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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Everything is connected. We are all linked in one continuous web of energy and vibration. We could put this oneness to great use by collectively choosing to raise the consciousness of the human species. As Gandhi-ji said, first we have to BE the change that we wish to see in the world. We each have to choose to raise our own vibrations.

A good place to begin is in working to free ourselves from all of our addictions. In my last post, I challenged people to give up alcohol, nicotine, ganja, and other substances. In addition to freeing our systems of those substances, we can also choose to free ourselves of addictive thought patterns, relationships, foods, anxieties, and activities such as watching too much television. In this blog entry, I will focus on freedom from the addictions to television and to anxieties.

I copy the following information on television from my website page “Tips from Tejaswini”:

During my grade school years I watched a lot of television, but in high school and college I was too busy with studies and parties. Then in my twenties I got hooked on Seinfeld and thoroughly enjoyed watching it every week, until that last disappointing episode. When Seinfeld ended, so did my television watching. Now I don’t even own a television.

While not owning a television seems completely normal and natural to me, I realize that there are a lot of people who really enjoy watching television. If you watch a lot of television, I invite you to consider reducing the amount of time you spend in front of the TV. Here’s why: regardless of the kind of program you are watching, the speed of the light changes happening on the screen puts your body-mind into a survival state in which your system has to choose between flight or fight. The trouble is, you can’t fight the television, nor can you flee it. You can’t flee it because the speed of the light changes freezes the attention of your survival state brain upon the television screen.

This is why people can’t very easily take their eyes away from a television that’s blaring in the room, even if they are trying to do something else. Advertising companies make good use of this phenomenon: they increase the speed of the light changes during commercials to make sure that they hook people’s attention. 

Watching television is one way to get into a meditative state, but the problem with this form of meditation is that it creates stress in the body-mind. Once the speed of the light changes on the screen puts you into the survival state, then the stress hormone cortisol gets released, and that hormone is responsible for a lot of health problems.

A healthy alternative to TV meditation is sitting in silent meditation. Many people think that they need the outside stimulation of the television to feel happily entertained, but once they try sitting in silence, they find so much relief in taking a break from all of the outer stimulation. To learn how to begin a regular daily meditation practice, check out my new book, Radiance Rising: Spiritual Practices for Daily Living.

Also,when you watch less television, you will have more time to pursue other interests... and those interests might bring you much joy.

When we pursue interests that we enjoy, we lessen the addictive anxieties that cycle around inside of us. Freedom from anxiety is not easy to achieve. We live in a time when anxiety is increasing all around us, and when we consider that we are all linked in one web of energy, then we understand that each person's anxiety affects everyone else.

I endeavor to lessen my personal anxieties so that I stay open to receive the guidance that the Universe is continually giving us. It is difficult to hear our inner voice of wisdom when we are blocked by anxious energies. This past week I witnessed a lot of anxieties in my system, and while I watched them I also took actions to reduce them. First I focused on trusting in my own ability to heal myself and to free myself from the anxieties.

Next I followed my intuition as to what herbs and scents might assist me. I chose a tincture called Lavender Spirits Compound (a liquid herbal extract by Herb Pharm, www.herb-pharm.com), which contains cinnamon bark, nutmeg seed, lavender flower, clove flower bud, and rosemary herb. (I am not a doctor, so please consult your healthcare practitioner before taking herbal remedies.) For aromatherapy, I enjoyed the scents of jasmine, sandalwood, patchouli, and ylang ylang.

Along with the herbal and floral medicines, I continued to sit still in my regular, daily meditation practice, and I watched the anxious energies move around in my system. I repeatedly brought my attention back to my breath to calm my body-mind, and I kept telling myself, “this too shall shift."

Each day I focused my attention on cultivating the witness. The witness consciousness is that part of ourselves that objectively watches everything that we are. We can cultivate the witness during sitting meditation practice and during our daily lives. This practice of watching ourselves gradually trains us to accept and allow all parts of ourselves, so that we can relax into the love in our hearts. Cultivating the witness is a gradual journey into the healing experience of true self-love. As we gradually forgive ourselves, we begin to love ourselves unconditionally.

Two other self-healing remedies are affirmations and inspirations. Saying positive affirmations out loud is a great way to calm ourselves while re-training our brains. Try saying this affirmation out loud three times: "I trust that everything is happening perfectly in each moment." How do you feel when you say that? If we say affirmations daily, over time they really do change our ways of thinking and feeling.

