entering the light ~ forum ~

Greetings fellow travelers…

This is your invitation to participate in our collections of wisdom from the categories listed below. Please begin here by sharing your journey, perhaps greeting us according the spiritual tradition you most resonate with, and sharing your thoughts on

‘One Light Many Windows‘.

Please post quotes that inspire you, start a Q&A, help by writing your thoughts, ideas and spiritual philosophy to make a better world from any path or walk of life.

One Light Many Windows Categories:

– Entering the Light introduce yourself

– Open Windows deep discussions started by guest hosts

– Featured Discussions admin opens the discussion each month

CATEGORIES – include same subjects within each contents/index from many paths…PLEASE TAKE  THE TIME TO ADD YOUR QUOTES & DISCUSSIONS or YOUR WINDOW to shed more LIGHT.

– Windows of Light

~ Windows of Light Forum for Discussions

– Simple Truths

– Gaia Quotes Library

– Windows of Meditation

– Symbolism

– Teachings of Masters

– Angels & Deities

– Parables Myths Legends

– Prayers Mantras Spiritual Lyrics

– Books – Multimedia

Thank you for being here.

Namasté ~Gaia Admin Team,

Kathy, Meenakshi, Anna, Bhatta, Gien & Sanmugan

Please note: Policy & Terms of Use are those of WordPress.

Admin reserves the right to delete posts that are not in alignment or ethical standards of One Light Many Windows and the light forum.

Creative Commons
FAIR USE NOTICE: This website, the related blog’s, profiles and bulletins may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of spirituality, patient advocacy, informed consent, comparative religion, human rights, scientific, moral, ethical and social justice issues, and related issues. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the United States Copyright Law. This material is distributed without profit. http://creativecommons.org/

AN ATTITUDE FOR SUCCESS…from lifepositive.com

Posted by Taikunping http://anewgaia.ning.com/group/onelightmanywindows/forum/topics/an-attitude-for-successfrom

Attitude is everything. If you think you can, you most certainly can. Success is
not closeted within some kind of brick and mortar premises. It assumes
the individuality of a complete act executed with perfection. Material
achievements do not define life. We do not remember the sports stars
for the products they endorse but the spirit of achievement they
represent. In the abundance of positive attitude underlies the grandeur
of a truly rewarding and rich life.

Ancient Indian wisdom believes that the most qualifying aspect of success lies
in following the four Purusharthas( tenets) of life. The Purusharthas
are based on the four tenets of artha (wealth,social security), kama
(fulfillment of desire), dharma( principles)and moksha (salvation).
Wealth or artha means earthly possessions and material gains. People
usually work hard
to procure such standards of success, and yet, find themselves wanting
more. Desires condemned by puritans the world over, is motivating force
behind all action that manifests as success. High moral credo or dharma
is a life based on principles. However the crowning glory to successful life is
moksha or freedom from all desires. Artha, kama, dharma and moksha
patterns a rite of passage for an adult life. According to Indian
thought, success depends upon the smooth transition of an individual through each of these passages.

However, the culture factor definitely influences the success expectation among a people.
http://www.lifepositive.com/mind/work/success/success.asp

image photobucket – with gratitude

The Sacred Breath

The Sacred Breath guided by Anna

Let’s spend a few moments bringing awareness to our body… if we are sitting on our cushion, or the floor or on the chair … bringing awareness to the body… run the mind though the body … Becoming aware of any tension or any resistance in the body … and letting go… letting go of all tension… all resistance in the body… … Starting at the feet and running the mind all the way to the top of the head… and saying mentally with each out breath, “I let go… I let go”… … bring the awareness to the eyelids which meet gently… the eyelids are meeting gently… behind the eyelids the eyes are soft… … all the muscles in the body are soft and relaxed…

…Bring the awareness to Sound… bring the awareness to Sound… become aware of Sound in the immediate environment… without attaching to the sounds, without trying to name the sound… simply let the awareness move from sound to sound… let the awareness go outside the room and beyond … roaming from sound to sound… … see how far into the distance you can roam… … birds… traffic… animals… sounds of people… perhaps there’s a breeze… … bring the awareness back into the room … now see if you can hear the sound of your own breath… see if you can hear the sound of your own breath… … bringing awareness to the breath that has been doing itself all the time…

