9 October, 2015 by Choki team

Sacred Space – What Is It and Why Do We Need It?

In a recent conversation, a dear friend for many years asked me, “I wonder why it is that people need to hold this special view of what is sacred… why some things are sacred and others aren’t.” This is fascinating inquiry, one that invokes a number of subjects, such as the nature of healing, activism, our working definition of spirituality, and our emotional lives — all of which I hope to touch on here.

Sacred Space is time and space we set aside, or which spontaneously arises, to experience a depth, richness, and sense of meaning that usually escapes us in fast-paced everyday life when we are not as connected as we could be with our body, intuition, good thinking, compassion and empathy, and other emotions.

I imagine that many reading this article consider everything to be sacred. Some of you might even consider evil and suffering to be sacred, since the world is full of dark and light. For me, the word sacred has a definite earthiness to it, a sense of being here engaged in some ritual or activity connected with everyday life. Whereas, what is “divine” to me has more connotations with things ethereal, with a non-material influence or presence in our lives. We could say, in a sense, that what we consider sacred is a certain holiness of earthy things and what is divine is the holiness and immutability of invisible forces.

These are the loose definitions I’ll hold for this discussion, and if your meanings are different, no worries, just use your own words to substitute for what I have defined as “divine” and “sacred.” After all, I don’t mention these definitions to impose my perspectives, but for the opposite reason — so that you know what I mean, so that you can find your own meaning for what is discussed here. The point, after all, is not to get hung up on the words, but on what the words mean and the things and experience to which they point.

So, in a nutshell, we’ll consider sacred to be the presence of something “divine” in an embodied or earthy way. Yet, many of us still, unconsciously or not, hold some aspects of life to be sacred and others non-sacred. Some of us also maintain huge distinctions between what is sacred, what is spiritual, and what is not. No doubt, some of this separation has arisen from religious traditions that maintain God and Spirit to be separate from material existence, and certainly our everyday, mundane activities.

While I’m not here to tell you what is sacred and what is not, I am here to help you clarify what the word “sacred” points to in your own experience, or whatever word you might use to describe what I have called sacred, and then to consider how your perceptions, and divisions, of what is sacred might be holding you back from more richness, fulfillment, and joy in your experience.

Finding Meaning

So, let’s begin with positive sacred experiences. Popular sacred experiences might include spending time in nature, yoga and meditation practice, morning prayer, in church or a synagogue, tender love-making with your partner, a sharing circle, any kind of ritual or ceremony, or a healing session. Other sacred space moments might include feeding birds on a park bench, playing or reading with your child, watching a meaningful movie, making art, petting and cuddling with a pet, sharing deep feelings with a loved one, helping someone in need, giving someone your full attention, or saving a piece of nature.

All these experiences have something in common: we find meaning in them, and/or they make us feel good. If something isn’t meaningful to us or makes us feel not so good, we tend to push it away as non-sacred. So, either unconsciously or consciously, we tend to make a separation in our perception of reality. We separate “positive” experiences from “negative” ones, and we consider some things more meaningful than others.

Now, sometimes we consider ordinary reality less sacred not because it is inherently meaningless, but because we haven’t yet found the meaning in it. So, part of sanctifying what we consider less sacred aspects of life is finding meaning in them. This requires a change in perception and/or a change in heart. For me, this is a spiritual pursuit: finding meaning in what I have previously found meaningless by opening, or spontaneously being opened, to its wisdom. This does not mean making up stories about reality, not infusing meaning into things through denial, but finding real intellectual and emotionally honest meaning in my experience and the nature of reality. And this usually means letting both my heart and mind break open.

In particular, difficult emotions — such as anger, grief, remorse, guilt, and despair — is a domain I have found great meaning in over the years. I have found that when I stay with and welcome these difficult emotional states, they change, and change me for the better. In fact, my very welcoming them and feeling and expressing them allows them to change, allows them to truly transform me into more breadth and depth, so that I can keep my heart clear and open to the rest of life. So, all these emotions have become sacred to me, and they also allow me to experience more meaning and richness in the rest of what I consider sacred.

If we consider certain aspects of life not to be sacred, then we might hold them out of our hearts. When we hold parts of life out of our hearts we hold them away from our love and healing. Things I tend to want to hold outside of sacred are pollution, GMOs and toxic agriculture, dishonesty, and needless violence. And I confess, these are all still largely non-sacred to me because they desecrate the very fabric of life. But, if they spur more compassion, more revolution, more love, and more care for our environment, then they acquire some sacred value. And I do see that they inspire these qualities, however seemingly unnecessarily.

With this said, these industries don’t show enough transformational value, as with difficult emotional states, that I consider them worth keeping, at all. In other words, while they might elicit sacred internal moments, and sacred activism, they don’t create enough goodness in the world, and in fact, do great damage. And the good they do is only in the context of our trying to get rid of them! So, right or wrong, I do have a limit to what I consider good and “sacred.” What destroys the planet and our lives, with little redeeming value, is not sacred to me. With this said, destruction and death are natural, and sacred to me, but not when they are avoidable (largely by natural means) and go against the inherent wisdom of nature.

