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01 Jun 2016
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Recognize Your Awareness Throughout Your Transformation

The power and vastness that exist within your awareness is beyond the minds capacity to understand.
When one looks to understand the incomprehensible, one brings fourth anxiety, stress and unneeded pressure.
This includes basically everything that is not NOW.
One cannot understand what is not NOW, as it is not being experienced directly. All past and future are projections of mind in which can never grasp the truth of the experience.
Thus our over stimulated minds with “information” is simply bringing us into spaces of deeper confusion and complexity.
We are to be here, now, in the breath, rooted in awareness, accepting of the truth that is being presented in each and every moment.

The end destination is the balance within the nothingness of space.

Ascension, or, the awakening process is bringing you towards nothingness.

It is bringing you up a ladder in which asks of you to release from every need for something in particular, and surrender to the divine will of the universe.

This process can get confusing for some, as it generally leads one down a path filled with fear, pain and a spice of suffering. As we walk the path we know is best for us, we self-sabotage to avoid the inevitable facing of “loss of identity” – we are ascending into a space in which the mind, the ego, the attachments cannot come.

It is the most unknown space, because it is unknowable. As you begin to look to “know” it, it instantly begins to fleet.

The knowingness of this destination, this source point, this home location, is the space in which must be fully “known”, in trust, that it exists, without proof of is existence.

A trust so deep that another one doubting your relationship to this inner space ca fully detached from their opinion otherwise.

There is no question to you, and thus, no need for reassurance.

This is the destination into knowing ourselves. We are conquering the minds need for reassurance, and even the transcendence of belief. It is true knowing to the highest degree.

The unspoken, the unbegotten, we are here, we are now.

The times in which one on this quest feels “distant” from others or “misunderstood” is just part of the process of integration.

We have chosen to walk a path in which ultimately all at some point will, but for now, only some are willing.

It is not our duty to stay “relatable” to everyone, however it IS our duty to stay “loving”,

Grounded love comes when one on the deepest spiritual quest can view all as divine, all as supreme, all as enlightened.

One recognizes that love given outwards is love given to self. One cannot receive that in which they cannot give, thus bringing forth the obvious nature that we are the determinants of our own inner experience.

These feelings of being misunderstood or distant is our own confusion and feeling of separation… more importantly, it is our own lesson to learn the nature of co-dependency, the pitfalls of it, and return to our relationships with non-attached fully expressive love.

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For those in a serious space of transition, you can contact Corey Here and let him know how he can be of assistance.

01 Jun 2016
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Phillip Saunders – Artist of The Month

Phillip A. Saunders, a young self-taught artist from Toronto Canada enjoys studying and incorporating the knowledge of ancient human history, psychology, and philosophy into his work. His creative work is the expression of being human, with a spiritual nature, surrealistic, impressionistic, and dream-like all of which are pointers to the real realm of our spiritual nature. Phillip enjoys using acrylic paint, graphite, charcoal, watercolor, oil paint, and aerosol in his illustrations.

“The work I create as an artist is the expression of being human. My work is of a spiritual nature, surrealistic, impressionistic, and dream-like. The paintings act as pointers to the real realm of our spiritual nature. I enjoy using acrylic paint, graphite, charcoal, watercolor, oil paint, and aerosol.“

His paintings embody mixing human and animal attributes, usually conveying a psychological, spiritual, and surrealistic overtone. Phillip also enjoys studying color theory and spiritual sciences of the mind. Throughout his he uses symbols and colors to provoke emotion and inspire curiosity of the inner journey. His artwork communicates directly to the unconscious and conscious mind of the viewer.

Considered a surrealist painter, Phillip’s influence on street art, psychedelic depictions and primary usage of negative space, has all together influenced his work to exude strong hypnagogic visual elements. “When I was little I always loved looking at the clouds looking into them trying to see if I could find something cool, my work today reflects that because I love using the negative space to create new things.”

“Love is life. Knowledge of creation is my journey. I consider myself to be an artist, visionary, free thinker, researcher, and astrologer” Phillip Saunders

Check out some of his artwork below.

You can contact Phillip as well as view & purchase more of his work at: www.phillipsaunders.com

Check him out on Instagram @Metaphilsical

01 Jun 2016
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Why We Need the Numinous

We’ve strayed very far from the numinous. In our civilized, industrialized, pasteurized, homogenized world, we’re frozen into form, ossified in the material — and immune to the whisper of leaves, the murmur of brooks, the tenor of life teeming just below conscious awareness. Earbuds in place, we walk on, acculturated to the jackhammer tempo of the 21^st century.

