A few days ago I posted a blog article about my potent Mt. Shasta meditation. While sitting on the mountain, I charged up the Reiki healing energies within my being, and I offered deep gratitude to the Universe. I was feeling especially grateful that day, because during our picnic lunch my brother and his wife announced that they are going to have a baby. This was really big news, since they had been trying to get pregnant for two years!

Of course we couldn’t help but wonder if the Reiki energy healing sessions had helped her get pregnant. We probably won’t ever know for sure, but it seems likely that the Reiki may have helped, because I gave her Reiki healings during the two-day ovulation period this time, and this time she got pregnant!

The day after our hike on Mt. Shasta, we took a picnic lunch to Mill Creek Campground, where I gave a Reiki healing session to Kasey again. That was one of the most special moments of my life, and my eyes are filling with tears as I type this. It was so amazing to put my hands on her belly, knowing that my niece or nephew is growing inside. I am so happy for Nathaniel and Kasey, and so grateful that I can be a part of this experience, both as a Reiki Practitioner and as Auntie Teja!

May all beings everywhere know Peace and Happiness.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Photo of Teja giving Reiki energy healing to Kasey (at Mill Creek Campground) by Teja’s Mom.

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A few days ago, about 7,000 feet down from the peak of Mt. Shasta, I sat in meditation while my boys hiked up to the snow line with their grandparents. With a warm stone beneath me, and the hot sun behind me, I was in yogini bliss heaven. As I tuned in to the energies of the sacred mountain, I felt incredible surges of shakti (spiritual power) go through me. I visualized potent mountain energies entering my root chakra and rising up through my crown, while sweet heavenly energies flowed through my crown, down to my root.

I collected some warm stones, communed with a cricket-like being, and energetically charged up the Reiki healing energies and Reiki healing symbols within my being. In that incredibly connected state, I affirmed my intentions to give more and more Reiki healings and to offer more and more Radiance Rising Circles. I also sent Reiki healing energies and Mt. Shasta healing energies to my dear yogi friend, Pete. I silently thanked the Reiki Guides for gifting me with this opportunity to deepen into the experience of being a Reiki Practitioner. For me, as a raja yogini, practicing the healing art of Reiki is just one more wonderful spiritual practice that brings me to the state of Union.

In cultivating the witness, I watch myself expanding through the yoga of giving Reiki energy healings. I witness the positive healing effects that Reiki is having on my being, and I am super grateful to be a vessel for the Unconditional Love Energy that the Reiki Guides channel through me.

When I returned home from that potent Mt. Shasta meditation, it was the evening of Sri Krishna Janmasthami, a Hindu festival honoring the birth of the shimmering blue being who came to Earth about 5,000 years ago to radiate Love to all. I chanted the Hare Krishna mantra while cooking food for my family, and I gave thanks for this wonderful life.

May all beings everywhere know Peace and Happiness.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Photo of Teja on Mt. Shasta by Teja’s Mom. Photo of Mt. Shasta by Teja Shankara.

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This past weekend I experienced so much delight at the Peace Village Festival in Ashland. Many thanks to Larry Morningstar, and to his fabulous tribe of helpers! I bow to the incredible Beauty of the community here.

On Saturday, while giving Reiki energy healings in the Casbah tent, I felt so connected with the Oneness of all Life. Then I stepped out into the sunshine and felt the sun’s warmth radiating over the sacred land of the Jackson Wellsprings. Maybe someday I will live on that land, since I feel so at home there. For now, I feel super blessed that I get to offer the weekly Radiance Rising Circles in the Wellsprings community room. Much gratitude to Gerry Lehrberger for supporting these Monday evening circles.

Down in the meadow behind the pools, many colorful booths created a little village, where I found a pair of beautiful blue and silver pants sewn in India and an anklet made in Bali that sounds like rain sticks when I walk. My boys enjoyed looking at the rocks and gemstones, and trying out the hula-hoops. Later we placed a blanket in the grass and ate yummy vegan food while listening to the wonderful live music. 

