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A Little Yoga, For Beginners

“I did not come to yoga to stretch. I came to live.”
~Maya Breuer, Kripalu Yoga Instructor

Standing Pigeon Pose

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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 →

Embracing Your Inner Child

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.”
~Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973, Spanish Painter and Sculptor

Your Inner Child

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This article is a repost from our old blog – originally dated May 2008.
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Recently I wrote about my experience with shamanic healing and how it made me feel. I knew at the end of it that something had changed in me, in my energy field.

It took a few days to understand what that thing was and for the advice that the healer gave me to be really processed.

But, once I had settled a bit and could see and feel the whole thing objectively, it became apparent that the shift in me was the return of my inner child. Or rather the acceptance of that piece of energy in conjunction with the rest of my energy.

We do not ever deliberately release or deny our inner child, it is something that simply happens. It is gradual, the loss of our innocence and our playful side. This is the part of us which is most like spirit, for the child is not very far removed from the raw soul, having only been in flesh for a few short years.

This innocence and optimistic playful side is what many people search for in their daily lives, that hidden something that they feel is missing. Some people even perpetrate awful things against children in order to try and reconnect with, or get close to, that lost part of themselves.

What each of us really wishes for is the feeling of being complete, whole and perfect, just as we are. I now feel that the reintegration and acceptance of our child-like nature is a key step in achieving this feeling of wholeness, and thus freedom and joy.

What occurred to me after this healing is that Little Vera had come home, desiring to reconnect with me on my journey towards lightness and ascension. There was a slight tingling, a glow of sorts, in my stomach near to my solar plexus.

And I remembered that Jay, my shamanic healer, had suggested that I put my hand on that region each morning upon awaking and welcome the part of me that had returned. That I should give that energy tender and loving thoughts throughout my day.

The energy was definitely a playful one, one that wanted to dance and sing like no one was watching!

These observations, along with the fact that this same part of my energy seemed to have a withdrawing reaction to any conflict, anxiety or stress, made me realize that it was a child. My inner child, the true me, who I remember being before the care for others opinions, and the need to “behave properly” in order to please the adult world, ever set in. So I call it: “Little Vera.”

I decided right then and there that I would love her and protect her, embrace her and let her play, a little bit every day. I would not judge her on her impulses or try and make her conform to my will. I would not make her promises that I cannot keep or speak harshly to her. These are things that made her shrink and run away as I grew up.

Now that I knew what I wanted to do, to keep this innocent and magical part of me alive and intact, I had to go about figuring out how to do that.

It was easier than … Continue reading →

Intuition in Decision-making

“The only real valuable thing is intuition. ”
~Albert Einstein, Physicist, Philosopher and Author

Swirl of Thought

Intuition is the holy grail of the Self-Development movement. There are so many books out there promising to help you find your inner voice, trying to teach you how to trust what your inner self tells you.

But it is not always that simple. It can take years to distinguish what the Quakers call “that still small voice within.” And the hearer can go back-and-forth between believing and not believing that what they are hearing has real value.

We have all experienced flashes of inspiration from time-to-time: A quick knowing that tells us we should slow down while driving, only to come around the corner and happen onto a fresh accident scene. A twinge in our mind that someone is untrustworthy only to find out later that they stole our credit card when we weren’t looking. The little voice that says “Take your umbrella” on a day that was supposed to be sunny, to then find your lunch break smack dab in the middle of a hail storm. These are certainly not mere coincidences.

Our mind and, more importantly, the spirit that powers our mind, are rare gifts and possess abilities that we … 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

God as a Bug

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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.

~

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 →

Medium Adventures: The Roman in the Bath

“You cheer my heart, who build as if Rome would be eternal.”
~Augustus Caesar, Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus

West End of the Great Bath, Roman Baths

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This article is a repost from our old blog – originally dated June 2008, a point in time when we were living in England.
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Well, we decided to take a day trip yesterday and ended up choosing a trip to Bath. Bath is historically one of Britain’s top tourist destinations and was the playground of many a Regency well-to-do family.

Of course Bath is not a new town, it and the healing springs that bubble up from beneath it’s ground have been sacred for thousands of years. In the first century A.D. the Roman invaders wrestled control of these healing waters, sacred to the British Goddess Sulis, from the hands of the local Duboni tribe.

After gaining control of the hot springs, the Romans set about subduing its flow and controlling access to the waters by erecting a complex of temples and baths, the remains of which can be visited today.

I find it ironic that the very thing which could make a modern Pagan angry with the Romans, the restriction of access to the spring, is now what has guaranteed modern visitation to its site.

