Dissolving

Bradlee and I began our connection through her attending Radiant Child Yoga trainings. She is a very special person, more honest and tuned-in than most people, as you will see by reading her poem.

Phys Ed Standards and How Yoga Meets Them

Public School Physical Education Standards	Elements of Yoga
1.    Balance while bending or stretching	1.    Many yoga poses incorporate balancing and all use stretching
2.    Recognize that skill development requires practice	2.    Practicing over a period of time yields noticeable improvements
3.    Identify various body parts and their location	3.    Instructor discusses and uses graphic demonstration of anatomy
4.    Create movements using different body parts	4.    Yoga utilizes all body parts in its regime
5.    Discuss the connection between food, nutrition and energy	5.    Instructor discusses how food affects our bodies and minds
6.    Develop responsibility for expected behavior on the playground and in the classroom	6.    Yoga involves the development of self-discipline and concentration, as well as respect for others
7.    Stretch basic muscle groups	7.    The practice of yoga affects every muscle group in the body
8.    Cooperate individually, with a partner or in a group	8.    Yoga provide opportunities for group or partner experiences
9.    Understand how the body functions as a whole	9.    A holistic viewpoint of the body is a basic part of yoga
10.Recognize and appreciate own and others feelings	10.Through yoga, a variety of feelings arise, and the instructor emphasizes validating feelings
11.Move each joint in a full range of motion	11.Students learn to move every joint, with and emphasis on safely extending the range of motion
12.Integrate personal meaning through a creative movement experience	12.Yoga practice is as much an introspective meditation as it is a system of physical exercise, so it encourages personal meaning

Excerpt: Radiant Child Yoga Manual level 1-3, ©Shakta Khalsa   www.childrensyoga.com

 

 

Age of Inclusivity

Think of your mind as a triangle.  There’s the two lower corners that represent the polarity of negative and positive perspective. There is a sense of exclusivity in this perspective–it is either one thing or another, and never the two shall meet!

Then there is the top point of the triangle that is the higher mind, or higher Self.  The higher mind is inclusive–it contains all the perspectives.  The two polarities see the world from the viewpoint of THIS or THAT, but the higher mind knows it is all one thing, because all things are contained in this here and now.  Its viewpoint is THIS and THAT. And because it contains all the perspectives, it is not confused, but is co-fused.  In other words, it sees the oneness in the diverse perspectives, and from there, can feel out the path through what the mind considered a conundrum.

Personally, I am finding it very fun to play with these different perspectives and see how there are choices at every moment.   Playing with the higher mind perspective doesn’t mean you don’t focus in on the here and now.  Because of our space (here)-time (now) perspective, it is natural for us to experience one thing at a time.  But there are still a number of ways to experience here and now holistically, no matter what kind of challenges the “here and now” bring to you!  Within the single experience, you have the choice to stop and expand back out in a very open, playful way…including the detail of exclusivity that the here and now focus provides.

An internal focus reminder:

Focus down…then expand out.

Create the vision…then surrender the vision.

Bring it to a specific reality you prefer…let it build…then let the image go surrendering the vision and holding the energy.

By holding the energy of the vision and letting go of the actual vision, you are expanding out into the energy state of what the image vision leads you to..

This or That consciousness doesn’t allow the magic to happen.

This and That consciousness allows you to be on a certain wavelength where magical occurrences are a way of life!

Like this?  Come to Radiant Child Yoga training and Happily Ever Now workshop and get in your happy place!

 

Peace Begets Peace, Hate Begets Hate

 

During one of Darryl Anka’s channeling sessions (Bashar.org), the questioner came with much concern about “protecting” our earth and the future of life on earth.

The answer is something I want to keep close in this transitioning time we are going through–interestingly at this season of Peace and Love. I’m sharing it with you with the thought that this is something you also may want to keep close to your heart and mind.

“The question is not in protection, for the need for protection invites the idea of attack. That is not the solution. You don’t get peace by hating war, you get peace by loving peace. The idea is to act in the manner of the world that you prefer to be in. Not in the protective sense, but in an expression of joy and creativity, coming up with creative ideas to replace the old systems that don’t work for you.

