Spirituality | Wellness | Happiness

The magic of alchemy works by aligning with the principles that make up the universes operating system. Here are examples of how you might apply these universal principles on a daily basis. The events in my life reflect who I am: I will apply one experience today to myself. Whatever catches my attention is trying to tell me something. If I feel angry at anyone, I will see if what I dislike in the person actually exists in me. If an overheard conversation catches my attention, I will take those words as a personal message. I want to find the world that is inside me. Whatever I pay attention to will grow: I will take inventory of how Im using my attention. I will keep a log of how much time I spend with television, video games, the computer, hobbies, gossip, work I dont care about, work I am passionate about, activities that fascinate me, and fantasies of escape or fulfillment. In this way I will find out what aspects of my life are going to grow. Then I will ask, What do I want ...

Marcia Shibata will be heading a Kado workshop from September 30 to October 9 at the Dechen Chling Shambhala Buddhist Meditation Center. Discover and cultivate the source of creativity and learn how to express this in flower arranging. Kado is a meditative, contemplative understanding of self,nature, space and perception and how they all interrelate and depend on the other for true, authentic expressions. Students will begin to learn to see clearly, or notice when they do not. Kado means "The Way of Flowers. The Flower Way began in China over 2000 year ago. When it was introduced and assimilated into Japan, the Japanese word "Ikebana arose, meaning "living flowers. Kado is a contemplative practice that studies nature as it is. Human beings are part of nature, we are not separate. We follow the same patterns as does all life on this planet. Kado students simultaneously study the human condition when working with natural materials from the earth. By practicing classical ...

In Maharishi Ayurveda (SanskritAyus life, and Veda knowledge or science, hence the science of life or the knowledge of life span), a balanced diet does not revolve around fats, carbohydrates, and proteins. Nor are calories, vitamins, and minerals given direct attention. These nutrients are known to us intellectually, not through direct experience. You cannot detect vitamin C in your orange juice, much less the difference between it and vitamin A. When your taste buds greet a bite of food, an enormous amount of useful information is delivered to the doshas (three operating principles situated in the interconnectedness between mind and body). Working solely with this information, Ayurveda allows us to eat a balanced diet naturally, guided by our own instincts, without turning nutrition into an intellectual headache. When food talks to your doshas, it says many things, because the different gunas (qualities)heavy and light, dry and oily, hot and coldare present in it. But the prima...

The Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program combines the art and science of meditation to transform the way you relate to stress. This eight session intensive program was developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn of the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Lexington Healing Arts Academy offers this course Sundays October 2 through November 20, 2011. MBRS is highly regarded for making mindfulness meditation accessible for people from all walks of life. Scientific studies have shown this program to decrease psychological and physical pain and discomfort and improve the overall quality of life for participants. The Center for Mindfulness (University of Massachusetts Medical School) reports, "Our work over the past twenty-eight years has shown consistent, reliable, and reproducible demonstrations of major and clinically relevant reductions in medical and psychological symptoms across a wide range of medical diagnoses, including many different chronic pain conditions [Kabat-Zinn,...

Take a moment to become aware of who is reading this page. Do you feel a presence? That presence is not your mind; its your soul. The mind might be saying, What am I going to have for lunch? or I wonder what time it is. The inner dialogue happens in the presence of the soul. Thoughts come and go, feelings come and go. The molecules of the body come and go. But they come and go in this presence.This presence, the soul, recycles itself as your memories, your moods, and even your personality, because you dont have the same personality today that you had when you were 5 years of age, or when you were 15. You personality is an expression of the evolving universe; its constantly changing, growing, evolving, transforming. Who is going through this experience? The real youthe you that we call pure consciousness, the field of intelligence, the inner self, the soul, the spirit, the infinite consciousness, the Being within you. Here, we have used all of these terms synonymously. If you ...

Do old beliefs hold us back? Is our mind taking a toll on our body? How do we work with discomfort? Can we heal? When the body is acknowledged, healing is inevitable. Turning inward we can develop true intimacy. The body becomes a refuge. By touching the inner sanctuary we can unlock true confidence, intuition and love. In this four-week class, Denmo Ibrahim, founder and CEO of Earthbody, will guide a variety of body mind practices for the individual and the group. The course includes guided meditations, techniques in self-massage, introduction to the seven gateways within the body, healing circles, and the power of mantra. Denmo will lead the group to: Deepen the relationship to the inner body; locate and work with emotion; define and clear mental blocks; develop intuition through touch; awaken energy channels of the body; connect and ground in self love. Instructed by Denmo Ibrahim: CMT, Ayurvedic Educator, Vajrayana Practitioner Denmo is the founder and CEO of Earthbody, a day spa f...

