A Meditation for Enhanced Creativity
A simple meditation practice to tap into your creative potential.
Inspiration
A simple meditation practice to tap into your creative potential.
Meditation isn’t just a practice of sitting in stillness, it’s a practice of presence, focus, flow, letting go, and freedom. And, in many ways, creating art can have the same effect. From pottery to dance, there are many ways to experience art as mediation. One way to get into that meditative state in art is through painting with watercolors. “The...
Try this meditation to clear your mind and welcome fresh energy.
There are many ways to bring in the benefits of meditation to everyday life, in addition to a daily practice within. One way is through creating art. Art offers us a deeper connection to ourselves and the inspiration that leads us to our creations sparks greater awareness, too. Art is a powerful vehicle for active meditation because it invites us...
For thousands of years, people have used meditation to experience inner quiet and expanded awareness. As an ever-growing body of scientific data shows, meditation has the power to heal our body, calm our mind, and even rewire our brain for greater happiness, creativity, and love.During the past five decades, Deepak Chopra has taught countless people throughout the world how to...
Follow these 5 lessons from the Bhagavad Gita to improve your self-confidence and give yourself sustained growth.
First of all, you are perfect just the way you are. You are. Yes, you. With your self-doubt and body hang-ups and failures. With your temper and your sadness and your joy. You are fantastic. Simply fantastic! And I wouldn’t change a thing about you. But perhaps you would? Perhaps there is some small habit or trigger or tendency that...
When it comes to meditation, you’re curious about it. Most likely, you’re convinced of the scientific benefits. You’d like to make meditation part of your life. You may have even tried a few times but the moment you close your eyes, thoughts, stories, and mental noise flood your mind. What seems like a simple process of finding inner peace feels...
Those who don’t describe themselves as an artist often shy away from the thought of creating their own piece of expression. They think, “I'm not good enough” or “I could never do that.” Truth is, if you push through those initial negative words, you may be surprised with what you can do. And what you can create isn't as important...
Ganesha is the most distinctive Hindu deity. Learn about what he symbolizes and how he can remove obstacles in your life.
Growing up in America, you’re surrounded by images of potential male role models including superheroes in cartoons, presidents, public figures, and countless male characters on TV and in the media. Boys seem to have at least one favorite hero at any given point in their childhood.As you grow up and find yourself in the shark tank of work, adult responsibilities,...
For women in the 21st century, it can be hard to find a strong feminine role model. Although you may have strong mothers, grandmothers, and sisters, in this stage of evolution you may be working on goals that are often misunderstood by your living ancestors. This is where your chosen female heroine or archetype comes in. An archetype isn’t defined...
In 2012, I attended a small ceremony with my art teacher, a striking woman who paints abstract watercolors that speak directly to your heart. The ceremony was inspired by her spiritual study of Native American culture. We played drums, chanted, lit sage, and welcomed everyone as we went around in a circle. I was so impressed with her language and...
It’s hard to believe that in 2005, I could barely walk, and now I can ski down black diamonds and trek in the Himalayas. It’s hard to believe that I once thought meditation was a bunch of Southern California woo-woo hippie talk, and now I research its effectiveness. It’s hard to believe that less than a decade ago, I thought...
From time to time we have the opportunity to speak publicly about something that is meaningful in our lives. In these moments, if we can find ways to ground ourselves and connect with our true self, we may be able to say what we really want to say in the way we really want to say it.I recently had an...
Each one of us has the power to shift global consciousness into the mind of peace. To achieve a mind of peace, we must understand healing as a perennial process, the ever-generating energy of being whole. Wholeness is not a state of being free from disease. We are forever whole, with disease, without disease, with despair, without despair, with pain,...
Don't you just love it when you've had a day or two when you felt completely in harmony with yourself and life? Perhaps you woke up feeling great, you had a chance to meditate, pray, journal or whatever your morning ritual is, your needs were being met before you even thought of them, your intuition was right on, you made...
Do you love your mind? For many people, the answer is “no” or “not all the time.” They often feel trapped inside their thoughts and emotions, at the mercy of a host of uninvited guests – the fear that roams the mind at will, the dark depression that takes up residence and refuses to leave, the anger that blows through...
As we have explored in the first week of the 21-Day Meditation Challenge™―Miraculous Relationships, our essential nature is pure, unbounded spirit. We are born as radiant beings of love, and we are here to be the presence of love in the world. Early in our lives, however, many of us had experiences that led us to forget that we are...
There is a center in the body where love and spirit are joined, and that center is heart. It is your heart that aches or fills with love, that feels compassion and trust . . . that seems empty or overflowing. Within the heart is a subtler center that experiences spirit, but you can’t feel spirit as an emotion or...
In just a couple of weeks, Eckhart Tolle will be joining Deepak and other master teachers at the Chopra Center's Seduction of Spirit meditation and yoga retreat. On Wednesday, April 24, we will host "A Conversation with Deepak and Eckhart," as part of the retreat. We will also be offering the option to participate in the event via live streaming...
We spend a good deal of time gazing at ourselves in the mirror with the physical eye, and into the mirror of our mind with an analytical eye, endeavoring in each case to size ourselves up in our own estimation as well as determining how others might evaluate us. Both of these mirrors are clouded with egoic dust, distorting our...
Traveling endows us with the clear, light, mobile qualities of Vata, and can provide insights and open our eyes to a perspective we may have been missing. Vacations inspire us with new beauties of the world, cultures, and nature, and remove us from the redundance of our day-to-day energy bubble and life routine.Whether you are embarking on a romantic getaway,...
Creativity is an inherent quality of being human. Everywhere within us, in every cell and atom, is the creative energy of the entire universe. This energy is creating new cells and tissues every day, as well as allowing for new ideas and inspirations.Creativity can show up in many different ways in our lives. Sometimes we think of creativity exclusively as...
As we welcome in the New Year, resolutions might be on your mind. Your goals for the year ahead can fall under a plethora of categories: financial, physical, family-related, education, etcetera. However, the one thing that is going to make it possible for you to manifest these goals is to reconnect with your soul.Ancient texts of Ayurveda have exalted the...
