How does it work?

SKY works differently from other meditation practices by utilizing the innate ability of the breath to trigger automatic calming of the mind. In addition, the specific way the breath is used in SKY enhances the dissolving of stress. During SKY you do not try to clear your mind, concentrate or even watch the breath. Just start the practice without making an effort and the mind settles into deep meditation. Benefits are seen immediately.

The recommended home practice you learn on the course includes 10 minutes of energizing breathing practices followed by 10 minutes of SKY. Research shows that breathing and emotional states are tightly coupled processes that greatly influence each other. Emotional states change the quality and patterns of respiration. In turn, respiration patterns can alter the emotional state.

Its effects have been studied in open and randomized trials, both in healthy populations and in populations with psychopathology. SKY is both self-empowering and a low cost approach to improving ones physical and mental/emotional vitality.

SKY PROGRAM SITES IN THE UNITED STATES:

• Kaiser Permanente, Santa Clara, CA

• University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

• The Aspire Center—Veterans Administration San Diego Healthcare System

• University of Wisconsin-Madison, Waisman Center

• The World Bank

• Harvard Business School

• MIT Sloan School of Management

• GE Healthcare

• American Express

• Microsoft

Why?

The dual approach to personal development in the SKY breath workshop improves the state of your mind by working on both the conscious thinking level and on the accumulated emotional stress that imprints on the mind beyond the conscious thinking level. Stress always has an ‘emotional’ component and intense experiences leave emotional imprints that cause anxiety and recurring reactions of anger, fear, and sadness that can be triggered for no apparent reason. Stress-related symptoms grow worse primarily from remembering past events and imagining future events. The mind gets caught in a stress-feedback loop. You don’t need to experience more stressful events to make the situation worse as your own mind is doing that for you.

A Global Breath Community

For more than 30 years, SKY Meditation has been taught globally in hospitals, schools, colleges, corporations, prisons, and in programs for at-risk
populations, including veterans returning from war.

Real Freedom

You can’t ‘think’ your way out of this stress-cycle because, “The Body Keeps the Score.” To free yourself you must remove the accumulated stress and imprints and this requires help from mind-body practices. SKY Breath Meditation is extremely effective at removing the stress and it works very quickly; as little as 20 min. per day will bring significant results. So the first and most important step is learning the SKY Breath Meditation technique. Then you will have an easy and enjoyable method of cleansing and rejuvenating your mind every day. In a short time, emotional reactions won’t have the same power over you and you will have more energy and clarity. Your health and well-being will also keep improving.

“Chronic exposure to stress permanently alters how an organism deals with its environment on a day-to-day basis.” The Body Keeps the Score, Bessel A. van der Kolk, MD

The second component of the workshop includes interactive processes and discussions that give you an awareness of common tendencies of the mind that affect how you think and act. With these understandings you can begin to consciously change the way you think about and react to people and situations. Stress and ego-related thoughts and emotions will continue to come but you don’t have to be overwhelmed by them. With the combination of cleansing the system, culturing a greater awareness from the SKY practice, and then expanding your understanding of certain habit patterns, you can create a lasting and continually expanding improvement in how you think, feel and react. This shift gives you a new freedom in life.