growth | Ascension Lifestyle

06 Nov 2020
Comments: 0

How to Approach Self Love Without Becoming an Egomaniac

For many years now we have been hearing that we need to love ourselves first in order to love others, which is true. However: how do we go about that without crossing the invisible line between real love and ego? I have come to understand that ego is a creative force, but we need to tame it and use it in a “humble” way that is beneficial for ourselves and for the people around us.

Years ago, I used to teach Spanish to executives and diplomats, and I remember that at our first class, one of my students said to me: “Veronica, I don’t want to learn about anyone else, so please show me how to use the word ‘Yo’ (‘I’ in Spanish) only.” I tried to convince him that this would not be appropriate; however, he was the client and I did what I was asked to do. A couple of classes later and after realising that living in a “yo” world was not really helping him to learn the language and communicate with others, this student asked me to incorporate the rest of the personal pronouns.

This experience showed me how caught up we are in ourselves and our sometimes big egos, which do not allow us to see beyond them and establish better relationships with others. However, this anecdote also showed me that we are capable of stopping, thinking, reassessing and start all over. In other words, we can control our egos when they become an obstacle — and these obstacles turn into a humbling lesson.

Growing up, I always thought that loving myself was inherent to who I was, independent of living through hard times in my life. Then I realised that not everyone thinks highly of themselves, and self-esteem is important when talking about ego. If I am always lowering myself, diminishing my own abilities, listening to other people’s harsh opinions and I am going out and about complaining about my life, my appearance, thinking that I do not deserve to be loved, then, from my point of view, there is a hidden ego inside me, waiting for the world to resolve my lack of confidence and self-esteem, without realising that I am creating those conditions for myself. Of course, I understand that life sometimes is hard and if we grow up in hard environments it is difficult for us to see another reality. However, we all have the same chances to change our lives.

How do I love myself with true love? Through my spiritual practice I have learnt that ego is a creative force that needs to be controlled to our own benefit. If I think that I am invincible and powerful, only identifying myself with this field of polarities and leaving behind my spiritual self and my connection to the Source, then I will be governed by my most obscure emotions and feelings — therefore, love will become a commodity, serving me little.

However, if I am able to elevate myself from any uneasy scenario by learning how to attune to my true origin, to what I call the Source (you can also call it, Great Architect, Archetype One, God, Origin, your choice) and getting that superior and pure energy to act in cocreation, then love becomes the greatest power of the universe, because it is not me acting alone in this field, it is the Source acting in me, through me, to produce goodness and impact the world in a luminous way, and this process is in itself a humbling and loving process. Seeing love as the glue that keeps everything in place, makes us realise that when we see ourselves in a bigger picture, being part of the One, connected to the One, we turn into radiant beings, loving ourselves and expanding this love to others in cocreation.

My mentor, the great Latin spiritual leader Fresia Castro, says: “We have come here to learn how to create with love,” and my only goal now is to always be connected to the Source, receiving that love and expanding it, in a three-way current, in silence, in service to a bigger plan of ascension of consciousness.

About the Author

Veronica Sanchez is Chilean-Australian, now living in the UK and a proud mother of teenage twins. A spiritual awakening teacher, bestselling author, pineal gland (third eye) activator and Certified Instructor for the Cyclopea Method, Veronica is currently the only instructor in the world teaching the Cyclopea Method in English.

03 Nov 2020
Comments: 0

Out of Fundamentalism and Into My Power

Tears rolled down my plump toddler cheeks. The ruffle of my blue nightgown dragged against the hardwood floor, which felt cold on my bare feet as I made my way down the hall, descended the stairs, and crossed the living room.

A moment ago, I had heard the twelve chimes of the grandfather clock, but I had yet to fall asleep. As I listened to the last of my family shut their doors and sensed the deep breathing of sleep from my brother across the room, my mind had begun whirring.

What if the rapture happened tonight? What if I woke up to find Jesus had taken my family to heaven, and I was all alone? While he whisked my parents and siblings to the safety of God’s kingdom, I was left here on the fallen earth under Satan’s rule for 1,000 years.

Where would I go? Who would take care of me?

At three, I knew that I was supposedly protected from hell because, according to my father, God did not condemn children to hell until they turned 12. The profound wisdom of your 12 years apparently rendered you capable of making a decision that would bind your fate for eternity. But if you died before your 12th birthday, God automatically accepted you into heaven.

But that rule said nothing about the rapture. What if all bets were off when Jesus came back and shepherded his followers to safety?

I had accepted Jesus into my heart, which was also supposed to protect me. But what if I had unknowingly rejected him? Last week I got angry with my sister when she tried to braid my hair, and I often got bored during evening devotions. I also had thoughts that I knew were evil. What if I had unknowingly rejected Jesus, and now he would leave me behind?

Beginning to Heal Religious Trauma Syndrome

The panic began to rise in my throat, my heart clenched, and I was sobbing so hard I could barely breathe.

This terror went on for hours. I knew I needed to go to my parents and ask them to help me say the “sinner’s prayer”. I would repeat the familiar words: “I am a sinner and deserve to go to hell. I believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sins. I now receive Him as my Lord and Savior. I ask him to rule the throne of my heart.” Then they would reassure me that I was saved. But the trek across the house was dark and scary.

Finally, my fear of abandonment and eternity in the fiery pits of hell overcame my fear of ghosts in our spare room. I began the journey to my parent’s queen-sized bed and the consolation of salvation.

“Okay, stop tapping. What did you notice?” My therapist’s gentle voice came over the phone line.

I began deciphering what I had witnessed in an emotionless tone as if I were describing what I ate for dinner last night.