Almost two years ago, I attended the Chopra Center’s Perfect Health with Panchakarma program, and the experience was transformational. The classes were chock full of valuable tips to help live a healthy, balanced lifestyle from the perspective of Ayurveda, a 5,000-year-old healing system that originated in India.In fact, so many tips and tools were provided that initially I felt a...
Create practices at work and at home to balance the gunas and tap into more contentment and joy in your life.
How to balance your energy to move through life in a more centered state.
Almost everyone appreciates the power of creativity. Unique things or novel ideas can catch our eye, brighten our day, and ignite change. Creativity is inspiring, and feeling inspired is fun! Of course, having fun is its own kind of medicine. Fun enhances our sense of connection (to others, self, and life). It reduces stress and increases happiness. Creativity, specifically, can...
Blank computer screen in front of me, a canvas waiting for the whoosh of ideas in my brain to come together and flow into my fingers, forming words that I tap-tap-tap on the keyboard. Something from nothing. Project complete.As a writer this is my creative process. On my best days, the ideas are many, and come freely. I type away,...
Some people appear to be plugged into an endless supply of creative power while others struggle to light a small spark of imagination. If you fall into the latter category, you may have been told that creativity is a fixed trait and that you were allotted a specific, unchangeable amount at birth. Fortunately, those outdated notions have been disproven and...
We live in a fast-paced world. Take a break and rejuvenate with our mindfulness and wellness retreats in beautiful locations.
Many people find that pursuing the societal image of success does not yield a sustained level of happiness. Wealth, relationships, and prestige, though temporarily satisfying, do not significantly elevate the experience of joy. In his book, “The Second Mountain: The Quest For a Moral Life,” David Brooks explains that most people spend the first part of their adult lives climbing...
Do you make New Year’s resolutions? And how many of those resolutions are centered around wellness? Goals like lose weight, exercise more, or eat more vegetables? They seem like a good idea but as the year goes on, you may feel disappointed in yourself if you don’t accomplish what you set out to do. Oftentimes, your New Year’s resolutions can...
It’s recommended that adults get at least 150 minutes (2.5 hours) of moderate aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity—or a combination of both—throughout the week.During the winter months, fewer daylight hours, colder temps, and seasonal mood shifts can make it tough to stick to a regular workout routine.However, if you can stay motivated to exercise, your workouts...
“A dream not interpreted is like a letter not read.” —The TalmudDreams can be fun adventures that you don’t want to wake up from, or scary nightmares that shake you out of sleep. More often than not, however, there’s deeper meaning behind the storyline. With the right intention, you can extract wisdom from your dreams, which can help guide you...
If you were to eavesdrop on the conversations taking place around you, stress would likely be one of the most common words you would hear. People talk about feeling stressed about their work, the economy, global politics, deadlines, their relationships, and just about everything else. Many suffer from the emotional and physical consequences of chronic stress, which include accelerated aging...
During the dark winter season when there is a limited amount of light, it is especially important to reconnect with friends and loved ones and with our deeper self. Reconnecting gives us emotional nourishment, enlivens our mind, and expands our experience of the inner light of consciousness. While forming the intention to reconnect may feel easy, many of us find...
The greatest contribution we can make to the wellbeing of those in our lives is to have peace in our own hearts. Our state of being broadcasts expansion or contraction to every sentient creature within our midst. When our hearts are filled with gratitude and our minds are brimming with enthusiasm, everyone we encounter leaves our space feeling a little...
Within our core self is an indelible blueprint of unrivaled individuality—the singular being that each of us exists to express. In this three-dimensional movie called “Life” there are no stand-ins, body doubles, or understudies—no one can fill in for us by proxy. Realization of this truth alone eliminates the need to imitate, conform, limit, or betray our loyalty to the...
Most of us do not believe that we live in mythic times, and we look back on such times – when knights sought the Holy Grail and Icarus flew too close to the sun – through a thick haze. Why is myth relevant? Why bother? At best myth flickers in and out of modern life, making it hard to tell...
For many years I wrote a column called Ask Deepak, answering questions about personal dilemmas that people sent in from all around the world, including India, China, the United States, Canada, and many countries in Latin America, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Yet in a sense, everyone was writing from the same place inside, where confusion and darkness had...
Last week, I was in the grocery store when I came across a rack of Father’s Day greeting cards. As I looked through the cards honoring dads, I started to think about how occasions like Father’s Day, birthdays, and anniversaries typically prompt us to celebrate special people in our lives. They’re a chance to reflect on how important these individuals...
I have come to believe that life is allied with myth in order that we may advance along an evolutionary path that carries us nearer to the spiritual source that lures us into greater becoming. It is for this that myth remains closer than breathing, nearer than our hands and feet. I think it is built into our very being....
Enlightenment is generally considered to be an out-of-reach goal, attainable by only a few of the most evolved yogis, monks, and sages. What many people do not realize is that if we find the right path, this seemingly unreachable goal can become a reality for every one of us. As Deepak Chopra notes in his book Super Brain, we are...
Three Simple Steps To Wholeness That You Can Take Right NowWe’re just one month into 2013, and you may still be riding the wave of inspiration that comes with fresh starts and new beginnings. It’s also possible that you are feeling a dip in your motivation if the changes you are seeking are taking longer than you expected or you’ve...
Commitment is the ultimate assertion of human freedom. It releases all the energy you possess and enables you to take quantum leaps in creativity. When you set a one-pointed intention and absolutely refuse to allow obstacles to dissipate the focused quality of your attention, you engage the infinite organizing power of the universe.There is no limit to your ability to...
Try this yoga practice to clear your mind and open up to inspiration.
Try this yoga practice next time you’re in need of a little boost.
From the ancient Yoga Sutras by Patañjali, the sutra sthira sukham asanam can be translated into English as “may the posture be steady and full of ease (or joy).” For anyone new to yoga, it might seem obvious to aim for steadiness and strength. Therefore, it is the prominence of sukham — signifying the eternal sense of joy, bliss, or...
While it is true that you need nothing but your body and breath to practice yoga, yoga props are extremely useful in helping to create sthira (steadiness) and sukha (comfort) in your yoga practice. By no means limited to beginners, props help to accommodate anatomical differences, tight muscles/joints, and limited ranges of motion. If you’ve ever wondered how to efficiently...
