Recently I’ve been hearing rave reviews about Ram Dass’ new book Be Love Now, so it’s on my “to read” list, but before reading it, I thought I should read his first spiritual classic Be Here Now, which was initially published in 1971, the year after I was born! In this photo, I am reading Be Here Now up at the Panther Meadows campground on Mt. Shasta.

This morning I finished reading the book, and I’ll share a few highlights with you here ~

~ “The cateriller doesn’t say: “Well now. I’m going to climb into this cocoon and come out a butterfly.” It’s just an inevitable process….It’s only when caterpillerness is done that one starts to be a butterfly and that again is part of this paradox. You cannot rip away caterpillerness. The whole trip occurs in an unfolding process under which you have no control. Well: That’s a hard one!”

~ “At last I had to confront myself and see where I wasn’t. You’ve got to go at the rate you can go. You wake up at the rate you wake up. You’re finished with your desires at the rate you finish with your desires. The disequilibrium comes into harmony at the rate it comes into harmony. You can’t rip the skin off the snake. The snake must moult the skin. That’s the rate it happens.”

Well, obviously this yogini is needing to call in some Patience! My two favorite passages in Be Here Now (above) say that you cannot rip away caterpillerness (love that word!) and you cannot rip the skin off the snake!

So, what can we do about our present “predicament” – a word that Ram Dass uses throughout Be Here Now – while we are being patient? The answer, as usual, is daily sadhana, which means regular spiritual practice. Be Here Now is an excellent guide for spiritual practices, or if you’d like a more condensed version of similar information, then check out my pocket book, Radiance Rising: Spiritual Practices for Daily Living, available in both print and e-book versions on this website store.

In the section about mantras, Ram Dass describes Lord Rama in such a beautiful way. Ram’s life story is told in the ancient epic, the Ramayana. Ram was an Avatar who lived in India thousands of years before Lord Krishna (who incarnated about 5,000 years ago). Ram Dass writes:

“He is a beautiful dark being of great light, love and compassion, wisdom and power – in perfect harmony. Ram is the essence of who you are when you realize your true Self… Like the sun, he emits light and warmth and life force…. Keep realizing that God is It All… and therefore everything you look at is part of Ram. Everyone you meet is Ram who has come to teach you something.”

As a devotee of Neem Karoli Baba-ji, I deeply appreciated reading this book by Ram Dass. I am filled with Gratitude for all of the wonderful teachers and books along the way.

May all beings everywhere experience the Inner Light shining through the external darkness.

Om Shanti (Peace), 

Yogini Tejaswini

Photo of Teja reading Be Here Now taken by Jill Rothman.

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“Nobody’s free until everybody’s free.” ~ Fannie Lou Hamer, American civil rights activist, 1917-1977. (Some sources credit this quote to Martin Luther King, Jr.) When I reflect upon how everything and everyone is interconnected in one continuous web of energy and vibration, I really deeply understand the truth that no one will be free until everyone is free. I recently visited a city zoo and my experience there with the birds got me thinking about freedom.

While passing the rather smallish cages containing pairs of large birds, I really studied their facial expressions and overall energies. As a Reiki practitioner (see my new business page, www.RadianceRisingReiki.com), and as a Raja yogini, I tend to see beneath the surface of people and things. The melancholic look in the eyes of the turkey vultures saddened my heart. The energy of depression around the majestic bald eagles was almost too much to bear. And then, the anguish of despair in the faces of the red-tailed hawks hit a deep chord of compassion in me. Spontaneously, I began talking with them. I said, “Try to make the best of it. Think of Nelson Mandela, and all those years he spent in prison.” I’m a bit teary as I type that last sentence.

So then, after all that, we came to a building in which this pair of blue macaws were chattering away on top of a barrel… and I marveled that they were not at all depressed. On the contrary, they didn’t seem to even know that they were confined in a zoo. It was as if they knew that they were free on the inside, no matter what external environment they might be placed in. It was such a delight to witness their happiness.

Now that is something to contemplate!

May all beings be free inside themselves, no matter what is going on around them.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Photo of blue macaws in zoo taken by Teja Shankara.

