As I was driving into Ammachi’s Castro Valley ashram (the M.A. Center) in June, 2008, I was singing along with a Krishna Das chant to Sita-Ram-Hanuman, and with the passion of a red-hot fire, I said firmly, out loud, “I want to live inside the chant.” Those words startled me, for a few reasons, and I immediately burst into tears.

The tears flowed as I parked my car in the meadow and headed up the hill to see Amma. I was crying because it was such a relief to admit out loud what it was that I really wanted for my life. I was also crying because I knew that it meant the end of my current relationship, because that was not the same kind of life that he wanted. For weeks I had been wrestling with the question: ‘are we spiritually aligned to stay together?’ The part of me that was really in love with him wanted to find the yes answer, so that part of me grieved when it heard me say definitively, “I want to live inside the chant.”

What does living inside the chant mean? For me, it means putting my spiritual practices at the top of my daily list. Meditation, mantra japa, and chanting (singing) are my pathways to Bliss. They are what bring me into a state of Union with my own beloved heart. So when I said that I wanted to live inside the chant, I meant that I could no longer put anything else before my connection with God. That is my primary connection, and when I keep that connection sacred at the top of my priority list, then everything else magically and effortlessly falls into place.

The knowingness that I realized about living inside the chant stems from a deep lifelong devotion. Last summer a friend told me that I had the same chocolate center of devotion as Bhagavan Das. At the time, I felt touched by my friend saying that, but I didn’t fully understand it. Recently though, I contemplated the thread of my lifelong devotion, and I understood what my friend was saying. Like Bhagavan Das, I have journeyed through several spiritual paths this lifetime. I was Catholic until age 23, and I totally loved it – all that fragrant incense, and colorful stained glass images, and a quiet place to pray – I never once complained about going to church!

My second path was Judaism for ten years, during which time I also studied Native American, Buddhist, Daoist, and Muslim traditions. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about them all. Then, at age 33, I suddenly felt drawn to India, Hinduism, and the Yoga Path. I met an American spiritual teacher, who taught me so much during our brief six years together (he died July 21, 2009), and through him I learned much about the pathways to Bliss. While studying with him I was drawn to Neem Karoli Baba and to Amma, and took them both as my Gurus.

The thread that has been consistent through all of the paths is the same thread that has been consistent through Bhagavan Das’ paths, and that thread is an intensity of devotion. From a little Catholic girl in the church pew to a yogini in Amma’s arms, I am ever intensely devoted to nurturing my connection with God.

This connection with the Divine (or whatever you call that Something Greater) manifests in billions of ways here on this beautiful planet earth. Whatever ways it manifests for you, may they be blessed.

May all beings everywhere know Peace and Happiness.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Photo of bee on flower by Richard Broderick – CC license

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A few months ago a friend gave me a small deck of cards that contain some of Ammachi’s teachings. The idea is to pick one card for each day, though I have just been picking one every few days. For some reason (hmmm…), I have picked this card many times:

"Today, I practice offering myself to God,
surrendering without asking, demanding, or suggesting."

At the beginning of last week, I had picked that card and left it out on the table for several days. Then one morning I put the card back in the deck, shuffled, and picked it again! At that point even my rational mind surrendered and I said out loud, “Okay, Amma, I get it!”

That little card has put me through a major transformation process. One month ago I still had a “plan” even though I know we really shouldn’t have a plan. At that point, I was still telling God how I wanted the Universe to unfold things through me. But then, all of a sudden, I noticed that I had completely let go of worrying about my To Do list, and I searched inside and could not find my “plan”… where had it gone? I looked at that quote again:

"Today, I practice offering myself to God,
surrendering without asking, demanding, or suggesting."

I realized that I had finally understood what it means to not even suggest to God what we want to happen. When we let go of even suggesting, then we find ourselves in a more surrendered state, in which we can authentically chant the “i don’t know” mantra. After repeating “i don’t know” over and over, we can then go deep inside and allow our inner teacher to give us a true knowingness. The knowingness that arises from the depths of our beings is really different from the knowingness that we think we have when we are making all of our grand plans with our little monkey minds.