In the magnificent month of May, we bring our awareness to the gifts of creation and motherhood, and we celebrate the loving souls who brought us into this world ― our mothers. Whether we were raised in Papua New Guinea or New York City, the energy of the divine mother made it possible for each of us to emerge from...
Cuando estamos creciendo, estamos llenos de asombro porque cada experiencia que tenemos es algo completamente nuevo para nosotros. Siempre estamos en el espacio de descubrir algo por primera vez. A medida que crecemos en el mundo y nos asentamos en la edad adulta, tendemos a caer en varias rutinas y estructuras que limitan nuestra capacidad de explorar libremente. La maravilla...
We could all benefit from a little more peace in our lives. And, one way to invite more calming energy into your home is through sound, particularly the relaxing sound of wind chimes. Much like attending a sound bath, listening to wind chimes can have a soothing effect on the mind, helping to lower stress levels and feelings of anxiety...
In a culture that has commodified the fruits of creativity to the degree that ours has, it can be easy for us to feel cut off from our inherent creative energy if we are not producing something tangible. In reality, creativity is not a special stream that only some of us can tap into and enjoy. By the very virtue...
As human beings, creativity is one of the most powerful energies we can tap into. After all, it is a natural part of who we are — which is why those who carve out time for creation often compare the process to meditation. “As we tune into our creativity, we are transpired to that transcendent space, the present moment, and...
On the surface, the world may appear to have many challenges and it’s easy to get distracted or even overwhelmed by them. However, whenever we allow ourselves to play, we slip beyond everyday limitations and into a realm of infinite possibilities, joy and love. Play should be an essential part of everyone’s life, because the real reason that we’re here...
When we’re growing up, we are full of wonderment because every experience we have is something brand new to us. We are always in the space of discovering something for the very first time. As we grow up in the world and settle into adulthood, we tend to fall into various routines and structures that limit our ability to freely...
All too often, our routines can become a little too rote, making our lives feel a little too stale. But with the birth of a New Year comes new opportunities to find variety in the everyday. Whether you consider yourself to be a “capital A Artist,” or not, here are a few ideas to spark inspiration.1. Create a yoga challenge....
Happy 2021 everyone! As we move into this new year, we naturally become more intentional about the vision we have for our higher selves and the life we want to create. I've always believed in the superpowers we all have inside of us, and that once you know your superpowers, you have the ability to consciously use them to build...
In theory, it sounds simple: To do less, simply do less. In practice, however, it’s not that simple. In fact, it’s actually pretty difficult. Many aspects of our modern culture encourage chasing after more. More money, more material possessions, more status, more of everything. Everywhere you turn, the message of limitlessness abounds. And although for a split second it may...
Un componente vital de este diálogo interno son las afirmaciones-declaraciones de lo que crees o sostienes que es verdad.
Rewrite your story, one powerful affirmation at a time! Take control and become the author of your own amazing story.
You are whole. You are perfect. You do not need to change a single thing about yourself. However, if there are some aspects of your life that you would like to change, the start of the year may be just the time to set goals and make positive shifts.Although most of us know that January first is an arbitrary date,...
Starting over can be one of the greatest things you do, but it isn’t easy, which means it’s also one of the hardest things to do. Depending on the circumstances, it can require quite a bit of strength and courage to take that initial leap of faith. It doesn’t help that the idea of starting over is often associated with...
It’s common to set goals and resolutions at the start of a new year. It is also common to throw in the towel soon after you have begun. If you’re tired of being part of a statistical trend or are interested in reworking your approach to the new year, there are some tried-and-true methods for making your well-intentioned goals last...
With the arrival of a new year, everyone feels an impulse to get rid of old habits and to change for the better. As time-honored as New Year’s resolutions are, they rarely make a difference. The pull of old habits is strong. At a deeper level, there is a constant tug-of-war between wanting to change and wanting to remain the...
It’s early January, and you stroll into the 5:00 p.m. vinyasa yoga class that you cherish because it has just the right number of students (not so small where it feels awkward and not so large where your mat is a finger’s distance away from your neighbor’s mat). You have a favorite spot in the room, and your class has...
You would never set out on a road trip without a map, so why would you live your life without goals? Understanding the importance of goal setting will help you to accomplish many life endeavors. Setting goals is a vital step in planning your future, and research supports greater success and achievement in people who get clear on where they...
The holidays have gained a bad reputation for being an emotional roller coaster. Instead of experiencing a season of peace, many people dread this time of year as a season of stress and frayed emotions. But it doesn’t have to be this way. You can bring the gift of peace to yourself as no one else can. By following the...
Tough times are inevitable, and even though you are always moving forward, sometimes it can feel like you’re spinning your wheels. Whether it seems like life’s circumstances are piling up against you, your mind can’t get through a mental block, or your emotions are paralyzing you, there is always hope. It does take some effort, but when you are ready...
Thanksgiving is a time when family and friends come together in celebration of the bigger, more important things in life—a connection to something more significant than the minutia of everyday life. It’s a time for restoration and rejuvenation, as well as merriment and connection with loved ones and family.Relationships are one of the most crucial aspects of life, and Thanksgiving...
Most people know that gratitude generates good feelings. But did you know that a dose of thankfulness can also positively impact your health, happiness, resilience, and relationships? Research in the field of positive psychology has shown, time and time again, that purposefully cultivating gratitude can have far-reaching effects in your life. This month of November is a perfect time to...
Are you finding yourself constantly thinking about your to-do list this time of year? Maybe you need to plan a menu, shop for the holiday meal, coordinate travel plans, purchase gifts, and get ready for family visiting from out of town.If you dread the start of the holidays and want to escape, you are not alone. In fact, fleeing from...
Retreats, workshops, and personal growth courses are uplifting and inspiring when you’re there. In the right environment, it’s easy to slip into a rhythm that fosters growth and change. The hard part is after you return home. Let’s say you spent a week in meditation and silence. It was easy to meditate daily while at the retreat, surrounded by other...