In lieu of ceremony to honor the ebb and flow of daily life, typical Western rituals include texting and working out. Lunch-hour laser surgery isn’t far behind. “Tradition” means the product you’re thinking of buying has been made by the same company for several generations: “A tradition of fine furniture since 1946.” Family meals are an anachronism, eclipsed by a nanosecond lifestyle that equates eating with putting gas in the car: get in, get out, get going. We eat to the beat, and our bodies, soil and soul pay the price.

Slowing down to the pace of health

I know this firsthand. In the early 1990s, stoked on my burgeoning marketing communications business that spelled freedom from the drudgery of nine-to-five, I ignored the growing evidence that my health was deteriorating. I loved the ten-step commute in my San Francisco apartment. I was finally taking piano lessons. I didn’t have time to deal with pain or fatigue. I was too busy; business was too good.

So Spirit took over. “Hello!” my angels roared at 110 decibels. “We’ve been trying to get your attention, but you aren’t listening. You’ve mastered being a successful businesswoman; we have other plans for you now.”

It was a colossal summons. My ninety-miles-an-hour life screeched to a halt.

For me, spiritual emergency took the form of illness. In 3-D, it “looked like” I was quite sick, and I certainly felt awful for a long time. I was dealing with a panoply of strange symptoms and medical labels.

Labels limit us, however. In A Return To Love, Marianne Williamson says spiritual progress is like a detoxification, and that’s exactly how it was for me, how it is for most of us. We have to clear out the old patterns and habits that no longer serve us in order to heal. Environmental restoration begins at home.

Norman Cousins, author of Anatomy Of An Illness, once said, “It’s not just the congestion outside us, of people’s ideas and issues, but our inner congestion that’s hurting us. We gorge the senses and starve the sensitivities.” So the deeper work is about coming to our senses. Beginning to really feel, and to trust what we feel.

How ritual renews our memory of wholeness

In truth, our very beings are hardwired for the kind of care we consider an indulgence. Access to the numinous requires only that we choose it. To sit at table with friends and loved ones, sharing “slow food,” is a simple, sorely needed ritual for a starving spirit. It becomes soul nourishing at a deeper level when we join hands to thank the growers, grocers and cooks who have brought the food from farm to fork.

Moonbaths are another elementary way to get in touch with our essence selves, to slow down to the pace of health and release our inner pollution. Sunbathing is standard. But if you go to a serene spot free from streetlamps and traffic lights when the moon is full, allowing her to shine upon you in all her radiance, you’ll tap into an ancient cellular rhythm.

These are just a few of the myriad ways we can use ritual to remember who we are, as multidimensional beings capable of so much more than societal dictates. Surviving in spiritual starvation, we hunger for sustenance beyond food. Ritual renews our memory of wholeness, of a time when we knew how to cast a circle, call in our ancestors and spirit guides, invoke our intention with clarity and conviction. “Invocation” means, giving your vision a voice.

Crafting a new mythology

Living in harmony with natural rhythms expands our sense of what’s possible. The “reality police” have become our invisible, accepted jailers. We can liberate ourselves by reaching past the pre-packaged propaganda for certified organic thought. The replenishing rituals we create now are one way to re-story our lives, revivifying the myths that have kept cultures through the ages cooking up a cauldron of creative possibility. According to the eminent mythologist Joseph Campbell, a myth isn’t something that never happened; it’s something that is always happening.

Disconnected from the source of this knowing, we pervert our productive energy. For example, without a mythological model for how to resourcefully contribute to the collective, teenagers may resort to gang membership and violence — mimicking their elders, who wage war on their own life support system.

But another way was possible from the start. It’s intriguing to learn that the US Constitution is patterned directly on the Iroquois model of leadership, with one notable exception: there is no Council of Clan Mothers, or Grandmother Council, which is the backbone of Native American decision making. Perhaps if our Founding Fathers had included Founding Mothers in the new nation’s governing body, we’d consider ritual-based decision-making that honors both masculine and feminine voices the natural course for balance and well-being. Just imagine what our culture — and the environment — might look like, if the White House consulted a group of wise women prior to implementing any major policy change.