I love it when a spiritual teaching manifests in my daily life like this. After all, that is the whole point of being on a spiritual path: to gradually learn to actually live the wisdom of the teachings.

May all beings everywhere know Peace and Happiness.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Photo of  Orange Flower by Oneras – CC license

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What fills the heart with love? When I ask myself that question, so many images come rushing to my mind. Yesterday afternoon my heart was filled with love as my son showed me card trick after card trick… then in the evening, my heart was filled with love as the setting sun broke through the storm clouds and shone on the pine tree in my front yard. This morning, my heart was filled with love as I thought about my upcoming journey to see Ammachi. (www.amma.org.)

As my heart melted into the Love that is Amma’s embrace, I remembered this teaching: at the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Barcelona, Spain (2004), Amma gave a speech entitled “May Peace and Happiness Prevail.” She said, “If in future, there is a Third World War, let it not be a war between countries, but rather a war against our common enemy, poverty. In today’s world, people experience two types of poverty: the poverty caused by lack of food, clothing, and shelter, and the poverty caused by lack of love and compassion. Of these two, the second type needs to be considered first — because if we have love and compassion in our hearts, then we will wholeheartedly serve those who suffer from lack of food, clothing, and shelter.”

So what can we do to increase the love in our hearts? Regular daily spiritual practices increase our love and compassion. One spiritual practice is studying spiritual teachings and applying them in our daily lives. Increasing the love in our own hearts does ripple out and brings more Peace and Happiness to others. Cultivating the Witness helps us to see all the things that block us from feeling the love and compassion in our hearts. Once we see and accept the blocks, they begin to dissolve right in front of our eyes.

May we each increase the love in our hearts today.

May all beings everywhere know Peace and Happiness.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Photo of evening sunlight on pine tree by Teja Shankara.

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A friend once told me that I am a “magician in the kitchen.” Yesterday I definitely felt the correctness of that label. There is an alchemy to my kitchen creations, which begins with the following rituals: first I light a candle and a stick of incense, then I turn on some chanting music and sing while waving the incense all around my cottage. I continue singing as I turn on the flame beneath the pot of beans, and begin chopping the vegetables.

Last night I was cooking and singing along with my current favorite chant artist, Girish, when my dear friend Thomas walked by. I invited him in to join me for the vegan feast I had created, which we enjoyed while listening to Girish’s “Reveal” CD. www.girishmusic.com.

When we sing while cooking, the positive sound vibrations go into the food, which makes the food not only taste better, but it also transforms the food into being a carrier of high vibrations. Thus, chanting while cooking brings healing to our inner beings, to the environment, and to our physical bodies.

I am very committed to raising my vibration and helping to raise the vibration of the human species. Chanting Sanskrit mantras from my heart raises my vibration and then that ripples out to others. When our vibrations go up, we then care more about what we put into our bodies. Organic, vegan foods are better for our bodies and they are better for the environment.

Here is the menu for the vegan dinner I prepared last night: quinoa cooked with Himalayan Krystal Salt, beets boiled and then sprinkled with the same salt, a curried mung bean dal cooked with lots of fresh ginger, and a savory vegetable sauté. For the sauté, first I put an onion in a few tablespoons of grapeseed oil, then added soy sauce and the following vegetables, as I chopped them, in this order: turnip, rutabega, carrot, garlic cloves, portabella mushroom, green kale, and fresh basil leaves. I served the meal with more fresh basil on top.

I absolutely love cooking, especially when I am singing at the same time. Singing and cooking with an open heart takes me to a state of inner Bliss. As I watch myself expanding, I feel incredible gratitude: for the food, for the music, and for the ever-expanding spiritual practice of cultivating the witness. The more I consciously witness myself, the greater the expansions become.

As I enjoy healthy vegan cuisine, I also remember that nearly 1 billion people are starving on this planet right now. I feel intense grief about that, so I am limiting the amount of food that I eat at each meal, to help myself remember all those starving people. I also donate money to Amma, as she is working tirelessly to feed the poor and suffering. www.amma.org.

May all beings everywhere know Peace and Happiness.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Photo of yogini cooking vegan dinner by Thomas Stekkinger.

