Category: Blog Page 2 of 7

8 – Death & Dying: Helping a Loved One

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On 2023-03-02

In Blog, Guidance & Inspiration

A straight-forward series of posts on the delicate topic of Death and Dying

Over the last several posts, I’ve shared what I have understood of my recent exposure to the Tibetan Bardos teachings. Today, I present some of the ways we can support those we love who are in transition or who have already passed.

I hope that you understand that we do not need to be experts on these teachings to benefit from them ourselves or to help our loved ones benefit. We just have to have an open mind and of course, be able to recall what we’ve learned at the time it is needed. I came across an article before writing this and I share it here because it speaks more about the importance of our own state of mind in being with those in transition.

When with someone who is transitioning, be affectionate, keeping the person calm and warm. It is most important to control your own emotions around them as these can create strong attachments or fear. Also, it is best to limit distractions (television, lively conversation, all but gentle, lyric-free music) so that they can focus on the work at hand…dying.

We can be of most help to others by pleasing them: honoring their wishes, remaining positive in spirit, surrounding them with cherished memories, and offering our forgiveness and compassion. In so doing, we open them to receiving any guidance we have to share through what we ourselves have learned through the teachings, not as some dogma of which they must be convinced but as an interesting possibility, making it possible for them to be aware and watchful for the experience of it.

This is work that can be done while our loved ones are still with us or even after their passing. It’s never too late. In fact, certain prayers or rituals should only be said and done after physical death and not before.

There are many different kinds of rituals that can be done, at different timings (for example a ritual every seven days starting from day after the 3rd day of outer death), some that address specific Bardo issues and others that are more general. I won’t go into them in any detail here, but I list them as a means to enable one’s further research:

Bardo Rituals

Pacification of Wrathful Energies
Summoning Consciousness
Help for Wandering (Lost) Beings
Help to Move Up the Realms (from hell realm, to hungry ghost, to animal to human…)
Butterlamp or Candle Offerings
Mantras
Food Offerings (burned)

The last two, mantras and food offerings, I performed on behalf of my brother after his passing many years ago. It felt so loving to prepare some of his favorite foods and send them to his spirit. I will never forget chanting one day with my sisters when a framed photo of him literally shot itself off the mantle and onto the floor. There was no explanation for this…no earthquakes or strong winds. Nothing around it shook. It was clearly intentional. I wasn’t sure if he was asking us to shut up already, but at least I knew he was listening.

While I may continue to write about the subject of death, this is my last post in regard to my training with Choekhortshang Rinpoche, whose name I can now pronounce. He can be followed on Facebook where you can find more about opportunities to learn from him.

I would also like to offer the following resources for further study:

Tibetan Book of the Dead
Tibetan Buddhist Encyclopedia

May this series be of benefit to all sentient beings who find it, helping us all realize True Nature. And certainly, may it help you prepare for the inevitability of your own encounter with death.

Namaste!

 

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

7 – On Death: Two More Chances

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On 2023-02-23

In Blog, Guidance & Inspiration

A straight-forward series of posts on Death and Dying

Last time, I wrote about the most auspicious opportunity to awaken that comes to us in the Emptiness Bardo. The last two means by which one can awaken along the Bardo journey I now present to you here. Though my wish for all sentient beings is that we can take full advantage of Dharmakaya and remain forever free of cyclical existence, it is perhaps in our best interests to keep the following information tucked somewhere in our consciousness, just in case!

2nd Choice State: SAMBHOVAKAYA

In the Clarity (Rigpa) Bardo

In the Bardo of clarity, there is no familiarity. The first experience is the sound of emptiness followed by the light of clarity or rays of unity. If one recognizes even this is yet again just the mind, one can become realized. Any former physical form (or rather, the memory of it) dissolves into light. Those who fail to see the truth or who refuse to accept it might return as spirits to the world they knew. Others will establish a “life” in the Bardo.

