READ: Tantra and the Divine Feminine by Mahasatvaa Ananda Sarita

In the last 2000 years or so, women have been considered to be the weaker sex in much of the so-called civilized world. In actual fact, women have simply forgotten how to access their own power, the Divine feminine. In Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching, he says:

“The valley spirit never dies
It is named the mysterious female
And the doorway of the mysterious female
Is the base from which heaven and earth spring
It is there within us all the while
Draw upon it as you will
It never runs dry.”

The quality of Yin is fluid, cool, yielding and expansive, like water. If you have ever seen a torrential flood, a huge waterfall, or a turbulent ocean, the power of yin can be easily understood. Yes, she can be calm and yielding, or can equally be a raging and furious Tsunami. Water is contradictory and unpredictable, and so is woman. In spite of her unpredictability and illogical way of being, she is naturally attuned to the heart and her basic default setting is love. She lives for love. If a woman forgets that her power is rooted in love, she is destined for a life of misery. Universal energy is made manifest in our physical world through the vibration of love. Woman is the custodian of this vital force. Her intuitive nature acts as a beacon, calling her continuously to come back home to the heart.

It is also very important for women to realize that she is the birth giver. Even if a woman has not physically given birth to a child, she is still a mother in every fibre of her being. Whatever is born into this world has come through the conduit of woman. If the world we live in is a mess, it simply means that women have been unconscious of their role as mother of all of life.

When a woman is in touch with her unbounded ecstasy, her infinite capacity for love and her clairvoyant potential, she will be ripe and ready to give birth to a world where life overflows with joy, dance, song, love and beauty. I see such a world on the horizon. It will happen as soon as a critical mass of women wake up to the power of the divine feminine.

Tantra honours the heart as the link between our animal and divine nature. Through the practice of Tantra meditations, either alone or with her lover, a woman will find many keys for fulfilment on all levels, sexually, in love and relating, and spiritually. The richness of a women’s potential is astonishing as it begins opening up. She finds herself to be as vast and limitless as the sky. In essence, she is the cosmic womb, the mother of the universe. This immense gift also carries with it great responsibility. As we wake up to our responsibility within this creation, we will plant flowers and trees instead of bombs.

Next Week: Tantra Alchemy – The meeting of Contradictions

Sarita is a world renowned Tantra master and mystic offering courses and retreats across the globe. Having received a direct transmission from Osho, she is true to the spiritual essence of Tantra and leads us on the path to self realisation. At the same time she takes care to help us transcend the psychological blockages that we carry as a result of our cultural background and past experiences. She is also a master healer, author and consultant. website: http://www.tantra-essence.com

 

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Tantra and the Divine Masculine by Mahasatvaa Ananda Sarita

The Divine Masculine is a timely subject for 2012, as this is the year when the old world transmutes into a new world, according to the famous Maya predictions. Bring it on! The old world has been dominated primarily by an imbalanced masculine, which shows itself in the number of wars and general raping of planetary resources. This has happened because the masculine has been divorced from the feminine for a few thousand years, and by so doing has gone into a fevered testosterone fueled orgy of competition and destruction. I am by no means saying,…

Forgiveness is Choosing to Love by Pragito Dove

Do you find it easy to forgive people who have hurt or abused you in some way? I didn’t until I started to understand that I was hurting myself more by maintaining a tight knot of resentment and anger towards the people who had wronged me. As I learned to love myself, and make loving myself more important than hating the other person, a profound shift happened within me. I felt more loving not only towards myself, but towards everyone and all situations in my life. This shift in perspective produced  a feeling state of relaxation, ease, and trust that all was right with my world,..

