which gave her insight and strengthened her intent. She closed the book and then surrendered to the retreat.

Connecting

It is beautiful to notice there apparently is a relationship between the commitment to do a retreat and the wish to get involved, as became clear when almost half of the participants online and in Amonines offered their help for a specific weekend.

 

Longing

The yoga retreat appeals to a different group of people. They are often younger and more focused on relaxing than on asking questions from an inquisitive and open attitude. But there is also curiosity and the quality of this place is noticed and awakens a longing:

‘Peaceful, home-like, a place where you can quickly be yourself and feel welcome. I was completely fulfilled after my stay. The openings in terms of body and mind, experienced through well taught yoga classes made this experience a unique escape from daily pressure at home. Longing for more.’ E.

The inside

Retreating also means turning your attention inside but in this case I mean the interior of the house. It is time for major maintenance in Amonines. There are two leaks, the idea is to have new floors upstairs, guest rooms need to be painted, upholstery of sofas to be renewed. If you think you can offer help please let us know.

 

Receiving the Breath in Amonines

Amonines is increasingly becoming a place for people from all over Europe to learn about Living Nâm. Recently, we had people from Italy, Ireland, Sweden and France. When someone comes only for a second time – and all the way from Italy – explicitly to receive the Breath, we know there is a flow in Amonines.

 

“The Breath is a sound that is repeated inwardly in synchronisation with the physical breathing. The Breath can be infused to everyone who aspires optimal harmony in their orientation of living.
Breathing the Breath surpasses thoughts, emotions, desires and other kinds of human imagination. The Breath serves as an open door for life to take care of itself. As such, breathing the Breath is the most powerful and intimate instrument that you can use, because its direction is not linked to a rational or emotional meaning, but serves exclusively ‘openness’.”

Yoginâm on The Breath

 

Please feel welcome to inquire about the possibility to receive the Breath. 

What it means to become an Aspirant Carrier of Nâm

~  a text by Yoginâm ~

The Carriers of Nâm

A Carrier of Nâm is somebody who has taken a solemn Intent to search with one’s life for optimal Attunement in Abbah, with the aim of optimally contributing thereby to the performance of the Task of Human Living, in the interest of humanity as a whole.
A Carrier of Nâm thereby aims to live, with Attitudes and Behaviour, the full potential of human living. This is a supreme state of mature human living, however, to claim to be a Carrier of Nâm would be arrogant and such a claim would in fact be its own denial. Those who have made the Intent of Nâm therefore identify themselves as ‘Aspirant Carriers of Nâm (ACN)’.

Mustering the Intent and living life in accordance with Nâm is entirely individual, because everybody is unique as a human being, with circumstances that are unique to one’s life situation. But because all living is Resonance, your individual endeavour resonates in everything into infinity. Like a sound, resonance does not stop. This is the way in which you contribute to collective Asha that shapes human living.
You start the way of an ACN by stating a strong Intent to do so. An Intent is more than the expression of a desire. It is a firm commitment to shape your life according to Nâm. For this purpose, there are a number of instruments that guide your orientation and can lead you. Invariably these instruments do not present a truth or a rule of behaviour. They are rather living infusions that when applied to your daily life, gradually generate a change as from within.

Because our living happens as Resonance, it is advisable that when you make the Intent of Nâm, you do so in front of a witness, preferably somebody who knows what Nâm implies. What happens next is entirely up to the degree in which you take your stated Intent seriously and the degree in which you shape your life with Attitudes and Behaviour that is beneficial for the performance of the Task of Human Living.

The Breath

The major instrument for ACN is the Breath. With it you gradually allow yourself to become opened for Attunement in Awareness. Indeed, Experience has so many facets that it is easy to forget Awareness altogether. The Breath is a constant reminder.
You should always remember Abbah; you should remember that all activities, thoughts, emotions, desires, opinions, ideals and beliefs are relating to Abbah of which they are an expression. Therefore, it is best to consider them as resonance that resonate in all directions. Remembering this by means of the Breath is of major importance.
The Breath is a sound that is repeated inwardly in synchronisation of the physical breathing, and whenever possible strengthened by the use of a string of beads, the Nâm Beads. You cannot select the Breath from a book. In order to benefit from its full resonance, it should have been received by somebody who is authorised to do so, in a particular manner.

The Community of the Aspirant Carriers of Nâm

It is a natural aspect of the human species that we search for each other’s company, particularly when we have something in common. It was in fact what made the Homo Sapiens dominant over the Neanderthals. A community strengthens. When like- minded people gather, that in what they are like-minded is strengthened.
Though the way of the ACN is an individual one, Nâm Asharums have been founded and other activities are undertaken that allow ACNs to come together. Because it is an individual way there is no conformity that rules the community. ACN are discouraged to talk about their way and experience on their way. This would only be confusing for those whose way has a different form. Particularly when the ACN who presents the view is elderly or respected, this may be taken for something to be aspired for as well.

It is the Nâm Affirmation that implies that the ‘you’ that you are is the starting point, every new instant again. Your position is unique and from your position you aspire to live optimally the performance of the Task of Human Living. There are no rules or commandments other than reaching out for Harmony by shaping Attitudes and Behaviour optimally in the corresponding way.