Do the things that give you joy, help in whatever way you are excited to help. Be about staying in that vibration in love and creativity.

The more you give others an opportunity to see in you an example they can follow, then perhaps they will choose. But you also have to be unconditionally allowing about it, so if they choose something dire, you give them your blessing and your compassion to choose whatever they believe is necessary at that time. Because, your concern, while focused in one reality, needs to also take into account that you are an infinite and eternal being and thus in that sense no harm can come to you.

Focus on that vibration and you will see the magical changes in the world that you will shift to. For remember, you never change the world you are in, you shift to another parallel version that is already more representative and reflective of the change you have made within yourself

And if you remain in that vibration of concern, the only reality you will experience is the vibration of concern.

If you know this to be true, act like you know it. There is no fooling creation, my dear; your vibration tells it all.

Be the reality that you prefer, that is all there is to it.”

 

PS:  If you’d like more of this, you’ll love the  Happily Ever Now course!

Lessons to–and from–Cockatiels

Everything applies to everything else. Birds are birds, but they are living beings as we are living beings. And so, feel free to substitute the word “people” for “birds” in the lessons learned in the experience I am about to tell you.

What we label “trauma” is everywhere. When it is seen as trauma, it is so big that it can be overwhelming; we are in a panic, we do not know what to do.

I have found that it is possible to approach trauma from a meditative place where we see it as a positive challenge–something to learn, to work with, to go through and come out stronger, wiser. Now with this perspective, we’ve taken the edge off trauma. We’ve drained off the panic, and we are left with pure in the moment feeling, which is a lot easier to deal with because feelings wave over us, and then they change. It is often our brains that keep the old labels active.

retreat in VA mountains

Today, in the mountains of Virginia where I am at my 20-acre retreat, we are having unseasonably mild weather. I did my Qi Gong practice with the sliding glass door open, listening to the wild birds as they had a party at my birdfeeder on the deck, which is only filled when I come to the retreat (otherwise bears and raccoons crash the party!).

I decided to wheel the cage of my hand-raised cockatiels, Tiki and Kipper, out on the deck so they could get some fresh air, vitamin D, and enjoy seeing the wild birds, something they do quite often in the warmer weather.

Lately they have been nervous when placed outside, and for good reason. They had had some recent trauma at my “regular” house in suburbs. Twice they had a hawk encounter; once on the deck, and once–amazingly enough–on the screened in porch that had open doorways (now being fitted for doors!). Fortunately the hawk had grabbed the bars of the cage, and within a few seconds, I was there to chase it away, screaming at the top of my lungs. It was scary for me as well, to see that huge hawk intending to have my pet birds for lunch!

My birds reacted in the same way as people do when they have experienced a traumatic event; the panic could rise up again when the birds were placed in the big world outside. Large birds circling high up in the sky could reawaken the memory of the hawk. And then, they would begin a repeated “alert” sound, a kind of a high-pitched screech.

It felt that today was a good day to begin retraining. Two factors were present: one–being out in the open could trigger the panic, two–we were in a different environment, one in which they had only had positive experiences when placed outside.

I placed their cage outside the sliding glass door, and continued my Qi Gong practice in the house, within a few feet of the door. Common sense and compassion were the name of the game:

• Compassion: recognizing and respecting that there was trauma, and coming from the heart in my response to them, giving them encouragement.
• Common sense: Using love and logic.  Giving just enough challenge so it is doable, staying close by without hovering.  As Ralph Waldo Emerson, one of my heroes, has said; “Common sense is genius dressed it its working clothes.”

At one point, Tiki, who tends to be more sensitive, began the “alert” call. I looked up and saw some crows circling overhead. I gave them reassurance; the crows left, and they relaxed a bit.

After about twenty minutes, I joined them outside, sitting in a chair for my morning meditation. I chose a silent meditation for centering and grounding; mentally pulsing the Kundalini yoga mantra, Wah-Hay-Gu-Roo, at the brow point in an even cadence while breathing long and deep. I must have been very meditative because the wild birds didn’t mind coming to the feeder that was only five feet from where I was sitting.