Inner Metamorphosis University (IMU) cordially invites you to be present at their "Freedom Lies Beyond The Mind meditation workshop at their meditation center situated in Chicago Rogers Park. The workshop will be conducted on Sunday, October 30th 2011 from 1:30pm to 6:30pm facilitated by overseas guest Bhashkar Perinchery. Organized to assist people in finding ways of unlearning the habit of being miserable and instead finding a route to living gracefully, living playfully and joyously, this beautifully designed meditation workshop offers various practical tools for self awareness and inner balance. Bhashkar Perinchery, facilitator of this workshop, was also the initiator of IMU Chicago and has been giving individual counseling, leading seminars and trainings, and lecturing in Universities and symposiums all over the world for more than three and a half decades. Besides various publications Bhashkar was the author of "The Source of Joy Within, a practical workbook enhancing e...

Today my Tai Chi instructor talked about change. That's what life -- and Tai Chi -- is all about. When we stop changing, that's called death . The yin/yang symbol beautifully embodies this truth. White (yang) flows into black (yin). There's yang in yin, and yin in yang. To exist, lightness and darkness need each other. Where one ends, the other begins. Taoist philosophy finds a concrete expression in the physical movements of Tai Chi. My instructor likes to emphasize how transitions are central in Tai Chi, as in life. How you move between movements is as important as the movements themselves. Meaning, there's no wasted space in Tai Chi, as in life. There's no Big Important Movement that you frantically rush to, because every movement is equally important. In a Tai Chi class, you feel this as the practitioners move together much like a school of fish or a flock of birds do. There's a harmony, but not a lockstep. People are sensitive to how those around them are...

Inner Metamorphosis University (IMU) announces a meditation retreat for inner silence and harmony with Bhashkar Perinchery in Wisconsin, US. This meditation retreat offers a unique opportunity for people to leave their routines and habitual surroundings behind oftentimes perceived as monotonous and tiring to again recognize and notice the beauty and uniqueness all around them. Practicing meditation exercises is known to be an effective way to subside the towering mental fatigue commonly encountered in today's extremely competitive work environments. A few days of spiritual vacation in this meditation retreat with Bhashkar Perinchery in Wisconsin comes as a great opportunity for people to learn to relax, attain a peace of mind, and rejuvenate. Featured with blend of silent meditations and breath-awareness techniques as well as approaches to bring one's own unconscious patterns into visibility, this meditation retreat has especially been designed to introduce people to authenti...

I'm glad I don't have high blood pressure, because some days reading the newspaper makes me feel like my head (or my heart?) is going to explode. Today's outrage is nicely encapsulated by the Portland Oregonian headline that caught my eye at the top of the Metro section: " Midwife calls death God's will ." The death was that of David Hickman, who was born two months early and lived a unduly short life of nine hours because his parents were wacko Oregon City Christians who believe in faith healing. (I've written about previous child sacrifice deaths committed by Followers of Christ church members here , here , and here .) It's ridiculous how religious belief is used as a justification for letting children die without seeking necessary medical care. If somebody stands by while a child dies without dialing 911, this should be an open-and-shut legal case: guilty . But while this is the 21st century, some cultural attitudes are still stuck in ancient histo...

Like my heart and my breathing, my mind is recirculating images and feelings that are shared with millions of other people. Without death, this renewal would not be possible. In the East it is believed that our bodies store memories of many deaths as we move from on reincarnation to the next. Thus our terror at the prospect of dying is really a memory. Likewise, the peace that can be felt in the face of death is also a memory. Each of us is susceptible to both recollections, the pain of dying and the joy of being reborn. Without having to endorse any belief in reincarnation, I have found that people do locate the memory of peace inside. Since the fear of death exists on many levels, so does its healing. On the emotional level you need to begin ridding yourself of the energy of fear. On the mental level you can read philosophy or scriptures, or if you are a nonbeliever, delve into the many scientific studies of near-death experiences, which have now been documented by the thousand...