3rd Choice State: NIRVANAKAYA

In the Sidpa Bardo (of Becoming)

If one remains heavily self-identified, there is still one last chance to be freed from the Bardo journey. If one can become aware that death has occurred, there is the realization that one must move on. One’s karma plays big part in whether or not this happens and what manifests. (This is, of course, true at every stage.) The forces of resonance and attraction will draw the being toward a new life…hopefully as another sentient being able to continue the path until full awakening can arise.

This state makes me think of the times when I have had to tell spirits that they are dead in order to be free of them in environments they were “haunting”. It always seemed to work. Perhaps they simply needed to be told this truth…they were dead and needed to move on. (Sometimes, even the living need this reminder!) At any rate, it is a simple enough thing to do and may be an act of compassion for those wandering the netherworlds rather than fearing them as hungry ghosts.

Next time, more practical tips on how to help our transitioning loved ones, perhaps the most relevant of the last 7 posts!

 

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

Inner Death and the Sands of Time

6 – On Death: Dharmakaya – Precious Seconds to Awaken

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On 2023-02-16

In Blog, Guidance & Inspiration

A straight-forward series of posts on Death and Dying

According to the Tibetan Bardo teachings, there are three opportunities for full enlightenment after one dies. Dharmakaya is the first and most precious of these, and is considered the ultimate or absolute body, beyond form, substance, concept and even the ideas of existence and nonexistence.

This is probably a topic which I am least qualified to write about and one which I intend to spend more time studying, but I’ll give it a go, as my intention here is two-fold, processing what I’ve learned through writing and writing in service to even one being who would benefit from an introduction to this wisdom.

Below is a brief summary describing Dharmakaya, comprised of three “seconds” (in quotes because the last second itself is comprised of three parts) and how one might recognize it during one’s own transition. I will just say, as much as this information is related in a linear fashion, my sense of it is that it doesn’t necessarily follow our understanding of time.

Dharmakaya - Seconds to AwakenTHE BARDO OF EMPTINESS

The First Precious Second:

This is considered the most fortuitous opportunity for self-realization, when all appearances fall away.

The eyes have rolled and the final breath has been taken. The senses have turned inward. The gross body has dissolved. The energetic body has dissolved as well revealing a subtlety that was always there between mind and body, now revealed. It is all that remains. The illusory world falls away and with it, all appearances.

At this point, one drop of father essence or male bodhisattva seed descends down from the crown into the heart. In that second will come a shining vision or perhaps a feeling akin to a column of smoke rising which pacifies all emotions of the angers, leaving a sense of pleasure in its wake. If one is aware, one can abide in that purity.

The Second Precious Second to Awaken:

Here, one drop of essence of mother or female bodhisattva seed ascends up from the root into the heart. In this moment, there is a flame of a butter lamp burning and a redness that colors everything like a red dream. All afflictions of desire and attachment are pacified, giving a blissful feeling and revealing naked mind. If one is aware of this, one can awaken.

The Third Precious Second (comprised of three) to Awaken:

This final second for enlightenment in this most blessed juncture for awakening is actually followed with two more opportunities at other stages of the Bardo journey, is comprised of three seconds marked as a black, radiant near-attainment of mind. Three drops come from the heart itself back into the heart. All goes dark. It is said to be an experience like a sky full of stars. All ignorance emotions are pacified. Pure mind abides. If you see it, your very own dharmakaya, and if you can stay there, you will be realized.

I should mention that if the being fails to self-realize, then there may follow total unconsciousness and all activity ceases. Decaying back in the physical world starts. Perhaps this explains why certain realized masters or even Christian saints have remained composed and fresh long after death; they realized Dharmakaya. It is so beautiful when wisdom transcends mere religious belief.

But, in case you haven’t already noticed, things tend to happen in threes. So, there are actually two more kayas, Sambhogakaya and Nirvanakaya, in which one can awaken. I’ll talk about those next time.

 

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

Inner Death and the Sands of Time

5 – On Death: Inner Death

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On 2023-02-09

In Blog, Guidance & Inspiration

A straight-forward series of posts on the delicate topic of Death and Dying

Last time, I posted about death as we tend to think of it — a gross physical process. Today, we’ll encounter two additional stages that appear in the Tibetan Bardo teachings.