On Sunday afternoon I gave more Reiki energy healings, and even as the Universe took note of how much I love giving Reiki, I silently sent out the intention to be blessed with opportunities for giving more and more and more Reiki healings. I then headed down to the village, feeling open to all of Life. Standing barefoot in the grass, absorbing the sun’s rays deep into my being, swaying to reggae music, and eating a sweet organic apple, I shared smiles with the bright beings around me.

Later, as the stars came out, I enjoyed dancing with many beloved friends to the awesome songs of the Alice DiMicele Band. Alice dubbed us the “Peace Village Choir,” as we sang along with her inspiring lyrics: “Whoh, oh, I’m made out of water. Water is the only thing that can quench my thirst. I’m always trying to get back to the water, from that very first breath on my day of birth.”

When we practice cultivating the witness, it is very important to pay great attention to the things that expand us in life. Lately I have been practicing this by posting appreciation vignettes on Facebook, which I end with the phrase, “i love my life.” At the 2010 Peace Village Festival in Ashland, I witnessed myself in a state of Bliss, absolutely lovin’ my life.

May you also notice the things that expand you into states of Bliss.

May all beings everywhere know Peace and Happiness.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

http://www.facebook.com/tejashankara

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In my last blog article, “Merging with the Compassion of Green Tara,” I gave a general overview of Reiki healing and highlighted some things I learned at a Reiki intensive last weekend with my teacher, Reiki Master William Bagley. In this blog post I will share my personal experience with receiving the Tanran Reiki relationship healing symbols.

The first evening, Will gave us an overview of the relationship healing symbols, and then we sat in meditation while he guided us to visualize and receive those symbols. During the lecture I thought to myself, ‘This will be good information for me to know for when I work with couples. I don’t really need this right now personally, since I just took the brahmacharya celibacy vow for at least six months, and I’m not planning on being in a relationship any time soon.’ So, without feeling any emotions, I took the following notes on the meanings and actions of the relationship healing symbols:

The five Tanran Reiki relationship healing symbols support the cycle of a healthy romantic relationship. The first four symbols are in a circle, with the fifth symbol placed in the center of the circle. To view the symbols and read more extensive information than I will offer here, go to the Tanran Reiki Blog at http://tanranreiki.blogspot.com/ 

The first symbol is Toh Noh Men, and it supports the honeymoon phase when male and female are resting in each other. When male and female relax into each other, their muscles relax, and that releases all the repressed emotions that were stored in their muscle tissues. The tendency is then to blame the other person for how bad they’re feeling, rather than seeing that those emotions are releasing because of the Love. When Love brings up the repressed emotions, then that means it is meant to be a healing relationship.

The second symbol is Teh Gah, which supports the processing phase of the relationship. The key to this phase is both people committing to holding the container of the relationship. For talking to be productive, couples need to process energetically first. So, when an issue arises, rather than verbally arguing about it, the first thing to do is to get the energies back into harmony. Breathing is the key for getting the energies right. Once the energies are back in harmony, then the talking level communication can be productive.

Will taught us two breathing exercises for harmonizing the energies. One is to sit facing each other and cross your arms and hold hands. One person exhales while the other person inhales. Eye contact isn’t necessary. It is easiest to watch your partner’s mouth so you can get the breathing flowing correctly. Then you can add eye contact if you wish, by looking into each other’s left eyes. The other exercise is to sit back-to-back with arms locked on the sides, and then one person exhales while the other person inhales. Whichever way you choose, you need to breath like that for at least 42 minutes in order for the energies to really shift.

I know 42 minutes sounds like a really long time, but a good argument can go on for much longer than that, so this is definitely worth a try!

The third symbol is Neh Tah Ru, and it supports the process that unfolds when the male and female are merging their energies more and more in sexual union. With sexual union, there is a surge of energies: sexual union relaxes the tension in the muscles, so all the repressed emotions that were stored in the muscles get released, AND the karmas that were stored in the sacrum get released. The more the hearts unite, the more the energies rise up. As soon as you merge sexual energies, the natural process is that the karmas get released. If you know that this is going to happen, then you are prepared, and you can work consciously with the released energies.

