"Angels we have heard on high...

Sweetly singing o'er the plain. And the mountains in reply, gently singing their refrain, "Gloria, Gloria, Gloria, In excelsis deo!""

We are living in a magical time. Certainly a time of great transition; given the large upheavals around the planet, most people would be uneasy. 

Light swirls around us a million fold, looking for a place to land. A place to be received. Are you available for light to permeate your being?

How many times do you allow yourself to rest, to be still? How much time do you spend moving on to the next project the next idea? If you find yourself anxious and terribly overwhelmed, consider that a being of most high is knocking on the door of your unconciousness, waiting to be received and welcomed.

Consider the number of people through the ages that have prayed for the wellbeing of others and to end suffering. Even those that have prayed to end their own suffering, have in effect been praying for the end of suffering of their own lineage. We cannot do something for ourselves without it effecting the DNA of those that came before and after. 

To receive the blessing of the sacred enlightened beings here to help us, pray for protection and guidance to only receive that which will serve the larger good. Ask to have a basis for which to ground. And then be still. Call to you the guides that are here to be of service to you that you may fully manifest your gifts and purpose. Call upon those in your lineage that have prayed and looked out for you, the angels and beings that are here to guide you. And then breathe. Focus on "welcome" as you breathe in, and "thank you" as you exhale. For there has been much you have been given to make you who you are at this point of your life.

If you do this for 11 minutes a day for 9 days, you will find much has changed and helped you. You may want to consider doing the breathe 1-2-3-4 breath to prepare you to receive, but diaphragmatic breathing will also work.

May you come to know how loved you are.....

Turnip stew

Fall brings the cool weather and wonderful root vegetables. Beautiful purple turnips were available at the farmer's market today, so off to the stew pot they go! Here is a wonderful recipe to try:
http://foodandspice.blogspot.com/2009/03/spicy-white-bean-and-turnip-soup.html

Breathing 1-2-3-4

Sit erect with pillow under bottom or sit on chair with feet planted on floor.

The type of breath for breathing 1-2-3-4:
Ujjuyai breath or ocean breathe. Diaphragmatically breathe through nose, air against back of throat down to deep in belly.

The rhythm of this breath is as follows:
Breathing in for 4 counts
Hold for 4 counts
Breathe out for 6 counts
Hold for 2 counts.

It is done at 3 locations. 8 times at waist and chest, 6 times at top of shoulders.
1st position: With hands at side of waist, palms down, thumbs toward back, fingers together toward front.Repeat 8 times.
2nd position: With hands upper chest, thumbs in armpits, fingers together with palms facing down over chest. Repeat 8 times
3rd position: place thumbs on middle of collar bone, index fingers resting on top of shoulders, fingers together and pointing down back, elbows up toward sky as much as possible. Repeat 6 times.
After 6th set, bring arms and hands up over head, imagining white light surrounding you and coming forward and enveloping you.

This breath can be used for regulating the breath during anxiety, insomnia, mind racing, and other situations where one feels themselves out of touch and unable to calm down. Do not do if you have chronic high blood pressure, or heart condition, get assistance with breath work that is most suitable for you.

How to meditate

Very often, we approach learning something from the perspective of succeeding. We want to do it right and well. 

But to effectively learn to meditate, we will, at some point, need to throw away the idea of getting it right and just do our best. In a sense, we must become the child all over again and to be open to what presents itself in the moment.

There are two types of meditation. The first type of meditation is that which trains the mind to have a single pointed concentration on a word, a chant, an image or on the breath. Thi s is by far the most popular type of meditation, you will find this in many churches with prayers, yoga studios, and ashrams. Examples of this type of meditation are found in the Catholic Church with the rosary, Transcendental Meditation (TM) with a one word chant, Buddhist Malas (prayers beads), Kirtan (song chanting), and most yoga traditions through prayer, chanting and pranayama (breath). 

