Spiritual Growth Workshop Orlando 2010. July 31, 2010 by mattdabbs Leave a Comment. We are back from SGW and it was one of the best ones in a few years. The keynotes were a step up (including Randy Harris) and the classes were very well …

Go here to read the rest:
Spiritual Growth Workshop Orlando 2010 « Kingdom Living

Introduction In a majority where the big easy adorn their material resource in single interests much as football game teams, vintmajority aircrafts etc.,

Excerpt from:
Spiritual Research on the Spiritual Life of Bill Gates | No …

Believers who have gone before us have dug deep spiritual wells. As Isaac unearthed his father’s wells in the Promised Land (Genesis 26), so we drink fresh, living water as we tap into the ancient springs of spiritual formation. …

Here is the original post:
Deep Wells: What is Spiritual Theology?

Gay travelers take vacations for a number of reasons, including the opportunity to meet new people, experience new cultures, see exotic places, take a break from the stresses of everyday life and to spend time with people that are …

Read more:
Self Discovery During Gay Spiritual Travel | Travel Oversea

Gay travelers take vacations for a number of reasons, including the opportunity to meet new people, experience new cultures, see exotic places, take a break from the stresses of everyday life and to spend time with people that are …

Read the original here:
Self Discovery During Gay Spiritual Travel | Travel Oversea

Yoga means union or linking with god , hence without any activity how can one be in union with god so yes its a spiritual activity directed towards a relationship with lord. References : Knowledge. never trust a muhammad sloth …

See the original post: 
Is yoga a spiritual activity? | Spiritual Center

Product DescriptionIn It ’s a spiritual solution to every problem, bestselling author Wayne W. Dyer offers compelling testimony about the power of love, harmony and service. Faced with a problem, whether of illness, financial problems …

View original here: 
There's a Spiritual Solution to Every Problem

Spiritual meditation emphasizes on allowing an individual to get acknowledged with your inner self. It is also able to discover the wisdom and peace that exists.

View post: 
Spiritual meditation to learn and benefit from technology | Health …

At the end of each of my yoga classes, as we settle in for the final relaxation, I tell people, “Enjoy the relaxation.” I’m sure the full emphasis of.

View post:
Pleasure as a Spiritual Pathway | elephant journal

The Perils of Spiritual Counseling: It looks like U.S. District Judge Robert E. Payne isn’t going to issue a ruling in the case of Patricia Moore-King v. County of Chesterfield, Virginia at this time. Instead, Payne says both …

Here is the original: 
The Wild Hunt » Update on Spiritual Counseling Case and other …

Last week I wrote about adopting a personal definition of spirituality and religion as well as exploring your own spiritual and/or religious journey through an autobiography or timeline. The purpose, at least in the counseling context, …

View original here:
American Counseling Association Weblog » Blog Archive » Finding …

‘Prayer is a vital part of Bahai spiritual life’ say West Berkshire Bahais. Martyrdom of the Bab highlights why prayer is a vital part of Bahai spiritual life, say Bahais in West Berkshire.

Go here to read the rest:
'Prayer is a vital part of Bahai spiritual life' say West …

Here are three links related to worship music that are definitely worth checking out. Ekklesia Hymns Matt Foreman, pastor of Faith Church in Media, PA, launched a new blog this month called Ekklesia Hymns where he provides “updated …

View original post here:
Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs

Join Michael as he talks from his heart and from the heart of Spirit we also will be taking callers for free readings. Jul 30 2010.

Read the original post: 
Spiritual Teaching and Free Readings 7/30/2010 – yourspiritualpath …

Spiritual Front – Rotten Roma Casino (2010) Genre: Dark Cabaret, Neofolk, Alternative, Pop | Release: 2010 | 1CD | MP3 | 320 kbps | 107,62 MBTracklist:

Go here to see the original:
Spiritual Front – Rotten Roma Casino (2010) » Free Full Downloads …

Spiritual Front – Rotten Roma Casino (2010) Genre: Dark Cabaret, Neofolk, Alternative, Pop | Release: 2010 | 1CD | MP3 | 320 kbps | 107,62 MBTracklist:

View original post here: 
Spiritual Front – Rotten Roma Casino (2010) » Free Full Downloads …

Who hasn’t grown impatient with themselves and felt sick over their lack of spiritual progress? (Luke 8:15). YOU’RE NOT ALONE! We all go through those valleys of the shadow of death. But take courage: the way Prada Handbags must lead up …

More: 
Fighting Spiritual Depression – Nike Hyperize Sale

Sometimes we experience a terrible dryness in our spiritual life. We feel no desire to pray, don’t experience God’s presence, get bored with worship services, and even think that everything we ever believed about God, Jesus, …

Read the rest here:
Spiritual Dryness by Henri Nouwen « Windows Toward the World

Dreams: the forgotten spiritual discipline. Thu, 07/29/2010 – 15:05. inception-300×200 The following review contains no spoilers. If you plan on seeing the movie Inception, you better show up with your brain fully engaged. …

Read the original:
Dreams: the forgotten spiritual discipline | Real Live Preacher

Dreams: the forgotten spiritual discipline. Thu, 07/29/2010 – 15:05. inception-300×200 The following review contains no spoilers. If you plan on seeing the movie Inception, you better show up with your brain fully engaged. …

View original post here:
Dreams: the forgotten spiritual discipline | Real Live Preacher

After moving into my new apartment, the first thing I did, after unpacking, of course, was to place a statue of Ganesh at the entryway. My friend, feng shui master Ariel Towne, says that besides a fountain, the other necessary item near your front door is the little elephant otherwise known as the Remover of Obstacles. When you don’t let negative, sticky energies in, they don’t have a chance to affect you. “Cutting them off at the pass” is a phrase that might apply to what Ganesh is doing there at the front door. Aside from that massive job, Ganesh is also the Lord of Thresholds. Threshold . What a beautiful word. It reminds me of watching wind ripple the wheat fields during my Midwestern childhood. Yet, the concept itself has different meanings, not only describing the doorway itself, but what the doorway represents: a starting point, the beginning of any new journey or transformation. Ganesh is not some magic statue, without which you would have no protection against resistance, doubt, and fear–three of the biggest obstacles of all. It’s the act of placing Ganesh that brings awareness to our own desire to remain free of anything that diminishes or limits our potential to fly. In that sense, he represents that aspect of ourselves that is ready to swing open the door to our next adventure–and ready to step out of our own way long enough to clear the path straight through it. Henry Ford said, “Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off the goal.” You see, we have the power to either turn our experiences and truths into obstructions, weights tethered to any possible rise in self-esteem, greater awareness, and health; or to remove them.  Yogis have fabulous resistance-busting tools. We can get on the mat and practice, opening tight places and dissolving emotional and mental tension. We breathe, switch our thinking, learn to see more clearly and, by deciding to love ourselves a little more, we begin to widen the very doorway into our own hearts. By applying awareness to each situation we encounter, we open a threshold to our core, allowing our deepest wisdom to sweep through, and away, into the world in the form of our most courageous, conscious actions. In my classes, any time I want to clear the threshold, I ask my students to focus on hip opening. I call the hips “the Gateways,” because they can allow, or block, the energy moving from you foundation into your core. If the gateways are closed, the posture is incomplete and with it, the opportunity to gain the full benefits of the asana is lost. Try the following pose any time you feel a little closed yet feel ready to  make the space you need to cross the threshold into that next, most incredible state of being who you really are. Core Pose: Funky Lunge   This posture clears a common tight area–the side leg and outer hips–all the way from the foundation to your center. When you open this gateway, issues like sciatica may recede, since the piriformis muscle at the side of your pelvis often compresses it. As well, you’ll open the IT band, making this a wonderful way to free yourself from over-closure of the gateways of the hip muscles and joints and, quite literally, be able to walk through any threshold more freely. Come into Down Dog. Step your left foot to your right thumb. With this crossed foot placement, you’ll bring the right knee to the mat. Center your hips, and come onto palms or fingertips, on the mat or on blocks, so that your hands are under your shoulders. Begin to roll onto the pinky toe edge of your left foot. As you ground the foot down, and resist it back towards your hip, roll the outer left hip and upper thigh back and down so that it’s not hiking up toward your ribcage. Inhale, lift your lower belly and wave long through your spine. Exhale, and fold at the hip creases as you bend the elbows to your capacity. Play your edge of flexibility as you begin to straighten your front leg until you begin to feel sensation. Breathe and soften there before moving further into your stretch. If you want more of a challenge, try tucking the back toes under and lifting the back knee as in a Low Lunge. Your hands will walk back to remain under the shoulders for support. Breathe here for one minute, taking small spinal waves on the inhalation, and deepening your fold on the exhalation. Return to Dog Pose, and switch sides.    