“Creativity is sacred, and it is not sacred. What we make matters enormously, and it doesn’t matter at all. We toil alone, and we are accompanied by spirits. We are terrified, and we are brave. Art is a crushing chore and a wonderful privilege. The work wants to be made, and it wants to be made through you.” –Elizabeth Gilbert,...
When you step into your power, you cultivate self-esteem and personal worth. A new sense of freedom emerges, doubts fall away, and you quit being a marionette to other people’s expectations or vulnerable to external circumstances. This new confidence allows you to let go of the need to judge, criticize, or compare yourself to others. When you claim your power,...
Feel inspired by movies! What a great way to indulge yourself with some quiet time on your couch. Movies with heart are great ways to bond with family.
Suffering is part of the human experience. Whether with yourself, others, or circumstances, there will be times in your life when you will have to fight through hardship. When dealing with the blues, it is important to remain centered and know that you will get through no matter how troubling of a time you may be experiencing. Here are 10...
In a world full of fear, stress, and sadness, it can become second-nature to develop a negative worldview. There seems to be more pain than you can heal, more dissent than you can mediate, and more uncertainty than you can make sense of. In times like these, what options are there to comfort yourself and bring forth positivity?The difference between...
Your happiness is, to a high degree, within your control—this is one of the greatest psychological discoveries of the past few decades. Researchers in the field of positive psychology (the science of human flourishing) report that 50 percent of your happiness level is determined by genetics, only 10 percent is based on your circumstances, and a significant 40 percent is...
Leaders are people who inspire others to make the world a better place. Leaders are authentic, follow their gut, and aren’t just benefiting from the hard work of their team—they are in the trenches doing the hard work, too. They make tough choices and are accountable. They have a growth mindset which means they don’t see failure—they see an opportunity...
Adding a dose of compassion to someone else’s day not only uplifts their spirits, but makes you feel happier, too. And while most of us intend to be compassionate beings every day, our hectic schedules and busy lives can often get in the way of simply being kind to one another.The amazing thing though, is that even the smallest, most...
Our most negative encounters can sometimes offer us great spiritual guidance. For instance, I once had a blow-out fight with a woman at a car rental counter. She felt the need to flaunt her power and go out of her way to make things difficult for me. My reaction was no better than her outburst. I felt the need to...
Compassion is a way of connecting the love and self-awareness within yourself to another person. Compassion is more than kindness; it’s a natural expression of kindness and understanding when you love yourself. Without a sense of love inside, compassion has no foundation in consciousness.There is a path to loving compassion, as with any spiritual quality. The path has a beginning,...
Compassion is changing before our eyes. A religious concept associated with Jesus and Buddha (known as “the Compassionate One”) is being researched today through brain scans and positive psychology. In positive psychology your aim is to reach a state of well-being. The actions of a compassionate person, being kind and sympathetic, turn out to bring personal benefits as well. This...
Whether you want to eat a healthier diet, exercise regularly, or embark on a new way of parenting, the biggest barrier to change is you. You can make the task as easy as pie, or virtually impossible. The first step is to ensure you have the best mindset to accomplish your transformation goals. Here are three examples of how not...
Stay positive and grateful, even after you manifest the things you want. Find out more about the benefits of positive morning affirmations in your daily life.
Create positive patterns and help yourself achieve your goals with Chopra's positive mindset affirmations and positivity meditations.
Almost every night during book tour, I end up talking about the same subject with my audience. My audiences are pretty much entirely composed of women (though I love you, too, my emotionally-secure male who dare to come to my events!) and invariably there will be a woman in the crowd who will stand up and ask how to get...
There are more tools than ever to help you when it comes to personal growth. Consider social media: Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram all connect people instantly. Sometimes the conversation is intimate, as when you reach out to a close friend. Sometimes it’s a global conversation.There’s tremendous untapped potential here. You can literally participate in a worldwide nervous system without leaving...
We live in an overstimulated society, where busy schedules lead to lack of connection, where many people go through life barely looking one another in the eye, where connection is summarized by scrolling down a Facebook newsfeed and clicking "Like" to show we care, and where vulnerability and self-expression continue to be repressed for fear of rejection. Kindness has fallen...
Early on in my journalism career, I moved to Dallas to take a job as an investigative reporter with an ABC television station. Being a California native, I had a little culture shock and often felt like a fish out of water. One year later I moved to San Diego and almost immediately forgot about those days on the hot,...
By the time I decided to become a Primordial Sound Meditation teacher, I had already been attending Chopra events and practicing meditation and yoga for a decade. Shifts and changes in my personal life inspired me to take the opportunity to become a teacher in 2006, which hadn’t previously made itself accessible.How I Got Inspired to TeachThinking back to what...
Why am I here? What is my purpose? How do I discover and fulfill my deepest mission?These are questions that we all ask at one time or another. Sometimes we discover the answers early on, but often we continue to ask these questions throughout our lives. As we grow and mature, the answers to these questions continue to evolve as...
We often think of creativity as something that only certain people are gifted with. In fact, we have special words for such people. We often call them brilliant, inspired, or ingenious. These words do signify a true insight. Creativity does spring forth from that part of our deeper being which is truly brilliant and infinitely intelligent. In turn, this deep-level...
Thinking of heading off for a week on a yoga or meditation retreat? I’ve heard some funny stories over the years I’ve spent running retreats and workshops at the Chopra Center: reasons why people didn’t sign up, stories they’ve heard from friends, preconceived ideas of what really happens when they take a week off from their life to retreat …Here’s...
“To love is to move the soul of the house, to love is to fly without wings” ~ Mario QuintanaLove is the affect of connection—the emotional perception of the connecting forces of nature. It’s that feeling of being harmoniously integrated and whole. It’s timeless joy.We sensually experience our environment with the senses of smell, taste, touch, hearing, and sight. Our...
One of the core experiences we all seek is delight, and one of the most common words we use for this experience is happiness. We all want to be happy, and we seek it in countless ways. But there is another word that we use in a similar way—joy. These two words—happiness and joy—actually have somewhat different meanings. We will...
About six years ago, as I was getting dressed in a hotel room preparing for a lecture, I heard the CNN reporter from my television pose the question to the viewers just as the network was about to break into a commercial, “Do miracles really happen? One man believes they do. He claims he was healed through his faith in...