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Today I woke up feeling exhausted like I had pulled a team of heavy horses through the sky on my back last night. Though I am usually a tea drinker, this morning I brewed a strong cup of coffee and sat down to read The Ramayana: A Modern Retelling of the Great Indian Epic, by Ramesh Menon. I am only 205 pages into this 686 page volume, and already I can honestly say that it is the best book I have ever read. After reading a section, I sat down to chant the 1,000 Names of the Divine Mother, a 45-minute chanting practice that I learned from Ammachi, that I do every Friday. Today this practice filled me with incredible Love and Bliss Shakti, and it renewed my inspiration for my creative work in the world.

So it is in this state of feeling really full of my true Self, in that deep place of the Heart, that I begin writing this blog entry, which is a continuation of the last blog post about the inside story on the Buzz for Bliss Campaign. (www.buzz-for-bliss.com) One week ago today my friend Pete and I conceived of the idea, and already more than 5,000 people have viewed my buzz cut video! (www.youtube.com/user/16Tejaswini)

The word is spreading fast and soon thousands of people will be getting their buzz cuts for bliss…

… But that is the story for a future blog. Today I will continue sharing my personal process since getting the buzz cut for bliss. I buzzed my hair to remind me to let go of attachments. Primarily, I was concerned about my attachment to Pete, my dear yogi friend who was visiting me for almost 3 weeks. After a really fun visit, the time came to take him to the airport, so he could fly to England to visit his family. Not knowing if or when we would see each other again, I cried as his plane flew away… But when I got home, I was fine for the rest of the day.

That evening, at the Radiance Rising Circle, I called in Gratitude to help me stay focused on the positive – gratitude for a great visit with Pete – rather than the negative – “poor me, he left.” The circle was particularly sweet that evening, with eleven of us sharing in a good discussion about how we navigate painful emotional states. One guy shared that he hadn’t thought about the spiritual process of expanding and contracting as a concept until he read about it in my new book, Radiance Rising: Spiritual Practices for Daily Living. (This pocket book is available on this website store in print and by e-book.) I then talked about the importance of cultivating the witness to help us remain detached throughout the ups and downs of our days and nights…

That night I went to sleep feeling inspired and fulfilled, so I wasn’t expecting to feel how I felt the next morning: I awoke feeling as though my body had been cut down the middle and someone had taken one half and put it on a plane headed for another part of the world… I sat in disbelief at how strange the remaining half of me felt… As I went through my morning routine, I felt numb and dazed, as though half of me was touring some distant galaxy, while the other half struggled to understand what was happening here and now.

At the time, I could not have explained it this well, but the Witness part of my mind was actively witnessing, and it was saying a few things to me, such as: “You are just adjusting to Pete leaving… that’s why you feel so strange. Just keep focusing your attention on God and on your work in the world.” I listened to that voice as I carried on with sitting still in meditation practice and chanting the Hanuman Chalisa and sipping hot tea while reading The Ramayana…

… But every time I tried to work on the computer (promoting the creative child we had birthed at the end of Pete’s visit: www.buzz-for-bliss.com), I felt worse and worse. Finally I realized that I needed to get away from the computer and the cottage (which were both reminding me of Pete’s visit)… I needed to bust out of my regular routine and do something else for a while…

… So I walked my buzzcut self (which still only felt half embodied), downtown, and took my half-self on a hike along the trail by the creek. The flowing, bubbling water combined with the heavy scent of the towering trees soothed my nerves, but still something felt wrong – very wrong.

So, I tuned in again to the Witness Consciousness, that part of my being that I have been actively cultivating for more than 6 ½ years… And, gratefully, the Witness gave me a fine little report:

“Your Consciousness is wide-open in Blissful Expansion, and your mind is doing really well. You are not creating suffering for yourself with negative thought patterns like you have repeatedly done in the past. What feels ‘wrong’ to you is not at the spirit or mental levels, but rather you are experiencing the pain of separation on a very physical, primal level. You are in the agony – physical agony – that a bird or other creature might experience when separated from their mate. This is an adjustment of screeching sorrow that you just have to go through – don’t try to run from it. Allow it, and give it plenty of space. Cry if tears come… Don’t judge yourself for feeling this way – this feeling is as natural as the birdsong of this planet. Allow yourself to feel, feel, and feel again. This too shall shift.”

