The key to a limitless mind is already in your mind.
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Gratitude and Creative Visualization
Have you ever wondered about the connection of gratitude and creative visualization? In our live visualization gatherings we often begin by sharing what we are grateful for. And it can be something like: "I am grateful to have a warm, comfortable home". Or "I am grateful to have a positive-attitude". Or something like, "I am thankful to have a nice night of rest."
Just becoming aware of what we are grateful for in our life, changes our energy, our vibration and uplifts our spirits. With this renewal of energy, creative visualization becomes even more powerful, effective and transformational. And to help us all to get into gratitude mode, I have created gratitude cards and a video introducing them.
So I invite you to begin your visualization sessions with a simple statement of gratitude or two. Just answer the question: In this moment what are you grateful for?
What are your BIG FIVE for LIFE?
Have you heard people say that your writing your dreams and your desires down, helps in the manifesting of these in your life? Steven Covey has written in one of his book about a woman who made a scrapbook full of her dreams and desires. At places using found images from magazines, at other places writing detailed descriptions of what she wants her husband to be like, how she imagines her home and family to be like. And looking back at only a couple of years, she has seen all of this become real.
Well, earlier this year I read a book by John Strelecky called "Big Five for Life". It is a moving story with nuggets of wisdom and inspiration tucked within the plot of the book. One of the things I picked up is a simple exercise, in which you write down the Big Five for Life.
Here is what you do:
Brainstorm some of the things you love doing. Then, write down 5 things you absolutely want to do/be/have in your life. And then simply list these 5 things. Make it specific and clearly express it.
I did this activity earlier this year and one of my long-time desires came true. There is a really interesting story to how it all happened and I will share that with you soon. Right now, I do want to share that my desire was to touch a tiger baby. And within four months, this dream came true.
All I did was to write my five most important desires at the moment. Today, these 5 have slightly changed for me as I have become more aware of what I desire. And the fact that making an explicit request does make things happen, has been a revolutionary realization for me.
Visualize Your Life Story
Imagine you are writing the script of a movie. You draw up the characters. You think of the plot and the storyline. You also imagine how the relationships between the characters is going to play out in the movie. You spend some time on the overall plot and the storyline as well as the small details. It is all in the screenplay you are drawing up. You have protagonist who is hero/heroine of the film who has a goal to achieve or an obstacle to overcome. There is drama in the film to highlight this process of overcoming the obstacle. And depending on whether you want to uplift your audience, you find a climatic way to resolve the story that ends with the obstacle overcome and goal achieved.
Now, imagine you are writing the script of your own life. Which character will you be and what obstacles do you want to overcome? Are you the protagonist of your life story? Whose support do you need to achieve the goal of your life, to follow your heart? And what evolutionary changes will you undergo? What will your transformation story be? How do you live a life of contribution? How do fully express and enjoy yourself in this life?
This visualization can entail images, sounds, smells. You can imagine the textures, the tastes,
feelings, the ambiance, in all its facets and dimensions. Try it out. Explore. Experiment. Enjoy.
Do you have an Ideas Folder?
One thing I would like to recommend to you is to work with a place where you collect your new ideas, hints, dreams. If you prefer to have it in a journalist's notebook which you can carry around everywhere, that is great. If you like to have it all digital for easy sorting and finding key words, then absolutely make an ideas folder. This folder can contain one mega-file where you simply list your idea in a phrase or a sentence. Then each of these ideas can have their own file where you can expand and extend and stretch the idea at another point. These idea folders are essential for your creative growth and mind training.
Have Positive Expectations
Expect the positive. Positive Expectation is one more nuance in our positive-thinking tool box. Essentially, it calls us to only expect the positive. It is slightly different than setting positive intentions. Positive intention-making entails clearly setting out what is desired, what do we want to manifest in our day or in our life.
Positive expectation varies from it because of the open-ended factor. It is not predefined and all perfectly delineated. We allow for an unplanned, unscheduled resolution or development of a situation, yet expecting clearly that what happens next will be in the highest good of all involved.
Remember that the positive intention-making and positive expectations are not replacement for action. Infact, they are predecessors to any action. Conscious action is important and necessary for change. But it cannot begin making an impact for good without positive intention and expectations to begin the process of change.
So give it a try and see how expecting the good, the better and the best is a real gift.
Overachievers in a Community of Overachievers!
Have you ever overplanned, cramming in too many things to do into your day, week, month, year???
I have done that in the past leading only to feeling overstretched, out of time, rushed and completely stressed out. Looking back, I have come to understand that being part of the Indian American community has played a role in this pattern. I had allowed pressures to overachieve seep into my way of being and doing things and in the end did not feel satisfied at all. I am very happy that in the last few months and years, I have been able to streamline, focus and scale down.
Being focussed on one thing at a time, has greatly simplified my life. I am now very aware when there are forces that want to pull me in different directions and it is easier and easier to stay focussed on my path. This has allowed for many moments of peace, joy and a sense of well-being that feel refreshing and rejuvenating.
If you were raised in intense communities or families, watch this video below from the Daily Show. It is hilarious to me and hopefully, you can find a sense of humor in this all and make your own choices and decisions about how much you want to commit to. So here it is, a glimpse of this "overachieving" theme in Indian culture from a clip where Aasif Mandvi is portraying some common expectations among Indian families. Take a look:
Resolving negative emotions during meditation
Fears, doubts, annoyances, and other forms of negative emotions can be resolved during meditation. These emotional patterns are very important pointers for us. They serve as lighthouses to show us exactly what we need to resolve, release or let go. And once these are released from our bodies, from our emotional landscapes, we make room for receiving abundance in all its forms.
Try it out. Take your meditation time to dissolve your fears. One absolutely amazing method that I highly recommend is that of Byron Katie called, "The Work". You can go to her website and download the questions that make up The Work and go through them during your meditation. Or for starters just take a look at some of the videos of Byron Katie using her method to resolve negative emotion in people. Absolutely Amazing!
Contemplation to Cultivate Qualities
Meditation can also be a tool to cultivate certain qualities within us. If we want to be more receptive to love, or become more compassionate, forgive ourselves and others or build focus, we can use our time during meditation to do so. This is a unique way to allow the qualities of a certain kind to transmute into you by contemplating about them.
Let us say you want to reveal the compassionate quality in you. Then, contemplate on compassion. You can repeat the word "compassion". You may visualize the life and actions of compassionate people. Think about a certain individual who you think exhibits high levels of compassion. Imagine their compassionate qualities spreading into you. Stay with this for as long as you need to. And come back to this practice again and again.
At the end of each session, you will sense a greater feeling and presence of whatever it is that you were contemplating on.
Life as a Meditation
Well, we have heard of sitting meditation where we set aside part of our day to settle our "monkey-mind", to calm down our mind and tap into the emptiness, or the vastness of the subconscious. The effects of this meditation practice certainly pours into the rest of our day. It affects positively our mind, our outlook on life and our physical health and vitality.
Now how about taking meditation into the rest of the day? What if we could meditate during all the waking hours? And how about doing that without sitting and being for that entire time! If we can take the principles and teachings of our meditation practice into our engagement with the world, then our entire life would become a meditation practice.
How to do it? Try this as an experiment. We are bringing complete focus to whatever we are doing or however we are being in the moment. For some this can mean dropping the temptation of multi-tasking and focussing on one thing. For others, who require multi-tasking in order to be completely present (emergency health professionals for example or a one-man musician playing the drum, the harmonica and the guitar!), becoming acutely present in the moment to fully give themselves to the task at hand.
Try this for half a day or an hour. Whatever you are doing, do it with utmost focus and concentration. Become aware of all the thoughts that emerge that may not be necessary at this moment. Let them be. Let them dissolve. This can be the moment when you drop into flow, become open to intuition and allow your creative energy to flow into that which you are doing.
Let our lives become a meditation.
Jon Kabat-Zinn: 3 Lessons from Wherever You Go There You Are
I did a review of a wonderful book some time ago. It is called, "Wherever you go there you are". It is beautifully written book with easy-to-read 1-2 page chapters filled with inspiring and profound questions. I read a chapter every morning to set the tone for the day. I highly recommend it.
Prepare for 2013, now!
With the changing of the calendar each year, we are given a fresh start to steer our lives, enjoy our time and make a contribution. How will you harness the momentum, the dynamism and the impulses of a fresh year to transform your life?
There is a wave of thought that has a catchy phrase: Thoughts become Things. It is because of author and speaker Mike Dooley that this has become more and more popular. The idea is simple. What you think of, becomes your reality. So, if whatever we think about becomes a reality, then let us choose our thoughts wisely. As the new year approaches, let us set our intentions for our lives. Let us choose our thoughts and set them into motion.
I am a firm believer of taking action. What precedes action is reflection and conscious choices. This is where your time in introspection is necessary and extremely important. Because what you learn during your introspection session is what will help you become clear about what is really important to you and what you want to intend into your life. Next, this clarity will guide your action plan and you taking the action steps.