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Photo by Ashley Marie - CC License

On this playground of life, we get to choose how we spend our time: we can choose to run around doing things that lower our vibrations, OR we can choose to commit to regular, daily spiritual practices that raise our vibrations. Each small change that we make within ourselves then ripples out and benefits all of Creation. This year I intend to help raise the vibration of the human species, through my work as a cheerleader for spiritual practices. (This paragraph is repeated each month for emphasis, since this is the theme for the 2011 newsletters.)

Here is some recent news from the playground of my life ~

~ Over the past month, I have begun to experience the joy of de-cluttering my living space. Please read my blog articles about this: “Humor & Gratitude with Clearing Out Clutter!” and “Barefoot Vegan Yogini is Moving Out Clutter!” 

~ This summer continues to be very full and richly abundant in many ways. In the midst of it all, I strengthened my Gratitude muscle by reading and reviewing Café Gratitude’s recipe book ~ “Teja’s Review of I Am Grateful: Recipes & Lifestyle of Café Gratitude, by Terces Engelhart with Orchid”

~ What does the word “fun” mean to you now, in this phase of your life? That is a question I’ve been pondering lately. I think you might enjoy the blog article I wrote about that: “What the word “fun” means now to this vegan yogini…”  I would love to hear your comments on this topic, so please send me an email when you get a free moment: teja@yogini-bliss.com

~ One of the funnest parts of my summer was taking my boys, ages 11 and 14, home to visit family in the Midwest. We met my new niece Zoe, and we spent time with my nearly 97-year-old Grandma. My parents took us to a city zoo, where we rented a swan paddleboat on a green lake. Soon I will publish a blog article about my experience with the birds at that zoo. On our last day of the visit, my brother and his family took us to the Cincinnati Whole Foods Market, which was fun for my sons who have been watching a rather fun video called “Whole Foods Parking Lot”  

~ The day after returning to Ashland, I gave Reiki healing sessions in the Healing Sanctuary at the Peace Village Festival. It was so wonderful for me to spend that time immersed in the Loving Energy that is Reiki, but then I spent some time at the festival, and my system became overwhelmed by all of the ganja (marijuana) energies and entities that were swirling all around me. Feeling exhausted and headachey from those energies, I took refuge in the Goddess Temple. Even though I had been one of the founding members of the Goddess Temple of Ashland, due to the craziness of my life lately, I had not been in the temple since the opening day on March 19^th, 2011. It was such an amazing homecoming for me: I lay down on the carpet for a long time, and I felt so incredibly held by the Mother. It felt as though the Divine Mother’s nurturing energies were cradling me in sweet embrace, soothing all the distressed energies I had unfortunately taken in from the ganja vibrations of the festival.

~ Recently I purchased a massage table, and I will be offering Reiki healing sessions in people’s homes under my new business name, Radiance Rising Reiki. Please stay tuned for more information on this! 

~ Yesterday my dear friend Jill and I traveled down to Mt. Shasta for a wonderful Amma Satsang under the trees on the mountain. Before the bhajans (devotional songs) began, we hiked up to a gorgeous spring. On that hike, I felt as though my barefeet were receiving energies and information from the stones and soil and waters. So much fun!

~ On this great playground of life, I wish you much fun on your journey.

May all beings everywhere know the Deep Joy that arises from having some good healthy fun!

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Photo of Teja, Zak, and Gabe in the Peace Swan taken by Teja’s Mom; photo of view from Shasta spring taken by Teja Shankara.

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In April I posted a couple of Cultivating the Witness 101 blogs (“Watching Yourself” and “Managing Anger”) in which I described ways to practically apply the spiritual practice of Cultivating the Witness. Once you practice this skill for a while, you begin to see ways in which you can change certain habitual thoughts and reactions. So then, as you witness your thoughts, feelings, and sensations, you can also practice the art of re-framing them.

I’ll share here an example of something I have recently witnessed and then re-framed. Last week when I was visiting my Grandma, I asked her how she coped with the grief after my Grandpa died. I have heard her say this many times (my Grandpa died 17 years ago), but I wanted to hear it again. Even though others disagreed with the way she grieved, it worked for her. As she words it, “You just put it out of your mind – you put your mind on other things and stay very, very busy.” There is definitely something to be said for that attitude, especially when you consider the ancient Indian sutra: The mind becomes that which it dwells upon.

