Death is a Constant

By

On 2023-01-17

In Blog, Guidance & Inspiration

Introducing a straight-forward series of posts on the delicate topic of
Death and Dying.

I doubt anyone on this globe hasn’t been thinking of their own mortality. If fears of some disease taking hold and killing you and your loved ones didn’t get you, then the life-abolishing threat of nuclear war may very well have. But the subject of death is often deemed unsuitable for discussion and we are left alone with our anxieties.

Since Selfcare, at least the capital S kind, deals with all aspects of life and requires a commitment to facing challenging topics, I thought I would share some of my own explorations on the topic of death. Over a series of posts, I hope to get us all thinking in ways that might reduce or eliminate altogether the anxieties surrounding the 100% eventual loss of everything we ever thought we owned, knew or loved, ultimately including our own life.

Death is a Constant

I was listening to a fabulous satsang, or teaching, by Alan Watts in which he said, “Death is constant”. He’s not exaggerating. We die in every moment to the one that follows. And we are, for our entire lifespan, mysteriously reborn into the next moment. Sometimes, these moments pass with some fanfare and other times, we barely notice a difference. But this is the truth of our physical existence. Death isn’t some end-of-life event. It is happening now, and now. and now.

At least for me, this perspective seems to make the ultimate death somehow less important. It’s just one more little loss in a life that is actually full of such losses.

Look at it this way…

Can you imagine a tree that every Fall started to freak out the dropping of its leaves? This sad little neurotic tree would be giving itself so much anguish over something it had zero control over. It would dread the winter and the thought of all its branches exposed for the world to see. It is no less absurd that we fight against or even try to deny what is a very natural, unavoidable part of life.

A Recent Dream

A few weeks ago, I had a powerful dream. I was outside under a tree on a park bench with my sister. On the table was a plastic cup of some kind full of liquid starting to bubble and fizz. I told my sister we needed to move or back up or something. It kept heating up and went through the container but then it wouldn’t stop. It wasn’t flowing like liquid. It was burning like heat.

The dream scene changed to my old room but the bubble and fizz was still there boring through what surrounded slowly. I realized we needed to move everything out of the room. It was a process of deciding what mattered and what didn’t. We carried stuff out, but that light kept boring, like a white hole. Back and forth with notebooks, stamps, postcards, clothes…

I had a realization of the depth of the situation. That boring wasn’t going to stop. It would take the entire room, then eat away at the next and so on. I was credulous. I thought, “this can’t be happening.” I walked up to a mirror and could see my reflection in it. I said, “Wake up. You’re dreaming.” I lifted my hands to clap, but they were all foggy. I repeated the chant three times trying to clap.

I felt my body drop like a ghostly sack; I felt a second of fear and then felt myself faint from outside my body. In an instant, my consciousness came back to my sleeping body as I woke up.

Waking from the Dream

Maybe that’s all death really is…simply waking up somewhere else. Or, as Alan Watts put it, “Death might be how we wake up from the dream called life.”

Death is not only a constant; it is a certainty. The better we are at dying to moments, the easier it will be to face that final one. Our souls will simply slip out of these containers and that ineffable something that we are will suddenly be elsewhere, the dead self never-the-wiser and the new self ever wiser.

 

About the Author:

Beth Ciesco is your Selfcare Specialist, a certified yoga teacher and meditation facilitator. Check out the rest of the website to learn more about Restorative Healing Yoga, Mirror Meditation, E-Motion Alchemy, and Voicework as capital S Selfcare tools. You can also follow her on these sites:

❤ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/divinemetime/
❤ Insight Timer: https://insighttimer.com/tranquilliving
❤ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DivineMeTime

The Meditation Solution

By

On 2023-01-13

In Blog, Guidance & Inspiration, On Meditation, Self-care

PROBLEM:

     You name it.

SOLUTION:

     Meditation.

The Meditation Solution to Every Problem

The other day, my husband asked me the common question, “How are you today?” I noticed my mind start to parse through my experience in order to answer that question. In an instant, my mind went to the challenges I was facing, the news headlines I’d seen, and the frustrations of daily life. I caught myself and instead stopped the thoughts and answered, “I’m great if I don’t think.”

Some may think that not thinking is actually an avoidance of life, and it certainly can be. When we fill our lives with external voices, activities, and entertainments, we are definitely avoiding what’s inside. That’s not the kind of “not thinking” I’m referring to. I’m talking about the practice of becoming quiet, frequently referred to as meditation.

This solution to the overwhelming problems the world faces may seem overly simplistic and ineffective against the evils we face. Many may read and dismiss them with a snort, “Yeah, I’ll just meditate the political filth away while the rich get richer and future generations are enslaved.” But that kind of (fear-based) response is because many people are still entirely focused upon and entrenched in externals., disconnected from who they really are. If we only understand life according to the world we see around us, then meditation is an ineffective ritual equivalent to shutting one’s eyes and hiding under the covers.

Meditation Solutions

A Deeper Reality

But there is another world inside. And while it may be subtle and difficult to feel (at least at first) and express due to the limitations of language, that doesn’t make it any less valid. In fact, the more one spends time there, the more one generates grace and the more one realizes that stillness, silence and spaciousness offer a truer reality, allowing us to access the deeper drives creating the world we see around us.

For example, we can often be in a mental state of alarm over something ‘out there’. There certainly is no shortage of threats these days. Our minds may toil to understand according to past experience or find routes of escape or resolution in the future. But if we close our eyes (or even leave them open) and come into the present moment, chances are you’re not being chased by a lion in the immediate. You likely are breathing, heart-beating, clothed, sheltered and possibly even well-fed. There is stillness underneath the rise and fall of your breath. There is silence under that throbbing heart and anxious mind. There is space in which one can float, free from the grip of thought. That’s your reality. And solutions can only arise…well, good solutions…can only arise from that place. Otherwise, decisions are either snap and arising from fight or flight or are overthought, leading to second guessing and paralysis. The habit of doing anything to avoid the fear can even mean trusting people you absolutely shouldn’t. This perpetuates the cycle of suffering.

The Challenges

The challenges to meditation are twofold. One) we have to be willing to sit and be fully present with the fear that is generated by our thoughts. And that is miserably uncomfortable. We may feel the urge to bolt, to get up and get busy, or be led by our minds right back into thought. And two) we have to be willing to go beyond the mind that tells us if we don’t think, if we don’t solve the problems here and now that we’re being irresponsible or bypassing our reality. Going beyond the mind with which we’ve come to greatly identify over our entire lives is no easy task and exchanging what seemed like tangible reality for a less comprehensible one can at times seem like an exercise in futility. But, if we just STAY, we can incrementally or even all at once discover that NOTHING WE THINK IS REAL. It’s simply a narrative of what is real.

Granted, it is exceedingly difficult (if not completely impossible) to meditate when under real threats unless you are some kind of enlightened master already. That’s why you have to start now. Practice, practice, practice. It’s not a quick fix; I’ll give you that. But it is a fix. It’s really the only true and lasting fix.

 

About the Author:

Beth Ciesco is your Selfcare Specialist, a certified yoga teacher and meditation facilitator. Check out the rest of the website to learn more about Restorative Healing Yoga, Mirror Meditation, E-Motion Alchemy, and Voicework as capital S Selfcare tools. You can also follow her on these sites:

❤ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/divinemetime/
❤ Insight Timer: https://insighttimer.com/tranquilliving
❤ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DivineMeTime

Is Icecream Selfcare?

What Makes Selfcare Selfcare?

By

On 2023-01-10

In Self-care

What Makes Selfcare Selfcare?

Is Icecream Selfcare?Selfcare is a buzzword and often a marketing ploy to get you to buy some product or service (even mine!). But selfcare isn’t something that comes from outside of you by its very definition. Selfcare, real selfcare, is an inside job.