Love and the Sacred

So indeed, part of what is sacred relies on what we find meaningful and valuable. I find the Earth and its biosphere valuable. I find the proliferation of other species valuable. I consider clean water, soil, air, oceans, and forests valuable. So, I hold judgment over what injures these. And the sacred meaning I find in these negative influences is fighting against them and more deeply regarding as precious what they injure. I consider this gritty form of revolution part of the love revolution, as we protect what we have defined to be sacred. And since part of what fosters care for our planet involves feeling our anger and protection, our sadness and despair, these emotions increase our participation for what we love, for what is sacred. Love, then, is more than just a feel-good experience. And so is what I consider sacred.

When we can join what we consider non-sacred to what we do consider sacred, we join Yin and Yang, and we bolster the cycle of fertility and sustainability through ordinary activism, which is love in action.

For this reason, it’s important for me to keep my mind open to what I might be in denial of or blind to. For, if I misread part of reality and deem it evil when it is not — as certain religious and “spiritual” doctrines and edicts have done for too long, and I think many times in gross error — then I myself become a negative force. Discerning reality, therefore, is important to our sense of the sacred and our love. If I suddenly become aware of the great value of toxic agriculture, pollution, and mercenary greed, then I might be able to embrace these more and consider them sacred. So far, I have not found much grace, much sacredness, in these enterprises.

We can create an external space with similar qualities we want to cultivate inside us. And, we can bring qualities inside us that we want to see in the external world.

So, if you are torn up inside, find sacred space outwardly to help heal yourself inwardly. And if you are in chaos outwardly, summon your sustainable and enduring inner resources to the aid of the external moment.

Spiritualizing the Ordinary

A popular domain of the sacred is what many include in their definition of spirituality. Rituals, ceremonies, and gatherings of all sorts that we consider sacred are often held in a special space with special preparations. This has been the case for millennia in all cultures. Part of my struggle, however, has always been how to integrate the meaning and quality of attention common to these special functions and experiences into everyday experience. How to spiritualize “ordinary” life.

Indeed, many don’t even try to integrate “sacred space” in to “everyday space.” Their spiritual life is separate from everyday life. This creates a schism between what we consider sacred and what is not. I have never been satisfied with a spiritual life that does not directly and practically influence my everyday life, thereby spiritualizing the mundane.

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Author: Jack Adam Weber – Wake Up World

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17 September, 2015 by Choki team

5 Signs That Our Emotions No Longer Control Us

We’ve all suffered emotionally throughout our lives. Similarly, we’ve all experienced trauma, regardless to what degree it personally manifested. When we’re born, we’re forced through environmental conditioning, which will always have both its positives and negatives. Our greatest influences are generally our parents, followed by our peers. This ‘programming’ is also deeply embedded in the societal and cultural paradigms of our time.

Yet, once we become an adult, each and every one of us has the ability to alleviate our own suffering by redesigning our mind into a more functional and healthy state of existence.

When we enter into our early teens, we begin to question who we are and the world around us with greater veracity. If our energy, or inner fire, strongly conflicts with how we’ve been ‘taught’, then we rebel heavily. In contrast, if we’ve been given respectful discipline and realistic information from our parents, as well as a really good opportunity to independently explore and create how we think and behave, then we’re less likely to engage the world in contempt. That’s because we’re much freer than others who have been forced into their box.

And that’s the reality for most young teens, even in this age of information. Unfortunately, many parents haven’t been taught some of the knowledge and skills required for healing and growing their own energy, so it goes without saying that if they can’t look after themselves properly, then we can’t expect them to look after their children properly. Truth be told, we can only work with what we’ve got.

That doesn’t mean, however, that parents and society in general haven’t taught children some really good beliefs and values in life. They’re the positives. Yet, the negative aspects that we harbor as we grow into adulthood, such as poor emotional regulation, are our own responsibility to rewire neurologically and redesign conceptually. Simply, it’s up to us to question and understand everything that we’ve become so we can determine what’s worth keeping and what’s worth shedding.

After all, once we’re an adult, we choose who we want to be.

5 Signs That Our Emotions No Longer Control Us

What follows are five lessons which show that we’ve freed ourselves of being primarily controlled by our emotions. These characteristics are recommended as they can potentially facilitate an ongoing sense of inner peace being experienced in our lives, which of course should be one of the primary priorities of all of us.

We understand the difference between our emotions and our feelings

Everybody has the same emotions, yet we all have different feelings. These two human states are distinct not only because they are processed in different areas of the brain, but because emotions are primarily physical, whilst feelings are mostly mental constructs.