See the original post:
Clearing the Threshold

Connecting Within For Spiritual HealingSpiritual healing can keep a balance to life. Healing through the spirit is achieved by different methods. It is.

See the rest here:
Some Basics Of Spiritual Healing | dailythoughtsonline.com

My mother and I were at the same family gathering on the weekend. Which is not a big deal if you come from someone else’s family, but my mom and I only see each other once a year or so. And that’s a huge improvement after two decades of down right difficult, then jaw-clenchingly tense, and now tentatively willing relationship. (There’s a mouthful.) She looks beautiful. One bionic hip, and two hearing aids (which she’d forgotten at home), but a soft, gentle face and a kind of high, croaky, older woman’s voice. Once planted on the couch, she stayed put. I brought lunch to her while she watched her kids mingle and her grandkids fling themselves around the room with my dog. She did yoga when I was a kid. That was my introduction to yoga, to meditation, to the whole idea of looking inward as a form of health care. It astounds me, writing this, when I consider how central this looking inward is to everything I believe now. It is the core of my work in health care, in theatre, in parenting, and in all relationships. My mother doesn’t do yoga any more.  She can’t get down to a floor and has no local chair yoga classes. More than that, she’s lost the oomph it would take to do yoga at home. When we talk about it, she says, never, never stop doing yoga. It was the best thing ever, she says. People make their own choices. I know this. And yet, if I had one wish today, it’d be that my mom could still do yoga. Or that somehow, I could do it for her, while holding her closer and closer to this croaky heart of mine, which, I hope, is growing more flexible over time. Is there anyone you’d love to hold during your practice? Thanks to yoga for looking inward, to my mom (love, love, love), and to you for the conversation.

More here:
Holding my Mother

Patricia Moore-King (aka Sophie King, aka “Psychic Sophie”) has maintained throughout that she doesn’t identify as a “fortune teller” but as a spiritual counselor, and that the ordinances place an undue burden on her free religious …

See the original post here: 
The Wild Hunt » The Perils of Spiritual Counseling

Valerie Hunt, a researcher with degrees in both psychology and physiology, was interested in why people do not have spiritual experiences. She took the step of.

Original post:
Spiritual “Stuckness” | Care2 Healthy & Green Living

It’s quite an impressive form of spiritual healing that extends way back into ancient Japanese culture. The secret teachings of Reiki have become more main stream lately. In fact, some doctors have even integrated it into recovery …

Read the rest here: 
Spiritual Therapy with Reiki

Gilgit, July 29: Police have arrested a ‘ spiritual healer’ in Skardu after he tried to exploit a teenage girl. According to a daily Urdu newspaper mother and brother of an 18 year old ailing girl took her to the ‘ spiritual healer’, …

Excerpt from:
'Fake spiritual healer' nabbed in Skardu | PAMIR TIMES

You’re More Spiritual Than You Think. Fr. James Martin on the little ways God may be trying to get your attention: Think you’ve never experienced God in your life? Here are six ways you may have. Incompletion “Is that all there is? …

View original here: 
Creative Minority Reader: You're More Spiritual Than You Think

The 2012 Toolkit is the definitive encyclopedia of techniques to jump-start your spiritual ascension, transform fear, and supercharge intuition. Hidden.

Read more: 
The 2012 Toolkit: Your All-in-One Guide to Spiritual …

My vegetable garden is officially off the charts. It’s all thanks to two people: My good friend Lise who inspired me last summer with her backyard garden, and my green-thumbed next door neighbor Ellen who taught me what to do–from getting my garden beds together, to planting, watering, weeding, and harvesting.  I’m hoping it’s not just beginner’s luck–and that Ellen will help me again next year–because Neil and I are getting seriously spoiled by eating out of our backyard. “The farm,” as we have taken to calling the plots, is ripe with peas, kale, broccoli, lettuce, beets, carrots and cucumbers and scallions and zucchini, with the very beginnings of tomatoes and corn peeping through.  The process has amazed me, reminding me both of motherhood (seeing those tiny seeds blossom into full grown plants) and yoga (with a little time and attention every day, and some   patience, you’ll start seeing results). How does your (yoga) garden grow? Jessica Berger Gross is the author of enLIGHTened: How I Lost 40 Pounds with a Yoga Mat, Fresh Pineapples, and a Beagle Pointer (Skyhorse), she lives in Vancouver, British Columbia with her husband and two-year-old son.