 

 

Technorati Tags: awakening, consciousness, enlightenment, inspiration, love, Mahasatvaa Ananda Sarita, sacred sex, sexuality, Tantra, The Divine Feminine, vivid life

READ: Dreams, preconceptions, identity under review in ‘Albert Nobbs’ by Brent Marchant

“Albert Nobbs” (2012). Cast: Glenn Close, Janet McTeer, Mia Wasikowska, Aaron Johnson, Pauline Collins, Brenda Fricker, Brendan Gleeson, John Rhys Meyers, Bronagh Gallagher, Mark Williams, James Greene, Antonia Campbell-Hughes, Maria Doyle Kennedy. Director: Rodrigo Garcia. Screenplay: Glenn Close, John Banville and Gabriella Prekop. Story: George Moore. www.albertnobbs-themovie.com/#

We all have dreams for ourselves in life. Many of us also probably have some pretty well-defined preconceptions about how those dreams – and our lives in general – are supposed to play out. But then sometimes we also get surprised at what we’re presented with when those aspirations manifest, particularly in terms of the impact they have on the identities we hold of ourselves. These are among the many themes that come up for review in the thought-provoking new drama, “Albert Nobbs.”

Hotel waiter Albert Nobbs (Glenn Close) is an oft-described strange little man. But then that’s probably because he’s not a man at all. Rather, Albert is a middle-aged woman who, because of the need to fend for herself financially, has been intentionally disguising herself as a member of the opposite sex since she was 14. And, thanks to her ability to successfully pull off this ruse, Albert has managed to set aside a tidy nest egg while working as part of the wait staff at Dublin’s Morrison’s Hotel. It’s a perfect place for her to work, too; the pay and perks are good, and the place holds so many deceptions of its own that it provides ample, discreet coverage for her own secret.

By focusing on her financial security, though, Albert has paid little attention to her personal life, particularly where romance is concerned. Also, she’s become so adept at passing herself off as a man that she has, for all practical purposes, come to regard herself as one. But, were the truth of things to come out, she’d face certain ostracism from conservative 1890s Irish society.

All that changes, however, when the hotel’s owner, Mrs. Baker (Pauline Collins), hires a painter, Hubert Page, to do some work at her establishment. She gives Hubert permission to share Albert’s quarters while doing the work, a prospect that causes Albert considerable consternation. The strange little man quietly struggles to hide her anxiety, but that uneasy trepidation quickly turns to outright panic when Hubert discovers her roommate’s true identity. Albert is terrified about the ramifications of this unplanned revelation – that is, until she realizes that she and Hubert (Janet McTeer) share the same secret.

Albert and Hubert become friends, spending time and sharing personal confidences with one another. Albert is particularly intrigued by Hubert’s description of the happy life she’s built with a loving wife, Cathleen (Bronagh Gallagher). Suddenly, Albert is able to picture a whole new life for herself, too. She envisions using her savings to buy a tobacconist’s shop, one that has an adjacent living area that would be ideal to share with a bride. Hubert encourages Albert to follow her dreams and seek the same kind of happiness that she has found, even going so far as to suggest that Albert pursue a relationship with the lovely young Helen Dawes (Mia Wasikowska), one of the hotel’s flirtatious chamber maids. Albert, who has had her eye on Helen for some time, concurs and decides to initiate the courting process.

Of course, wooing the object of her affection poses two challenges to Albert: (1) can she compete with her main rival, Joe Mackens (Aaron Johnson), the hotel’s strapping young handyman, who clearly has his sights set on Helen?; and (2) how does she break the news of her true gender status to Helen? Albert steps into uncharted territory in considering these possibilities, and she wonders how to proceed. Hubert is able to provide some guidance, but Albert is largely on her own in this endeavor, a path that has many potential rewards – and pitfalls.

Albert’s proficiency in envisioning possibilities makes her a highly competent conscious creator. Once inspired, she’s able to picture, with remarkable clarity, what she wants to achieve. But then that shouldn’t come as any surprise, since she’s been doing just that for quite a long time. When faced with having to support herself at a young age, Albert learned of an opportunity to work as a waiter at a Masons’ hall. She believed she was capable of handling the job, and, despite the obvious risks, she pursued it, successfully landing the position. The experience she earned in that job allowed her to obtain work later on in fine dining establishments in places like Manchester and London, putting her on firm footing when she decided to seek a position in Dublin.

