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awakening one community at a time . . .
SimpleMEDITATION
ConsciousMUSIC
WITH LINDA CLAIR
WITH HEATHER FRAHN
Non-sectarian meditation teacher and author of the book, ‘What Do You Want?’
Multi-award winning and acclaimed singer-songwriter, sound designer, and qualified sound therapy practitioner.
Every Thought is Past
Question: When I’m sitting I often feel a lot of energy in my body. It feels like every cell in my body is vibrating. What is this energy? Is it physical?
Linda: It is both physical energy and an energy that is beyond the physical. When you start to withdraw from thinking and become more still, your consciousness starts to speed up, because it is not being dragged down by the mind, which feeds off thinking. Even though it appears that thinking is an incredibly fast process, it’s actually very slow compared to the speed of pure consciousness. Thinking is a relative process and with anything relative, time is involved. When you start to withdraw from the thinking world you star t to go into the timeless dimension, where there is no relativity, no separation – there is only now. The belief in time slows your consciousness down because you are always going from one thing to another thing. When you stop doing that – when you realise that everything is one, the energy wasted in going from one thing to another, which is the thinking process, is freed up and star ts to vibrate at such an incredible speed that everything becomes still, everything becomes one. So, what you’re experiencing is your consciousness speeding up, and you will feel that in every cell in your body. Question: There are times when it’s very uncomfortable and I don’t know what to do with it – I feel like expressing it in some way. What’s the best way to cope with it? Should I move around?
Linda: It does become very uncomfortable and sometimes painful, but I would suggest staying as still as possible during the sitting. The habitual reaction to feeling energy in the body is to express it in some way, to release the energy, but stillness is the way to contain and ground this energy more deeply in your body. The tension that can often be felt in the body while sitting in meditation is the physical body trying to contain this non-physical energy. It creates a kind of friction that can sometimes be felt as intense heat. The more deeply you can ground the energy in your body, the stronger and more concentrated it becomes, and the faster your consciousness becomes. The whole way I use energy has changed. I’m not extreme with my body anymore. I can’t be forceful with my body any more. I used to push it to do things that I thought I wanted to do, without listening to it, but I can’t do that anymore- the force has gone out of it. It felt a bit disconcer ting at first, but it now feels completely natural. The body is actually far more intelligent than the mind.
Conscious Music What’s that?
Question : When I’m sitting in meditation I seem to have a lot of expectations of how things should be. Is this anything to do with thinking?
Every thought is of the past. You can’t have an unknown thought. You can’t have a thought about the future. So, when you’re sitting in meditation, or even when you’re not, look deeply at where your body is right now. It’s here. Keep it as simple as possible. Each time you see the movement away from where you are, bring your attention back to the abdomen, back to the breath in the abdomen. Even if you know you don’t need to be thinking about anything right now, the habit of thinking is so strong and deep that you can’t just break it immediately. You need to practice breaking the chain of thoughts again and again and again. It’s breaking that movement. Not stopping thought - but breaking that movement. It doesn’t matter what the subjects of the thoughts are. There are no good thoughts and bad thoughts. Thoughts are thoughts. They’re not your enemy. Nothing is your enemy. Your mind is not your enemy. Your ego is not your enemy. So sit and watch. Keep your body as still as possible, because that will make the movement inside clearer.
Linda : Everything you expect is not really what you want because expectations are all of the past. You can’t expect the unknown - which is where you really want to be – what you really want. So, each time you have an expectation of how things should be, let it go. Every thought is an expectation.
Linda Clair is a non-sectarian teacher and author of the book, ‘What Do You Want?’ She holds meditation sessions and retreats in Melbourne, Adelaide, Canada and the USA. She is currently also working on her second book. For more information, please visit www.simplemeditation.net or phone Christian on 0451 595 092
Meditation “Enlightenment is not a state of mind...” Non-sectarian meditation sessions and retreats in Melbourne with Linda Clair
Music and songs have the power to lift our spirits, change the mood, have us singing with joy, and reflecting on life’s gifts and wonders. When we consider the power of intention (positive lyrics), mixed with resonance (music vibration), what we have as a result is a powerful force in which to help inspire positive social change, unity and inner peace. This is Conscious Music. More and more, music ar tists naturally want to express and share through their art something of benefit for the world in which their music reaches. And equally so, many music fans are searching for music that touches their heart, inspires their day, and offers something with unifying spiritual meaning. That’s where Conscious Music comes in, and creates a meeting place for both artist and audience alike, to share in it’s sonic goodness! The Conscious Music Movement has been growing all around the world in quite a rapid way since the birth of the internet, with collectives such as the Positive Music Association, Playing For Change, the Posi Imperative, and Spiritual Significance of Music. Conscious Music was of course around well before such modern technologies came into play, as there have been times in history where music played a big role in society to help raise the consciousness of entire generations. We can recall such famous songs as “Imagine” by John Lennon, “Talkin’ Bout A Revolution” by Tracy Chap-
From
man, “Parking Lot” by Joni Mitchell, and “One Love” by Bob Marley, just to name a few. We’ve all got our favourite spiritually inspired books, which teachings speak straight to the hear t through the authors words and stories. Conscious Music is much like the sonic version of these books, bringing these ancient spiritually based teachings to life through songs, lyrics, melody, rhythm and live performances. Conscious Music is wide awake, present, and high in vibratory intention. It is a true gift for the world, helping us to have our innate goodness reflected back to us in way of the song lyrics, and helping our spiritual heart beat to the rhythm in the music. Something special happens to the psyche of humans when they’re around other positive people. Their vibration is raised up, and they feel good, they feel “met”, they feel inspired. This is a wonderful thing, and is enhanced when we surround ourselves with Conscious Music throughout the day. Similar to when we use positive affirmations, life affirming prayer, or chanting a meaningful mantra, the high vibrations from Conscious Music can help keep us connected to what we know and feel is good, which in turn helps us to think, speak and act from our awakened spiritual heart, and not our ego mindless head. The “flow on effect” of energy from Conscious Music transpires from artist to song, to the listener, and then to everyone
they interact with that day. Music has a special kind of magic, and when music and conscious lyrics come together, it can help create change for the better in small, and large ways. Imagine just how different the world could be if all media platforms shared “conscious” content, including Conscious Music? So, next time you’re listening to the radio, or making a playlist on your MP3 player, help keep your vibration high by listening to and singing along with some of your favourite songs that share a unifying and inspiring message. Conscious Music is great for your spirit, body and mind; soak up some of it’s sonic goodness today! Heather Frahn is a multi-award winning and acclaimed music artist, singer-songwriter, sound designer, and qualified sound ther apy practitioner. She has released several CDs featuring Conscious Music including her latest album “Be The Change”, and also via holisticsound ensemble Harmonic Project and the album “Divine Resonance”. For more information about Heather and her multi-dimensional music based projects, please visitwww. heatherfrahn.com
“Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent” ― Victor Hugo
Leo Drioli
editor of InnerSelf
Every Moment’s a Miracle Realize the Joy always already here!
“If a book had a soul, then this book would be brimming with Spirit. Leo has a unique way of conveying deep truths using simple, yet beautiful language. His words follow a direct route from the mind to the heart, and can touch anyone, no matter where they are on the spiritual path.” - Denise Linn, International Lecturer, Healer and Writer
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