Minerva, From the Temple at Bath

If not for these Roman ruins, the spring would most certainly be capped and unknown, running anonymously beneath this modern, retail-carnival of a city.

So, and this is the only time that you may ever hear me say it, “Yeah Romans!!! Good job!”

I must admit that at the Roman Baths, the temple complex and bathing rooms, some of which take a bit of imagination to picture, are truly exquisite. The presence of both hot and cold natural baths in one place is magnificent.

The circular cold pool and the half moon “hot tub” type of area were both most appealing to me.

The great bath, heated by the forces of nature to about 115˚ Fahrenheit, was awe-inspiring. I can only imagine what it must look like at night with the fire lanterns lit. Against the rules, I put my hand in that warm healing water, dedicated to Minerva, the Roman equivalent of the British Goddess Sulis.

All I can say is that one can almost feel all of the … Continue reading →

What is Automatic Writing?

“It seems to me that those songs that have been any good, I have nothing much to do with the writing of them. The words have just crawled down my sleeve and come out on the page.”
~Joan Baez, American Singer/Songwriter

A Pen In Hand

Automatic Writing Explained

Automatic writing is just that, writing automatically without thinking about what you will write. It is a technique that is used in various forms of therapy and in writer’s workshops around the world. Though, when employed as an extra-sensory practice, it involves opening oneself up to not only your own subconscious but also to spiritual beings and entities who might have some positive information and wisdoms to share with you.

Amongst superphysical, or psychic, abilities it is automatic writing that many people find the easiest to develop. And, I don’t say this just because it happens to be the first psychic communication that I myself deliberately attempted, but because the nature of this ability is one that can often get past the conscious defenses of our mind and allow us access to spiritual information.

This is true because, when we first become interested in spiritual abilities, we are often hampered in our over-confident attempts at psychic development by the protective ego, or conscious mind, which does not want us to experience anything that it cannot explain using reason. This is partly self-defense on the part of our mortal mind and partly self-defense on the part of our unique being. What if we come up against something that we cannot handle and suffer a breakdown or, worse, death? In other words, our fear of the unknown is often the very thing that keeps us from being able to experience the psychic unknown which we truly are trying to embrace.

How does automatic writing help overcome this problem? Well, simply put, the mind is a part of the physical body and as such will default to the physical senses if given the opportunity. Hence, putting a pen to paper. With a pen in your physical hand, the mind does not find it so ludicrous and fearfully unexplainable that information should be coming through you. After all, isn’t that what we’re supposed to do with a pen and paper?

So, pen in hand, you are more likely to be able to … Continue reading →

The Mayan: A Bitter But Wise Man

“I shall go further and say that even if an examination of the past could lead to any valid prediction concerning man’s future, that prediction would be the contrary of reassuring.”
~Julien Benda, 20th-Century French Philosopher and Novelist

Mayan Wall Art

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This article is a repost from our old blog – originally dated April 2007.
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Here is an interesting one…

As I have explained to a few of you, and will explain in a post sometime soon, I have a spiritual connection to the past and often get communications from ancient and historical figures interspersed with my regular channelings. The most interesting was a visit from a Mayan priest, filled with wisdom but also filled with tears and bitterness. He gives information on the end of his era in Mayan times and also about the traumas which our world is currently undergoing…specifically planetary phenomena and humankind.

I do not entirely share his opinions on some of things he talks about but I liked him enough that I want to do him justice by not censoring his words. If you take offense and email me I will assume that you haven’t read this part of the post and after laughing at your silliness I will promptly forward your email to the ether so that he can get a good chuckle too, wherever he is.

Be warned, this could be seen as depressing information if you do not keep in mind that he is seeing our “reality” through a very thick veil and that all divination and psychic messages are ultimately changeable by human will.

~

Will we as individuals suffer while our planetary changes occur?

The Mayan: We have already suffered. There is drought where there was fertile soil. We have died and there is no one to remember us. All that we worked so hard for, all that we sacrificed for, was in vain. I do not know the moon upon my face. In the many hours I sat by the fire, in all of the visions that I saw, never once could I have imagined the horror. So swift, like a fire through the desert brush, and all was gone. Oh the Earth lived on, and mankind as well but in some barren, soulless, polluted form. It will happen again. We were so wrong in our calculations, so wrong in our dreaming. How could predictions be so…flat? No one can ever describe, no vision can ever show that which is unknowable. There will be great upheaval and not all will die but not all will live. Those who live will be an entirely different humanity, maybe better hopefully better, wiser, more observant of the natural cycles, but maybe worse, more greedy, more defensive, more warlike. Let us hope this is not to be.