Our feelings are a mixture of our emotions, beliefs, philosophies, thoughts and memories. All these aspects come together to not just influence the emotions that we have, but also determine how we ‘feel’ about what is going on in our world. Therefore, understanding the difference between our emotions and feelings is critical to contextualizing our emotions into the bigger pictures of our lives.

Instead of holding onto challenging emotions, we let them go

Emotions like fear and anger can be harmful if we carry them around with us. They are certainly helpful in specific situations to ensure our survival, however, those circumstances are few and far between. Why is it then that our normal waking experience is usually one that can be chosen to be enjoyed, but ongoing ‘feelings’ of stress, rage and other suffering continues to plague the daily lives of so many? One reason is that they haven’t learned to let shit go.

We need to manage emotions like fear and anger so they no longer control our feelings and behaviors. It’s a process though. First, we should embrace them as a part of our human experience. Then, we should understand them, as well as contextualize them into our beliefs and philosophies to utilize for our learning and growth. After we have taken the positive out of challenging emotional experiences, that’s when we can let them go, especially so we don’t encourage negative consequences to manifest.

Instead of reacting to our experience, we respond to it

Giving ourselves that little space to process what we’re going through allows us the time to ‘consciously’ incorporate our emotions into our philosophies on life. We have challenging experiences that bring up potent emotions all the time, yet responding instead of reacting to those experiences is self-empowering because then we’re more likely to treat ourselves with healthy and positive energy instead of getting sucked into unhealthy states of stress and pain.

For example, when somebody does something to us that is rude, do we instantly react with anger or do we allow that emotion to drift into our belief system so that we respond in a compassionate and self-caring way? After all, if they’re behaving rudely, we know they’re already suffering, so do we really want to react in a way that will also cause us to suffer too? Not if we don’t want our emotions to control us, we won’t.

We are overcoming our depression and anxiety

Professional and self-administered psychotherapy, in conjunction with good health, is what cures depression and anxiety, not pharmaceutical drugs. The success rate of these drugs facilitating a recovery, by providing a more balanced chemical production in the body, is evidently low; however, in some cases it does assist a person to undertake the psychotherapy they need to overcome their mental illness. Nevertheless, it’s rearranging the subconscious and conscious mind over a good commitment of time, though practices such as meditation, which truly deals with these problems effectively.

These two ‘diagnoses’ are not primarily emotional states, they’re ‘feelings’. In general, sadness is the base emotion to depression and fear is the base emotion to anxiety, so it’s these emotions that we need to functionally process so that they no longer drive our primary feelings about life. Our thoughts and beliefs play an integral role in these harmful mental states, so that’s what we need to change to release the grip of those core emotions and permanently overcome depression and anxiety.

Note: This is not intended to replace medical advice, if you have significant mental health challenges please engage with professional and community supports.

We treat all people with love, respect and compassion

It takes an emotionally empowered person to respond to poorly behaved people with love, respect and compassion. That’s not saying that we should take shit off other people either; we can still be direct and assertive, as well as being kind at the same time. If we don’t let our emotions control us, then a loving, respectful and compassionate state of the mind and heart flows through our engagement and communication with people, no matter how dysfunctional their actions.

That’s because we don’t let emotions like fear and anger control our response, such as reacting to rage with rage, to stress with stress, or to indecency to indecency. As previously stated, our feelings about life, which include our thoughts, beliefs, philosophies and memories, need to be empowered so that we don’t allow our emotions to take full control of us when we’re faced with difficult people or challenging experiences.

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Author: Phillip J. Watt – Wake up World

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6 August, 2015 by Choki team

Meditation as a Self-Healing Tool

The body is equipped with natural self-repair mechanisms that can be flipped on or off with thoughts, beliefs, and feelings that originate in the mind. This is great news, because it means, in essence, that you can heal yourself. But how?

One of the many simple ways you can flip on your body’s self-repair mechanisms is via meditation.

What Does It Mean To Meditate?

Dictionary.com defines meditation as “continued or extended thought; reflection; contemplation,” but I prefer Harvard professor Dr. Herbert Benson’s definition. He defines it as “Repetition of a word, sound, phrase, prayer, or muscular activity while passively disregarding everyday thoughts that inevitably come to mind and returning to your repetition.” With this definition of meditation, anything can be a meditation – not just sitting with your eyes closed in the lotus position, but walking, making art, cooking, shopping, dancing, driving… whatever.

How The Body Heals Itself

In my medical training, we were not taught that the body knows how to heal itself. Yet it is equipped with natural self-repair mechanisms that repair broken proteins, kill cancer cells, fight infections, prevent aging, and maintain the homeostasis of the body. When the body gets sick, whether from the common cold or something more serious, like heart disease or cancer, it’s almost always because the body’s self-repair mechanisms have broken down, usually because of stress.

