Be the light unto yourself

Notice everyone has the innate ability to create something precious, meaningful. Deep down, Soul knows this and also perfect timing. So, when a cement block appears in our lives, we may initially assume its ugly rock or a metaphor for what prevents us from moving ahead, realizing potential. We may think Higher Self misunderstood our secret wish for freedom, joy, aliveness. Yet, sometimes an idea is too big to move or manifest instantly. The process is what unleashes us.

When we least expect it, the voice of a sculptor emerges from within us. This co- creator will not permit us to destroy what he says we asked for. We're about to have something valuable, wonderful in our midst. What part of us sees as a frustrating mental or physical block, the visionary sees very differently.

Turns out, as the confused mind patiently tolerates the sculptor, the mind slowly begins to understand. The sculptor didn't see a block of cement at all. He saw art! He proceeded to remove all of the cement that didn't belong around the art. The sculptor "saw" inside the rock. Something beautiful emerges in the block. With a flash of light, the sculptor transforms. He becames part of us, taking his place within attributes that make us whole. He is like a soul mate, a spiritual twin-flame, and a wise advisor to help us see the light within ourselves.

Curiously, we never ask the "separate" sculptor's name. It dawns, that is an aspect of true being. Not only do we receive the manifestation we wish for, but we also get an active wisdom guide. This is about expanding perception. Perhaps what is unseen is essential for true seeing, and what gets subtracted or let go from distorted reality is what allows for miracles. We are the light unto ourselves.

5 Reasons to Practice Yoga

As a yoga instructor and practitioner, my experience is clients generally come to yoga for 5 main reasons:

1)  Physical self-improvement

They are motivated by the prospect of toning the physical body in a gentle way. This may be an unconscious effort to appease or appeal to others or desire to meet the expectations of others.

2) Health

They are told practising yoga will bring them more energy, balance and overall well-being

3) Rehabilitation

They may have an injury and are working to regain range of motion, more mobility or stretch.

4) Personal growth

They may be on a spiritual journey, turning inward, sensing vibration, raising awareness, engaging in practices like mindfulness and meditation.  Yoga serves as a stepping stone to live life more consciously from universal principles.

5) Intuition

They come guided by something they cannot explain, a deep urge to let go of fear and inhibitions, or as a stepping stone to other things.

Captivated by the unknown

Notice in this moment, we never really know what we are in for. Human existence is meant to be challenging. The world can be a perilous place-full of sinkholes, tidal waves, the perfect storms. Yet, existence is also idyllic, beautiful, full of miracles, from the aurora borealis to sunrises and sunsets that take our breath away and bring it back. Its through riding the waves of turmoil, the unexpected highs and lows, the picking ourselves up off the floor or surfacing from the deepest chasm that stretches us, lead us to gasp in amazement. Its when things do not go to plan, when emotions overwhelm, when all seems lost, that our true character and path are revealed. There is bravery in admitting "I am not okay, that I struggle." Accepting this is about loving ourselves and deepening resilience. We can be tough, stoic, and still admit we do not know. Moment-by-moment, we each live a dream, whether we dangle freely, balance with grace or by the skin of our teeth. We hold on not simply for a thrill. We trust who we are, where all this is heading.

Reprogram the Mind

Notice options exist to consciously reprogram the mind:

1) Do your best to accept others. What we see in others is simply an external manifestation of their program. In this way, they are no different from us, except for programs & levels of awareness.  What annoys us and what we dislike/ hate about others is our own reflection. Everything is a mirror.

2) Accept thyself. Know our actions arise from our mind. Know our inability to accept self fully causes our suffering. To accept the self, is to alleviate one's own suffering.

3) Watch habitual reactions to people and environments. Attachment to the external can lead to discontentment.  Let it go.

4) Identify your greatest needs, attachments, and desires. Trace causes of present anger & unhappiness to source. Triggers help us to recognize and release emotional hang-ups.

5) Be present. See planning as part of being in the now, not the future. Enjoy every action. Savour being alive. Be the best version of yournself in this moment.

6) Know you are not your body, not your mind or emotions. Spirit and soul are having a human experience. Our consciousness is the part of us that sees all events. As we purify mind, we begin to identify with consciousness not body-mind.

7) Be open and direct with feelings as much as possible.  Remember everyone has potential to gain higher levels of awareness. Present attitudes are often caused by conditioning. Do our best to see the potential for good in all people.

9) Do not avoid difficult situations. We are taught to ignore or postpone sources of discomfort. Yet it is they who can show us most clearly how our mental programming works. As we make the unconscious conscious, then we are aware and can shift it.

10) Imagine yourself in other people's shoes. Deepen understanding of self through gifts of other people's behaviour, all this shows U.

Imagine total disembodiment

Notice what it is to relax mind into state of total disembodiment. That is, allow the familliar reality to fall apart. The visual world fragments, first into a few large pieces as binocular fusion is broken, then into a few smaller fragments, and eventually, into many separate fragments of consciousness. This state differs from normal consensual reality. Most amazing is the total absence of the body from its normal place at the center of focus. As the world fragments, the body does too, disconnected pieces of the body seeming to exist independently in separate spaces, as if in different universes, like reflections from different shards of a shattered mirror.

And as the visual world totally fragments, all evidence of body vanishes. This is like a disembodied spirit, pure raw experience, just sensations of color, form, sound, light. It dawns its possible to snap back together again to a "normal" consciousness at will.

The geometric regularity of it all stands out. There is a powerful tendency for everything to reduce to ornamental patterns, geometrical arrangements of 3-D and multidimensional shapes, with rich periodic, symmetrical patterns in deep vibrant colors. The deeper one engages with sacred geometry, the simpler and more evocative the patterns are. As the body identity totally vanishes, these patterns are no longer external, but they are. I am the spatial patterns which create my experience. The recurrent symmetry in the mind's eye is somehow primal to experience. It is akin to an energetic grid, the origin of the holographic universe.