Four times a year people all over the world take part in this didgeridoo sound healing meditation wherever they are. The didgeridoo meditation happens on the equinoxes and solstices at local sunset times. It is like a wave of healing sound following the sunset around the globe four times a year. So the meditation starts in New Zealand (since they are the first large land after the date line); soon after participants in Australia, Taiwan, Japan and other Asian countries join in; the wave will then be carried on by participants in Arab countries, Israel, Africa and Europe with Americans, Canadians, Middle and South Americans complete the world wide circle. Didgeridoo meditation will be done at every solstice and equinox, so didgeridoo will be conducted four times a year. The next one will be on 23 September 2011. Wherever you are on this beautiful planet on 23 September 2011, allow for one hour starting at your local sunset time. The structure of the one hour meditation is very simple:45...

In meditation, the body and posture are not mere preliminaries. Mindfulness is all about opening up our awareness. And how else would we do that than through our bodies and our senses? The body is THE vehicle with which we take in what our experience has to offer. But how open are we to receiving it? It is said that if we create auspicious conditions in our body and environment, meditation and realization will automatically arise. That is why Aryaloka Buddhist Center will be holding a meditation retreat from the 23rd to the 25th of September. This retreat will practice embodied awareness as a doorway to deepening one's practice. Participants will learn principles of posture that will set the stage for openness and receptivity. Participants will also explore different approaches to cultivating mindfulness and metta through the gateway of sensory experience. And there will be plenty of silence to allow each one to touch that place of stillness within.Open to all who have experience w...

Shinzen Young: Benefits of Long-Term Meditation (excerpt) - Thinking Allowed w/ Jeffrey Mishlove NOTE: This is an excerpt from a 30-minute DVD. www.thinkingallowed.com Meditation practices can lead to permanent changes in awareness of the self and the transcendence of the ego. Shinzen Young is an ordained Buddhist Monk and scholar of Buddhism. After about a year of meditative practice, he says, one establishes open access to a realm of altered states of awareness. When practicing in a disciplined fashion, one goes on to explore the various stages leading toward enlightenment. From: ThinkingAllowedTV Views: 79 9 ratings Time: 08:43 More in Education

You can use a mantra (sound) to increase the benefit of exercise. Research with instruments such as the electroencephalograph or EEC, which measures electrical activity in the brain, has shown that certain mental states are beneficial to both physical and mental health. Specifically, researchers have found a very beneficial condition of restful attention, which is typically observed during meditation. But restful attention can also be attained during exercise through the use of a mantra, or repeated pattern of sound. With your attention focused on your breathing, silently repeat the syllable so each time you inhale silently, and then, as you exhale, repeat the syllable hum. By using this mantra throughout your exercise period, you can enjoy the benefits of meditation and physical activity at the same time. Remember that the best times to exercise are during the Kapha periods: 6-10 a.m. and 6-10 p.m. This is because the structure of your physiology is stronger and more tolerant at ...

Osho Sadhana Meditation Center invites you to an inner journey with our beloved Swami Chaitanya Keerti who is travelling all the way from India for a three day meditation retreat. It's a rare opportunity not to miss. Swami Chaitanya Keerti has been an Osho disciple since the early 70s and has been leading meditation camps, workshops and talk-programs all over the world. Presently, he is the spokesperson of the Osho World Foundation, which is the biggest Meditation Center and commune in the North India. He is the Editor of Osho world magazine in New Delhi , India. The event will be held on the following dates at the Osho Sadhana Meditation Center: 23 Sept, Friday 8.30 AM - 8 PM 24 Sept, Saturday 8.30 AM - 8 PM 25 Sept, Sunday 8.30 AM - 8 PM A 3-day Meditation camp is recomended by Osho for a quantam leap in transformation. Orientation and guidelines would be provided to friends new to Osho Meditations. Dynamic meditation session in morning 8.30 - 10.00 Am is the most important and ...

What can you say about infinity ? Well, the word has a pretty lengthy Wikipedia page , so clearly the answer is "a lot." Which makes sense, since if there's one thing we know about infinity, it's this: infinity is freaking big . Or at least, limitless. I suppose something could be infinitely small -- getting smaller and smaller without limit. But this would mean that it's a freaking big bit of small. God supposedly is infinite. Infinitely loving, infinitely knowing, infinitely powerful. Heck, God probably has an infinite number of positive qualities, being so infinite. This is assuming that God exists. We also have to assume infinity exists. Reading the "A Window on Infinity" chapter in physicist David Deutsch's The Beginning of Infinity book , I learned that there's some disagreement about whether infinity is really real, or just conceptually real. There is a philosophy of mathematics called finitism , the doctrine that only finite abstract en...