When the nervous system is stressed, as it is during the “fight-or-flight” stress response that is so commonly triggered in modern day life, these self-repair mechanisms are disabled and the body is at risk for disease. Only when the counterbalancing relaxation response is activated, when the sympathetic nervous system is turned off and the parasympathetic nervous system is turned on, can the body heal itself.

Why Meditate?

So how can you turn on that relaxation response so the body can heal itself? One of the simplest and most effective is meditation! Meditation has been scientifically proven to activate the relaxation response, and as a result, almost every health condition improves. In his research at Harvard, Herbert Benson demonstrated that meditation is effective in treating angina pectoris, cardiac arrhythmias, allergic skin reactions, anxiety, mild to moderate depression, bronchial asthma, herpes simplex, cough, constipation, diabetes mellitus, duodenal ulcers, dizziness, fatigue, hypertension, infertility, insomnia, nausea and vomiting during pregnancy, nervousness, postoperative swelling, premenstrual syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, side effects of cancer, side effects of AIDS, and all forms of pain – backaches, headaches, abdominal pain, muscle pain, joint aches, postoperative pain, neck, arm, and leg pain. (Most likely it helps many conditions not listed here, but Dr. Benson just hasn’t gotten around to studying them yet!)

Meditation has been shown to decrease stress-related cortisol, reduce respiration and heart rate, reduce the metabolic rate, increase blood flow in the brain, increase activity in the left prefrontal cortex (which is observed in happier people), strengthen the immune system, and lead to a state of relaxation.

Meditation also reduces work stress, anxiety, and depression, promotes cardiovascular health, improves cognitive function, reduces alcohol abuse, improves longevity, promotes healthy weight, improves immune function, and heightens quality of life.

How To Start Meditating

Deepak Chopra recommends the “RPM” (Rise, Pee, Meditate) approach to meditation, suggesting that those who can will be well served to meditate first thing upon arising. However, if you, like me, have young children, you may find it easier to meditate when the kids are napping or away at school. If you work outside the home, you may find it easier to meditate over your lunch break or just before bed.

Regardless of when you do it, it’s crucial to make the time in your schedule to help your nervous system relax.

Here are Some Tips to Help You Get Started with a Sitting Meditation Practice:

1. Create a peaceful environment

If you’ve never tried a sitting meditation before, start by creating a peaceful environment in which to meditate. I have two altars I’ve created at home, one in my bedroom and one in my home office, which I sit in front of to meditate. When I sit down to meditate, I light the candles, burn some incense, and take a moment to let my altar soothe me.

Some people have rooms exclusively dedicated to meditation. Even a small closet can be tricked out to become a special space designed to help your body relax and your soul connect. Meditating outside can also be lovely. Because I live on the California coast, I often meditate at the ocean on a rocky beach that is usually deserted or in Muir Woods, among the peaceful redwoods. If you have access to quiet spots in nature, try a beach, a riverfront, a meadow, or a forest free of distractions.

2. Minimize disruptions

Turn off the TV, silence your phone, and play soothing music if you like. The point is to create an environment conducive to freeing your mind from its daily clutter and relaxing your body.

3. Choose your meditation position

If you can, sit on the floor and close your eyes. You don’t have to sit in the lotus position unless you want to, but sitting on the floor helps you feel grounded, connects you to Mother Earth, and roots you into your body when you meditate. Feel free to use pillows, cushions, and other props that help you feel comfortable. Keep your back straight so you can breathe deeply with ease. If sitting on the floor is too uncomfortable, sit in a chair and place your feet firmly on the floor to develop a sense of grounding.

4. Set a timer

If you’re new to meditation, start with just five minutes per day and aim to work up to twenty. Set a timer so you don’t have to interrupt your meditation to check your watch.

5. Close your eyes

Closing your eyes minimizes visual distractions, helps you come back into your body, and starts to settle you.

6. Focus on your breath as you inhale and exhale

Meditation teacher Jack Kornfield suggests that if you notice yourself remembering, planning, or fantasizing, refrain from judging yourself, but do call it out. “Hello remembering.” “Hello planning.” “Hello fantasizing.” Then return to the present moment, focusing on your breath. The minute you notice your thoughts starting to wander, come back to your breath and try to empty your mind. If your mind continues to wander and your breath isn’t enough to empty your mind, try counting your breaths or repeating a one word mantra like “peace” or “one” to clear your mind.

7. Release judgment

Most importantly, don’t judge yourself as you learn to meditate. Criticizing yourself for meditating “badly” or beating yourself up because your monkey mind won’t calm down will only stress you out, defeating the purpose of making attempts to help your body relax so it can repair itself. Remain compassionate with yourself, and pat yourself on the back for any progress you make.

Can’t make it more than 10 breaths into your meditation? Give yourself a hug and try again the next day. Like anything, it just takes practice. As someone who resisted meditation for most of my life, I can attest to the fact that it really does get easier with regular practice, and the benefits are so worth the effort.