This is what I recommend:
1. Set aside a block of time for deep introspection. Take a day for this if you have been done this before. If this is your first time, allow yourself the luxury and the gift of three days. This is the time where you go deep into every aspect of your life and explore your values and your desires.
2. Meditate. Begin your introspection with a meditation exercise. Do a 25 minute silent meditation. Or pick a guided meditation to get you into your space. In your meditation, you can ask your subconscious this question: What is it that I want to create and intend in my life? Let the answers come to you. Write, paint, record in anyway you can, the information that you reveal. Do not judge. Just record.
3. Identify your Rocks. Rocks are your most important goals and desires in your life. Take each important area of your life and note down your important rocks. Look at your Physical, Emotional, Mental, Spiritual parts of your life. Look at your roles as a husband/wife, son/daughter (in-law), brother/sister, and so on. Look at your career/business life and your financial life.
4. Select 3 important goals in each of your roles that you want to intend and create in your new year.
5. Set you intentions. Write out in sentences what the completion of these goals feels like. And write these with a sense of gratitude. For example, you want to set an intention for your Emotional Life and you are a single person. Your intention may be something like this: Thank you for sending me a loving partner with whom I share my joy, who is a solid support to me and who makes me laugh.
Remember to write these intention in a positive tone and in present tense. Write it out as if what you asked for has already happened. So in other words, you are thanking the higher power for the manifestation of what you desire as something that has occurred.
Take this opportunity for a fresh start and go for what you desire. Your daily practice and regular introspection will help you in the manifestation of these goals.
And then visualize!!!
Keep a Calm Mind for a Healthy Life
Meditation is essentially a training camp for the mind. It builds our concentration and focus. It also has a beneficial impact on the rest of our body, both emotionally and physically. As the Dalai Lama mentions in this video, keeping a calm mind is very important because we are not influenced so much by "disturbances". If there is an emotionally wrenching situation, we are more capable to sail through it strongly. If you are exposed to a virus or disease, our bodies are more likely to be immune to them or recover from them.
Listen to this short video straight from the Dalai Lama from Dharamsala, India.
“the benefits of a calm mind”
http://youtu.be/OFn0AX4oZsc
20 Things I love about Myself
This practice is similar to our 21 Positive things I notice practice, yet with a more personal note. What you do is write down 20 things you love about yourself, things that you are just so happy about. These can be things you said, or did, or even thought about. It can be 20 things from this morning or in the last 20 years. No restrictions. Just write without stopping, without censoring what emerges. No judging, just writing. No evaluating, just writing.
Let me tell you why this is such an important practice:
We all have an ego-mind and for various reasons, it tends to be critical - sometimes extremely critical. When you hear a voice within you that says why you are not good enough or complains and nags you without pity, this is the voice of the ego. The ego mind is great friend once it is befriended. But like an unattended pet who is going crazy tearing up your living room, the ego mind manifests itself to get attention. It wants to be of service to us, yet we do not know how to use its help. Until the friendship and respect blossoms between us and our ego-mind, the relationship is build on weak legs.
There are ways to befriend the ego. And one way to do it is to start loving, appreciating, adoring and completely accepting ourselves. Yes, this is key! When you write down 20 things you love about yourself, the ego-mind is watching. Just like a pet who sees how you are making your home tear-proof. It is aware that things are changing.
It may come back to you stronger and more aggressive, in the initial days when you are beginning to take active steps, in the form of practices, to change certain things in the environment of your mind. And that's okay. This is the storm which eventually dies down. You might hear very critical voices and self-demeaning messages. Just become aware of it and come back to your practices. Your relationship with the ego is now in the process of transformation.
Once the process of transformation is complete, you will find an absolute great friend in the ego. Just like your loving dog who does tricks to amuse you, picks up the mail from the door or smells out danger for you when you are sleeping, and dives into the water if you are drowning. Afterall, our ego-mind served our ancestors well when we needed the fight/flight response to survive. Now, the ego-mind needs to transcend its role and help us transform and transition into our new consciousness.
So begin with a step. Small step. Build on it, step-by-step. Practice-by-practice. Begin now, write out 20 loving and appreciative things about you and if you dare, about your ego :-)
Music for Meditation
Not only for relaxation, also for our meditation practice, music can play an important role. Along with lighting a candle, burning incense and having fresh flowers in the space of our meditation, beautiful music composed for meditation can be a great way to transition into a meditative mode. Surely, you feel refreshed and rejuvenated after only 15 minutes of this treatment.
I have come across come sources for accessing meditation music. www.soundstrue.com is one really good source. Also take a look at Deepak Chopra's website for music. And also www.thedailyom.com is a good source.
These are some hints besides amazon.com.