This symbol is about being aware of the inevitable process that gets activated by the merging of sexual energies. There is a lot more than pleasure going on during sexual union: the Kundalini Energy is actually doing quite a lot of work, because the sacred action of sexual union is the healing of karmas. Love will bring up anything that needs to be healed. The key to this phase is both partners being committed to staying PRESENT with whatever is arising. If both partners surrender to the Energy, then they can go deeper because that mutual surrender to the Energy resolves the power struggles.

The fourth symbol is Teh Mah Lah, and it supports the whole Energy Field created by the couple. Male and female are the same, but different: here they process in a mirror image way, and they commit to being aware of the atmosphere that they are creating with each other. They commit to balancing their energies in the shared space of the breath, so that the atmosphere becomes charged by them breathing loving energy in and out of the energetic field around them.

The fifth symbol is Sakarah, and it supports the couple in unifying all dualities and floating in all of Life. When each person resolves all dualities within, then “male and female resting in each other becomes each person resting and floating in all of life.”

Again, for more information on these symbols and to see the symbols drawn, go to the Tanran Reiki Blog at http://tanranreiki.blogspot.com/ 

After the lecture, Will guided us to open and receive these symbols in meditation, and that’s when I emotionally fell apart. During the first symbol, I started crying, and with each symbol I cried harder, until we reached the fifth symbol. The first four symbols brought up all my grief that my romantic relationships haven’t been so healthy. During the fourth symbol I was crying so hard that I wanted to run away, but I made myself stay with the process, which was good, because once he started talking about the Wisdom and Divine Grace associated with the fifth symbol, Sakarah, then I immediately connected with Divine Love and my system relaxed.

As the last tears streamed down my cheeks, I had a big “Ah-HA” moment in which I understood all of the pain and suffering that I’ve gone through in romantic relationships. I saw clearly how my choosing to participate in connections that did not have healthy energetic containers inevitably led to all the dramas that played out in the stories of my life. In some of my romantic lilas (Sanskrit word for “divine plays or divine sports”), I behaved in ways that I did not like, and I regret some of my words and actions. However, in that meditation I was able to forgive myself because I understood what caused my reactions. Simply put, intense karmas arose within connections that did not have the proper containers to hold them.

Will echoed my own inclination when he said that it really works best to go deep with just one person. Due to my past propensity to attract males of the polyamorous persuasion, I have had many heated conversations on this topic. Because of the inevitable release of karmas, sharing sexual energies with more than one person at a time is like jumping into a huge fire. It is delusional to think that you won’t get burned by all those karmas.

Due to some not-so-good choices on my part, I’ve been burned a few times too many this past year, so I’m taking a “time-out” with the option to not go back in! Strangely, as I am typing about fires, a huge wind is bringing the smell of smoke into the valley, and now I hear a helicopter overhead. I pray for all the beings affected by all fires: all the actual fires and all the metaphorical fires!

Soon I will write a blog about this brahmacharya vow I’ve taken…

May all beings everywhere know Peace and Happiness.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Photo of Oregon Coast by Teja Shankara.

August 18, 2010... My Reiki teacher William Bagley's response to the above article:

Dear Teja, thank you for posting all this and sharing your experience with the symbols on your blog. You definitely get the living sense of how they are meant to work. What I would like to add is that I received these symbols in dreamtime... from the Reiki Guides. It was wonderful to receive them and feel the truth behind them, and they form a kind of mandala where each of their energies is constantly interacting with each other, and there are four other heart symbols that surround them. The meaning behind the other four being there (transmuting love, trusting love, radiant love, and forgiving/processing love) is that we need the foundation of love in all our relations in order to support the more focused love of a romantic union, that both need to be committed to their spiritual path, their healing, their emotional growth, and, hopefully, even meditation practice on their solo path before they meet someone to do a "dual vehicle" journey with. The Tibetan Buddhists call this "karma mudra" to emphasize what kind of process one enters into. The relationship journey can be the easiest, more rapid, and most peaceful path to healing and enlightenment, a natural place to deeply learn what love is. Meditating on top of a mountain may give deep peace, but love is partly interpersonal and is meant to grow in relationship. There is something beautiful and deep to evolving as humans that can be learned there. It has to do with trusting the larger energy of life that brings the two beings together. The Reiki Guides said that they released the symbols into this world at this time to help something that is meant to grow and appear in human life. It is behind all the focus on relationships and healing them. Deep down we know that love in relationships can be more than it sometimes has been. Blessings, Will