So it’s not about what you might buy, or where you might travel, or what activity you might engage in. All of that might be part of it, but it actually isn’t the important part!

For example, you might be feel that selfcare is an indulgence in your favorite gourmet ice cream from time to time. Maybe it is and maybe it isn’t. It really depends on you. When you reach for the ice cream, it it an act of self-love and kindness or is it an act of escapism and apathy? Just like yoga can either be nurturing selfcare that’s gentle on the joints and tissues, or it can be a practice in pushing your limits and pulling your ligaments. Again, it depends on you. Anything that we may approach or do in the name of selfcare doesn’t make it selfcare. So what does?

Selfcare is About Two Things

Selfcare is really about one) our attitude and two) our approach.

In regards to attitude, it’s about coming from a position of caring about yourself, valuing yourself, as much as you care about anyone or anything else. It’s an awareness and acceptance of both our strengths and shortcomings with a maturity that helps us own up to both. And more importantly, it is a commitment to our own personal evolution…not the ever-moving benchmark to “become a better person”, but to organically grow like a flower or a tree does. We change. We grow up. We leave childish notions and toxic behaviors behind when we’re ready.

In regards to approach, it’s about whether or not we are mindful of what it is we’re doing while we’re doing it. Mindfulness is a tricky thing. Just like selfcare, it is a popular buzzword that means different things to different people. And worse, it sounds exactly like what it is not…a mind full. Careful attention might be a better name for it. But it’s not really about focus or concentration per se. It’s more about being free of narrative as you do something, so that you can fully and completely experience it as it is. When you eat that gourmet ice cream, is it always like the first time? Are you thinking about other things or fully immersed in the indescribable experience?

Selfcare isn’t something one masters either. It is itself an evolutionary process that must meet us where we are as we grow. So yeah, indulge in the ice cream if it makes you feel better now. But remember that maybe, just maybe, there are even better choices out there for you. Maybe selfcare is about discovering them for yourself.

 

About the Author:

Beth Ciesco is your Selfcare Specialist, a certified yoga teacher and meditation facilitator. Check out the rest of the website to learn more about Restorative Healing Yoga, Mirror Meditation, E-Motion Alchemy, and Voicework as capital S Selfcare tools. You can also follow her on these sites:

❤ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/divinemetime/
❤ Insight Timer: https://insighttimer.com/tranquilliving
❤ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DivineMeTime

The Shadow-Side Qualities

By

On 2022-11-20

In Blog, Self-care

The Shadow-Side Qualities

Last post, I spent time defining the qualities of Divine Self Care. I mentioned that these symbols can be corrupted by the ego into shadow-side qualities and keep us trapped in our fearful, restrictive, egoic identity. We could say that each quality has a shadow, in other words, a very low frequency expression of itself. But it’s important to remember that inherent in the shadow is the light-filled, highest expression of each quality, especially helpful when we are facing these lower frequency expressions in ourselves and others. It is our ego that keeps us locked in these low frequencies, and recognizing we’ve fallen into them can help us start to change the frequency.

I’d like to spend some time in this post explaining those lower frequency aspects of each of the qualities of Capital S Self-care.

Compassion Can Become Pity

You might know of someone who seems to enjoy their suffering (it might even be you!). They love telling their story about how they were wronged or about how cruel life has been to them. They might even engage in a sort of competition of misery with others. Or they might twist compassion so tightly that they themselves become the totally unaware perpetrator by either reliving their painful past again and again or by focusing on righteous revenge.

Or perhaps you know someone (it might even be you!) who hears about the misery of another and uses that suffering to make themselves feel superior. This unfortunately happens a lot in spiritual circles. Those who fancy themselves enlightened manifestors who have mastered all negative states might blame the victim for “choosing” their situation. It’s quite ridiculous. But this can also simply be denying the light in another, keeping them down.

Trust Can Become Willful Ignorance

When we are too trusting or all of our trust is directed outwardly instead of inwardly, we might fall into a form of willful ignorance and an unwillingness to question authority or status quo. Such a low-frequency expression of trust has caused devastating harm throughout history.

Rather than trusting our own experiences from the space of the heart, we enter a state of either doubt or fear, or even both. Instead, we choose a false certainty in order to feel safe and comfortable and begin to deny all other possibilities and perspectives. It doesn’t take much of either for our eyes to slowly close which leads us to our next quality.

Faith Can Become Blind

Remember that faith is pure power. It doesn’t care what you believe in; it will empower that belief. So if we don’t question our beliefs, we may very well be putting our faith in things that simply do not and cannot ever serve us. Often we are taught or misunderstand that faith must exist without doubt, without question. But this can result in either a ‘savior complex’ by which we wait for someone else to come to our rescue, taking no responsibility for ourselves and our thoughts and actions in the meantime or it can become the faulty drive behind those thoughts and actions.

We have to understand the objects of our faith completely, not blindly. We have to bring those objects into the light so that they can be fully seen and selected consciously.

Surrender Can Become Helplessness

I’ve already written about the trouble with the word surrender. Now we can understand that it is a matter of the frequency of expression, for surrender can indeed mean giving up instead of giving back. When we don’t understand it is the ego that must be surrendered, it can turn into a sense of helplessness for that very ego, making it even stronger than before. You might hear thoughts of “I can’t…” or “I’ll never…” and while that may or may not be true, you will accept such thoughts without the question that would reveal your liberty from them.

Or in another expression, you might be filled with too much pride to let go. You might dig your heels in, cut of your nose to spite your face, or sabotage yourself. Resistance is the shadow aspect of surrender, and it is one of the major roots of suffering, along with ignorance. Ironically, the prideful resister to what is might feel strong and even noble in their resistance, but it is false strength and nobility. It is actually helplessness, for such a one will never realize the Self.

Patience Can Become Procrastination

We all know of something we ought to or must do that we keep putting off. This is a bastardization of patience. It is an unwillingness to take responsibility and step into our power. We tolerate things and waste precious energy rather than summon that same energy to change them and be free.

Procrastination leaves us wanting. We want what we don’t have and remain in a state of wanting rather than taking the steps necessary to either fullfil that desire or to cultivate the wisdom to realize that it won’t make us happy, thereby letting it go. Impatience is desire for what we want when we want it…now! Desire is also a major cause of our suffering along with ignorance and resistance.

Devotion Can Become Fanaticism

Just as devotion is the fuel behind the highest expressions of the qualities, fanaticism is the fuel behind their shadow expressions. This may look like the more familiar religious or ideological rigidity we see in the world, but more importantly and in a broader sense, it is the tiny box of pure ego expression. Instead of living from a recognition that we are all the one connected organism of life, we go about our lives as if we were separate. And instead of living in alignment with universal principles of wisdom and love, we fall into the hells of foolish ignorance, prideful resistance, and self-serving desire.

Qualities of Divine Self-Care

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On 2022-11-15

In Blog, Self-care

There are qualities of Divine Self-care that help us live that way of life. I’ve written about the differences between little s and capital s selfcare in previous posts which included touched upon those qualities. Though capital S Self-care is not something we ourselves do but, rather, a mysterious process to which we submit, the following terms point us into a space that allows us to soften to the process without egoic anxiety or confusion. Think of one’s self as a tea bag and these qualities as the hot water in which one steeps for the sake of healing and wholeness.

A Closer Look at the Qualities of Divine Self-care

Now let’s spend a little bit of time covering each of these qualities in more detail. Although, as symbols, they remain in essence quite beyond the definitions used to describe them, it is still helpful to have a common understanding of them, and we can get a little closer and clearer to the energy they transmit and the potentials they offer us by defining them.

Compassion

Co meaning together and passion meaning a powerful emotion, compassion is defined as a deep awareness and understanding of the suffering of others or the ability to feel with them. Indeed, understanding our collective suffering, as well as individual suffering, is what softens the heart center. Compassion allows us to forgive ourselves and each other. Lacking compassion, we become hard and unyielding. We become fixated and fearful, though often in denial of both. More importantly, we remain ignorant of the one understanding that can begin to ease our suffering–the recognition that we are all connected and that the suffering of one becomes the suffering of all.

Trust

Trust is defined as confidence in the truth and is associated with fidelity and loyalty. Divine Me Time upholds that we are not just connected with all beings, but that we are also one with God. Therefore, our thoughts and actions reflect our confidence, or trust, in that even if we don’t fully grock the power of its full meaning. We remain loyal to that truth even when the illusions of life (the maya) test that trust, even if we cannot wholly define that truth with mere words. The simple fact is, our egoic intelligence will never be great enough to comprehend the mysteries of existence, no matter how hard we may try and no matter how much effort we put into convincing ourselves otherwise. We have no choice but to trust that a greater intelligence is at play.

Qualities of Divine Me Time Self CareFaith

Usually associated with religion, faith is quite simply belief, usually in the absence of concrete proof. So really, the word can be applied to any aspect of our thinking. If we believe the thoughts we think, we have faith in them, quite often to our detriment. Faith is a powerful thing. Think of the placebo effect and how people are actually cured of ailments with a sugar pill. That’s the power of the mind that we must harness but in a way that serves our highest self.

Unfortunately, so much of our faith is trapped within our conditioned mind. We believe in the stories our parents fed us, that we were naughty children, or failures. We believe things that others tell us and doubt our own senses and experience.

In the Bible, Jesus is quoted as having said, “Your faith has healed you” to a woman who touched his cloak in an effort to be cured of her illness. This is a very pure teaching regardless of your religious beliefs. Faith alone does indeed have that power. What we believe, free from doubt, can move mountains. There is another aspect to faith in regards to duty. In practicing Self-care, we have promised to be faithful to that Self.

Surrender

Ah, this word. It gets such a bad rap. The Western mind especially abhors the idea of ‘giving up the fight’. But the original meaning of surrender is “to give one’s self up” and that is exactly what is required for Self-care. We must give up the little s self and deliver it into the hands of the capital S Self. We “grant back” to God what is God’s. We “abandonner” or release our need to control, to be right, to understand, and to be important, and we let a higher power orchestrate our lives. Surrender is release, a letting go of the struggle, and a melting into acceptance.

Patience

When we bear the uncomfortable without complaint, we are exercising patience. The path of healing can be a long and challenging one that tests our patience. Sometimes, it feels like we are getting nowhere. Months and even years can go by without much to show for our efforts. Patience is needed to remain steadfast. Patience can also be defined as calmly awaiting an outcome.

But with Self-care it is important to release our hopes for outcomes and instead focus on attention on learning to clearly see and accept what is. We must be prepared to wait an eternity for change to come. Fortunately and paradoxically, it doesn’t usually take that long once we are willing. But in the meantime, our next quality comes to the rescue.

Devotion

Though it is usually used in regard to religious feeling, relationships, or even man’s best friend, my preferred meaning is “awe and reverence”. While it helps to have an object of that devotion…some God figure or guru…one can also simply be devoted to Truth or Beauty (and even, quite unfortunately Money or Power). And in so being, that devotion drives all efforts in life towards that energy. There is a sense of doing anything and everything for the object of our devotion.

In fact, devotion is the fuel of every other quality above. It makes compassion, trust, faith, surrender and patience possible. We devote without ever expecting anything in return. The gaping lack of and misdirected devotion in this world will be our downfall if humanity cannot return to a state of awe and reverence for the mystical because a life without it is unthinkably dry and devoid of meaning.

Neither Good Nor Bad

It is important to note that despite the positive associations we usually have with each of these words, it is our thoughts and actions around them that make them helpful or detrimental to Self-care. Every single quality can be adulterated and twisted by the ego into something quite different than what is represented by the symbols in their purest form. For example, compassion can turn into pity. Trust can turn into willful ignorance. Faith can become blind. Surrender can become helplessness. Patience can become procrastination. And devotion can lead to a fanaticism.

Can you see how these qualities are able to help us release the things that keep us trapped in our fearful, restrictive, egoic identity? If it isn’t clear yet, I’ll write about that another time.

Capital S Self-Care Defined

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On 2022-11-10

In Blog, Self-care

In my last post, I wrote about redefining self-care in the most common use of the term. I touched upon the distinction between little s and capital S self-care. Today’s post is about that capital S Self-care.

Our True Nature

The Self (capital S) is our highest, truest nature (whereas the little s self is our ego identity). There is a percentage of those who understand instantly what I mean and of that percent, a number who even already recognize the truth of which I write. But for most people, if I told them outright what that nature was in words, they’d likely either:

a) not know what on earth I was talking about or take interest in it

b) misunderstand what I’m talking about

c) shrink away from it believing it some kind of heresy or thinking, “Oh, that can’t be me!”

But in our deepest heart, we all know this truth: we are Divine. It’s our denial of this that keeps us in suffering, in the separate self or ego. Our sense of separation from Love, from the archetypal Heavenly Father and Mother, from Oneness with all is is without a doubt, our source of suffering.

Divine Me Time Is Self-Care

Divine Me Time is about reconnecting to that Self. In fact, the entire main purpose of life on this earth is reconnecting to and then living in alignment with that Self. We could talk about how we ever got so disconnected in the first place, but I won’t address that here. Rather, I want to look at how capital S Self-care can works.

There are some things we can control…like how we choose to look at things. But there are so many things that we cannot control…like the things that either happen to us or don’t. So the first aspect of Self-care is to know the difference and accept it. The irony is that we have to do something but that whatever we do will never be enough on its own. It is simply not in our hands.

“Wait a second…are you telling us that we have to reconnect, that there are things we can do, but that those things will never work?”

Don’t you just love a good paradox? What I’m actually saying is that all of our efforts must be put towards the things we can control, or to be more accurate, the one thing we can progress in controlling: our attention. But this task can be approached via the many different practices of little s self-care. For the things we cannot control, that’s where Divine Me Time comes in.


The Capital S Self-Care Regimen

The practice of Capital S Self-care has a miraculous result but requires a much different regimen. One of:

  • Compassion
  • Trust
  • Faith
  • Surrender
  • Patience
  • Devotion

I’ll address each of these qualities in future posts. If they sound utterly frightening, unrealistic or even impossible, then your work starts with understanding why you feel that way and freeing yourself from such detrimental limitations and resistances that will forever keep you from ever knowing who you are. But of course, you have to want to know.

Since you’re here reading this, chances are, you already know that it is not only possible but essential to spend time cultivating these qualities. However, knowing what these qualities are, even being able to speak eloquently about them, is a far cry from activating and living them in every single moment, especially in the face of our daily tests and challenges.

You’ve probably heard the saying, “Where you place your attention is what expands.” So if you focus on all the things that are unpleasant, wrong, or painful in your life, that’s what life reflects back. Likewise, if we practice things like gratitude and are careful about the memes and energies to which we are exposed, other seeds will take root. And if we consistently water and nourish those roots through Divine Me Time, more and more of what is possible will open up for us in ways we could not have ever imagined.

We’re not doing the caring. The Self  is. We are merely doing our best to live in abidance with the qualities required to be open to receiving the love and healing Self always has in store for us.

So I hope it is clearer now, the difference between little s self-care and capital S Self-care. We must be in charge of the former. Self is in charge of the latter.

That’s Self-care with a capital S!

Self-care Redefined

By

On 2022-11-05

In Blog, Self-care

Self-care. It’s a word that, like everything else, means different things to different people.