Having successfully tackled the challenges in her work life, as well as accumulating a respectable degree of savings, Albert has positioned herself well to take on the challenges of reshaping her personal life. And now that she’s witnessed the happiness that Hubert has successfully attained, Albert believes that she can create that for herself as well. But, given that she’s on unfamiliar turf, Albert’s not sure how to proceed. Doubt begins creeping into her thoughts, and since doubt is one of the forces that can undercut the conscious creation process, Albert is potentially setting herself up for disappointment by allowing this. She even seems to recognize the impact that this is having on her plans, so she unwittingly attempts to compensate for it by micromanaging her materialization efforts, causing her increased levels of aggravation and even more doubt. Under these circumstances, she would have fared far better by putting out her intents to the Universe – her divine conscious creation collaborator – and allowing it to bring forth the conditions that allow her to realize her goals rather than trying to discern the specifics of how it should happen all on her own. By doing this, she runs the risk of working against herself, creating frustration that further undermines her efforts and ultimately brings her no closer to her desired objectives.

Through her experiences, Albert must come to terms with the fact that the fulfillment of our goals doesn’t always follow the prescribed forms that we envision, even if the essence of what we desire is eventually achieved. In circumstances like these, we may not even be aware that an objective has fundamentally been met until well after the fact or until someone points it out to us, mainly because we’re so focused on the outcome conforming to predetermined parameters that we can’t see the result for what it inherently is. This, essentially, becomes a case of the proverbial inability to see the forest for the trees, a practice that I call semi-conscious creation. Indeed, things might not always seem to be what they genuinely are (something that the protagonist should already be well-acquainted with), and, when we’re confronted with such conditions, they sometimes bring hard lessons, teachings that serve as cautionary tales for us all.

The impact of all of the foregoing can be considerable, especially when it comes to our perceptions of our own identities. We may well be more than the limited selves we see ourselves as, a notion that can have far-reaching implications. The title character comes to see this for herself, allowing her to move beyond who she believes herself to be, and in myriad ways at that. And, even if envisioned outcomes don’t always match preconceptions and/or result in full-fledged fruition, at least having the ability to view ourselves in expanded ways enables us to experience developments in our consciousness and personal growth that exceed previously constrained expectations.

The marketing campaign behind “Albert Nobbs” makes it look like fare suitable primarily for those keen on Masterpiece Theatre and pithy high-brow stage dramas. However, the picture is remarkably more “accessible” than that, an engaging offering for moviegoers other than those who wear tweed suits 24/7. It’s a heartfelt drama with a wealth of colorful characters in a wonderful period piece setting, with fine Oscar-nominated performances by Close and, especially, McTeer. The sound quality could definitely be better at times, though, especially when the players turn up the brogue factor, so sit close to the screen if the theater at which you’re viewing it has an audio system that leaves something to be desired.

The picture has been earning its share of awards season nominations, though it has yet to take home any hardware. In addition to its Oscar nods for Close and McTeer, the film has also been nominated in the Academy’s makeup category, a distinction it also earned in the Critics Choice Awards competition. Close and McTeer have also received their share of honors in other contests, with Close receiving Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations and McTeer earning accolades in the Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild and Independent Spirit Award contests. The film was also honored with a Golden Globe nod for its best original song, “Lay Your Head Down,” a lovely, lyrical piece composed by Brian Byrne (music) and Close (words) and sung by Sinéad O’Connor.

I was especially taken with two quotes from this film. As Albert’s colleague, Dr. Holloran (Brendan Gleeson), the hotel’s resident physician, observes in a scene at a costume ball, “We’re all disguised as ourselves.” It’s a point that, arguably, has some merit, though, to me, it suggests a desire to hide, one that goes against our true nature. In that regard, I was actually more heartened by one of Hubert’s observations: “You don’t have to be anything but what you are.” It’s a statement that speaks to the core themes explored in this film – and, I would hope, to the core of our being as well.

Copyright © 2012, by Brent Marchant. All rights reserved.

