Experiencing Snatam Kaur Live

Wow.

What a beautiful concert.

I attended Snatam Kaur live at the Center for Spiritual Learning last night.

Many months ago, I bought the music CD – Grace, by Snatam Kaur Khalsa. I didn’t know that it was chanting music when I got it, I just loved the sound. Something about the sound drew me in. It’s hypnotic, beautiful and I resonate with it. It’s like it’s an Om that you can really believe in.

A few weeks ago, I found fliers at my local yoga studio advertising a local concert date for their current tour. Without really thinking, I bought tickets.

My excitement was tempered when I tried to find someone to go with me. Turns out, there are more than a few people that have very strong opinions based on sight, and sight alone. It took me days to find someone else with an open heart, open mind and willingness to try something different.

I got there early enough to get reasonably good general admission seats and watched as people arrived, but the place never filled up. The energy was good and the level of excitement in the room was pure and genuine.

My biggest surprise came at the instant Snatam Kaur started singing her first song. My eyes instantly filled with tears of joy. Wow, just thinking about it now brings them back again. It was a feeling that I didn’t want to fight or suppress. Later in the same song(chant), I looked around to see others clearing the tears from their faces.

It was a beautiful feeling of acceptance and connectedness. Clearly, there is Devine influence working though her as she gives into the music.

If you’re looking for a gentle way to experience a group of people that consciously gather to open their hearts, this would be a perfect place for you to visit.

Here is an example.

May you find grace in every moment of every day.

Namaste.

Another way Light Affects Us

I’ve been wanting to do a little research in order to post another article regarding how light affects us ever since I posted the article about how light affects the retina in the eyes. And, sorry, that was a long time ago. If you are interested in a blast from the past, you can revisit The Art of Seeing – can you see auras? Posted back in July of 2010.

Back then, I brought up how the retina I the eye changed when a photon of light struck the molecule. The energy gave it a charge and that charge caused the shape of the molecule to twist ever so slightly. Yet, the twist is just enough that we humans can sense the change as color.

Well, as it turns out, there is another very common molecule that is a created from a combination of Cholesterol and sunlight. Very similar to photosynthesis, there is a process called Photochemistry that is described (at the Wikipedia as):

Light is a type of electromagnetic radiation, a source of energy. The Grotthuss–Draper law (for chemists Theodor Grotthuss and John W. Draper) states that light must be absorbed by a chemical substance in order for a photochemical reaction to take place. For each photon of light absorbed by a chemical system, no more than one molecule is activated for a photochemical reaction, as defined by the quantum yield.

Chemical reactions occur only when a molecule is provided the necessary “activation energy“. …. In case of photochemical reactions light provides the activation energy. Simplistically, light is one mechanism for providing the activation energy required for many reactions. …

The absorption of a photon of light by a reactant molecule may also permit a reaction to occur not just by bringing the molecule to the necessary activation energy, but also by changing the symmetry of the molecule’s electronic configuration, enabling an otherwise inaccessible reaction path, as described by the Woodward-Hoffmann selection rules. A 2+2 cycloaddition reaction is one example of a pericyclic reaction that can be analyzed using these rules or by the related frontier molecular orbital theory.

Basically, electromagnetic energy can be the catalyst for changing a number of different types of molecules. Yet, the one that’s most interesting to me is the molecule that is created when we step into the sunlight – vitamin D3.

Vitamin D3 starts out looking like this:

440px-Cholesterol_svg

Somehow, it gets into the pre Vitamin D3 stage and then, with the help of UV light, it turns into Vitamin D3.

Reaction-PrevitaminD3-VitaminD3

I know Cholesterol looks to be a lot simpler than Pre-vitamin D3, but the point is that light gets absorbed into the molecule and that molecule changes shape.

The important part is that once that molecule changes shape, it changes into something that proves to be very helpful for the body. Everyone knows that Vitamin D3 is used to help the body absorb calcium. But what people don’t necessarily recognize is that sunlight provides the charge that changes the molecule within the human body so that it can function in a useful way.

What I find most interesting is not so much that this is two clear cases of sunlight having a direct effect on the body, but rather light (electromagnetic energy) gives a charge to a molecule that allows it to function in a useful way within the human body.

Now, on the crudest side of things, when the body breaks down sugar in order to release the electromagnetic energy, that energy must be captured by other molecules that get spun up in order to perform some new type of work. And, as we all know, science has broken down sugar so that it’s a measure of calories – a measure of energy.

But what about the rest of the body? It would seem that if there are two really simple cases where electromagnetic energy affects molecules within the body, and one of those (retina), directly sends singles into the nervous system, might there be others?

To me, this is where ‘having feelings for someone else’ comes into play. Not only do people live on electromagnetic energy, people give off that same energy. If sunlight can have an effect on the body, why can’t the energy given off by someone else? It would also stand to reason that if the energy within our own body spun-up/twisted molecules in useful ways, might being around someone else have a similar, yet slightly less profound effect?