Since Divine Me Time is about capital s Self-care as a way of life, I thought I would share with you how I define it. Perhaps the best way to go about this is to first define what Self-care isn’t, which will automatically reveal what it is.

An Important Distinction

First, notice that I’m spelling it Self-care with a capital S, not self-care. This is an important distinction, though really, the two are inseparable and rely one upon the other. The capital S Self-care is a means of tapping into the higher aspects of who we are. It is allowing our divine selves to reach towards and care for our material selves. It’s a mysterious but ever-present force. It’s our nature, our body’s ability to heal itself, and the grace that is always available to us, whether or not we are either aware of it or open to it.

The little s self-care, however, are all the things we do…our thoughts and actions…the reaching back toward the Self. It’s the practical things and the choices we make. So the essential difference for me is that an understanding of Self-care is as, if not more, important to our healing than anything we do on the self-care level.

But capital S Self-care is a bit outside our realm of complete understanding.  But we can take a closer look another time.

Now then, let’s look at little s self-care through common misperceptions:

  • It is not simply the 10-minute meditation you make time for everyday or once a week massage or yoga class, though that’s definitely a start. It is very much a way we live our lives, not just in carving out time for ourselves, but keeping our self-care attitude in mind throughout the day.
  • It is not selfishness or negligently forsaking responsibilities. Rather, it is seeking alternatives, accommodations, and freshness in managing responsibilities. It is placing the oxygen mask on ourselves first so that we can serve others.
  • It is not indulgence in addictions we know are bad for us just because they make us temporarily feel better. It is, however, perfectly okay to indulge now and again in things that are non-addicting and/or do not have lasting harmful effects to self. (And here, it is important to understand that the capital s Self is never harmed and cannot be.)
  • It is not in forcing ourselves into some self-improvement program, or endlessly trying to make ourselves into ‘better’ people by constantly moving the goal posts. It is, however, fulfilling our innate potentials and accepting the highest truth of who we are.
  • It is not necessarily about spending large amounts of money on retreats, treatments, therapies, or any other material thing. If you have the money, lucky you! If you don’t, you can still make Self-care and self-care a way of life. It doesn’t cost a dime to change the way we think. But it does take a certain amount of willingness, relearning, and effort…actually, a lot!

Ultimately, all self-care is rooted in kindness and authenticity toward the self. It is the turning of your attentions away from thoughts and things that pull you down and refocusing your attention and energies on things that elevate your Spirit. Your self-care will be entirely unique to you based on what feeds your soul: the music, the landscapes, the artwork, the poetry, the wisdom paths, the colors, the foods, the activities…  Of course, it is always helpful to find like-minded souls with whom you share such things in common.

That’s self-care, with a little s.

Now read about Self-care.

 

Mandalas & the Avadhuta Gita

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On 2022-10-20

In Blog, Mandalas & Sacred Geometry

Welcome to the Sacred Geometry of the Mandala combined with the Avadhuta Gita!

The Avadhuta Gita (Song of the Free Soul or Hymn of the Holy Fool) is a thousands-of-years-old ancient wisdom script attributed to Dattatreya (teacher to Patanjali said to be the “father of yoga”) that speaks to the non-dual nature of reality. The story goes that it was spoken spontaneously during Dattatreya’s immersion in Bliss.

The Avadhuta is a mystic who has completely renounced worldly concerns breaking free from all rules of social conditioning, free from identification with both body and mind. An avadhuta therefore is pure consciousness in human form.

This is an advanced text for advanced students. However, one not need understand it in order to benefit from the energy it contains. Enjoy simply listening to this powerful poetry as you meditate upon the sacred geometry within kaleidoscopic mandalas that accompany all eight chapters.

Stay tuned for more of visit my youtube playlist and subscribe.
For more videos featuring kaleid0scopic mandalas, visit my art page.

Deconstructed Mandala || Divine Me Time

Working with Deconstructed Mandalas

By

On 2022-10-20

In Blog, Mandalas & Sacred Geometry

What is a Mandala?

Mandalas are a language of the Universal Whole. The geometric mandalas that I create are a communication from and conversation with color and light. A person could watch and look at them, even thinking, ‘Cool!” but without really seeing or hearing the message conveyed. So as you do watch, please contemplate the following. Receiving the message will raise your frequency and raising frequency changes everything!

What is a Deconstructed Mandala?

Here I share a series of kaleidoscopic mandalas I like to refer to as “deconstructed”. Rather than symmetrical geometry, there is a little chaos in these representations of the Universal One. Each one signifies the dissolution of matter back to the zero point…or if you prefer, the swirling chaos of manifestation energies coming into material existence. This slideshow is set to a track inspired by the Heart Sutra titled “Illusion” that I recorded back in what feels like another lifetime ago in 2013. Let illusions dissolve and find yourself centered in the truth of
the formless self:

The Essence of Mandalas

Life is made up of fragments. The fragments tend to be all we see. Mandalas reveal to us a deeper truth: that everything in existence, all the fragments, radiate from a central point, a single origin, the ultimate source of all. Yes, they can be pretty or trippy, but perhaps the deeper significance is in the reveal of this zero point from which all of life arises. Aside from my own delight in beauty, maybe the point in creating them is the point that there is only One, eternally expanding and radiating out in all directions. The lines, shapes, and configurations are the web or thread that unites us, but equally uniting is the space between, the fascia of all of existence.

Some of the mandalas seem to have an inherent outward radiating force. Others have more of an inward radiating force, pulling us into that center. Really, they are each both, so it is all in how one looks at it…where one focuses. And this expansive and contractive force mirrors both the breath in and out and the heart which opens and closes with each experience or impression gained from living.

The four directions (and the multitude of infinite fractional directions) are represented in mandalas. The center of the cross is the entry way into all time and space. Each of us are that center wherever we stand. The entire universe emanates from you and as you.

In viewing these mandalas, take the time to see what is behind them. How on earth can you see what’s behind them? Let them pull you in. Instead of turning an external kaleidoscope in your hands, you be the mechanism. Allow life to turn you. Allow the chips of glass that are the fragments of your life to move apart and come together in rush and dance. You stay as the center.

Designs for Sale

I’m ready to design a gorgeous, mysterious, colorful visionary mandala for you. Artwork is suitable for websites and social media, cover artwork (album, book), videos or logos. Or you can just use it as an aid to meditation. What makes my designs different is that they all originate from actual artwork and/or photography. In other words, they are not purely digital, lifeless or flat.

I create with intention tapping into high creative energies to offer you art that carries a potent, healing frequency and beauty.

Contact me for details or find me on Fiverr (alchemist4you).

More Mandalas

For additional samples of my artwork visit my art page and for videos featuring more kaleidoscopic mandalas, visit my youtube playlist.

Embracing the Power of “And”

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On 2022-09-06

In Blog, Guidance & Inspiration

Today’s world. Not many would argue it’s bizarre. It seems that everyone is trying so hard to distinguish themselves today. We are in an instagram “look at me” revolution.

It seems to me, we’ve been glorifying our differences for far too long, and that it is contributing to our breakdown. Granted there are populations, mostly oppressed for centuries, who still need to be empowered through difference. But in a more encompassing “we’re all human” way, I think there’s a point at which individuation becomes self-obsession.

For example, today, I came across a post in which someone claimed that everybody who isn’t, according to her, “trauma-informed”, is just spiritual bypassing. She went on to recommend certain teachers, many of which I myself sometimes take inspiration from. I didn’t have a problem with her message, in general. There’s no question (well, apparently there IS a question if people still have to bring it up in the first place) that we cannot forego our shadow work and expect to healed.