Plus, you can get Cristof's meditation music CD coming soon!
Meditation Books I love
As you embark deeper on your journey to meditation, I would like to share with you a couple of books on mediation.
1. "Wherever you go, there you are" by Jon Kabat-Zinn: I recommend this book because it is composed of small chapters that you can read and incorporate the wisdom into your life bit by bit. The chapters are 2-3 pages long only with a practice at the end of the chapter that provokes your thinking. I also love the anecdotes that Kabat-Zinn shares in this book. Take a look and enjoy. Here is also a video review of the book that I did on the book.
2. "Turning the mind into an ally" by Sakyom Mipham: I have a special connection with this book. When I was living in New York, I visited many yoga centers and buddhist centers. One day, a friend of mine, Nancy and I walked into a meditation center in Manhattan. We began talking with one of the volunteers who was helping out the center in the daily running of the place. We chatted a little and I asked him about the book he was holding in this hand. It was this lovely book with a white cover that had an eloquent script for a title. He explained to me how this book was influencing him for being more in tune with his inner world. Then, as we were leaving, he said to me, "Here you go". He was handing me the book. I gave him a surprised, joyful glance. He said that this book belongs to me now. This kind gesture was truly heartwarming and even after so many years, this gift from a "stranger" is a source of warm feelings.
I have read this book with great gratitude and joy. In the reading of this book, I have gained a sense of peace. The author offers an intimate view of meditation and in the way he describes what happens to us when we are meditating, is simply eye-opening. He uses the analogy of a horse to describe our mind, an analogy that clearly brings to me the message that meditation needs to be a practice done daily. Only then can we train our mind to become our ally. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is serious about changing their habits, improving mental health, and refining their concentration and sharpening their sense of focus and clarity.
Visualizing Abundance
I am so excited to share with you that we are releasing a new visualization CD. At this time, we are in the production phase. We have recorded the vocal tracks and added in music by Cristof !! The cello tracks are rich and soothing. I am so happy that he is bringing his sacred cello sounds to the visualizations. It is a real treat.
At this time, we are aiming to release the CD this month itself. But we will know exact dates soon based on when the CD's return from publishing. You will then be able to purchase the CDs here and also download digital versions.
Thank you for all your support and encouragement. Something really delicious is emerging and I know that this CD will serve you in your visualization journeys.
Much Love,
Sophia
Energy Healing for Your Animals: Workshop on Animal Reiki
Hey Everyone,
I am so happy and excited to invite you all to this Saturday’s Workshop on Animal Reiki: Energy Healing for Your Pets. Andrea, the visionary behind The Tailgate Market on New Leicester Highway is sponsoring this is a workshop which is free for all participants. In this workshop, you will learn how to use energy healing for the well-being of your animal. You will learn about Reiki, the Japanese tradition of energy healing.
You will learn:
2. Simple yet powerful Visualizing method to connect with your animal
3. Process for offering Reiki to your animal
and more elements of Animal Reiki, if time permits.
Reiki is an ancient tradition and has so many benefits. Not only is it for self-healing and for helping the healing in people, it is a powerful tool when it comes to assist our animal friends.
1. Relieve physical pain (illness, recovery from treatment)
2. Restore emotional balance (anxiety, abandonment, adjusting to new place or new family member, loss)
3. Rejuvenate on the spiritual level (restoring a sense of hope and love)
During the workshop, we will do live Reiki sessions for your animals. Dogs and cats are welcome because of the location and because of my focus at the moment is on these two types of animals. Reiki, of course, can benefit ALL animals, plants, land, things and so on.
We will begin at 2pm and end at 4pm. The location is: The Tailgate Market, 328 New Leicester Hwy, Suite 142, Asheville, NC 28806
An Evening for My Spiritual Renewal Starting Wednesday August 22nd
This event is presented by Reflection Pond, Center for Meditation and Healing, Asheville, North Carolina.
Please reserve your spot by email: sophia@reflectionpond.com
Sliding scale $8 to $22. Contribute what you can.
Wednesday August 22nd. 7:30pm- 9pm (Start arriving at 7:15 as we will begin at 7:30pm)
Location: The Pond Center, 600 Landis Ct, Apt # 304 Asheville, NC 28806
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About the Event:
Come and give yourself an evening of relaxation and spiritual renewal. We will be setting intentions for the week, sharing gratitude and journeying into your sacred garden.
Sophia will guide you through a visual journey into your sacred garden, a place of meaning to you, where you can reconnect with your higher self, meet a loved one, ask for help from a spirit/animal guide and visualize your dream.