To whom are we currently speaking?

Answer: Sa-DI-een Sadayine. Sadayine Namayazal.

And where do you hail from?

Sadayine: I don’t know what you call us. Mayan, as if all that we have seen could be summed up in a word, so banal, so bland. The calendar is wrong. So many years, so many calculations, so many ceremonies and sacrifices (of people.) And it is wrong.

Has the end of your calendar already passed or is it yet to come?

Sadayine: Our calendar ended when we did. The entirety of our world was washed clean by … Continue reading →

Goal Mapping for Focusing Intent

“Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.”
~Anthony Robbins, Author and Motivational speaker

Sky's the Limit

Everyone is all abuzz about the law of attraction. It’s about time…since us magically-types have been clued into this concept for ages. No….literally…..AGES. ;)

For some the concept is perfect, all on its own. Easy. For others the concept is just a little too big, or too basic, depending upon how you look at it. And then for others the concept is just too small, too narrow of an outlook.

How you look at it is not important. And, to be perfectly honest, the term itself, “Law of Attraction” can be enough to put some people off of even looking into it. Sounds too pretentious, sounds too exclusive.

So for my purposes here I’ll call this the Power of Positive Intent. “As your intentions go, so goes your life.” (That’s my new phrase, based ever so loosely on the whole voting and Ohio thing.)

Now, the general gist of Positive Thinking is just that: Positive Thinking. Of course some things are easier to be positive about than others. Its relatively easy to be positive about going on vacation, not so easy to be positive about receiving a foreclosure notice on your house.

The proof is in the pudding (Boy, I’m just all phrases and cliches today – note to self: Stop watching Amelie so much!)

SO…you don’t have to feel positive about the foreclosure.

But once you are over the initial shock, you need to … Continue reading →

Do you have “the sight?”

“Inner seeing has nothing to do with physical vision; it’s the perception of life directly.”
~Frederick Philip Lenz, III, Ph.D., Spiritual Teacher of American Buddhism

Beautiful Seer

Someone wrote and asked, “When did you first know that you had the sight?” Good question. I, of course, do not have a very simple answer.

Firstly the sight is ofttimes a complete misnomer as many psychics do not actually SEE anything. I think that this is what can give rise to dismay amongst people who are attempting to develop their own sixth sense, they sit there hearing things and feeling things and never trust that they actually have a gift because they have not actually seen Uncle Bob come walking out of the mists and bow down before them in his burial attire.

Back to my gift…I suppose that I was a very precocious child, I was hungry for knowledge from a young age and had an inherent rightness about my way of speaking. Many may choose to coin this “Know-it-all Syndrome.” (Think Hermione without the wand.)

I truly do not remember ever thinking that I had a different gift then anyone else, and if I did it certainly revolved around reading and writing more than trancing and speaking in tongues. But I would tell stories to my friends. Everyone loved to listen to my stories, all of my little friends getting their free bit of after school entertainment out of me.

I would tell stories about the ladies in their funny hats and long dresses getting off of the train at a depot that used to be right where we are standing, about how cars used to be huge and shiny and have funny fins on the back of them, how a little girl used to play in the closet with her doll house just like we were playing now. Everyone loved how vivid my stories were and I felt like I had a gift. But the truth is that they weren’t my stories, I know that now.

My Mother always said that I was … Continue reading →

Channeling: The Peace Within

“Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.”
~Buddha

Peaceful Flower with Dew

Abandon all delusion and allow yourself to feel the true nature of your being. You are light, once and always. You are all light and only light. That is the truth of creation and being. What is light is also dark for light IS dark incarnate. From darkness came creation and all creation is but forms of light.

Peace is attainable within by your admission that all ambition and desire is a falsehood, a set of clothes that the soul wears while in this limited physical form, for however brief that form lives. But all clothes may and must be discarded in order for the truth of your freedom to permeate your existence and for the original naked nature of your soul to return to its place at the forefront of your being.

Grasp only onto a knowledge if it continues to serve this ultimate goal. Let go all perceptions of the self to which you hold dear for they are simply manifestations of this clothing which keeps you from true harmony and peace with your fellow travelers on this spiritual journey.

This life and its self are temporary rest stops, brief obstacles on the climb within a greater journey and the ultimate destination.

Guises worn by yourself and others fall away and crumble of their own accord at all times. Why should you wait for … Continue reading →

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