Ascension is a series of easy, effective, and effortless meditation techniques based on Praise, Gratitude, and Love, that allow us to relax deeply into the most expansive strata of consciousness: Presence, Being, Pure Awareness.

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As we relax into Samadhi, the pains, tensions, and traumas of the mind, the psyche, and the body begin to unwind and dissolve, leading to a fuller life and even deeper dives into Silence.

The Ishayas' Ascension is a series of simple and surprisingly profound meditative techniques, that utilize Praise, Gratitude, and Love. Unlike many techniques that seek to control or discipline the mind through force, Ascension charms the mind. Instead of seeking to eradicate thoughts, the practice effortlessly brings the mind into a deep and subtle state of consciousness that has been variously known as Samadhi, Satori, Turiya, the Now, the Source, the Unified Field of Consciousness, the Peace that Passes all Understanding, the Transcendant, or the Ascendant. Throw away all of those concepts and the mystical language, and Ascension is simply a wonderful way of relaxing into deep physical rest, lucid mental clarity, and a healing and transformational sense of peace.

Whatever we call it, that state of Consciousness is always available to us. Samadhi is not some far off exotic place. One doesn't have to cross a literal or metaphorical burning desert of purification to be worthy of its nectar. It's always right here, right now. It's closer than our next breath and more immediate than the next thought, because it is essentially the space that supports and gives rise to all of those things. It is the one Ocean that holds the many waves, and the forest that contains the countless trees. We miss it primarily because we were trained and conditioned to look at everything else, and to identify ourselves as limited egoic individuals- waves becoming forgetful of their oceanic estate. Like King Pellinore wandering penniless through his own Kingdom, we grasp tightly at the dime of our limited identity, while a diamond rests comfortably in our back pocket, patiently waiting.

Like a disused gear on a bicycle, Samadhi is always present. One doesn't really require techniques to experience this Awareness, just as we don't require a boat to cross a river. However, a good boat has a tendency of making a river crossing a more enjoyable and reliable proposition. Ascension provides a pleasant passage from the surface waves of the mind to the Oceanic depths of Pure Awareness. The more one practices, the more one's mind becomes attuned to that most subtle state, until the whole of one's life becomes saturated by Peace, Clarity, and Love.

The Ascension Techniques

The Ascension techniques (often referred to as “Ascension Attitudes”) are short prayer-mantra phrases in the first language of the meditator. Like mantras, they simply have the tendency of moving the mind inward, bringing the mind through the subtle levels, to the experience of Pure Awareness. Why do mantras do this? It’s probably the most honest to write that I don’t know! Magic? My experientially derived hunch is that Mantras- whether the Ascension techniques, traditional Sanskrit mantras, Hebrew vowels- lead the mind back to the source of Consciousness because they haven’t fully quite left. It is as if they are Platonic Forms, loosely clothed in thought, capable of ferrying us over the waters of mind to the shores of the Transcendental.

What is wonderful, is that the techniques work even if we fully expect them not to, as was the case with me upon first learning. There I was, thinking “what a ridiculously contrived spiritual practice” only to be immersed in the waters of an improbably profound Silence.