During the last day of that visit with my Grandma, I was witnessing my usual tendency to become overwhelmed with thinking of all the work I have to do when I return home. And right as I witnessed the overwhelm sensation creeping in, I thought of my Grandma’s words, and I immediately re-framed my thoughts. So after witnessing myself thinking, “When I get back to Ashland I have so much to do with launching my new business (Radiance Rising Reiki), and with relatives visiting that week, and with the boys starting school and soccer and…on and on”, I changed my thinking to: “I am so grateful for this opportunity to be very, very busy and to put that grief out of my mind.”

With so much Gratitude for the art of re-framing negative tendencies, I close today’s blog article with a wonderful quote from Be Here Now by Ram Dass: “You are being guided. In fact, the next message you need in the treasure hunt is exactly where you are when you need it. The message may be in the form of a teacher or a lover or an enemy or a pet or a rock or a chemical or a book or a feeling of great despair or a physical illness or the eyes of a person you pass on the street.” I am super grateful that the next message I needed came through my Grandma exactly where I was, sitting with her in the garden.

May all beings know Healing and Peace. 

Om Shanti (Peace), 

Yogini Tejaswini

Photo of Teja’s Grandma’s garden taken by Teja Shankara.

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Today my boys and I are going traveling by airplane, to visit family across the country. I’m not taking my computer on the trip, so I will be away from the Teja Blog until after August 20^th… And, when I return from this little journey to meet my new niece Zoe (born on April 10^th, 2011), I am excited to announce that I will be expanding my offerings in Ashland, Oregon, and beyond. I am super grateful for this expansion that the Universe has placed in front of me: under my new business name, Radiance Rising Reiki, I will be offering Reiki healing sessions, Vegan Cooking, and Meditation Circles in people’s homes.

I’ve already invested in a portable massage table… “have table, will travel!” Stay tuned for more information on this when I return to the Teja Blog…

May all beings everywhere know the Happiness that arises from a Grateful Heart. 

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Teja’s business card designed by Gaelyn Larrick.

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Lately I’ve been thinking about the word “fun” and what it means to me now, at 41 years of age. I mean, what I consider to be fun now is very, very different than what I considered to be fun twenty years ago! Back then I was a party girl, and even though it wasn’t deeply fulfilling, I thought it was great fun to go out drinking with friends. Now I haven’t had a drink, not even a glass of wine, for almost four years, and the thought of drinking does not sound at all fun.

So what is “fun” for me now? Well, basically it’s anything that opens my heart and makes me laugh and/or cry! I have the most fun chanting the Names of God, dancing barefoot on this sacred earth, preparing organic vegan food, giving Reiki healing energies to others, and communing with Nature. One of the absolute most fun days of my life was the day I went hiking alone – and barefoot – at Red Fir Flat on Mt. Shasta. I chanted the Hanuman Chalisa sweetly to that enchanted forest, and then I chanted Om Namah Shivaya all the way back to my car. I took a little 21-second video of that barefoot chanting which you can watch by clicking here: Yogini-Bliss on YouTube. 

I also snapped some photos on that hike, including the one here of my feet on the rocks. The forest was quite magical, although it wasn’t as bright as it appears in this photo. Another thing that I have “fun” doing is fully saturating the color of photos! Born in the Chinese Year of the Rooster, I just love bright colors! To read more about my fun hike that day, please click here: “Happy Teja Chanting the Hanuman Chalisa on Barefoot Hike at Red Fir Flat (on Sacred Mt. Shasta)” 

What do you have fun doing? Please feel free to share in the comments section below this article.

May all beings have fun on this playground of life. May all beings be free.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Photo of Teja’s barefeet (color saturated) taken by Teja Shankara.

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Did you know that sesame seeds are the most abundant source of calcium? They have ten times more calcium than cow’s milk and more protein than chicken or beef! And did you further know that properly produced wheatgrass juice contains well over a hundred vitamins, minerals, amino acids, enzymes, essential fatty acids, and antioxidants? Wheatgrass juice can single-handedly support the human body! I learned these things, and so much more, by reading I Am Grateful: Recipes & Lifestyle of Café Gratitude, by Terces Engelhart with Orchid.