But there’s another side to that story. “Trauma-informed” can often turn into “victim-enabling”. When we coddle the psychologies of those who have suffered and tip-toe around true responsibility with things like “trigger warnings”, we’re still not doing any favors. That too is a trap as “trappy” as any that will freeze us on our path by spiritually bypassing. It is ironic, is it not, that without fail, the very thing we see in others is always pointing to what we fail to see in ourselves.

Both of these “sides” are valid. Both. It’s not either/or. It’s and. But what is more relevant is “what serves the person NOW?”

Some people aren’t ready to dig into their shadows. (Just take a look around.) Others just need to wallow in their wounds for awhile. (Again, just take a look around). And that’s okay too. But hopefully, at some point, that will be outgrown and something deeper and truer will take hold. What I’ve found, is that people who tend to get stuck in the fear/trauma cycle tend to think those that have moved through it have done so by bypassing. It’s a projection. That’s not to say that spiritual bypassing doesn’t exist. Of course it does. It’s everywhere…even in some very unexpected places. Nor does it imply that victims don’t exist or are the result of their own choices. I too cringe when I hear the spiritually brainwashed claim, “They chose that.” “They” the person, certainly did NOT, even if some more intelligent, higher dimension soul did, and pointing that out is useless and hurtful.

I think as healers, yoga teachers, counselors, guides, lightworkers, we all need to be aware and far more sensitive to the fact that we may resonate with certain messages at certain times and that not everyone can or should join us there. We don’t have to make others wrong to make ourselves right, wise, or enlightened. For a simple example, some people want yoga to be a purely physical instagram challenge. Others want to focus on the embodiment aspects of yoga. Some want to break down movement into more functional use. It’s ALL brilliant! It suits who it suits. We need to remain cognizant of the fact that truths are relative. If we happen to have done a lot of work and can embrace a higher truth, it is essential we not forget what it was like before we could. I personally admit to failing in this arena for most of my life. I often transcended by exclusion instead of inclusion.

But this isn’t just about the various paths that are available. Embracing the “and” also applies to our own inner experiences. I can be totally sad and crying my eyes out AND be grateful for my life. I can absolutely hate myself AND be tender and compassionate toward myself. I can dislike someone AND wish them well. I can detest how someone else lives AND encourage them to live it fully.

I can listen to someone on one side of the political arena and say “you have a point” and turn around and listen to someone on the other side of the arena and say, “you have a point too!”

So in summary, when we can open ourselves to paradox, to dancing when we’re miserable, laughing when we’re grieving, loving when we’re hating, deeper truths are revealed. When we can allow others to be who they are where they are with what they are, we free ourselves to move beyond. To me, that is way more important that being right or different or popular or even visible.

It’s time to start embracing the power of “and”.

 

 

The Mirror Meditation Project

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On 2022-05-14

In Blog, Mirrors, On Meditation

The Mirror Meditation Project
Level 1 Foundational Training is Here. And it’s free!

“I love mirrors. They let one pass through the surface of things.” ~Claude Chabrol

Mirror meditation makes use of the mirror as a meditation aid to increase one’s concentration, open one’s perception, and deepen one’s meditative state. The first and only training of its kind, this introduction to Mirror Meditation is about genuine self-transformation and realization. You’ll learn foundational theory and important concepts to developing a successful practice and have access to written and guided video meditations to acquaint and deepen your experience with this amazing path and prepare you for more advanced trainings.

Learn more about Mirror Meditation.

Register on DivineMeTime Learning.

In God We Trust

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On 2022-04-09

In Blog

I’ve been struggling with something for sometime, and it has presented over the years as a schizophrenic rate sheet. I’ve oscillated between free offerings, hourly rates, sliding scales, donation-based offerings, numerous payment platforms, Memberships, private rates, group rates, gift certificates rates, etc., etc. I’ve tried to be everywhere at once…Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, Patreon, etc. Part of this struggle arises from an inner conflict over what is expected as a business person and my own abhoration of capitalistic paradigms and their contradiction with yogic theory. Additional complexity is at play when perceived value, time and effort, and simply paying bills are all considered. There’s also a world-based condition to be “successful”.

I take no issue with anyone making a living, including myself, though I do have a bit of a problem with celebrity gurus and the “out of touch” rates they charge for enlightenment. In my own history, I have been blessed to receive scholarships from teachers with whom I was eager to work and could not have otherwise. It was never easy to ask for these allowances, but I did because the situation demanded it. I know what taking like that can stir up. People generally prefer to assume to be able or unable to do something and not have to talk about the money. They prefer not to be faced with their own lack of generosity or overgenerosity, their issues around giving and receiving, and the way the world works enables us not having to look at that.

But now, we’re entering 2022. We all…well, some of us anyway…see exactly where our modern paradigms have gotten us: wide-spread corruption, greed, endless hustling and commercialism. Yuck. Yuck. Yuck. For awhile now, I have been wanting to do things differently. 

I am in a situation, at least at the moment (when and if it changes, then forgive me if my plans do too), where all my basic needs are met. I have a roof over my head, clothes to wear, food to eat, and transportation when I need it. For now, there isn’t much else I need. And as far as things I want, I am actively practicing non-attachment. As such, I am perfectly positioned to experiment. My focus is now on creating and providing services to an elite soul group regardless of the money, honey.

Starting this year, I am doing away with my current pricing structure. I will replace it with what I am calling a “Trust in God” scheme. God will provide, maybe through you, maybe from a totally different direction. So, if you want my services but you don’t think you can afford them, you no longer need to! You can always contribute a testimonial or spread the word of your experience on social media. But if you want my services and you are blessed to own a house, have regular income, or have an excess of wealth, then pay me what you can. It’s on you.

The important thing is that if you feel I can guide you or help you on your path, we find a way to make that happen. 

I know the majority of peope may find this all too much nonsense. But if it resonates, hello there, starseed. I see you too!

 

Ray Man Shabad in English

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On 2022-01-13

In Blog, On Meditation, Sound & Vibration, Yoga & Movement

The Ray Man Shabad is a beautiful prayer that made it’s way into my life unexpectedly. I fell upon the following video accidentally on Youtube on the New Year. Upon giving it a shot, I was hooked and decided to do the 40 days. Without understanding why, I was so filled with smiles and joy every time I practiced (and still am). I became so enthralled, I had to study the meaning of the prayer.

I was able to find two different translations which assisted me in creating a combined translation which I expanded with more modern symoblism, in a sense, personalizing the meaning for myself. I offer it here as inspiration. Give the practice a try and see what you feel.

Oh my mind practice daily in this method…

Let Truth be your horn, sincerity your necklace, and meditation a reminder that you are “ashes to ashes, dust to dust”. Practice self-restraint. Cease the burning of lower desires and let the soul (self) be the alms bowl in which you collect the sweet Naam, the Name of God, the only support you ever need.

Waves upon wave of melodies, passions, and emotions arise and flow through you. Listen to the reality from this highest place of awareness. Bind with and disappear yourself in the song of God, that sweetest ecstasy infused with Divine Knowledge.

The demons and demi-gods of realms beyond will be amazed, and the sages intoxicated with delight. The sage listens without being caught in duality; the sage drinks in the nectar of the heavens and is carried to the Ultimate Heaven in a divine chariot.

Be instructed by your soul, practice with discipline, and chant the Name of the Lord, even while silent. Meditate daily unto infinity until you are meditating without meditating.

If you would like to enjoy the Kriya that inspired my contemplations of this prayer, you will find it here:

https://youtu.be/vXW-Id4jjw8

Insights from Dorje Drolo – A Practice for Our Times

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On 2021-12-06

In Blog, Guidance & Inspiration

Earlier this year, during one of endless lockdowns, when the world seemed to be full of nothing but fear and confusion, I was guided to embark upon a 40-day Bon practice with the “subverter of demons” known as Dorje Drolo, a wrathful manifestation of Padmasambhava, the fully awakened, precious master and patriarch of Tibetan Buddhism.

