What is the Ishayas’ Ascension?
The Ishayas’ Ascension is a collection of simple spiritual techniques for cultivating an attitude towards life of Appreciation (or Praise), Gratitude, Love and Compassion.
Each technique uses a short phrase designed to encourage these positive, or ascending, mind states.
The phrases are tailored to each individual during a First Sphere course run by teachers of Ascension.
The teachings can be used just as an aid for handling stress. Or they can be used as intended, to go much further, rising beyond self-limiting beliefs and using them as a powerful vehicle for spiritual growth.
The techniques are universal and can be used within any belief system, or even without a belief system.
After all, no one has a monopoly on Appreciation, Gratitude, Love and Compassion. When these attitudes become the basic approach to life, they quite literally transform our lives. They are the basic qualities of the enlightened mind within each of us. The Ascension techniques allow this inner reality to emerge gracefully and fully.
The Ishaya tradition holds that the teachings come from the Himalayas, where the tradition of enlightenment has been honoured for
millennia. The story goes that the teachings have been preserved there until the world was ready for them – they have now been released and are being taught around the world by the Ishayas.
Who are the Ishayas?
In its broadest sense, the word
Ishaya refers to any enlightened being, or indeed to anyone committed to their growth. More specifically, the Ishayas are an order of monks who are the custodians of this timeless teaching.
A North American teacher, Maharishi Sadashiva Isham (MSI), started teaching Ascension in the early 1990s.
In 1992 he founded The Society For Ascension in North Carolina which became the base for the modern order of Ishaya monks (made up of men and women) and a teacher training facility that has trained hundreds of teachers to take the teaching out into the world.
Today there are two main organisations teaching Ascension, The Society for Ascension and The International Society of Ascenders, as well as a handful of smaller groups of individual teachers. There are many thousands
of people all over the world who have learnt the techniques and are benefiting from them in their daily lives. | 