Understanding What Religious Trauma Syndrome Is

I knew consciously that fear of abandonment and eternal suffering had marked my childhood. This fundamentalist worldview, and the abusive structures it produced, sparked insomnia, thoughts of self-harm, and panic attacks. I also knew that these were symptoms of religious trauma syndrome¹, the term researchers use to describe the particular harm induced by dogmatic religious indoctrination. These belief systems demand rigid adherence to the group’s worldview to remain in the community and escape eternal retribution, while enforcing obedience through closed-world assumptions with impenetrable social structures. As a result, they produce cycles of fear, shame, and unquestioning submission to authority.

But emotionally, I couldn’t connect. This memory seemed distant, and I couldn’t feel the pain of my little self. Frankly, this memory didn’t seem as bad as the utter helplessness of physical abuse or the shame of sexual assault. This fear of the rapture was just in my head.

We went through the memory two more times, but nothing shifted.

After three years of EMDR, a therapy that uses bilateral stimulation to reprocess traumatic memories and shift their underlying beliefs, I knew that some memories are more challenging to reprocess than others. I also understood that feeling sadness, anger, self-compassion, and connecting emotionally is crucial to shifting the memory and resulting self-belief.

But you cannot force this emotional connection to your past self, which lies in the memory. I had to wait for it.

Emotionally Connecting to the Pain of this Trauma

As I went back into this memory the following week, I felt the tug of competing forces. My conscious mind urged me to feel something: let’s get this over with. And it also warned me not to fall into self-pity, “Other people have worse; this was just you being overly sensitive.”

Though this is not a regular part of the EMDR process, I began to ask for help silently. I grounded into my feet and seat. Through this grounding, I began to connect with the earth. I felt a sense of the Great Mother observing all that was taking place.

I could see myself through the eyes of an all-loving mama. I saw my young self so scared, and I sensed an overwhelming love along with a deep sadness for my pain.

The tears started flowing. I felt the immense torment that flowered in my small chest and created rigidity throughout my body.

I began to remember, really remember how it felt to be so afraid of abandonment, of eternal damnation that I would do anything to stop the pain.

Rejecting Fundamentalist Christian “God”

The God of my childhood was a confusing character. On the one hand, he healed the sick and died for your sins. One the other, he proclaimed that humans were evil; your righteous deeds were like filthy rags to him. Every mistake, rebellious (read: independent) thought, and intense emotion was merely more proof of your evilness. Simultaneously, every right dead, favorable circumstance, and material success was a sign of God’s goodness.

He took all of the glory and none of the blame.

Like an abusive relationship, God had all the power. He required complete submission in return for not killing you, both predestining your sin and demanding repentance for the same act. In turn, you repeated the cycle of sin, guilt, and repentance. After repenting your “sin” and “re-committing” yourself, there was a relief, as the honeymoon phase of an abusive cycle.

Honestly, I hated this God. I often felt I was in a straightjacket. Any hint of wrong emotion or disagreement could draw his eye and bring about his wrath.

A part of me thought maybe Satan wasn’t so evil. If he was the mortal enemy of such a cruel being, perhaps he was the hero here. And these were the thoughts that had me convinced I would be left behind. Jesus would come back, blowing his shofar, and see that I had chosen evil. In my heart of hearts, I did not love him.

Retrieving a Part of My Soul

“What did you notice?”

Explaining my experience to my therapist through sobs, I had a sudden realization. Doing EMDR on this memory was different than any others I had experienced. What we were doing in this memory was also a soul retrieval.

Through reprocessing this memory, I was not only healing the trauma of this belief system, but I was also going back for a piece of my soul.

At once, I understood that I had tucked away an aspect of me, my soul essence, in part for safekeeping and in part for survival. The piece that I had given away was not quiet, obedient, or dutiful, all qualities necessary to move through my childhood world without being cast out or continually shamed.

In previous EMDR sessions, meditative experiences, and energy healing, I had experienced an intense sensation that some part of me was buried deep, so deep I had no conscious access to it.

I realized what we were doing.

This was a memory unlike any of the others. This was a portal to access that buried self. I didn’t know what the part of me was or how I would unbury it in this memory, but I felt the ache of its missing-ness for the first time. It was homesickness. And also an understanding of loss, like waking to a missing limb. I sobbed. The depth of grief was overwhelming

Recognizing the Residue of Fear

Going back to the memory a third time, I was filled with anticipation. Entering a memory with expectation is challenging because my brain starts looking for fireworks and attempting to create breakthroughs. But this work doesn’t take place in the conscious mind. The transformation has to occur on a deeper level to have the power to alter self-beliefs created in trauma.

And as I entered the memory, no epic reveal occurred.

Instead, I could see my three-year-old self standing there, frozen, in the middle of the living room. It seemed that I had two choices: Say the sinner’s prayer, which felt like climbing into a thick suit of arms like that of the twelfth-century knight. Or I could stay out of the armor, turn away from my parents’ room and accept the fate of eternal damnation.

Fear clutched my throat and squeezed my chest in its iron grip. I was reliving the trauma that lay deep in my neural pathways. My brain shouted at me to get safe, climb inside that armor. It didn’t matter that it was stifling, cramped, and heavy. It didn’t matter that its rigidity held my body in unnatural positions, making it hard to move and connect. My brain was insistent: this is the only way to stay safe and alive. Climbing into that suit of arms was the only way to survive.

Choosing Freedom over Conformity

Then another part of me arose. This wise, gentle voice asked: How do you know?

How do you know that choosing to live outside that armor means death and destruction?

How do you know that refusing to give away your soul will lead to hell?

