Posts Tagged ‘health’
Seeking Solace in Nature
“I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in.”
~ George Washington Carver, American Scientist, Inventor and Educator
It is certain that we all have our bad days. Even the most enlightened of people can sometimes feel a lack of energy and be overwhelmed by the external reality of this world.
In these times we, as individuals, often wish for just one soothing moment, just an hour or two of peace and quiet.
Seeking outside of ourselves for security or happiness is, of course, not going to help us find it.
We certainly can only find lasting security, happiness and peace within our own spirits.
But the environment that we find ourselves in can often make it either easier, or more difficult, to achieve connection with our spirit.
When we strip away all the flash, the lights, the … Continue reading →
A Little Yoga, For Beginners
“I did not come to yoga to stretch. I came to live.”
~Maya Breuer, Kripalu Yoga Instructor
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This article is a repost from our old blog – originally dated June 2008.
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Coming to Yoga
As we age, we embrace new things, we evolve and grow in wisdom and strength. This is not always so, but it can be, if we maintain an openness to new ideas and accept life’s challenges gracefully, as difficult as that may sometimes seem.
In my own evolution I have recently embraced a challenging new thing, one that actually facilitates my ability to accept other challenges with grace and strength. That thing being yoga.
I do not know what originally drew me to yoga, especially as the attraction began a few years ago when I was in the worst physical shape of my life. Still, yoga had an unknown appeal and I began reading and learning about it. At that time I did not incorporate it into my life, but that door remained open.
Brief dabblings in yoga over the last year have shown me that it’s not easy but that it is fun, and it remained very appealing.
Now, having been vegetarian for nearly nine months, and having shed over 40 pounds towards reclaiming my college/high school weight, I just suddenly incorporated a practice of yoga into my life.
The impulse was my thirty-second birthday at the end of March. I received an organic yoga mat as a gift from my fiancé, Serge, and he also paid for my first two yoga classes at the local ashram. Those classes were in the Sivananda style of yoga.
Though the classes didn’t work out, as the instructor was like a drill sergeant, I adopted a home yoga practice that has really done something good for me.
In the very beginning I did not believe that I would be able to stick to a regular yoga practice, and doing it every day seemed like a chore. I felt silly mostly, there was hardly a single … Continue reading →
God In All Things
“They say that God is everywhere, and yet we always think of him as somewhat of a recluse.”
~Emily Dickinson, 19th-Century American Poetess
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This article is a repost from our old blog – originally dated April 2008.
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Today started out quite foggy and dreary, but now it seems to be brightening and drying up. 
After months of focusing on my diet and introducing a vegetarian lifestyle, I begin now to bring my focus to my physicality.
As part of that process, I have decided to stop dabbling in Yoga at home and to actually go out and join a class.
I have chosen Sivananda style Yoga, partly out of a lack of options and partly out of what I learned about it during my research of yoga styles. It seems very balanced for me, who I am and what I believe.
I have just returned home after my first 2-hour class, feeling invigorated (and a bit out-of-shape) and looking at things with more open eyes.
I don’t know how long this buzz will last, so I will take this opportunity to write a post about what I have recently been observing.
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So many people, myself included, spend a great deal of their spiritual life or spiritual intentions attempting to find a connection with God, the Creator, the Divine One. We look for it outside of ourself, we expect and hope for grace and guidance to come TO us.
For some religions GOD is something that one must earn, something that one attains at the end of life. GOD is something that you must … Continue reading →
Meditation Basics: What, Why and How
“Without reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful.”
~Margaret J. Wheatley, Writer and Management Consultant
Meditation is a contemplative state which one enters in order to relax the waking consciousness. There are many reasons that people take up meditation and there are numerous benefits to incorporating a regular practice of meditation.
Meditation can be used to cultivate a deeper awareness of one’s relationships and surroundings. Calming the ego-consciousness (the judge) that lives within our waking mind and opening ourself up to receiving peace, allows us to recognize and, with diligence, to access a higher state of consciousness.
Why should you want to reach higher consciousness?
That is a very good question and yet, one that is very difficult to answer. You may want to reach higher consciousness for the changes that it makes in how you use your life. You may want to reach higher consciousness to develop new abilities. Or perhaps you would enjoy having a higher consciousness because of the differences your actions may make in the lives of others.
What can be said is that, through the regular practice of meditation, you will come to realizations, values and talents that you are very unlikely to arrive at without the aid of meditation. I say unlikely, I do not say never. Meditation is a tool, like a key to a door. It is not the key that makes the wondrous thing behind the door exist. That thing always existed, all that the key did was make it easier to reach.
The realization and changes that develop in you over time, while practicing meditation (things like, mindfulness, calm, spiritual oneness, empowerment) are subtle shifts in your level of awareness that will help you to, among other things:
- -Form more healthy romantic relationships
-Fulfill your internal life purpose
-Expel toxins and illness from your body
-Speak and act with true integrity
-See the beauty in all things
-Cope better with change and challenges in life
-Build self-esteem
-Look and feel more youthful
-Gain spiritual awareness / inspiration from the divine
-Walk lighter on the Earth
-Appreciate the gifts that you have in your life
-Serve yourself and others with deep kindness
-Channel positive creativity through your unique self
So I suppose that the question is not why you should want to reach higher consciousness, but why you should not want to?
What does meditation mean exactly? I have heard so many different things about it.
Meditation means many different things to many different people. There are several approaches to meditation, several layers of … Continue reading →