Go here to see the original: 
In Season

Who goes for Spiritual Direction? Anyone who wants to deepen his/her relationship with God – laity, clergy, monks, men and women religious, singles, married persons – even Spiritual Directors have their own Spiritual Directors! …

Go here to see the original: 
What is Spiritual Direction? | The Carmelite

Two interesting, and strikingly different articles caught my eye in Sunday’s New York Times . The first, a book review by Pankaj Mishra that somewhat negatively reviews the rise of yoga in the United States. Whether in the streets of Mysore or on Fifth Avenue, yoga cannot be disentangled from specific histories or specific cultural and economic practices. Of course, the more vulgar aspects of its inevitable commodification in the United States, like $1,000-a-night yoga cruises, ­ought to be deplored. Certainly, the civic or political virtue that results from limber, yoga-toned bodies is not yet measurable. And it would be nice if American followers of yoga, who increasingly define the future of this Indian discipline, would at least occasionally seek something like spiritual transcendence. And the second, a glowing interview with Anusara founder John Friend by Mimi Swartz . The first time I encountered John Friend was at a workshop at a Woodlands community college nearly 10 years ago. At the time I was practicing a stricter form of yoga, and Friend’s joke-cracking and mind-boggling acrobatics — he is famous for his handstands — were something of a revelation. Yoga could be . . . fun ? As Friend led us through the poses, he spoke in a soft voice, insisting that we contain divinity within ourselves and must discover and express our inner goodness to fulfill our obligation to better our world. How to do so was never expressly stated — except for practicing yoga, of course — but I left the workshop feeling better physically, mentally and emotionally. I didn’t know at the time that this was my introduction to what others call “the cult of John.” If Friend could be compared with anyone outside the yoga world — and I am not sure he would like this comparison — it would be Joel Osteen , the magnetic evangelical megachurch minister with the feel-good message and a book-and-television empire. Osteen’s God is loving and forgiving. Osteen doesn’t get hung up on dogma, and thus everybody is welcome. I, for one, am happy to see yoga being discussed in the mainstream media. Glad that it is a part of our culture and open to debate. It’s good to know that people are thinking about these things and that makes it more likely to reach a deeper stream in our society. What do you think? ps- John Friend (@anusarafriend) plans to post his response to the interview today!

See original here:
John Friend and Yoga in America

After deciding to focus on building my own spiritual businesses, I decided I needed some help (or maybe some distraction from actually WORKING)…anyway, I came to Amazon and began looking at various Spiritual Marketing titles. …

Read more from the original source: 
The Spiritual Entrepreneur | The World Business

Dyor Feat David Gionfriddo Spiritual Meeting (Progressive Vocal Mix) (08:28) 4/6. Dyor Feat David Gionfriddo Spiritual Meeting (Progressive Dub Mix) (07:35) 5/6. Dyor Feat David Gionfriddo Spiritual Meeting (Ricky T Vocal Mix) (07:28) …

Originally posted here: 
Download Spiritual kung Fu 1978 DVDRIP X264 350MB Shan RS HF FS …

David Icke explains how the panic-stricken elite are desperate to put the lid back on a global awakening that is stalling their.

View original here: 
David Icke – The Global Spiritual Awakening of Humanity | CancerType

Days of Deepening Friendship: A Spiritual Journey Vinita Hampton Wright, author, editor, and retreat leader introduces her blog, Days of Deepening Friends…

Excerpt from: 
Days of Deepening Friendship: A Spiritual Journey | CatInfor.com

Whether or not you desire to attend church a lot more or easily uncover time to meditate each day, spiritual New Decades resolutions are a quite popular goal for a lot of. The physical and mental benefits that arise from accomplishing …

Here is the original post:
Spiritual New Many Years Resolutions | parliamentplc.com

Whether or not you desire to attend church a lot more or easily uncover time to meditate each day, spiritual New Decades resolutions are a quite popular goal for a lot of. The physical and mental benefits that arise from accomplishing …

See more here: 
Spiritual New Many Years Resolutions | parliamentplc.com

He’s especially well known for using charred wood, a material that draws attention to “the spiritual nature of wood,” as V&A curator Abraham Thomas describes it. The dark finish on the Beetle’s House is achieved by burning the outer …

View post:
Terunobu Fujimori: Architect of Small & Spiritual Spaces …

For a modality whose very title, yoga, means “unity,” it sure seems to be chock full of opposites. Our hatha yoga poses are made up of the “sun” (ha) and “moon” (tha). Shiva-Shakti, or ying-yang, symbolize the passive and active parts of our natures, and we’re in constant interplay between sthira (effort) and sukha (ease) on and off the mat. Anatomically, we mirror this duality. Did you know there are no muscles that cross the midline of our bodies? We have the spine in back and the connective strip of the Linea alba in front, which when, you think about it, means that we are really two distinct halves fused together at these junctions. Spiritually as well, we exist as polar aspects of energy, which make up our total prana, or life force. I’ll call these collective energies the shadow and the light. Sometimes (in the cases of love and joy) the energies feel lighter, and other times (like with anger and sorrow), much heavier. Still, any of these energies can be used as pure fodder, fuel that either generates actions that are aligned with us or that steer us sharply from our paths. Since, in another two-sided element of being, our thoughts and actions can either feel more positive (loving) or negative (hurtful), we might make the misstep of placing value judgments on our feelings, deciding that the lighter energies are “good” and that the shadows are “bad.” We want to feel happy and free, and because our dark side may have caused us and others suffering, embarrassment, shame and loss, it’s all too seductive to try and live only on the light side of ourselves. I think it’s unfortunate that being a student of yoga is sometimes understood to mean one must be only light and happy, all the time, and to never feel angry, insecure, or vengeful. In my opinion, this idealized state is not spiritual perfection but a delusion of grandeur masquerading as spiritual practice. Being as we’re human and divine, it’s a great day when we realize that we can be both, and have our yoga, too. Because it’s not an absence of shadow feelings that makes one enlightened. It’s knowing how to alchemize them into conscious, loving actions once they arise that matters. Unfortunately, many of us aren’t there yet. We’ve even decided that there is “good” karma and “bad” karma. But when you look at karma as a concept, it’s judgment-free. It simply means that this or that choice can be more constructive or more destructive to your ultimate goals. Add to this information the fact that, often, it’s not the shadows themselves that are dysfunctional. It’s the way we express them that causes problems. If you shy away from discomfort, in your yoga poses or in life (and if you do one, I can nearly guarantee you do the other), it’s likely that you haven’t practiced with that dark side as much as you need to in order to become strong and resilient enough to bear its intensity. In other words, if you haven’t done this work, you may be prone to reactivity, where some event, inner or outer, connects you to your shadow energy. Before you know it, you’ve thrown a glass or hurled hurtful words at a loved one. Or perhaps you react inwardly and act destructively toward yourself, as in blowing an important deadline because you’re anxious or shutting yourself down out of fear. Picking fights, being disrespectful, participating in family dramas, gossiping, or using drugs or alcohol to cope with discomfort are all ways we let the dark side predominate. We have confused the reactions to our shadows with the shadows themselves, when in fact they are just energies waiting to be harnessed. It’s time to look directly at these energies, without naming or blaming, and use our yogi powers to  channel even our blackest moments from the messiness of reaction into the clarity and empowerment of reflection. From there, we can move forward into actions born of wisdom, not wildness. One way we do this on the mat is, simply put, by no longer resisting the sensations we don’t like, but by embracing them, or at least, softening our resistance against them to allow them to co-exist with the ones you are happier to feel. Say you’re in a five-minute Pigeon Pose, and somewhere around the three-minute mark, your hips start grumbling, then maybe yelling out loud. You were enjoying your moment of Zen, and had the breath under control, but here comes the old familiar hips-on-fire feeling. To deal with it, you start breathing louder, thinking about the grocery list, pondering your fingernails, and turning your attention to anything but the discomfort. Yet, according to yogic wisdom, this might be a powerful place to explore. What if, next time you found yourself in a battle of wills with those inner demons, you–well–just surrendered? Soften and widen the breath. Go gentler into that shadowy night. What happens when you stop fighting and start listening to what your dark side has been trying to teach you all along? When you do this, the monsters inside lose their power to throw you off center, and you’ll regain your inherent wholeness. The promise of yoga is unity, and by opening your heart to all of who you are, you will finally, completely, and nearly effortlessly, come home. The goal yoga may be to become enlightened, or to keep the fires of awareness lit, but we cannot get there without recognizing, and in fact honoring, our darkness. Without developing the sweet embrace of understanding and mothering grace of compassion for all that we are, we will never become whole, but rather just play out our days, quite literally, half-lived. Here’s a variation on a common pose that includes a mudra, or sacred hand position. Get to know it in a way that will remind you, as it reminds me, that wholeness is waiting whenever we widen our idea of yoga to include all its forms. Core Pose: Seated Spinal Twist with Gyan (or Jnana) Mudra Gyan Mudra is the “Knowledge Seal,” a hand position that helps focus your mind, heart, and spirit in a certain way. Start by uniting the tips of the index fingers and thumbs to symbolize the meeting of the awareness that comes from embracing your lower and higher energies. According to the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna was in Gyan Mudra when he imparted the teachings to Arjuna, urging him to use his humanity to express his divinity. Come into your easy seat. Make Gyan Mudra with both hands. Inhale and lengthen your spine at center. Exhale and bring the right hand to the left knee or thigh, and weave your left arm behind your back. Depending on your flexibility, your left hand mudra might peek out around the side waist as you see mine doing here. Take a few breaths here, facing your left side and opening the ribcage. Think of embracing your shadow side, the one you might hide from sight. Illuminate it with your attention and focused breath. Then reverse the pose and reflect on your active, bright, confident side for a few full breaths.  When you’re done with both sides, sweep your arms out and up, and when they meet overhead, bring the palms together in prayer, then down to front of your chest. Bow your head to your hands, a symbol of bringing yourself–all of yourself–into union.            