My birds started relaxing. They still tipped an eye skyward now and then to check the heavens for any bigger birds circling. But their sounds were relaxed, and they felt comfortable enough to eat and drink. At the end of my meditation, one of them began whistling one of the four songs they know, and I was quick enough to capture it on video.

Appropriately the song was “If You’re Happy and You Know It.”

The Empty Nest and The Phoenix

This drawing, like all drawings, came from a blank piece of paper, very much like how all of our emotions, creativity, and thoughts rise up from a blank, new, empty, fresh unknown place.

I was listening to an audio recording of the consciousness-expanding ideas that come from a teacher I love named Bashar.  My eyes and fingers enjoyed the hand-made paper, so they chose it.

Immersed in an expanded vision of humanity, and of myself, I picked up a piece of the rustic and rust-colored chalk-like pigment that I had bought at the Rembrandt house in Amsterdam.  It was the same stuff the Master himself used, they said; a thought that made magical the act of drawing with it.

As I listened and drew, I felt who I am and where I am going. A birdlike shape appeared, and as the blank paper ripened with detail and color, the bird began to express that expansion, that potential for flight.

At times, thoughts of my son were on my mind and heart.  Last night we were packing boxes of kitchen utensils, pots and pans, and more things he had never needed, but now these things will find a new home as he moves into his next phase of life…his own apartment.

Yet, living together and not living together are not new ideas for our family. We had years of each, alternating in a consistent pattern.  Our son lived with us for eight years, then did not for eight years, then lived with us again now for eight years, and at age twenty-four, he is taking flight.  I did not actually think of the phrase “empty nest” until after the drawing of the bird, but somehow, my hand and my brain had known what to do.

While enjoying the sight of the colors and shapes unfolding on the handmade paper, I thought of how amazing my son is, how deep and unique he is in the way he thinks and feels. And how rare it is that he owns his own property in the city with tenants on the bottom floor, and how he and his best friend, like a brother since age nine, will now make their home on the top two floors of that building.

As the bird drawing became saturated with detail, I realized I wanted him to have it in his next phase of life.  I saw a bird, but when I texted the picture to him, his reply read the phoenix.

The bird-now-phoenix became my inspiration to write.  Such is the way of the flow.

The Phoenix,

that which rises out of the ash of the old,

that state of being that exists forever and always.

A line drawn, a dot of color, and the potential is activated.

It change the blankness into something; we may not know what.

The potential fills in, fleshes out, plumps up, becomes something.  Becomes what it is.

Hold it out away from you and survey it.

Look deeply and closely and love it.

Give it away and be happy for it.

Think of it and be inspired by it.

The Phoenix,

that state of being that exists forever and always as potential,

manifestation,

potential,

manifestation,

never-ending, ever cycling, ever rising out of the ashes,

ever beginning again.

Shakta 10/31/15

 

Perceiving the Beauty in Autism

After taking the Radiant Child Yoga for ADHD and Autism course, I found all that I was taught in the course became real to me as I started tuning into these children. I saw how special these kids are– and how to recognize it and call it forward suddenly hit my heart.

One boy in particular who seemed to be on “the spectrum” caught my attention. As I looked at his face and watched him, sometimes participating and sometimes drifting off, I found myself wondering about him. What had caught his fancy? What was he thinking about? As I looked upon his face, I saw an amazing human being who wasn’t interacting in the ways that would be expected of him but that there was brilliant life within him. I desired to know more about him. and as I watched him felt such a pull towards children like him.

fire in my heart

I saw in him and the ways he glanced about him, some of my own son, Gregory. In those moments, I fell deeper in love with my own son. Through watching this other child, I got it! These children do perceive immense life and beauty.

I want to be a person that takes that into account and learns from them. I want to not presume that it is me that comes to teach or instruct them but that it is me that comes to learn from them. For that teaching, which feels like the heartbeat of the Radiant Child Yoga program, I am immensely grateful.

Mims D.

