Featured Mindful Meditation

Creating Our Own Sacred Space

 Create your own sacred space. (it's the gift that keeps on giving) The keys to our inner peace rests within the sacred spaces that we c...

Thursday

Guided Grounding Meditation


Guided Grounding Meditation

Find a comfortable space to sit in for at least 15 minutes. 
Allow your eyes to resonate within the peaceful tone of this picture.
Observe everything in it.
Look at her eyes, the eyes of the spiritual mother, the Great Mother.
Rest your eyes at the top of her forehead.
Envision yourself standing at the top of the white line.
Now walk down the white line and stand in the center of her chin. 
Leap from her chin into the center of the large bubble above her head.
You have entered the bubble of past memories. 
Stand in your past. Think about how you feel.
Run and leap into the second bubble, the bubble of present life.
Stand in the present now. Think about how you feel in this current paradigm.
Take the quick jump into the bubble of future manifestation.
Stand in your future. What does it look like? How do you feel? Are you content or anxious?
Suddenly a beautiful Sankofa Bird with big, beautiful wings comes and carries you off into the birth of your next life. You are a new person/being. What is the first thing you see? 
(I saw yellow flowers the first time, in a window!)
Open your eyes and journal your experience. Just write about your experience, create a poem or get super creative and paint/draw it.

Peace Be With You.

Sunday

Meditate on Peace

Emotions seem to make us nuts, dont they? All over the friggin place...from happenstance to happenstance, it seems that we can go from 0 to 10 in the blink of an eye depending on the issue (and what sign you are astrologically;-)). The crazy thing is that with all of this emotion comes a myriad of physical responses. Emotions are forms of energy that run throughout our bodies like electrical currents. Each emotion has a frequency of its own and this is where things get real. The most common (and DEADLY) emotions such as Anger and fear resonate at the same frequency as the color red. The root Chakra (genitalia) also resonates at this frequency. Love, however, resonates at the same frequency as ultra-violet light.  It is the highest visible frequency; the third eye Chakra spins at this high frequency as well.
We must carefully watch these emotionally charged electrical currents because they travel along our neural pathways and trigger the release of chemical proteins called neuropeptides (Np). Each Np controls different physiological functions within our body. From Oxytocin & Adrenalin...to various hormones & endorphines, everything we think and feel has the potential to physically help or harm us. For example, joy, orgasms, happiness and laughter cause the release of endorphins, or powerful opiates that make us feel good. Such feelings are extremely helpful because they help boost our immune system, relax muscles, elevate our mood and decrease pain.
Fear, anxiety and stress, on the other hand, release adrenalin, cortisol & norepinephrine. These Nps cause the heart to race, blood vessels to dilate and muscle to tighten. When we feel these kinds of emotions, it is important to find the time to meditate and sort through them. We must positively channel these powerful electrical currents and turn the negative energy into positive energy. Focus on your energy.

 

The Beginner's Mind Meditation
(Clear Your Canvas)
"By meditation upon light and upon radiance, 
knowledge of the spirit can be reached 
and peace can be achieved."
Patanjali, 300B.C.

  • Change into loose,comfy clothing so that your sitting is not restricted in any way
  • Find a quiet place where you will not be disturbed
  • Sit comfy on the ground, with your legs outstretched or crossed
  • Close your eyes and concentrate on relaxing each part of your body
  • Begin at the tips of your toes and envision the blood flowing throughout your body to the top of  your head, the Crown Chakra (Sanskrit) or your Ori (Yoruba).
  • Once you are focused on your blood flow, tune in to your breathing pattern.
  • Breathe in through your nose (if possible) and out through your mouth, making an "Ohhh"or "Ahhh"sound as you exhale.
  • Once your breathing is regulated, channel your attention towards your thoughts and feelings. Let them roam free for a while in your mind, 1 to 2 minutes.
  • Next, capture your thoughts and move them to the outer space of your mind. This is called "Clear Your Canvas" meditation. 
  • Expeditiously push all thoughts that race for the center of your mind to the outer edges, far left/far right,etc.
  • Try to focus on your clear canvas, that is, the pure space in the center of your mind, entertaining no thoughts that try to invade that space.
  • Keeping calm and still, continue this exercise for 2 to 5 minutes. 
  • Once you reach your calm space, begin to envision a circle. Look through the circle and around the circle. Write the words,"I AM PEACE" inside of the circle. Focus and meditate on these words for as long as you feel led to. If the words try to fade or disappear, re-write them. Let nothing enter into your mind accept for this mantra.
  • When you are done, give thanks to God, the Universe and the Ancestors and close out/seal your prayers with "Amen," "So shall it be,"  "Ase," or the equivalent.
Peace be unto you.

Friday

What Kind of Seed Are You?




