In yesterday’s blog, I posted the recipe for the vegan salad I made for the happy Mt. Ashland picnic dinner. Today I offer the recipe for the rice dish.

Soak overnight:  1½ cups long grain brown rice and ½ cup wild rice. Cook in the soaking water, along with 2 Tablespoons extra virgin coconut oil, sprinkle of Himalayan krystal salt, and 2 teaspoons ground cumin powder.

In a large bowl, mix the following:

1/3 cup raisins
8 medjool dates, pitted and chopped
2 Tablespoons raw ginger root, chopped finely
¼ teaspoon Himalayan krystal salt
1/16 teaspoon ground black pepper

Add the rice to that mixture and stir well.

Please let me know how you like this rice dish. And please buy organic food whenever possible.

May all beings everywhere have food to eat each day.

May all beings know Peace and Happiness.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Photo of trees on Mt. Ashland by Teja Shankara.

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In my last blog article, “Happy Teja,” I said that I would soon share the vegan recipes from that happy mountain picnic dinner. Today I will share the salad recipe, and then I will share the other recipes in the next few blogs.

For the salad, in a large bowl, combine the following:

juice of one lemon
3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
¼ teaspoon Himalayan krystal salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

To that mixture, add the following:

1 heaping cup of purple cabbage, chopped
1 medium red bell pepper, chopped
1 cup of Italian leaf parsley, chopped (include top half of stems; discard bottom half of stems)
3 green onion tops, chopped
1 Tablespoon maple syrup

Mix well, then add lettuce. I used about ½ head of red leaf lettuce, but you could substitute green leaf lettuce or romaine lettuce. If you are serving more than two people, use the whole head of lettuce. Chop or tear lettuce in strips, then mix well with the above ingredients.

I hope you enjoy this salad…. Let me know your experience of it!

And, as always, please buy organic food whenever possible. It is so much better for our bodies… and for our beloved Mother Earth. May all beings everywhere have the food that they need each day. May we vision ourselves into a world where “starvation” is a word devoid of meaning.

May all beings everywhere know Peace and Happiness.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Photos of vegan picnic dinner on Mt. Ashland by Teja Shankara.

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If a picture says a thousand words, then this photo of me on Mt. Ashland says “happy” over and over, at least a thousand times! It also says how grateful I was to get out of town and enjoy a little evening adventure. The vegan picnic dinner I packed was delicious. (I’ll post the recipes soon.) Food tastes so much better out in nature – it’s like our taste buds function better out there in the fresh air.

What if we lived closer to nature all the time? Imagine how wonderful everything would feel and look and smell and sound! Up on the mountain, I heard birds instead of lawn mowers, and I smelled fresh pine instead of exhaust fumes. This is nothing new; humans have been extolling the virtues of Nature in writing for ages… what was new for me this time was a deeper sense of Gratitude for Mother Earth. I think I felt that more profound sense of gratitude because this past year was so difficult for me. I feel like I’m being reborn now, out of the dark night of the soul, into the world of Light.

Sitting under the Milky Way, sipping organic hot cocoa, and delighting in shooting stars, I witnessed my mind opening to the vastness of the universes. How many galaxies and universes are out there? How many space beings exist in other realms? As my heart opened to the One Pure Love Energy that permeates ALL of Existence, I remembered my teacher often talking about the importance of stargazing: it opens us up to the Bigger Picture and helps us to understand our life stories in a much larger context.

In addition to all the other spiritual practices I do daily, like morning and evening meditation, chanting (singing), mantra repetition, and cultivating the witness, I have now added “facebook sadhana.” (Sadhana means spiritual practice.) I really enjoy meeting new people and reading all the inspiring quotes on Facebook, and occasionally I watch the videos linked by friends. A few days ago I watched this video by Nassim Haramein, in which he explains how the Solar System is moving in a spiraling circular motion around the Galaxy. It is less than 3 minutes, and it is very informative:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQk2Z-JSLLA

 
May we all choose to do daily practices that connect us to the Light: picnics in Nature, stargazing, facebook sadhana, silent meditation, singing… so many wonderful ways to open our minds and hearts!

May all beings everywhere know Peace and Happiness.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

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Photo of Happy Teja (in front of Rabbit Ears on Mt. Ashland), by Thomas Stekkinger.