I Am Grateful had been on my shelf for a few years, but I just hadn’t gotten around to reading it yet. I had eaten at one of the Café Gratitude restaurants though. Last June (2010), when I attended the training program with Insight Prison Project in San Rafael, California, I was delighted to discover that there was a Café Gratitude right across the street! As a vegan I was just thrilled to eat lunch there every day that week, and it was so fun to experience the ordering process. At Café Gratitude, each item on the menu is an affirmation, so when you place your order, you say something like “I Am Sensational” or “I Am Cheerful”, and then when the server brings your food, they say “You Are Sensational” or “You are Cheerful”. 

In addition to opening several living foods restaurants, Terces and her husband Matthew have invented an explorational board game, The Abounding River, that introduces people to their view of being abundance. And, they have written The Abounding River Personal Logbook that offers a 42-day practice in “opening up to the unceasing flow of everything.” After reading about their philosophy and lifestyle in I Am Grateful, I am inspired to get that workbook. Actually, I spontaneously used the recipe book as a workbook, because along with all the great information, delicious live food recipes, and inspiring quotes, there are wonderfully probing questions, such as: “For whom or what can you kneel and kiss the ground?” “Do you adore the person in the mirror?” “When do you experience the ecstatic?” Without planning to, I found myself writing my answers to the questions throughout the book! Such a beautiful self-reflection process!

I Am Grateful was one of those books that I was sad when it was over, but the beauty continues as I am now trying out the recipes. A few nights ago I made the “Peppery Avocado Caesar Dressing” and it tasted so fabulous on fresh romaine lettuce. And, it was fun to get the blender out again. Some of the recipes call for the use of a food processor or dehydrator, and I don’t have either of those (yet), but I’m not letting that stop me. Since I tend to improvise and change recipes as I go anyway, I’ll just keep trying the recipes while following my inner guidance.

I am really grateful to Terces and Orchid for publishing this high vibration recipe book. We really need books like this to inspire people to eat plant-based diets. As they write in I Am Grateful, “The meat and dairy industries are resource-dense; they require a lot of fossil fuels, water, and other resources. By eating vegan you make more food and resources available for all of us. In recent years the exposure of factory farming and its cruelty to animals has become more apparent; by eating vegan you vote for the ending of this cruelty. You also stop ingesting the violent energy that is held deep within the tissues of these animals. We are becoming more aware that animal foods are not healthy for the human body. We have to transform everything we eat, and animal foods require the most energy to transform, keeping us slow, less alert, and less active.”

The organic, vegan, living foods served in the Café Gratitude restaurants provide a wonderful example of what is possible on a diet that is free of animal products. Many people wonder if they will be able to get enough protein on a vegan diet, and I used to wonder that myself when I first shifted from a vegetarian to a vegan diet, but then I met someone who eats only raw foods, and he told me that the primary concern is not about protein, but rather it is about healthy fats and oils. Terces mentions this as well, when sharing what she and Matthew experienced when they first tried a living foods diet. She writes, “We came to realize that it was healthy fat we were craving when we thought it was protein. An avocado, a few macadamia nuts, or olives sustained us well.”

I could write all day about how much I loved this book! If you get this book and try the recipes yourself, let me know what you think… 

May all beings everywhere have plenty of healthy food to eat each day. May all beings know the Bliss that arises from a Grateful Heart.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Photo of I Am Grateful on Teja’s coffee table taken by Teja Shankara.

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Last week I saw an ad about an evening lecture at our local food co-op. It was called “Collaging Your Top Five Passions!” and it was being offered by Belle, Sharry Teague, and Sheila Filan. I wasn’t able to attend the evening, but I was inspired to do the things on my own, so I wrote out my top five passions and a list of 10 simple statements beginning, “When life is ideal I am…” And then I made this collage to reflect what I had written. A few days later I googled “The Passion Test” and took the Passion Test Profile Questionnaire, which was really fun and revealing. (The Passion Test by visionaries Chris Attwood and Janet Bray Attwood.)

I’ll share what I wrote, and maybe you will be inspired to do a bit of writing yourself… If so, please feel free to share your passions in the comments section below this article!

Teja’s Top Five Passions

1. Vegan Organic Food

2. Chanting the Names and other sadhana (spiritual practices), and leading sadhana circles

3. Barefoot dancing on the earth to live drumming by a Fire burning ~ healing self, earth, stars, and worlds through that magic

4. Reiki healing to self, to others, to this Sacred Earth, and to all the beings in all the worlds (including the space beings!)

