Be Still...

Yesterday morning I woke up at 4:30 a.m. and couldn't get back to sleep so I picked up the journal next to my bed and began skimming through it.  It is the journal I took notes in for many of the sound healing workshops I have taken in the last 7 years.  I opened to 14 pages of notes I had taken during a workshop with the western authority on mantras and Vedic priest, Thomas Ashley-Farrand (Namadeva) and his wife, also a Vedic priest and very wise woman, Margalo/Satyabhama.

Puja with Satyabhama (Margalo Ashley-Farrand) at Sound Body Wholistic Health Center- 2011

Kirtan Camp- San Anselmo, CA- Summer 2011

Rosie and Jai Uttal, the supreme ultimate purveyor of kirtan and bliss!

Nada Yogi, Shri Shyam Bhatnagar

Puja with picture of Sant Keshavadas and the late Namadeva (Thomas Ashley-Farrand)

Satyabhama leading puja at Sound Body Wholistic Health Center- 2011

From there, as I continued reading, I found copious notes taken during various workshops with Shri Shyamji Bhatnagar, at Kirtan Camp with Jai Uttal two years ago, Nada Tantra with Yogi Amrit Desai and Bhagavan Daas and a workshop with John Beaulieu that I attended last summer.

There were so many interesting and enlightening statements from all of these wonderful teachers that I thought I would share some of what I came across.

"Mantra is used to invoke the presence of the deity within you." ~Shyamji~

Two ways to pay back your karmic debts- suffering, or doing your spiritual work. The more you do your spiritual work, the less you suffer. Doing your spiritual work you develop compassion for your ego.  Our cells are constantly in a state of renewal- after 12 years we don't even have the same bones. Tell the painful memories "Wrong address"!

"Memories of the past are a curse on my mind.

Oh God, snatch it away." [Iqbal?]

At night press all the pressure points on your feet and thank them for carrying you through the day.

[Bhagavan Das- as you step from one foot to the other feeling the Mother Earth, say "Thank you, I love you, Thank you, I love you."]

Miracles- we seek them- or "signs"- outside of ourselves and do not recognize that WE are the miracle. The greatest miracle is I AM.

You can't "experience " the Divine. You can only "experience" in duality.

Morning mantra:
       Isha vasya
       Idam sarvam
       Jagatayam jagata

(Above are excerpts of notes taken during Purification Retreat with Shri Shyam Bhatnagar in 2006)

Sanskrit is an energy-based language, which explains the divergent translations. The frequencies are "hard-wired into your chakras." (Thomas Ashley-Farrand/Namadeva) Everything in the universe is constructed of those vibrations.
"God SAID 'Let there be...'" The petals of the chakras vibrate when you chant. You bring in tiny discreet amounts of spiritual energy.
Density provides impetus for spiritual advancement.
(Notes from workshop with Namadeva)

Question: What are the moments you place on the altar of your life?

"How can our voice connect with the deepest core of our being?" 
"We should love ourselves to deep cuddliness."
"Don't pimp your purpose."
(Quotes from Jai Uttal during kirtan camp)

"The instinct to preserve one's self-image is as strong as the instinct to preserve the body."
~Yogi Amrit Desai~

Human beings entire life is in fight or flight/survival mode, on body level and ego/mind level.  Animals do not have I AM so they don't go against their subconscious- ie falsely perceived threats. Unfulfilled goals create an energy field/unconscious pattterns. "Get rid of the alien that is having false perceptions." Bring consciousness to "the wall". Bring prana to the place of fight or flight. BREATHE. In the place of discomfort, BREATHE.
(Above excerpted from discourse during workshop with Yogi Amrit Desai, February 2012)

"Happy thoughts create happy molecules in the brain." ~Shyamji~

Memories form when we are not permitted to be who we are.  Blockages in upper chakras (6th and 7th) form in third trimester in part due to the "commercialization" of the birthing process. Laying down to give birth, induction of labor, etc..."No wonder the only person not laughing and happy is the baby." Working with sounds can take us to the place when we were one with our mothers. 

