The two philosophers have helped people access the hidden power of consciousness by learning the four keys to success, which they detail in their latest book, The Four Sacred Secrets: For Love and Prosperity, A Guide to Living in a Beautiful State. Here, they talk to Parade.com about what’s inside the book, explain more about the Four Sacred Secrets, guide us through their favorite mindfulness practice and offer a meditation how-to that readers can try out today.
What are the Four Sacred Secrets and what can you tell us about them?
The Four Sacred Secrets is more than a book; it is a journey that can miraculously open your life to joy, love, prosperity and purpose. The Four Sacred Secrets are:
The First Sacred Secret: Live With a Spiritual Vision You act as if achieving your goals is the only thing that gives life meaning, but in fact it is the mental state you reach for as you pursue your dreams that awakens you to a life of purpose.The Second Sacred Secret: Discover Your Inner Truth You stress so much, your default mood is irritation or dissatisfaction. When you bring peaceful attention to your more honest self, a calm starts to guide you away from unhappiness and self-obsession.The Third Sacred Secret: Awaken to the Universal Intelligence You trust your strategies and clever hacks to find solutions to your problems, but have you considered tapping into the miraculous power of Universal Intelligence?The Fourth Sacred Secret: Practice Spiritual RightAction Have you ever found yourself spending hours contemplating the “right” thing to do? Spiritual right action will give you the courage and clarity to find your way out of life’s conflicts.
What’s an easy (meditation) tip from the book that people can start trying today?
You can go through the Serene Mind practice. The Serene Mind practice is one that many leaders and seekers, even teenagers and children, are practicing. They have reported that since they have made it a habit, situations around them sort themselves out magically, and they end up responding to challenges in ways they never would have imagined before. It is incredibly simple and yet utterly effective in preventing limited states from becoming obsessive states. When practiced in moments of conflict, it leads you out of confusion to clarity. It will take you toward a space of greater quiet where insights into life’s challenges can present themselves. Here’s how you do it: Step 1: Sit still. Step 2: Take three deep abdominal breaths with total attention. Step 3: Observe your state until you discover the exact emotion you are feeling. Step 4: Observe the direction of the flow of your thinking: Are you obsessing over the past? Are you projecting a chaotic future? Or are you in the present? Step 5: Imagine that there is a tiny flame at the center of your eyebrows and see it move inward to the middle of your skull. Envision this flame floating in the middle of emptiness. You can also go to our meditation app, www.breathingroom.com, to learn this practice today.
In your opinion, what is something that people are doing in their everyday lives that you wish or hoped they would change?
In any relationship, on a day-to-day basis, we build hurt and disappointment, which becomes judgment, which becomes anger, which becomes aversion. Then aversion makes us quit on each other. If you observed, separation didn’t happen when we quit on each other. In unawareness, separation started to build on our disappointment. Most people think separation and disconnection are only when we are physically separated. Sadly, that isn’t the thing. It is this habit in unawareness that we constantly build disappointment into hurt, into judgment, into anger, and into aversion. In that whole process, there is a disconnection that happens. This is something which every human being has to become aware of and learn to break, because these are habits that we have cultivated right from our childhood, and civilization encourages us. We assume it to be self-respect, or we even call it “valuing oneself,” not realizing that all it may require is to observe one’s truth, the truth of the habit of our minds to live disconnected, to isolate and separate easily. This is one of the things we want the world to take away, that every reader of our book will change in themselves.
What are you hoping people will take away from the book?
We hope people will take away the importance of living in a beautiful state. Whether you want to be a great parent, a loving partner, a successful leader or a confident individual, you must realize: to live in a Beautiful State is the key and that is when the Universal Intelligence will begin to support you.
Do you have a favorite meditation from the book that you can share with us?
The Soul Sync meditation is done to begin your day with a Beautiful State and to draw on the power of consciousness to manifest your heartfelt intentions. When the Soul Sync is practiced, you silence the chemical activity that triggers conflict so that you can move into a Beautiful State of relaxation and calm.
Six-Step Soul Sync Meditation:
Sit comfortably. Rest your palms on your thighs and use your thumbs to count out breaths on your fingers. Start with the index finger of your left hand, then your middle finger, and so on until you reach a count of eight. Step 1: Start by taking eight deep inhalations and slow exhalations. As you move from one breath to the next, keep count with your fingers. It’s natural for your attention to wander frequently. Simply bring it back and continue the count from where you lost your attention. Step 2: Inhale deeply and, while exhaling, make the humming sound of a bee at a base pitch. Once again, repeat for eight full breaths. Step 3: Observe the pause between inhaling and exhaling for eight cycles of breath. When we inhale and exhale, a natural pause occurs after each inhalation, right before exhalation begins. Observe the pause. Step 4: Take eight breaths, inhale and exhale as you inwardly chant “ah-hum” which means “I am” or “I am limitless consciousness” in the ancient language of Sanskrit. Step 5: Imagine or feel your body transforming into light. Imagine everything expanding into one unitary field of energy. There is no separation or division. In this field, thought and matter are one. Desire and reality are one. Step 6: After you have immersed yourself in that endless expense of light, begin to feel or imagine your heartfelt desire as if it were happening in the now.
If someone hasn’t tried meditating before, what’s your best advice for them to start, and do it successfully?
If you have not meditated before, the easiest place to start is to take three conscious breaths. Which means whether you’re walking, you’re sitting or you’re driving, no matter what you are doing, it would be wonderful if you can practice deep inhalations, and absolutely slow and complete exhalations, making your exhalation almost twice the duration of your inhalation. To do that three breathes at a time would be a fantastic starting place, and we would want you to do that because you can impact your mind through breath. Practicing conscious breathing is like first aid. It definitely helps your mind to pause before it rushes off into its trips into anxiety or loneliness. It makes you more centered. And let me tell you this: you will start meditation or your transformational inner journey only if you value yourself, if you value how you feel— if you value your inner experience of life, not just what’s on display for the world to see.
When is the best time in the day to meditate?
There are two times in a day that are wonderful to meditate. Millions of people all over the world practice the Soul Sync meditation first thing in the morning when they wake up. Instead of waking up with anxiety, with a mind that is rushed, with activities that are so piled up that you just jump out of bed, where you rush into the day with a feeling of being overwhelmed—they do the Soul Sync. It helps them move their body into a state of relaxation and energy. It gets their minds focused on the vision ahead of them. It connects them to a vaster field of consciousness so their day can be more magical. The second important time of the day to meditate is before you go to bed. This master meditation is called Accessing Universal Intelligence. It is described in our book and is on our meditation app. If there is a challenge that is burdening you, hold that challenge in your consciousness and do this meditation just before going to bed, and there is a great likelihood that you will have the answer to the challenge as a dream, or as a solution in the coming day, or as an idea or synchronicity—and the problem gets solved. So these are the two important times and two meditations that we suggest every reader of our book and everyone out there practice. And regardless of time of day, whenever you are stressed, we suggest that you practice the Serene Mind, which only takes three minutes to break the habit of the mind and the body to live in stress. It is a very magical practice.