When we are serious about raising our vibrations, we also need to continually find things that inspire us. A friend recently referred me to a website that really inspired me, and I typed a section about that website for this blog , but for some reason I can't get that paragraph to upload. After spending a very frustrating hour on the computer just now, I am laughing at the irony in me posting a blog about reducing anxieties while I am watching my anxiety rise over this computer problem!

In my next blog I will write more about inspirations, healings, and exercises to reduce anxiety. For now, I'm off to take my lavender spirits remedy!

As we each commit to being the change that we wish to see in the world, may we each work steadily to free ourselves from our unhealthy addictions. May we heal ourselves so that we can help raise the consciousness of the human species.

May all beings everywhere know Peace and Happiness.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini


Photo of blue flowers by Richard Broderick, CC license.

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This is it. Three simple words, with so many layers of potential meanings behind them. This weekend my boys and I watched This Is It, the documentary film depicting Michael Jackson’s rehearsals for the absolutely amazing show that he was scheduled to open in London. At a press conference full of beloved fans (who could not stop screaming in excitement), he said, “This is it. This is the final curtain call. See you in July.” Sadly, Michael Jackson died two weeks before that first concert.

After a decade’s absence from the stage, Michael Jackson, a single parent, said that it was a good time to do his final tour because his kids were old enough to appreciate it, and he was still young enough to do it. At 50 years old, he sang and danced just like he did when I was in the eighth grade. As I listened to his great old songs, I was filled with nostalgia for what was, but I also saw him from a new perspective. Viewing him from my training as a raja yogini, I saw right into the heart of him as a spiritual being. My vision changed from seeing him as a famous pop star, to seeing him as a profound spiritual teacher. 

Like all great spiritual teachers, Michael Jackson’s message was Love, and he delivered it with such tenderness and kindness. Throughout the rehearsals, as he worked with the musicians and dancers, he spoke in a very gentle voice, often saying, “Do it with the love… with the love… L.O.V.E., Love…” Involved in every aspect of the production, from casting to directing to lighting to sound to design, his brilliance shined through, and the film shows a true genius at work. At one point, Michael Jackson stood in a circle with all the cast and crew, giving them sweet encouragement. He said that they were all family and that it was all for love.

This Is It would likely have been the most spectacular concert experience the world had ever known, complete with fireworks, pyro-technology, 3D films, extraordinary costuming, and much more. Michael Jackson had created a show that would thrill his fans like never before, and within that potent entertainment experience, he intended to deliver a powerful message: This Is It. We all have to help heal this earth. If we don’t make some changes now, within 4 years the environmental devastation will be irreversible.

Michael Jackson planned to make this plea for the environment with his characteristic boldness through a 3D film in which a beautiful young girl is playing with butterflies in the lush green forest. She falls asleep and awakes to the horror of her paradise burning all around her. As a bulldozer approaches, she rushes to save the last green plant, while tears stream down her cheeks. Right at the point where the bulldozer almost crushes her, Michael Jackson was going to jump out of the screen with her, and then an actual bulldozer was going to come on the stage towards them! A man was going to get out of the bulldozer, to show that it is not the machines that are destroying the earth, but rather it is the human beings who run the machines.

As a true spiritual teacher, Michael Jackson intended to show people that the human race is sleeping and we need to WAKE UP! He was going to bring this message live to a million people at 50 sold-out shows. I sobbed as I thought of what a tragedy it is that he died before offering those shows, but then I searched for the positive, and realized that maybe now even more people will get his message through watching the documentary film, This Is It.

In the tradition of his past shows, he planned to end the concerts with the song “Man In The Mirror.”  I don’t remember if I really understood that song’s words when I was a teenager, but now as a 40-year-old yogini, I get them in the context of Mahatma Gandhi’s teachings. Michael Jackson sang, “I’m starting with the man in the mirror. I’m asking him to change his ways. No message could’ve been any clearer. If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and then make that change.” Likewise, Gandhi-ji said we have to BE the change that we wish to see in the world.

When we go within and change ourselves, those changes do ripple out and affect the beings around us. So how do we change ourselves? One of the most effective ways to change ourselves is through regular, daily spiritual practices. Mahatma Gandhi definitely knew the importance of meditation and other spiritual practices. Throughout all of his political activities, he took the time to lead morning and evening prayer services each day. People of all faiths, and even atheists, attended these gatherings. Meditation was a key aspect to Gandhi’s success in the world.

