The Tejaswini Playground Press

Photo by Ashley Marie - CC license

We create our realities with our thoughts. Cultivating the witness, that part of our minds that objectively watches everything we are, allows us to clearly see all of our thoughts. Through the power of watching our thoughts, we gradually change the way we perceive the world. We shift from viewing the world as a serious court of justice to seeing this universe as a joyous playground. Like gleeful children, we get to play and celebrate during this lifetime we've been given. On the playground we enjoy ourselves fully, even if sometimes we scrape our knees or get our hearts broken! No matter what pains we go through, we can't let the heartbreaks keep us from opening up and having a good time on the playground.

Here is a bit of news from the fun I'm having lately on the Tejaswini Playground ~

~ Last month when I sent out this newsletter, I was preparing for my friend Pete’s visit. He was here for nearly 3 weeks, and we accomplished a lot during that time. He helped me make my new book, Radiance Rising: Spiritual Practices for Daily Living, into an e-book, so people now have the choice on my website store to buy it in print or by e-book. (http://www.yogini-bliss.com.) We also recorded some video interviews and chants that you can watch on my YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/16Tejaswini. AND, most importantly, we had a lot of fun together! Even though we spent a considerable amount of time working on our computers, we also went to kirtans (including Dave Stringer live!), took walks about town (see cute video of one such walk at: http://www.youtube.com/user/YogiSinzapatos#p/u/2/zuqZKZezUWU), had dinners with friends, and attended a few parties.

~ For me, one of the highlights of Pete’s visit was sharing sadhana (spiritual practices) together. We sat in silent meditation each morning and each evening, plus we did a lot of chanting (singing) along with CDs and along with my harmonium. Both Pete and my dear sister Britt suggested that I invite people to stay with me to experience a week of sadhana, along with my good vegan cooking. Perhaps someday I will follow that vision!

~ Another wonderful aspect of Pete’s visit was the way we navigated the days. I am usually a list-maker and a planner, but with him here I let go of the controls and allowed each day to be a spontaneous flow. It was so good for me to experience that not only does the work still get done that way, it gets done with less stress and more fun! That way of flowing also changed the way I am writing articles for the Teja Blog, so I am now enjoying that creative process more than ever.

~ The last couple of days were a whirlwind of activity, centered around giving each other buzz cuts and birthing the Buzz for Bliss Campaign. It all started when we were editing the hilarious video that we made of him giving me a buzz cut with a pair of scissors in the middle of the night! You can read all about that at www.buzz-for-bliss.com, and you can also read the inside story about it on the Teja Blog, in the two posts entitled “Buzz for Bliss: The Inside Story,” and “Buzz for Bliss: The Story Continues.” In these articles I explain why I buzzed my hair (to help me release my attachment to Pete), and how I adjusted to his absence after he departed for England.

~ My buzz cut video got nearly 7,000 views in the first week alone! Check it out at: http://www.youtube.com/user/16Tejaswini. And please consider buzzing your own hair for Peace. For details on how buzzing your hair will help raise Unity Consciousness and how you can donate your hair to help stop the BP oil spill, go to www.buzz-for-bliss.com and http://www.moving-overseas-guide.com/bp-oil-spill.html.

~ As I mentioned last month, I am feeling really called to teach meditation and Reiki energy healing in prisons. To that end, I am going to attend a training program in San Rafael at the end of this month. The training is through Insight Prison Project, and it teaches participants how to be facilitators of a process called VOEG, the Victim Offender Education Group. I will share about this training experience in next month’s newsletter.

~ After the prison facilitator training program, I will go to see Ammachi for a few days in Castro Valley. I am really looking forward to those hugs! (www.amma.org)

~ I am still reading The Ramayana: A Modern Retelling of the Great Indian Epic, by Ramesh Menon. I’m now on page 252 of the 686 page book! It is the best book I have ever read. Here are a few phrases from the chapter I read today: “Don’t chase after pleasure any more. Accept whatever comes to you, joy or grief, calmly…. Don’t be too attached to anyone, nor coldly detached; adopt a middle course.” (Vali, the vanara king, giving parting words of wisdom to his son, as he lay dying upon the earth.)

~ I am really loving the weekly Radiance Rising Circles even more, now that I got up the courage to lead the chants on my harmonium. I love singing! At the last circle we toned the heart chakra mantra YAM, and I shared some teachings by Sri Ramana Maharshi, a great sage who lived in India 1879-1950. Here is one of his sayings (from The Essential Teachings of Ramana Maharshi: A Visual Journey, Edited by Matthew Greenblatt, InnerDirections Publishing, 2003.):

“The cause of misery is not in life without; it is within you as the ego. You impose limitations on yourself and then make a vain struggle to transcend them. Why attribute to the happenings in life the cause of misery, which really lies within you? What happiness can you get from anything extraneous to yourself? When you get it, how long will it last?”

~ My current self-coaching mantra is this: “The only true Bliss channel is inside. Tune in to that frequency, and walk alone with enthusiasm and gratitude.”

May you enjoy the playground of your life. May much Bliss arise within you each day.

May all beings know the Bliss of lasting Peace and Happiness within themselves.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini