David Green's Blog: Huffington Post blog about The World of Spies, Wealth Creation & Yoga

"Be fearless and tearless; be cheerful and not fearful. Everything is possible for the sincere seeker who prays and meditates."

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Today is the birthday of The Great Master, Paramahamsa Hariharananda, who inspired me to write The Invisible Hand: Business, Success & Spirituality.

His greatest teaching was to love and help others with a smile, to be positive, meditate and never give up.

To celebrate, The Invisible Hand is available reduced on itunes for 0.99p until 31st May. https://itunes.apple.com/gb/book/id76...

Many of us start the year with a list of New Years Resolutions. You could be someone who started to meditate but gave it up because your mind was busy and nirvana didn't manifest after the first week.

Or you might be practising mindfulness. Personally, I prefer to practise "mindlessness" - my mind is full enough already! True mindfulness leads us to address one question only: "Who am I?" This takes us to the path of wisdom, known in Sanskrit as jnani.

30th April is the birthday of Sri Anandamayi Ma, one of India's most revered female saints who passed away over 20 years ago. Her inspiring teachings remain relevant even today. She reminds us to keep going with our meditation and that the crucial time to continue is when nothing appears to be happening or when the mind becomes really restless.

Here are 10 tips to make it easier to meditate every day:

1. Don't give up! Meditation, like any successful activity, requires love and dedication. Choosing a set time each day to meditate is the best approach. Don't miss a day.

2. By committing just 1% of our day to meditation, in time, calmness and peace develops for the remaining 99%. Even 5 minutes is beneficial.

3. To meditate or follow a spiritual practice there is nothing to give up, but everything to gain.

4. Meditation on the breath in the chakras leads to "mind emptiness" which allows our intuition to flow freely. The secret is to ignore the good and bad thoughts during meditation and not to be worried by them.

5. Once we find a spiritual path that suits us it helps to stick to it. Jumping from pillar to post limits any gain. Authentic meditation techniques such as Kriya Yoga reveal themselves through sincere practice. It is better to find an experienced teacher who is calm, patient and joyful to encourage us when doubts arise.

6. Meditation increases the oxygen in the brain giving the benefits of better concentration and less stress. The calmer the breath, the calmer the mind.

7. Be master of the mind and not a slave to the mind. Focus more on the positive thoughts to create more positive actions and success in your daily life. Negative thoughts cannot survive in an environment of positivity.

8. It helps to keep good company and be surrounded by positive role models. Adding good habits leaves less time for bad habits.

9. Meditation, exercise and a healthy diet all contribute to make us happy, confident and successful. What we eat and drink substantially influences the mind. Remember, we also 'eat' through our eyes and ears, which influences the mind greatly.

10. Spiritual growth happens in its own time and needs to be nurtured. Mastery develops through practise and effort is rewarded with effortlessness.

David Green was taught to meditate by a 91 year old guru from India. In The Invisible Hand, he describes how his guru taught him to apply the benefits of meditation, diet and wellbeing to his daily life and stressful career.

Meditation - The Natural Way To Happiness

How much more proof and experience do we need to wake up and realise that temporary 'happiness' from smoking excessive amounts of tobacco, taking drugs, alcohol abuse or overeating is the road to ruin and misery?

A first time visitor to Planet Earth would conclude that we are truly a backward race as we would have no answer to the question: "If humans know that cigarettes and alcohol cause cancer, heart disease and a myriad of other illnesses and misery; sugar causes obesity and diabetes, while drugs poison the body and mind, why are they readily available?"

The good news is there is a natural way to remind us how to be happy - through meditation - the superfood for the mind. It's been around for thousands of years, has no negative side effects and our brain power is enhanced and not ruined.
There are countless scientific studies showing the huge benefits of meditation for the mind, the body and our general wellbeing. Meditation helps relieve depression, stress and many illnesses, so you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Another bonus is greater concentration which can help us be more successful in our careers.

By meditating for just 15 minutes which is just 1% of your day, the other 99% will become more fulfilling.

Authentic meditation techniques oxygenate the brain and body. The more oxygen, the better our health. In addition, with more oxygen and activation of the pineal and pituitary glands, the meditator can feel a natural high within minutes. BUT like anything it takes practice and getting high to escape the world is not the goal. The goal of meditation is to feel our true nature as a loving human being and to develop calmness, contentment and success in whatever path we choose.

What is meditation?

In a nutshell, meditation is a simple way to help us unwind in the still space between two thoughts. Meditation is easy to practise every day, takes up hardly any time and regardless of your beliefs, it relaxes the mind by calming the breath.

Maybe you think it's not necessary to meditate because you keep fit. Meditation is different because it creates a moment for inner peace without external distractions and without body movement. Other healthy activities are beneficial, but meditation takes you to your natural state of being.
Understandably, there is a lot of misinformation about meditation. Meditation is not about spending two minutes flat on your back after a yoga class and falling asleep! It is not contemplation, which is of course beneficial if positive results are forthcoming.

Meditation in its purest form leads to balance in every action - the middle path.

You're too busy to meditate
We manage to find plenty of time to worry each day, so we can find the time to do something good for our wellbeing also! Nobody is that busy or that important to take a few minutes each day to meditate. Meditation will also have a positive effect on those around you especially if it makes you less angry and less stressed.

In the ancient text, Yoga Vasishta, the great sage Vasishta states that just 13 seconds of meditation has the same auspiciousness as giving away a valuable possession to charity; 101 seconds of meditation gives the same merit as performing a sacred rite and 12 minutes of meditation multiplies the merit 1,000 fold.

Meditation brings gain with daily practice. You don't have to go on a 10 day silent retreat to try meditation. I am against this approach for beginners - too many quit and the ones that don't soon slip back into their old routine. Retreats are of benefit but not if the student goes away and doesn't meditate even for a few minutes each day.

How to meditate?

Luckily, meditation works even if the mind is busy or if change is not apparent immediately. There are of course many ways up the mountain, but the simplest and most powerful way to meditate is to watch your breath and ignore your thoughts. The breath is the most powerful mantra of all to focus on during meditation and throughout the day.

Yogis breathe in and out of the nostrils. Why? Firstly the hairs in the nose act as an important filter when we breathe. Secondly it makes the mind calmer. Thirdly if the mouth is closed you cannot express negatives to others!

Tangible progress comes to meditators who:

1) Observe the natural flow of the breath through the nostrils without controlling it. Calmness comes as the breath naturally slows down.

2) Ignore their negative thoughts and action the positive ones.

3) Practice daily even for a few minutes.

How to begin and when to practise?

Choose the same time of day and stick to it. I meditate every morning after a shower when the body is warm and before I eat breakfast, but there's never a bad time. A bus or a train journey to work is also a good place to practise.
Find a quiet place (without background music) and sit on a chair or cross legged on the floor with your spine straight and your chin slightly down. Turn off your phone. The world will still be spinning when you finish! By keeping the chin down, the thyroid is slightly activated to keep you awake.
Close your eyes and your mouth and slowly breathe in and out of your nose. Do not hold your breath or breathe with discomfort. Just be aware of the breath.
You are now going to focus on your breath in six of the main chakras. At each chakra observe a couple of inches inside at the front of the spine for anywhere between two to five minutes depending on how much time you have.
Start to focus at the centre of the forehead. Observe inside. Just watch your inhalation and exhalation. Be relaxed. Calmness will come. Focus there. Don't be concerned about your thoughts. After a few minutes, move your attention down to the throat area again a couple of inches inside, watch the breath again, then follow this process by observing inside the centre of the chest, the belly button area, genital area and at the bottom of the spine.
After some time, slowly open your eyes still watching the breath. Repeat as often as you can. Twice per day is great or when stress comes take a few moments to meditate.

Can something so simple really bring benefit? See for yourself and make it part of your daily routine. When you want to learn more, then find an experienced teacher. Enjoy your meditation!

I will leave you to contemplate on the words of the great yogi Paramahamsa Hariharananda:

"Breath mastery is self mastery - As is the breath so is the mind; as is the mind so are you."

David Green has been meditating for 18 years which helped him find more balance in his stressful career in finance. David is helping companies to bring meditation into the workplace. www.the-invisiblehand.com

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GK Chesterton, the great author who inspired Gandhi to end British colonial rule in India, observed:

"I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite."

There are 711 billion reasons why the pharmaceutical industry and the 'eminent' doctors that legitimise their products will disagree. According to HCAN, that's the mega profits in US dollars 'disclosed' in the 10 years to 2012 by the top drug companies. Like all great salesmen, they have found a way to make us reliant on their products even if we don't really need them.

Approved drugs, a bit like 'approved' banks, don't seem particularly safe or fit for purpose. Since the 1950s, over 56 approved drugs were withdrawn in Europe and the USA. In 2012, Glaxo was fined $3 billion for criminal and other offences including apparently bribing doctors to promote their products. Is this yet another industry which cannot be regulated or trusted?

Let's take statins or rather let's not. The latest 'doctors report' from the USA featured in the Boston Globe, recommends that 30% of the adult US population - 72 million mainly healthy people, should be prescribed with statins. Apparently 15% are already. The FDA highlights the possible side effects of statins: memory loss, diabetes, liver damage and muscle injury. Not exactly a glowing endorsement. The Telegraph reports that the UK is considering these findings. I hope that our doctors follow Dr Malhotra who told the BBC that a Mediterranean diet including olive oil, nuts, fresh fruit and vegetables, is almost three times as powerful in reducing mortality as taking a statin.

Dr. Robert Eckel, a University of Colorado cardiologist who worked on the new statin US guidelines added, "I don't like the concept of 'good foods' and 'bad foods, we really want to emphasize dietary patterns."

Really? Surely, good and bad food is not a concept at all. It's a reality and one we know only too well. Sugar, salt and unpronounceable additives in quantity are bad for us. Food oversaturated with fat is bad for us. Anything that causes toxicity including pills is bad for us. We can stop our intake voluntarily or we can blindly accept what big business sells us ready-made. For example, in a recent Newsnight, the President of Coca Cola didn't even blink when Jeremy Paxman revealed that a large cup of Coke contains 44 sachets of sugar. Dubious alternatives to sugar like aspartame are not the answer either.

Let's cut to the chase. Genes aside or the 'unknown', we don't need a doctor to tell us that we can reduce heart disease and other illnesses at a stroke without pills. How? By consuming less unhealthy food, exercising more and giving up or reducing tobacco, alcohol and drugs.

The truth is that reliance on pills allows us to keep our bad habits - music to the ears of the pharmaceutical companies. In the guise of prevention, they market their products to healthy people who are then too afraid to come off them. Allopathic medicine is no longer a last resort. Doctors, many of whom are overworked, have been conditioned to paper over the cracks by masking our problems with prescriptions instead of dealing with the underlying cause. This is frighteningly apparent regarding anti-depressants as covered in my recent blog.

The chilling dish served up cold, reveals that 600,000 people died of heart disease in USA in 2011 - about 25% of all deaths. Uncannily, over 30% of adults in the USA are obese. Odd that it's nearly the same percentage as those that die from heart disease. We don't have to be geniuses to see the connection. The percentages aren't much different in the UK.

A Message From The East: Ayurveda - The Science Of Life

We could all benefit by following the simple teaching of a great 19th century yogi from India called Lahiri Mahasaya. He advocated good health by having a stomach half full of food, one quarter full of water and one quarter full of air.

He also suggested that to enjoy a successful balanced lifestyle, we should spend eight hours per day hours working; eight hours relaxing; eight hours centred towards our spiritual practice.

Yogis observe the direct effect of food on the body and mind. Food and humans have three qualities in Ayurveda:

Rajasic is the quality that relates to activity, digestion and in its extreme, restlessness.

Tamasic qualities refer to relaxation and in its extreme, laziness and depression.

Sattvic qualities manifest when there is a healthy balance between rajasic and tamasic.

Depending on our disposition and the climate in which we live, garlic, onions, chilli, caffeine, salt, sugar and spicy food are rajasic. They make us restless - a main cause of our unhappiness and why many rush to the doctor. Insomniacs will find it helpful to reduce or stop eating these ingredients. Doctors say that garlic and onions are good for the body, but yogis know that they bring restlessness.

Milk, live dairy products, most fresh fruits and vegetables, seeds and nuts promote the sattvic qualities within us. Some example of sattvic herbs and spices are ginger, basil, turmeric and coriander.

Food that is overcooked, microwaved, preserved or frozen is tamasic. By changing our diet and drinking more water at room temperature, but not during or after 30 minutes of eating, we can alter our health.

Destiny is in our hands

By taking responsibility for our own health, we can avoid the biggest 'self inflicted' disaster of the 21st century.

Let us be cautious of 'professional' advice or short term 'remedies' and say no to the fixing of our problems through sugar and pills.

GK Chesterton sums it up perfectly: "I do not believe in a fate that falls on all men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act."

David Green is an experienced practitioner of Kriya Yoga and is the author of a new book, The Invisible Hand: Business, Success & Spirituality which shows how the spiritual wisdom of the East can be integrated into our busy lives and careers. www.the-invisiblehand.com

Book Review extract:

"I was given this book to read and review. I enjoyed it very much. I have come across many self-help and life change books before but, this book seems different in that it feels very honest and truthful.

The pace is good and the use of language is straightforward which makes it a very comfortable read. This is not a book about giving up material wealth for spiritualism, it in fact illustrates how a more spiritual way of life can improve all aspects of living, including wealth.

Being a recent convert to daily meditation, I can wholly connect with the writer's experience of finding out more about the inner self and our strengths. The discipline of regular meditation according to David Green has given him an understanding of love and happiness and success.

This is not a religious book and you do not feel preached to but the writer believes that faith in our own abilities, rather than faith in external powers, plays a large part in the help and love arriving from the Invisible Hand. One passage stays with me: "Meditation is the superfood for the mind. This superfood calms my mind and I worry less."

I would be happy to recommend this book as an inspiring read."
Rating: 8.5/10

J A Skinner

It's just not right that a person who works and pays tax, earns less than someone on unemployment benefits. This anomaly was highlighted recently in the Daily Mail when 50 jobs remained unfilled in Worcester where unemployment is high. One potential applicant didn't bother to apply because the government paid him more not to work.

The benefits debate is gathering real momentum in the UK. Should the unemployed do something in return for taxpayer's support? Surely the answer is yes. But if governments condition our unemployed to expect money for nothing, then the result is obvious. There is no incentive to find a job. Any smart person will take money for nothing.

Unemployed people need to be reminded that they are valued, useful and are needed. Everyone is good at something and everyone can contribute. Policymakers need to create the opportunities - not animosity or vacuous promises. Initiatives don't count unless they are delivered. Surely a sense of responsibility needs to be imbued well before young people become unemployed.

Forget the politics, good old fashioned hard work and enthusiasm leads to financial reward, satisfaction and high self esteem. It's the law of karma.

Prince Charles, a great role model for the young, has announced a new scheme called Step Up To Serve which is a call to arms to inspire our youth many of whom are unemployed. Brilliant in principle, but will it be adequately funded to create a meaningful difference to the underlying issue which is really the government's problem to solve? Also, do we ever stop to think that our young people cannot always be blamed for their lack of education and the environment in which they grow up which influences their attitude to work?

Work is Worship

Work ethic alongside education should be gently introduced at a very young age.

I grew up in a family where we were taught that extra pocket money required something in return. My father was self employed, so we were given mundane tasks like stuffing envelopes from a young age and had holiday jobs. This conditioning helped me to realise that with hard work everything was possible - effort and sacrifice puts food on the table. If on the other hand, I had grown up with 'work shy' parents, the odds are that I would have followed that pattern instead.

Getting the best out of young people is also a middle class problem. It's too easy for young adults to ride on the backs of their hardworking parents expecting continued hand outs without breaking sweat. Parents naturally want to help their children, but 'free' money is never as valuable as money earned after a hard day's work.

Some will say that it's not easy for a young person to get a holiday job. Well that just isn't so. Take Christina, a hairdresser from Glasgow. She has raised her son Jack on her own whilst running a business. Her work ethic has rubbed off on him - at just 13 and has shown a talent for cooking. Jack is now being trained by a top chef at weekends who has taken him under his wing because he wants to learn, works hard and displays a good attitude. Surely these are the key ingredients to success. Can you imagine how great a chef he is going to be by the age of 21?

Yoga Could Be The Answer

Yoga is a practical science which can be applied to our lives. It is not just sitting cross-legged chanting OM.

There are three main paths of yoga which prevail in our daily activities:

Karma yoga: The Path of Action - through our actions we can be useful to society in our work;
Jnani yoga: The Path of Wisdom - as we learn and experience more, we become wiser and
Bhakti yoga: The Path of Devotion - through serving and caring, our love, acceptance and tolerance increases for others.

Meanwhile mudras, which are normally represented by symbolic hand gestures, have great significance in daily life also. Many who practise yoga put the forefinger to the thumb but few know the significance. It means bending the ego with humility and surrender. Both governments and the unemployed need to be humble and support each other.

