Brilliant Awakenings

There can be a lot of confusion around the term “meditation”. It seems that every spiritual teacher is teaching a different method of meditation. Some even claim it is only their method of meditation that works! And then, there is the question of what exactly meditation is!

To top it off, some of us meditate for years and years and years without any seeming long-term benefits. Sure, we may feel better for a few hours after our meditation, but has it really made a long-term transformation in our lives?

If I may, I would love to present to you the path I took toward mastering meditation.

It’s been a pretty long journey for me, and definitely a very good one. It started with mindfulness meditation in yoga class. I had no idea that I could feel that level of peace and calm within myself. I immediately immersed myself in a whole slew of meditation methods. I went on to meditate for several hours each day, using several meditation methods, ranging from concentration meditation to contemplation meditation.  I had several amazing revelations, visions, and spiritual awakenings during this time. I saw and felt with absolute clarity the very truth of this universe, and the way energy moves. This laid a strong foundation for me to continue my spiritual journey. Before I go on with my story, let’s question what meditation is:

My definition of meditation is communion with your higher self/soul/spirit/God… whatever you want to call this higher presence.

In order to most effectively and powerfully commune with this higher presence, it is in our best interest to enter a space of deep introspection, acceptance, surrender, and being in the moment. Many different methods of meditation work, and they all work when the above factors are present. All these methods of meditation are only bringing you to this place.  Sometimes meditation does not work for people because they are not being brought to this place through the method they are using. This is okay, it is by no means the fault of the person, everyone is different.

Back to my journey in meditation… after many years of practicing different types of meditation, I eventually hit a wall in my spiritual growth. I wasn’t sure why I wasn’t moving forward. What was I doing wrong? I tried to perfect the methods I was using. Surely I must be able to do something better! However, I had come to a point where I have to completely let go of my ego, the meditator aspect of myself. I have to stop meditating as the meditator, and instead meditate as that beingness of who I am.

Through beautiful synchronicity, I came across  Marlies Cocheret and Adyashanti. Through them, I learned the method of meditation that bypasses all methods and structures. Methods and structures are created in the mind, and they have no place in true communion with the divine. It simply does not match up. However, most methods of meditation do in fact use methods and structure to calm the mind. Therefore, we end up having this identity, this meditator identity, that is meditating.

When I let go of the meditator, when I simply fell into surrender, into presence, and acceptance of all that is, without using a single method… that is when I truly learned. What I learned cannot be put into words, for words cannot explain it. It is something to be experienced, it is to be.

I have developed my own meditation based on what what I learned, and combining several methods from all the years that I have meditated and been a meditation leader internationally. This meditation is available here.

So, now, I wonder how to explain to you, the blog reader, how to do this meditation. If this is a meditation without method, how can I explain it? I will do my best:

Realize that you are already enlightened, whole and complete. This meditation is about simply being. Be in the presence of who you are. When feelings and thoughts arise, accept them, love them. Allow yourself to fully feel everything that arises. Feel everything without judgment or expectation or attachments. Just simply be with all that arises, with all that you are, with all that is around you. There is no need for you to sit a certain way, breathe a certain way, or focus on anything.

This meditation can be difficult for the mind to grasp, because it is beyond the mind. This is exactly what makes this meditation so profound and effective. I invite you to simply try it out, understanding that your mind may never quite grasp it. I truly believe that you can do this right away right now. If you would like to have a voice guiding you through this, you can always download the meditation by clicking here.

If you have any further questions, please comment on this post. I will be happy to answer them.

Happy meditating!

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Have you ever had an experience of knowing, or of synchronicity? Have you ever heard or felt a little nudge to do something or not do something and then understood later how that helped you in some way?

Do you sometimes find yourself in an expanded state and feel like there is a silent knowing of all that is?

We all have a part of us that is deeply and fully aware of every moment and everything. Within this part of us, we know everything. We know the present, the past, the future. We know all interconnections. We are deeply aware of the people around us and all that is going on in their consciousness. We are also deeply aware of all that is going on in our own unconscious. Simply put, there are absolutely no secrets. Everything is known in a deep and powerful way.

From this place, arises intuition. Your intuition is your best friend. It guides you ever so gently towards wholeness, love, and peace. It knows exactly what you need to do at any moment for your highest good. It gently supports you with thoughts and ideas that nourish and nurture your strengths. There is no judgment in intuition. Therefore, when we try to understand intuition, it simply does not work because there is no understanding to be sought. Understanding a sought by the mind. Intuition is way beyond the mind. This is a trap a lot of us fall into. When our intuition knocks, we try to understand it, and when it doesn’t make logical sense, we dismiss it. We are causing tremendous harm to ourselves in this way.

Another funny thing about intuition is that it’s generally very very quiet. So quiet in fact, that you need to be in a space of deep listening within yourself to even hear it. Sure, most of us have had times when our intuition has been very loud. These are the rare occasions. Most of the time it appears to us in small ways that most of us miss. Depending on your mode of processing, it may come to you as images, as a spontaneous arising with thought, feeling, or even as something you hear. Your only job is to listen and pay attention deeply. When you do this, your life will take on a beautiful flow. You will have a voice that is guiding you in every moment to your highest good.

So how worth it is up to you to develop your intuition? Remember, your intuition is already there, there is nothing to really develop. You simply need to learn to listen deeper.

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I did a show with radio show host Joan Newcomb from Seattle in February of this year.

Check out the archive of my interview and her wonderful radio show by clicking here.

I share the fundamental, tried, and true basics of spiritual empowerment and happiness.

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I am here to share a simple message today. A message given to me by nature as I was collecting spring water today.

I felt an immense power come over me. I don’t remember quite how this happened, except that I was conversing with the Earth and asking for a message.

The message: “You are powerful beyond belief.” Then my mind got involved and I asked, “and how do I find this power at all times?”. The response was, “This is you running away from your power.” So I asked again. The response was more detailed. It said, “You are asking in order to avoid your power, because you are afraid of the immensity of it. You are what you are seeking. The power is already there. There is no ‘how’. This is just more of an excuse to run away from it, instead of  just finding it now within you.”

Then I allowed it to just be within me. This is what I have experienced over and over in my life. This is what the meditations I put out are about, and what the coaching I do is about. This power, alone, has the power to give you love, life, happiness, and meaning.

There is no “how”. You just be it. I have designed the Spiritual Awakening meditation to help you just “be” it. All coaching is about creating an experience for you where you experientially become that, until it is a habit and you can access it.

You can keep using tools to escape this “being” ness that is what you are. You can keep seeking outside yourself for this peace and strength that you already are. It is all an escape route from the truth.

This power, and being this power, cannot be conceived. It simply cannot. That is why it does not work to ask, “How do I get there?”. You just be it!

Do you choose the overwhelming truth of your being, or will you keep playing the game of being smaller than you are so that you can momentarily avoid the deep fear of your power?

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Deep breath. Notice the beauty and the stillness all around you, the sound of the birds, the smell of the trees, the feeling of the air on your skin. Notice the point of contact between where your physical body ends and the rest of the world starts… Now breathe…

You are an embodiment of all that is…

You are Spirit. You are Earth. You are the power of the merging. You are the product of the merging.

We are all inseparable, incredibly powerful, and ultimately unaffected. Yet, we are also deeply human. Each of us embodies the feminine (Earth) and the masculine (Spirit). When we attempt to live only from a place of Spirit, we are are not allowing ourselves to be touched by the feminine, the feeling. We are ultimately the merging of both, the whole.

That is why truly enlightened beings, while knowing that everything is ultimately perfect, are still powerfully connected to helping the earth and all creatures.

This brings me to the next point…Compassion. Compassion is born of the perfect marriage between Spirit and Earth, Feminine and Masculine. This compassion comes from the breadth and width and space of the masculine, combined with the depth and feeling of the feminine. The true power comes from this depth and feeling, that propels forward life.

When we stand in our power, in depth of feeling, and in the space of full acceptance,  we experience an opening of the heart, our center for love. From this love flows balance. Balance for our lives, and the world.

As long as we avoid the one of the aspects of our being, Spirit or Earth, we miss out on our wholeness. We miss out on our heart opening and the experience of true unconditional love.

So allow yourself right now to experience all of who you are. Let the masculine (Spirit) side of you hold the space for your feelings. There has been a lot of judgment against the feminine, the feeling, as weak. Allow yourself to dissolve this as you stand in your highest self, fully accepting and loving ALL of who you are, even your “weakness”.

You are the strength behind the weakness. Your strength and true power will only come via your stepping into your weakest areas.

Allow yourself to be touched. Surrender yourself into your power. Become your authentic self.

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Today I am inspired to share with you a particular poem from Khalil Gibran. As I have been letting go of past relationships, and truly understanding myself as a woman and a fully realized human, I have been knowing that a lot of what we consider love is not love at all.

Love is not an attachment to someone. You don’t love someone when they make you happy. Love is a state of being. From this state of being arises compassion. There is no such thing as love versus unconditional love. There is only unconditional love, or there is no love.

Love is about being in the moment. It is not a thing of the past, born from past actions. It is not a thing of the future, born from a feeling of security for the future.

A lot of people fall into this trap when they enter a romantic relationship… they assume this role of giving their power away to their partner, expecting their partner to make them happy. They expect to feel secure in their relationship, to know that in the future their relationship will still be there. There is nothing wrong with these feelings, indeed we are only human. Contrary to common belief, it is an embracing our humanness that we realized our divinity as spiritual beings in human body.

We form expectations and attachments on our love. We look to the other person to create something for us that is unique and special. We miss that all that we want is truly within us. Sometimes it’s too painful to look inside, so we look outside, and in doing so, we avoid the inside.

When we have beautiful divine exciting experiences in our relationships with others, we seek to re-create these experiences. And in seeking to re-create these experiences, we often get attached. We form expectations. This is the doom and gloom story of every relationship. We miss out on being ourselves and fully being in our bodies. The more we step out of ourselves and step into our relationship, the more we live as shallow shells of who we really are. We can never be content in a relationship so long as we look at other people to fulfill our needs for us. Our partner cannot possibly love us for who we really are if we do not allow ourselves to be who we really are.

And so, with that note, I let Khalil Gibran do the rest. Thank you, Khalil, for such a beautiful poem.

Love one another, but make not a bond of love.
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other’s cup, but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread, but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone.
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.
Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping.
For only the hand of life can contain your hearts.
And stand together, yet not too near together.
For the pillars of the temple stand apart.
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow.

Khalil Gibran

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