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A couple of nights ago, while chanting along with Mukti’s sweet CD “Light of the Sun,” I made this really yummy vegan green salad. To enjoy a similar salad yourself, top fresh green lettuce leaves with the following:

raw cacao nibs
dried cranberries
raw sunflower seeds
black pepper
cumin powder
Himalayan krystal salt
flax oil
maple syrup
fresh lemon juice
curly parsley sprigs

Please buy organic whenever possible. It is better for our bodies and it is better for the environment of our beautiful Mother Earth!

Also, whenever we eat, let’s say a prayer for the 1 billion people who are starving on the planet right now. Let’s each help raise the vibration of the human species so that things shift here on earth… I envision a shift in which each person has food to eat each day.

May all beings everywhere know Peace and Happiness.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Photo of light on Teja’s salad by Teja Shankara.

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Saturday night I attended a potent fire circle. As the drummers began drumming, I danced slowly around the fire, silently inviting Agni Deva, the Hindu God of Fire, to be present and conscious in the fire. I reflected on my personal intention for that night by the sacred fire: to ask for purification so that I can experience the Oneness with Lord Shiva, who is Pure Consciousness and Bliss. With hand gestures, I also asked that the fire energies of purification go out to all the beings in all the worlds for healing in the Whole.

While dancing barefoot on soft clover around a sacred fire under the stars and moon, surrounded by trees, I delighted in the bells that adorned my ankles that evening. Then, during a break in the drumming, Lalla suddenly came through me. I called out, “Through the illusion of time and space, I invite Lalla here… we are in medieval Kashmir by the One Fire…” And then Lalla used my voice to call out eight of her Love poems. I will share two of them here:

Lalla, you’ve wandered so many places
trying to find your husband!

Now at last, inside the walls
of this body-house, in the heart-shrine,
you discover where he lives.

                    ********

Don’t be so quick to condemn my nakedness.

A man is one who trembles in the presence.
There are very few of those.
Why not go naked?

The ram of experience must be fed
and ripened for the sacrifice.

Then all these customs will disappear
like clothing. There’s only the soul.

Lalla lived in 14^th century Kashmir. At age 24 she left her husband and family, and wandered around North India, naked, singing love songs to God. (Lalla: Naked Song, translations by Coleman Barks, Maypop Publishing.)

When I returned to my cottage that night, the sound of the bells jingling on my ankles filled me with such bliss that I did not want to take them off. I felt like a child who just wants to swim for a few more minutes after the parent says it’s time to get out of the lake. I just wanted to hear those jingles a few more times…

… I did finally take the bells off my ankles, but the next morning I put them back on! As I reflected on that evening by the fire, I remembered what my spiritual brother Howie said to me when he first saw me that night: “You are really freeing your voice!” Amazed that he saw that at first glance, I said, “Yes, I’ve really been enjoying leading the chants at the Monday evening Radiance Rising Circles.”

Through the illusion of time and space, I’m sure Lalla also knows that I’m freeing my voice, which is why she came through me so strongly that night. I am bowing to the Universe in intense Gratitude for that experience of channeling Beloved Lalla.

May all beings everywhere know Peace and Happiness.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Photo of bells on Teja’s ankles by Teja Shankara.

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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 ~

~ The first 11 days of July were filled with summer fun, as my entire family gathered for a visit in Ashland. We shared many joyful moments eating meals, sipping tea in the yard, and
traveling to the Oregon coast for my older son’s 13^th birthday. I am now the mama of a teenager… and his younger brother, who is 10 going on 18. They are so much fun now ~ I am really enjoying these ages. We all love hip hop music, so we had a great time seeing my brother perform live hip hop in Ashland. (My bro’s website: www.mctill.com) With all the excitement of the visit, it was challenging for me to maintain my daily spiritual practices, but I did manage to do shorter versions of them each day. (To begin spiritual practices yourself or to refresh the practices you already do, check out my pocket book, Radiance Rising: Spiritual Practices for Daily Living.)

~ One of the highlights of this family visit was spending time with my sister-in-law, who I dedicated Radiance Rising to… She is currently enrolled in a Yoga teacher training, and we enjoyed talking about spiritual practices, yoga, Reiki, and so on. I am totally in love with her because she is so open, so inquisitive, and so enthusiastic. She is a bright light and I really enjoyed soaking in her radiance.

