by Edie Lazenby on May 25, 2013
Taking deep breaths into belly and as you breathe imagine each breath holds a wish. The wish falls deep into your belly the way a seed falls into earth. Each breath feeds the seed like rain and sunshine feed a seed. Breathe in and breathe out. As you breathe in and feel the breath, take [...]
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by elephantjournal.com on May 24, 2013
What does it take to stay open-hearted, sane and loving in a global village rife with heart-rending insanity?
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by Shane Armstrong on May 24, 2013
Week 6: Share My Path Series. Many times finding your individual path requires exploration; spirituality, practice, is not one-size-fits-all. This week the Share My Path Project features Brian. His path is a reminder that though there may be difficulties and off-shoots along the way, we need not allow these hindrances to sway us. And if [...]
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by Michelle Margaret on May 23, 2013
Giving is better than getting. So, my gift to you are these 33 suggestions to bring more mindfulness to your days.
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by elephantjournal.com on May 23, 2013
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by elephantjournal.com on May 23, 2013
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by elephantjournal.com on May 22, 2013
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by Ed & Deb Shapiro on May 22, 2013
No matter how hard we want to, there’s one thing we can never do and that’s change the past. We can weep, beat our fists against the wall, eat bags of cookies to assuage our guilt, but it won’t make the slightest bit of difference and won’t make us feel any better. The past [...]
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by Sarah Brose on May 22, 2013
My favourite part of the day was taking off my clothes and staring at my armpits. 11:45AM—12:05PM, my designated shower time. It was during these 20 minutes I learned to let go of the absence of. The bathroom was small and still warm from the previous bather. I shut the door and was in the [...]
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by elephantjournal.com on May 21, 2013
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by Ira Israel on May 20, 2013
In meditation, we are going to the other side of our thinking minds, dis-identifying with the mental soundtracks in our heads, and giving the voices in our heads a much needed time-out.
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by Eric Klein on May 20, 2013
Why do patterns hold on? The patterns of identification that limit us weren’t always limiting. They were adaptive. If you grew up in a threatening environment, learning how to fly under the radar was adaptive. Playing small and keeping quiet protected you. The pattern protected you. But your life has changed. You’ve matured. The world [...]
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by Mystic Pete on May 20, 2013
Mystic Pete’s new music video: “In A Dream”
All flavors of sexual union can bring us to the sacred!
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by elephantjournal.com on May 19, 2013
At this point, you may ask, “So what if I identify myself with the material body? What does it matter?”
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by Ira Israel on May 18, 2013
Like highly sophisticated spacecraft traveling at light speed through a very hectic universe, our minds are on autopilot most of the time.
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by elephantjournal.com on May 18, 2013
In our society we obsess over numbers and we let these numbers control our thoughts, which then affect our mood. Recently, I was asked by a group of office co-workers about joining a “Biggest Loser” competition at work. I respectfully declined, citing that I was spiritually opposed to the concept of weight loss. I got [...]
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by elephantjournal.com on May 18, 2013
These days, even though many people realize the limitations of material comfort and are interested in following a spiritual path, few really appreciate the true value of practicing Dharma. For most, the practice of Dharma, religion, meditation, yoga, or whatever they call it, is still superficial: they simply change what they wear, what they eat, [...]
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by elephantjournal.com on May 18, 2013
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by elephantjournal.com on May 18, 2013
The mind is prior to the body. This relatively simple idea is absolutely crucial for any understanding of subtle body hatha yoga.
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by elephantjournal.com on May 17, 2013
Enjoy summer’s abundance with a yogic mind. When we think of yoga, we usually associate it with practicing on the mat and asanas. While this is an integral aspect of yoga practice, there are many other ways to incorporate different elements of yoga practice, which are often neglected or due to lack of supportive opportunity. [...]
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by elephantjournal.com on May 17, 2013
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by Shane Armstrong on May 17, 2013
Week 5: Share My Path Series. Could you vow, and most importantly keep that vow, to do anything for 1,000 days straight? How about 2,000 days? How about every day for the rest of your life? This week we feature Travis Eneix and his path: a meditation journey that began in a small hallway; his [...]
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by Michelle Margaret on May 17, 2013
The trouble is, temptations never end, and a true pothead can always invent a good reason to smoke. Because I’ve got a headache, a stomachache, insomnia, boredom, stress. Because it’s Saturday morning. Because the sun is setting. The list goes on forever.
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by Dr. John Douillard, DC on May 16, 2013
Photo: Jade Beall Photography Do you prefer yoga to meditation? Or meditation to yoga? For many of us in the Western world, moving our bodies is a lot easier than sitting with our unruly minds. For others, a daily yoga practice is just too much to ask, but meditation feels doable. With yoga, breathing techniques [...]
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by elephantjournal.com on May 16, 2013
Nothing changes, but your own perspective yet everything can change in your experience. One of life’s hardest demands is facing challenges when they arise. Giving face time to those people and places and things that only make you want to run the other way screaming, yet there you stand, tall and with a smile. If [...]
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by Sara Lovelace on May 16, 2013
This kind of understanding of human suffering, this Happy Meal consciousness, is relatively new and untested. It may be too early to tell what the results are, but it’s clear that a lot of our brains need a sick day. And soon.