The second type of  meditation is where "we allow", letting thoughts, sounds, images, anything that comes to the mind drift by. Very often as the person sits in this type of meditation, there mind will drift and then stay lodged into a fantasy or some current life situation. The whole meditation can come be this in fact. The idea here is to acknowledge when we become engaged in a story, and then to let it go like a balloon to the sky. This is a very powerful form of meditation where deep insight can arise from allowing for things to be as they are. 

You really cannot have one type of meditation without the other. At some point, past the technique, there is the necessity of sitting in quiet and in nothing, whether it is during the action of daily life or the stillness of one's room. 

Regardless of the type of meditation, it is important to prepare the body for sitting. The original purpose of yoga, before it became a "physical" practice to itself in the West, was to prepare the body for sitting in meditation. The idea behind the use of yoga was to align the body and its energy body, so that toxicity could be released from the body so that the mind would not be distracted. Having said that, any type of movement really can do, from running to calisthenics to stretching. There will be several movement classes on this blog to help prepare for meditation.

Focusing on the breath is also beneficial. Focusing on the breath can bring the mind in and aid in letting go of external distractions. Physiologically, centering breath work aids in calming the mind and body so that meditation can occur with less difficulty. One style of focusing breath is listed at naomihealer.blogspot.com at breathing 1-2-3-4.

Without doing either, one can still meditate, however it leaves the body and mind more open for irritations and distractions and can actually serve to make some imbalances worse. Our body and the nervous system is the vehicle with which we can receive and connect; helping it to settle in, is a favor you to do yourself.

With movement and the breath taken care of, sitting for meditation occurs with an upright posture. Some advocate sitting in crosslegged or lotus position. In the west, because we are not raised to sit this way, our hips and knees are not trained for this. Allow yourself a chair or pillows or props if you are uncomfortable. In any of these positions, keep your self sitting up tall and relaxed. A too rigid minds yields a too rigid body, so make sure you are supported if need be.

Regardless of how you prepare and what type of meditation you choose, it is important to have the mind of a child and to be open to what presents itself. If you find that you become frustrated, and meditation "is just impossible", then imagine yourself as a child seeing a flower for the first time. Allow yourself to be in the freshness of your self, and be kind, as no one else can be to you at that moment. 

Some other tips for your meditation practice:

• Have a beginning point. You can use a gong, timer or sound, and/or light a candle. 
• When first starting meditation, it is helpful to choose a type of meditation that fits your cultural proclivity. So if you are Jewish, Christian or Muslim and are used to prayer, then choose one word that has meaning and focus on this one word. 
• Have an end point. Use the same thing that started your meditation, gong, timer or sound. And/or blow out the candle

Regardless how you prepare and what type of meditation you choose, most importantly, have the mind of a child. Allow yourself to be open to what presents itself. If you find that you become frustrated, and meditation is "just impossible", then imagine yourself as a child seeing a flower for the first time. Allow yourself to be in the freshness of yourself, and be kind, as no one else can be to you at that moment.

And finally, to support yourself in the process, find yourself a community and a mentor. No one should have to learn to walk alone through the forest of  wisdom, although many of us try and end up in frustration. There is nothing wrong in connecting with others and having support. After all, the ultimate goal in meditation is not "nothing" but a loving kindness and openness to the glory of all that is you and infinite. 

May you be well, may you be safe, may you have ease in body and mind.

Transitioning in 2012. One of the greatest things to hit us is self hatred and shame. A light is being shone into the depths of our psyche, and many old feelings are rising to the surface. Of course it must be looked at. But it is not for dwelling upon. It is a time of transformation, a time for rising to the surface and then releasing.

During this time of ascension, it may be that illness may come to you or to those closest to you. Something is needing healing and detoxifying out of your lineage. Get yourself into community, ground yourself in spiritual practice, and be with a teacher that can assist you with illuminating what is real and what is a distraction. Having these things does not make you less independent, rather it strengthens your energy grid, the larger grid of humanity and the world. These 3 things, a spiritual practice, community and a therapist/coach/teacher all can bring you into the larger ascension, it is your contribution to the larger whole.