Dorje Drolo is said to embody insight and compassion beyond logic and convention; in other words, he’s the embodiment of unleashed wisdom. In subduing evil forces, he eliminates all obstacles and leads the practitioner to a state of fearlessness. He also conceals and preserves the secret teachings for future generations.

Similarly to how I entered into the Triple Goddess Practice, with a careful, intentional focus and attention, I read the written practice, mulling over each and every word. This was followed by the recitation of a Dorje Drolo mantra 108 times each night over the 40-day period.

Unfortunately, I’ve not been successful in contacting the author of the tranlsated practice, Rudolph Bauer, but you can find it here. I hope it inspires you to investigate what this practice might hold in store for you.

During the practice, whenever I would get a flash of insight, I would pause and take notes. The following is a representation of the insights and questions that arose during this powerful experience that actually did create a fearlessness within me along with an unwavering commitment to Truth:

  • My mind is corralled in awareness by awareness. Therefore every thought is contained in that vast and borderless field. Focus on the field, not the mental activity.
  • Direct perception is seeing exactly what is free of any interpretation, just as it is. This is luminosity. This is emptiness.
  • Appearances take place within as thoughts, feelings, and memories. They take place without as material phenomena. But it is all appearance with no true substance.
  • Negative states of mind create situations that dull the Light of Truth. The common advice to raise one’s frequency isn’t so much born of the idea of being positive all of the time for it’s own sake, so much as it is born of this deeper truth.
  • If I give none reason to fear me, I myself become free of fear.
  • I am the untouched, the unscathed. In this entire life, never once have I been stained by material existence. Not a single experience or story had marked me. I am simply and always here.
  • You just have to be willing to look. You don’t have to seek out nor confront every evil, every injustice, every darkness. Just be willing to meet what comes and truly see what’s there.
  • Compassion isn’t a bleeding heart. It’s allowing and holding what is as it is. It is spacious illumination.
  • In what ways do we blame if the teachings are misunderstood? Is it the fault of the teachings or the fault of our own misunderstanding?
  • Destructive states of self-negation include denying the self that is Pure Awareness and denying the self that exists in the material plane. We are both human and Divine.
  • Everything that frightens is merely appearance and spaciousness. That’s all there is. In the dissolving and voiding of any and all situations and fear-based emotional states, notice their emptiness and watch as any attaching interpretations go “poof” before one’s eyes.
  • Repetitious reoccupation is what pulls us over and over away from the Light of Truth. This includes endless activity of day to day living and time-wasting.
  • Obstructive spirit consists of lies and confusion and destructive spirit consists of arrogance and certainty.
  • Integrity is an emanation of Primoridal Awareness, an embodiment and action out of Pure Awareness. Integrity isn’t something the self must fight to embody. As soon as the self is relinquished, integrity informs everything.

OM HA HUNG VAJRA MAHA GURU DROWO LOD SIDDHI HUNG

Yoga Teacher Responsibility: Cultivating Sovereignty

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On 2021-12-06

In Blog, Yoga & Movement

There was a powerful and somewhat heated discussion recently on one of the yoga forums about the responsibility of yoga teachers to their students in terms of politics, cults, media narratives and social issues. What is a yoga teacher’s ethical role when it comes to helping our students make meaning in today’s confusing world and what oversteps that role?

I proposed that it isn’t a yoga teachers place to tell anybody else what to think. But it is our responsiblity to learn how to think and having learned the art, pass it on, and second, to maintain a certain level of neutrality or at least awareness of our own biases.

In any case, it definitely isn’t our responsiblity to decide what’s right or that someone else is wrong. In fact, maybe our greatest duty to one another as humans in this cancel culture is to grow aware of how we think and pass on that information to those who are open to it. Perhaps it is our responsibility to foster communications that welcome dialogue or at the very least, demonstrate respect for varying viewpoints.

I sadly don’t always encounter that. In fact, it’s rather clear that many think it is absolutely their duty to tell others what is right and wrong. I struggle to how this aligns with principles of yoga outside very obvious natural laws.

I came across this quote from Daniel Schmachtenberger, founding member of The Consilience Project, aimed at improving public sensemaking and dialogue, in defining what the word ‘sovereignty’ means to him:

“If we actually want to empower people, I don’t want them to defer their sense-making to me. But I also don’t want them to do lazy shitty sense-making, or defer it to anyone else. Which means I want them to grow the quality of their own sense making, which means to grow the depth of their care, their anti-nihilism, to grow the depth of their earnestness and their own self-reflexiveness. To pay better attention to their biases and their sloppiness in thinking, their own skills and capacity. I want them to grow their attention span and both the clarity of their logic and the clarity of their intuition, and notice when something’s coming from intuition or logic and how to relate all of those things. That’s actually what increasing sovereignty means.”

I Hate Singing Bowls!

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On 2021-11-06

In Sound & Vibration

Okay, first, I do not hate singing bowls!!! I love them. But I recently had a couple of people to whom I introduced them tell me they couldn’t stand the sound. One said the sound hurt her heart and another woman said she found them irritating.

After I picked up my jaw from the floor (who doesn’t like singing bowls!?), I had to stop myself from entering into an explanation about why they might take issue with the sounds they were hearing. Maybe I don’t really know!

There are all kinds of things that produce sound in our environments from wifi signals (which I can sometimes hear) to machines like phones, copiers, and refrigerators to pianos, violins, and yes, singing bowls. I’ve written numerous times on why some sounds are harmful to us, how we entrain to things in our environment for better or worse, and how a constant assault of noise can be damaging to our health. That’s not what this particular post is about, though. My thoughts here are related only to sounds that are purposely created and used for healing purposes, such as with singing bowls.

So why might someone have difficulty with certain frequencies? First, know that all frequencies have their place and purpose. The intention with singing bowls is meditative and of healing. If a particular sound grates, chances are, it is hitting against a blockage or resistance within you. If it is too much, trust that. Not everyone is ready to let go of everything. However, if you truly desire healing on all levels, as long as there is no physical pain, push through it. Allow the sound to open up those parts of you that have been closed off tight for so long. For example, the woman who felt heart pain is likely to carry some energetic block in her heart, maybe some habit of judgment that keeps her safe and protected. Because we were in a situation where she didn’t come to me for healing, I was not in a place to offer any council on the matter. But if she were to get curious about why she reacted the way she did, I would then share with her my experience with how sound works upon our greatest blocks. It isn’t wrong that she felt what she felt. What is sad to me is her assumption that it “wasn’t for her” when it is probably what she needs more than anything to feel more alive and free in life. Good thing there are many ways to the same destination. I hope she finds one more comfortable.

One thing I do when I am working with a client is to let them know to stop me if they feel any pain when I play a bowl on or near the body. It if isn’t too intense, I ask the client to see if they can work through it, to stay with the feeling, just for a moment and see if it transforms on its own. It often does, once the vibration has a chance to loosen up the density. If it is intense, I stop playing the bowl and continue with Reiki on the part of the body that is communicating. Often, within a few minutes, the energy shifts and the sensation is gone, and returning to playing the bowl is now a different experience.

The denser the energy around and within us, the more likely we are to experience discomfort when a vibration starts moving things around. This, I believe, is the case with the woman who found the bowls “irritating”. Humans are creatures of comfort and habit. We tend not to like getting stirred up. We like the sediment of unexpressed emotional and repressed urges to remain settled, not realizing what a dreadful impact it has upon our wellbeing and fullfilment.

In my understanding, neither of these women was really prepared to experience the healing power of singing bowls. Their energy was simply too dense and therefore the impressions from the vibrations upon their energy fields was too uncomfortable. As they learn in life to allow and accept what is, as they learn to flow (since life has a way of making us learn even what we’d rather avoid), eventually, I suspect their experience with singing bowls would change.

As we learn to open up to the healing benefits sound has to offer, we begin to widen and unfurl our frequency range of comfort. We become less annoyed, less irritated, and more open to allowing vibration to impact our being in all the positive ways it can. We loosen our grip and find our hands, hearts, and minds ready to hold new feelings, ideas, and possibilities.

 

Tibetan Triple Goddess Healing Practice

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On 2021-10-24

In Blog, Guidance & Inspiration

What is the Triple Goddess?

The Triple Goddess is commonly known as a Pagan concept signified by the Maiden, Mother and Crone archetypes. However, here I am speaking of a different tradition, that of the ancient shamanistic tradition of Tibet that predates (but eventually incorporated) Buddhism by tens of thousands of years, the Bon.

The following practice was one I adopted and adapted from this tradition. While I received actual initiations to first, Yeshe Walmo (The Widsom Protector), and then Sidpe Gyalmo (Queen of the Universe), I felt that the practices were “out of touch” with the reality of my life in 2021 and realized I wanted to develop a practice that would be more meaningful to me personally and which I would be more likely to stick to.

I had my initial reservations about creating this practice, out of reverence for the power of the original teachings. But I also knew that I was highly unlikely to commit to any full practice in its original form. I needed to create something that was more relevant to me and that I was willing and able to stick to for 40 days. I also wanted to include Sherab Chamma (Compassionate Healer).

Therefore, the Triple Goddess as it relates here is comprised of these three Bon Goddesses: Yeshe Walmo, Sidpe Gyalmo, and Sherab Chamma. This is meant to be a modern-day, more accessible practice to the Western practitioner.

I made it a part of my intent to mean absolutely no disrespect in rewriting the teachings. I humbly asked for both forgiveness for my lack of awareness and tradition and for guidance and protection as I proceeded and emphasized my deep wish to serve. This is what resulted.

Then, every night for 40 days, I recited the following, slowly and with deep devotion. I would also journal any insights afterwards. It was an incredibly moving and powerful experience, and so I share it with you now.

Should you choose to adopt it as your own, or rewrite it to make it your own (as I believe there is great benefit in doing so), please do it with humility and reverence. These are very powerful energies that will slap you silly if you misuse them! You will be tested. I was!

But during this 40-day practice, I was also rewarded with rich dreams, a blessing I had waited years to manifest, and a deepening sense of devotion and connection to the gifts of nature. While I had no expectations of such rewards, they came unbidden and as confirmation of the unconditional love of the Divine Feminine.

The Practice

[Call in each of the emanations, imagining they appear and stand before you.]

Namo Guru Sherab Chamma x 3

Peaceful/healer, Sherab Chamma, please grace me with your effulgent presence.

Namo Guru Sipe Gylamo x 3

Wrathful/protector, Sipe Gyalmo, please grace me with your effulgent presence.

Namo Guru Yeshe Walmo x 3

Wisdom/protector, Yeshe Walmo. Please grace me with your effulgent presence.

Sherab Chamma, Compassionate and Peaceful Healer, teach us to offer comfort, guidance and healing to all and to dispel all obstacles such as fear, sickness, sadness or the negative impact of demonic forces. Through you, we can and do realize the grace that illuminates a perfect understanding of the karma and suffering of beings. Your vast heart preserves and feeds the pure energy of all our hopes, dreams and accomplishments. May we trust in that.

Sidpe Gyamlo, Queen of the Universe, you ruthlessly exorcise all evils and heal with ferocious transmutation all negative energies. Free us from illusion and delusion. Reveal our dominion over evil and death. Because of you, we ride in victory triumphing over egoic and emotional affliction, eradicating hostile forces. Through you, we can and do realize cosmic truth and clear light wisdom. May we realize boundless space as Self. May all of our shadow aspects such as arrogance, negativity, and doubt be transmuted into siddhis by your eternal flames of Truth.

Yeshe Walmo, Wisdom Protector, Mother of infinite space, whose dark blue body, studded with the radiant brilliance of the starry sky, and through whom the practitioners are kept safe from fault and persecution, to you, all energies of nature submit. Upon a lotus of light, you carry a flaming thunderbolt sword to subdue our enemies and vase that holds the ever-pouring waters of Life. Truth is forever safe-guarded under your cloak of peacock feathers which transmutes all outer and inner poisons. Through you, may we be purified by the wisdom flame that burns all ignorance.

Sweet and fierce emanations of the Mother, teach us to transmute our poisons, cut away all ignorance, and reveal to us our eternal nature. In so doing, may we be blessed with the power to heal ourselves and the suffering of all beings.

Beloved Triple Mother, whose heart/breast drips with a loving and inexhaustible, heavenly nectar, I recite your mantra from the depths of my heart to yours; through your compassion, liberate the world from negativity and disharmony of all kinds in the three realms and throughout the three times, dispel all obstacles and pacify all evils, and bring everlasting peace, sweetness, and an enduring awareness of our complete perfection.

Mantras

OM MAMA RA YO ZA x 3

OM A BHI YA NAG PO BAD SOD SO HA x 108

Dedication Prayer

I dedicate this practice to the attainment of the most supreme and sublime enlightened mind for the benefit of all sentient beings. May all beings be free from suffering. May all beings know peace.

Why Divine Metime?

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On 2021-10-20

In Blog

Why Divine Metime

Why Divine Metime?

Names are important. They carry energy and set a direction. They solidify intent. I wanted to take a moment to address the name of this website.

Let’s define ‘me-time’.

First, Me-time is defined by the Online Slang Dictionary as “time to one’s self to relax, recover, think, etc.” While connotations can run the gamut from the selfish to the profane, the word is used here in its purest essence – time just for you to do something for yourself that restores and recharges you. This isn’t always an easy thing for people to make space for because of our daily obligations and responsibilities. But it is critical in order for us to remain healthy, well-balanced humans rather than dried out, resentful zombies.

The idea that it is ‘selfish’ to take me-time tends to be propagated among those who risk losing the full attention of the one taking it and by those who unable to take it for themselves as the result of some passed-down agreement or belief. But just as one must place first their own oxygen mask in case of cabin air-pressure change, those who don’t find ways to make space for me-time are often too drained to be of true service to others.

Me-time is about replenishing your energy and a means to “catch up” with yourself when the stresses of life have forced you to endure. Me-time can be as simple as setting aside five minutes in a quite room to simply breathe or it can include carving out time for your favourite hobby or be as extravagant as a month-long retreat.

Let’s define the word ‘divine’.

Now, Divine means “holy, heavenly, sacred, excellent to the highest degree” according to several sources and furthermore, according to Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, it is also of or belonging to God; proceeding from God and/or appropriated to God. This isn’t about religion, though. It matters little whether one is a Christian, Buddhist, Muslim or Atheist. You may replace the word “God” with whatever is meaningful to you…Universal Intelligence, Source, Life itself.

On the surface, the divine of divine metime is meant to simply imply a heavenly experience, in the way one speaks of a heavenly hot bath or a divine piece of chocolate. It is a respite from everyday life, if only for an hour, and a doorway into a much more profound sanctuary.

Divine Metime

Now we put it all together. You are standing on Holy Ground right where you; you make it holy. In fact, the original meaning of healing was wholeness or, to be more precise, holiness. Healing is a re-membering of our dismembered and scattered selves impacted by a confused world and the illusion of separateness and limitation.

Divine Metime is a communion with your Sacred Self if you are willing to open yourself to it. In our surrender to the process, we steep in the Light of Pure Awareness, and allow that beautiful light to care for these bodies and forms with which we perceive the world. In that light, we remember and reconnect to the love we are.