Radiant Child Family Yoga 200 hour Registered Yoga Teacher

 

Dispelling the Illusion of “The Other”

“The Other” can be defined as anyone who is not me, the unit consciousness that I experience myself as. I believe that for us as conscious human beings to step into the work in the Aquarian Age, there cannot be any separation between us and anyone else. There cannot be any “other”.

How can we experience a state of oneness? A good start is with the Witness. Come out of your mind and witness yourself thinking, planning, imagining, fabricating possible scenarios in the future, colored by the past. Notice how much (or how little) of the time you are actually living right now. Notice your perspective, your judgments and assessments of people and situations, your strongest beliefs that are behind those judgments and stories. Don’t analyze them by thinking “Oh that’s because my mother always told me I wasn’t any good at doing such-and such.” The analysis is another mental trap.

First it is just enough to notice, i.e. observe without judgment, what is the strongest beliefs we have about ourselves and others. Then, little by little, we test the waters of giving up our identity with our mind, our perspective, our beliefs. We do this tentatively at first, then as we see the joy and freedom that ensues from relaxing the ego grip, we are more and more willing to let go and just see what life brings. Possibly we begin trusting life implicitly, knowing there is nothing life can bring that cannot be used for our highest good.

The True Meaning of Human Being

Human Being means hu equals light, man is mind and being is simply what it says: the state of “isness” or beingness. In our highest consciousness, we are truly and simply human beings.

When we realize that every person on this planet has the potential to live as “light-minded beings”, the possibility of even subtle forms of separatism, and superiority are removed. We include instead of exclude. We realize that circumstances and other people have as much to teach us as we have to teach them. We become students of life. Life becomes very exciting knowing that each moment holds a golden opportunity to grow, become, and be who we really are. There are no extraneous moments of life; the key to the infinite is in the precious hands of this instant, this eternal Now.

Eliminating the Other Within

When life brings us something we don’t like it is easy to feel that things are not fair, not right. And we resist either in anger or bear it with sadness and grief/depression. This creates a separation within us, as though there is someone else (God? Life?) who is doing something to us.   We become separate even from ourselves as we play out a part in our own created play. If there truly is no “other” then everything comes to us as an opportunity to grow more fully into ourselves. What happens if instead of believing there’s a God outside of us who has determined the events in our lives, we trust that it was our own life wisdom that brought these situations so we can become more fully who we are? Can we then learn from our own life situations without guilt, blame, but with responsibility–the ability to respond?

Let’s just play with this for a minute: no God outside us. We create our life to be as we want it to be by our beliefs, which translate into vibratory energy, the energy of creation. We are consciously aware of ourselves as “light-mind beings” beaming and radiating outward and drawing life circumstances toward us based on our beliefs.   If our beliefs are unconscious, it gets tricky. Then it seems like we have nothing to do with the way things go in our lives, and things just happen to us.

When we pray, what are we doing? Directing our mental beam toward an intention, with 100% trust that it is manifesting at the very moment we project it? How can it not then? If we are begging a God who is outside of us to help us without the understanding that we are the God we are beseeching, what can manifest from that kind of prayer? What vibratory energy does that prayer contain?

These are questions we can ask ourselves. It only matters what we do at each moment with our vibration, because that is how we affect our world, our life. Each future and past are created and recreated by what we do in the present.

Dispelling the illusion of God outside–what does that mean? Inside and outside are an illusion actually. We are consciousness and the body exists as a form within the formless. The consciousness is infinite; it is God.

Remember the line “What you see is what you get?” It can also be explained as “what your vibratory frequency is attuned to is the reality you will experience.”

Do you want to dispel the illusion of separation between you and everyone else, between you and the things that seem to just happen to you that create pain, between you and your perception of God? It is possible to awaken from this illusory dream, or rather it is inevitable, because God, or All That Is, is our natural state of being, and eventually every soul will experience this and know.

Nanak’s Main Message

Let’s get down to the primal level. What was the primary message of Guru Nanak, the original teacher of the Sikh Path?

Ek Ong Kar: Creator/Creation are One. In energy language this translates as the energy of manifestation and the energy of that which manifests are the same one thing. The experience of this knowing brings about—

Sat Nam: The Name, or the vibratory frequency of Truth or alignment with All That Is. The experience of this frequency brings about—

Siri Wahe Guru: The experience of this energy is the highest (Siri) expression of bliss (Wahe) that is the light (ru) that dispels all darkness (gu).

So Guru is that which takes you into the light, or vibratory frequency of merger with All That Is. And dispels the darkness, which is a misunderstanding of the true nature of being, or can be described as the belief in the illusion of separation.

Being present means realizing the truth of each moment, without any fear clinging from the past, nor any projections of hopes into the future. Understanding Guru Nanak’s message in this present moment of enlightened energy brings us to the realization that what he was saying is all there is to say, and what he experienced in the moment that those words came forth is forever here for us all to experience…moment by moment and breath by breath.

Fly Like A Dragonfly!!

Yoga is about balance in our bodies and our lives. The yin and yang of yoga is the softness, the receptivity coupled with the focus and the projective energy

In my role as founder and director of Radiant Child Yoga, I’ve observed hundreds of adult students teach children’s yoga. For the most part, their creations contain a plethora of sweet and relaxing images: butterfly yoga, swaying trees, stretching to greet the sun. In the back of my mind a question would arise: What about children who relate to stronger imagery? What would the boys think of this? Would they even do it?”

One day, my 7-year old godson said to me, “I don’t want to be a butterfly. I want to be a dragonfly!” With that he flew around the room, buzzing intensely. I got it. He was telling me something about balance. Another time, he was playing with his favorite toy and said, “Look,” as he held up a contorted action figure, “He’s doing Bow Pose!” Immediately my brain lit up and the two of us began the inspired planning of a set of Yoga Warrior cards, a yoga game in which Transformers demonstrate poses with names that any young warrior can relate to: Frozen Iron (front platform), Crouching Tiger (Squats), Skyscraper (Tree) and Starship (Extended Lotus). All poses can be done with Dragon Breath (strong breathing through mouth or nose).

In sharing yoga with children, it’s always good to let their bodies show you what they need—maybe it’s a bit of running around to settle the nervous system in order to focus. Perhaps they need to make booming and crashing noises. Doing Dragon Breath (strong audible breath through the nose or mouth) may help them to engage with the yoga.

Rainbow Dragon game

A tip:  Contrast the soft, slow “peace and love” yoga with the focused warrior spirit; this works for both boys and girls. Incorporate Archer, Warrior, Down Dog to Up Dog, Front and Back Platform, Bow and Wheel pose. Life calls for both yin and yang. When you balance the yoga scales, you let the fun begin!

How do You Live in Your High Heart?

In response to the question above, Karen Dabrosca, a graduate from our Radiant Child Family Yoga 200 hour teacher training, and a long-time health and well-being high school teacher, responded eloquently to the question I presented.  So with her permission, here is her response:

“How do you live in your high heart, not your emotional heart?”

I place I high priority on living a lifestyle that keeps me centered & grounded . We are all human and get caught up in the whirlwind and responsibilities of living on this fast paced planet. However, certain daily practices are essential to living a healthy, vibrant life. They are: yoga, meditation, being in nature, creativity, being in community with likeminded folks and of course eating good, “real” food. When the body is supported in these ways, the heart has a stable home.

These are my daily practices. This is living in my “high heart”.

On the other hand, issues & events of being human, which we all have, are our lessons along the path.   They help us learn and grow. They are teaching tools on the bigger journey. Without the stable foundation created by the above practices, we attach and gravitate to each event as it unfolds. We react as if everything is a crisis. Chaos. This, to me, is living in the “emotional heart”. Our reactivity and emotions drive our behavior which blows like branches in the wind; changing directions, soft, strong until finally a big enough breeze causes the branch to snap.

A physical touchstone taught to me by a local yoga teacher is this:   right middle finger touches the center of the chest, a reminder to live in the “high heart”.

Which “heart” do you choose?