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Author: Lissa Rankin – Wake Up World

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19 January, 2015 by Choki team

The Medicine Wheel of Time and Karma

“The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen all at once” ~ Albert Einstein

Time in the spiritual world doesn’t exist as we perceive it on the Earthly plane. Spiritual “time” is relative to our karmic experiences and whether or not we choose to transcend – to live only in the Now and learn the lessons the universe brings to our attention, the “karmic wheel” if you will. The medicine wheel, as it’s known in Native American Indian culture, represents a karmic, peaceful balance with the Earth and each other.

The Medicine Wheel
We tend to look at time as linear with events happening one after the other and this is true. But time is also experienced in cycle. We may not find the exact same events or opportunities recur, because change is constant in the Universe, but we will find similar energetic opportunities are presented to us so that we may confront and release our karmic patterns and emotional triggers.

Wherever we go, there we are. In that, we can consider a different perspective in regards to time and the shift in consciousness by saying that “time” is a form of karmic responsibility. We are collectively co-creating the future, and this karmic responsibility is there for all of us – which is why it’s true that “what comes round goes around”, and why it’s important to “do unto others…”.

There’s no such thing as zero other than in the binary code of the “matrix” or the universal law of duality. There is no concept in the universe that includes a zero outcome yet we find ourselves, intentionally or otherwise, spending our time going round and round in the cause and effect of duality while the wheel of never stop turning. Guided by our perceptions of past and future, we perpetuate our karmic patterns in cycles, with no beginning or end, running from the only person who can truly provide any kind of relief… our Self.

Thus, when we think of “zero point time” we can relate it to the transcendence of duality, or a graduation of sorts; a state where we’ve worked to identify and release energetic patterns and where we have an unwritten, clean karmic slate in which to Create.

The karmic wheel is a gift and a challenge for us to rise above the energies, emotions and influences that are hampering our spirit and experience of true freedom, and to reach a higher state of grace and abundance within, then without. With a little currency, an understanding of how these emotional roles play out in our lives, a new perspective on time, and the Heartfelt intention of transcendence… we’re prepared to heal our “karma”.

And when we do, we clear the energy of the “past” and clear the path to understanding and manifesting our soul desires for the “future”. And with our karmic pathway cleared, our emotional being (now) and our soul desires (future) become our conscience, informing our thoughts and actions in the now moment and in the future we create. Our Heartfelt intention.

The Human Drama

We come into this world with pre-assigned roles that we’re expected to adapt to and participate in, even if it often feels unnatural to our being (and it does). Our roles are based on gender, social status, race, financial concerns, and on it goes. These social repetitions have shaped our society today – one that is built on judgment, fear, competition and separation, leaving us pre-disposed to miss the entire point of our existence. We tend to get lost in competition, thinking we missed this boat or that opportunity, and therefore a plethora of other golden opportunities that most surely will never pass this way again.

It’s true that our thoughts create our reality, at first. Most importantly, they inform our belief in what’s possible in the first place. The very first step is changing the neuropathways in the brain from an imbalanced energy to a more positive approach about life and all its infinite possibilities. But the true key to creating and manifesting is through our spiritual and emotional “body”, our energy signature. If we perceive our karmic lessons as punishment we’re completely missing the gift of transcendence.

We tend to judge or deny the issues that we’re fearful of, have been taught to avoid, or find distasteful in some way. From there, we create emotional roles for ourselves to feed our “ignorance” which is just another way of saying we haven’t chosen to learn something yet – in the case of our emotions, ignoring our own nuances and/or personal truth.

The emotional roles in the human drama typically take on the character of either the victim/martyr, the oppressor/antagonist, or the savior/messiah – all depending on the relationship. When we take the time to genuinely consider that we’ve played some or all of these roles in our relationships, we can begin to see them for what they are – unresolved emotional patterns – and why we continue to play out our dramas on an individual and collective level.

The first step in re-writing the play is identifying and nurturing the aspects of ourselves that are wounded in the first place. The key is not creating new roles but looking for areas of healing, with the goal of moving toward our unity and divinity. In unity, we resonate with the vastness of experience, remaining open to receive, feel, and experience, without the need to assign roles, labels and words of limitation.

There’s a tool in our toolbox that we all came “here” with and we all have access to. There’s a ladder lying around somewhere inside the labyrinth of boxes, squares, patterns, emotional addictions and the insanity of doing the same thing over and over even though it doesn’t work. Once we find the ladder, it takes a process of patience, persistence and, most importantly, a Heartfelt intention to make the climb.

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Author: Jennifer Deisher / Wake Up World

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21 October, 2014 by Choki team

The Matrix of Four Forms of Meditative Breath

Breath is the basis of all life. Breath is also the basis of all meditation and meditative movement. Breath is the primary manner in which we all obtain life energy. The other three in metaphysical understanding are water, food and prana or chi. The most important concept to understand about breath and meditative movement is that one moves in coordination with the breath. One moves in and out of postures with the breath and one deepens and lengthens postures in coordination with the breath. Inhalations equate to tension whereas exhalations equate to relaxation and release.

There are four important aspects of meditative breath. It is important to breathe slowly, deeply, steadily and consciously. It’s said most people breathe wrong. Most people breathe either from high, mid or low points. A complete yogi breath is a cyclical movement beginning from low point moving like a wave. Meditative movement leads to proper cyclical, complete breath.

Balanced breathing is utilized most frequently. Balanced breathing means the four parts to one breath cycle are equalized. The inhalations and exhalations are the same length of time to each other and the pause full and pause empty are the same length of time to each other too. For example 8 seconds in, 2 second pause, 8 seconds out, 2 second pause is an example of steady balanced breath. Meditation practitioners from long ago would count the breath not in seconds, but heartbeats.

There are innumerable variations of meditative breath, however in most all meditations awareness of the matrix of meditative breath is a primarily important perception. Some more developed meditation practitioners move beyond focus on the breath, however even masters come back to and start with the breath. For the rest of us focus on the matrix of breath can calm the distracted monkey mind that swings from vine to vine, thought to thought. Trouble in meditation equates to, in general having a full mind, perceiving the breath allows one to be alternatively mindful so as to begin and develop meditation.

Balanced breath is beneficial to balancing one’s energy, often all we need. As one masters balanced breath one can implement new patterns to enhance energy movement in four basic patterns beyond balanced breathing similar conceptually to the depiction of the Yin Yang mandala. Unlike balanced breath these forms build and release energy in specific ways. There is the enhancement and lengthening of the pause full, in/pause/out patter for building Yin energy. There is the enhancement of pause empty, in/out/pause for Yang energy. Then a pause is inserted midway between either the inhale or exhale for energy movement, in/pause/in/out for Yin and lastly in/out/pause/out for Yang.

Meditation is mindfulness – the fullness of mind of the present. Whether distracted or focused, whether in still or moving meditation or in daily life, simply being mindful of the breath can connect mind and body. It is especially important to simply realize the four parts to every breath cycle and the four aspects of meditative breath.

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Author: Ethan Indigo Smith / Wake up World

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23 September, 2014 by Choki team

Love is the Answer

It takes great courage of the heart to embark deep within oneself. It can be very confronting. We may feel pain, or regret, or that we were “wrong” in the way we perceive our respective reality, but we must remember that our perspective is not “wrong” – it is a unique manifestation of consciousness itself. And as we raise ourselves to a higher place of Love, we must show ourselves compassion and release ourselves from the emotions and experiences that are no longer on the same vibrational frequency as we are.

It is in our human nature to want to be right, for the ego to assert itself and keep going rather than looking within in order to make a change. Change is usually uncomfortable because it means something new when we are programmed (usually by fear) to long for something safe and/or familiar. In order to change our vibration to a higher energy it is also necessary to put ego aside and allow the change to occur, especially if it means changing your perspective from something based in “fear” to something based in Love and Universal understanding.

The gift of self-exploration is necessary in order to gain emotional intelligence for ourselves, the collective, and our planet — so we can begin to take a (1)Quantum Leap together. We cannot consider ourselves intelligent beings if we continue to live in denial of our inner emotions, to live in disharmony and discontent, and perpetuate emotional and physical states of poverty, inequality, war, and oppression.

This journey is not something that one can step around. In order to create a miracle, it is necessary that we all go through this shift in our energetic being together and integrate the higher vibration of Love (God) into our physical reality. Call it “The Event” if you will. And it is possible. Whether by small jump or Quantum Leap, we are collectively on the path back “home”; to creating our own personal brand of Heaven, manifested individually and then collectively, thereby bringing it into our physical form. It is up to us as individuals to decide the scope of our miracles, our leaps of faith.

When we greet everyday as a miracle, we give ourselves the gift of spiritual consciousness. We resonate at a higher vibration, and align ourselves to the energy of our Mother Earth. And it is a gift meant for everyone, as our energy resonates collectively. By giving this gift to our self, we give a gift to the collective of Humanity, the Earth, and our Universe. As we increasingly give and receive the divine gift of Love, we will experience a Quantum Leap… we will manifest a miracle!

In our Universe, everything is possible. We are our only limitation!

It’s up to you. Please say “Yes!” to Love.

–

(1) Quantum Leap – for definition check our previous article “The science of Miracles”

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Author: Jennifer Deisher

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18 September, 2014 by Choki team

10 Tips for a Mindful Home

The idea of mindfulness seems to be catching on. That’s good, but if we’re not careful, an idea is where it remains.

Mindfulness is about improving ourselves with special contemplative consideration, a method for making saner choices and assuring better outcomes. To actually transform ourselves with the wisdom of mindfulness, we have to start with the lives we’re living from the moment we wake each day. We have to bring mindfulness out of our heads and into our homes. That’s where ideas become harder to handle.

Here are 10 simple and powerful ideas to bring a day of mindful moments into your home.

Wake with the sun – There is no purer light than what we see when we open our eyes first thing in the morning. Resisting the morning’s first waking moment instantly adds stress to your day. Avoiding the sun, you commence a chase that lasts all day long: running short of time, balance, peace and productivity.

Sit – Mindfulness without meditation is just a word. The search for mindful living is always grounded in a meditation practice. Seated meditation is the easiest and fastest way to clear your mind of anxious, fearful and stressful thoughts. Meditation puts your overactive brain on a diet, so you have more attention to bring to the real life that appears before you. You will be far more productive in the ensuing hours if you begin the day by spending five minutes actively engaged in doing nothing at all.

Make your bed – The state of your bed is the state of your head. Enfold your day in dignity. The five minutes you spend making your bed slows you down from your frantic, morning scrambling and creates a calm retreat to welcome you home at night. Plus, making your bed means you’ve already achieved an even more challenging feat: getting out of it.

Empty the hampers – Do the laundry without resentment or commentary and have an intimate encounter with the very fabric of life. Doing laundry is a supreme act of personal responsibility. It requires maturity, attention and discipline, and it engenders happiness. Don’t believe me? See how you feel every time you reach the bottom of an empty hamper.

Wash your bowl – Rinse away self-importance and clean up your own kitchen mess. If you leave it undone, it will get sticky. An empty sink can be the single most gratifying sight of a long and tiring day.

Set a timer – If you’re distracted by the weight of what’s undone, set a kitchen timer and, like a monk in a monastery, devote yourself wholeheartedly to the task at hand before the bell rings. The time you’ll find hidden in a kitchen timer unleashes more of your attention to the things that matter most.

Rake the leaves – Take yourself outside to rake, weed or sweep. You’ll never finish for good, but you’ll learn the point of pointlessness. The repetitive motion is meditative; the fresh air is enlivening. Lose yourself in doing what needs to be done, without a thought of permanent outcome or gain. You’ll immediately alter your worldview.

Eat when hungry – Align your inexhaustible desires with the one true appetite. Coming clean about our food addictions and aversions is powerful and lasting medicine. Eating is so central to family life and culture that we can pass on our habits for generations to come. Mindless overeating feeds our sickness; mindful eating feeds the body’s intuitive, intelligent wisdom and nourishes life well past tonight’s empty plates.

Let the darkness come – Set a curfew on the Internet and TV and discover the natural balance between daylight and darkness, work and rest. Your taste for the quiet will naturally increase. When you end your day in accord with the earth’s perfect rhythm, you grant the whole world a moment of pure peace.

Sleep when tired – Nothing more to it.

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Source: Healthy Living

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7 September, 2014 by Choki team

Chakras: What they do and How to heal them

1. Root Chakra – Represents our foundation and feeling of being grounded.

Location: Base of spine in tailbone area.

Emotional issues: Survival issues such as financial independence, money, and food that can present fatigue, disagreements with family members and disorientation. (Lack of grounding)

What to do?: Visualize a molten lava flow beneath you (intense red) Go to an open space barefoot and imagine a growing root from your feet to the center of the earth. Resolving issues with family (root) can help you heal this chakra.

2. Sacral Chakra – Our connection and ability to accept others and new experiences.

Location: Lower abdomen, about 2 inches below the navel and 2 inches in.

Emotional issues: Sense of abundance, well-being, pleasure and sexuality that can present sexual dysfunction, hormonal imbalance and lack of activity if the chakra is blocked.

What to do?: Any creative or sexual outlet has the potential to engage this chakra but only if the person is willing and align with his or her genuine self.

3. Solar Plexus Chakra – Our ability to be confident and in-control of our lives.

Location: Upper abdomen in the stomach area.

Emotional issues: Self-worth, self-confidence, self-esteem that can present digestive system upset, weakness in “core” muscles, low immunity and low self-esteem if the chakra is blocked.

What to do?: Reassessing personal choices and life directions, it is helpful to take time and space to nourish and to uncover and accept the real self.

4. Heart Chakra – Our ability to love.

Location: Center of chest just above heart.

Emotional issues: Love, joy, inner peace can present high or low blood pressure, cardiac symptoms, anger, numbness and fear of love if the chakra is blocked.

What to do?: Visualize a bright white light in the center of the chest and allow it to expand slowly to awaken this chakra and soothe feelings of hurt, write a journal or talk to a good and trusted friend too.

5. Throat Chakra – Our ability to communicate.

Location: Throat.

Emotional issues: Communication, self-expression of feelings, the truth can present hypothyroid, frustration and fear or inability to express oneself if the chakra is blocked.