These next two stages of death are perhaps a little harder for the typical Western mind to grasp. After all, for the majority, if you can’t see it or prove it scientifically, it doesn’t exist, right? (And these days, even if you can see it, that doesn’t mean it’s worthy of belief!) But the Tibetans understand that there is an internal death that must take place; in other words, the energy that is identified with being a person must dissolve. This is what happens at the subtle stage of Inner Death.

INNER DEATH

Practicing yogis, energy workers, healers and the like will have a much easier time understanding the Inner Death during which the 5 pranas or subtle winds (prana, apana, samana, udana, vyana) and 5 chakras or wheels of energy (as opposed to the 7 of other systems) and their elements collapse down. In other words, the energy channels of the body must also die, not just the gross physical manifestation.

The result of this is collapse is a highly concentrated mind…all that remains of the person we knew. There wouldn’t necessarily be any obvious signs of the Inner Death taking place but the one experiencing it can know it by its visions and lights, that is if that person knew to look out for them. (And now you do!) It’s a mind/body experience without the body…so very like dreaming. It bears similarities to the “light at the end of the tunnel”, which in itself is a pretty fascinating phenomena commonly reported in near-death experiences, giving the Western concepts something in common with Eastern ones.

Different elements are said to give off different lights as they dissolve:

Earth – may see yellow light
Water – may see blue
Fire – may see what appear to be fireflies
Air – lightening visions, red and green (marked by a feeling of tension and grasping)
Space – complete darkness

Unfortunately, at this stage, there is a danger of the mind becoming unconscious, making it impossible to continue one’s journey with awareness.

SECRET DEATH

Finally there is the Secret Death. Secret, to remind you, just means ‘hidden’ from anyone not ready/able to receive them. Here consciousness leaves the body, and though it was not specifically stated, I took this to mean that it returns to the greater mind, the Absolute. This is the real and final death and perhaps the most mysterious of the three because of its hidden nature.

But of course, as any Tibetan will tell you, that isn’t the end! Causes and conditions can lead to other lifetimes or even Buddhahood. In fact, it is said that the best opportunity to become enlightened upon death happens between the Inner and Secret Death stages. One’s lifelong spiritual practices, if they had any, would become most valuable here. I’ll write more about this opportunity in my next post.

PS:
A brief mention for the zombie fans out there. If a dead person refuses to leave their body, this can result in the arising of the zombie state. Pulling the hair at the crown, pulling the ears, or shouting in a body’s ear can help nudge the spirit out and guide it to liberation. The question remains, are zombies something we need to fear while we live or after we die and find ourselves traversing the Bardos? Hmm…

 

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

4 – On Death: Outer Death

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On 2023-02-02

In Blog, Guidance & Inspiration

A straight-forward series of posts on the delicate topic of Death and Dying

Over the next couple of posts, I’ll be going over what I understand to be the three types of death—outer, inner and secret— as reported in the Tibetan Bardo teachings, and more specifically today, the outer death.

Outer death is the death of the physical form and the way Westerners typically think about death. Our loved one stops breathing. The heart stops. That’s it. Dead, however much we wish they weren’t. However, according to Tibetan traditions, this signifies only one level of the total dying process. Furthermore, there a aspects to this outer death which are only acknowledged in the Tibetan system.

The outer death is a reversal of the creation process I wrote about HERE. So, starting with the element of earth, there is a dissolution of the physical form moving through each of the elements exemplified in the following ways:

Earth

  • senses and their cognition get weaker and as earth element decreases
  • the body shrinks
  • feelings of heaviness
  • loss of touch
  • spleen energy dissipates

Water

  • body dissolves back to semen and blood (back to water)
  • kidney/bladder energy dissipates
  • lips dry
  • thirst
  • elimination slows
  • hearing loss

Fire

  • liver/bile energy dissipates
  • person gets cold
  • loss of taste
  • mumbling
  • other organs as containers fail

Air

  • lung energy dissipates
  • sense of smell goes
  • breath weakens
  • intestinal control goes

Space

  • heart energy dissolves
  • the power of manifestation/creation leaves

Unless we are in the caring professions and work directly with the dying, we don’t often notice or think about these aspects of dying. Certainly looking at this transitional process through the lens of the elements offers us a deeper understanding (and hopfully allowing of and trusting in) the experience.

It is then that we move onto the more mysterious and subtle inner death, and I’ll describe that process in my next post.

I would like to again mention in thanks that I was the beneficiary of this knowledge as shared by Choekhortshang Rinpoche. If you are fascinated and would like to delve deeper into the Bardo teachings, there will be future opportunities to do so. The description above, indeed this series of posts, is not by any means complete and simply meant to provide a tantalizing introduction to this important wisdom.

May those who would most benefit from reading this, find it. And may the act of writing it be of merit to all beings.

 

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

Coming Into Existence

3 – On Death: Into and Out of Existence

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On 2023-01-27

In Blog, Guidance & Inspiration

Welcome to the 3rd installment of writings on the Tibetan teachings of the Bardos. You can find the 1st installment HERE and the 2nd HERE.

Coming Into Existence

Today, I will be sharing the Tibetan view on how we come into being. This is important to understand because when we die, we take the reverse path. So understanding one is understanding the other.

Space

First there is simply space. This space contains mind…or perhaps it is more accurate to say that space is mind. Up until receiving this transmission, I had compartmentalized the concept of space from mind. I had a concept of mind, the thing to observe in meditation, as the thing that is always full of thought, ideas, concepts, reasons, etc. Now I understand the mind itself is that purely empty expanse in which all such mental stuffs arise.

Karmic Winds

In that emptiness, the dance of the elements commences starting with a karmic wind or breath that stirs as a result of the grace and compassion of the gods. This breath then becomes fire (passion) which expands and ripples out, becoming water (blood/fluids) which then hardens, turning into earth and becoming flesh or matter.

Manifestation

From there, things become physical as the heart forms as the basis of our internal world, the navel develops our connection to the outer world (think umbilical cord), and each of the elements take their home in our various organs: air in the lungs, fire in the liver, water in the kidneys, and earth in the spleen. The senses develop as doorways between the inner and outer worlds.

This is perhaps a simplification of something far more complex, but you get the poetic idea. There is chain of events and all conditions must be met for life to come into being. It might not be ‘scientific’ according to Western standards, but it does not dismiss the miraculous mystery of life, as science often does, reducing life to a sterile, tiny pocket of limited understanding in the vast spaciousness of the mind.

So next time, we will begin to look at this process in reverse.

 

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

2 – On Death: When You’re Dead, You’re Dead (or Are You?)

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On 2023-01-20

In Blog, Guidance & Inspiration

A straight-forward series of posts on the delicate topic of Death and Dying

Welcome to another installment on Death & Dying. In this post, we begin our dive into the Tibetan Bardo teachings.

Most would assume that once you die, you’re dead. The Tibetan, however, have a different perspective. They believe first of all that there are, if you will, levels or stages of death:

  1. outer death (that which we typically conceive of as death when the last breath is taken)
  2. inner death (the dissolution of the subtle, energetic body)
  3. secret death, secret simply implying hidden but in so much as someone who isn’t ready won’t be able to understand (when individual consciousness becomes unconscious or transcends).

They also believe that it takes at the very minimum three days for this to occur, or to occur to such an extent that the deceased will be spared from any residual discomfort. In other words, we ought not to bury or cremate our loved ones for at least three days, lest we put them through some kind of torture. Bear in mind this torture is not the physical kind, obviously, but born of the stubborn tethering of the mind to the body and not realizing that one has passed…or in rare cases, not having completely died. In fact, there are instances of those who have been assumed dead, buried even, only to be discovered still alive a short time later to the shock of those doing the discovering!