Of course the tears flowed then, and they flowed on into the evening as I ate a nourishing vegan meal, repeated my mantra 108 times, sat in evening dhyana (meditation), and lay my head upon the pillow…

Earlier that day I had emailed Pete telling him about how strange I was feeling, and in his reply he had reminded me to be in Shiva Consciousness and to touch my head… That helped. Each time I touched my head and looked at my buzz cut in the mirror, I remembered my goal to release external attachments and to live in the internal Bliss of Union with Lord Shiva, the Hindu aspect of the Divine that represents Pure Consciousness.

The next day I awoke feeling somewhat better, but by afternoon the physical pain in my heart and gut propelled me to call my dear healer friend, Britt. She tuned in and agreed that I was doing well at the spirit and mental levels, but that I needed some help at the physical level. She said that I needed to clear Pete’s energy from my physical space. She instructed me to do the following exercise:

Sitting on my meditation cushion, I called in the spiritual help of Amma, Neem Karoli Baba, and the Reiki Guides. Then I visualized two bright red roses: one out in front of my heart chakra, and the other out in front of my solar plexus chakra – the two areas where I was experiencing seering energetic pain sensations. I put all of Pete’s energies that were in me out into those roses… then I took them outside and exploded them, letting them dissolve out into the sky and the clouds and beyond…

… Sitting again, I visualized two more bright red roses out in front of my heart and solar plexus chakras, and this time I called back all of my energies that were in Pete and put them in the roses as I pulled those roses into my heart and gut. Immediately I felt an energetic shift. What I had been experiencing as painful physical sensations (heart aching and gut feeling kicked) dissolved instantly, and the pain transmuted into feeling Blissful Union with Shiva. In that state of Remembrance, I placed a bright red dot bindi on my third eye, and doused my buzzed crown with Amma’s rose oil. I felt most grateful that my friend Britt had given me that simple yet potent exercise to do. It only took a few minutes, and it had a profound effect on my whole being.

Britt Magadini is available for psychic readings and energy healings. Her website will be live in a few days: www.wakingbeauties.com.

The following day I felt better, although I still had moments in which I experienced the pain of separation… But that is a natural part of the spiritual process of expanding and contracting. The more we engage in cultivating the witness, the easier this process becomes. I am so thrilled to see my progress and to experience the transformational power we can gain through the spiritual practice of cultivating the witness.

I know that my teacher Basil is proud of me as he shines Light upon me from some distant star. Oh, dear Basil, who I now call Yogi Shambho, I miss you as I type these words. Thank you for all that you taught me during those brief years we had together this lifetime.

May we all know the inner Bliss that comes from shedding our external attachments. Thank you, Pete, for showing up to help me learn more detachment. You’re a good yogi.

May all beings everywhere know the Bliss of Peace and Happiness.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

May Day photo of Pete & Teja by Howie Morningstar.

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In this material realm, change is the only constant. When we remember this eternal truth, we experience detachment and peace. When the spiritual principle of impermanence is so obviously true, why is it so hard for us to remember it? Somehow the physical realm deludes us into believing that it is permanent, even though over and over we experience the truth of impermanence.

We need to accept that the nature of the world is change, but it is challenging to find acceptance when we can’t even remember the principle! So what can we do to help ourselves remember? First, it is important to understand the reason why we suffer when we forget the truth of impermanence. We suffer because of the attachments and expectations that we create in our minds when we forget that things will inevitably keep changing.

Once we understand why we suffer from our forgetfulness, next we need to take actions to continually help ourselves remember. Daily spiritual practices give us regular opportunities for remembrance. One of my favorite spiritual practices is chanting. For over six years I have been singing along with the CDs of popular chant artists such as Krishna Das and Jai Uttal. In my new book, Radiance Rising: Spiritual Practices for Daily Living (available on this website store in print or by e-book), I describe the transformative practice of chanting.

Daily chanting helps me to remember that change is the nature of the world. When I am feeling particularly attached to something, I chant to Shiva, the Hindu aspect of destruction. Inherent in the dissolution principle of Shiva is also the creation principle, because when one thing dissolves, it creates the space for something new to emerge. So when we consciously release our attachments, that opens up the space for detachment to grow within us.

There is an image of Lord Shiva dancing in ecstasy over the cremation grounds. He is ecstatic because when the bodies are burned, the attachments that go along with the bodies also burn, thereby freeing the souls to be in Bliss. In her book The Eternal Truth, Ammachi describes this image of Shiva dancing in bliss, and then she says, “The meaning of this is not that bliss comes to us only after death. Everything is within us. We and the universe are one. Both are equally complete. When the attachment to the body dies in the fire of Self-awareness, we are automatically filled with bliss… Shiva is called ‘the detached one’ (vairagi). Detachment (vairagya) means absence of attachment.” (The Eternal Truth, by Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, Mata Amritanandamayi Mission Trust, Amritapuri, India, 2006 & 2007.)

So the ability to let go of attachments exists within each of us. It is important that we each take the time to cultivate this ability… in whatever ways help us to achieve more detachment. In addition to chanting along with CDs, I also attend evenings of live kirtan (call and response chanting) whenever possible.

Inspired by my love of kirtan, last June I bought myself a harmonium and asked Amma to bless me to be able to sing and play harmonium. Slowly I am learning this new art form, after a lifetime of believing that I could not sing! At the weekly Radiance Rising Circles, I am even starting to lead simple chants. Last weekend a friend and I recorded a Shiva chant and posted it on my YouTube Channel, www.youtube.com/16Tejaswini. That video is also posted at the top of this blog post.

May we all remember that change is the nature of the world. May we all find ways to release our attachments. May we all experience the bliss of detachment.

May all beings everywhere know Peace and Happiness.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

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Greetings everyone.

Just a short blog today to let you all know that my new book, Radiance Rising: Spiritual Practices for Daily Living is now in print! Sixteen boxes of books are on their way to my cottage door, so I will be ready to begin shipping them out next week. Thank you to those of you who have already pre-ordered copies of the book. The discount for pre-orders will still be available through April 10th, 2010, so order your copies now and save!!!!

A few days ago I received six advance copies in the mail, and the book is so cute. It was amazing to hold the book in my hands at last! Many, many thanks to Gaelyn Larrick, for the awesome cover design, and to Bram Larrick, for the wonderful interior design. I am also ever grateful to the very special yogi angel who made this printing possible by sending me a generous donation. (Remember that 10% of every sale and donation on this website goes to Amma's charitable organization, Embracing the World. www.amma.org.)

Written from my perspective as a Raja Yogini, this Radiance Rising pocket book gives basic descriptions of meditation, and other spiritual practices, that anyone - of any faith - can easily apply to their own journey. A great gift for yourself and for your loved ones!

May all beings everywhere know Peace and Happiness.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

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Most people want to be happy and healthy, yet many people continue to make choices that lead to self-inflicted sorrows and diseases. Worldwide, one of the biggest causes of unhappiness is the epidemic of addictions to alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs ~ primarily ganja (also called pot/weed/marijuana) ~ which I will collectively refer to in this blog as “substances.”

For those of you who are really longing for true health and happiness, please take a moment now to close your eyes, breathe, and open your mind. Once you feel openness in your mind, read the following information and see if it resonates for you.

All addictions to harmful substances stem from a lack of self-love. Once you really, truly begin to love yourself, you experience your whole being, including your physical body, as a temple for your soul. When you really love yourself, you will no longer choose to put harmful substances into your body. Alcohol, tobacco, ganja, and other substances harm the physical body.

In Kundalini: An Occult Experience, by G.S. Arundale, the author writes: “It is clear that nicotine and alcohol definitely act in some way upon Kundalini, the former (nicotine) interposing a barrier between the general force of Kundalini and its operation in the various vehicles of the individual concerned, while the latter (alcohol) seems to act as a direct stimulant, stirring the Force in wrong directions, or in some way wrongly intensifying it, and in any case doing these things in connection with an individual far from ready for Fire-development. All narcotics, drugs, stimulants clog the system and interpose a deadening miasma between the individual and all larger consciousness.” (Kundalini: An Occult Experience, by G.S. Arundale, The Theosophical Publishing House, Madras, India, 1974.)