Follow your inner guidance, even if you look like a fool

During my own “dark night of the soul” journey, I frequently found myself walking alone at night, singing, “fire and water”, not knowing why, but trusting the rightness of my inner voice. Fire is the male essence; water is female. They are yang and yin, sun and moon, perfect polarities, as necessary to one another as all complementary pairings are to balance, healing, wholeness, sustainability.

One useful ritual is to start noticing where you are imbalanced, and to spend time nurturing the flip side of the equation. This is holding the “both/and,” which is about integration rather than separation. Our digital devices are binary. Humans are far more complex operating systems!

Take time to wander and wonder. Sit in a stream and sing. Be willing to follow your inner guidance, even if you look like a fool. When you can descend to the depths of your being and release what no longer serves, beginning anew in defenselessness and trust, you’re on your way to becoming a vessel of wisdom for the tribe.

May you enjoy the journey, and remember to resurface when you’re complete. We all — every species, and Gaia Herself — need your unique gifts from the well.

About the author:

Amara Rose is a “midwife” for our global rebirth. Her services include transformational guidance, talks, e-courses, a digital download CD, and an inspirational monthly newsletter. She is widely published in health, business and new thought magazines, both digital and print. Learn more: http://www.liveyourlight.com

http://twitter.com/Amara_Rose

http://www.facebook.com/LiveYourLight

https://www.linkedin.com/in/amararose

07 May 2016
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How the Bacteria in Our Gut Influences Our Minds.

There has been a growing understanding and exploration by psychologists, psychiatrists, physicians and researchers about the role our gut bacteria plays on our mood—most notably the experience of anxiety.

The statistics on anxiety are staggering and trending north each passing year. Consider these stats: According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (and NIMH) anxiety is the most common mental illness in America today.

An estimated 40 million adults (18 and older) or 18 percent of the population endorse symptoms of anxiety (not to mention one out of eight children). Treatment of anxiety accounts for one-third of the $148 billion dollars spent annually on mental illnesses in America.

In other words, we spend $42 billion a year on treatment of anxiety disorders in America. Women are 60 percent more likely to develop an anxiety disorder than our male counterparts. These numbers are terrifying to me as a clinician, a woman and a mother.

The symbiotic relationship between our gut health and how we feel is a hot topic of discussion and research. Scientists, physicians, and mental health practitioners are increasingly aware of the important relationship between the balance of “critters” in our gut and how we experience our brain, mood and emotions. So, before we begin to discuss what we can do to optimize this important relationship, let’s explore the underlying processes.

From a holistic vantage point our gut is known as the “second brain” and there are structural/anatomical reasons for this reference. The “second brain,” known scientifically as the enteric nervous system, consists of sheaths of neurons located in the walls of our gut. We refer to these sheaths as the vagus nerve and it runs from our esophagus to our anus, roughly nine meters long.

Did you know that:

The bacteria, fungi and viruses that make up your body’s microflora outnumber your body’s cells by 10 to 1.

95 percent of the body’s serotonin supply is found in our bowels.

The vagus nerve contains 100 million neurons, which is more neurons than the spinal cord or peripheral nervous system hold.

There are over 100 trillion bacterial cells contained within the gut.

Our gut sends far more information to our brain than the other way around.

When the precarious balance of bacteria in our gut becomes disturbed we often experience symptoms associated with Irritable Bowel Syndrome and other gastrointestinal related disorders. These symptoms are likely to start out as complaints of bloating, gas, constipation or diarrhea.

These symptoms are often indicators of “leaky gut syndrome” where our gut wall becomes permeable and particles of food start to escape from the digestive and GI tract. When this occurs the domino effect of issues becomes inevitable and thus begins the cascading symptom patterns that plague tens of millions of Americans struggling with GI related disorders.

Due to the interconnectedness of our brain and enteric nervous system, via the vagus nerve, once our gut bacteria is out of whack, we are vulnerable to a pattern of emotional discomfort, usually marked by increasing episodes of anxiety and depression.

How does our gut bacteria become so unbalanced? Here are a few of the many ways in which we accidentally (and sometimes unavoidably) contribute to this pattern of disturbance:

Excessive and unmanaged stress

Too much use of antibiotics

Prolonged use of steroids

Intestinal infections

High sugar; low fiber diet (in other words, standard American diet)

Regular consumption of alcohol

If you are reading this blog and you find yourself relating to this content, I encourage you to seek out professional help to better understand what these symptoms mean for your unique constitution. Taking the right type of probiotic to help restore balance in the micro flora in your gut is one step, but often with more advanced GI issues and more acute anxiety based symptoms there is a need to first heal the permeability of the gut wall before adding in probiotics.