The 50 sounds of the chakras create all the languages on earth. 

"Each chakra has its own mind." ~Shyamji~ 

There are 330,000,000 mantras!

Chanting in lower octave affects 1st three chakras.  Middle octave affects 4th and 5th chakras and higher (3rd octave) will affect 6th and 7th chakras.

One way to deal with "saboteurs"- TOTALLY DISEMPOWER THEM. If you believe they are controlling you it is very hard to disempower them. Turn it around. Say "I am Divine. Saboteurs cannot touch my divinity." Focus on the solution and avoid the problem. Disempower the saboteurs by establishing our own autonomy.

The tamboura is the external manifestation of the 5th chakra.

Breathing through the mouth activates the animal brain.  Breathing through the nose acts as a filter for prana.

(Excerpts of notes from workhsop with Shyamji, Schoorl, Nederlands, 2012)

Whoever comes into your healing space/office- you have to be able to adapt to them- find their "normal"- as a healer.

Eastern music fills the spaces between the notes with overtones- the spaces of the angels adn the devas. 

Sound- as a healer- is more neutral. Music is based on individual taste.

Dependencies- what do you get from them? Ex. What is the "feeling tone" of chocolate? Sound can create the essence of specific drugs (chemicals) in your body. 

"Sound is a superconscious modality." ~John Beaulieu~

Marijuana- a weed.  Energetic quality of a weed is to take over... take root.  Marijuana takes root in the consciousness (energetic feeling tone). Numbs the somatic consciousness...

(Above snippets from John Beaulieu's workshop on Trance and Tuning Forks, June 2012)

Journal excerpt- "Sita Ram, Sita Ram, Sita Ram"

Journal excerpt- "Hari om tat sat jai guru datta"

Be still

Be still and listen

Be still and know the Truth

Be still and know that I am God

Be still and know that I AM

GOD

Be still and know God

I AM

Be still and know I AM

Be still and know

Be still

Be

(Journal excerpt 7.5.12)

Chanting Ganesha

Tonight I am reading about and chanting to Ganesha, the great elephant-headed god, son of  Shiva and Parvati, the Remover of Obstacles.  Several years ago in a workshop with Thomas Ashley-Farrand, the late Vedic priest and scholar. He chanted a mantra over and over to Ganesha which I fell in love with and never forgot.

Om shrim hrim klim ganeshvaraya
Brahma rupaya charave
Sarva siddhi pradeshaya
Vighneshaya namo namaha

Tomorrow I am leading a kirtan and since it is the New Year much of it will be devoted to Lord Ganesha, full of prayers for the removal of obstacles.

That being said another Baha'i prayer comes to mind as well.
 "Is there any remover of difficulties save God? Say: praised be God!  He is God!  All are His servants and all abide by His bidding!" ~The Bab~

I found the following on a website devoted to Ganesha when I was looking for translations of the previous mantra. Another mantra that I will begin weaving into my practice as well.

Ganesh Mantra: Om shrim hrim klim glaum gam ganapataye...

Whether you recite, whisper or utter them silently to yourself, mantra japa or repetitive chanting is said to be the simplest way to access God. The 15 Ganesha mantras are described as ‘siddhi mantras’ (siddhi in Sanskrit  varyingly means “perfection”, “accomplishment” or attainment of spiritual power.), with each one containing powers attributed to the elephant God. Meditating on these awakens our own untapped potential for accomplishment in varied endeavors. Regular chanting will also enhance one’s ‘psychic body’, energizing the kundalini or subtle energy that lies coiled at the base of the spine. Thus, the worshipper is freed from negative thoughts and emotions; at the same time, his mortal body too is cleansed of toxins.