Read more:
Shadows and Light

Green Lake Spiritual Center Grand Opening flyer A new spiritual center and community space is coming to the neighborhood. Green Lake Spiritual Center, located at 125 NE 52nd St, is opening its doors this Sunday (August 1, 2010), …

View original post here:
Green Lake Spiritual Center's grand opening is this Sunday • My …

The hip-hop world is a less than sensible place – lots of times, you’re even required to clarify when bad…

More: 
Wine-O: Ex-Spiritual Rapper Set To Go "Bang Bang" – Houston Music …

This week my home practice happened at 5am one day, 3pm the next, and in spurts throughout the afternoon on another day. Not at all on two days. Occasionally I feel disappointed in this, wondering whether I’d finally be able to grab the toes of my left foot in triangle pose if I just applied myself with greater consistency, greater diligence, greater drive.   These same feelings come up when I hear friends say things like, “I haven’t missed a day of yoga in 2.7 years. It only takes 27 years to form a good habit. Only 270 days of boot camp and you’ll be a new woman.”  Etc., etc., etc.  Hearing these things, I slump into a kind of anti-achievement stupor. I have set the bar too high to make the leap and all I want now is a bag of chips and a lousy movie. Same thing goes for every area of my life. Extraordinary colleagues who make Tony Robbins look like a slacker, volunteers who single-handedly bring clean water to very thin children in very small villages, friends who climb absurdly high mountains in Peru for fun and charity dollars. I know these people, and watching them from the comfortable chair in my living room, I sometimes do a little dance with discouragement. Here’s my response to discouragement and disappointment when they’re doing a nasty tango with me: 1. Lower the bar. This may not be Tony Robbin’s advice, but it works for me. If an hour of practice feels like too high a climb, do thirty minutes. If thirty minutes feels daunting, do one downward dog. I mean it. One. 2. Adore myself for doing one downward dog, for giving myself one glass of water (the children in the village may come another day), for giving every little bit of love I can to myself and my fellow human beings. A well meaning hello with eye contact can save us all, some days. 3. Dream, dream, dream. Of the hamstrings I will have some day, the peace of mind, the work and workplace I’d love, the people I’d love to play with all day long. I do this because of an absolute conviction that dreaming serves to pull these things toward me. 4. Ask myself what one, small thing I’d love to do right now that would take beautiful care of me. Do that one small thing and forget everything else. These work for me. My guess is that you have your own wonderful thoughts.  I’d love to hear them. Thanks to yoga for putting all of this in my face this week, and thanks to you for the conversation. Kristin Shepherd is a chiropractor, actor, speaker, and workshop wonderwoman in North Bay, Ontario.  Join her at kristinshepherd.ca or on Facebook at Dr. Kristin Shepherd.

Go here to see the original:
Lowering the Bar

Each and every single one of us needs ‘ spiritual direction.’ But very often spiritual fathers and/or mothers are very hard to find. The Jesuit Priest Jean Pierre de Caussade provides a little book of ‘directions’ for leading a fruitful …

Read more from the original source:
Spiritual Direction … « On First Principles

Last time I went to Nashville it was in the 1980s and I couldn’t see any way past the Randy Travis tea towels and the Dollywood-ification of the place. I.

The rest is here: 
Nashville: My new spiritual home | Simmy Richman | Independent …

The Bruno Groening Circle of Friends is one of the largest associations for spiritual healing in the world. It is made up of many local “communities” throughout the world in which seekers of help and other interested people can learn …

View original post here:
The Beauty Shop » Blog Archive » Help And Healing On The Spiritual …

Will 2012 be something akin to a massive Kundalini experience, a mega spiritual awakening? While most are predicting gloom and doom- maybe the.

Continued here: 
A Spiritual Awakening? | 2012 Doomsday Predictions

I am still mulling the AA idea of spiritual fitness. For me it means finding a calm and thoughtful center. Waiting before I act, considering what I think, living in the present time, not the past or the future. The donkeys are teaching …

See the rest here:
Spiritual fitness « Bedlam Farm Journal

As an urban yogi I often day dream about coming to a bustling, messy street square and seeing–instead of garbage and taxi cabs– hundreds of yogis. Wouldn’t that be a sight? Well, Bay Area yogis are in luck because you are all invited to yoga it up in Union Square on August 7. Stephanie Snyder and Darren Main have signed on as volunteers to lead the masses, and just to add a little agave-flavored icing to this holy granola treat; registration fees benefit City of Hope . Here’s the spiel: Yoga for Hope is an event for yoga beginners and experts alike to bring awareness to the benefits of yoga practice for patients with life-threatening illnesses. Join City of Hope’s efforts to expand awareness of the importance of the mind-body-spirit connection is when battling cancer, diabetes or HIV/AIDS. Don’t forget to keep an eye out for Yoga Journal’ s sponsor booth to get a goody bag and magazine. There are also prizes and incentives to raise donations above the registration fee, for more information visit Yoga for Hope. Who says New York yogis get to have all the fun?