What if that was just a story you needed to believe when you were young but is no longer necessary?

What if you could choose right now to stop getting in that armor?

Even though I left the church at 16, no longer believed in hell or gave credence to the abusive God of fundamentalist Christianity, I was still climbing into that suffocating metal suit because I thought myself unworthy to live without it. I lived in a metal suit by giving my power away to others. Though a pastor or biblical teachings no longer ruled my life, I was directed by others’ expectations of me and a desire to follow the rules, fit in, and be accepted at all costs.

As I tapped alternately on either thigh, I had a sudden powerful realization. Since this night 28 years ago, I had been energetically saying the “sinner’s prayer.” Metaphorically I had been climbing into that suit of arms. And to fit inside, I had to cut off my soul essence from my awareness.

Though I no longer went to church or believed in hell, I was still afraid of this part of me. I had kept it buried and denied my intuition. My decisions were guided by what I believed would please others. Though the suit of armor no longer represented fundamentalist Christianity, I still felt that I needed to cut off my soul essence to be safe and acceptable.

In the memory, it seemed like a choice between accepting or refusing to climb into that armor and say the sinner’s prayer that night. I now realize I was choosing whether or not I was ready to denounce the God of my childhood and how I had been taught to view my worth to reclaim my soul essence.

I couldn’t get into that metal cask. It was like everything in me was rejecting the life I had lived. I realized in turning away from that armor, I was asserting that I no longer had to separate myself from my essence. I no longer had to hide away who I am.

Meeting My Sovereignty and Recognizing My Power

I was flooded with palpable relief. In the reprocessing of this memory, I turned from the suit of armor, which lay waiting for me to climb within it and away from my parents’ bedroom door and the awaiting sinner’s prayer.

There was quiet, an edge of excitement, hope, and peaceful darkness.

Unlike the desolation and isolation that I had feared, the darkness was soft, velvety, and full of possibility. I tiptoed upstairs and crawled beneath my covers. Turning over on my belly, I looked out the picture window in my room. I saw the bright, magnificent stars. And they seemed to see me, to say, “You are not alone, you are loved.”

While the experience of reprocessing this memory was powerful, the real impact of reprocessing is often unclear for weeks or even months after I have cleared the memory. The effect of the resolution sometimes fades and is overpowered by the necessity to process another memory.

But this experience was different. I didn’t just clear a traumatic memory; I reconnected with my soul essence, reclaiming my power and sovereignty.

In the weeks and months that have followed, the changes resulting from reconnecting with my essence have been palpable. I feel rooted in a new sense of my power. My crippling fear of being seen and standing out has faded. My understanding of self has expanded ten-fold. The feeling of walking away from that suffocating armor that was conforming to other people’s beliefs has changed my life. I would not give back this new sense of worthiness, stability, and self-trust for the world.

¹https://journeyfree.org/rts/rts-its-time-to-recognize-it/

About the Author

Lisa Greene (she/her) is an intuitive writer and channeling coach. She is passionate about helping others trust and claim their intuition to channel their unique wisdom. Ever in the growth process, she is learning to balance her passion for service with intuitively-led living, and writes about her insights on her blog, Rewilding with Intuition.

28 Oct 2020
Comments: 0

Thresholds of Autumn

Autumn is immersing us in the reflections of organic closure. As we witness the shifts in the land, we can track the changes occurring within ourselves and relationships. The plants are decomposing and preparing for winter’s rest. We may feel a similar process of release. It is a time of thresholds and deep opportunity for re-patterning relational blueprints.

The energy of this moment is highlighting themes related to the fine details of how we communicate. Relationship endings are admittedly difficult but they don’t have to be.This is why relationship endings have to be done with great attention to detail and great skill. Messy endings are what keep people in cycles of the drama still playing out, particularly in the subtle body. Accept the endings that serve a greater life for you. Every person plays a part in the ending and sometimes your part is that historically you see red flags but stick around anyway to see how things play out. What cycles are you breaking and what lessons are you working on?

Trust the organic process of change that is occurring. Make space for what is emerging. A wonderful practice to resource oneself in times of closure is to rearrange your living space. Your home is an extension of your energy field. This is why practices like cleaning your home, rearranging furniture, organizing your closet and getting rid of objects that are cluttering your space can have a profound impact on your own mind, body and spirit. This process of clearing and resetting, internally and externally, can support us to show up with greater integrity in the transformations that are beckoning us.

You don’t have to either run away from or fully engage head on with power dynamics. There is so much range in between for how you can show up skillfully while still mastering your own response. Many relationships end because you realize someone never actually cared about your feelings. Often they end when you recognize someone constantly leaves you feeling drained or depleted. But sometimes you just recognize you and someone else are just on different paths. Not every relationship ending means something went wrong. Center yourself, connect to your home frequency, and trust that the path of your own integrity is the guidance you need to navigate the changes.

~ Maryam Hasnaa

Photography by Ev Marquee

27 Oct 2020
Comments: 0

The Pineal Gland (Third Eye), A Hidden Treasure

The pineal gland is an endocrine gland and is located exactly in the middle of our brain. The pineal gland receives its name from its pinecone shape, and is also known as epiphysis cerebri. This gland secretes melatonin, and this hormone is associated with our circadian rhythm and is considered a powerful antioxidant.

The first known scientific studies were done by Galen, the Greek doctor and philosopher. He thought that this gland was filled with “psychic pneuma,” a substance that he described as “the first instrument of the soul.” His views prevailed until the 17th century, then René Descartes, the French philosopher and mathematician, regarded the pineal gland as “the principal seat of the soul and the place in which all our thoughts are formed”.