(Kundalini is the serpent-like fire energy that lies coiled at the base of the spine until it rises up through the chakras (energy centers in the subtle body) in a process that awakens us to our connection with the Divine.)

It has been 2 ½ years since I quit drinking alcohol. I no longer even have a glass of wine with dinner, because I do not like how alcohol makes my energies feel so tweaked. Once I began doing regular, daily spiritual practices and I became more sensitive to energies, I began to really like how my own energies feel, without any alterations. I like how present I feel now that I no longer put mind-altering substances into my temple body. (If you would like to begin doing regular spiritual practices yourself, check out my new book, Radiance Rising: Spiritual Practices for Daily Living.)

Spiritual practices require effort and discipline, and the results are definitely worth the work. I like the way Bhagavan Das puts it in his book, It’s Here Now (Are You?): “In every culture people have always wanted to change their consciousness. And people will always find a way. You can’t stop them. You can try – you can put them in jail. Still, people will alter their consciousness in any way they can. Fortunately, there are many safer ways to raise your consciousness than experimenting with drugs, and most gurus in India prefer more conservative routes. Doing your meditation, japa, and hatha-yoga is a slower path, but the effects are more lasting, and you run less risk of frying your nervous system. Without a doubt, self-discipline pays for itself in the end.” (It’s Here Now (Are You?), by Bhagavan Das, Broadway Books, New York, 1997.)

Another positive aspect to giving up harmful substances is that you can use the money saved to buy yourself natural healing remedies and treatments, and you can give something to those less fortunate than yourself. My Guru Ammachi, the hugging saint, often encourages people to spend less on personal luxuries and to donate that extra money to help others. In Lead Us to Purity, a book of speeches given by Amma, she says the following to a crowd gathered around her in India: “Charity is essential in the life of a householder… The money we overspend on food and clothing would be enough to serve countless people. Think of how much money we are wasting now. Nowadays many people think they’re tough only if they smoke cigarettes, that smoking is a sign of masculinity. There are also those who think smoking is a sign of intelligence… True intellectuals are those who love others just as much as they love themselves. It is written on the cigarette package itself that smoking is hazardous to your health. If people smoke even after reading that, should they be called intellectual or idiotic? The money smokers spend in a month is enough to alleviate the poverty in India.”

Amma continues with this point in another speech: “Think of the torrential rain we’ve had in the recent months. There are thousands of people around us who have stayed awake under leaking roofs all through the rainy nights, wondering when their huts will collapse. When you raise your alcohol glasses, remember those people. With the money that we waste every month, we could get their roofs thatched. Then those people could sleep comfortably at night.” (Lead Us to Purity: A Selection of Sri Mata Amritanandamayi’s Speeches 1990-1999, Compiled by Swami Jnanamritananda, Mata Amritanandamayi Center, 2007.)

(Amma’s charitable organizations, now collectively called Embracing the World, have already constructed more than 40,000 homes across India. To donate to this and many other wonderful projects, go to www.amma.org.)

The thing is, alcohol, tobacco, and other substances interfere with spiritual purification and with the body’s natural healing processes. The way to free yourself from these addictive substances is to set the intention to really love yourself, and then choose the path that will lead you to that self-love. Once you dedicate yourself to really loving yourself, the way will open up for you.

Regular, daily spiritual practices help develop self-love. The spiritual practice that has helped me the most in loving myself more fully is cultivating the witness. The Witness Consciousness is that part of ourselves that objectively watches everything we are. Once we begin to witness, allow, and accept all parts of ourselves, then we begin to love ourselves unconditionally. (I describe the practice of cultivating the witness in my new book, Radiance Rising: Spiritual Practices for Daily Living.)

After doing regular, daily spiritual practices for a while, the readiness and the willingness to give up the substances will spontaneously arise. As a Reiki practitioner, I am ready and willing to send distance Reiki healings to support anyone who is ready and willing to quit alcohol, tobacco, and other harmful substances. Reiki is a gentle, hands-on energy healing system, but the healing energy can also be sent to people at a distance. (Reiki is pronounced “Ray-key.”)

