It seems like every time we turn around there is someone there to tell us how to go about ‘finding our self’. We’re told we need to ‘look for our self’ as if each of us somehow gets dressed and set for our day without looking into a mirror or moves through life without catching a glimpse of our reflection in a storefront or car window. The point is, we’re always there.
Looking outside for what already exists inside is perhaps the root cause of suffering in today’s world. You are taught from early on that you are not “enough,” however you’re all you’ll ever have. Every woman already has all of her eggs at birth. Every man has about 10 trillion cells and try as he might, he can’t make any more even though they replace themselves every three days! What we are is clear. Human beings start to finish. Whowe are is a different matter.
At our very core we are incredibly sophisticated beings, individual spirits having a physical experience. We have the capacity to thrill or extinguish our senses and subtlety. We have one corpus, six senses, three minds and nine holes. Who we are depends entirely upon what we do with this body and these senses, how we apply our minds and what comes and goes through our nine holes, each act being an expression of who we are.
Life is like a flood expanding and moving at its own rate, impersonally engulfing everything in its path and creating an ever-changing landscape along the way. Life has a life of its own and who we are depends upon our ability to flow with it. Swimming with the movement of life today can be challenging at best. We hear a constant buzz about the pressure of the times, the uncertain future and the underlying hope for change.
If you want to succeed and serve in today’s world, moving from your center point, your axis of being, gives you the very best opportunity. Remaining steady and poised is critical. It is easy to get lost in our mind as it serves our spirit to navigate the experiences of life. Remembering who you truly are - a spiritual being beyond circumstance and commotion - is the path of happiness we all have a right to travel.
You can’t control what the flood of life delivers; however you can move yourself inside that flow. You can connect. Most importantly you are blessed with the ability to decide how you respond to life’s circumstance. Your unique capacity as a human being is to be able to apply your intelligence and determine how you will respond to the ever-changing flow of your life. How you feel is up to you. You have everything you need to feel good about your life. If God could have made a better you, she would have done it.
Here are a few tips for remembering who you are and claiming your birthright of happiness.
Start at the end. You know how you want to feel so go there first. No need to wait for the time to be right or the stars to align or the boss to drop dead, just feel what you want to. You have that unique capacity.
Stop worrying. Good, clear, creative decisions aren’t made from a place of fear. Worrying about what might happen is like paying interest today on money that you might borrow tomorrow.
Stay present. Focus on what is in front of you now. Let the back-story go. You can only affect what is in your orbit at this moment so be effective and remember that sometimes the best action is none at all.
Remind yourself to be grateful. There are so many things in our lives that we really don’t need. Is that item, situation or response responsible for your happiness or are you. Be thankful for what you have. You are pretty great; appreciate it.
Have some fun. Take time to do a completely unnecessary activity that is creative and fun. Doing creative activities reduces stress. When you can activate your imagination with no need for reward, it increases your ability to see the possibilities present in all areas of your life.
Serve others and find your support system. Find a way to serve others and get step out of your own life. You will feel great and be spreading the light of your spirit to others who can use it. Don’t be afraid to ask for help if you need it. It gives others the opportunity to serve you and promotes closeness and communication.
Our job as human beings is to be so full of happiness and joy that it overflows into the life of others. There is nothing and no one who can make you feel happy. Others can help create the opportunity for you to feel joy; however the feeling is up to you. Be active, be passionate, be enlightened and lighten up.
The universe kisses you with breath 16 times a minute and unceasingly beats in your chest. You are special and loved and valued and the orbit of your life would not be the same without you. Remember that. There is nothing more intimate than your relation with your “self.” Smile and be happy; it’s your birthright. Claim it.
Holistic Intimacy ~ Intimacy brings Fulfillment and Joy
2-25-2009
written by Sevak Khalsa
We were all children once and felt the unrestrained thrill of the firsts in our lives. The first day of school, the first best friend, the first time someone really listened to us, that first kiss and the first heartbreak. Something all people have in common is the experience of a first. Remembering these transformative events can give a sharp look into what has helped form us as people and partners. It can evoke a cozy sense of who we are and what we have in our lives. Whether we look at how we respond to life as a solitary unit or look at our relations and the interconnectivity that weaves our lives together, there’s one thing that’s clear –we desire to be close and intimate.
Aristotle said man is a social animal but he got it wrong. Man is really a social being. Mankind has the sophisticated capacity to accomplish amazing things far beyond the realm of animal nature. Our senses are powerful and our reach is amazing. Humankind has collectively moved forward enabling an ever more interconnected state of living. When something happens anywhere in the world 70% of the population can not only be made immediately aware of it, it can view the event and its fallout live. The high tech revolution of yesterday has become today’s way of life.
As social beings we not only want to know what’s happening to others, we want somehow to be involved, to affect the situation. We’ve felt our reach and impact grow to a global scale. So why aren’t we dancing in the streets, doing the happy dance? What is it that’s missing in this expansive interplay of person-to-person, group-to-group, town-to-town, country-to-country and religion-to-religion? With all of this high tech, have we lost touch?
Infants’ rhythm their lives on the heart beat of the mother. That steady rhythmic flow instills a sense of comfort and stability, a sense of cozy certainty that someone beyond us cares and will provide for us. We need intimacy in our lives to feel the wonder of our self, our relationships and our impact on the world. On all levels intimacy can bring caring and kindness, the self kindness in mankind which is hard to hold onto when information and influence are instant and never ending.