This Harmony however is not necessarily the harmony that you consider as being harmonious. The Harmony of Nâm is the Attunement in Abbah (Attunement in Awareness). Obviously, one is kind and respectful; obviously one avoids anger and destruction; obviously one abstains for exploitation and suppression of others; obviously one generates giving disposition rather than a profiting one.

In the Nâm Affirmation only what is ‘evil’, or against live is rejected. An ACN is a servant of life, supporting life with the optimal performance of the Task of Human Living.

Participating and supporting a Nâm Community is a major instrument to dissolve the exclusive attention to the ‘I/World’ interests. It is indeed sharing in communal interest of Nâm that is for the ACN a golden way for reaching Attunement in Abbah. In such sharing you meet all the obstacles that are there for you to resolve and that constitutes your specific way towards Attunement in Abbah.
Aspirant Carriers of Nâm are expected to activate the community with activities and financial support. In the Asharums various activities are developed. Some of these activities are directly linked to creating possibilities for as many people as possible to come in contact with the beauty and effectiveness of Nâm as a guidance for living. Other activities provide an income with which the Asharum and the activities can survive.

 

Introduction into the Breath

~ A text by Yoginâm ~

The Breath 

The Breath is a sound that is repeated inwardly in synchronisation with the physical breathing. The Breath can be infused to everyone who aspires optimal harmony in their orientation of living.

Breathing the Breath surpasses thoughts, emotions, desires and other kinds of human imagination. The Breath serves as an open door for life to take care of itself. As such, breathing the Breath is the most powerful and intimate instrument that you can use, because its direction is not linked to a rational or emotional meaning, but serves exclusively ‘openness’. Unconsciously and indirectly, the Breath facilitates the remembering of what you are. The Breath is a psychological instrument that is infused and carried at the level ‘before experience’, carrying a creative level into the level of experience. Therefore, to preserve the resonance of the Breath, certain conditions are required:

  • The sounds never touch the vocal cords and are never shared or communicated in writing or by voice. This is not because it is a secret that nobody may know but because by not communicating, the Breath retains the resonance with which it was infused. By communicating it, or writing it, you would translate the resonance of the Breath into another resonance: the resonance of consciousness. As a consequence of this translation, the Breath would lose its value. A Breath that in this way lost its value cannot be restored.
    With the Breath you inwardly sing two sounds. The alchemy that the Breath activates is entirely unconscious, outside the parameters of human experience.
  • The Breath must have been received in a specific way and in a specific state of receptivity. Yoginâm is the origin of this psychological instrument: the carrier of the Breath. Yoginâm recognised the value of this particular instrument for a gradual realisation of one’s transcendental nature. The Breath has no connection to any cultural context; one does not need to adhere to any belief or tradition to use the Breath; it is a universal psychological instrument for making our transcendental nature in our daily life, alive. Yoginâm has authorised a number of people who may infuse an applicant with the Breath in his name. Because the Breath is infused in the name of Yoginâm, there are no soul impressions involved. You can only receive the Breath in a particular manner from somebody who has explicitly been authorised by Yoginâm to give the Breath. 

The Breath can be sung the whole day. During the first weeks after having received the Breath, it is advisable to sing the Breath after waking up as the first occupation of the day, while sitting for 5 or 10 minutes. This establishes the Breath for the rest of the day. Once the Breath is engrained in your breathing, it becomes automatic, and as soon as you are not pondering an idea or involved in communicating, there is the Breath. The value and the alchemy of the Breath depends upon whether you allow it to do its work, by being busy with it in the background of your ordinary daily activities. In meditation, the focussing on breathing turns into a singing of the Breath. 

You are the only one who is responsible for the Breath. Nobody is watching you or judging you. Some people are attached to mantras or inner prayers they have received previously. The Breath distinguishes itself from mantras and inner prayer by not attaching meaning to it and not trying to steer into a particular direction, thereby making a connection with a particular state. It is not something that ‘you’ concentrate on but rather something that ‘you’ become. 

The Breath is a very useful tool for quieting down the ongoing inner discussion; putting the Breath instead of recurring or obstructive thoughts and emotions is an ancient instrument that has proven to be very valuable for establishing inner harmony. 

After having promised to keep the Breath secret and abstain from communicating it, and upon receiving a donation of 250 Euro, that balances the Grace of the Breath, the applicant can receive the Breath in a small ceremony.

The infusion of the Breath in Asharum Amonines:

One can receive the Breath in Amonines during a regular visit or during a visit combined with a Personal Meditation Retreat.

A programme will be facilitated as followed:

Arrival day: arrival between three and five p.m.

18.00 Introduction
18.30 Asha Meditation

Second day:
10.00: Asha Meditation
11.30: Receiving the Breath in the name of Yoginâm through a small ceremony
12.30:  Asha/Breath Meditation 30 minutes (in case you choose the combination with a personal retreat)
15.45: A moment for questions
16.30: HarpMood/Breath Meditation 30 minutes (in case you choose the combination with a personal retreat)
18.30: Asha/Breath Meditation 30 minutes

Departure day:

10.00: Asha/Breath Meditation
11.00: Conclusion
12.00: Departure

Note:

Please, let us know from where you have to travel to receive the Breath, so we can suggest possible locations for this purpose.

An appointment on other locations is also possible (in Spain and the Netherlands)

Please contact us for questions and if you are interested in receiving the Breath.