In finding a teacher or therapist, make sure to have someone that can support you with your intuition and that can also help you stay grounded. The mind is wily, our emotions habitual, and the ego strong. The ego knows that it is becoming less important and it will throw a tantrum in the form of addiction, becoming driven to succeed, and other distractive type behaviors that keep you from your full potential and soul expression.

Diet is important now. Our healing potential is accelerating. Stay away from sugar. It is the greatest neurotoxin, and the one we can most easily control. To counteract the craving of sugar, use Bragg’s raw apple cider vinegar. One tsp to 8 oz of water. To counteract salt, use celery juice. To counteract fat, use more ghee and extravirgin olive oil (unless your mind is very hyper and strung out, then use ghee). Eat at regular times, with largest meal in the middle of day when the fire of the day is strongest. Have vegetable juices. Have a regular sleep schedule and time for quiet everyday

Over the next several weeks, I will be writing more about the ascension process, with a particular focus on the shadow or self hatred and shame (SHaS).

Self Hatred. Shame.

Over the last several weeks, there has been a drastic rise in phone calls and emails to me from people suffering from an intense hatred and shame. The discomfort is palpable and for some terribly overwhelming. They want to be healed from it or to know the reasons for why it is there, or what it is about.

We must consider with feelings the importance of the person's experience. We do not want to deny the experience, and sometimes we must totally succumb to the experience of the emotion to transcend it. When first starting the journey of healing, it is necessary to explore, to have someone help you bring awareness to your feelings, and to gain insight into past experiences as to what has contributed to the life you have created. And then at some point, it is time to move on. You have had those emotions, you know them in and out.

It is important at some point to note one's reactions as just that. A reaction, and not to create a whole "body" or a new "persona" around the emotional reactions to old trauma. To do so keeps one invested in trauma, with no room to move on. One's identity becomes so invested in reviewing trauma, and having emotions based on the past, that the present does not get met. People even form whole communities around trauma and survivorship. It is not to say that the experience has not been life changing, and the great comfort that is derived from others' who have had similar exeperiences cannot help, it is only that at some point, the spirit yearns to be free to be its own change.

Self hatred and shame can be a function of a larger shame and hatred as a whole. If you consider that babies do not know hate, yet they are born with the DNA of the larger collective of humanity's original sin, and they are born into the smaller collective of their parental lineage, hatred and shame permeates much of us no matter how hard we try to be loving. It is not that we are doomed for hatred, we are doomed for love as well so to speak. It is more that we are part of a much bigger whole, and when we investigate the feelings of hatred, we must remember not only our own lineage, and the larger community with its own legacy, but the larger collective of the planet and the planetary shifts that are constantly occurring.

Which brings me to all those calls of suffering. We no longer know what to ground into for the earth beneath our feet is constantly shifting. This of course is where spiritual practice comes in, to have a trust and faith in a larger truth that is bigger than one's own mind and logic. We have just passed through an enlightened age, an age of reasoning based on logic and the strength of the mind. This age has also coincided with a frequency or vibration with the solar plexus, a frequency of the gut. As the earth shifts and changes, we move into a higher frequency, that of the heart, a time where logic becomes secondary to our felt senses and the higher truth of the heart.

To navigate this time, it is important to understand our feelings. To understand the source of self hatred and shame, to see how it has motivated us albeit falsely, and to honor it for making us the success that we are today. There is very often a face we put onto that hatred, whether an abuser, a boss, a marriage, someone external to us that we must fight against. I would suggest there will come a time when you must not only look those eyes straight in the face, but to recognize that the eyes that are looking back at you are your own. You are no longer the victim, the child, the helpless and the powerless. You are the healer, the one that has created your reality, and you have the power now to meet this hatred and embrace it. In doing so, to borrow from Neil Armstrong, you take one small step for your humanity, and one great step for the larger healing of the whole planet.