In the Introduction to MK Gandhi’s Book of Prayers, Michael N. Nagler writes: “There is a tendency to think that meditation and action are opposites, that one chooses between one way of life or the other. But as the Bhagavad Gita insists, meditation and selfless action are inseparable. They are opposite sides of the same coin, as complementary as breathing in and breathing out. They not only do not exclude each other, they need each other. By reaching normally untapped inner resources, one can unleash the energy needed to make major changes in one’s self and others, and the wisdom to guide that energy. Meditation enables one to act without the contaminant of selfish attachment. That applies with particular force when the action in question happens to be a revolution. Far from being a distraction, then, the devotional practices of the ashram were the very stuff of revolution. For Gandhi there was no distinction whatever between the social purpose of the community – to raise India and in the process shake off her colonial chains – and the spiritual purpose which has always been the center of ashram life – to raise the consciousness of individuals by shaking off their egocentric chains.” (Book of Prayers, by Mohandas K. Gandhi, Berkeley Hills Books, Berkeley, CA, 1999.)

In order to help the environment thrive on this sacred earth, we need to raise the consciousness of the human species. This begins by each one of us dedicating ourselves to raising our own consciousness. We can speed up the process by committing ourselves to doing daily spiritual practices. In my new book, Radiance Rising: Spiritual Practices for Daily Living, I describe basic spiritual practices that anyone – of any faith – can apply to their own life journey. (This book will be going to the printer very soon and pre-orders are now discounted on this website’s store.) In this easy-to-read pocketbook, I stress the importance of daily spiritual practices, especially cultivating the witness and sitting meditation.

Cultivating the Witness is an essential part of getting to know ourselves. By objectively witnessing all parts of ourselves, we learn to allow and accept everything that we are. We learn to love ourselves unconditionally. Gradually, as we let go of our false coverings, we become who we truly are: spiritual beings who are part of one pure love energy, the “L.O.V.E.” that Michael Jackson so often referred to.

We can practice cultivating the witness during our daily lives and also when we are sitting in meditation. While sitting still, we silently observe our thoughts, our emotions, our bodily sensations, and our breath. When we sit still regularly, the energy needed to change ourselves spontaneously arises. After meditating daily for a while, we can look in the mirror and be grateful for the transformations that are occurring within our beings.

This is it. This is the only moment we have. Regular, daily meditation is more important now than ever. May we each heed the call to look in the mirror and make that change. May all beings everywhere be uplifted by the rising consciousness created through our daily sitting meditation practices.

As more and more people dedicate themselves to daily meditation practice, I bet Michael Jackson will be smiling upon us from some distant star. Thanks for the teachings, MJ. This is it.

May all beings everywhere know Peace and Happiness.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Image "Near the centre" by Eddi 07, CC license.

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On January 29^th, I turned 40, and it was one of my best birthdays ever. I felt such bliss and gratitude all day long. During my birthday weekend, I went snow-shoeing on Mt. Shasta with a dear girlfriend, and she suggested that we speak our intentions out loud while on the mountain. After hiking for a while in that invigorating atmosphere, we came to a place where there were two large rocks above us. It felt like an appropriate time to voice our intentions, but then, instead of speaking, we both just spontaneously closed our eyes and stood there in silence for a few minutes. While silent, I felt tremendous gratitude, and I heard an inner voice say, "Have openness to receive."

As I gazed out at the sun sparkles on the snow, I remembered my teacher’s last words to me. The last time I saw my beloved spiritual teacher, Basil (who passed away in July, 2009), he said, “Receive, receive, receive. You are trying so hard to go up and get the Divine. You need to allow the Divine to come down into you. Receive, receive, receive.”

Next I thought about how funny we human beings are. We are funny in how we think that our regular thinking minds are capable of knowing what we truly need. In this case, my girlfriend and I were all prepared to tell the mountain what we want to manifest in life, but instead, the mountain guided our intuitions to tell us what we truly need!

The intuition is a higher mental faculty than the regular thinking mind. When we relax our thinking minds and repeat the mantra, “I don’t know,” then our intuitive minds can guide us in a fruitful process of intending. This past year I began working with the process of intending as one of my spiritual practices, and after several attempts to tell the universe what I thought I wanted, I have come full circle back to the “I don’t know” mantra.