May 22, 2011... My dear Reiki healer sister D. M'Chelle sent me her artistic renditions of the Tanran Reiki Relationship Healing Symbols. Please enjoy them in my blog posted today, "Tanran Reiki Relationship Healing Symbols by D. M'Chelle"

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This weekend I attended a Reiki intensive training with my teacher, Reiki Master William Bagley. Reiki (pronounced Ray-key) is a gentle hands-on (and also distance) healing art. A Reiki healer channels Unconditional Loving Energy through their hands (or through visualization if by distance), and the person receiving the energy usually feels a relaxed sense of well-being.

Because the Unconditional Loving Energy is non-violent, it won’t force anything to happen. It is intelligent and it only works to the degree that the receiver gives permission for healing to happen. Once permission is given, and the person is open to receiving healing, then the energy flows into the person and works wherever that person needs healing. The Reiki Practitioner doesn’t decide where the energy will go (and in what order), but rather, the energy itself decides where to go. For example, if a person most needs healing at the emotional level, then the Reiki energy will work on that level first.

During the training weekend (my second time to take the weekend, and the last step towards my certification), we focused a lot on healing at the emotional level, because many “illnesses” stem from emotional pains. (I put the word illnesses in quotes because in Reiki healings, rather than labeling the receivers with certain diagnoses, we consciously see all “illnesses” as mysterious, evolving energy patterns that we send energy into.) Will said that really the only thing to cure is the separation from Love. He said that the illusion ~ of being separated from Love ~ is what keeps us from being cured. So, in Reiki healing work, we start with the solution rather than the problem, and the solution is Unconditional Love.

So when Reiki healers open themselves to be clear channels for Unconditional Loving Energy to flow through, then that Love flows into the receivers and works on the deepest root of all the physical illnesses: the feeling of being separate from Love.

We discussed the three main emotional energies that block the flow of Love: fear, sadness, and anger. Once purified and healed, fear transmutes into wisdom; sadness into compassion; and anger into clarity. We talked a lot about anger, which, in addition to clarity, also transmutes into creativity, assertiveness, and self-empowerment.

Then someone brought up the topic of rage, and how repressed rage can lead to low self-esteem. Will explained that in Reiki healing, which is mostly a non-verbal process, it is important to acknowledge the feelings, and to accept all the emotions without judging them. That is how Unconditional Loving Energy is ~ It doesn’t judge anything, including anger and rage. After discussing how to work with clients when they have rage coming up, there was quite a bit of angry rage energy taking over the room, so Will asked each of us to go inside and just feel what that energy felt like in our bodies.

As soon as we acknowledged the energies in the room, and we watched how they felt in our bodies, those energies began dissolving into the Unconditional Loving Energy of Radiant Awareness.

Later in the day Will taught us another method for working with rage. He led us in a visualization of a red Tara. She had black streaks, fangs, and claws, and resembled the Hindu Goddess Kali. She was storming through the universes, crunching planets and galaxies with her hands. She was snuffing out suns and destroying everything in her path. He guided us to visualize ourselves merging with Her and experiencing that Enlightened Anger. He said to notice the transmutation when you take on that Form.

That visualization technique creates a great container for safely experiencing rage or any other emotion. So whatever emotion is arising, you can visualize Tara having the enlightened version of the emotion, and then merge with Tara in it. Last night I was feeling some sadness passing through, so I visualized a green Tara crying compassionate tears for all the beings who are suffering. Today I am focusing on the mantra to Green Tara: Om Tara Tutara Ture Svaha.