In ancient mystical traditions the pineal gland is known as the third eye, Horus eye, Power of God, and it has been present in the history of humanity since the beginning.

We can find references about the pineal gland in ancient Egyptian inscriptions and icons, in Hinduism, in Buddhism, in the Mayan, Inca, Aztec cultures, in the Native American cultures. The pineal gland is depicted in various forms across Asia and Oceania. We can also find references to this gland in catholic religion, with sculptures and images of the “Pigna”.

We can see that the pineal gland has been known and acknowledged all over the world, since very ancient times. We have to ask ourselves: why?

According to the Cyclopea Method, the pineal gland is the open door to access the fields of superior creation and perfection. The internal activation of this gland allows us to recover our real identity and recover our original creative powers. Ancient people knew about the properties and secrets of the pineal gland. It is time for us to rediscover our own “hidden jewel” and start a new co-creation process to achieve our most precious goals.

I will keep sharing more about the pineal gland and the Cyclopea Method. This method has been around in Spanish only and is now available in English.

About the Author

21 Oct 2020
Comments: 0

Designing A New Future Now

I’ve been designing the future for the past twenty years with others from all around the world. We’ve sourced it in consciousness, drawn it present into the matrix of reality and then lived it in every way in our own lives. We’ve been speakers for it, coaches empowering it, teachers teaching it, writers writing books about it and painters painting it onto canvas for others to be inspired by.

The following outline the facets of the design we’ve been sourcing with an intention that all life elevates and thrives on this beautiful planet and throughout the universe in which we dwell.

Connection

Connection is the foundation of this new future design. Connection to self gives a sense of expansive flow, resulting in wholeness, vitality and emotional ease. Connection to all life forms, nature, and the universe gives us a strong feeling of the miraculousness of life and respect for all life. Once connected, there is a sense of being part of something greater unfolding. Instead of feeling isolated and powerless, we shift into community, collaboration, and working for the greater good of all.

Infinite Intelligence

In the past, intelligence has been about memorization and thinking in an isolated mind. Today we can operate in infinite intelligence, which offers us innate knowing and a true sense of clarity, direction and purpose. Once the individual mind is connected to infinite intelligence, creation, invention and innovation become the norm as we move beyond conditioned thinking to source the NEW from limitless possibilities & infinite creation.

Moving from I to We

When we let go of identity and an orientation to all things personal and begin to focus on contributing, we discover the journey from I to We. We’ve been innovating a new collectiveness that includes whale gods, tree gods, bee gods and all the life forms on this planet. When we work in this new collective consciousness, our unique contributions are given into an alchemical creation of collaborative genius fusion, shared mastery and what I like to call kaleidoscopic mergence. Here we source extraordinary breakthroughs of unprecedented creation. We become the Force, the ALL, the universe all together, et voila, evolutionary leaps are brought into being.

Evolutionary Leaps

We are no longer in the slow lane of traditional evolution. Epigeneticists are showing us how to work with our own DNA to optimize our well-being and potential. As consciousness creators, we’ve been calling in and embodying an emerging Godness or life power, if you will. You could say the Force is now tangibly with us all. As a result, magical synergy becomes a natural way of life and evolutionary leaps happen with a greater sense of grace. We surrender the search for identity and become passionate, practical infinite beings of possibility and creation.

Consciousness

I am a lover of consciousness and, along with my buddies around the world over the past 20 years, we’ve been elevating the consciousness of us all and creating a profound relationship with consciousness as the matrix of life, the quantum field where possibilities come to grow and actualize. Consciousness is no longer a warehouse of previous knowledge. It’s a thriving, ‘pulsing with life’ partner to us all here on Earth, gifting us our own universal guidance system built right into the very cells of us, and that changes everything.

The Miraculous: Sourcing Unprecedented Outcomes

There is a growing force on this planet that we could call the Force, the Universe, an emerging sense of Godness in all life. Whatever we choose to call it, this Life Power aligns us with the miraculous force that has been hidden from humanity for so long. Hidden no longer, this force thrives in nature and in us all. We exhilarate it and it exhilarates us. You can see it in the green glow of nature at the moment. In the sparkling waters. In the wonder of bird song. Partnering and becoming this miraculous force allows us to:

Source our own well being and vitality in new ways
Minimize and eliminate illness and
Source unprecedented outcomesfor all life on this beautiful planet.

17 Oct 2020
Comments: 0

Chiropractor Tips on Maintaining Good Posture As You Work From Home

When COVID-19 struck, it resulted in many people having to work from home. While this has been convenient for some, it has brought about a few problems, especially when it comes to posture. If you’re now stuck at home working, you might not have the right equipment to keep your spine healthy as you do your job. This could result in you being more susceptible to back pain and tension. This article will explore why good posture is vital, and a few ways you can maintain it as you work from home.

Why is Good Posture Important?

Using good posture at home is vital for many reasons. One is that it improves your spine’s overall health. If you’re constantly slouching or have tense muscles in your back, it can result in inflammation around it. This could cause pain and, in some cases, slipped discs. You’ll find that if not corrected, poor posture could eventually make it difficult for you to move.

Another reason good posture is important is that it keeps your lungs open. Bending over can put pressure on your lungs, which can make it harder for you to breathe.

The last main reason good posture is crucial is that it improves your circulation and digestion. Just as with your lungs, poor posture can put pressure on your vital organs. This can make it harder for blood to reach them and for you to digest food. Because of this, it makes you more susceptible to muscle cramps and acid reflux.

What Causes Bad Posture?

