Keep the Light Glowing in your Life
A night of lights in India, as the whole country lit up last night with candles, fires and chanting, increasing the power of light to cleanse the virus. A beautiful sight indeed!
Why not participate in this beautiful ceremony and continue to do so every night? Take a candle or many candles and light up your room, your space, your house. Let it light up your heart and glow.
Never leave a burning candle unattended.
Never burn a candle on or near anything that might catch fire.
Keep candles out of the reach of children and pets.
Sit in meditation, using a candle for Dharana, one point focus, chant a beautiful mantra or prayer or an affirmation for healing. Allow yourself to be fully absorbed by the power of light.
A mantra to sing can be as simple and as powerful as “Aum” let it vibrate. Or a beautiful mantra for peace such as the Saanti Mantra, chanted in schools, ceremonies throughout India, to bring peace.
“Om asato ma sad gamaya
Tamasa ma iyortir gamaya
Mrtyor ma amratam gamaya
Saanti, Saanti, Saanti”
Keep me not in the world of unreality unmorality but to the world of immortality & self realization.
Saanti Mantra
Lets take this moment, days, weeks and maybe even months to replenish ourselves emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually. To not go down the road of despair and sadness.
Following the example of nature. Since the lock down nature is recuperating. Unusual sightings around the world have been observed, where dolphins are coming closer, deers, sparrows, peacocks, whales. Beaches, parks, the oceans and airways are becoming cleaner. Nature needed time away from the human rush and noise and now it is recuperating itself.
So lets use this time so that we too can recuperate!
I’ve even noticed here in our jungle, where we already have so much nature, life and animals around us, that they are particularly noisy and loud, as if rejoicing for a moment of the calm there is throughout the world. Pollution noise, almost gone. Whales and dolphins can swim without be crashed into by cruise ships, the sounds causing whales to loose their way and become disorientated, have stopped.
Maybe we as humans need to stop and listen to what nature is trying to tell us. I believe they are saying, stop making noise, stop destroying, stop killing yourselves, just stop for a moment, live and breathe. Interesting that this virus attacks our respiratory system. We are not taking care of ourselves or the earth, we pollute the air we breathe, the world needs to clean its lungs and so do we.
So every time you pass your lit candle, pause, take a moment, and breathe. Breathe in the clean air, breathe in this prana force energy, life energy that sustains us all and exhale with gratitude for another day you are breathing and being. You are alive. Be thankful, be present.
This forced lock down is making everyone slow down and start to really pay attention to the little things in life, what was so important no longer is, and what we took for granted is of utmost importance.
Its a really hard but good reality check.
I find myself appreciating a laugh and time spent together with our volunteers Amber, Jo, Jeanne and Eric who are in lock down with us. Where before we ate together and it was always nice, but now when we come together for Sunday lunch, it is special, we appreciate the food we cook and eat, the stories and laughter shared.
Life has slown down here too on the farm.
We have found new hobbies. Amber is painting a mandala on the dinner table at the volunteer house. Lexi is painting pretty signs for the farm and the gardens. The guys are getting innovative with water collecting (as we are also running out of water during the extra dry season, not making easier, of course!) Jeanne spends her afternoons playing and training with Max and giving riding classes to the guys. I sometimes walk down as afternoon turns into evening, the heat has gone and there is Max and Jeanne with Eric in the arena. Max is happy with all the attention, ears are perky and pinned forward waiting for his next instruction “What we doing now?”
Ramon has turned himself into a carpenter and building a drawing table for Lexi from wood from the farm.
Me? Well I am very busy writing Blogs! And making videos for asana instructions for our upcoming online 200hr YTT course. Thats exciting, as Yoga Alliance has now given Yoga schools the possibility of offering their Yoga Teacher Trainings online to students who can no longer travel, It is daunting and a lot of work, but it is also interesting as Johanna, Lexi and I learn new skills we had no idea we would ever need or use!
Amber is practicing her skills as a yoga teacher giving class in the mornings, while I continue to give yoga asana and meditation classes in the evenings and Sunday mornings.
I feel I have been meditating so much lately that I walk around with a slight buzz going on, like I am pure vibration, almost like a high! Really, Sadhguru wasn’t kidding when he said you can be high from meditation, you don’t need drugs or alcohol!
It’s a time when you can let the left brain of yours take a rest, and allow that right brain, your creative side, your intuition open up and express itself. Meditation helps with calming that left brain, so meditate, you have the time, make a daily practice of it, you are going to feel the difference, I assure you. Maybe not right away, but if you are disciplined and meditate morning and night, within a short time you are going to feel lit like those candles you have lit up your room or house with. Let that little flame grow a little bigger each day, and slowly you will become more at peace, more centered and focused, more enlightened and connected to yourself and life around you. You will be more connected to the real things in life, the rest that is not needed will slowly fall away and you will loose interest in it. You will feel better and you will feel more alive. Its a precious gift to feel this light when we can feel so overwhelmed with what seems like so much darkness and fear around us.
Light up a candle and light up your life, light a candle for all the healthcare workers, our heroes and let the flickering flames brighten our world with hope for a brighter future!
Here is a meditation from Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. You can record your voice, reciting it, and then use it as a guided meditation to bring healing and light to your body.
Find a comfortable seat, with eyes open, find a drishti/ focus point on the floor in front of you at about a 30 degree angle.
Spine erect, body relaxed.
Begin with 3 rounds of Aum
Keeping your eyes open, bring your awareness to your spine, eyes open.
Notice the change in your breath as you keep your attention on your spine, the change is already happening.
Keep your eyes on the floor at a 30 degree angle.
Bring your attention inward, close to your spine, notice the rhythm of your breath changing.
You almost want to close your eyes, but keep your eyes open.
Notice the rhythm of the breath in the moment.
Resist the desire to close your eyes.
Feel the movement of your breath in your spine.
The rise and fall and rhythm of the breath like a wave.
Everything is getting blurred, only the rhythm of your breath, your gaze and your attention on your spine.
Now you may gently close your eyes.
Now bring your total attention to your breath & your spine.
Match the breath with the spine.
Inhale bring your attention to the top of your head.
Exhale bring your attention to the bottom of your spine.
As you breathe through your spine , keep your attention to your spine and rhythm of your breath together.
Deep breath in and exhale relax.
Notice there are very few thoughts.
If there are, let them be.
This time rays of the sun are falling on us, in our environment.
Our bodies reacting with the sunlight, absorbing the sunlight.
In direct ways, the sunlight is being absorbed in our bodies.
Relax and let go.
Do not move. Be still.
Every little cell of your body has its own mind and they are all part of your mind, part of you.
And you are just a particle of the Universal mind. You are part of it all.
Knowing you are just a part of the big mind and the big mind is in control.
Just relax and repose here, for 5-20 minutes.
Become aware of your body and surroundings.
Take a deep breath.
As you breathe out gently open your eyes.
Namaste