I send out healing spiritual energies to wherever they are needed in the Whole.

May all beings everywhere know Peace and Happiness.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Photo of Om Tare Tutare Ture Soha by alicepopkorn - CC license

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On my recent pilgrimage to see Ammachi in Castro Valley, California, I went to see the chiropractor at Amma’s ashram. During the first session, while I was lying on the table and he was working on my body, Dr. Paul kept telling me to breathe and let the emotions go. I didn’t feel any emotions when he said that, but then he asked me to sit up, and as soon as I sat up I started crying. I didn’t have any ‘stories’ going in my head while I was crying, but it was a really deep cry. It was a huge release. He told me that I had just moved out a big layer, and he advised me to spend a lot of time in the sunshine and to go for a walk that day.

That afternoon I lay in the sunshine, breathing and relaxing. I thought of how Dr. Paul had said to let the sun’s energy into every cell of my body. I allowed my cells to drink in the sunshine while I ate a spicy Indian lunch, wrote in my journal, and drank a cup of hot black tea. Then I remembered to take a walk… So I climbed a little hill under the setting sun, and gazed out at Amma’s sun-drenched land. Suddenly, something – it felt like Something Beyond – pulled my gaze to the ground, and I was looking right at a snake skin!

As I bent over to pick up the skin, I was shaking a little. Even though intellectually I knew that the living snake was no longer inside the skin in my hands, I still felt afraid because it looked so real.

I had never seen a snake skin before, and I was so amazed that I had found it, after having that big layer move out during the session with Dr. Paul. It seemed so symbolic of my process. Snakes shed their skin layers, like I was shedding emotional and energetic layers! I tucked the skin into my bag and gave thanks for that medicine.

Life is ever new and awesome, when we see it that way. I am so grateful for this healing journey of release that is leading me deeper into self-love and ecstatic Bliss.

May all beings everywhere know Peace and Happiness.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Photos of snake skin by Teja Shankara.

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The guard checked my driver’s license in the computer, waved a wand over my body, and motioned for me to join the others inside the gates. I was inside San Quentin prison, a California State Prison near San Rafael. The environment was so strange: the guards in big boots with guns, the stark surroundings, and the nauseating smells of the kitchen area. The gloomy, towering ceilings of the dining hall were covered with hundreds of chirping birds, which swooped down to the floor at times. Sitting at the large steel tables, each with four steel stools attached, you never knew when a bird might drop something on you.

Aside from the strange environment, I thoroughly enjoyed my day inside the prison. It was the third day of the Victim-Offender Education Group (VOEG) Facilitator Training Program through Insight Prison Project. The first two days we spent learning the VOEG curriculum in the classroom, and then inside the prison we got to experience the incredible results of the curriculum. There were twenty of us, and twenty prisoners, who they called the “men in blue” (since they were all wearing blue shirts), and we all sat in a circle and introduced ourselves. This particular group of prisoners had already been through the entire VOEG curriculum, and they were excited to share their experiences with us. They told us that they had been looking forward to us coming, and that it meant so much to them that people on the outside care about them. I’m teary as I type that.

Throughout the day, the men in blue explained the curriculum to us, by reading us an assortment of written homework assignments that they had completed as part of the work in their groups. This amazing curriculum, assembled by Rochelle Edwards/Insight Prison Project, requires the men to go through an extensive process of understanding how their childhood traumas and abuses shaped their past and the choices they made. The curriculum demands that they not only admit guilt to the crime that they came to prison for, but that they also hold themselves accountable for the impact that their crime had on their victims, on the victim’s families, on their own families, and on themselves.

Through this rigorous self-growth process, the men begin to understand how to recognize their own emotional states and how to take steps towards self-forgiveness. After working for nearly five months in their weekly group with ten people including the facilitator, the program brings in a panel of victims. The offenders read their crime impact statements and the victims read their victim impact statements, and in keeping with the philosophy of restorative justice, there is an invitation for healing to occur. Forgiveness is never required, though it sometimes happens spontaneously when the offenders and victims gain insight into the internal experiences of each other.