Source: http://yourhealthblog.net/infographic-how-gut-bacteria-affects-the-brain-and-body/

There is a growing body of research that is exploring strain specific probiotics to help mitigate acute symptoms of anxiety. For example, in clinical trials involving the study of mice, Bifidobacterium longum and Lactobacillus Rhamnosus have shown to help normalize anxiety-like behavior. Lactobacillus appears to work on the GABA receptors, an inhibitory neurotransmitter involved in the regulation of acute anxiety. GABA is the receptor influenced when you take a benzodiazepine such as Xanax or Ativan.

There is a bourgeoning area of interest and research exploring use of probiotics to treat a wide variety of mental illnesses. Pharmaceutical companies are attempting to create a new line of psychiatric medications referred to as Psychobiotics, but this field of research is still in its infancy.

So, that being said, there is a lot we can do right from the comfort of our own home to start the process of realigning the balance of our gut flora. As you can imagine, most of it involves cleaning up our diet, being mindful of the relationship between food and mood, and exploring our habits and patterns. Below are action steps you can take in an effort to begin the process of healing your gut, mind and brain:

It generally takes a minimum of 90 days for these suggestions to be maximally effective:

Eliminate sugars: The “fake” sugars. We are not talking about eliminating whole fruits. Rather, cutting out the baked goods, cookies, ice cream, and store bought sugary products that wreak havoc on the bacteria in our gut and lead to cyclical patterns of emotional and physical cravings.
Eliminate all simple starches and reduce intake of even complex starches.
Add in fermented and living foods. Please try to avoid store bought yogurts even though they are considered fermented. These products are loaded with sugars and often end up exacerbating imbalance.
Consider having the vast majority of your diet be plant-based foods. Generally speaking, eat as many veggies as you want in any form you want. Avoid use of store bought dressings etc., which are loaded with sugar and preservatives. If your GI tract is especially damaged, consider cooking all your veggies before consumption.
Consume foods high in Omega-3 fatty acids (walnuts, salmon, flax, some types of squash, etc.).
Aim to consume local and organic sources of animal protein. Doing so will reduce your ingesting unwanted antibiotics and feed based chemicals.
Discuss with your practitioner if the use of a probiotic or prebiotic will benefit your unique situation. A probiotic introduces specific strains of good bacteria, while a prebiotic introduces carbohydrates that serve as food the bacteria already present in your gut.
Exercise. Again, more days than not. Enough to sweat. The goal is to find joy in it. But if you hate it, that’s okay. Do it anyway.
Drink mostly water.
Work with a skilled psychologist or mental health professional to metabolize past trauma, identify faulty thought patterns, and implement mindfulness based skills to better manage your central nervous system.
Implement a daily mindfulness/meditation practice. The goal is observe your mind, not to clear it or control your thoughts. Simple observation and balanced breathing. This is a restful and restorative way to calm the central nervous system and recalibrate the vagus nerve.

Exploring the relationship between our mood and our gut bacteria reveals an interconnected relationship between the mind, brain, and body, via the enteric nervous system and vagus nerve. This relationship is the foundation of why it is critical to address your emotional discomfort from a holistic and integrated approach to your wellness.

The good news is that because we now know and understand that there is a connection between the mind and body, we have the knowledge and tools to make immediate changes that will yield significant results in how we feel. The better we understand and participate in our own sense of wellness and empowerment the more likely we are to embark on change that starts from within.

By Dr. Sarah Sarkis for elephant journal

Sarah Sarkis is a licensed psychologist living in Honolulu, Hawaii. She has a private practice working with adults in long-term insight-oriented therapy. She works with an existential psychology vantage point, encouraging patients to “stay present even in the storm.” She is an explorer of the psyche, emphasizing collaboration, partnership, and personal empowerment. She approaches psychological wellness from a holistic and integrative perspective. Her therapeutic style is based on an integrative approach to wellness, blending strong psychodynamic and insight-oriented training with more traditionally behavioral and/or mind/body techniques to help clients foster insight, change and growth. She has extensively studied the connection between mindfulness, functional medicine, hormones, and food, medicine and mood. Find out more at her blog.

Recognize Your Awareness Throughout Your Transformation

Phillip Saunders – Artist of The Month

Why We Need the Numinous

How the Bacteria in Our Gut Influences Our Minds.

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