~ The weekly Radiance Rising circles continue to be sweet as ever. I was looking forward to offering them at Mystic Garden Party, but then I learned that entheogenics is going to be a focus at that festival, so I cancelled my workshops there. (For the story on that, go to: http://yogini-bliss.com/106-teja-news-in-brief-july-2010.html)

~ I’m still reading The Ramayana: A Modern Retelling of the Great Indian Epic, by Ramesh Menon. I’m on page 557 of 686 pages, so I’m getting there! There are so many potent lessons in it. For example, when Lord Brahma offered Vibheeshana a boon, that gentle rakshasa asked for the following: “Grant me that my mind remains steadfast and virtuous in the midst of life’s greatest trials…. May every thought that enters my mind, during every stage of my life, be of dharma. Let me fulfill my dharma, however hard it is. For if a man has dharma, he has everything.”

~ Saturday night, during the two-day Conscious Convergence (go to www.commonpassion.org for more info. on that), I attended a planetary fire puja, a ritual led by Debi Sheetz, in which we chanted many vedic mantras to the planets, to help increase the positive aspects of what is happening right now astrologically. After the puja, we shared in a delightful potluck, with sweet salads of strawberries, blueberries, mangos, and avocados. I brought a really yummy coconut rice pudding. Watch for that vegan recipe on this Teja Blog soon. 

~ This past week I’ve been making an effort to go out in the yard and sit under the stars at night. My teacher, who left his body last July 21^st, often said that we should all do more stargazing, as it helps us to have a bigger perspective on time and space, and it helps us to understand our place in the scheme of things. Although my grief has shifted recently, and I’m not crying anymore, I do still miss my teacher a lot, and I honor him greatly this week, as Wednesday marks the year since his passing. Thank you Yogi Shambho, for all that you gifted me with.

~ I close this newsletter with a wonderful poem by Lalla, a naked mystic from medieval Kashmir:

The soul, like the moon,
is new, and always new again.

And I have seen the ocean
continuously creating.

Since I scoured my mind
and my body, I too, Lalla,
am new, each moment new.

My teacher told me one thing,
Live in the soul.

When that was so,
I began to go naked,
and dance.

(From Lalla: Naked Song, translations by Coleman Barks, Maypop Publishing.)

May all beings everywhere know Peace and Happiness.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

http://www.facebook.com/tejashankara

Photo of sunflower in brother’s garden by Teja Shankara.

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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 Tejaswini Playground Press
Monthly Newsletter by Yogini Tejaswini Shankara

Photo by Ashley Marie - CC license

It has been brought to my attention that I should post the monthly newsletters here on this Teja Blog, so that people can read them on-line. So I've just posted the four newsletters below. If you sign up for my newsletter (on the menu to the left here), you will receive an e-mail alert when the latest newsletter has been posted to this blog.

May you enjoy reading about the fun I'm having on the Tejaswini Playground!

May you also have a lot of fun on the playground of your life.

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

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

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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 ~

~ Recently I have been feeling super grateful for the following themes that are arising in my life: I am feeling totally orchestrated by the Universe… I am delighting in how life is magically unfolding… I am feeling Held by Something Greater… I am noticing much more progress in releasing expectations and attachments.

~ My boys are now 10 and 12, and I am enjoying them more than ever. They are so sharp and worldly, yet still so innocent. I am falling in love with them again and again, and I feel incredible gratitude for this mothering journey. A few weeks ago I took them to see Alice in Wonderland. We all really liked the movie. Our favorite part was “I believe in 6 impossible things before breakfast.” What a great spiritual practice!

~ If you haven’t had the chance to read the articles on my blog, please check them out. You can sign up as a user if you’d like to post comments. We can create discussions that way… Some recent blog titles include: “Let us choose remembrance!,” “Parsley Musings,” “Happy Birthday to Hanuman!,” “Calling in Tranquility,” and “Let Us Choose Happiness.”

~ The weekly Radiance Rising Circles have become the highlight of my life. Recently we celebrated Hanuman’s Birthday (the Hindu monkey god who is a hero in the ancient Indian epic, the Ramayana), with stories, songs, and vegan chocolate cake. Then I attended Jai Uttal’s kirtan in Ashland and became inspired to try leading a chant myself… So, at the circle last night, I played my harmonium while leading a Sita-Ram chant. (Sita and Ram are the Divine Incarnation in the Ramayana. They represent the eternal union of the Divine Feminine and Divine Masculine. Symbolically, Sita is the human soul united with its Beloved, who is Rama.) I really enjoyed leading the chant, and I was pleased when my friend Andy told me later that I sang in tune the whole time! That was a big deal for me since I grew up believing that I couldn’t sing… But now, I can sing! I am looking forward to learning more chants on the harmonium.