I was so inspired listening to the men in blue talk and witnessing their open hearts. So many of them talked about wanting to get out so that they can give back to society. Many feel especially inspired to help the youths. One man, who is a Zen Buddhist and sits in meditation each morning and each evening, just like I do, told me that if he had gone through a program like this when he was thirteen, then he wouldn’t be in prison today.

I have always believed that people can and do transform their lives for the better, and that day in San Quentin Prison proved my belief beyond any doubts. It was truly amazing to see how the VOEG curriculum works: how it holds the men accountable for their crimes, and gives them the skills necessary to understand the choices they made, AND how it teaches them the ability of witnessing themselves so that they can make new and different choices now and in the future.

I felt so comfortable talking with the men in blue. At the end of the day, I felt sad to leave. I felt the open-heartedness of the men in blue – I felt their willingness to learn and grow and change. I felt their sincerity and their love for each other and for us.

I feel really inspired to offer this curriculum soon. Since I don’t live near a large prison, perhaps I will offer it at a county jail or a youth center or a rehabilitation center.

There are so many broken lives – lives broken by poverty, drugs, despair, mental illness, and so on. I endeavor to be of service… to help bring opportunities for healing to more of these broken lives.

When it was time for the men in blue to return to their quarters, the guard checked us out. I walked out to my car noticing how free I was to go where I pleased. I turned around and took a photo of the prison. As I drove through San Rafael, I thought, ‘Whoa, reality check! I just shook hands with twenty men who have committed murder!’ I understand that I thought that because it was my first time inside a prison, but you know, not once did I think of those men as murderers when I was with them. All day long, I just felt so connected with everyone at the heart level, and I appreciated our shared humanity.

May all beings everywhere know Peace and Happiness.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Photo of San Quentin Prison by Teja Shankara.

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Each week I pick an angel card, and it is amazing how often the quality fits exactly with what I’m going through that week. Take this week, for example. I am working to release a very big pattern from my life, consciously focusing on breathing and releasing… and I picked “Release”!  (Angel cards, by Kathy Tyler and Joy Drake, Narada Productions, Inc., Milwaukee, WI, 1981.)

After twenty years of trying unsuccessfully to get what I want from the Universe (in the way of a perfect Sita-Ram union with an earthly man), I’ve decided to lay down the “dream” and be free of the disappointments I inevitably experience at every turn. I am intending to finally release the last bits of the addictive love pattern that I wrote about in my memoir, The Rita Lila: A Western Yogini’s Journey to Bliss, by my pen name, Rita Ann Shankara. Rather than continuing this madness of seeking the union with someone outside of myself, I have decided to renounce the search altogether and relax into the inner Union with my beloved husband, Lord Shiva.

My dear friend Thomas does not believe me, and he is encouraging me to take a neutral stance on this matter. While I appreciate his feedback, I have recently become aware that if I continue to allow myself to indulge in these lilas with the masculine, I will most likely not be celebrating too many more birthdays! The strain of the intensity of grief from this past year alone has taken its toll, and my body is telling me clearly – through shouting methods – that it’s time to stop this pattern.

I do understand the value in finding a nonattached, neutral attitude on the matter, so I will intend to reach that state soon. For now though, I release all expectations and griefs that I’ve put onto any forms of the masculine, and I endeavor to walk alone… with deep breathing… and lots of laughing.

I am feeling incredible freedom already. From this healing process of release, I am experiencing a warm, radiant self-love that is tingling throughout my cells. 

Release, release, release!

May all beings everywhere know Peace and Happiness.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Photo of yellow rose and release card by Teja Shankara.

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A few days ago I felt inspired to write an article about celebration, but I didn’t write down the ideas. Today when I sat down to write, at first I felt blocked due to a challenging PMS state that was passing through my body-mind. My gut felt gripped from all sides, and I thought that I surely could not write anything inspiring in the throes of that state, but then I thought of what my teacher Basil would say: ‘We have to keep doing our disciplines, no matter how bad we feel.’ So, I began writing, and as I wrote, I healed myself along the way… Writing is healing for me, especially when it helps me to remember spiritual Truths that purify my mind of negative thoughts.