Originally posted here:
Yoga in Union Square

Last week I took Lucien to swim camp. Now, “swim camp” when you’re two involves getting into the water with your parent or caregiver and practicing the most basic skills like kicking and blowing bubbles into the water. I wasn’t exactly dropping him off for sleep away camp. But, on the first day, my guy was terrified of getting in the water, even though we swim together in one of the public outdoor pools in Vancouver. He refused to go in. Lucien’s fear and resistance reminded me of how I feel when I’m in yoga class and it’s time for backbends, specifically Urdhva Danurasana. Give me a chair backbend or an Ustrasana and I’m happy, but when it comes time for wheel, I have a hard time not heading for a bathroom break. But when, despite my urge to flee, I force myself to stay and work through the tightness in my upper back and shoulders and the voice in my head saying “No! I’m scared. I don’t want to do that pose!” I end up feeling a sense of freedom and elation that only come from breaking through a mental or physical block. Back at the swimming pool, it was seriously touch-and-go for a few minutes (major crying and “No, I am NOT a fish!” on Lucien’s part, and some serious cajoling–um, make that supportive encouragement–on mine).  Eventually we made it into the water. As you can imagine, Lucien loved it once he was in. The water felt great on a hot day, and the songs and games his teacher used to encourage comfort and familiarity with the water worked like a charm.  By Friday morning, the fifth and last class of the “camp” session, Lucien refused to get out of the water! All in all a huge success.   Sometimes, you have to force yourself to stretch. Which pose makes you say “No, I’m scared!”?     Jessica Berger Gross is the author of enLIGHTened: How I Lost 40 Pounds with a Yoga Mat, Fresh Pineapples, and a Beagle Pointer (Skyhorse), she lives in Vancouver, British Columbia with her husband and two-year-old son.

Original post: 
Swim Camp

Then “It is doubtful that anyone had as great an impact on Lewis’s spiritual development during the spiritually formative years from 1940 – 1952 as Father Walter Adams. Adams was born in England in 1869. His father served as an Anglican …

Go here to read the rest: 
C S Lewis's spiritual formation: confession, purgatory, Mary, and …

We mustn’t allow any power or authority to define or determine our spiritual status. This doesn’t mean we reject the church. But we can, and indeed must, reject its poor opinion of us. Please join my newsletter for special exclusive …

Go here to read the rest:
Spiritual Movement | nakedpastor

Though all of us shoot this class with no preconceptions or prejudgments, our corporal and psychic beings make bombarded by extrinsic and state of affairs.

Read the original here: 
5 Paths to Spiritual Growth | No Anxiety No Depression

Now, I don’t doubt that Queeg and other spiritual retards such as Hitchens, Dawkins, and Harris, feel perfectly “at home” in the Darwinist environment they create for themselves, just as there are millions of people whose meager souls …

See the rest here: 
One Cʘsmos: Spiritual Environment and Soul Evolution

by mediasandbox Spiritual Vacations Are The Newest Hype With all of the things that make up our daily grind, we often find ourselves craving.

Go here to see the original: 
Spiritual Vacations Are The Newest Hype | Trending Topics Blog

“What is the function of a spiritual life coach and what are some of the tasks and methods they use?” That is the question I was asked when I was interviewed recently for a television special on Executive and Spiritual Life Coaching …

Original post: 
Spiritual Life Coaching

Spiritual Guidance has you covered with all there is to know. Check out Holy 101 or Disc 101 for an introduction to healing as a priest; for the party-minded healer, check out a priest’s guide to tanks. …

See original here: 
Spiritual Guidance: So you wanna play a priest, part 4, levels 41-70

The “disappearance” of Manning’s spiritual adviser was also played out on the political platform as Persad-Bissessar revealed her immigration records which showed of numerous visits to Venezuela, the latest being on February 6, 2010. …

See original here: 
Former Trinidad PM's “Spiritual Advisor” Gone to Africa; Church …

“Guru” Michael Lyons aka Monan Singh, 51, wore flowing robes, drove expensive cars and flew around the world boasting of links to the Dalai Lama, a court in London heard. Passing himself off as a “ spiritual leader” the colourful …

Here is the original post: 
Charismatic spiritual healer guilty of rape

HD Version www.youtube.com Space Music Spirit Meditation Video – Colonies by Equinox. Relax and discover Inner Peace with this.

View original post here:
Space Meditation Video – Colonies – Spiritual Music | You Tube …

Religions should rethink their strategies to keep coming generations in spirituality and religion fold, acclaimed religious statesman Rajan Zed stated in Nevada (USA) today. Hinduism Worldwide,Rajan Zed,Universal Society of Hinduism …

Read the original post:
Re-strategise to keep youth in spiritual fold, suggests Zed

Spiritual intelligence is the capacity to sense, understand and tap in to the highest part of ourselves, of others and of the world around us. This source of inner links of london serenity may be our best defense against the hassles …

View original here: 
What's your spiritual IQ?

It’s the secret weapon that will help you cope with the hassles.

Read more here:
What's your spiritual IQ? | FitFiend

Answers to the question, What’s The Difference Between Being Spiritual Or Religous? Answers to Questions from People Who Know at Ask Experience Project.

See the rest here:
What's The Difference Between Being Spiritual Or Religous? – Find …

Spiritual perspective of sleep postures This article, based on the spiritual research conducted by the Spiritual Science Reserarch.

Here is the original: 
Sleeping Postures ? a Spiritual Perspective | Care Our Health

Relationships hold the key to giving terminally ill patients the spiritual care they need. However, researchers have pinpointed a mismatch between patients’ expectations and understanding when it comes to spirituality, and what medical …

Read the original here: 
Science Centric | News | Relationships hold key to spiritual care

Relationships hold the key to giving terminally ill patients the spiritual care they need, according to researchers.

Read more from the original source:
Relationships hold key to spiritual care for patients …

Washington, July 24 (ANI): Relationships hold the key to giving terminally ill patients the spiritual care they need, according to researchers.

Read more:
Relationships hold key to spiritual care for patients | Daily …

OGDEN — Last week’s Arise and Shine Forth Spectacular performances weren’t all about singing and dancing — the 3500 youth were given special messag…

See the rest here:
A spiritual feast for performers | Standard-Examiner – Ogden …

Myth Busters is a show well do every once in a while here on the Spiritual Warfare Show in where we will dispose of mths that have been told over time to appear to be truth. Tonight is Freedom The Illusion one of the biggest Myths out …

See more here: 
Spiritual Warfare- Myth busters Freedom the Illusion 7/23/2010 …

Torrance, USA – You seekers of spiritual power through meditation keep changing schools and books and barely reach the spiritual .

Read the original here:
Seekers Of Spiritual Meditation – Strategies To Help You Acquire …

Torrance, USA – You seekers of spiritual power through meditation keep changing schools and books and barely reach the spiritual .

