A Full Moon Ritual

(from Sheila Edwards)

This Full Moon Ritual will help us maintain a sense of our Self while navigating the ups and downs of a relationship.
It will aid us in developing a firm center from which to interact with our partner during the most difficult times – when it feels like a relationship is falling apart, you will be able to know who you are and what you want.

Ask the Universe to help you maintain emotional self-reliance within your relationships.

SIMPLE SOLUTION: Best if performed on the day/night of the full moon, or the day/night before or after; but you can do it any time you need a reminder of your ancient nature (and men can do it, too).

FULL MOON RITUAL
If you like, you can prepare for this ritual by taking a special candlelit bath and dressing in clothing that feel especially beautiful to you. Please have a mirror in front of you.

1. Find a time when you will not be disturbed. Turn out the lights where you are. Notice the light entering the room from the moon, if it is visible. Take a moment to remember a time when the full moon made night travel easier, so people gathered on this night to celebrate community and to honor the great healing Mystery.

2. Look at the mirror. Can you see your self? Can you see your face?
Allow yourself to pause in your busy life as you gaze. Take a moment to listen to the sounds where you are. What do you hear? Now bring your conscious attention down from the place behind your eyes, down through your throat, down into your heart. Let your attention pause there. As you allow yourself to become aware of your heart, keep looking in the mirror. Allow your gaze to soften and become more loving. See yourself with the eyes of love. Ask yourself, “Who am I?”

3. Now bring your attention down from your heart to your solar plexus, your will center. See yourself with the eyes of courage and will. Ask yourself, “Who am I?”

4. Now bring your attention down into your belly, the place of gut-knowing. See yourself with the ancient eyes of the deep self. Ask yourself, “Who am I?”

5. Give some time to imagining the self you might have been in another time, in the mists of time, in the beginnings of time. Imagine the beauty and majesty of the full moon reflected in your eyes. See yourself with the eyes of the glorious, magical Full Moon. Ask yourself, “Who am I?”

6. Now gently bring your awareness back up through your solar plexus, back through your heart, back through your throat, back into the place behind your eyes. See yourself with new eyes. Say to yourself, “I am I”.

Bring yourself gently back into ordinary reality with gratitude for what you have seen and learned.

Depression & Anxiety

One of the challenges of the positive mind – the 3rd energy body – is to take on everyone’s “stuff” and have a spongy aura. When anyone I teach says they are easily influenced or affected by other people’s negativity, I have them do Breath of Fire with Triangle Pose. I also recommend them to get in water to support the nervous system and to feel “light.” Hope that helps. I’m sure there are others out there with more suggestions.

Guru Jiwan Kaur

A Memorable Piece

A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds, “What does love mean?”
_____

“When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore.
So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That’s love.”

Rebecca- age 8
_____
“When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.”

Billy – age 4
_____
“Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.”

Karl – age 5
_____

“Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.”

Chrissy – age 6
_____

“Love is what makes you smile when you’re tired.”

Terri – age 4
_____

“Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK.”

> Danny – age 7
_____

“Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that.”

Emily – age 8
_____

“Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.”

Bobby – age 7
_____

“If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate.”

Nikka – age 6
_____

“Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday.”

Noelle – age 7
_____

“Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.”

Tommy – age 6
_____

“During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn’t scared anymore.”

Cindy – age 8
_____

“My mommy loves me more than anybody. You don’t see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night.”

Clare – age 6
_____

“Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.”

Elaine-age 5
_____
“Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford.”

Chris – age 7
_____

“Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.”

Mary Ann – age 4
_____

“I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.”

Lauren – age 4
_____

“You really shouldn’t say ‘I love you’ unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.”

Jessica – age 8

Homemade Almond Milk

How to make your own fresh, raw almond milk. It’s easy, doesn’t take long to prepare and tastes much better than processed almond milk that you get from the store!
(Written by zLighthouse 9/25/07)

So to make almond milk, you first soak one cup of almonds in a bowl of purified water anywhere from 2 to 24 hours. This softens the digestive inhibiters that help almonds in nature but can make nuts a little bit challenging for our bodies to digest.