Repetition of a specific Sanskrit word, or mantra, results in sound vibrations that gradually lead the mind out of its normal thinking process and into the silence that underlies thought. Before the early 1970s, these benefits were not even suspected. Meditation held little appeal for Western medicine until a young UCLA physiologist named L Keith Wallace proved that besides its spiritual implications meditation had profound effects on the body. In a series of experiments begun in the late 1960s as part of his doctoral work, Wallace took groups of mostly college aged volunteers who practiced Transcendental Meditation (TM) and hooked them up to monitors to test critical bodily functions while they were in meditation. Subjectively these young volunteers reported a sense of increasing calm and inner silence. Although it bad been previously thought that it took years of practice to attain a deep meditational state, the TM technique very quickly produced profound relaxation and significant ...

A two-day program of holistic panels, experiential sessions and presentations is scheduled for November 11 and 12 at the FIU Kovens Conference Center in North Miami Beach as part of a unique holistic event: the WHOLE 11-11-11 Convention. Created and hosted by the Web of Holistic Educators WHOLE to bring together holistic experts and enthusiasts from around the country, the convention promises to be an exceptional opportunity to learn more about improving our relationships with others, taking better care of our physical, mental and spiritual body, and reconnecting with Mother Earth through meditative inquiry, meditation, QiGong, music, and other experiential activities. Opening the event on Friday evening at 6 p.m., keynote speaker Janet Weisberg, will help attendees open their senses and reconnect with Mother Earth in a conscious, respectful and profound way. Then on Saturday she will also facilitate a 1-hour workshop on same subject. Additional treat for Friday's kick-off recept...

Once a person learns to transcend, his mind is opened to itself in a fresh way. That is very beneficial, as we have seen, but it is not the whole story. You can also learn to manipulate the subtle layers of the mind. For that, special techniques exist, the first of which is called primordial sound. It takes its name from the faint vibrations that can be detected when the mind is almost totally quiet. According to Ayurveda, these fainter-than-faint sounds are not incidental: all of nature is made up of them. In the complete stillness of the quantum mechanical universe, primordial sounds are born, form patterns, and in time blossom into matter, energy, and all the infinite variety of things made of matter and energyMars, trees, rocks, and human beings. The theory behind primordial sound treatment is that the mind can return to the quantum level, introduce certain sounds that may have become distorted somewhere along the line, and thus have a profound healing influence in the body. Adapte...

Margaret Moore and Rachel Prendergast, developers of the groundbreaking "An Examination of Authentic Beauty announced today that the next Authentic Beauty seminar will be held Sunday September 25, 2011 in Deerfield, Illinois. "We are extremely excited about this next seminar, stated Margaret Moore, who conceived of the concept after seeing the portraits in Seattle photographer Roseanne Olson's book This Is Who I Am: Our Beauty in all Shapes and Sizes. "Every seminar provides us new inspirations that help us to improve and fine tune our approach. The concept for An Examination of Authentic Beauty evolved from the concept that it is possible to deconstruct the barriers that hinder our ability to live our best life. "The opportunity to explore common issues with other women using creativity, dialogue, humor, and relaxation can be very impactful, said Rachel Prendergast. "Through discussion, guided imagery, and art we can create major shifts in our attitud...

Whatever I say in this post -- and as a blogger I never know what that is until I say it -- it won't be anywhere near as good as what David Chapman has said in his " Are Mystical Experiences Metaphysical Evidence? " So the best thing you could do is stop reading what I've written, and read Chapman now. The second best thing would be to click on the links I've given after you peruse this post. But if you've ever believed that a mystical experience means something beyond the obvious, that someone has had some sort of experience, I strongly urge you to read Chapman's post. Today, tomorrow, some day. Whenever. Just do it. His post is that good. Chapman is an excellent writer, thinker, and interpreter of meditational/mystical phenomena, Buddhist or otherwise. This is how he starts off: Here is an extraordinary spiritual teaching: Mystics, across many different cultures and religions, all describe their insight experiences similarly. This couldnt happen unless ...

