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While you?re practicing you have to find a way to stabilize your mind. I cannot emphasize mindfulness enough. It is what will result in a stabilized mind. One of the best things that you can do, no matter what experience you?re having ? whether you?re getting excited about something new that you bought, some new project that you?re doing, some new idea that you?ve been presented with, some new relationship that you have, or depressed about the loss of any of these things, whether you?re having a high or low experience ? ask yourself in the midst of that circumstance, ?Who is the taster here??
People often wonder why about keeping the eyes open during practice, saying that it's just too distracting or that it's easier to become peaceful with the eyes closed. Duly noted! And if the point of meditation was to minimize distraction and feel peaceful, this would be a problem. But the idea (of this practice, in any case) is neither. Instead, it is to find a sense of steadiness in the midst of all distractions and to cultivate acceptance of any and all mind states: including peacefulness, but also extending to irritation, ecstasy, sadness, dullness, silliness, sharpness, and so on. If we try to cut out all mind states but one, we miss the glorious wakeful brilliance of things as they are, of ourselves. So when you practice, keep your eyes open and the gaze soft. Feel what it feels like to open to your world, to sit with it all, and to relax. This is an extremely dignified thing to do.
Recently I was approached by a student of psychiatric anthropology and asked about shamanic healing. The student was comparing three different forms of healing: two traditional and Core Shamanism which is my own practice. It was particularly interesting to be asked about healing at that time, because the issue of physical healing in shamanism is something I have wrestled with a lot . How can physical reality be altered? What part does Consciousness play in any form of healing through Spirit?
On Friday, March 11, Japan was rocked by an earthquake. People were displaced, a nuclear reactor was in trouble, and the world watched as a tsunami flooded Japan, threatened the islands of the Pacific, and ultimately hit the western coasts of North and South America. Chris Rowan pointed out that ?Very little of the devastation resulting from this earthquake was from the initial shaking. This is partly because of Japan's stringent building codes. But mainly because any damage from the seismic waves that sent skyscrapers in Tokyo swaying was dwarfed by the impact of the 10 metre tsunami that hit the Japanese coast less than an hour later."Most of the reporting (both good and bad) that has been done on the earthquake, the tsunami, and the resulting fallout from both has focused on their effects on humans. But humans are just one species affected by these sorts of disasters. I wondered: what happens to animals when faced with such a massive tsunami?
Peruvian shaman and mystic Don Americo Yabar reflecting about our involvement in 'social mirrors'...and the possibility of stepping through the 'infinite mirror of the cosmos'. Information on how you can join us on one of these journeys is on our website.
"For me, in front of the spirit of nature, there is only one age. That is life. When we start playing with all the cards of the universe, we are going to notice that there are children who are 3,000 years of age, and old men who are still children. We are all connected to other lives through thousands of years of existence in the cosmos. "
"Reality is not only one. There are many realities. The reality that we live, in society, is the reality that has been described to us since we were little babies. But all of a sudden we discover that there are many, many other realities. But, most of all, that there is another reality that is a non-ordinary reality connected to the mystery of existence. For example, the night, what is the night? Simply the void of space? No! Her name is 'Tuta' and she is the mother of all the stars. All the seeds of the cosmos are inside the night. Or the moon. We have been told that the moon is a satellite.
We all lead very busy lives, always on the go whether it be to work, to school, socializing, having visitors over to your house, shopping and even talking on the phone just to name a few. In all that we do in our daily lives we are constantly in contact with other people, different environments and spaces.
Wherever people have been they will leave negative energy behind as well as positive energy but it is the negative energies that affect us greatly. A person may be having a bad day and not feeling very positive, they may be angry, they may have had an argument, feel unwell and so forth. Over time these negative energies will accumulate within your home, work place and also within your own self, causing you to feel quite unbalanced and stagnant.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6079502
Friendships are vital to us. Research shows that people with good friendships have better immune systems and live longer and that having friends is more important to our happiness than having money.
A few years ago, scientists were stunned to discover that the urge to bond with others is as much a part of our response to stress as the famous fight or flight syndrome that for years was said to be our evolutionary reaction to being threatened. Much of the research that led to that conclusion was done on men, but when scientists made a special study of women they discovered that amongst the chemical cocktails released when we are stressed, women also release the ?cuddle hormone? oxytocin, meaning that rather than just attacking or running away, women are chemically programmed to bond when the going gets tough.
A tambourine is the most significant Shaman's instrument. Usually it had the oval form and consisted of the wooden rim, covered with a leather. From the internal part the vertical gripe was placed, by which Shaman held the tambourine. From the internal part there were also horizontal rods, on which the various metal pendants were fastened. It was usually for some nations to put the pictures ? the Shaman idea of the world - on the external part of the cover.