Read the original post:
Spiritual evolution – Seekers Of Spiritual Meditation – Strategies …

London (July 23, 2010) — Relationships hold the key to giving terminally ill patients the spiritual care they need. However, researchers have pinpointed a mismatch between patients’ expectations and understanding when it comes to …

Original post: 
Relationships hold key to spiritual care — Science Blog

Relationships hold the key to giving terminally ill patients the spiritual care they need. However, researchers have pinpointed a mismatch between patients’ expectations and understanding when it comes to spirituality, and what medical …

More here:
Relationships hold key to spiritual care | Machines Like Us

London (July 23, 2010) – Relationships hold the key to giving terminally ill patients the spiritual care they need. However, researchers have pinpointed a mismatch between patients’ expectations and understanding when it comes to …

Read more: 
Relationships hold key to spiritual care | Science Codex

I came across many wise and touching pieces of writing by the spiritual Einstein while preparing for these conversations. Einstein was a passionate letter writer. He wrote to fellow scientists, friends, and strangers. …

Read the rest here: 
Krista Tippett: Albert Einstein's Faith: Was the Great Physicist …

A resurgence of interest in spiritual formation has prompted many voices to offer perspectives about what it means to be transformed into the image of Jesus. Several contemporary authors have written on Christian spiritual formation …

View post:
Spiritual Formation « Renewal Dynamics / Regent University School …

In a recent Anatomy of Yoga class with Leslie Kaminoff, we watched a video that I’ll never forget. And hopefully, neither will you. And, trust me, this all has a heck of a lot to do with your yoga practice! It features anatomist Gil Hedley explaining The Fuzz. You can watch it yourself, but be aware that it shows him working with a cadaver. Yet it’s such an important piece of knowledge that I’d like to define this incredible concept for you, and you can choose to view it or not and still take it forward into your daily life. Each night while we sleep, or any time we’re still for long periods, like sitting in a car on a long road trip, our body begins to build collagen fibers. They look a little like cotton candy, and are just as sticky, causing friction between what should be smoothly sliding muscle surfaces. The end result is the stiffness you might feel in the morning getting out of bed or standing up after watching a three-hour movie. Now, this is usually no big deal for those of us with a consistent movement practice. We feel creaky, we do yoga, we’re good. But if you don’t lubricate your joints and move your muscles to break up the fuzz regularly enough, it begins to knit together. Over time, the normal, subtle stiffness becomes limited movement, and even pain as the spider-webbed, bound body tries to move against resistance. Instead of confronting the fuzz, to avoid discomfort, many people simply move less. It becomes a vicious cycle that we often chock up to aging, but really is a cumulative, and mostly avoidable, buildup of fuzz. Now, that’s not to say that all physical slowdown is due to the fuzz, and if we simply stretch more, we will never feel the effects of age. But there is much more we can do to keep our bodies–and therefore our minds–as open, vital, and free as possible. This parallels the yoga teaching about samskaras , the mental and emotional patterns that make up our conditioning. Samskara is a neutral word, indicating simply the actions we take that lead to certain results, but our habits can lead to either constructive or destructive outcomes, depending on our goals. The yogi seeks to strengthen those positive habits that maintain the full range of spiritual motion, and, importantly, dissolve the ones that have become diminishing and threaten to hold us back from reaching our potential of living from love, light, and joy. It’s exciting to see science finding that the same lessons apply to our actual body as well. In fact, I see the two as interconnected, since continual mental and emotional stress, for example, leads almost unerringly to muscle tension, which is a direct physical manifestation of the samskara of anxiety or fear. This is the mind-body connection the yogis have known about for centuries, and though sometimes yoga philosophy can get pretty obtuse, much of it can be translated into the real world as simply as you want to make it. That’s nice to know when you’re looking for tools you can apply today, right this moment, that can help you release what doesn’t serve you, and keep, even amplify, the things that do. Yoga doesn’t have to be confusing. It’s the art of living in balance, and taking actions that fuel your happiness, whatever that means for you. From there, you’ll be inspired to offer some of that goodness to the world through your creative self-expression, and with a burning desire to help those who are still suffering. This is the road map the samskaras offer us: What kind of a life are you carving out through your choices? Is it shaping up as you’d like? If not, then start chipping away at another way of being until it more closely resembles your heart. The next time you’re on the mat, or doing a few Sun Salutes just out of bed, you are not only solidifying healthy habits, you’re creating the potential for new ones to take root in your life in so many ways. Here’s a great all-in-one pose for dissolving restrictive samskaras, and, with them, the fuzz. Do it in the morning just after you get out of bed, and you’ll greet your whole day with more resiliency, flexibility, and freedom from all sorts of fuzz. Core Pose: Low Lunge with Cat/Cow Variation Come into a Low Lunge position with your right foot forward. Your front knee is stacked over the heel, not out in front of it, to avoid knee pressure. The back knee stretches comfortably behind the hip, not directly under it. The front foot and back knee are hip-distance, or about two fists-width apart. Keep your hands on the floor, framing your front foot at first. Take a moment to back off the hips, since you don’t want to sink too far into this pose. This can cause you to overstretch the connective tissue. Instead, lift out of the pose a bit until you can ground the foot and knee, draw in the low belly, and bring your torso upright, hands onto the knee or thigh. You should now feel a stretch in the center of your muscles, not in the back hip crease and front sitting bone only. Your legs are also working to maintain the buoyancy of the pose. Inhale, carve your tailbone long, and arch your spine. Keep the back of your neck long, and lift the chest sky-high. As you do this move, pull your shoulders back and slide your shoulder blades closer. Exhale and round your back. Remember to keep the length in your lower back and roll more through the upper back and shoulder area. Gently lower your chin for a mindful neck stretch. This pose is meant to lift through the back of your heart and spread the shoulder blades wider apart than it is to press out your lower back curve. So although you will activate the low belly fully on your exhalation, lift it in and up towards the chest, rather than squeezing it back towards the spine only. Repeat the spinal motion with your breath for 5-10 rounds, then return to a Down Dog or Child’s Pose, and repeat on the left side.