Initially, Tantra is about sensual and spiritual recognition of ultimate reality in the physical world. Man is an energetic manifest of this divine principle. Important elements of Tantra are the Chakra and Kundalini. Body and universe are almost magically connected by means of a close, godly alliance. Tantric meditation sets out to experience this unity. Thus, sexuality plays a large role in tantric symbolism. Meditation, visualization of gods, Kundalini yoga, and rarely sexual unifications are part of Tantric practice, however the sexual aspect is in no way organized. Meditation works with mandalas, mundras, and mantras. Western Tantric practices are often commercialized and concentrate especially on the sexual experience of unity and the spiritual component of physical sexual intercourse. The Hindu and Buddhist experience of divinity in one's own body is therapeutically translated to meet European needs. Tantric meditation, in a healing sense, corresponds to mindful, loving cont...

Here's some good news about the newest form of the "new atheism." It isn't just content to challenge theological propositions and supernatural world views, but also says prove it when religious believers cite personal experience as their reason for having faith in whatever they believe. At least, this is one of the conclusions I got from an interesting New York Times essay by Gary Gutting, " Beyond 'New Atheism .'" For atheists like Dawkins, belief in God is an intellectual mistake, and honest thinkers need simply to recognize this and move on from the silliness and abuses associated with religion. Most believers, however, do not come to religion through philosophical arguments. Rather, their belief arises from their personal experiences of a spiritual world of meaning and values, with God as its center. In the last few years there has emerged another style of atheism that takes such experiences seriously. One of its best exponents is Philip Ki...

I find it significant that so many people are currently involved in the issue of addiction. To me, addictions stand for the deeper conflict between maintaining ones old conditioning and breaking free. The root causes of addiction are hotly debated, but one aspect of the syndrome is that it brings pleasure to people who cannot find it any other way. As Alice Miller observes, People who as children successfully repressed their intense feelings often try to regain at least for a short time their lost intensity of experience with the help of drugs and alcohol. I think it is obvious that many people have anesthetized a huge portion of their feeling self. To show strong emotions is rarely considered an acceptable form of behavior in our society, while paramount importance is placed on self-control. As a result, many of us may reach the point where we panic at the first sign of emotion starting to well up. Repeating the denial of emotion imposed upon us in childhood, we now exert enormo...

Meditation Tips Meditation Help Learn from guest author AxelGjertsen how to avoid the most common meditation mistakes. You can get more great meditation tips, help and advise from his wonderful website, Axel G . If you would like to be a guest author on Mastery of Meditation and Yoga, please email me at anmol@anmolmehta.com. 10 Common Meditation Mistakes By Axel Gjertsen Its good to make mistakes as long as we learn from them. In this post well take a look at 10 of the most common mistakes beginners and intermediate meditators make. As always, focus on the pointers that inspire and make the most sense to you. 1) For Beginners: Opt to meditate when you are calm and feel at ease. Its not a good idea for a novice meditator to practice immediately after a busy day at work, which makes it more difficult to concentrate. If you want to meditate after a stressful day, take a short nap beforehand. For intermediate and experienced meditators on the other hand, its essential to learn as much as p...

It is totally inadequate to call Shiva male and Shakti female, since these terms limit God, who cannot be limited. Our minds are limited to seeing masculine and feminine as polar opposites, but Shiva and Shakti have been married since before the dawn of creation. They are a divine whole that chooses to express itself by taking on the appearance of being masculine and feminine. You and I do the same thing. Although my body may be male, my inner self identifies with spirit as a whole, and therefore my soul must include both Shiva and Shakti: Shiva is silence, Shakti is power. Shiva is creativity, Shakti is creation. Shiva is love, Shakti is loving. These qualities arent opposites but complements, which is a perfect description of a sacred marriage. Mature love consists of being able to see yourself in your beloved and your beloved in yourself. To remain stuck in gender stereotypes, to defend ones maleness or femaleness, to aim criticism at the other sex for causing problems these a...

One person believes that Jesus was resurrected after dying on the cross. Another person believes that the Bush administration was behind the 9/11 attacks. Each belief lacks a foundation of demonstrable evidence. Each belief almost certainly is untrue. Each belief has many adherents who vehemently hold to it, despite how bizarre their blind faith is. I'm a religious skeptic. I'm also a conspiracy theory skeptic. What seems strange to me is how people who decry fundamentalist religion often cling to fundamentalist conspiracy theories. But after reading Michael Shermer's new book, " The Believing Brain ," I'm better able to see the connections between religiosity and conspiracy theory'osity. Shermer has a chapter, Belief in Conspiracies , which lists some of the active conspiracy theories: Conspiracy theories are a different breed of animal than conspiracies themselves. Whether there was or was not a conspiracy behind the assassination of JFK (I contend that ...