As one client recently put it, “It’s self-care on steroids”.

Why not give it a try? Book your session today.

Consecrated: Beyond Religion

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On 2021-09-17

In Blog

I’ve written about the power in a name on numerous occasions and in my book, The Unknown Mother. On this website, I offer guided meditation mp3’s that utilize that same power to enhance meditative experience. So understand, I don’t take  names lightly. I see them as a vibratory force that impacts us on deep energetic levels, and there is science that supports that.

I’ve often shared the story, when people say, “Dielle is such an unusual name. Where does it come from?” of how in 2003, I had a near-death experience and underwent major life transformations that included a name change. It’s a long story I won’t repeat here, but I’ve used the name Dielle ever since; that name carried me through nearly 20 years of my life.

It is now Fall of 2021. The world has undergone so many significant and unprecedented changes and this being has changed along with them. Thus, I have decided to return to my birthname, Beth.

It’s kind of ironic. Beth has never liked the name. She finds it boring and terribly plain. But just like ‘Dielle’ became a beacon and a means to align with its meaning, “Drinking the Light”, now ‘Beth’ is the beacon by virtue of its meaning: consecrated to God.

(She writes in 3rd person for a very particular reason. It is a tool to create space between the Godself and egoic, or personal self. And yes, it can be a little confusing, at first. It is also incredibly liberating.)

Humanity is in the very early stages of major crisis. And if that seems unfair given the extent of the crises we’re already facing, you haven’t seen nothin’ yet. Life as we’ve always known it is gone…well and truly gone. Only the ghosts and zombies of it remain. The corruption is so widespread and so deep. We, as a species, are in a fundamental transformation, a spiritual battle. Will we align with our Godself or will we succumb to the illusory world and insanity? This is, mythologically speaking, a very old story: Christ vs. Evil, Buddha vs. Temptation, Hero vs. Villain. And I see this as a time to choose. We either choose God or default to the psychosis and devolution of our species. I do not speak of the God of religion. This God is so much greater and so much more profound. This is the Universal God.

This is going to be a very difficult time for anyone that out of hand takes issues with the word ‘God’ itself. They had better redefine it for themselves and make it accessible again. We cannot continue on without God. We will destroy ourselves and our home if we cannot redeem the notion from the grips of ancient misinterpretations and misuse. If we cannot free the concept from scriptures and religions, if we cannot reclaim it and be in relationship with it, we are lost. We do not need to exclude these things necessarily, but we need to rise above them beyond conception.

I guess my parents knew what they were doing when they named this one Beth. She is a child of God. She is holy. She belongs to God. Nothing can break this. Nothing. God gives her her experiences, her thoughts, her feelings, even her desires. They come from that One Source. But Beth is human. She has preferences and aversions. Her knowledge is limited and she is subject to the limitations of her body. She is also subject to the illusory nature of emotions, thoughts, and confusions.  She is fallible. And yet, I love her. She belongs to me. And whatever happens to her, I remain.

And I belong to God. When I use the word “I”, it is I absolute. It is I, the Godself, not the person. It is the unchangeable, uncontaminated eternal “I” that was neither born nor able to die. It is the “I” beyond mental concepts, ideas, beliefs and desires. It is the “I” beyond states of feeling. It is the imperturbable, pure being. And when Beth opens to and sits in that “I”, she dissolves into spaciousness and unites with Source.

Beth is aware that it will take time for people to get used to this change, but she’ll respond to either name as necessary. And of course, there are aspects that might take years to catch up…like her domain name.

So what about Dielle? Whoever she was, she served her purpose. I thankfully and lovingly lay her to rest.

Inspired by the Times

By

On 2021-08-25

In Blog, Guidance & Inspiration

I have been feeling so inspired by the times in which we’re living. Okay, yeah, some days, I want to tie lead weights to my ankles and throw myself into the lake. But when those brief moments of “what kind of a fucked-up planet is this!” pass, I actually feel inspired. That doesn’t mean I’m not greiving over the inhumanity, the waste of creative vision, and the normalcy of dystopia from time to time either. It just means that I bounce back. I’ve learned to be resilient.

Letting Go

Why am I feeling inspired? For starters, I find myself letting go of things that just don’t align anymore; we’re talking some really big things. In some ways, those changes have been imposed upon me, such as not being able to teach yoga indoors, but many I am choosing, such as changing the types of platforms I use to be ones that support open discourse instead of this censorship crap we’re seeing everywhere. I’m feeling my own power to choose to align, and it feels great. I’m getting clearer and clearer on my values and their worth and a deeper commitment to uphold them.

While I’m still on youtube and will remain for the time being, I have set up two channels (1) (2) on Odysee featuring the same content, but separating Awareness of Thinking and Deep Important Shit from the yoga and meditation because that is most likely to be censored from youtube in the future. I’ll only post new related content in those subjects on Odysee, keeping youtube for yoga, meditation and healing work.

I’ve also stopped trying to stuff my giant-ass lightbeing self into the small box in which I’ve been living to avoid scaring the natives. I have been overly careful, hiding really, so as to avoid the lack of acceptance I already felt here. I was so concerned about having (any) clients and competing with the cliques, and not offending or threatening people with who I am, that I allowed my gifts to shrink and virtually disappear into ghosts of their former expression. Frankly, a part of me really likes hiding. It’s easy. Too easy. But I’m finally integrating what it had to teach me, and the energy has shifted. I’m done hiding. Take me or leave me.

A Change of Focus

One of the things I’m going to be letting go of is teaching group yoga on a regular basis. Instead, I’m going to be focusing on teaching, writing and recording guided meditations, for which I’ve received some very positive feedback that warms my heart and encourages me on. My personal “deyoga” practice will re-take center stage for me as I re-transition into the healing work I was doing before I became a yoga teacher, the work that was forsaken when I moved to this difficult learning ground known as Southwestern France.

Let me explain “deyoga”. I’m so over rules, regulations, certifications, right ways and wrong ways. I just wanna move my body, man. I want to forget all the knowledge that was crammed into my head and let my practice become ME. I can no longer cater to what people expect a yoga class to be! Because I truly believe movement needs to be individualized and incorporate the whole being, I will be focusing on private yoga sessions “Dielle style” working with truly commited students who understand yoga is a doorway into Self, not just some exercise plan. So if you’re not afraid of a mantra or two, or sitting still and breathing for an hour if that’s what’s called for, hit me up for a session. But I’ll still teach Wednesday’s Gentle Stretch class on Ompractice; it still gives me pleasure to do so.

Also instead of group yoga, I’ll be offering private restorative yoga energy healing sessions online. It’s what the times call for (it’s what people need whether they know it or not), and it is where my true gifts lie. I am a natural-born healer and it’s time I reclaimed that.

I also plan to write a lot more; in fact, I’ve already been doing so, though very much under the radar, at Substack (with one piece proudly published in the OffGuardian). So much has changed in this world since 2020. I am certainly not the same person I was. There’s no point in pretending to be; we don’t live in an age where ‘not alienating people’ is possible if we’re speaking our truth. And I certainly have no intention of doing anything watered down anymore. Too much is at stake.

I came into this world with the values of Beauty, Freedom and Truth in my DNA. I’m not about to let those ideals parish because of a climate of persecution. There are those who would call me and others like me selfish, but we’re not out to preserve merely our own comforts and freedoms. We want to ensure them for all. So once again, as is the ironic case all too often, he who does the pointing has three fingers pointing back at him. If you too want to be selfish as hell and preserve civil liberties and human rights…

Come, come, whoever you are. Wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving. It doesn’t matter. Ours is not a caravan of despair. Come, even if you have broken your vows a thousand times. Come, yet again, come, come.

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field. I’ll meet you there.

Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love. It will not lead you astray. Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.

~Rumi

 

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