So, when you are ready, consider taking the Teja Challenge: you give up alcohol, tobacco, ganja, and other harmful substances for a one-year period, and I will send you Reiki healing energy daily for that year. To begin the Teja Challenge, go to the Contact page of this website and send me an email saying that you are ready to take the Teja Challenge. I will reply with a letter of encouragement and natural healing ideas, and I will request that you email me back a photo of yourself. I will then send you the Reiki healing energy daily for that year, during which time we will correspond by email as needed. I am offering this Teja Challenge by donation. (There is a donate button on the Store page of this website, and 10% of every sale and donation on this website goes to Amma’s charitable organizations.) Please consider what it means to you, and then donate accordingly.

I have one last quote to share on this topic, from Essential Reiki, by Diane Stein: “Many healers believe, as I do, that a smoker or recreational drug-user can never be a fully clear channel for Reiki, nor can an abuser of alcohol. Never do healing when under the influence of alcohol or drugs. These states at any time invite in negative entities and attachments unwelcome in healing. They are wholly negative for the healer…. If you wish to quit smoking or break addictions to alcohol or drugs, Reiki… is a powerful self-healing tool. Remember that as a Reiki practitioner, you are a sacred channel for the life force energy…” (Essential Reiki: A Complete Guide to an Ancient Healing Art, by Diane Stein, The Crossing Press, Inc., Freedom, CA, 1995.)

Cheers to good health and happiness for all! For those of you who are ready and willing to renounce addictive substances for a year, I look forward to meeting you on the Teja Challenge.

May all beings everywhere know Peace and Happpiness.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Sunlight on fabric photo by Teja Shankara.

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As the first signs of spring appear, like the precious little violets reaching up through the grass in my yard, there is still a winter chill in the air. This morning we have sunshine in Ashland, and I am thinking of all the sunny, cheerful things that warm my heart. Like hearing my Grandma’s voice. Every time I call her, across several thousand miles, I get to hear her say, “Thank you for calling. This was a bright spot in my day.”

What are the bright spots in your days? What cheers you? What enlivens you and warms your heart? In wintertime, we all reach for warmth, but in truth, we need warmth in every season.

Once my dear teacher Basil (who passed away in July, 2009), was talking about fear vibrations, and he advised us to ask those fear vibrations what they need. He said that the answer is nearly always warmth. Coming together as a community brings us warmth and calms our limbic systems. Connecting with others breaks the illusion of separation. Doing spiritual practices with others breaks the anxiety-producing sense of being isolated.

In my memoir, The Rita Lila: A Western Yogini’s Journey to Bliss, I share this quote by Basil: “In this time of dissolving form, in this declining empire, ask yourself, ‘What am I called to do?’ and listen to your inner guidance. There is a lot of anxiety out there in the Collective, but if you take in nourishment (friends, food, practices, prayers), and listen for guidance, then you will be able to navigate through – no matter what happens. All of the information in this age produces anxiety that is both contagious and crippling… As yogis and yoginis, it is our responsibility to continually calm ourselves so that we not only lessen our personal anxieties, but we also lessen the amount of anxiety that we contribute to the Collective Anxiety.”

This article is a continuation of my last two blog posts, “The Mind Becomes That Which It Dwells Upon.” and “Bliss and Grief: My Two Lives.” In those entries, I wrote about how happiness is a choice. No matter what is happening, we have to continually choose to put our attention on things that expand us.

When we feel contracted, one way to practice putting our attention on things that expand us is through the simple, yet powerful, Freeze Frame technique developed by the HeartMath Institute. The following is copied from their website:

This 1-minute, 5-step technique, intended to be used when one is feeling stressed or out of balance, involves the following abbreviated steps:

1. Recognize the stressful feeling, and Freeze-Frame it (take a time out).

2. Make a sincere effort to shift your focus away from the racing mind or disturbed emotions to the area around your heart.

3. Recall a positive, fun feeling or time and attempt to re-experience it.

4. Using your intuition, common sense, and sincerity, ask your heart what a more efficient response to the situation would be, one that would minimize future stress.