 

 

 

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READ: Telling the Truth About What Is Here by Gangaji

One of the most powerful phrases in human language is “I am here.” It is powerful because it is utterly simple and profoundly true. Anything that is said or thought afterward is just an addition to this basic, unfaltering truth. In fact I and am and here are all pointing to the same essential truth, pointing to that which needs no foundation for its support, because it is the foundational truth.

Even “I am not here,” comes from the truth of being here. Denial of presence can only be stated here, where you are. The power to deny yourself comes from the truth of yourself.

In recognizing that basic truth, I am here, you have the opportunity to be welcomed here, to welcome yourself here, and to welcome what else has appeared here, in whatever state you find present in yourself.

I am inviting you to tell the truth, as completely as possible, about what is here. You probably have particular feelings that are here. Can you welcome them? When feelings change, you are still here. Feelings will change, which may be a good thing or a bad thing, but you remain. Here remains. Here doesn’t change. Things that appear here change.

Tomorrow comes here, yesterday was here. The sun comes here, clouds come here. Limitless beingness, here, discovers itself as I. The ground of the ground, the beingness of your being.

In this very moment you can tell this basic truth, I am here, and meet whatever is evoked by that truth telling. You can rest your mind in this truth. Your thinking mind can be embraced by this truth.

As an investigation, just in this moment, can you find a beginning or an end to here?

Has here ever been absent from your life?

Can you find a time in your life when you ever were not?

You can also turn your attention to the pronoun that everyone uses, I. If you do not limit I to a particular story about I, or a particular definition, or a particular gender, or a particular body, can you recognize it here as consciousness? Deeper and closer than any thought, and yet informing every thought.

In recognizing the particular thoughts that attempt to define I, and attempt to define being, and attempt to define here, in any moment we can simply return to the fundamental truth that needs no definition for its truthfulness.

I am here.

Then we can ask ourselves, “Is it enough?” If full attention is turned to I am here, is anything lacking?

There is no correct answer. It is a discovery.

This blog is adapted from a talk given by Gangaji at Hollyhock, Cortes Island, BC in September 2011. Gangaji’s new book Hidden Treasure: Uncovering the Truth in Your Life Story, was published in September by Tacher/Penguin. In this life-changing book, Gangaji uses the telling of her own life story to help readers uncover the truth in their own. Publisher’s Weekly said, “This gently flowing but often disarming volume invites readers to examine the narratives that shape them, and is a call to pass beyond personal stories to find a deeper, more universal self.” Visit www.gangaji.org for more information about Gangaji and her upcoming events, including the monthly Webcast / Conference Series, With Gangaji, which is currently undergoing an in-depth study of Hidden Treasure.

Gangaji shares a simple message – “This is an invitation to shift your allegiance from the activities of your mind to the eternal presence of your being.” Born in Texas in 1942, Gangaji grew up in Mississippi. After graduating from the University of Mississippi in 1964, she married and had a daughter. In 1972, she moved to San Francisco where she began exploring deeper levels of her being. She took Bodhisattva vows, practiced Zen and Vipassana meditation, helped run a Tibetan Buddhist Meditation Center, and had a career as an acupuncturist in the San Francisco Bay area. Despite her successes, Gangaji continued to experience a deep and persistent longing for fulfillment. She pursued many paths to change her life including relationship, motherhood, political activism, career, and spiritual practice, but even the greatest of her successes ultimately came up short. In the wake of her disillusionment, she made a final prayer for true help. In 1990, the answer to her prayer came unexpectedly, taking her to India and to the meeting that would change everything. There on the banks of the river Ganga, she met Sri H.W.L. Poonja, also known as Papaji, who opened the floodgates of self-recognition. In this meeting, Gangaji’s personal story of suffering ended and the promise of a true life began to flower and unfold. Today, Gangaji travels the world speaking to seekers from all walks of life. A teacher and author, she shares her direct experience of the essential message she received from Papaji and offers it to all who want to discover a true and lasting fulfillment. Through her life and words, she powerfully articulates how it is really possible to discover the truth of who you are and to be true to that discovery. Gangaji’s website www.gangaji.org