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by Waylon Lewis on May 16, 2013
Thich Nhat Hanh, with guidance along the confusing path through joy and suffering that is this precious human birth. “There is no enlightenment outside of daily life.” “When we walk like (we are rushing), we print anxiety and sorrow on the earth. We have to walk in a way that we only print peace and [...]
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by elephantjournal.com on May 15, 2013
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by elephantjournal.com on May 15, 2013
I was angry at my body. I felt it was betraying me. I was angry that it showed the cracks in my armor and allowed anyone and everyone to see my vulnerability.
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by Julian Walker on May 15, 2013
The 3rd excerpt from Awakened heart, Embodied Mind: A Modern Yoga Philosophy Infused with Somatic Psychology and Neuroscience.
Because the body is our home, being at home in the body is essential —being “comfortable in your own skin.”
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by Ed & Deb Shapiro on May 14, 2013
“Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.” ~ The Buddha Many years ago, we were teaching a meditation weekend in Plymouth, England. On the Saturday, after the program was over for the day, Carole, one of the attendees, told us she had just been with Deepak Chopra, that he had walked out of the [...]
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by elephantjournal.com on May 13, 2013
The Buzz: social experience in tea and coffee + “your time” for simple indulgences. elephant is proud to partner with Pekoe, a wonderful business we’ve enjoyed hanging out (and drinking) in for years. We love laptopping it up at their sip houses around Boulder and enjoying their yummy, mindfully-sourced coffee & teas. ~ the Management One of [...]
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by elephantjournal.com on May 12, 2013
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by elephantjournal.com on May 12, 2013
The path of bhakti is one that actually reveals to us our shortcomings and gives us the process by which we can overcome them.
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by Yasodhara Ashram on May 11, 2013
Yoga brings us to wholeness. The benefit of coming into health and wholeness through self-awareness is that we stop being just a body – needy, grasping, selfish – and become a living being in the process of gaining wisdom and compassion.
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by Eric Klein on May 11, 2013
Imagine that you’re digging in the garden, putting in a new vegetable bed, when your shovel hits an obstacle—a rock. It takes a lot of digging to dislodge the rock and pry it out of the earth before you can prepare the soil and put in the tomato plants. It takes grit, sweat and muscle. [...]
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by Shane Armstrong on May 10, 2013
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by elephantjournal.com on May 8, 2013
Step by step, I want to progress on the new path that brought me a new horizon, a new perspective, a new strength and balance. Step by step, I want to become and find out who I really am, get rid of all these layers of conditioning, wrong patterns and reactions (source of so much misery)… patiently, calmly, mindfully.
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by Dearbhla Kelly on May 7, 2013
Because trauma and anxiety are physiological events, which leave physiological residues, resolving them needs an approach which includes the body – talk therapy isn’t enough. Our bodies remember everything that happens to us, although those ‘memories’ may not be available to us as discrete mental events; they are neurological (biochemical) pathways that cause changes on the cellular level. But those changes affect our emotions and our ability to deal with stress.
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by Julian Walker on May 7, 2013
The central mystery is consciousness: the relationship between mind and body, the origin and process of subjective experience. These questions remain confounding, but this is not to say we have not come a long way. While we are by all accounts humbled in the face of both the brain’s extraordinary complexity and the completely unique nature of consciousness, the last 25 years have been a period of exponential growth in our ability to look at these questions scientifically.
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by elephantjournal.com on May 7, 2013
We can learn to be happy on our own time instead of miserable on someone else’s. There are many different types of flowers that grow and bloom in their own time. They are all different and they are all beautiful. You are one of them. One of the hardest lessons to learn is that everything [...]
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by Saraswati J. on May 7, 2013
weekly jyotish vedic horoscopes for the week of 5.06 by swati jr jyotish
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by Jennifer Williams-Fields on May 6, 2013
Yes, she was part of a decision that ruined my family. Yes, she is culpable and must live with her decisions. But, sitting in front of me is a woman with her own demons to wrestle with. I can scream and curse at her. I can cut her with my words. She is sitting close enough I can reach out and strike her physically. I choose not to. Compassion has allowed me the privilege of finding happiness again.
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by elephantjournal.com on May 5, 2013
This is because having a guru is not a fad and the guru is not there to make you feel better. A true guru, a genuine bhakti yogi, is there to help you on your spiritual journey to reconnect with God.
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by elephantjournal.com on May 5, 2013
A jug gets filled drop by drop. I unfolded the last piece of paper left, certain that this message for meditation was perfectly meant for me. These scribbled letters were going to reveal a piece of wisdom so obvious that it would be as if God himself were speaking to me. A jug gets [...]
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by Wendy Strgar on May 4, 2013
“Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.” ~ Carl Gustav Jung It is that time of year again, when the garden performs its ritual magic of re-creating itself anew. Regardless of the challenging and changeable winter weather conditions, the perennials in the garden re-emerge each spring, a blooming demonstration of what it means [...]
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by Tara Brach on May 3, 2013
Often we react by blaming…ourselves, or others or the situation. We might become aggressive. Or perhaps we feel victimized and resign. Or sometimes we soothe ourselves with extra food or drink. But clearly, none of these reactions are helpful.
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by Julian Walker on May 3, 2013
My love floats through the air like music….
We are three.
One stops at the threshold and bows,
One lifts the sacred cup and we see wine flames play over her face,
One turns to any cold onlookers and says
—this dance is the joy of existence…
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