5. Teja Blogging (including creative photographing)

Teja’s Ten Statements of an ideal life

1. When life is ideal, I am comfortably warm/hot – i.e. the weather is at least 85 degrees.

2. When life is ideal, I am reading and writing creatively each day. (Teja Blog!)

3. When life is ideal, I am exercizing each day.

4. When life is ideal, I am shipping out hundreds or even thousands of books each week.

5. When life is ideal, I am invited regularly to lead Radiance Rising Retreats all over the country and world.

6. When life is ideal, I am managing a vegan café with healing arts studio: educating people about vegan diets and giving Reiki energy healing sessions.

7. When life is ideal, I am leading Radiance Rising Circles in a variety of settings, with different groups. (i.e., at-risk youths, veterans, prisoners.)

8. When life is ideal, I am traveling away from Ashland frequently.

9. When life is ideal, I am chanting the Names daily with my harmonium.

10. When life is ideal, I am spending a lot of healing time on Maui (i.e. this December! ~ attending the retreat with Ram Dass and Krishna Das!)

With so much Gratitude for this process of collaging my passions, I send Reiki healing energies out to all the beings in all the worlds.

May all beings experience the healing energies that come from intimately knowing and living their passions.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Photo of Teja’s passions collage taken by Teja Shankara. Images used in collage are by unknown artists. My apologies for not being able to give them credit here. (The exceptions to that not-knowing are: photo of veggies taken by Teja Shankara, and images from Teja’s business card – the card was designed by Gaelyn Larrick.)

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In early May I began going barefoot, and in my first blog article (“Barefoot Yogini Bliss”) about going barefoot, I shared that I was wearing a pair of slipper-like socks into stores. Well, shortly after writing that article, I went to a shoe store with a specialist who helped me find a pair of non-leather thongs that have the appropriate support for bunions. So then when I traveled to see Amma in June, I wore those shoes when going in public restrooms and stores.

The shoe specialist told me that I wouldn’t be able to wear any of my regular shoes again, that I would need to get special shoes from now on… so in the back of my mind I’d been thinking about getting rid of all of my old shoes… and I was cultivating the witness and watching how attached I was to all of that accumulated footwear! And, I was also well aware that I wanted to get rid of all the leather still in my possession from my non-vegan past…

So last week, in one fell swoop, I took all the shoes out of my shoes basket – all except for the one pair of thongs – and out the door they all went! It was a scary, exhilarating, and free-ing moment in my life. I had to surrender and trust that the footwear I need will come to me when I need it! And, the great thing about releasing all those shoes and clogs and boots and sandals, was that it inspired me to continue clearing out clutter… so the next day I cleaned out my closet and a few dresser drawers!

Maybe this article will inspire you to clear out some clutter, too… with less clutter in our living spaces, we create environments that are more conducive for daily spiritual practices. To begin a simple meditation practice (or to get inspiration for the meditation practice you already do), please order my pocket book, Radiance Rising: Spiritual Practices for Daily Living, available in print or e-book versions on this website Store.

May all beings be free. 

Om Shanti (Peace), 

Yogini Tejaswini

Photo of Teja’s shoes heading out the door taken by Teja Shankara. Cover of Radiance Rising designed by Gaelyn Larrick.

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The quote in the center of this photo reads “Too many activities, and people, and things. Too many worthy activities, valuable things, and interesting people. For it is not merely the trivial which clutters our lives but the important as well. We can have a surfeit of treasures—an excess of shells, where one or two would be significant.” ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh

When I read that quote, I had to laugh, because I found it at the bottom of a nearly three-year-old stack of papers that were piled on the blue desk in my laundry room! The really funny part was that right before I picked up the paper with that quote, I had just thought, “too much stuff!” and I had just finally uncovered all the shells that had been hidden from view for so long!

I did get rid of a few shells, though I kept more than one or two! As I am slowly clearing out some of the clutter from my living space, I am experiencing how letting go of old things releases old energies and creates more space for inner peace. And, as I reflect on this quote, I feel deep Gratitude for all of the wonderfully inspiring people and passions that fill my life. 

May all beings everywhere know Freedom from clutter!

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Photo of shells and Anne Morrow Lindbergh quote taken by Teja Shankara.

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