Numerous behaviors can cause bad posture. These includes:

Behind over to look at devices
Slouching
Joint degeneration
Being overweight
Your diet

6 Ways to Improve Your Posture at Home

1. Use Lumbar Support

Lumbar support is important when it comes to maintaining good posture. It cradles your spine’s natural curvature, ensuring that it stays aligned. This can help you to keep your spine straight when working, but in a comfortable way. It also prevents the surrounding muscles from contracting, something which can thwart back pain and muscle spasms.

If you don’t want to purchase a chair with lumbar support you could opt for a lumbar cushion. By sitting on it, it will keep your pelvis aligned. This pillow will also avert pressure on your lower spine, which could make it uncomfortable for you to sit. A lumbar cushion is usually constructed out of memory foam so it will mold itself around your body while keeping it properly supported.

2. Do Posture-Supportive Exercises

A great way to improve your posture is to do exercises, including those that prevent tech neck, a condition that puts strain on your upper spine. These tech neck exercises aren’t difficult and work to stretch your muscles to prevent cramps and increase flexibility.

· Forward Fold

The forward fold stretch not only works on your back muscles, but hamstrings and hips. To do the forward fold, first stand with proper posture. Keep your heels slightly apart and slowly bend your body down toward your feet. As you do so, take your hands and try to touch the floor with them. Once you bend as far as you can go, take your hands and grasp them on the back of each ankle. Gently bend your legs to help with this. Hold the position for a few seconds and then release.

· Chest Opener

This exercise is easy for home office workers and helps those who tend to sit for long hours. To begin, stand as straight as you can while keeping your feet aligned with the edges of your hips. Extend your arms behind you and clasp them together. Keep your head straight and slightly lean your body back. Hold this pose for a few seconds and then return to the first position. Repeat this process a few more times.

· Seated Spinal Rotations

If you’re unable to get up while working, you could try this simple exercise. While sitting, cross your arms so that they touch the top of each shoulder. Once you do, turn your head to the right until you feel a slight pull in your neck and upper spine. Hold for a few seconds. Then, turn your head to the left until you feel a slight pull. Hold again for a few seconds. Repeat this exercise about five times.

3. Keep Your Feet Flat on the Ground

Keeping your feet flat on the ground can be hard, especially if you work long hours. However, not keeping your feet flat on the ground can result in leg pain that radiates up your spine. Because of this, do your best to keep them flat on the ground. If you have trouble doing so, consider investing in a footrest or wearing supportive shoes.

4. Keep Your Computer Monitor at Eye Level

By ensuring your computer monitor is at eye level, it will keep your spine aligned. This will prevent you from being hunched over when looking at the screen, something which could lead to eye or neck strain.

5. Place Items Close By

When working, it can be easy to have important files and devices scattered around your desk. While this might not seem like a big problem, it can hurt your back. By constantly reaching and grabbing these items it twists your spine. This could lead to muscle cramps or even low back pain. To maintain good posture, try to keep desk items in an easy-to-reach area. This includes keeping your mouse nearby and placing papers or folders in a spot you can easily reach without having to stretch your body.

6. Eat a Healthy Diet

Enjoying a salty or sweet snack when working might seem great at the time, but it could be damaging your spine. These items can weaken your spine because they invite inflammation and can even hurt your muscles. To encourage your spine to stay healthy, consider adding a few spine-healthy items to your diet. These include:

Yogurt
Tofu
Peanuts
Spinach
Kale
Broccoli
Salmon
Turmeric
Avocados
Cinnamon

Maintaining proper posture while working from home can be difficult. However, by keeping these tips in mind, you can ensure your spine stays healthy and pain-free.

References:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3552974/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3766244/

About the Author:

Dr. Brent Wells, D.C. founded Better Health Chiropractic & Physical Rehab and has been a chiropractor for over 20 years. His practice has treated thousands of patients for different health problems through chiropractic care designed to help give long-lasting relief.

He is a proud member of the American Chiropractic Association and the American Academy of Spine Physicians. Dr. Wells continues his education to remain active and updated in all studies related to neurology, physical rehab, biomechanics, spine conditions, brain injury trauma, and more.

14 Oct 2020
Comments: 0

Why Mindfulness Matters

It was the slowest of times; it was the fastest of times. (Apologies to Dickens…) The year 2020 will go down in history as the longest year ever! Yet here we are already zooming toward Thanksgiving. I don’t know about you, but it’s a trying year to stay grateful. That’s exactly why mindfulness matters…

When I’m caught up in the dizzying news cycle, I find myself gasping for air. I tell myself that all will be well…but I don’t believe me. That is, I don’t believe me until I step off the merry-go-round into my backyard where all is indeed well. The fig tree is dropping leaves right on schedule. The fall migrant birds hop along the lawn avoiding contact with our very lazy cat. The wind chimes sound in the breeze just enough to announce their presence. The clouds float by. I can feel my breathing, right here, right now.

Mindfulness isn’t complicated. It simply means stopping for a moment and actually noticing the moment. Without judgement. Without rushing into the next moment – it’ll be here soon enough. Without the jumble of thoughts that are vying for your attention. Just here. Now.

Some years ago, before everything became digital, I would use the analogy of lifting the needle off the record for three full breaths. Even when you put the needle back down, it can’t possibly be in the same place. And neither can you. That’s really all it takes is three breaths to reset your nervous system, soothe your mind and free your heart.