I’m willing to bet that as time goes on, we’re going to find lots of examples of how electromagnetic energy affects the body. If you really ponder the thought, you may find that it’s not food that we live on, but rather electromagnetic energy – the way we’ve plugged in has always been via food. What if we discovered a new way to power or bodies that didn’t involved eating? What if we could simply ‘plug in’ to some source that provided a charge that restored all our molecules to their best functioning state?

Wouldn’t that be cool?

This is where the fun begins. This is why yoga interests me. Why do some people mediate? Why do these people focus their thoughts? Why do they spend time learning how to be calm? If you were to ask me, I would say that it’s because when you remove the gross energies that move the body physically, emotionally and mentally, you remove the energies that drowned out, or overly stimulate, the subtle receptors. These subtle receptors are what allow us to sense the energy that’s around us. These subtle receptors respond to the energy that is outside of our own creation. These subtle receptors allow us to really connect with other people (life forms) in our existence. Everyone (everything) is giving off energy. The fun part is feeling it!

Breathe and calm the mind. Together we can experience these subtle energies!

Good day.

 

What am I doing when I meditate?

What am I doing? Practice? Yoga? Wasting time? All of the above?

I love coming across videos that are short, impactful and, well, downright worth watching. Turns out, another one came my way just a few minutes ago. It explores the idea of meditation in a practical no-nonsense way AND, I found that, I resonate (no pun intended) with how he, (Kurt Hardesty,) describes his ‘practice’.

It’s short, I think you’ll like it.

Now, if I can critique this video….  I love the fact that his little, overly dramatic, hand gestures and sounds add filler to the dead space between words to keep the viewer’s mind occupied. It’s as if he resonates to both the non-stop intensity of the always on internet while at the same time maintaining a balance that keeps him centered a focused. The logic is simple and the words flow off his tongue without the essence of being rehearsed.

And the intent … It’s very much in line with how I practice. Meditation, to me, it about consciously calming the gross energies that naturally drowned out the subtle energies so that awareness can be brought to the senses that read and generate the subtle energies.

Why would someone want to do this? Well, Kurt makes it really clear – it’s so that you can learn what your baselines are.  If you experience what energies you use and how you use them, you get a really good understanding of your own baseline. When you do, you build a really good foundation upon which you can interpret the world. When you learn where you ‘stop’, you can start to see where other’s begin. But, because our boundaries around people are really fuzzy, people intersect with (literally) everything, meditation helps us learn how to decipher internal verses external stimulation.

Even though this guy mentions electricity a number of times, I believe he’s saying that – not from a literal point of view – but from a point of view where electricity is not just what flows through the wires in your house. But, rather, it is an electromagnetic energy. Or, better yet, pure energy that is everywhere all the time.

When he talked about sensing the pulse of energy that flows through the body, he’s implying that it is sensed – just like how your eyes sense visible light (energy). He mentions that it’s at a cellular, molecular type level, which is in line with my understanding. The sensing comes from feeling the flow of energy. It takes a huge amount of energy to move your arm or leg, and when that flow happens, it drowns out the senses by overpowering them. Thus, during meditation, a conscious effort is placed upon calming that physical activity.

After that, the activity that is emotional or mental can be wildly active. When you calm that energy down, you realize how physically connected it all is and you find yourself getting ever more relaxed. Tension melts away. To me, it’s just after that point when the sensory input can be felt consciously by the more subtle sensors. That’s when you feel the bird call down the block as if it’s two feet away. That’s when you pick up on other people’s thoughts from miles away. That’s when you can visualize places as if you were there.

Most importantly, that’s when you learn how you channel your own energy. That’s when you realize that your own thoughts drive your own emotions that affect your own body. This is where you learn that when you consciously choose the correct thoughts they will generate expected emotions that will have a specific affect on the body. You experience the way it works. You experience how to make balance happen.

Ok, I’m thankful to have found these few minutes to type up this post. Tomorrow’s going to be another great day!

Relaxed into the Flow of Existence

What a great way to welcome the New Year, an in-the-flow living meditation. Or, the next best thing, which happens to be a video of a guy named Jordan (from Conscious Alchemy) talking to (being interviewed by) Leija Turunen. It’s refreshing to see another person that can express what it’s like to be connected to the flow and how that helps for developing hyper-sensitive abilities.

The video is almost 25 minutes long, but it’s really worth it. Jordan’s point of view is refreshing and, better yet, he’s allowed to freely talk which leads to a really intuitive conversation. Rather than hearing the interviewer’s point of view, you simply get Jordan with all his natural insights.  

Without saying to much more to color your interpretation of this, I would simply encourage you to give it a go. Here it is:

One of my favorite parts goes something like this, “… You shouldn’t have to, you know, like you can study things, but it’s not form the actual studying that you’re going to learn. It’s from putting something into practice and feeling what it feels like to do it, that you’re going to learn from.” (22:30) I completely agree with how he said this. This is fundamental to the process of growing. It’s core to the process of being a better human. … practice. Studying something is completely different than practicing it.

I also love the part where he waves his arms around to simulate the energy that some people have. I would add to this that this energy is really their awareness being scattered anywhere and everywhere. It’s when that energy calms down – becomes more centered. Which, by the way, that becoming centered is a conscious act – It’s done with practice. This calming leads to enhanced abilities to be in touch with the natural life force energies that exist in everything always.

It’s like, if you go to hear a beautiful singer, but you spend all your time talking to your friends, you’ll tune out the amazing music. The only way you can hear the music is if you stop talking. It’s the same way with feeling the flow of energy. If you are always using the energy in gross ways (moving, thinking, etc), you’ll never get to the point where the subtle energy flows can be felt. To feel them, you’ve got to ‘stop talking’. You’ve got to practice calming yourself down so that you can really get into … feeling.

I also like his mature attitude towards what it takes to really make this happen. That is, the act of accepting the feeling of gratitude and consciously removing resistance opens you up to what comes naturally. We naturally feel.

So, for this next year relax and do what comes naturally. Bring your awareness in so that you notice the gross energy flows and direct them in conscious ways. Take time to still the gross movements so that the subtle ones can be felt. Explore and … be grateful.

Celebrate yourself and reach others

Hi everyone,

There’s a little magic in the air again. Do you feel it? It’s not hard to feel if you give in to the mechanics of it!

If you remember a while ago I posted an article titled “It’s more than a bumper sticker people” where Kelly Morris lectures at the Wanderlust Festival about opening your heart. I still absolutely love Kelley’s words part way through that video. If you don’t remember, they went like this:

“… Open your heart, Oh God … Talk about a hallmark sentiment. Right yeah. It’s more than a bumper sticker people. You have to actually do it. You have to actually do it.”

She was comically sincere when she stated that you actually do it.

But saying it and doing it – to some people – doesn’t always come together. Why? Well, it’s because people don’t experience how it’s done very often. And, well, that’s why I like pointing it out when I come across examples.

Here’s a young lady who’s exploring what it’s like to be human. I found her YouTube channel a while ago and have enjoyed her adventures. Her name is Veronica (Youtube channel here) and, well, today, a realization that she picked up in a sleep state has split over into her conscious awareness, but I’m not exactly sure she’s noticed yet. 

I’ve included the video here for you to enjoy. It’s short – just the way I like them. While viewing it, take note of what you feel. Let’s reflect on that afterwards.

You notice anything? If not, you probably didn’t participate. Pay attention and view it again.

Before cutting to the locations in the video for review, I have to point out that one of the things that attract me to this young lady is that she and I are a lot alike with regards to meticulously analyzing our experiences. Her work is toughly thought out to the ‘T’. Technically, you might say that everything needs to add up correctly and it has to be presentable before she speaks about it.

Well, this video is a great example that even someone that’s always in their head can step out and connect emotionally. She doesn’t ‘think’ about it when it happens. And, if you watch closely, after making that connection she ‘talks’ herself out of it. But that’s ok, for the energy that’s shared in those few brief moments is enough to prove the point – even the most rational logical over analyzer can learn to make truly deep personal connections – when they get their own thoughts out of the way!

Did you catch the locations in the video where this happened?

Scroll into the video to a point just before 2:10. It’s at this point where she finally gives you the intention from the dream – Celebrate yourself. Notice though, the point where she sighs. That is a moment where you get to feel what she felt in the dream. It’s really short, but the feeling is there. Shortly thereafter, it gets suppressed with words.

Now, scroll head to about the 3:30 point. Here is where she finally gives in to what I feel is the substance of the video. It starts with “I celebrate you, I celebrate you. This is reaching you?”… Then she pauses with a sigh. This is where she no longer suppresses the feeling that she received in her dream. If you listen to the words a couple times, they genuinely flow from her spirit. During these few seconds, you’ll be able to feel what she’s saying rather than intellectualize what she’s saying.

Also notice that the feelings change just after the 4 minute mark. Why? Well, … Hmmm… Maybe opening your heart makes you feel a little – vulnerable? It’s at that point where the thinking mind gently covers over the vulnerabilities and we go back to everyday life.

Well, it’s moments like these – between the everyday life – that make my day!

Veronica, thank you for sharing your vulnerabilities! You’re willingness to ‘open your heart’ – even if ever so briefly – will bring joy to many! If Kelley Morris where around to see you here, I’m sure she would jump all over this. This is how you open your heart. This is what it feels like to be human. This is… wonderful!

Thank you for sharing.