Read the original here: 
Fuzz Buster

In a recent Anatomy of Yoga class with Leslie Kaminoff, we watched a video that I’ll never forget. And hopefully, neither will you. And, trust me, this all has a heck of a lot to do with your yoga practice! It features anatomist Gil Hedley explaining The Fuzz. You can watch it yourself, but be aware that it shows him working with a cadaver. Yet it’s such an important piece of knowledge that I’d like to define this incredible concept for you, and you can choose to view it or not and still take it forward into your daily life. Each night while we sleep, or any time we’re still for long periods, like sitting in a car on a long road trip, our body begins to build collagen fibers. They look a little like cotton candy, and are just as sticky, causing friction between what should be smoothly sliding muscle surfaces. The end result is the stiffness you might feel in the morning getting out of bed or standing up after watching a three-hour movie. Now, this is usually no big deal for those of us with a consistent movement practice. We feel creaky, we do yoga, we’re good. But if you don’t lubricate your joints and move your muscles to break up the fuzz regularly enough, it begins to knit together. Over time, the normal, subtle stiffness becomes limited movement, and even pain as the spider-webbed, bound body tries to move against resistance. Instead of confronting the fuzz, to avoid discomfort, many people simply move less. It becomes a vicious cycle that we often chock up to aging, but really is a cumulative, and mostly avoidable, buildup of fuzz. Now, that’s not to say that all physical slowdown is due to the fuzz, and if we simply stretch more, we will never feel the effects of age. But there is much more we can do to keep our bodies–and therefore our minds–as open, vital, and free as possible. This parallels the yoga teaching about samskaras , the mental and emotional patterns that make up our conditioning. Samskara is a neutral word, indicating simply the actions we take that lead to certain results, but our habits can lead to either constructive or destructive outcomes, depending on our goals. The yogi seeks to strengthen those positive habits that maintain the full range of spiritual motion, and, importantly, dissolve the ones that have become diminishing and threaten to hold us back from reaching our potential of living from love, light, and joy. It’s exciting to see science finding that the same lessons apply to our actual body as well. In fact, I see the two as interconnected, since continual mental and emotional stress, for example, leads almost unerringly to muscle tension, which is a direct physical manifestation of the samskara of anxiety or fear. This is the mind-body connection the yogis have known about for centuries, and though sometimes yoga philosophy can get pretty obtuse, much of it can be translated into the real world as simply as you want to make it. That’s nice to know when you’re looking for tools you can apply today, right this moment, that can help you release what doesn’t serve you, and keep, even amplify, the things that do. Yoga doesn’t have to be confusing. It’s the art of living in balance, and taking actions that fuel your happiness, whatever that means for you. From there, you’ll be inspired to offer some of that goodness to the world through your creative self-expression, and with a burning desire to help those who are still suffering. This is the road map the samskaras offer us: What kind of a life are you carving out through your choices? Is it shaping up as you’d like? If not, then start chipping away at another way of being until it more closely resembles your heart. The next time you’re on the mat, or doing a few Sun Salutes just out of bed, you are not only solidifying healthy habits, you’re creating the potential for new ones to take root in your life in so many ways. Here’s a great all-in-one pose for dissolving restrictive samskaras, and, with them, the fuzz. Do it in the morning just after you get out of bed, and you’ll greet your whole day with more resiliency, flexibility, and freedom from all sorts of fuzz. Core Pose: Low Lunge with Cat/Cow Variation Come into a Low Lunge position with your right foot forward. Your front knee is stacked over the heel, not out in front of it, to avoid knee pressure. The back knee stretches comfortably behind the hip, not directly under it. The front foot and back knee are hip-distance, or about two fists-width apart. Keep your hands on the floor, framing your front foot at first. Take a moment to back off the hips, since you don’t want to sink too far into this pose. This can cause you to overstretch the connective tissue. Instead, lift out of the pose a bit until you can ground the foot and knee, draw in the low belly, and bring your torso upright, hands onto the knee or thigh. You should now feel a stretch in the center of your muscles, not in the back hip crease and front sitting bone only. Your legs are also working to maintain the buoyancy of the pose. Inhale, carve your tailbone long, and arch your spine. Keep the back of your neck long, and lift the chest sky-high. As you do this move, pull your shoulders back and slide your shoulder blades closer. Exhale and round your back. Remember to keep the length in your lower back and roll more through the upper back and shoulder area. Gently lower your chin for a mindful neck stretch. This pose is meant to lift through the back of your heart and spread the shoulder blades wider apart than it is to press out your lower back curve. So although you will activate the low belly fully on your exhalation, lift it in and up towards the chest, rather than squeezing it back towards the spine only. Repeat the spinal motion with your breath for 5-10 rounds, then return to a Down Dog or Child’s Pose, and repeat on the left side.

Original post: 
Fuzz Buster

My office was burgled (what a lovely sounding word! It sounds like water pouring over rocks in a cool stream) on Friday, while I was in a back room speaking with someone. For the first two hours afterward, I thought, oh, this is just like trying to find the toothpaste on my bathroom counter. That substantial amount of cash is here somewhere. I just can’t find it. When the reality of it sank in, my gut writhed for a few minutes. Until–and this is the yoga part –until I realized this is what is. It is exactly like my hamstrings. They are short. No whining about that helps. No gnashing of teeth, no “why did this happen to me”, no “I should have done this or that”. My hamstrings are short. The money is gone. Can’t do much about it. Except. Except that I can look at the situation gently, and positively, and with a lot of love for myself. I can soothe my gut by contemplating the good things that might come from this. I can dwell on how lucky I am to be safe, happy, and engaged in work that will never land me in jail where the food is bad and my yoga props might be confiscated. A sense of humor comes back to me. Which, strangely, helps me wish my burglar friend well. For him (it turns out I met him before, which is why I know he is a him), I wish peace, well being, a relaxed gut, and good life choices ahead. In fact, I’ll go all out and say I wish long hamstrings for him. Somehow I know my own flexibility on this point will help both of us. Here’s what yoga is teaching me: What is, is. I do better when I let go. Looking at everything with peace and love makes it all better. It turns a burglary into water pouring over rocks in a cool stream. How cool is that? Has yoga done this to you, too? Thanks to yoga for the alchemy in this, and thanks to you for the conversation. Kristin Shepherd is a chiropractor, actor, speaker, and workshop wonderwoman in North Bay, Ontario.  Join her at kristinshepherd.ca or on Facebook at Dr. Kristin Shepherd.

Original post:
Burgled!

Many unchurched people are spiritual but not religious, meaning they do not practice a particular religion. Learn about spirituality and beliefs of seekers.

Read the original: 
SBNR, Spiritual But Not Religious: Reasons for Being Unchurched

Many unchurched people are spiritual but not religious, meaning they do not practice a particular religion. Learn about spirituality and beliefs of seekers.

View original here: 
SBNR, Spiritual But Not Religious: Reasons for Being Unchurched

Meditation is the most powerful tool available to us when it comes to developing spiritually and psychically. For this reason meditation is used.

See original here: 
Meditation For Spiritual & Psychic Development | Stress Management

Meditation is the most powerful tool available to us when it comes to developing spiritually and psychically. For this reason meditation is used.

See the original post: 
Meditation For Spiritual & Psychic Development | Stress Management

church refugees part 3 – “ spiritual practices”. July 22, 2010 by kathyescobar. last one! phyllis and i had fun sitting at my kitchen counter yacking away about a topic that unfortunately we know far too much about–church refugees. good, …

Read the original post: 
church refugees part 3 – “spiritual practices” « the carnival in …

Enter the word ” spiritual ,” which is becoming synonymous with retaining all that is good in a religious person, without the religion. It seems that in many people’s conception if you really can’t be religious, at least you should try to …

The rest is here: 
Spiritual but not religious | Psychology Today

I am twenty years old. This year has been one of spiritual awakening for myself. Seven months ago I started a spiritual practice. In a nutshell, today my practice consists of yoga in the morning, mindful breathing meditation morning and …

Go here to read the rest: 
Question about weight lost through spiritual practice of yoga …

Tea Party paladina and Southern Baptist Sharron Angle, the Republican running to unseat Harry Reid in Nevada, recently offered the following interpretation of Thomas Jefferson’s famous 1801 letter to the Danbury Baptists, …

Read the original here:
Angle glosses Jefferson – Spiritual Politics

Metal News: Spiritual Beggars Streaming New Song Via Myspace.