When I heard that the ‘apparent’ dead might still suffer as if in their bodies, I was a little concerned about my father’s death years ago. When he died, everything happened very fast. He was cremated, if not the next day, then the one following. I remember how sweet our family experience at the funeral home was, full of joyful laughter that probably looked like a total loss of sanity to the funeral director. But Dad (and his sense of humor) was truly present with us as we chose his urn, all five of us pointing at the exact same time to the exact same one among a wall full of different styles. Since it hurts to think of him suffering from a too-quick cremation, I choose to believe he was already very much aware he was not his body and all too happy to have it over quickly. I am also reassured because he was ill for some time and was aware of the gravity of his situation.

Actually, despite this minimum of three days, it is believed that it takes 49 days or seven weeks to move through the entire after-death bardo journey. Therefore, our loved ones remain near during that time (and many of us feel and know they are always around even afterwards in different ways), feeling separated by an unsurpassable boundary, as they process their past, resolve feelings from their most recent life, and consider possible futures. This journey is marked by present confusions and obstacles and the visions that enter the mind that continues to exist after bodily death. The dead must overcome temptations, Bardo beings and illusions, and the various traps that would render them “stuck” in the Bardos, unable to transition to another life or to self-realization altogether.

Therefore, it is of great benefit during this 49 days to offer up prayers, rituals, happy memories, and any offerings to assist the loved one’s transit. I will write more about this perhaps at a future time.

Next time, I’ll go into a little more detail about how we come into and go out of existence according to the teachings. Until then…

 

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

1 – On Death – Are You Ready to Die?

By

On 2023-01-17

In Blog, Guidance & Inspiration

A straight-forward series of posts on the delicate topic of Death and Dying

I know. I know. It’s everybody’s favorite topic to avoid. Forget the fact that we’re all dying the minute we’re born. Forget the fact that everyone we know now will be dead in, at best, 100 years. Forget the fact that life has been pushing death in our faces for the last two years (to say nothing of countries that have been facing it on a daily basis for much longer). It’s a disturbing taboo subject. And so naturally, I am enthralled!

In my last post, I began a conversation about death sharing some insights from philosopher Alan Watts as well as a recent dream I had. Over my next few blog posts, I will be sharing what I learned in 2022 having received the transmission of Tibetan Bardo teachings with Choekhortshang Rinpoche. Bardo, if you are unfamiliar with the term, literally means ‘journey between two lives’. It also refers to those opportunities for realization that come during/between the death stages outlined in these teachings.

In the West, we are most familiar with the tantric approach to the dying process or journey between two lives. What I received, however, was the Dzogchen approach. I was humored by Rinpoche’s explanation of the difference which says everything it needs to about Western culture. The tantric approach is like an action adventure movie, full of drama and complexity. The Dzogchen approach is pure simplicity. (That one! I’ll take that one.)

Death was also a confronted aspect in my Toltec studies in which a friendship with the Angel of Death reminds us that everything is on loan to her. Furthermore, a ritual writing of one’s Book of Death helps one along the journey of personal transformation, to confront what must die in order to be free. In that regard, the focus was more of the death that happens before death, the death of the identity and conditioning in which we had no choice. But it, of course, prepares one for the ultimate death, too.

But I see how the Bardo teachings can also apply to the egoic death before physical death as well. In fact, life is not ended in a single death. Life is full of millions of little deaths…of moments, of relationships, of circumstances. And our aversions, attachments, and ignorance (the three poisons according to Buddhist teachings) are what make us suffer each of those little unavoidable deaths. Naturally, when Selfcare is our concern, we are working to minimize our suffering, so this wisdom becomes a very helpful tool.

This is my 3rd exposure to these teachings, the first being a part of Ngondro, the foundational practices of Tibetan Bon Buddhism, the second being Chod, practices for overcoming fear. Each exposure deepens my insight a little more, but I’m obviously far from being any kind of expert. I’m just a student, mostly interested in finding ways to apply ancient teachings to my own modern life. But I’m happy to process my understanding here and share it with you.

So stay tuned…

 

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

Death is a Constant

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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

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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

The Shadow-Side Qualities

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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

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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

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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.

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

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