Those who don't work, demonstrate another type of mudra with the flat palm facing upwards. This mudra can represent a plea for help and not just money. Then there is the mudra of putting two hands together, normally when welcoming someone, which signifies the symbol of unity. In this context the government should be signalling togetherness with the unemployed - we will help you but you need to help yourselves by helping others.

Policymakers need to be mindful of the unemployed by introducing properly funded schemes and education while showing proper respect to the employed.

Values need to be instilled and nurtured by example and not force fed. Future generations will then never expect something for nothing again.

David Green is a retired entrepreneur, experienced practitioner of Kriya Yoga and is the author of a new book, The Invisible Hand: Business, Success & Spirituality, which shows that material success and spiritual success are bound together. www.the-invisiblehand.com

Leaders would do well to take a leaf out of Pope Francis’ book on how to be a true leader by actions and not just words. He welcomes the homeless for lunch, shows infinite patience to a child running around while delivering a keynote speech and responds personally to people who contact him. Leadership is about serving others faithfully. This is known as Seva, the Sanskrit word for selfless service.

Bosses have a huge responsibility to be ethical regardless of the pressure to make money. At least that was the old school way of thinking. Good leadership comes from the top; bad leadership comes from reacting to a cacophony of discontentment from taxpayers, clients, staff or shareholders.

Poorly run companies have to be ‘found out’ before admitting to their mistakes. Monopolies and big business continue to overcharge us if they can get away with it and it’s too easy to treat clients and staff with contempt. Sir Mike Rake, President of the CBI, has finally acknowledged that “business is suffering a crisis of confidence and business is seen as the enemy.” But lip service is just not enough. Has proactive leadership become a dying art? It surely has when denial is always the first form of defence. No wonder expressions such as “customer is king” and “my word is my bond” have been sent to the iCloud recycling bin.

One of the problems is that big business and big government rely on consultants who don’t ‘feel’ the clients or staff or look past the numbers. Last month, I found myself on a plane, next to Peter, a Change consultant who according to a recent Harvard Business Review blog, is part of a staggering $400 billion per annum consulting industry which is not properly accountable. I was curious to hear what Peter’s job entailed. He informed me that he was there to make savings and bring change. I asked if that meant he implemented change in a gentle caring way. He laughed. “If the staff don’t like it they can leave. The owners are only interested in their return and not how we achieve it.” I was taken aback. Has big business in the 21st Century really come to t

Going Undercover

Every CEO needs to become an Undercover Boss. CEO’s gain the most knowledge when they come down from the safety of their ivory towers. They soon discover how difficult it is to do business with their company, how well or badly they treat their staff and how hard it is to complain. If on the other hand, leaders and their directors go literally undercover, then such anonymity filters down negatively to their staff, the lifeblood of the company. Why should staff go the extra mile if their leaders do not demonstrate active leadership?

If all else fails, perhaps governments should enshrine in law a Customer Service Charter enforcing CEO’s of PLC’s and monopolies to personally sign off and deal with complaints. If the government wants to be popular, here’s a sure way to achieve it - force CEO’s to experience first hand what the customers are feeling.

Out of darkness comes light

Luckily all is not lost. Even Michael O’Reilly, boss of Ryanair, has supposedly declared a new love for his clients. I have experienced firsthand how annoying the Ryanair website is - it’s a miracle that any of us go back. It’s no mean feat to buy a ticket without including insurance, a lifejacket, a mobile phone or even a new suitcase. I’m not sure why some leaders take so long to recognise that hacking off your clients may not be the smartest way to do business.

Then there’s Malcolm Walker, Chairman of Iceland Foods, featured on the BBC programme ‘Life in the Freezer Cabinet’ . Here’s a boss who leads from the front, who cares less about his own image and more about his staff and clients. He demonstrates that supporting clients and staff is the number one reason for business success. Such leaders make sure that we understand what we are buying and that the product arrives on time and as described. If a problem arises we can talk to a person with knowledge who can help us, rather than a machine or a person that responds like a machine!

Great leaders do not take the blind path of ignorance and are not afraid to do the right thing: To lead by example with conviction, visibility and honour. Albert Einstein remarked: “Anyone who doesn’t take truth seriously in small matters cannot be trusted in large ones either.”

It seems that religious leaders and eminent scientists can give valuable lessons to business leaders who need to rediscover the art of leadership.

David Green’s new book, The Invisible Hand: Business, Success & Spirituality illustrates how material success can be achieved with a spiritual attitude.

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The Invisible Hand: Business, Success & Spirituality