Read the original: 
Spiritual Beggars Streaming New Song Online – in Metal News …

In addition to being the author of Wednesday’s shadow priest edition of Spiritual Guidance, Fox Van Allen is an accomplished songwriter. After Dawn Moore refused to use Power Infusion on him during a lengthy raid encounter, …

Read the rest here: 
Spiritual Guidance: Of lore, the forsaken and shadow priests

The result is “Jungle Flight, Spiritual Adventures at the Ends of the Earth.” The paperback is a collection of vignettes from missionary pilots from all over the world working with the Jungle Aviation and Radio Service, commonly known …

See the rest here: 
Spiritual adventures at the ends of the Earth | General Aviation News

Feeling a little burnt out on your yoga practice? How about a little inspiration for your practice from a few of the greats? Check out Krisnamacharya’s totally zen moving Sarvangasana (Shoulderstand)! And from Mr. Iyengar himself: Who, or what, inspires your practice?

Originally posted here: 
Old School Yoga

Erin is holding her first Spiritual Salon on Saturday, August 14, 2010 in Los Angeles. She announced this on her blog a while back, but I wanted to announce it here in case anyone missed it who may be interested in going. …

The rest is here:
Spiritual Salon With Erin

The other day, my yoga teacher said something I keep thinking about. “In class,” Louie said, “we practice how to practice. But at home, we practice.” Of all things, this made me think of my date night with Neil this past weekend. On Friday night we went all out–hired a babysitter, made a reservation at a Japanese tapas place by the beach, dressed cute (in a summery dress and sandals for me and a striped button down and jeans for Neil). We had a great time – talking and eating and planning and dreaming – but the bill and the babysitter added up. Then on Saturday, we had a no fuss date night at home. We put Lucien to bed early and I set the table and gathered vegetables (lettuce, kale) from the garden while Neil made black bean veggie burgers and yam fries. We wore shorts and t-shirts and were sweaty from a day out and about in the summertime sun. For dessert, we ate raspberries from the garden. Guess which one was more fun? As important as it is to be out in the world – or in the yoga center – at home with the ones you love is where true practice begins. Jessica Berger Gross is the author of enLIGHTened: How I Lost 40 Pounds with a Yoga Mat, Fresh Pineapples, and a Beagle Pointer (Skyhorse), she lives in Vancouver, British Columbia with her husband and two-year-old son.

See the rest here: 
Date Night

United Europe must not be a stage towards the Westernisation of the world, but a move against it.

See more here: 
United Europe: The Spiritual Prerequisite | Julius Evola

Spiritual ecstasy is not a feeling or an idea but a shift of perception in which direct contact with spirit is made. Being in ecstasy does not have to express.

Continued here: 
Spiritual Ecstasy | Care2 Healthy & Green Living

I’ve tried several times to begin this article and this is my third attempt. I’m supposed to be writing about special needs parenting from an Islamic/Muslim/ Spiritual point of view, and the challenge is finding a balance between the …

See original here: 
Bittersweet: A Spiritual Perspective on Special Needs Parenting …

It’s my first week in a new town, having moved from NYC to Austin to focus on yoga, travel and all that it entails for me right now. It’s slower here, no doubt, with a local news story lamenting that the new city Metro system doesn’t have enough people riding it! I’ll soon be parking my grateful derriere on one of the new, cushioned seats (with actual airspace between bodies) on my way to a yoga class. I miss New York, but I’m interested to see what health and yogic possibilities lay ahead for me here. In this transitional period, where cardboard moving boxes vie for my attention along with daily responsibilities (as I write this blog, all my books sit next to me in U-Haul containers, awaiting their freedom), I can’t help but feel, well, empty. This is a specific kind of emptiness, not the windswept sensation after an emotional storm, or the primordial suspension of a deep meditation. It’s more like a mixture of mourning and excitement, so evenly matched that it generates the time-standing-still feeling you have while retaining the breath after an inhale, or letting the exhale slide into a silent moment of nothingness before inspiring again. And when I say, “inspiring,” I mean breathing in and getting back to the creation of my life’s work, my dharma.  This is the calm before the flood, when creative elements will sweep me forward. And I have to be ready to both direct the wave and ride it into places I can’t foresee. It is scary, yet wonderful. I wonder if this could be the Middle Path the Buddha spoke of, or the “field” between happiness and sorrow that Rumi wrote about so eloquently. I think of it as The Void, taken from the Runes, the ancient Viking stones etched with symbols used by those seeking clarity. Here’s one definition of The Void from the Book of Runes : The Unknowable represents the path of Karma–the sum total of your actions and their consequences, the lessons that are yours for this lifetime. And yet, this Rune teaches that the very debts of old karma shift and evolve as you shift and evolve. Nothing is predestined. What beckons is the creative power of the unknown. We all hit The Void at one time or another, sometimes multiple times a day. It’s that pause that seems hollow but that is actually pregnant with possibility, full of creative energy, or shakti, waiting for you to decide which action to take next to direct it into form. The Void itself is often what ignites fear: of the unknown, of letting go, of being alone, of moving to that next level of ourselves, and risking failure and public ridicule to do it. Many people never cross The Void, because of what seems an impenetrable closed door of “I can’t, I shouldn’t” or “I’m not enough” blocking the entrance to the bridge across.   Yet when we practice yoga with as much determination off the mat as we do on it, when we get present and focus on what really matters–living completely, passionately, and without regret–we take destiny back into our own hands, the doorway magically opens, and, Void or not … we leap. Here’s a pose that may help you understand how solid the Void actually is, as you begin to see that you’re always where you stand, and from there, you can channel this veritable ocean of energy towards your biggest, brightest goals. Core Pose: Ankle-to-Knee Chair(Eka Pada Galavasana Preparation) This pose leads to taking flight in the arm balance of Eka Pada Galavasana, but for our purposes, we’re going to start where we are. Running too fast into the Void can cause you to miss out on the information coming at you from the core, and from your environment, a conversation that needs your full attention. Come to the front of your mat, feet hip-distance apart. Bend both knees and generate as much lift from your lower belly as from your lower back. Keep your spine long as you ground into your left foot and lift your right knee mindfully into your chest. Don’t rush; rather, make every moment of this pose an opportunity to find balance again. Once you’re stable, cross your right ankle over your left knee. Roll the thigh outward so your right knee lowers, and sit down deeper. Bring your hands to the chest, palms together in anjali mudra, which celebrates your connection to the Divine, or universal energy. Offer your heart forward as the hips move back to anchor you in this new place of balance and freedom. Take 5-10 breaths here, then return to Chair Pose, and fold forward over bent or straight legs for a few moments before repeating the balance on the other side.      

See the original post:
Filling the Void

At some point in a runner’s life, he or she is left describing a recent marathon, race, or other quick footed experience by the vague phrase ” spiritual experience.” When others hear of a recent run being a ” spiritual experience” the …

Read the original post: 
Alive and Young: Pray, Run, Eat: Running and the Spiritual Life

I’ve had a hard life. Everything seemed to go wrong for me once I had entered middle school. Had an accident that disfigured my front teeth, was the victim of constant bullying, the doctor who was supposed to fix my teeth took our insurance money and ran with it–so I never got the surgery for a fak…

Go here to read the rest: 
Awakening: Protection And Reassurance