During the class one of the participants will be invited to receive Reiki Energy healing in the meditative space created by all. If you like to receive Reiki, write it in the RSVP email.
The session starts at 7:30pm. Doors open at 7:15 pm. Come at least 5 minutes before 7:30pm. Bring a pillow and light blanket along with water/tea.
Contact:
Connect with me at 828.398.4701 or email at sophia@reflectionpond.com
www.reflectionpond.com
♥ ♥ ♥
Sophia Ojha Ensslin is a Reiki Master and Visualization Guide. She guides meditation for individuals and groups using guided imagery and visualization and breathing techniques to help people calm the thoughts and connect with their deeper self. A Reiki practitioner of the Usui tradition, Sophia conducts energy healing sessions for individuals as well as companion animals, dogs and cats.
Sophia has produced a guided meditation CD in 2011 called Visual Journey Meditations and has guided over 100 group meditations last year. In 2012, her first book, "22 Visual Journey Meditations" is going to be published. She also collaborates with here husband Cristof Ensslin, who is a cellist, in creating meditation videos with multi-track cello music. Learn more at www.reflectionpond.com
Visual Journey And Evidence That We Are Connected To a Field
The more I see people connecting with themselves, the more I am convinced about the power of visualizations and the mind and heart. And when it feels like I am fully convinced, I am even more convinced, to yet another degree.
Yesterday, there were four wonderful human beings that I was blessed to have in our Wednesday evening class. They are truly beautiful people from the depths of who they are. We all went on a Visual Journey together. When I began guiding, images came to my mind's eye that were clear like water. A clear, solid image of a golden rock appeared. I began seeing its details. Golden. Glistening. Water from an unknown source flowing down its smooth and craggy surface. I could hear the trickling sounds of the waterfall and then saw a tiny pool of water that collected below. The rock was touching the ground on only one single point, balanced in the most unusual way. On one side there was an opening and on other a shade from the sun.
We entered the Rock through the opening. Just floating up into the hollow rock and arriving at a landing. Then we lay there and looked at the ceiling of the hollow rock which was a beautiful dark night sky. As if we were in a planetarium, we could see the stars and shooting stars and comets, all in action. Then a giant Sun, hundred times bigger than our Sun, called us to visit. In the next moment, we were on the Sun and experienced the unusual desgin of it. The Sun was a three-dimensional structure with different layers. Each layer was a different landscape and one could navigate it like the different slices of pizza pie. First layer was Earth-like terrain, the next layer was moon-like terrain and the third layer was our Sacred Garden.
And then in the Sacred Garden magic happened for the people in the class. The Sacred Garden is a special place that is unique to each one of us. It exists only for us and we all have it and can create it. It is a place of peace and healing and love, where nothing but the highest good of all happens. We connected with the garden, listened for any messages from the trees and flowers and animals there. We also removed items that we no longer wanted to be there and added things we wanted there. Then we met with our Tree. This tree represented an intention we had set before going into the Visual Journey. We saw the current state of the tree and started giving it attention. We poured water, hugged it and gave it a lot of love. Then we saw the tree change and react to all the love and attention. After this, we called for our Spiritual Mentor or Animal Spirit or Ancestor or Higher Self to appear. We then listened in silence to their message.
This was such an amazing experience for me as a guide. All images and signs came to me with ease. I was picking it up from the participants and it became clear from the things they shared with me. They shared that they would visualize or think of something and the next moment I would say that same thing. One participant had listed 7 or 8 items which were what she had thought about or visualized. This kind of reports happen in almost every sharing part of Visual Journeys and it is evidence for me that we are connected in an invisible field and we can pick up information from this field as easily as closing our eyes. Sure, it takes some practice, but this is something we can all do. It is not something we need to learn, because we already know it. What we do need to do is to learn how to uncover the layers covering us up from these natrual, innate "skills" or ways of being.
I am so blessed to bring the Visual Journeys to people and I am so grateful for all the participants who make it happen for me. Thank you so much!
I invite you to come and join me on a Visual Journey. If you cannot make it in person in Asheville, call or email me and we can do one via video skype. I will also be hosting a monthly free Visual Journey Potluck at the Pond Center starting this month, that will be for beginners and for old-timers alike. So if you are a beginner, you can connect with other meditators who have been there in the early stages and you can ask some of your questions. If you are an old-timer, you can help and assist the newbees on this path of quieting the mind and deeply connecting with self. So let us visualize, meditate and manifest the very highest good for us all.
Email me at sophia@reflectionpond.com.
Love y'all!
Sophia
You Can Use My Boat - Uplifting Stories, Edition No. 1
Listen or watch to the first in our Uplifting Stories Series: