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.