One such spiritual Truth is this: The mind becomes that which it dwells upon. This ancient Indian sutra counsels us to be careful where we put our attention, because our energies follow where we place our mind’s focus. So, rather than focusing on the gripping sensation in my belly, I advised myself to follow the thread of celebration; to jump on my cheerful horse calling out, “pdheop! pdheop!” PDHEOP is an acronym I made up recently to remind myself to be patient, detached, humble, enthusiastic, optimistic, and positive.

Invoking the lyrics of that old Kool & the Gang pop tune, “Celebration,” I set about opening my mind to dwell upon the original purpose of this human life: celebration… “Celebrate good times, come on… there’s a party going on right here, a celebration to last throughout the years… so bring your good times, and your laughter too, we gonna celebrate and party with you… let’s all celebrate and have a good time… it’s time to come together… it’s up to you ~ what’s your pleasure? Everyone around the world, come on!”

Merging all of our good times and all of our bad times together in one wild breath, let us delight in listening to our Mother Earth speaking to us. Spring wildness is the precious earth shouting in joy: “Celebrate good times! Smell my fragrances, see my colors, let your hearts sing in celebration of this blossoming season!”

O earth beings, open out to experience your oneness – not just with the creatures with whom you share the land, sea, and air, but also feel your oneness with the stars of the vast galaxies… and with the Love energies that pulse through races of space beings, whose very souls breathe our fabric of existence in and out of beingness. There is not even a tiny molecule separating us from the Whole of Creation. We are all connected in one continuous web of energy and vibration. From a little spider to a tall skyscraper, and from a miraculous human fetus to a shimmering space creature, everything, everything, everything is part of One connected energy. Every thought, every word, every action affects the Whole.

We are here on the earth to love and to celebrate. So many things pull us away from that celebration, but it is now time for us all to focus our intentions on uniting together in One Heart, One Love, One Singing and Dancing Celebration. Discarding the past garments that served as armor, let us adorn our bodies with flowers and feathers and glitter… Let us join hearts and hands, and dance together in celebration of our time here on this living earth.

Let us dwell upon this image: billions of human beings joining together to honor and heal the earth, and all the creatures of the land, sea, air, and space. Let us remember our intrinsic Oneness with everything.

May all beings everywhere know Peace and Happiness

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Photo of lilacs by orange glass candlight by Teja Shankara.

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In a recent blog article ("Freedom from Addictions to Television and to Anxieties"), I wrote about the importance of each of us working to lessen our personal anxieties because we are all connected in one continuous web of energy and vibration. We each affect everyone else. As the Collective Anxiety rises all around us, we can each do our small part to lessen the Collective Anxiety by first lessening our personal anxieties. As Gandhi-ji said, we first have to BE the change that we wish to see in the world.

While Mahatma Gandhi is best known for his non-violent political struggle that led India to gain independence from the British, he was also extremely committed to doing his own personal inner work. He valued meditation and other spiritual practices so highly that each day he led morning and evening interfaith prayer services. It was the calm inner strength that he gained through incredible self-discipline that enabled him to be so powerful in his work in the world.  We too can gain the same inner strength that he gained, if only we will sit still and go within. This is a challenging time in which to sit still, but we each have that inherent ability within us.

Meditation is an inherent physiological ability that we can learn and practice. Once we commit to a daily meditation practice, that commitment sets into motion a whole range of changes within us. Our inner being really wants our attention, so when we make the conscious decision to turn our attention inward, all of the deepest parts of ourselves jump up with excitement, saying "yes, look at us!" In our busy, modern world, our attention is so divided and so scattered outward in millions of little directions, and this contributes significantly to our anxiety levels. When, like Gandhi-ji, we commit to turning inward for a little time each day, we begin to calm ourselves from the inside out.