This is my second interview with Daniel Pinchbeck, influential author of 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl and Breaking Open The Head, which detailed his exploration of shamanic initiation rituals around the world.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/2012-author-sounds-off-on-recent-disaster...
Over the last few decades many Buddhists and quite a few neuroscientists have examined Buddhism and neuroscience, with both groups reporting overlap. I?m sorry to say I have been privately dismissive. One hears this sort of thing all the time, from any religion, and I was sure in this case it would break down upon closer scrutiny. When a scientific discovery seems to support any religious teaching, you can expect members of that religion to become strict empiricists, telling themselves and the world that their belief is grounded in reality. They are always less happy to accept scientific data they feel contradicts their preconceived beliefs. No surprise here; no human likes to be wrong.
Concerned about the high number of people over 65 living in care who are depressed, the University of California did a recent study to find out what happened if people in that group took regular exercise based on the Chinese martial art of Tai Chi, most commonly recognised for its slow, flowing movements.
The study showed that just doing a movement class once a week not only boosted participants? mood, but they also had more energy, felt more positive about life and their memories improved.
Campbell once spoke about the famous image astronauts took of the Earth rising over the moon?s horizon that first appeared during the early 1970s. The space age, he felt, had brought us an awareness that is still slowly sinking in: The world as we know it is coming to an end.
?Our world as the center of the universe, the world divided from the heavens, the world bound by horizons in which God?s love is reserved for members of the in group: That is the world that is passing away,? said Campbell. ?Apocalypse is not about a fiery Armageddon and salvation of a chosen few, but about the fact that our ignorance and our complacency are coming to an end.?
Are you interested in developing your ability to astral travel? Yes, it is an ability we all can develop. It raises our consciousness and offers us increased awareness of the etheric plane or spiritual realm.
According to OBE expert William Buhlman, the benefits of out-of-body experiences are a reality that each of us can experience. ?All we need is an open mind and the proper guidance to access our unlimited personal potential,? he says.
Rule #1: It Will Never Be (Today?s Date) Ever Again
Looking back and saying, ?I should have done ?? or ?I wish I had the guts to say ?? will haunt you forever.
Avoid this by using the ?It will never be (today?s date) ever again? rule.
A great example of this rule happened while I was traveling through Spain. During the flight, I befriended a group of Canadian travelers who I was going to go out with that evening.
Family physicians often have to make a point of displaying empathy to each of their patients while also striving to meet the demands of everyday practice. But, according to a recent study by family physicians and others, when a physician is highly empathetic, his or her patients' clinical outcomes are likely to improve.
"Empathy is one of the most powerful tools that physicians have at their disposal," said Richard Wender, M.D., professor and chair of the department of family and community medicine at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia and president of the Association of Departments of Family Medicine.
Scattered throughout the literature on tobacco use in South America are references to shamanic practices that betray a keen awareness, on the part of the Indian, of the organoleptic effect of nicotine on the human body. Psycho-physiological symptoms of nicotine action together with certain botanical characteristics of the plant itself have served to confirm and legitimize a number of core tenets of a drug-free shamanic ideology, to which ancient Americans from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego came to adhere.
It can be difficult to find the willpower to heal ourselves in such a poisoned world. Some use meditation, prayer, exercise, diet or friends to seek clarity amidst the storm of daily life. Indeed, many have proven to find great success and happiness in the active pursuit for a better world using these methods. And each new accomplishment moves them closer to a holistic understanding of the truth by passionately living the solution.
It seems that many have the intellectual knowledge of why we must make personal changes to effect the greater good yet what is lacking is the profound understanding that can only come from direct experience.
Ayahuasca is now being used by many for such an experience. Said to be a "great teacher" ayahuasca is a psychotropic plant brew that has been used by South American shaman for thousands of years to better "see" the world.
For a sorcerer to perceive two places at once allows the assemblage point to reach the place of silent knowledge. Don?t confuse the two reference points as dualities such as in and out, black and white, up and down. I?m talking about connecting with points of reference that hold significant intent, points where, perhaps, you had at one time connected with intent. And to connect again with a previous intent or dream intent or projected intent or even another?s intent in order to deepen, loop it, and enter a third point of reference catapulting you into a completely new position of the assemblage point.
Flip your focus. When we?re doing the mental comparison thing, we?re focusing on what they have that we think we don?t have.
Find something that you do have?a trait, a possession, a relationship, a value?that you can feel good about. This has nothing to do with the other person. This is about not comparing so there?s no need to try to ?one up? them in your mind.