5. Listen to what your heart says in answer to your question.

For more information on this technique, click here on Freeze Frame.

My favorite part of that exercise is number 3: recalling a positive and fun feeling or time and attempting to re-experience it. If we catch ourselves going into stress mode quickly enough, then shifting our attention toward experiencing a positive feeling in the heart can actually stop the activation of the survival brain state. Take a moment to recall a few times when you felt happy. Attempt to re-experience a time when you had a lot of fun. Then, the next time you feel a stressful reaction coming on, try this Freeze Frame technique and see what happens.

I experience loving feelings in my heart when I recall myself hugging my Guru Amma or sitting in my Grandma’s kitchen. When I think of all the things that bring me warmth, my Grandma’s kitchen is at the top of the list. It is small and cozy, with bright yellow walls and shelves holding spider plants, teapot collections, and glowing candles. Sitting at her kitchen table, listening to her tell stories, I am filled with the cheery warmth that she emanates.

Imagining myself there with my Grandma helps me to think cheerful thoughts like she does. Without knowing anything about ancient Indian sutras, she clearly understands that the mind becomes that which it dwells upon, as she consciously puts her attention upon things that expand her mind and heart. Full of spunk and enthusiasm, as she tells the funny stories from her life, her kitchen fills with the energy of her positive love.

As I’m writing this, another kitchen comes to mind. It was the summer of 2006, and I was staying in the home of my teacher Basil and his beloved partner Luna, on the island of Hawai’i. Ten of us had gathered there for a weeklong spiritual retreat. One afternoon a young man in the group offered to make me a piece of toast. Such a simple offering, there in that simple kitchen, but the magnitude of how it affected my heart sent me into a few hours of deep crying. Back on the mainland, I was a single mama who did all the cooking, and no one ever offered to make me a piece of toast. My heart was so full of gratitude that I just couldn’t stop crying!

Later, after the sobbing subsided, Basil dubbed the incident my “Maha kitchen kriya.” In Sanskrit, “Maha” means Great and “kriya” means movement that purifies. We both laughed, and he gave me the following prediction (which has thus far been true): “On your path of opening your heart, you are going to have many more meltdowns. Just relax and let them go through you.”

Regular, daily spiritual practices help me to relax and let the meltdowns go through me. The most important practice, which I describe in my new book, Radiance Rising: Spiritual Practices for Daily Living, is Cultivating the Witness. The more I practice witnessing all of myself – all of the contractions and all of the expansions – the more I am able to accept all of myself. This self-acceptance leads to incredible self-love. When we truly love ourselves, no matter what state we are in, then we can truly love others as well. That is the whole point of doing spiritual practices: to become kinder, more loving human beings.

Becoming kinder, more loving human beings is a gradual journey, but we can speed it up by committing ourselves to doing daily practices that expand our minds and hearts. Last summer I attended a retreat with my Guru Ammachi, and she gave a really potent teaching about the importance of raising our consciousness. I transcribe it here from my notes:

“The mind’s natural tendency is to flow downwards like water. The mind is not in our control – negative tendencies pull it down, like water goes down. Conversely, Consciousness moves upwards like fire. When we do things to uplift our consciousness, then the mind goes upward. Fire is always going up. With fire, we can heat water, and the steam goes up. So even water (which usually goes down) will go up, with fire. Fire equals Awareness. So we should be constantly raising our Awareness, our Consciousness, with satsangs, with books, with whatever reminds us of the Truth – whatever keeps our minds tuned to the Highest Light.”

The Sanskrit word “satsang” means being in the company of others sharing spiritual teachings and practices. I attend satsangs, kirtans (call-and-response group chantings), and group meditations any chance I get. Those communal events warm me and enrich the spiritual practices that I do daily in order to continually expand my mind and heart. While doing dishes alone in my sunny kitchen, I cultivate the witness part of my mind. I ask myself, ‘What do I need to do next to keep my heart open?’

May you also tune in to your inner being each day, and may it lead you to the warm radiance of your heart.

May all beings everywhere know the warmth of Peace and Happiness.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Photo of crystal reflecting yellow light in kitchen by Teja Shankara.

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