mir Mourad is an Egyptian mystic, yogi, and spiritual teacher. Having once faced depression spanning several years, an overwhelming fear of death, along with increasing awareness of the realities of human conflict, he began his search for enlightenment.

Studying the various philosophies of Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, as well as Western philosophy, he quickly discovered that the mere gathering of knowledge belonging to a belief system is insufficient for man’s liberation, nor can there be happiness without self-knowledge. Beginning the practice of yoga, he immediately became deeply absorbed into the discipline. Upon coming to a profound inner awakening and a series of inner transformations during a six-year period of asceticism, he founded the Shunya Yoga system.

Combining the ancient technology of yoga with the spirit of Zen, Shunya Yoga is a method which cuts through one-sided belief systems, ideas, and philosophies, and into a direct seeing of Truth which is inexpressible. With a blend of sensitivity and intensity, as well as compassionate wisdom, his work is an effort to assist social transformation through the transformation of consciousness. Belonging to no particular tradition and addressing both individual and social concerns for modern times, his teachings have covered various areas including self-knowledge, meditation, zen, religion, criticism of organized religion, enlightenment, death, morality, social transformation through individual transformation, and doubt in the search for Truth. Amir presently teaches through discourses, programs, and satsangs in Montreal, Canada.

Human well-being depends less on external situations and more on whether the human being has come to a deeper understanding and insight into human nature itself. When there is lack of insight into one’s own being, what is its mechanism and programming, suffering is a natural result. One feels that no matter how many desires one may fulfill in the world, nothing brings enduring happiness and freedom. One attachment becomes a seed for a million attachments and out of fear the wheel of slavery continues. With all of our attention directed to the external world, in the process the human being becomes forgetful of one’s real nature. It is this identification of the mind with that which is false which is what we call egotism, and the science of yoga in one sense involved a breaking through of this limited shell of egotism, opening the mind to a vast cosmos beyond.

 This is the understanding of yoga – that it is because of avidya (ignorance) that all of of man’s sufferings in the world are born. The human being is himself the maker of his own suffering. Although the paths to freedom are many, the only remedy for this is one and one alone : the movement from unconsciousness to consciousness. How is this possible ? Consciousness is not something fixed and defined, but can be stretched beyond its present limitations through a process of deepening one’s attention. The entire evolution of life from one state of growth to another, from one level of consciousness to another, is already proof of this fact.

A combination of Tantra Yoga and Raja Yoga, Shunya Yoga is an inner science for the expansion of consciousness, self-knowledge, and freedom from suffering. Through the use of asanas (physical postures), pranayam (control of life energies through breath control), mudras (seals), bandhas (locks), and kriyas (purification processes), the first stages of Shunya Yoga involve transformation of the energies of the mind and body as preparation for sitting meditation. The causes of human suffering have their source in the mind and it is through a greater awareness into the mind itself that hindrances are seen, understood, dissolved, and inner transformation is possible.

Having overcome several physical and mental obstacles (kleshas), then begins the next phase of Shunya Yoga: the science of meditation. It is through meditation where the deeper process of the development of attention begins. This attention involves creating a distance in your experience between the Seer and the seen, so that there is a clear distinction between your own nature and the processes of the mind and body. Through a greater clarity, the mind becomes like a mirror reflecting things as they are, and mental processes gradually comes to a stillness. If the mind can become calm and quiet, yet with increased awareness, this is the movement into superconsciousness. It is through superconscious perception then there comes a direct seeing into the essence of one’s own intelligence which is one and the same as the essence of matter. What we call “mind” and “matter” are different expressions of one substance, and it is this one substance that expresses itself through all things which is discovered in self-realization. Timeless and boundless, beyond birth and death, it is this state of consciousness of the finite merging with the infinite which is the state of Yog (“Union”) or self-realization.

After coming to a glimpse into one’s inner nature (nirvikalpa samadhi), the second half of Shunya Yoga is to bring this enlightenment into action in the world as a moment to moment experience. In this continuous communion with your own Buddha Nature, life becomes an expression of being anchored in the universal source. This is the state of sahaja samadhi (spontaneous enlightenment).