After that, put the following in your blender:
1 cup of raw almonds
4 cups of purified water
A smidgen of sea salt
¼ cup of agave nectar or raw honey
Blend thoroughly.

Then to remove the sediment, pour the milk through a a few layers of cheesecloth, squeezing it into a bowl. If you don’t have cheesecloth, you can always put a couple of coffee filters in a fine strainer over a bowl and let it drain that way. It works just as well! Rinse your blender and then pour the smooth version back into it or into a pitcher. Store in the refrigerator.

Because it’s unprocessed, you’ll need to use it within a day or two, which shouldn’t be a problem because it’s so good!

It’s a great beverage on it’s own, warm or cold. You can also use it in tea, put it on cereal or freeze it into ice cubes for smoothies. Ice cubes are what give smoothies that frosty texture. Or, you can use the milk as a smoothie base. It’s just endless!

Note: Unfortunately as of 9/1/07, the FDA now requires that all raw almonds be pasteurized. Though they still allow the manufacturers to call them raw, because they’re steam-pasteurized which is at a slightly lower temperature than regular pasteurization. But, at least by making your own, it’s not processed.

The Corral Visualization

Practice forgivness, with your self and others … it is the way to true freedom.
The following is a visualization meditation extracted from the book Healing With The Angels, by Doreen Virtue

Get into a comfortable position and relax by taking several slow, deep breaths, and close your eyes.

Now, imagine that you are standing in a country field. There is a road is leading to you – one that brings all your material, emotional, and spiritual supplies. In the distance you can see the road passes through a corral to get to you. This corral has two gates: one facing you, and one facing the road on opposite side.
If you notice both gates open, supplies readily flow to you, and your gifts to the world flow from you.
Whenever we hold unforgiveness toward someone, we imprison theat person in our minds where we mentally flog them with our pronouncements of guilt and blame. The image of the person we resent is “corralled” in our consciousness, and the gates to the corral slam shut, like prison doors. You necessarily go into the corral along the with person you’ve judged in order to monitor their imprisonment. This way, both gates are shut, and your locked corral blocks your flow and supply.
Look inside your corral right now, and see who’s there. See the high price you pay for corralling these people.
If you are ready to forgive, imagine the gates of your corral automatically opening. Visualize whoever is in the corral walking out, free, happy, and forgiven. Wish them well. If this seems difficult, try forgiving the person instead of their deeds. As you forgive, feel the release, the relief, and the renewed energy as your resentment lifts.
Check to make sure that you’re not in the corral alone out of an ego judgment you hold against yourself.

Recheck your corral often, especially when you feel tired, ill, or afraid. You’ll find that these are the times when you have the most people (including yourself) locked into your corral. Once you open the gates and clear the corral, your emotions and energy level will improve.

Art of Belly Dance

A woman’s body is sensual, her curves are smooth, and in dance she is seductive and mesmerizing. Tap into your Goddess nature and dance for your Goddess!

Belly dance is a Western name for an Arabic style of dance developed in the Middle East. In Europe, it is sometimes called oriental dance. Similarly, In Turkish it is referred to as oryantal dans? (“Dance of the East”). Some American devotees refer to it simply as “Middle Eastern Dance”. And in Hong Kong, it is called the “Shimpoli Carmi”. [dubious – discuss] (“The sun dance”)
In the Arabic language it is known as raqs sharqi ??? ???? (“eastern dance”) or sometimes raqs baladi ??? ???? (“national” or “folk” dance). The term “raqs sharqi” may have originated in Egypt

Wisdom In Small Pills

There are times when things fail to manifest no matter how hard we try. We grow impatient and push harder and harder only to finally realize that the gates of destiny have been temporarily closed.

At those times, the wise man retreats and surrenders. He knows all his power is of no use when the cosmic architect is working on the divine vision. His faith remains intact but he wastes no energy. And when the architect retires to his chambers, he acts at once for he is always alert, even when he is resting.

Ananda Miami
“Stress solutions for the Corporate World”
www.anandamiami.com