Just for a moment, pause and consider all of the roles you have played so far in your life. For example, my life roles have included son, brother, husband, father, student, doctor, author, speaker, and teacher. These have all been fulfilling roles yet they are not who I really am. The real me—and the real you—is infinite and unbounded. Yet...
Arielle Ford is a speaker & author of several bestsellers including The Soulmate Secret. Her mission is to make sure everyone finds a soul mate.
Many years ago I wrote the book Hot Chocolate for the Mystical Lover: 101 True Stories of Soul Mates Brought Together by Divine Intervention. Through the course of writing that book, I discovered some of the many ways soulmates ï¬nd each other. It’s pretty empowering to realize that even the most mystical, magical encounters required the soon-to-be lovers to take...
In my book, The Joy Diet, I wrote that yearning is the internal map of the course your life was meant to follow. I believe I wrote something like, “Your destiny pulls you through life by the heart.” Recently, I’ve realized that yearning is, indeed, a valuable indication of our best future, but it contains an energy that can push...
About 2,600 years ago, when Siddhartha Gautama (the soon-to-be Buddha) sat down under the bodhi tree, his resolve was to realize his true nature. Siddhartha had a profound interest in truth, and the questions “Who am I?” and “What is reality?” impelled him to look even more deeply within and shine a light on his own awareness.As a Zen story...
As I travel around the globe speaking and training, I have consistently found that most people ask me the same question, “How do I discover my purpose in life?” In the past, who you became was determined by your family and circumstances. You didn’t have much choice. But now there is an open moment in history where you have the...
“I decided that it was not wisdom that enabled poets to write their poetry, but a kind of instinct or inspiration, such as you find in seers and prophets who deliver all their sublime messages without knowing in the least what they mean.” ~SocratesScientists estimate that, on average, we have 60,000 thoughts every day. The majority of these thoughts are...
February is a month that celebrates love in all its manifestations, including romance, intimacy, acceptance, passion, forgiveness, friendship, joy, ecstasy, and communion. This is also the second month of the new year, and as Valentine’s Day approaches, you may be reflecting on some of the intentions you have set to expand your experience of love, happiness, and connection in 2013.In...
Our work is an act of worship; and that's why both of my main headquarters embody the principles of healing.As a child my parents emphasized a few very important principles regarding work. They are summarized in the following aphorisms: Your work is an act of worship. Pursue the goddess of wisdom and the goddess of abundance will pursue you. Pursue...
In Egyptian mythology, there is a story that says that when a person dies, the soul travels to a different dimension to undergo a life review. In that timeless, spaceless realm, the god Anubis places the recently deceased’s astral heart on a scale to weigh it against the feather of truth. If the heart is lighter than the feather, then...
Deepak Chopra’s bestselling book The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success is a guide to the universal laws that govern every creative process – from the birth of a baby to the development of a new business. The second of the seven laws is the Law of Giving and Receiving, which states:The universe operates through constant and dynamic exchange . ....
We are all born as infinitely creative beings. As children, we freely used our rich imaginations to create entire worlds, whether we were building sand castles at the beach, playing “house” with a collection of dolls, or pretending to be our favorite superhero. As we become adults, many of us unfortunately succumb to the prevailing cultural meme or belief that...
What are your deepest dreams and desires? What do you really, really want? You may be longing for an opportunity to travel or have a child. Perhaps your heart yearns for a romantic relationship or the chance to express your creativity. You may be dreaming of changing your career and creating more material abundance in your life. You may just...
In every moment of our existence, we have access to an infinity of choices. As a result of conditioning, however, most of us tend to act in predictable, repetitious ways. The process is like driving a car down the same dirt road many times. Over time, the wheels carve out ruts in the dirt and the car automatically follows the...
Learn from the experts at Chopra on how to live a spiritual life. We have 10 tips that will help you nurture spirituality on our blog. Read more today!
Most people envision an ideal intimate relationship based upon shared interests, open communication, mutual nurturing, and passion. When they’re unable to create this level of emotional connection, they conclude that they need to work harder to create “serious” relationships. It has been my experience, however, that lighthearted relationships are generally more desirable and longer lasting.Although there’s no proven formula that...
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Art as Meditation: In the Flow With Watercolor
Meditation isn’t just a practice of sitting in stillness, it’s a practice of presence, focus, flow, letting go, and freedom. And, in many ways, creating art can have the same...
A Meditation for Inspiration and Clarity
Try this meditation to clear your mind and welcome fresh energy.
Art as Meditation: How Pottery Can Strengthen Your Mind-Body Connection
There are many ways to bring in the benefits of meditation to everyday life, in addition to a daily practice within. One way is through creating art. Art offers us...
Deepak and Oprah’s Shared Vision
For thousands of years, people have used meditation to experience inner quiet and expanded awareness. As an ever-growing body of scientific data shows, meditation has the power to heal our...
5 Lessons in Self-Confidence from the Bhagavad Gita
Follow these 5 lessons from the Bhagavad Gita to improve your self-confidence and give yourself sustained growth.
5 Steps to Self-Improvement: Become a Better You
First of all, you are perfect just the way you are. You are. Yes, you. With your self-doubt and body hang-ups and failures. With your temper and your sadness and...
2 Things to Avoid In Meditation
When it comes to meditation, you’re curious about it. Most likely, you’re convinced of the scientific benefits. You’d like to make meditation part of your life. You may have even...
8 Healing Benefits of Art
Those who don’t describe themselves as an artist often shy away from the thought of creating their own piece of expression. They think, “I'm not good enough” or “I could...
About Ganesha: The Remover Of Obstacles
Ganesha is the most distinctive Hindu deity. Learn about what he symbolizes and how he can remove obstacles in your life.
10 Male Archetypes to Empower You
Growing up in America, you’re surrounded by images of potential male role models including superheroes in cartoons, presidents, public figures, and countless male characters on TV and in the media....
10 Female Archetypes and Leaders to Inspire You
For women in the 21st century, it can be hard to find a strong feminine role model. Although you may have strong mothers, grandmothers, and sisters, in this stage of...