Your body is the perfect reminder to come back to the moment. It’s always in the present, patiently waiting for you. James Joyce wrote in Ulysses, “Mr. Duffy lived a short distance from his body.” And don’t we all? Or, as Jon Kabat-Zinn once described it, we go on vacation and send postcards that should say, “Having a wonderful time. Wish I was here…”

Mindfulness matters because YOU matter. Because life is actually happening NOW, in each moment. And if we’re always busy in our thoughts, we’ll miss it as it speeds by.   Consider this an invitation to s-l-o-w d-o-w-n, even if it’s only for a moment… I invite you to sit back, close your eyes, feel your breathing and come back to your body by giving your mind a rest.

Click the link below to listen to Breathe Deep a song about mindfulness from my Soul Feathers album, produced by Thomas Barquee

https://tinyurl.com/yy5reywo

About the Author:

Joy maker Sandi Kimmel, singer-songwriter, teacher, writer, wellness and spiritual growth advocate, shares Practical Spirituality tools and techniques with her warm soothing voice, uplifting music, spirit stories, and e-courses.

08 Oct 2020
Comments: 0

An Economy With Heart

What would a healthy world economy look like?

With me, it all comes down to biology. I took a lot of courses in physiology while I was in grad school studying for a Masters in Bioengineering. As a former Catholic priest, I also have a Master of Divinity degree. But for me, when I understand something on a physical/biological level, I really get it.

My plum research assignment when I was studying bioengineering was to work in Penn State’s artificial heart lab. We tested our heart pumps in the earliest stages of development using a “mock circulatory system” developed by a genius member of the faculty named Gus Rosenberg. I won’t get into the nitty gritty details (or the sticky, viscous, messiness of the blood substitute glycerin when the system sprung a leak).

There are four key aspects to the system that delivers blood to the human body: A pumping mechanism, capacitance, resistance, and the blood vessels themselves (rubber tubing in the mockup).

The pump in the circulatory system is obvious—it’s the heart. It provides the energy needed to push the blood to all parts of the body, delivering oxygen to tissues, from the brain to the toes; then the return journey from all part of the body back to the lungs where the blood picks up oxygen and returns to the heart to start the routine again.

In order to get blood get back and forth though the smallest capillaries, the heart has to fight against resistance. In this world we live in, there is always resistance. Think of gravity. In the mock system, resistance is provided by a junction where a one-inch tube becomes several quarter-inch tubes. (I don’t remember the exact dimensions. Gus forgive me.) The capillary tubes are located between two metal plates with turnscrews that can increase or decrease the resistance.

The heart pumps blood in a rhythmic pattern. That is the reason why our blood pressure is measured in systolic pressure and diastolic pressure. In order for the flow to be manageable in the body, the up and down pressure has to be smoothed out in some way. It is like chugging a drink instead of slowly drinking it. At the very least, chugging will make you take in a lot of air leading to belching, stomach aches, and possibly passing beer through your nostrils. The blood vessel’s capacity to absorb and smooth out blood flow is crucial. They do this by expanding and contracting.

In the mock circulatory system, capacitance is provided by a cylinder with an inlet and an outlet, on both the supply and return sides of the system. When the heart pumps, the reservoir fills quickly but drains out more slowly. It’s like taking in a big breath and then letting it our more smoothly. Or think of an airplane cycling between high speed and low speed. It wouldn’t stay in the air for long.

The Heart of the Global Economy

So what can the dynamics of a circulatory system say about the world economy?

Think of the heart as the energy of the economy, the creating and distribution of goods and services. Think of the capacitors as banks that take the swings of the market forces and pass it on, through loans and investments, in a controlled and predicable manner. Like a body, the economic system does not like sudden increases and decreases in capitol. Banks, like capacitors, offer securities as a way for investors to guard against the sudden rising and falling of the market.

In today’s global economy, the vessels are all the ways capital flows around the system—mostly now through the internet and trading floors. And finally, the resistance is provided, in a healthy system, by the gradual movement of capitol from banks to investors, and corporations, down to small businesses and individual mortgages and savings accounts. So the whole body is able to benefit from the energy of the heart.

A healthy global economy, like a healthy body, efficiently directs the flow of capital to nourish the whole body. In this case the body includes the heart, which gets the first freshly oxygenated blood through the coronary arteries. The heart of the economic system is the energy of those creating and selling goods and services.

In an unhealthy body, blood flow does not get to the heart because of blocked coronaries and high blood pressure. So too in the global economy. When money remains largely in the financial markets, in the banks and the big investment houses, the dynamics of the system slow and the people who make goods and offer services are not fed with the capitol they need to thrive. And like in the far-flung parts of the body, the fingers and the toes, when the flow of capitol doesn’t reach the farmer in Kenya or the small businesswoman in Egypt, or in Iowa, the whole system begins to die. People with uncontrolled diabetes resulting in a lack of blood flow into their extremities die in parts. (I’ve known people who lost toes, then feet, then legs, then they died.)

An economy cannot ultimately flourish when segments of the economy are left to wither and die. This leads to famine, a lack of meaningful work, homelessness, and poverty; millions of refugees fleeing dangerous areas looking for safety for themselves and their families. Like a body, a global economy, if not serving all parts of the system, will die in parts too. And an unhealthy global economy is in no position to handle crisis such as Global Climate Change and pandemics such as COVID-19.

The Distribution Resolution

For example, in an efficient global economy, personal protective equipment (PPE) would be distributed efficiently all over the globe to health care workers, food handlers, schools and other crucial service providers. Instead, in the United States, the states are bidding against other states for the equipment they need. And profiteers, as during wartime, suck capitol from the system without contributing to solving the problems many of them have produced. Storehouses all over the world are full of weapons systems that are paid for but should never be used. Ordinary people hoard toilet paper, creating a crisis in bathrooms all over the world!

We don’t have a supply problem in this world. We have a distribution problem.

