Category Archives: meditation

The Mountains Are Calling

Think about what it would be like to spend a week in the mountains, learning from modern practitioners of ancient earth skills. Think about taking that knowledge home and using it to ground your diet to the earth in the same ways that your ancestors did. If you’ve been wanting to actually learn about living with the land, this spring in Asheville, N.C. might be the time to do it.

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Local practitioners and teachers of permaculture, such as Wild Abundance, hold weekend gatherings and week long intensives like Ancestral Foods Cooking Class at their homesteads, where hands-on skills are shared by true teachers of the ancient crafts.

 

Botanists, herbalists, foragers, and homesteaders flock to these mountains, as they are the oldest on Earth and make up one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet. Being able to explore these beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains with someone who is passionate and knowledgeable about the forest and its secrets is one of the most profound experiences you’ll find. It connects you with more than just your food, it connects you with the spirit of these mountains and the life to be found in them.

 

The permaculture and homesteading movement offers a chance to break out of the dependent consumer cycle that is killing our planet and our spirit. We owe it to ourselves to learn how to unplug from that. Taking back the food you eat is a great place to start.

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There are those that say switching to a diet of simple, raw, wild ancient foods and foraged foods have miraculous health benefits, including relief from common illnesses to more advanced diseases such as diabetes and even cancer. But the fact of the matter is that eating off the land just tastes good and feels good. You will soak it up and enjoy it in your every cell. You’ll feel happy and healthy and juicy and nourished and you will love it.

 

The permaculture movement also offers hope of a world that marries 21st-century technology with the ancient skills of cultivation and stewardship over ourselves and our land. Our ancestors developed these skills from a loving, nurturing, reciprocal relationship with the earth.

 

Here in Asheville and the surrounding areas, you will find a celebration of these values and the sacred lands that it occupies. Join us this spring as we celebrate the ancient ways with the gifts and wisdom of these mountains.

 

 

Zen Garden – Genesis of Peace & Serenity

Have you ever seen a zen or Japanese rock garden? Did it bring you a sense of peace and serenity? The Japanese rock garden or “dry landscape” garden, often called a zen garden, generates a miniature stylized landscape by means of carefully composed arrangements of stones, water elements, moss, pruned trees along with bushes, and makes use of stones or even sand which can be raked in order to symbolize ripples in water. A zen garden is usually fairly tiny, enclosed by a wall, and is also commonly meant to be looked at whilst seated from a single point of view outside of the garden, such as the porch of the hojo, the residence of the chief monk from the temple or monastery. Classical zen gardens were made at temples of Zen Buddhism in Kyoto, Japan throughout the Muromachi Period. They were designed to imitate the meaningful substance connected with mother nature, not its true physical appearance, and to serve as an aid to meditation about the true meaning of life.

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Rock gardens existed around Japan at least since the Heian Period (784-1185). These early gardens were detailed inside the very first manual of Japanese gardens,  written at the conclusion of the 1200’s. They were largely copied from the Chinese gardens of the Song Dynasty (960-1279), where groups of rocks symbolized Mount Penglai, the legendary mountain-island home of the Eight Immortals in Chinese mythology, known in Japanese as Horai. The manual described precisely how rocks need to be placed. In one verse, was written: “In a place where there is neither a lake or a stream, one can put in place what is called a kare-sansui, or dry landscape…” This kind of garden featured either rocks placed upright like mountains, or laid out in a miniature landscape of hills and ravines, with few plants. He described several other styles of rock garden, which usually included a stream or pond, including the great river style, the mountain river style, and the marsh style. The ocean style featured rocks that appeared to have been eroded by waves, surrounded by a bank of white sand, like a beach. White sand and gravel had long been a feature of Japanese gardens. In the Shinto religion, it was used to symbolize purity, and was used around shrines, temples, and palaces. In zen gardens, it represents water, or, like the white space in Japanese paintings, emptiness and distance. They are places of meditation.