~ I am feeling inspired to lead more and more circles, in a variety of settings. I feel really called to teach meditation (and Reiki energy healing) in prisons, so I am exploring different ways to begin doing that karma yogini work.

~ The 1,000 copies of my new book (Radiance Rising: Spiritual Practices for Daily Living) arrived in the mail last week. Thanks to Gaelyn Larrick’s cover design and Bram Larrick’s interior design, the books are beautiful. It was amazing to hold them in my hands. Now it’s time to promote this book, which is available on my website store at www.yogini-bliss.com. On the website you can read excerpts from this pocket book.

~ Today I am preparing for my friend Pete’s visit… cleaning the cottage and cooking a pot of kitchari, which to me is like vegan comfort food. You can find the recipe on my website under “Tips from Tejaswini,” and I’ll also share it with you here:

Kitchari
Adapted from a friend’s recipe

Soak mung beans overnight (or 4 hour minimum)

Cook the following:

2 cups mung beans
4 cups water (may need more)
5-6 or more cloves garlic, chopped finely
big piece of ginger root, chopped finely
optional: big onion, chopped medium dice

Cook for 45 minutes or longer, until the mung beans start to fall apart.

Then combine with the following:

2 cups cooked rice (brown basmati or brown long grain)
½ cup tamari
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 Tablespoons cumin seed
1 ½ Tablespoons coriander powder
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon red chili flakes

Stir until blended – don’t over-stir.

Let sit for 45 minutes before serving.

With all of the above quantities, experiment to suite your tastes. You may like it more or less spicy.

Please buy organic whenever possible. It is better for your body and better for the environment. Happy Earth Day next week!

~ Currently I am reading a really great version of the Ramayana, called The Ramayana: A Modern Retelling of the Great Indian Epic, by Ramesh Menon. (North Point Press, New York, 2003.) In the introduction he writes, “More than anything else, reading the Ramayana brings the reader close to the noble, holy, and living spirit of Rama. Regardless of which religion one professes, or if one is an agnostic or an atheist, the touch of Rama’s spirit is a profound, healing contact.” He continues to say that reading the Ramayana purifies the soul. I have only read 80 pages of the 686 pages, and already I do feel that it is having a profound effect on my psyche and soul.

~ Last week I was greatly inspired by the Jai Uttal kirtan here in Ashland. He began the evening by saying, “Don’t try to feel spiritual. Just sing, and sing, and sing… sing from your heart, and then you will be filled with Spirit.” Singing is definitely what takes me to Bliss. May we all enjoy our paths to Bliss!

May you have a lot of fun on the playground of your life.

May all beings everywhere know Peace and Happiness.

Om Shanti (Peace), Yogini Tejaswini

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Today I had been trying to get caught up on emails all morning. With 30 more to go, I took a break to fix some lunch. As I walked into the kitchen, I witnessed a bit of frustration in my being because I really don’t want to spend so much time on the computer. As I witnessed the tension and breathed into it, I looked around my colorful, cozy kitchen and relaxed. My kitchen is very much like my Grandma’s kitchen, which is one of my favorite places on earth. Like hers, mine is painted a bright cheery yellow, and like hers, I have lots of photos hanging on my fridge doors… and like hers, I have flowers, plants, meaningful knick-knacks, and a nice wooden table.

As I heated up some leftovers from the tasty dinner I cooked last night, I ate a spoonful of Artisana Raw Organic Coconut Butter, and I was suddenly filled with incredible Bliss. It was one of those moments when I feel very connected to All That Is.

Is your kitchen a cozy place that fills you with Bliss? If not, consider transforming it into such a place.

Do you need some new cooking ideas? Last night I roasted yukon gold potatoes with olive oil, dill, black pepper, salt, and garlic granules; cooked a pot of curried french lentils (similar to the recipe in my cookbook, Love Soups: A Vegetarian Soup Cookbook Inspired by the Soup Devas); and served those along with some brown rice (cooked with dried mint, cumin powder, salt, shredded coconut, and coconut oil), and a fresh green salad topped with meyer lemon juice and fresh cilantro. The leftovers tasted so good today.

Now I’m ready to make some hot tea and respond to those 30 remaining emails!

May we all enjoy many Blissful moments like the one I had today in my cozy kitchen. And may we all intend Peace on Earth.

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

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

www.buzz-for-bliss.com

www.youtube.com/user/16Tejaswini

Photo of my vegan lunch with lilacs and marigolds by Teja Shankara.

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