My journey with the intentions process began in July. The day before my spiritual teacher passed away, a friend told me that it was time for me to start teaching. I said, “I don’t know. It seems like that is what I am supposed to be doing, but I don’t really know what the Universe intends for me.” A few weeks later, I met a gypsy yogi who gave me a little book called, The Intenders Handbook by Tony Burroughs (Dolphin Press, Revised 2007 Edition). My favorite line in the book is: “What you are reaching toward is also reaching out toward you.” After reading that book, I thought I understood how to create a list of intentions that the universe would not be able to refuse!

While I was creating my super great (or so I thought) list of intentions, I met another yogi who is quite skilled at manifesting his intentions in the world. I shared my list with him and he gave me lots of suggestions on how to ensure that my intentions would manifest. He shared a couple of tips from his own experience: 1. “Whenever I need to make money, I go and have as much FUN as I can, and then the money comes. 2. “Whenever I need to make more money, I spend all the money that I have so that more money can come in.”

At that time, I didn’t yet understand something that this friend also told me, which is that manifesting intentions comes from a place of knowingness. I will explain that more, when I get to the point in the story where I really ‘got’ what that means. So, at that point, I thought that I could just ask for anything I wanted, as long as I stated “if it serves the Highest Good” at the end of each intention.

Now here is the embarrassing part, and I’m going to share it, because it is a part of my journey in humanness. One of my intentions was for the universe to send me thirty-thousand dollars by the end of September. I know that probably sounds totally crazy, but keep in mind that I was really flexible with that intention – I told the universe that it could send the money any way it wanted to! I wrote out exactly how I would use the money to create a website, to publish and promote my new book, Radiance Rising: Spiritual Practices for Daily Living, and to get out teaching in the world. I read the intentions out loud several times each day, and I was pretty convinced that somehow the money was going to come to me. Well, as you’ve maybe already guessed, there was no thirty-thousand dollar deposit in my account when the bank closed on September 30^th.

Since I am a fiery, emotional type, I was not initially able to calmly say, “Well, that’s okay. I guess that just wasn’t meant to be.” Instead, I reacted with a full-blown breakdown on the tantrum yoga path. During one of several long, loud, sobbing cries, I said out loud to the universe, “This intention making process doesn’t work for me – I am on the Raja Yoga path, and what works for me is to just surrender everything to the Divine and then trust that everything happens in perfection.”

After I calmed down from the tantrum yoga, I was able to have a rational discussion about it all with a dear yogi friend. He told me that I needed to learn a lesson in trusting the universe to support me. He said sometimes the universe requires us to spend down to our last dollar. I understood what he was saying, but then I also thought about how we have to strike a balance between surrendering and taking action. So, I typed up a sponsorship proposal and sent it out to a few people, and within a few weeks one of them deposited some money into my account. It wasn’t the thirty thousand dollars I had asked for, but it was enough to create the website and publish the next book. And, more importantly, it was enough to let me know that the universe is in support of the work I am doing.

At that point I signed up for The Bridge, a series of free email teachings on the intentions process that you can sign up to receive at www.intenders.org. While receiving those inspiring teachings, I attended a training in Reiki, a gentle hands-on energy healing system. The Reiki teacher also talked about manifesting intentions. He said that the manifestation has to go through the mind, heart, and body. That resonated with what I already believed: even though we create our realities with our thoughts, when we want to consciously manifest intentions, we first have to tune in to our intuitive minds and our hearts to discern what is really correct for us to intend. Once we surrender and deepen into the knowing of what wants to come to us (or to come through us), then we relax into that knowingness, and then the intentions can manifest.

So when we say the “I don’t know” mantra with true humility and surrender, then the intuitive mind and the heart can speak their wisdom to us, and then we suddenly DO know, from a deep place within, what it is that needs to manifest. So by admitting that our regular thinking minds do not know, then our higher minds allow us to truly know. And it is in that state of knowingness that something shifts within us, and that shifted something creates a vibration of openness that allows us to receive what it is that we intend to manifest.

When we regularly practice sitting meditation and we consciously practice cultivating the witness, then we are already well versed in listening to the guidance of our intuitive minds and of our hearts. (To learn how to begin doing spiritual practices yourself, check out my new book, Radiance Rising: Spiritual Practices for Daily Living.) This ability to sense in and listen to our own inner teacher is really what spiritual practices are all about.

Now that I have come full circle back to the “I don’t know” mantra, I am able to continue working with the intentions process as one of my spiritual practices. It didn’t work for me when I was making red-hot demands on the universe with my regular thinking mind, but it works for me now that I ‘get’ that the workable way of making intentions is through surrendering and deepening into the “I don’t know” mantra. In that state of not knowing, a real knowing emerges, and then you DO know what it is that the universe wants to give you (or to give through you).

May you surrender into what wants to arise through your life. May you have the openness to receive, receive, receive.

May all beings everywhere know Peace and Happiness.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Mt. Shasta photo by Teja Shankara.

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These days many people share the perception that time is moving faster. Whether or not time really is moving faster, that perception can cause us to feel disoriented as we witness these times of rapid change. That disconcerted feeling is a state of being ungrounded.

We are electrical beings, so when we are grounded, much like a grounded electrical wire, we function smoothly. However, when we are ungrounded, we tend to feel frayed and put out sparks that alienate us from our wholeness and from our connection with All that is.

The spiritual practice of cultivating the Witness can help us understand what causes us to become ungrounded. (To learn more about the practice of cultivating the Witness, check out my new book, Radiance Rising: Spiritual Practices for Daily Living.) Once we begin to witness and understand what causes us to become ungrounded, then we can sometimes prevent the ungrounded state, but not always. Most of us, even with the increased awareness achieved through witnessing, still get ungrounded on a fairly regular basis.

Since getting ungrounded is such a common experience for most people, I’ve chosen to focus this New Year’s blog entry on suggestions for getting grounded in these times of rapid change.

If you aren’t familiar with the phrase “getting grounded,” some other ways to express the grounded state include: getting centered, finding a sense of calm, returning to a state of inner peace, relaxing into accepting and trusting what IS, and remembering the natural human state of simple joy, happiness and bliss.

Two of the fastest and easiest ways to get grounded are focusing on the breath and connecting with the Earth. No matter where we are or what we are doing, we can easily place our attention on our breathing. Even just a moment or two of witnessing the breath helps to calm our systems. As with sitting meditation practice, you don’t need to try to force your breathing to be relaxed, but rather just allow your breathing to be natural, and watch it. (To learn more about beginning a daily meditation practice, check out my new book, Radiance Rising: Spiritual Practices for Daily Living.)

To get grounded through connecting with the Earth, if at all possible, go outside and physically touch a tree or some stones. If it’s not too cold (and even, sometimes, when it is), I recommend taking off your shoes and socks and allowing your bare feet to touch the ground. If you must keep your shoes on, then you can bend down and touch your hands on the ground. Even just a few minutes of connecting with the Earth in this way has a profound effect on our nervous systems and we quickly feel ourselves calming down.

If you cannot go outside, there are other ways to connect with the earth element, such as holding stones and shells in your hands for a few moments. Certain gemstones are reputed for having a grounding effect. Some of these include garnet, black obsidian, hematite, and smoky quartz. You can also make calming herbal teas such as chamomile and tulsi, or try taking calming flower essence tinctures.

Another way to ground is through eating food, but we have to be cautious with this method and be sure that we choose healthy, nutritious foods. (Please buy organic foods when possible.) Grounding foods include: root vegetables such as beets, yams, turnips, potatoes, and carrots; grains such as quinoa, wild rice, brown rice, and millet; and beans, nuts, seeds, and seaweed snacks. (For healthy, grounding soup recipes check out my cookbook, Love Soups: A Vegetarian Soup Cookbook Inspired by the Soup Devas.)

Water can also help to ground scattered energies. Try soaking your feet in hot salt water for twenty minutes, or taking a long hot shower or a hot bath by candlelight. You can also try grounding scents, such as cedar, sandalwood, and patchouli.

In terms of the chakras (the energy centers within our subtle bodies), the first chakra is the chakra to focus on when we feel ungrounded. The first chakra, called the Muladhara chakra in Sanskrit, is the root chakra, and it is located at the base of the spine. This chakra is associated with the color red and with home and a sense of belonging. The element of this chakra is earth, and the Hindu god who rules this chakra is Lord Ganesha. (To learn more about the chakras and about the Hindu gods and goddesses, check out my new book, Radiance Rising: Spiritual Practices for Daily Living.)

Lord Ganesha, the Hindu elephant-headed god, is known as the Remover of Obstacles, thus he is the one that Hindus appeal to at the beginning of any endeavor. Thus, as we begin the New Year 2010, it is an appropriate time to focus on Shri Ganesha, on our root chakras, and on practices that assist us in getting grounded.

In these times of rapid change, I wish everyone a blissful, grounded 2010!

May all beings everywhere know Peace and Happiness.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Through the Cedars photo by Crinity - CC license

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