During meditation and during our daily lives, we can practice cultivating the witness, that part of ourselves that objectively watches everything that we are. To learn more about cultivating the witness and other spiritual practices, check out my new pocketbook, Radiance Rising: Spiritual Practices for Daily Living. (This book is at the printer now. Pre-orders are discounted on this website store through April 10th.)

As I said in the last blog about freeing ourselves from anxieties, two ways to lessen our anxiety levels are through affirmations and inspirations. I say positive affirmations out loud when I go out on my walks. Regular exercise is super important for reducing anxieties, and saying affirmations out loud while moving the body helps to re-pattern the brain. I can personally attest that this works, because I had been saying affirmations to build strength (on all levels - physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual) for the past couple of years, and just a few weeks ago I noticed that I don't need to say those particular affirmations anymore because all parts of my being now know that I am strong. 

In addition to saying affirmations, it is essential that we regularly find things that inspire us. Recently I explored a website that really inspired me (www.projectrestoration.com). I became a member and had to choose the two "clans" that I resonated with. I was really drawn to the Butterfly (lovers of life who celebrate) and the Wolf (rogues who awaken), but in the end I chose the Lion (artists who create and harmonize) as my secondary and the Raven (healers who heal) as my primary clan. That decision-making process allowed me to hone in on a vision of who I am now. As I delve deeper into the Reiki healing path, I am inspired to channel more and more healing energy through me, as my service to others.

Reiki, pronounced "Ray-key," is a gentle energy healing system that can be offered directly (hands-on, with clothing on), and also remotely through visualization and intention. In addition to giving Reiki healing sessions locally, I also send Reiki energy to Haiti (and other places that need healing), and to friends in other countries.

Recently I was talking on the phone with a dear girlfriend, and we were scheduling a time when I could give a Reiki healing session to her and to her nine-year-old daughter. While we were talking, suddenly about 25-30 crows landed on the street in front of my cottage. I wondered if the crows were somehow connected with the Reiki session we were planning, so  later in meditation I tuned in, and received guidance to purchase a little stuffed crow to give her daughter. The following week when we met, I gave them each a Reiki healing, and then I gave them each the level one attunement, a ritual that enables the receiver to channel the healing energies to heal themselves and others. I gave the stuffed bird to her daughter and told her that it would be her "Reiki crow," that she could use as her assistant when giving Reiki healing energy to others. She really liked that, and I was pleased to hear later that both mother and daughter are really enjoying the Reiki energy. I will be writing more about this ancient healing art in future blogs. As with all energy healing systems, when you receive the Reiki healing energy with openness, the energy relaxes your system.

Anything that relaxes our systems helps to free us from our unconscious addiction to anxious energies. Taking the time to be still each day helps us to identify the anxious energies. Once we witness the presence of anxieties, then we need to take actions to reduce them. When I witnessed the anxious energies passing through me last week, I patiently tried one thing after the next until they finally relaxed. I can't say for sure what caused the transformation, but after going for an invigorating walk in the pouring rain and hail with a close friend, I suddenly felt the anxious state pop, and I watched as I shifted back into a vibration of Trust. After watching the swirling anxieties that had been upsetting my body-mind for several days, I felt so much gratitude to be back in the calm, blissful state!

Now that I am once again centered in yogini bliss purpose, I intend to focus on sending healing energies out to reduce the Collective Anxiety. I am grateful for the inspiration to identify myself with the energy of the Raven Clan. After linking with Raven, I looked up Raven in a book called Medicine Cards: The Discovery of Power Through the Ways of Animals, by Jamie Sams & David Carson. (Bear & Company, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1988), and I was delighted to read that Raven is the guardian of distance healing! How perfect.

Everything is happening in perfection. When we take the time to go within and get to know our inner beings, then we understand our innate perfection, and this understanding calms us so that instead of contributing to the Collective Anxiety, we send out healing energies that help lessen the Collective Anxiety. Let's all commit to doing this inner work, so we can be the change that we wish to see in the world.

With so much gratitude in my heart for the example that Gandhi-ji set for us...

May all beings everywhere know Peace and Happiness.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini


Raven photo by Larry Page, CC license

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