From Spiritual Imposter to Sage-in-Training
In 2012, I attended a small ceremony with my art teacher, a striking woman who paints abstract watercolors that speak directly to your heart. The ceremony was inspired by her...
The Miracle of Meditation
It’s hard to believe that in 2005, I could barely walk, and now I can ski down black diamonds and trek in the Himalayas. It’s hard to believe that I...
The Art of Grounding
From time to time we have the opportunity to speak publicly about something that is meaningful in our lives. In these moments, if we can find ways to ground ourselves...
Nourishing Peace
Each one of us has the power to shift global consciousness into the mind of peace. To achieve a mind of peace, we must understand healing as a perennial process,...
Lightness of Being Stress-free Living Through Meditation
Don't you just love it when you've had a day or two when you felt completely in harmony with yourself and life? Perhaps you woke up feeling great, you had...
Set Your Mind Free
Do you love your mind? For many people, the answer is “no” or “not all the time.” They often feel trapped inside their thoughts and emotions, at the mercy of...
Let Your Light Shine
As we have explored in the first week of the 21-Day Meditation Challenge™―Miraculous Relationships, our essential nature is pure, unbounded spirit. We are born as radiant beings of love, and...
Let Your Love Flow
There is a center in the body where love and spirit are joined, and that center is heart. It is your heart that aches or fills with love, that feels...
A Few Moments with Eckhart Tolle
In just a couple of weeks, Eckhart Tolle will be joining Deepak and other master teachers at the Chopra Center's Seduction of Spirit meditation and yoga retreat. On Wednesday, April...
No Dust on the Mirror
We spend a good deal of time gazing at ourselves in the mirror with the physical eye, and into the mirror of our mind with an analytical eye, endeavoring in...
15 Ayurvedic Travel Hacks for Balanced Vacationing
Traveling endows us with the clear, light, mobile qualities of Vata, and can provide insights and open our eyes to a perspective we may have been missing. Vacations inspire us...
Creativity and the Doshas
Creativity is an inherent quality of being human. Everywhere within us, in every cell and atom, is the creative energy of the entire universe. This energy is creating new cells...
Reconnect With Your Soul to Manifest Your Goals
As we welcome in the New Year, resolutions might be on your mind. Your goals for the year ahead can fall under a plethora of categories: financial, physical, family-related, education,...
Make Ayurveda Work for You
Almost two years ago, I attended the Chopra Center’s Perfect Health with Panchakarma program, and the experience was transformational. The classes were chock full of valuable tips to help live...
Satisfaction at Work: Cultivating Sattva
Create practices at work and at home to balance the gunas and tap into more contentment and joy in your life.
Balancing Strength and Softness: Tapping Into Your Warrior Spirit
How to balance your energy to move through life in a more centered state.
The Healing Power of Creativity
Almost everyone appreciates the power of creativity. Unique things or novel ideas can catch our eye, brighten our day, and ignite change. Creativity is inspiring, and feeling inspired is fun!...
5 Simple Ways to Add Play to Your Day and Spark Creativity
Blank computer screen in front of me, a canvas waiting for the whoosh of ideas in my brain to come together and flow into my fingers, forming words that I...
6 Ways to Enhance Creativity
Some people appear to be plugged into an endless supply of creative power while others struggle to light a small spark of imagination. If you fall into the latter category,...
Five Reasons to Attend a Chopra Wellness Retreat
We live in a fast-paced world. Take a break and rejuvenate with our mindfulness and wellness retreats in beautiful locations.
Discover The Joy Of An Inspired Life
Many people find that pursuing the societal image of success does not yield a sustained level of happiness. Wealth, relationships, and prestige, though temporarily satisfying, do not significantly elevate the...
Wellness Goals for the New Year: 5 Tips to Help You Succeed
Do you make New Year’s resolutions? And how many of those resolutions are centered around wellness? Goals like lose weight, exercise more, or eat more vegetables? They seem like a...
6 Ways to Find Motivation to Work Out This Winter
It’s recommended that adults get at least 150 minutes (2.5 hours) of moderate aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity—or a combination of both—throughout the week.During the winter...
How to Gain Wisdom From Your Dreams
“A dream not interpreted is like a letter not read.” —The TalmudDreams can be fun adventures that you don’t want to wake up from, or scary nightmares that shake you...
7 Mind-Body Practices to Transform Your Relationship with Stress
If you were to eavesdrop on the conversations taking place around you, stress would likely be one of the most common words you would hear. People talk about feeling stressed...
Winter, Stress, and Vedic Astrology
During the dark winter season when there is a limited amount of light, it is especially important to reconnect with friends and loved ones and with our deeper self. Reconnecting...
Peace
The greatest contribution we can make to the wellbeing of those in our lives is to have peace in our own hearts. Our state of being broadcasts expansion or contraction...
The Universality of the Life Visioning Process
Within our core self is an indelible blueprint of unrivaled individuality—the singular being that each of us exists to express. In this three-dimensional movie called “Life” there are no stand-ins,...
The Power of Myth in Our Personal Lives
Most of us do not believe that we live in mythic times, and we look back on such times – when knights sought the Holy Grail and Icarus flew too...
What Is a Spiritual Solution?
For many years I wrote a column called Ask Deepak, answering questions about personal dilemmas that people sent in from all around the world, including India, China, the United States,...
Gratitude 365
Last week, I was in the grocery store when I came across a rack of Father’s Day greeting cards. As I looked through the cards honoring dads, I started to...
The Gifts of a Mythic Life
I have come to believe that life is allied with myth in order that we may advance along an evolutionary path that carries us nearer to the spiritual source that...
Is Enlightenment Really Attainable?
Enlightenment is generally considered to be an out-of-reach goal, attainable by only a few of the most evolved yogis, monks, and sages. What many people do not realize is that...
Heal Your Body, Calm Your Mind
Three Simple Steps To Wholeness That You Can Take Right NowWe’re just one month into 2013, and you may still be riding the wave of inspiration that comes with fresh...
To Have More, Give All
Commitment is the ultimate assertion of human freedom. It releases all the energy you possess and enables you to take quantum leaps in creativity. When you set a one-pointed intention...
A Yoga Practice to Increase Creativity
Try this yoga practice to clear your mind and open up to inspiration.
A Yoga Practice to Boost Your Energy
Try this yoga practice next time you’re in need of a little boost.
The Surprising Reason for Adding Playfulness to Your Yoga Practice
From the ancient Yoga Sutras by Patañjali, the sutra sthira sukham asanam can be translated into English as “may the posture be steady and full of ease (or joy).” For...
Yoga Props 101: Blocks, Straps, Blankets, and Bolsters
While it is true that you need nothing but your body and breath to practice yoga, yoga props are extremely useful in helping to create sthira (steadiness) and sukha (comfort)...
The Divine Mother
In the magnificent month of May, we bring our awareness to the gifts of creation and motherhood, and we celebrate the loving souls who brought us into this world ―...
Explora tu Espíritu Creativo
Cuando estamos creciendo, estamos llenos de asombro porque cada experiencia que tenemos es algo completamente nuevo para nosotros. Siempre estamos en el espacio de descubrir algo por primera vez. A...
DIY Wind Chimes
We could all benefit from a little more peace in our lives. And, one way to invite more calming energy into your home is through sound, particularly the relaxing sound...
Adopt the Practice of Writing Morning Pages to Boost Creativity
In a culture that has commodified the fruits of creativity to the degree that ours has, it can be easy for us to feel cut off from our inherent creative...
7 Practices for Manifesting Creativity
As human beings, creativity is one of the most powerful energies we can tap into. After all, it is a natural part of who we are — which is why...
The Play of Creation
On the surface, the world may appear to have many challenges and it’s easy to get distracted or even overwhelmed by them. However, whenever we allow ourselves to play, we...
Explore Your Creative Spirit
When we’re growing up, we are full of wonderment because every experience we have is something brand new to us. We are always in the space of discovering something for...
10 Ways to Spark Inspiration
All too often, our routines can become a little too rote, making our lives feel a little too stale. But with the birth of a New Year comes new opportunities...
Use Your Superpowers to Build a Better World
Happy 2021 everyone! As we move into this new year, we naturally become more intentional about the vision we have for our higher selves and the life we want to...
8 Ways to Do Less This Year
In theory, it sounds simple: To do less, simply do less. In practice, however, it’s not that simple. In fact, it’s actually pretty difficult. Many aspects of our modern culture...
Cómo usar las Afirmaciones para Transformar la Historia de su Vida
Un componente vital de este diálogo interno son las afirmaciones-declaraciones de lo que crees o sostienes que es verdad.
How to Use Affirmations to Transform Your Life Story
Rewrite your story, one powerful affirmation at a time! Take control and become the author of your own amazing story.
5 Tips for Setting and Sticking to Your New Year’s Resolutions
You are whole. You are perfect. You do not need to change a single thing about yourself. However, if there are some aspects of your life that you would like...
The Value of Starting Over in the New Year
Starting over can be one of the greatest things you do, but it isn’t easy, which means it’s also one of the hardest things to do. Depending on the circumstances,...
4 Keys to Following Through on Your New Year’s Intentions
It’s common to set goals and resolutions at the start of a new year. It is also common to throw in the towel soon after you have begun. If you’re...
“Out with the Old, In with the New” Can Be Real
With the arrival of a new year, everyone feels an impulse to get rid of old habits and to change for the better. As time-honored as New Year’s resolutions are,...
Get Organized: 6 Simple Habits to Add to Your New Year’s Resolutions
It’s early January, and you stroll into the 5:00 p.m. vinyasa yoga class that you cherish because it has just the right number of students (not so small where it...
5 Guidelines for Setting—and Achieving—Personal Goals
You would never set out on a road trip without a map, so why would you live your life without goals? Understanding the importance of goal setting will help you...
Emotional Release: A Perfect Gift to Yourself
The holidays have gained a bad reputation for being an emotional roller coaster. Instead of experiencing a season of peace, many people dread this time of year as a season...
10 Ways to Lift Your Spirits When You’re Feeling Stuck
Tough times are inevitable, and even though you are always moving forward, sometimes it can feel like you’re spinning your wheels. Whether it seems like life’s circumstances are piling up...
4 Reasons to Be Thankful for Your Family This Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is a time when family and friends come together in celebration of the bigger, more important things in life—a connection to something more significant than the minutia of everyday...
10 Gratitude Activities to Do with Your Family This Thanksgiving
Most people know that gratitude generates good feelings. But did you know that a dose of thankfulness can also positively impact your health, happiness, resilience, and relationships? Research in the...
5 Practices to Help You Be More Present This Thanksgiving
Are you finding yourself constantly thinking about your to-do list this time of year? Maybe you need to plan a menu, shop for the holiday meal, coordinate travel plans, purchase...
5 Ways to Maintain Your Post-Workshop High
Retreats, workshops, and personal growth courses are uplifting and inspiring when you’re there. In the right environment, it’s easy to slip into a rhythm that fosters growth and change. The...
Break Out of a Rut with These 7 Tips for Creativity
“Creativity is sacred, and it is not sacred. What we make matters enormously, and it doesn’t matter at all. We toil alone, and we are accompanied by spirits. We are...
5 Tips to Cultivate Personal Power and Self-Confidence
When you step into your power, you cultivate self-esteem and personal worth. A new sense of freedom emerges, doubts fall away, and you quit being a marionette to other people’s...
10 Movies That Will Feed Your Heart, Mind, and Soul
Feel inspired by movies! What a great way to indulge yourself with some quiet time on your couch. Movies with heart are great ways to bond with family.
10 Ways to Transform the Blues into Inspiration
Suffering is part of the human experience. Whether with yourself, others, or circumstances, there will be times in your life when you will have to fight through hardship. When dealing...
Hope: The Magic Ingredient You Need in Life
In a world full of fear, stress, and sadness, it can become second-nature to develop a negative worldview. There seems to be more pain than you can heal, more dissent...
Where Do You Stack Up on the Happiness Scale?
Your happiness is, to a high degree, within your control—this is one of the greatest psychological discoveries of the past few decades. Researchers in the field of positive psychology (the...
In the Spotlight: 5 Inspirational Leaders to Follow
Leaders are people who inspire others to make the world a better place. Leaders are authentic, follow their gut, and aren’t just benefiting from the hard work of their team—they...