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What is Your Story? by Gangaji
All creatures are born inescapably defined by their stories, yet if we remain limited by those definitions we live a life of inner bondage. When we recognize the stories that generate our definitions of ourselves, we are closer to the discovery of what is indefinable within us. That discovery reveals inner freedom and lasting fulfillment. Each life form has a beginning, an arc of a life story, and then an ending. Most of our internal and external attention and communication circle around the particulars of how we define ourselves as,…

 
Permission To Love by Susan Asunmaa
Do we need permission to love?  Ask the heart and the answer will be a definite NO, ask the mind and the answer may not be so clear. I believe at the core of our being we love from only one place, our heart.  If you’ve been fortunate enough to experience a loving relationship as child to parent or parent to child then I need not say more, you understand unconditional love.  A love, that exists within our heart deep within our soul, with no terms and conditions to be played out by the mind. We expect nothing yet offer everything,…

Technorati Tags: authenticity, beingness, denial, Happiness, inspiration, language, presence, self-discovery, Spirituality, stories, thoughts, Truth

READ: What is Love? by Panache Desai

If you’ve found your way here for advice on love, then I can only assume that you are still searching for this elusive experience. And you’re not alone. Globally, more than 225 million searches are conducted each month on the Internet for advice on what is love? For those who have been less than lucky in love and are trying to do it better, healthier, or wiser this time, you have my love and support.

Over the last decade, no two people that I’ve counseled have shared the same definition for love. For some it comes packaged as a tall, beautiful companion with the perfect smile, the perfect pedigree, and the perfect earning capacity. For others it shows up as an intelligent, quirky, best friend who makes you laugh until you pee yourself. I’ve heard grandparents extoll the virtue of perfect love the first time they hold a grandchild. I have seen little boys melt into the pure experience of love as they navigate their world with a new puppy by their side, while little girls hold out for the fairytale promise of prince charming and a happily ever after.

Such diverse examples perfectly illustrate a singular point; love is a completely subjective experience that makes it one of the most challenging to seek out and sustain. What are you really looking for? And most importantly where are you hoping to find it?

The Foundation for Lasting Love Love is an internal experience, emotion, or feeling that arises within your being when you are in harmony with yourself, your life, or another. It evokes a profound sense of completeness, harmony, peace and joy. To find lasting love is considered one of the greatest blessings in life. But to have it, you must first source and then ground love within you.

A Road Map for Love. There is a harsh truth about love. If you are searching far and wide for that perfect partner to kindle the exquisite experience of lasting love without first resolving all of the emotional and psychological blocks that keep you from unconditionally loving yourself, you are looking for love in all the wrong places. The path you are traversing is a slippery one that can only end in heartache.

Your roadmap for finding love begins and ends with you. Love cannot be nurtured or sustained while you are unresolved in your relationship with yourself. In all relationships, once the hormonal rush abates, or the newness of the experience begins to tarnish, you will find yourself tangled in an emotional jungle of judgment and blame of your love interest. It’s a naturally occurring default position that you go to in order to protect yourself… when things go wrong it’s always the other person’s fault.

The truth is that until you truly love all aspects of yourself – the good, the bad and the ugly – you cannot BE FULLY PRESENT to love another nor will you ever be able fully receive their love in return.

The Gift of Acceptance Are you shocked yet?  Loving the good in yourself is easy, but the bad, and the ugly? Right now you have the capacity to begin this process of self-love. Acceptance is the magic bullet. With the consistent practice of acceptance, regardless of how you are showing up, you can begin to introduce spaciousness into your daily experience and lay a strong foundation for love.

It looks like this: I accept myself when I’m being short-tempered and unreasonable. I accept myself even though I’ve gained 20 pounds. I accept my shortcomings when I fight with my partner and won’t give in to his wishes. Acceptance opens up an inner doorway that leads into internal harmony. When you are in the acceptance of yourself, just the way you are, love of self spontaneously begins to arise from within.

Vibrational Change and Shattering Emotional  Content

We are vibrational beings and hold onto unresolved emotional and psychological traumas within our bodies that I have come to call vibrational density. Vibrational Transformation shatters the emotional content that keeps self-acceptance distanced from you and blocks your ability to fully experience self-love.

Vibrational change, which in reality is vibrational increase, begins to break-up the vibrational density that is lodged within your body clearing the way for the deepest experience of self-acceptance.

We are living in accelerating times. You are being vibrationally supported to experience the deepest levels of love possible. These states are your birthright.

You are empowered to choose the path you traverse as you search for the greatest experience we can have in life – true love.

Panache Desai is an inspirational visionary and contemporary spiritual master whose gift of vibrational transformation has inspired and shifted the lives of tens of thousands. He shares eternal truths, inspirational insights, and vibrational tools to create the life of your dreams. Panache is a modern-day avatar who acts as a direct link to Divine consciousness empowering people of all ages, economic and educational backgrounds to transform their lives by connecting them with their limitless Divine nature. Young, hip and funny, Panache brings his global community together weekly via LIVE webcasting.  http://www.panachedesai.com/

 

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Why am I Still Depressed and Angry? by Panache Desai

There is a common fallacy that is undermining your journey into wholeness and authenticity. I’m a bit of a gunslinger in this territory, but it is important that you are empowered in this fundamental truth; when you are finally able to grab that brass ring of spiritual accomplishment, you are still going to experience sadness, depression, fear and anger,…
Don’t Put Anyone Out Of Your Heart by Ed and Deb Shapiro

The story goes that, at the time of the Buddha, a group of monks wanted to do a quiet retreat away from the crowds of followers, so the Buddha sent them to a glade in the forest where he said they would be undisturbed. The monks found their way there and settled down to meditate. But what they didn’t know was that this particular glade was inhabited by a gang of tree spirits who were really upset that the monks had come. And when tree spirits get upset they can be extremely scary, ugly, very smelly and unbelievably noisy,…

 

Technorati Tags: advice on love, panache desai, Panache Desai blog, perfect love, self love, self-acceptance, the foundation of love, vibrational change, vibrational density, vibrational transformation, what is love

READ: Don’t Put Anyone Out Of Your Heart by Ed and Deb Shapiro

The story goes that, at the time of the Buddha, a group of monks wanted to do a quiet retreat away from the crowds of followers, so the Buddha sent them to a glade in the forest where he said they would be undisturbed.

The monks found their way there and settled down to meditate. But what they didn’t know was that this particular glade was inhabited by a gang of tree spirits who were really upset that the monks had come. And when tree spirits get upset they can be extremely scary, ugly, very smelly and unbelievably noisy, ferociously shrieking all over the place. They did everything they could to spook the hermits and make them leave. And it worked. The monks decided they couldn’t possibly meditate with so many disturbances, so they went back to the Buddha and begged him to let them go somewhere else.

But no. Instead, the Buddha taught them a meditation practice of loving kindness, or metta in Sanskrit, which develops loving kindness towards everyone, including yourself and your enemies. And then he sent the monks back to the forest. His famous words were: This is the only protection you will need.

Thinking the Buddha must be mad the monks reluctantly went back to the glade, sat down and began practicing metta. And the tree spirits, who at first were not at all pleased to see them returning, no longer had any affect on them. For all their antics, the monks just kept sitting there, beaming out kindness. Eventually the spirits were won over by the waves of love and compassion emanating from these robed ones and, far from than chasing them away, the same nasty’s that had been so ferocious now became disciples.

The question is, who are the tree spirits? Realistically, they are everything that goes on in our own minds—all the doubts, fears, anger, insecurities, and negative thoughts—that constantly undermine our basic goodness, which is innate in all of us. And the point the Buddha was making is that loving kindness—metta–has the capacity to overcome all manner of inner monsters and ghouls and lead us to a true heart opening. Metta is the act of extending our love, kindness and friendship equally towards all beings, proving that love is more powerful than any negative force. Rather than trying to deal with negativity, we cultivate the opposite; seeing and knowing pain, we bring caring and kindness.

