Years ago I attended a spiritual retreat in western Massachusetts.    The week was devoted to taking a vow of silence.  For a person like me who was vaccinated with a phonograph needle this presented quite a challenge.  Five days of not being able to open your mouth and prattle on about trivial crap was tough.  With the exception of one hour after the evening meal, speaking, whispering, or gesturing was greatly discouraged.  Thank goodness for tiny pencils and 3 x 5 pads of paper!

Ever have your town shut the water off for a couple of hours to make repairs?  What happens?  You want to drink a glass of water.  It’s human nature.  Tell me I can’t do something and I immediately feel the urgency to do it – I crave to do it.  Now imagine five days of sitting meditations, walking meditations, reading meditations, being one with nature in the deep woods, having bugs fall on you, shrieking in fright; fellow no-talkers staring at you in disdain for breaking the code of silence.  Nothing says spiritual growth like pressure from your peer group.

Another thing I struggled with was Zazen meditation.  You’re in a room assigned to a zazen bench.  That’s where your butt is supported by a skinny wooden bench, allowing relief of pressure on bent knees.  The posture is an unwavering erect spine.  The time seems so long in Zazen that some of the students would nod off in a light sleep.  Then you would hear the bang of the Master’s staff on the floor near the offending neophyte – nobody sleeps!

An infamous Koan question is put before you, “What is the meaning of life?”  Your mind strains for the enlightened answer, which does not instill a mind of peace and tranquility but rather of competition and anxiety.  Students would raise their hand to indicate that they had reached a state of Zazen, knowing the answer.  Many times the Master would smile and embrace the student, “That’s correct!” And lucky them, they’d get to leave the room.

Another Koan question is, “What is the sound of one hand clapping?”  How about a new question like, “What is the sound of screaming in your head?”

No one can answer a Koan question for you, and even years later I’m still letting the answer unfold like lotus petals.  Koan questions are devised to instill flashes of insights within you – so you realize that the answer just “is”.  That’s the answer.  The meaning of life is life.  Seems like a shell game to me, but there you have it.

Silence + Koan = Zen

Tags: Koan, vow of silence, walking meditations, zazen bench, Zen meditation

Write these words nine times each day as a positive affirmation.

To center your energy prior to meditation or before performing any healing work, visualize the following words in your mind:

LOVE

PEACE

ORDER

BALANCE

HARMONY

COMPASSION

GOD CONCEPTION

Tags: affirmations, balance, center your energy, compassion, God conceptions, harmony, healing work, love, order, peace

I promised a friend to get this post up today!  Due to ultra overbooking of tasks on the home front, this will be a minimalist viewpoint on chakras and the stones associated with them.  Chakra is a Sanskrit word meaning “wheels”; as in spinning wheels of vitality, and while not actually physical, chakras are associated with physical areas on the body and connected to emotions and actions.

There are varying interpretations of the chakras and the meaning of their colours.  Many authors are in disagreement as to the exact colours of the seven major chakras.  (There are more than seven chakras, which I’ll explain in a future post.)  These are the designated colours, taught to me years ago.

To meditate: hold a gemstone that matches the colour of a particular chakra.  The gemstone is used as a conduit of energy to tune into the chakra and to strengthen it.  You can visualize the color/energy of the stone radiating from the stone to the corresponding chakra area.

An alternative method is to wear a corresponding colour of clothing to the chakra that you are trying to balance.

For example:  If you are having issues communicating, and speaking your feelings clearly, you could wear a necklace with a blue stone that lies on your throat chakra, or a sky-blue scarf around this area.

Stones of empowerment have been used throughout the ages, by royal families, to instill strength, wisdom and justice, to ancient sacred ceremonies of the Druids.

Chakras are not just one colour like your aura, there are predominant colours that come forth.  Having all seven major chakras balanced, spinning, and clear indicates excellent health in both the mental and physical areas of one’s life.

Red Calcite

Red Orange – Base chakra – located at base of spine.

Associated with the material world, wanting things, stability, grounding the physical self.

Thought:  I balance.

Mantra:  LAM

Rhodacrosite

Pink – Spleen chakra – located half-way between your navel and pubic bone.

Associated with the balance of health; strong immune system.

Thought: I surrender.

Mantra:  VAM

Adventurine

Kelly Green – Navel chakra – located just above your navel.

Associated with fear, guilt, doubt, seeing situations clearly.  It defines our self-esteem.

Thought:  I will.

Mantra:  RAM

Citrine

Yellow Gold – Heart chakra – located slightly to the left of your chest.

Associated with virtuous emotions, love, compassion, understanding.

Thought:  I am grateful.

Mantra:  YAM

Larimar

Sky Blue – Throat chakra – located at the seat of the throat area.

Associated with communication, being able to express emotions.

Thought:  I speak my truth.

Mantra:  HAM

Sugilite

Indigo - Brow chakra – located in the center point of your brow area, between your eyes.

Associated with the seat of the Soul.

Thought:  I know.

Mantra:  OM

Amethyst

Purple – Crown a.k.a. coronal chakra –  located at the top of the head, and usually the last chakra to be fully awakened.

Associated with nervous system, consciousness and higher realms.

Thought:  I am.

Mantra:  Silence

Tags: adventurine, amethyst, chakras, citrine, indigo, larimar, mantras, red calcite, rhodacrosite

To maximize the benefits of this exercise, gently hold a smudged rose quartz stone in your hands.

Breathe at a normal pace.

1.       Sit quietly for 15 minutes, thereby giving yourself adequate time to clear your mind of extraneous thoughts.

2.       When you are quiet and at ease, focus your attention on your heart.  Visualize your heart giving out a pink radiation.  Hold your attention (not your breath) for a count of 9.

3.       Bring the visualization of the pink radiation from your heart to the very top of your head and hold for a count of 15.  Continue to move your attention from your heart to the crown of your head carrying the visualization of the pink colour.

4.       Visualize the pink radiation growing larger and larger so it envelops your entire body; just as if you were sitting in a brilliant egg-shaped pink cloud.  Hold this picture for a count of 12.

A variation on this exercise is to lie down and place the rose quartz on your heart as you visualize the pink radiation flowing from heart to crown chakra.

Note: The 9, 15, and 12 count is to familiarize you with approximate times to hold this visualization.  After doing this exercise a few times it will be unnecessary to mentally count and the visualization of the pink radiation should flow easily from heart-to crown- to your entire body.

After smudging and selecting the rose quartz for this exercise keep it among your healing stones that will be used exclusively by you and for this meditation.

Tags: heart crown chakra, increase your psychic energy, pink radiation, rose quartz