The next Morning Satsang-Meditation Session with Terry will be held on Saturday, January 5th from 10 am until 12 noon. 

Satsang has many definitions but here is one that Terry likes:

 "Holding company with an assembly of persons who listen to, talk about and meditate on the highest truth bringing meaning and inner peace into ones daily life"

After the last Meditation Morning Session I received an email from Andrew. He had gone home and wrote about the meditation that day. Thanks very much Andrew for this article. Here is what he wrote:

Meditation With The Wandering Ninja

BY ANDREW BRADLEY

December 12, 2012

  I am seated on a folding chair in the basement at the Wandering Ninja's office. A melodic chant plays from the stereo in the corner of the room. Incense, discretely wafting through the air, touches my nose. A woman dressed in comfortable-looking clothing is seated to my left on a mat, her back near a wall. I'm in my jeans and a collared shirt. To my right is a gentleman, perhaps in his early middle age, also opting for a chair. We've left our shoes in the hall near the archway to the room, ambled in, and found our places in sock feet on the carpet. A few pieces of art adorn the walls. Inviting, with painted pipes running along in view under the ceiling, the room's atmosphere contrasts the day's weather: cold, cloudy and damp.

We are greeted warmly by the Ninja, also known as Terry Hodgkinson, author, martial arts master, world traveller and owner of Positive Changes Hypnosis and Coaching Clinic, Etobicoke. Our host, at over six feet tall, casually-dressed, square-jawed, tough-looking, sits next to a small desk with one sheet of note paper, a smartphone and a single white flower on it. One more student arrives, a few minutes past ten o'clock. The session begins.

Hodgkinson, whose physical presence belies a compassionate, wise nature, is leading his first meditation class since returning from his pilgrimage to India. To start, we're offered a debriefing of the journey. The sights, sounds, smells, tastes - the sheer daunting power that India serves-up for one's senses hits us through his telling. We laugh. We cringe. I am awed.

"Most people in our society, were we to live in some of these incredible (to us) circumstances," says the Ninja, "may consider suicide more appealing than continued life." What he saw amid many of the most trying of human predicaments, however, was overwhelming acceptance. Some charity and compassion, too (his recent blog entry is worth the read).

For our first meditation of the two-hour session we sit, in contrast to our greetings, introductions and first-impressions, in stillness. To attempt to cultivate acceptance. Be with what is. We sit for about twenty minutes, and periodic claps from the stereo speakers juxtaposed to the soothing melody surprise me, and help to bring my awareness back to the moment.

"I'd like you to take a look around the room as you walk,"asks Hodgkinson, as he introduces the second exercise. "Notice what comes to mind when observing the ceiling, walls, chairs, floors, the artwork - anything you see. Be aware of what your mind is doing." And so, as we explore the room for several minutes, I look to the screws in the ceiling thinking, "These must be for securing the sheets of drywall. They're painted. I can do that." I see the pipes and ducts, "Maybe they're for water? Maybe they're for heating? I like the look of them." Then a second instruction: "Now I'd like you to observe these same objects with your heart centre. Mind and heart - when using one or the other, how does your perception differ?" All that I can say is that my mind offers categorizing, chatter, examination. My heart seems to offer a somewhat non-judgemental hug.

"Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, and all the great mystics, speak of our incredible in-born powers to heal," says the Wanderer, as he introduces the third meditation. We begin by rubbing our hands together, quickly, as a chilled traveller would on a cold night. "As the friction creates heat, focus the mind, and bring energy to the hands (also known in Chinese medicine as Chi)," instructs Terry. "Then place them on your Tan Tien, just below the abdomen, breathing in that energy. Focus the breath there, the hands placed, breathing in and out, in and out." We do the same for other energy centres and organs: the spleen, liver, heart, throat, forehead and, finally, the top of the head. Next, on the in-breath while standing tip-toed, we visualise calling forth energy from the earth into the body. On the out-breath we flatten the feet, bounce at the knees, returning the energy to earth. "We see how our bodies look on the outside," says Terry, "but hardly give a thought to all the wonderful processes happening unseen inside us. This meditation is an effort to be attentive within. Why not begin each day with this meditation?"

Terry closes the four-meditation set with a final sit. "There are many methods and benefits. But there is one ultimate objective: to reveal and to know your true self. Meditation will get you there, with practice." Today the way is meditation: sitting meditation, open heart meditation, Chi energy work and a final sit. Two hours with Terry Hodgkinson.

The Wanderer posted a beautiful photo to his Inner Outer You Facebook page recently. A stone woman stands, head bowed, as she works intently with a chisel. Stroke by stroke she chips away at her rock prison, slowly and surely revealing a beautiful human body within. Breath by breath, we are as this woman when we meditate - each sit, each walk, each intention to open the heart - inching closer to our true natures.

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 The next morning session will start at 10am sharp and conclude at 12 Noon. It will be held at Terry's office and there is room for 15 people. The first 15 people to register will secure a spot. The cost for this event is only $20.

Terry's office "Positive Changes" is located at:

4895B Dundas Street

Etobicoke, ON

M9A 1B2

Parking is free and the Positive Changes office door and parking lot are located behind the main store fronts facing Dundas street, on the South-East corner.

You can RESERVE YOUR SPOT either by email (click on the link below) or by calling 416-732-0429