Today’s pace no longer prompts us to care for our self, to take the time and personal resource to ensure our happiness and security from the inside out. Rather we are bombarded with sound and images giving us a non-stop message of ‘get set-get ready’ and ‘don’t relax’ because you might miss something and will somehow lose your chance at happiness and love. This simply isn’t true. Those demanding and cautionary images and sound-bites needn’t stop us in our tracks. We always have the power and right to be self determined. You can close your eyes, hear your heartbeat, and feel yourself smiling with the joy of being alive. You can get that cozy connection again, just like the child in a mother’s arms.
When we take a breath and apply our mind, it’s possible to invigorate and empower our internal connections. Tap those feelings of closeness and stability. Real internal intimacy brings back that feeling of newness with a fresh attitude toward life’s possibilities. From here we can appreciate and participate in the relationships that enrich and fill our lives with joy. Every day brings another first, another chance to enjoy life and those in it.
We have the right to be happy every day - every hour - and in fact every moment. Claim it, it’s free. What could be more important? (top of page)
Spiritual Vitality ~ Tools for Spiritual Vitality, some insights
Article for Arizona Networking 4-24-2008
Tools for Spiritual Vitality
By Sevak Singh Khalsa and Sat Kartar Kaur Khalsa
Sevak Singh and Sat Kartar Kaur, of Phoenix, are artists, yogis, teachers and coaches. Each has taught worldwide, and for thirty years studied personally with Yogi Bhajan, Master of Kundalini Yoga. They share some of their insights here, from a lifestyle infused with those teachings.
Breathing
As long as we occupy a physical body, we are gifted with the Breath. We breathe from the first separation from our Natural Mother to the final separation from Mother Nature and this earthly existence. It is an obvious relationship between breath and life, yet many of us move through this life connected more to the mind and emotions than to the power through which this existence is sustained. For centuries, yogis have taught the relation between breath and one’s spiritual path. We teach these ancient breath tools, applied with both the body and mind, to release a surge of vitality from within. Spiritual practice is a process, entirely unique and personal; every path has value and effect. We must, however, move along our path toward inner peace and happiness. Everyone can learn the simple art of using this vital breath to smooth out life’s rough spots and to actually enhance the experience of everyday life. It can make the difference between being on a spiritual path and moving on it.
Movement
Our body is our base camp – the vessel through which we live and feel for our time on the planet. Explorers, looking to new horizons, have always ventured out into the unknown with faith and openness to find the expansiveness in their spirits. Upon arriving at the edge of their known world, a base camp is established - a place to return to and count upon as they travel further toward the summit of their experience. Our body base camp is here 24/7. It is important to take good care of it. Basic joyous movement, guided with breath and mental focus, brings about a self-induced condition of health and well-being. Yoga is a combination of mind-body practices beyond physical exercise. These systems are universal in their application. The human body, in whatever condition, vitalizes with the addition of these sequential practices. Life is granted to be happy and joyous; when using the physical body in concert with mental clarity the spiritual core emerges with Light and Love.
Prayer and Meditation
Prayer is when we project and send a specific message into the Unknown with faith and hope of making the message known. This conscious projective dialog toward the Infinite produces a cascade of effects, mind-body and spiritual. In prayer you talk to God, in meditation God talks to you. The test of meditation as a technique is in whether or not you consciously recognize the effects. The product of applied meditation is the clearing of the subconscious mind, the release of fears and pain, connecting us with the blessing of life. Prayer and meditation are specific tools, experiences, not ideas or concepts. That is, our spiritual life is for living, practicing, and enjoying - not for thinking about. The mind in prayer and meditation is a tool to serve our spirit along its journey. Meditation is a simple process, applied to anyone’s spiritual path, like a light to illumine the way.
The Power of the Gong
Gongs are among the oldest and most important instruments of Southeast Asia; a special tool to commune with the cosmic mysteries of the spiritual heart. For centuries, Tibetan monks and other spiritual teachers have used the gong to aid in meditation. The gong is the only instrument that the mind cannot stand up against. It covers the frequencies of the human chakras in and around the physical body. A gong meditation produces relaxing benefits - similar to meditation, exercise, and breathing - without effort. The vibratory frequencies, emanating through this lineage of gong mastery, flood the system with sound and patterns, effectively washing the subconscious mind and physical body clean of obstructions and imbedded pain. The nervous system rejuvenates, relaxes, and allows a wide spectrum of sensations. There is no score to follow: the gong pulsates what is needed specifically at that time and space for those present. The gong covers the full sound-spectrum, vibrating all the body’s cells, bones and organs. It resonates in the skull, stimulating the glands, instructing the whole being to release and relax into the experience - very transcendental, fully healing. The body essentially becomes one big ear, absorbing the sound, creating a total sense of well being.
The Music of Chant and Mantra
Chant: The one common denominator woven through religious practices and spiritual paths around the planet. It is the primal call to the Divine; a uniquely personal conversation between an individual and a Higher Power; now an ancient music form beginning to “in-chant” our culture.
Mantra is two syllables: “man” - mind, and “tra” - attunes. So it is “to which the mind attunes.” Naad Yoga is the study of this code of syllables - a programming language of primal sounds upon which all spoken and sacred languages are built. Similar to a computer’s coding system to run and function properly, programs of sound code are generated for the human mind/body to respond and readjust itself.
Mantric sound immersion, with consistent intention and practice, can jump start a temperament shift. Chanted mantra has a broad capacity to create and maintain a positive state of mind. Pratyahar - the focus of replacing a lower thought/sound vibration with a higher one - using mantra, can be used to manage depression, enhance intelligence and intuition, and bring forth compassion. Combining specific sounds with the flow of melody and rhythm creates a potent tool of empowerment. (top of page)