What to do?: Sing, dance, write, speak and yell, express yourself, no fears, stand up for personal beliefs and support other people, ideologies and groups, but especially for yourself.

6. Third Eye Chakra – Our ability to focus on and see the big picture.

Location: Forehead between the eyes. (Also called the Brow Chakra)

Emotional issues: Intuition, imagination, wisdom, ability to think and make decisions can present headaches, lack of insight, feeling lost and lack of psychic intuitiveness if chakra is blocked.

What to do?: Visualize a third eye in the middle of the in the middle of the forehead, looking around with keen observation and insight. Overthinking congests the brow chakra.

7. Crown Chakra – The highest Chakra represents our ability to be fully connected spiritually.

Location: The very top of the head.

Emotional issues: Inner and outer beauty, our connection to spirituality, pure bliss can present headaches, brain fog, fear, disconnection, lack of trust/faith/ hope in chakra when blocked.

What to do?: This chakra represents the connection with the divine as well as the reality that all is energy, there is no form. Visualize a glowing white energy coming down and enveloping the top of the head, opening and healing the crown chakra. Talk (out loud or internally) to the higher self and ask for guidance, healing and wisdom.

www.choki.org

Source: Positive Med.

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30 August, 2014 by Choki team

5 Methods of Grounding and Connecting to the Earth’s Frequencies

The term grounding means connected to the Earth.

All species upon our planet are shaped by the forces and presence of the Earth and the cosmos, and as such this connection is deeply inherent to a sustainable state of well-being. The Earth, as an organic and inorganic system, is constantly bathing all life on the planet with its highly ordered and coherent electromagnetic field. The natural tendency of an organism is to couple with the Earth’s energy field, and come into a state of mutual cooperation and harmony with its external environment, finding its niche and its place within a system.

In every single moment, whether one is aware of it or not, we are taking part in a constant process within our universe, coupling with other energy fields and finding some sort of balance within this space. This happens everywhere, with life within an ecosystem, when you sit down in your favorite chair and watch television, when you play with animals, or when you say hello to your neighbor. We are constantly interacting with the energy fields all around us in varying degrees and to varying results.

The more organized or coherent these fields are, the more effectively and efficiently energy can be transferred to both stimulate and enhance the lesser organized of the two.The Earth resonates with our biological system, bringing us into a state of greater coherence. This enhances our mental, emotional, and physical wellbeing. When grounded, organisms operate more efficiently and harmoniously and can more freely access the Earth’s stabilizing electromagnetic energy to increase vitality, health, wellness and enjoy a prolonged lifespan.

This is ancient knowledge that is expressed in widely different cultures, traditions, and spiritual practices, and it all draws from our connection to the Earth.

The economic system is set up to keep people inside generating information, in large buildings of stone and metal that disconnect us from the Earth. We surround ourselves with machines and technology that constantly bombard us with electromagnetic radiation, i.e. telephones, computers, televisions, etc. We are sold pieces of insulating plastic or rubber to put onto our feet when we are out in nature, hindering the flow of energy from the Earth up into our physical vessel. Pollution and invasive procedures within the Earth distort the electromagnetic field.

Thankfully, we can cultivate our connection to the Earth and facilitate a more coherent, healthy state of being through the practice of grounding. Below are detailed many different methods that one can utilize to bring the human organism back into harmony with the Earth’s energetic field:

1. Go Outside

Be out in nature; go to a field, a mountain, a swamp, a river, a stream, a beach, the ocean. Get out of the office, off of the couch. Be in the presence of nature, be in the presence of life.

2. Walk in Nature Barefoot

Enjoy some quality barefoot time. The human species has thrived for thousands of years barefoot, let’s take the time to return to this practice in our daily life.

3. Hug a Tree

It’s science; go couple and touch another organism to balance your energy field.

4. Grounding Chord

Visualize, see, feel, or simply be aware of the center of the Earth and the free energy that it emits. With your mind and heart, reach down into the core, and pull up a pulsing, twisting chord of energy from the depths of the Earth. Hook this chord onto your root chakra, or sacral chakra as well for women, and feel the immediate connection between you and the Earth as the energy flows through you.

5. Mountain Meditation

Visualize, see, feel, or simply be aware of your body becoming a mountain, turning into stone. We see only the tips of mountains, their roots run deep into the Earth. Feel your legs and lower body anchoring into the bedrock and stone of the Earth, and the feelings of peace and calmness that come with it. Become the base of the mountain as it grows upwards and reaches into the sky. Feel your crown as the top of the mountain, where the Earth and sky meet and mingle; the connection of these two opposite spectrums that are in perpetual balance.

We have the ability to regulate and change our state of being. While indeed we are a product of our environments, constantly in the presence of other external forces and influences, we always have a choice as to how we choose to feel and how we respond. We have the choice to change our external and internal environment to come into a state of greater harmony and coherence.

www.choki.org

Source Healthy Holistic Living

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