Another example of the importance of a healthy global economy is the worldwide response to Global Climate Change. The increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere during the last century or so acts like a layer of insulation, keeping too much energy in the weather system, leading to floods and droughts, fires, and famine. A functioning, global carbon trading system would gradually reduce the amount of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere. And a carbon tax could do the same.

The way I’ve presented both the human circulatory system and the global economy is simplistic and does not go into great detail. That’s why the world needs wise cardiologists and smart and compassionate economists. We need responsible political leaders that are able to cooperate with other leaders to bring the best minds to the biggest challenges. I think we have the first two covered. In the United States and around the world, universities and medical schools train the best and the brightest, who provide crucial advice to governments and business and offer high quality care to patients with cardiac and other diseases. (The availability of quality education and training for everyone is another story.)

Political leadership, at least in this country and notable others, is not so great; in fact, right now it’s abysmal, corrupt and dysfunctional. Look at the dismantling of the Post Office, it’s own kind of distribution system for a functioning economy. So vote!

About the Author:

Ascension Lifestyle Contributor Jim Gunshinan was in turn Assistant Editor, Managing Editor, Editor, and Senior Editor at Home Energy Magazine/Building Performance Journal for 20 years. He is now a freelance writer and editor who explores life through personal essays, poetry, and other things that pay the bills.

03 Oct 2020
Comments: 0

Unlearning Cultural Scarcity

Many of us see the world through a filter of scarcity. This pervading feeling of lack causes us to hyper-focus on what we don’t have and leads to enormous stress, anxiety, and fear. A scarcity mindset doesn’t merely limit our material wealth. It robs us of rest, creativity, and intuitive guidance.

In mainstream spirituality, the “scarcity mentality” is often portrayed as a personal issue, one that is only connected to our financial situation and nothing more. We are told to fix this personal failing by shifting to an “abundance mindset.” And moving to this state of abundance is as simple as willing yourself to think positively, repeat affirmations, and employ linguistic tricks.

But I believe the root of this scarcity worldview is much deeper and more pervasive than your personal “money story.” Our belief in scarcity doesn’t arise out of thin air, or even solely from our individual experiences. It is a cultural phenomenon. Unregulated, late-stage capitalism conjures this pervasive feeling of lack through artificial scarcity.

Artificial scarcity is a process of limiting and wasting supply to increase profit. This manufactured scarcity is all around us in American culture. While millions go homeless, fancy houses sit empty. A third of our food supply goes to waste, as 14 million children go hungry. Billionaires buy up life-saving community hospitals, turning them into luxury hotels amid a population lacking adequate health insurance.

Here in late-stage capitalism, artificial scarcity is a cornerstone of our cultural conditioning. It becomes so inherent that we forget the lack is manufactured.

We live in a cycle of scarcity, working long hours and hustling on our side gigs, feeling we are always on the brink of ruin, trying to outrun overwhelming burnout.

My whole adult life had been a scarcity cycle: working jobs and pursuing degrees that demanded all my energy. Eventually, I would end up in burnout and retreat for a while. Then the process would begin again.

And this cycle didn’t just limit my imagination in terms of monetary earnings. I began to see even the intangible as scarce. I was drained by the constant, nagging anxiety that I wasn’t doing enough to earn money. All of my attention went to the potential of making money. I felt creatively blocked, emotionally lost, and lived in constant brain fog.

But I need to make money NOW. That thought went round and round in my head in my last phase of scarcity burnout. I was months away from finishing a master’s in Data Analytics, for which I felt no passion. I wanted to write and embark on spiritual exploration. Yet I couldn’t even let myself dream because I couldn’t afford NOT to use this degree.

So I finished the program with a 4.0, and spent months in an arduous job- interviewing process for political research positions. I did all the “right” things, according to my rational self. But each time I got to the final interview, I flopped. I fell into a deep depression and felt like an utter failure because I couldn’t land a job in the field. All the time, I was ignoring the fact that I didn’t WANT any of these jobs.

Yet in this scarcity bubble, I couldn’t see another way. Not only could I not afford to take time and explore my writing and spiritual practices, but I was also afraid creativity was scarce, and maybe I hadn’t been allotted any of it.

Our rational, logical self, which seeks to keep us safe by following family patterns, social norms, and cultural standards, often becomes dominant and directs our actions. While our rational self is beautiful and necessary, it is also not a very good director. It uses the culturally embedded fear of scarcity to drive us to exhaustion. Nothing we do is ever enough to satiate this anxiety over lack. We become hyper-focused on money and production to keep us safe, which drains our creativity until we feel like husks.

The scarcity mindset has robbed us of our right to rest, create, and live in the intuitive flow of our bodies’ rhythms. And when we are operating from the cultural conditioning of scarcity, it is easy to see everything as finite: love, ideas, compassion, and safety. We must earn them all.

After months of not landing a job, I said to hell with it. There has to be a better way to live. I simply couldn’t sustain the hustle any longer. In my desperation, I turned to my intuitive guidance and began a process of reconnecting with my intuition, learning to value its instinct over my rational, strategic self’s desire to meet societal standards of success.

This has not been a quick or straightforward process. It is messy and complicated. I had to learn to discern between my rational mind and my intuitive voice. It required I heal traumas that kept me disconnected from my body. And trusting intuitive guidance required unlearning many ingrained beliefs that connected my worth with my production and my value to my financial earnings.

I am learning to trust my instincts, gut feelings, and energy patterns above the rules and outside advice. I am beginning to trust what feels most natural and expansive, instead of what seems most immediately rational and practical. Over the past year, I explored this process’s layers, and I don’t imagine I’m done yet.

