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Enlighten Up / Reflections / The Spirit of Things
Enlighten Up
The Breath of Life
By Freya Sampson Custodian Eartheart
Why is breath so important? When we breathe in and out we are accessing or expelling energy, food or waste.
Whilst the intake of oxygen is food for the physical body, when it comes to meditation it’s a small part of the equation.
‘Breath of Life’ is the term I call the type of meditation also known as; Yogic breathing, Pranayama or Chakral breathing.
In Hindu Prana means - vital life force energy. ‘Yama’ is the God of Death, in this case referring to exhaling. ‘Chakra’ means - spinning wheel. See Issue 3, May 2019 for more on chakras. Within all of the complimentary healing modalities/techniques that I facilitate, there is an important focus upon breath. We can work with our breath to direct or control energy, pain, emotional release, increased focus and many other benefits. When people feel fear, they usually forget to breathe.
This is why it is often said, in terms of anxiety, people are afraid to breathe in the future and with depression, people are afraid to breathe out - letting go the past.
“Some people’s silver cords are as thin as a hair and some, like the Dali Lama’s, are like a freeway.”
We tend to take breathing for granted, thinking that it all just happens without having to pay attention. On one level it does and on another level, awareness of the breath is very important, because we can track how our emotional body responds to any given situation by observing how our breathing is occurring. In fact, if we notice that our breathing is halted or too fast then we can have the presence of self to change our state of being by consciously changing our breath.
For anyone who is deliberately seeking to elevate and expand their consciousness and awareness, open their heart to more love, good health and wellbeing or more peace, joy, self-love and all other good things, conscious breathing techniques and exercises are a vital tool in the kit.
With ‘Breath of Life’ exercises in the early stages the focus is upon the actions of inhalation and the exhalation. Down the track, as one develops skilfulness with the exercise, the clarity, size and strength of our meridians and chakras changes, then the focus becomes about the space between the breaths. That’s where the real magic happens. Like with any skill, foundation is very important.
Last month, we spoke about chakras. You may recall we talked about the order and function of chakras, that they are connected by meridians, which together act as the plumbing and the wiring for carrying energy to the whole multi-dimensional being.
To read the whole article go to www.supernalmagazineaustralia.com.au/past/iissues/
Reflections
An Attitude of Gratitude
By Jane Offer
Hello again. Last issue we looked at forgiveness - I hope you have set yourself free from ill-perceived ‘failure’ and are ready to move into exploring gratitude.
In so many self-help books we are encouraged to practice positive thinking and to be grateful for what we have. When you actually think about it, we are very fortunate in many ways - we have choice, opportunity and free will.
However there are times when it is all feels too hard and we want someone, or some other outside influence to take over and tell us what to do. Often we feel we have no choice but this is not the case, there are always choices. It’s simply that we don’t like the choices on offer in case they take us out of our comfort zone. Often, we make a choice without really thinking about its real implication. For example, when we are out to dinner trying to choose a meal, we may feel there is nothing we would like or that we are not hungry so settle for just a drink. Well, how lucky is that, when at least a third of the world population doesn’t have that opportunity; they don’t have the water or food that even makes it a possible choice. We can’t fix the starving millions of course, but we can acknowledge their problem with gratitude!
The normal concept of gratitude is that it will give us more, but I don’t feel it is as simple as that. By deciding we have a lack and asking for that space to be filled, we believe in the lack itself and that we don’t have the power to redress the balance ourselves. The cold fact is that if thought works that way, then we have created the lack in the first place from the pattern of our beliefs. It’s an annoying concept, isn’t it - that we control our reality by our thoughts; that it’s our responsibility!
The word Gratitude is a number six when we reduce the letters to numbers. The number six refers to finding balance in our life. It tells us we are focussing our attention on the external material world such as our careers, finances, fitness and achievements to the detriment of our internal wellbeing.
To read the whole article go to www.supernalmagazineaustralia.com.au/past/iissues/
The Spirit of Things
Signs
By Sam Duly
Signs from the spirit world are one of my favourite subjects. I will share some with you that still amaze me to this day. One very important thing to mention is that our loved ones in spirit will do anything to let us know that they are around.
Signs can be anything from white feathers, butterflies, dragonflies, birds – Willy Wagtails in Australia and Robins in the UK seem to be the most popular. Seeing repetitive numbers are also a common sign: 11.11, 1.11, 2.22, 3.33 and so on.
The spirit world can also use forms of electricity, whether it is flickering lights or via a radio. Have you either been in your car or at home when a song comes on that reminds you of a loved one or a song that was played at their funeral? I know these sorts of occurrences have happened through evidence in my own readings and that of my recipient’s and colleague’s.
Spirit will also leave objects on our pathway to find. How many of you have smelt a familiar smell, whether it is cigarette smoke, perfume, aftershave or a certain smell that brings about a memory of your past loved one. By giving you examples of my own different experiences it will truly help you understand how amazing the spirit world is.
After my mother’s diagnosis of terminal cancer, she shared with me a code word so that she could let me know that she had arrived safe in heaven. I did not tell a soul, not even my siblings, nor my children. A day after my mum had passed a friend of mine phoned me from the other side of the world to see how I was, she then said for some reason I have to say “Blue, Blue something or maybe Bluebird? I don’t know why?” - but I knew, as my mum’s code word was Bluebell, so I then knew she had arrived safe! Shortly after I was in my car and thinking of my mum and the car in front of me had the number plate ‘Bluebell,’ so again another sign.
After my beautiful 18yo cat passed (my mum loved him), I said to mum in spirit several times, please give me a sign that you have Ollie. I went to the local shops still asking mum for a sign. I get back to my car looked to the left and the car number plate next to me read ‘Ollie 16’ again amazing and thanks Mum!
I do quite often say to people that although our