A Ready Mind is Fruitful Soil

Follow me.
The peaceful prophet Jesus...he walked out of the home where He was residing and sat by the sea. People came searching from near and far; great multitudes were gathered together at His feet. There were so many people in fact, that the Prophet Jesus got into a boat and sat down while the multitudes stood and waited graciously on the shore. Imagine...knowing all that He knows...what his thoughts might have been as He observed the individual faces in the crowd. Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow.  And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.Then the Prophet Jesus responded with a loud voice saying, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
What Wisdom lies in this parable...one of my favorite in regards to understanding my spirituality. "What kind of seed am I?" I remember asking myself this at the beginning of my current journey which began some 25 years ago. Smile...even now I ask myself at least once a week. This self inquiry is more rhetorical than anything; asking myself questions periodically is a "checks & balance" ritual for me. It is more a need to remain in touch with myself  than a search for a literal answer more times than not. Within a misguided, gravely distracted society, this ritual forces me to constantly assess my relationship with my source, and essentially, my self.
WHAT KIND OF SEED AM I? (Meditate on this using the exercise from February 19th).
The Seed represents my direct relationship with God. Scripture explains this parable as follows:
"When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful, But he who received seed on the fertile ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundred fold, some sixty, some thirty.
WHAT KIND OF SEED ARE YOU?
Think back over your life and write your thoughts in your journal

When you encounter lessons and/or spiritual wisdom, do you HEAR? We must be willing and open to receive universal instruction in a manner that parallels the way that good soil receives seed (spirituality/Wisdom/Scripture). This is the key to producing fruit or manifestation. Even still, it is not enough to just hear; the work does not stop there. Many humans deceive themselves, thinking that hearing is all that they have to do. They say, "I go to Church so I am spiritual" or "I heard it on television so I understand." We must drink deeply from our spiritual cup...those things we cannot see, but hope for and aspire to. We must work daily to apply the wisdom we acquire to every aspect of our lives, keeping in mind what kind of seed we actually are. Knowing our own natural proclivities is very important. God intends for those called to be Master Teachers to step up and walk in our Destiny. James, the stepbrother to Prophet Jesus, in chapter 3:1 says that not many of us should become teachers because those of us who teach will be judged more strictly. But what if you ARE a Master Teacher? How will you ever know if you don't sit still long enough to know who you are? Now meditate on that.

Peace.

Tuesday

Afterthought on the Afterlife

So many of us ponder what happens after we part this earthly realm. Philosophers have been thinking on this since the earliest civilizations. I often wonder myself...although I must admit that I have my own tried and true belief system well intact. God and His Universe...the heavens and the earth...The Orisa as well as the Ancestors...all things work in tandem to provide us experiences that reveal the keys to not only ourselves, but to the great mysteries of life. God is perfect, and created us in His perfect image. If these things are true then we must regard the various cultures of the world as a part of such beautiful perfection...handcrafted by God Himself. Therefore, we should not judge or regard another's belief system in a derogatory manner when we do not share the same school of thought. Instead, we should say, "That is where that person's experiences has lead them to." That is not to say that the person doesn't need some assistance or guidance along their path. It is simply important to remember that our thoughts and words carry life and/or death. Our words and thoughts are either life-producing or death-inducing. Choose life.
Cultural overlap on earth allows tradition and ritual practices to blend and feed into one another. If we spent more time honoring the "process," that is, the individual journey. oh what beautiful revelations we would encounter! So much to be learned and appreciated. As a Spiritualist and Teacher, I have gained priceless wisdom along my path in quiet reverance of the universal process of seeking and finding. I am particularly interested in the things that happen the moment we leave this earthly realm. Some of the most popular transitional destinations I have come across in my studies are as follows:

  • Paradise: The place that Jesus ascended to following his death. A perfect waiting place. 
  • Purgatory: The realm of lost souls and departed spirits
  • Heaven: Your soul immediately returns to God. A timeless state. 
  • Transcendence: Your soul is returned to the Great Mind state, rejoining the sea of consciousness from which it came.
  • Awakening: Your soul arrives in pure light. Having shed the physical body, we see truth with acute clarity for the first time.
  • Transmigration (Also referred by some as purgatory): The soul is caught up in the cycles of rebirth. Depending on your Karma, your soul returns to earth in a better or worse. higher or lower form.
The Akasha itself, or the source of consciousness and creativity, is the highest state of the soul's journey. It is translated into one of the aforementioned categories of consciousness respectively, depending on who you ask and/or what part of the earth you're in. The common assumption is that no one really knows what happens after we die...but I do not believe this, per se. I believe this knowledge is attainable...I personally believe that I have attained this wisdom indeed. The teachings of Prophet Jesus say that if we seek, we will find. We receive not because we do not ask, and when we do, we ask amiss. Truly, the answers to the questions we wonder everyday are right beneath our nose. We just fail to look hard enough,