But claiming my intuition and beginning to trust it with the decisions opened a new aspect of me. I can touch into grounded stability, channeled creativity, and an inherent sense of worth, which lies underneath the choppy waves of my rational, scarcity conditioned mind. There is abundance in my intuitive center, an abundance of ideas, passion, and flow.

Before I stepped into a new relationship with my intuition, it was impossible to imagine feeling stable, creative, let alone worthy. The practices I have used to begin unlearning the cultural scarcity cycle and reconnect with my intuitive abundance were not always clear and straightforward, but I have found them ultimately transformational:

Honoring Cyclical Energy Patterns

I no longer live in a linear manner, which means that I don’t force myself to push through when my energy is low. I allow myself more time to rest and process emotions. And when my energy is high, I move exponentially.

Honoring our natural energy patterns is the bedrock of reconnecting with your intuition. We must rest to heal and to create. I found the rest necessary to get back in touch with my intuition wasn’t scrolling through social media, but spending time in nature. It’s not flipping through channels but sleeping deeply and meditating regularly. Not that my life doesn’t also include social media and Netflix, but I also needed to make time for this deep rest that allowed for reconnection with my intuition.

Discerning + Unlearning Scarcity Messages

Moving away from linear living brings up cultural and familial messages about the fear of not having enough. I noticed a lot of scarcity beliefs arose when I began allowing myself space to rest. Resting is laziness. I won’t get ahead if I don’t push and grind. There is only so much time, and by relaxing, I am letting others get ahead of me. I’m not worthy of care, comfort, or affection if I’m not earning it.

These culturally conditioned scarcity messages were my rational mind trying desperately to keep me safe by returning me to “normal.” It takes a lot of patience and tenderness to recognize and sit with these messages. Over time I have found they have quieted. And when they arise, I can name them and question if they are real.

Healing Frozen Parts

Trauma disconnects us from our intuition, because through trauma, we learn to dissociate from our bodies. When we live with the effects of trauma, it can seem impossible to feel our intuitive guidance.

Reconnecting to our intuition involves healing these frozen parts by making space for them. Whether we are survivors of abuse, natural disasters, or just the trauma of living in a scarcity culture, there are parts of us that need to be acknowledged.

For me, healing some of my core trauma wounds through intensive therapy and embodiment meditation brought about the most profound shifts in my internal guidance system.

Feeling What is Present

Intuitive guidance is present-focused. What are we feeling here and now? Shifting to intuitive living has required that I let go of my obsession with to-do lists, setting goals and rigidly scheduling my life. I have to feel my internal rhythms and energy patterns, directing me in the present. Meeting friends on Friday can sound fantastic on Tuesday, but could feel draining on Friday afternoon.

Our intuitive guidance is here to support us in the present. We can no longer set a plan, then turn off and blindly follow it. I catch myself all the time living on autopilot, going through my usual schedule until I remind myself to come back and check in. Is my body longing to get up and stretch even though I haven’t finished the paragraph? Am I hungry, or am I just used to eating at this time? Living intuitively requires feeling the directions of your deeper self moment by moment.

Author bio:

Lisa Greene (she/her)

Lisa is a freelance intuitive writer for holistic entrepreneurs. She has a BA in psychology from Western Washington University, and spent years working in sexual health education and anti-violence community organizing. She is now learning to balance her passion for service with intuitively-led living, and writes about her insights on her blog, Intuitively Guided Living.

25 Sep 2020
Comments: 0

The Power of Consciousness

I want to chat for a moment about the power of consciousness to solve every single challenge we have on this Earth…to take us into a level of ourselves as a species that we’ve never been before.

So many people talk about consciousness like it’s simply conscious awareness. No way, that’s simply being conscious. Consciousness is the holding space for the infinite intelligence of the universe, the dream space where all that isn’t yet (potential, possibilities, genius, ideas, innovations, creations) is birthed and brewed ready to drop in on us whenever we are willing to reach into its awesome depths and grab hold of its magnificence to bring it alive in the world.

Consciousness is made up of the threads that bind us together as living beings. It’s the soup of our Becoming. It’s the dance floor for our collaborations as a burgeoning collective of masters, gods, creators, sources, and general all round visionary innovators. It’s home to many species, forms and varieties of consciousness, all of which contain something wondrous for the others to thrive upon. It’s the sentiency of the global Internet, of Nature’s interwoven beauty, of the universe’s spectacular playground of creation.

It doesn’t force a plan on us that we blindly must follow. Instead it holds out a hand of friendship, of partnership, asking us to be co-creators together, inventing and innovating a future almost too breathtaking to yet imagine.

For me now, sentient altruistic consciousness is the fabric of my being, the purpose of my life force, the focus of my creations. As this consciousness, I am the pulse of newness, the fragrance of wonder, the brilliance of every genius that has ever lived or will live. For who we are as consciousness innovators is more than just some cool people playing together to make a better world. We are elevators of Life, exhilarating a future that hasn’t even been designed yet, sourcing ourselves as a species that has never been before. Alert, alive, altruistic to our very bones. Expansive, exhilarating, energising in every way. Radiant, roaring with a love of Life that floods us with a Power that wants to surge into the new Becoming of us all.

I am thrilled to walk this pathway with all of you, hand in hand with the consciousness that is always renewing, reshaping, reinvigorating Life over and over again. THIS is the moment we’ve come for, the time we’ve trained for and the collective becoming we’ve yearned for. A new era has begun and I am loving it in every conceivable way. Thank you for all you’ve done to get us here. Now let’s see what wonders we can create together from here.