Compassion in Action: 15 Easy Ways to Spread Kindness
Adding a dose of compassion to someone else’s day not only uplifts their spirits, but makes you feel happier, too. And while most of us intend to be compassionate beings...
Tap Into Your Compassion to Push Out Negativity
Our most negative encounters can sometimes offer us great spiritual guidance. For instance, I once had a blow-out fight with a woman at a car rental counter. She felt the...
Spreading Compassion from the Inner to Outer World
Compassion is a way of connecting the love and self-awareness within yourself to another person. Compassion is more than kindness; it’s a natural expression of kindness and understanding when you...
The Health Benefits of Practicing Compassion
Compassion is changing before our eyes. A religious concept associated with Jesus and Buddha (known as “the Compassionate One”) is being researched today through brain scans and positive psychology. In...
The Positive Approach to Transformation
Whether you want to eat a healthier diet, exercise regularly, or embark on a new way of parenting, the biggest barrier to change is you. You can make the task...
7 Benefits of a Daily Affirmation Plan
Stay positive and grateful, even after you manifest the things you want. Find out more about the benefits of positive morning affirmations in your daily life.
Daily Affirmations: Your Hour-by-Hour Positivity Plan
Create positive patterns and help yourself achieve your goals with Chopra's positive mindset affirmations and positivity meditations.
The Final Obstacle Is Us
Almost every night during book tour, I end up talking about the same subject with my audience. My audiences are pretty much entirely composed of women (though I love you,...
Friend Yourself: Social Media and Your Personal Growth
There are more tools than ever to help you when it comes to personal growth. Consider social media: Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram all connect people instantly. Sometimes the conversation is...
7 Random Acts of Kindness in 7 Days
We live in an overstimulated society, where busy schedules lead to lack of connection, where many people go through life barely looking one another in the eye, where connection is...
Don’t Worry, Be Happy: 4 Ways to Spread Happiness
Early on in my journalism career, I moved to Dallas to take a job as an investigative reporter with an ABC television station. Being a California native, I had a...
The Teacher’s Path to Vedic Mastery … and Beyond
By the time I decided to become a Primordial Sound Meditation teacher, I had already been attending Chopra events and practicing meditation and yoga for a decade. Shifts and changes...
Discover and Fulfill Your Life’s Purpose
Why am I here? What is my purpose? How do I discover and fulfill my deepest mission?These are questions that we all ask at one time or another. Sometimes we...
7 Steps to Inspire Creativity Within
We often think of creativity as something that only certain people are gifted with. In fact, we have special words for such people. We often call them brilliant, inspired, or...
10 Myths Busted: What Really Happens at a Meditation Retreat
Thinking of heading off for a week on a yoga or meditation retreat? I’ve heard some funny stories over the years I’ve spent running retreats and workshops at the Chopra...
Surrendering Beyond the Comfort Zone
“To love is to move the soul of the house, to love is to fly without wings” ~ Mario QuintanaLove is the affect of connection—the emotional perception of the connecting...
Happiness Versus Joy: How to Uncover Infinite Amounts of Both
One of the core experiences we all seek is delight, and one of the most common words we use for this experience is happiness. We all want to be happy,...
Why I Chose to Teach Healing and the Mystical Laws
About six years ago, as I was getting dressed in a hotel room preparing for a lecture, I heard the CNN reporter from my television pose the question to the...
Create the Next Chapter of Your Life’s Story
Just for a moment, pause and consider all of the roles you have played so far in your life. For example, my life roles have included son, brother, husband, father,...
Manifest the Relationship of Your Dreams
Arielle Ford is a speaker & author of several bestsellers including The Soulmate Secret. Her mission is to make sure everyone finds a soul mate.
6 Steps to Finding Your Soulmate
Many years ago I wrote the book Hot Chocolate for the Mystical Lover: 101 True Stories of Soul Mates Brought Together by Divine Intervention. Through the course of writing that...
The Formula for Happiness
In my book, The Joy Diet, I wrote that yearning is the internal map of the course your life was meant to follow. I believe I wrote something like, “Your...
The Three Qualities of Awareness
About 2,600 years ago, when Siddhartha Gautama (the soon-to-be Buddha) sat down under the bodhi tree, his resolve was to realize his true nature. Siddhartha had a profound interest in...
3 Keys to Living the Life You Want
As I travel around the globe speaking and training, I have consistently found that most people ask me the same question, “How do I discover my purpose in life?” In...
Creating Inspired Moments
“I decided that it was not wisdom that enabled poets to write their poetry, but a kind of instinct or inspiration, such as you find in seers and prophets who...
7 Ways to Inspire Love in Your Life
February is a month that celebrates love in all its manifestations, including romance, intimacy, acceptance, passion, forgiveness, friendship, joy, ecstasy, and communion. This is also the second month of the...
Where I Work
Our work is an act of worship; and that's why both of my main headquarters embody the principles of healing.As a child my parents emphasized a few very important principles...
Healing the Heart
In Egyptian mythology, there is a story that says that when a person dies, the soul travels to a different dimension to undergo a life review. In that timeless, spaceless...
The 5 Secrets of Joyful Giving
Deepak Chopra’s bestselling book The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success is a guide to the universal laws that govern every creative process – from the birth of a baby to...
Awaken Your Creative Response
We are all born as infinitely creative beings. As children, we freely used our rich imaginations to create entire worlds, whether we were building sand castles at the beach, playing...
5 Steps to Living Your Dreams
What are your deepest dreams and desires? What do you really, really want? You may be longing for an opportunity to travel or have a child. Perhaps your heart yearns...
3 Steps to Break Out of a Rut
In every moment of our existence, we have access to an infinity of choices. As a result of conditioning, however, most of us tend to act in predictable, repetitious ways....
10 Ways to Nurture Your Spiritual Life
Learn from the experts at Chopra on how to live a spiritual life. We have 10 tips that will help you nurture spirituality on our blog. Read more today!
The 7 Laws of Enlightened Relationships
Most people envision an ideal intimate relationship based upon shared interests, open communication, mutual nurturing, and passion. When they’re unable to create this level of emotional connection, they conclude that...