We know this sounds so easy: just be kind and loving, how great, what a cool idea. But in practice it’s not always so simple, such as when someone says or does something that is personally critical, derogatory or hurtful. Can metta still flow when the ego-mind is upset? By focusing on loving kindness as a way of living, it shows us all those places that are bound in ego and selfishness; it brings us up against our limitations and boundaries. Where do we meet our edge? Where is our capacity to step over the edge into greater kindness? How genuine is our ability to be altruistic in a difficult situation?

We remember talking with our friend Ram Dass at the time of the Clinton/Dole election. He told us how he had a picture of Bob Dole on his meditation altar as: “Dole needs the most love and compassion as he is the one being so vilified.”

In that act, Ram Dass was practicing true metta. It was an important reminder not to cast anyone out of our hearts, for in the process we are casting out ourselves. If we feel affected by someone being dismissive, critical or hurtful, it is invariably because there is a hook in us for that negativity to grab hold of, a place where it can land and trigger all our hidden feelings of unworthiness, insecurity, and self-doubt.

However, when we extend metta toward someone we are having a hard time with, an extraordinary thing happens: the landing place, or the hook within, begins to dissolve. Then the negativity has no place to go. Metta asks that we stay caring, that we keep our heart open to the situation we are struggling with and all the accompanying annoyance and anger, and hold ourselves with gentle tenderness. Then amazing change is possible.

 

5 minute Loving Kindness Meditation

Begin by breathing into you’re the area of your heart, softening and relaxing with the in-breath, letting go of tension on the out-breath. Hold your name or an image of yourself in your heart and silently repeat: May I be well, may I be happy, may I be filled with loving kindness.

Next, wish all beings be well, wish all beings be happy. If at work you can spend a few moments repeating the names of people you work with and wishing them happiness and joy. On your way home from work reflect on your day and generate loving thoughts to those you meet. At night, think of your family and friends and wish them wellness and happiness: May they be well, may they be happy, may they be filled with loving kindness.

Finish by taking a few deep breaths and slowly opening your eyes, nad have a smile on your face!

****

See our award-winning book: BE THE CHANGE, How Meditation Can Transform You and the World, forewords by the Dalai Lama and Robert Thurman, with contributors Jack Kornfield, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Byrone Katie, Jane Fonda, Marianne Williamson, and many others.

If there is one book you read about meditation Be The Change should be the one. Hear about some of the cool people who are doing it and why you should do it too. – Sharon Gannon, founder Jivamukti Yoga.

Our 3 meditation CD’s: Metta—Loving kindness and Forgiveness; Samadhi–Breath Awareness and Insight; and Yoga Nidra–Inner Conscious Relaxation, are available at: www.EdandDebShapiro.com

Ed and Deb Shapiro are the authors of BE THE CHANGE, How Meditation Can Transform You And The World, with forewords by the Dalai Lama and Robert Thurman and Winner of the 2010 Nautilus Gold Book Award. Deb is the author of the bestselling book, YOUR BODY SPEAKS YOUR MIND, winner of the 2007 Visionary Book Award. They are featured bloggers on Oprah.com/spirit, HuffingtonPost.com/Living, and Care2.com. They have 3 meditation CD’s: Metta — Loving Kindness and Forgiveness; Samadhi – Breath Awareness and Insight; and Yoga Nidra – Inner Conscious Relaxation. See: www.EdandDebShapiro.com

 

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Does Your Relationship Ever Get You Down? by Ed and Deb Shapiro

Shortly after we were married we went to India and spent our honeymoon in monasteries and ashrams. We also had a private meeting with the Dalai Lama at his residence in McLeod Ganj, in the foothills of the Himalayas. As Ed recalls: After some thirty minutes of talking with him I was feeling so moved by this gentle and loving man that I didn’t want to leave! I was completely in love with this delightful being. He was so ordinary, sitting between us and holding our hands. Finally, I said to him,…

 

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