Om shrim hrim klim glaum gam ganapataye... 
vara varada sarva
janamme vashamanaya svaha

The bell-like tones of this mantra bring forth a shower of blessings from Ganesha. In uttering them, the worshipper surrenders his ego to the Lord, seeking His protection and grace at all times.  Notice the first line which contains several seed (in Sanskrit, “beej”) mantras, single syllabic utterances from Vedic texts whose meanings vary depending on their intonation and the purpose of incantation. ‘Om’ for instance, is an affirmative sound, one which fuels our energies and is associated with divine protection and benevolence. ‘Shrim’ invokes love and beauty; it concerns the heart and hence, both physical and emotional health. ‘Hrim’ is associated with Maya, a syllable that empowers us to see through the illusory nature of the world. ‘Klim’ is forceful, stimulating and energizing; symbolically, it is represented by a thunderbolt that destroys lowly ignorance. ‘Glaum’ is the earth element while ‘Gam’ is the primal Seed, Ganesha himself. In chanting this mantra, the devotee seeks the grace of Ganesha in his present life and all future lifetimes.

Here is a beautiful rendition of the second mantra:

Change is Afoot (God is Alive)

Well, I think for many it has been a rough transition from 2012 to 2013.  Many people I have spoken to in the last 3 days have lost loved ones or someone very close to them has.  It seems like a lot of people checked out at the end of 2012.  I (like many) became painfully aware of it with the awful tragedy in Newtown, CT. Since then it seems like we've heard of one death after another as  the issue of gun laws, mental health care and the safety of citizens was hammered into our psyches- and of course the belief that schools should unquestionably be a safe haven for children.  And clearly they are not. So sad.  We can only pray this has finally reached a level of awareness that can no longer be ignored and will be addressed.

Beyond that, as I mentioned above I have talked to several people who very unexpectedly lost loved ones over the past several days- completely random and unexplainable deaths- a healthy 55 year old cyclist riding his bike and suddenly died, a healthy young man of 24 suddenly dead for no apparent reason.  Granted, autopsies may show obvious reasons for their death- a congenital but undiscovered heart disease?  Who knows... but they are gone.

And then the emotional angst that has come up for some- sudden rifts in important intimate relationships- which is what is suddenly present in my own life.  What I see and believe is that it is time to heal some very old stuff.  Change is being forced upon us.  In some cases it looks like relationships we thought were fairly stable suddenly have shifted and the damage seems irreparable.  I don't believe that is true even though for me it feels pretty awful and I am very raw right now.  But really I think we are (I AM) just being shown what parts of ourselves (myself) we (I) still need to heal. 

So... change is afoot. God is alive, magic is afoot.

And so- the magic... the changes...

And? For me, my great excitement is that I have been hired as a member of the Integrative Care team for Women & Infants Hospital. Still going through the preparatory stages- getting bloodwork and immunizations as I will be mainly working with oncology patients and their caregivers and family members. I have a couple more appointments at the hospital next week as well as a test I have to take so the following week I should be ready to start.  I couldn't have dreamed this up.  I tried for so long to make connections at a couple of hospitals in Florida and over the years have done some volunteer work and various events & presentations for the nurses at a couple of different hospitals in St. Pete. To actually be getting paid to do this work in a Western medical facility is what I have wanted for so long- and what I know is so desperately needed!

There are 3 different sites that I can potentially work out of- one not more than two miles from my home! The program is open to the public as well- they just have to pay a little more than the people under the care of the hospital.  I can also teach workshops for anyone who is interested- caregivers, therapists, patients, whoever... so there is tremendous potential to be doing a lot of work there.  It will be interesting because I still more than anything want to open another sound healing center up here but meanwhile... this is such an amazing way to really get into the heart of the community. I really don't know what anything is for.  I just know that this door opened and I am sure there is a very good reason for it.  And I don't have anything else solidly in place yet, nor do I want to at this time, so it's perfect and I am so grateful.

I won't say it seems to good to be true (although I could) because I think there are major paradigm shifts happening and as Bob Marley said, "Good things come to those who wait."  Look at Roderiguez!