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A zen garden is without a doubt a sanctuary that can be placed in nearly any living space. Some zen gardens are massive creations that can consist of massive areas, while many are tiny desktop gardens that use up no more room than your notebook. It’s not difficult to create a constantly changing work of art that is visually pleasing with clean, flowing lines and carefully placed objects. Best of all, a small zen garden is incredibly inexpensive to create! It will also show your unique style of rocks and sand patterns. The selection and placement of rocks is the most important part of making a Japanese rock garden. Different types of rocks are used for creating different symbolic things like mountains, rivers or seashores.The act of raking the gravel into a pattern recalling waves or rippling water, known as samon has an aesthetic function. Zen priests practice this raking also to help their concentration.These gardens are conceived and created from the meditative inspiration of the gardener, and contemplating one is a doorway to meditation for the viewer. While no rule exists against including plants and water features, many gardens omit them entirely and construct the garden from rocks and gravel to evoke emptiness through abstraction.

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You don’t have to do a lot to keep your rock garden looking good. Sand and stones don’t degenerate or need food or water – so there is nothing you have to do there. Of course, you will have to care for whatever plants or trees are in your rock garden, but usually just a little water and plant food will suffice. Keep your rock garden free of debris and you’re good to go! This world can be busy and frantic – an individual should have just a little serenity. A Zen rock garden could be just the thing you need to help you relax and re-enter the world full of energy and vigor!

 

Cleanse And Heal Yourself And Your Environment Using Simple Smudging Rituals.

For thousands of years, Native Americans have burned sacred plants in a bowl or on a stick to drive away negative energies and restore balance. You can use this same wisdom in today’s modern world to heal and restore balance to your life. When you light a smudge stick you’re connecting with a spiritual tradition that originates from the depths of time.

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The herbs most often used in smudge sticks are sage and sweetgrass. The spirit of sage has the power to drive out negative energies, spirits, and influences. The powerful spirit of sweetgrass is used to attract positive energy and to aid healing after all the negativity has been banished by sage. Cedar can also be used for this same task. A small ceramic or stone bowl or a large shell to place your smudge stick is useful as well as a large feather to waft the smudge. Smudging summons the spirits of sacred plants, asking them to drive away negativity and put you back into a state of balance. It is the psychic equivalent of washing your hands before eating and is used as an essential preliminary to almost all native North American ceremonies.

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For self clearing or clearing someone else, light the end of your smudge stick until the tip starts to smolder. Call on the spirits of the smudge to cleanse and protect you, saying; “sacred sage, drive away all negativity from my heart; take away everything unworthy and impure.” Waft the smoke toward your heart holding the smudge stick away from you and use the feather to waft the smoke towards you. Take the smudge smoke over your head, down your arms, and down the front of your body. Imagine the smoke lifting away all the negative thoughts, emotions, and energies that have become attached to you. Use exactly the same technique to smudge someone else.

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Smudging not only cleanses people; you can also clear a room or area of any old or stagnant energy. All rooms need cleansing, just as much as they need physical cleaning. If your life feels stuck or things just aren’t going according to plan, you may just find that simple space clearing may solve the problem. Walk around the room wafting smoke into each corner. Call on the spirit of sage to drive away negativity from the room. Then ask the spirit of Sweetgrass to bring harmony and balance to the room. You can also face and call on the four directions if you wish. Remember, you should also smudge anything you will be using for your blessing, such as crystals, candles, flowers, or stones. Other reasons for smudging can be sick room cleansing, cleansing following an argument, protecting your home when you’re leaving for vacation, and even celebrating a birth or honoring a passing.  Studies have also revealed that smudging can kill bacteria and prevent them from returning for quite some time.
No matter how you use these techniques smudging will assure you that you have the tool you need to keep your space and your life clear of of unwanted negative energy.

Inspired by Jane Alexander

Tonight is the Full Moon – Lets Make it Count!

Tonight is a Full Moon that I have been preparing for since before the last new moon. The culmination of everything that was worked for since the New Moon, and as always, setting the stage for what is next to come.

There are two sides of this, as usual. The Yin and the Yang. Let me describe first the Astrological qualities of this full moon, and then tell you about the personal happenings going on in my own life.

The Astrology

Tonight, the Full Moon is occurring in the Sign of Virgo. Virgo is the symbolic energy of the independent creative woman, the virgin. In Tarot it is linked to the card “The Hermit”, which is all about inspiration from within, circumspection (looking at the whole of things and taking in all of the data), and blazing the trail based on your own knowing, rather than following in the path set out by another.

As this relates to the Full Moon, this is the time of culmination and the promise of fulfillment of that which was started at the New Moon. This is a time which is emotional, romantic, and meaningful beyond measure.

This Full Moon is all about balance between the day-to-day functions and minutia that we often get caught up in, and our own spiritual health and growth. There is a power greater than we can understand at work here, moving through us to create an inner peace to the turmoil, so that we can tackle the outer world turmoil in greater stride than we had before.

Now, CafeAstrology did a great job of writing up some stuff about it, so instead of try and paraphrase it i’m just gonna quote them! Thanks CafeAstrology!

” Some sort of crisis (which can be a crisis of consciousness) or sudden awareness of a lack in our lives provides us with a golden opportunity to explore our emotional needs within the context of the house polarity where the Full Moon occurs in our natal charts. This Full Moon urges us to strike a balance between work and service, practicality and impracticality, criticism and acceptance. ”

With the Moon full and bright in the sky, symbolic “illumination” occurs in our own lives. However, these new feelings and revelations are emotional ones, as there is a sense of emotions bursting forth into our consciousness. It’s time to express ourselves, and to let things out of our systems. Over the next two weeks, we will discover what this means for us. For now, we can’t sit on our feelings. We need to express them. Of course, we might want to exercise some care while doing so, knowing that what is coming out of us is not particularly rational as yet.

-CafeAstrology

The Personal

I’ve often found its really helpful to hear from someone else what THEY are going through, in order to get some clarity on what’s going on in my life… So i’d like to do that for you now. Instead of try and write it all down, I’m just going to record it. 2 birds with one stone, right? I need to make more content for youtube anyways, and this is a great place to start!!

Peace to you and Yours!

Rare Astrology: All Planets Are Moving Direct From December 25th to January 5th

astrology

Beginning December 25th, 2015 with Uranus stationing direct, all major planets in our solar system will be moving direct/forward.

Stephanie Tetra Forest, who is the first known astrologer first to publish articles, teach online courses and present slide show lectures on both the occurrence and potential of APDM.

Stephanie states, “Now, here in this moment, from our geo-centric view, our entire solar system, moving together, in the same direction, like a flowing cosmic river, all traveling towards this one direction.  From the position of the Sun or Earth’s perspective, All Planets in Direct Motion represents an organic, holistic, synchronous, harmonious group passage through the endless universe. ” 

Stephanie goes on to write, ” An APDM cycle is definitely one of hope for the future. It’s uniquely a time where the earth’s perspective becomes like the Sun. Continue reading

How Deep Breathing Literally Changes The Structure of Your Brain

423239982212190208What if you could change your state of mind, just by changing your breathing?

A study on deep breathing [1] found that it made the participants more relaxed and that it affected the brain waves of the participants. This has implication beyond just lowered stress and increased well-being

The study used electroencephalogram (EEG) to measure the effect of deep breathing on the 16 participant’s brain waves.

The breathing lasted four to six minutes with six breaths per minute. The deep breaths consisted of four seconds of inhaling with the diaphragm, two seconds holding the breath and four seconds of exhaling.

The deep breathing increased the amount of alpha, theta and delta waves.

What does this mean, you might ask.

wavesofsoundNormally we’re in the beta state. It is when your brain waves have a frequency of 16-31 Hz (per second). In the beta state we’re attentive, thinking actively and alert. It ranges from actively calm, to stressed out or mildly obsessive.

Deep breathing is an effective way of lowering your brain wave frequency to the range 8-15 Hz. In the alpha state you’re relaxed and reflective. Stress levels are substantially decreased as compared to the beta state. The alpha state has been widely recognized as an optimal state for learning. Continue reading