… Bringing awareness to the breath, the soft relaxed natural breath… become aware of the coolness in the inhalation and the warmth of the exhalation… the cool inhalation and the warm exhalation… … Bring awareness to both nostrils and and see if you can feel if one nostril is warmer than the other with the inhalation … … bringing awareness to both nostrils and seeing if one nostril is warmer and the other cooler… … now see if you can see if one nostril is more dominant … when you breathe in is one nostril more dominant… throughout the day the nostrils alternate, one being more dominant than the other… then switching over… see if you can see which nostril is more dominant now… … See if you can notice Kumbhaka, the breath retention, natural pause… at the beginning and end of each breath… there’s a little space at the beginning and end of each breath… … it is in this space of Kumbhaka that the next breath is born… observe the breath… The complete breath… The inhalation… Kumbhaka… exhalation… Kumbhaka…

…Become aware Where you are breathing… which part of the lungs you are using to breathe… are you breathing more into the abdomen… or the chest… are you breathing into the ribcage… … is the breath shallow or is the breath deep… Not changing anything, just bringing awareness to the breath… breath awareness… practicing breath awareness… … Is the exhalation longer than the inhalation… or is the exhalation shorter than the inhalation… just bringing awareness to the breath…

…Keeping the eyes closed, let the finger tips meet on each side of the navel… Bringing the hands on the abdominal area and let the finger tips meet on each side of the navel… and breath into the navel area… the abdominal breath… as you breathe in, your finger tips will separate, as the abdominal area rises… as you exhale your finger tips will meet again as the abdominal area descends… practicing the abdominal breath… finger tips meeting on each side of the navel, resting on the abdominal area… expanding into the naval area with the inhalation so that the finger tips separate… and as you exhale, they meet again, as the abdominal area falls… the rise and fall of the breath in the abdominal area… practice this for a little while… … Now lets breathe into the ribcage… resting one hand on the abdominal area, one hand remains on the abdomen- so that you can feel it becoming still and the other hand can rest on the ribcage and feel the ribcage rise and fall… the ribs expand outwardly and up as you inhale… and descend as you exhale… feel the ribcage rise and fall with each in and out breath… … and now going to the collarbones… we won’t spend a long time here – it’s a very shallow breath… you can just pant lightly if you like into the base of the throat… becoming aware of the breath right at the top of the lungs at the collar bones, at the base of the throat almost… … now we’re going to bring all three breaths together… The abdominal area, ribcage and collarbones to breathe the Full Yogic Breath… breathing into first the abdominal area… feel it rise… let it flow over into the ribcage… finally into the collarbones… as the whole lung fills… hold, aware of Kumbhaka, the natural pause… and begin to exhale from the collarbones, then the ribcage and finally contracting the navel area as you expel the last of the breath … then hold for Kumbhaka … beginning again at the abdominal area … flowing into the ribcage … collarbones… Kumbhaka… and like a water jug, emptying out from the top to the bottom… you begin to exhale from the collarbones… the ribcage… and finally contracting the navel area to expel the last of the breath… Kumbhaka… continue like that… … You can practice the Full Yogic Breath in your own time whenever you wish… and if you like you can bring counting into the practice, counting, “one Om,… two Om…”, into each area, so that the exhalation and inhalation are equal and balanced…

Cease the practice of the Full Yogic Breath and return to the natural relaxed breath… just inhale deeply and sigh out the breath and return to the relaxed natural breath… … now we are going to count backwards with each inhalation and exhalation… we’ll start at 27… inhale 27.. exhale 27… inhale 26… exhale 26… and so on… continue like that, counting backwards from 27 to 1 … counting the breath backwards… If your mind wanders or if you miss a count, simply start again at 27… counting the breath backwards 27 to 1… … If the mind wanders, simply bring it back and continue the practice…

… Now you can cease the counting… and simply rest the awareness on the natural breath… cease the counting… aware of the natural breath… the natural inhalation and exhalation … just be aware of breathing in Love and breathing out Compassion… breathing in Love and breathing out Compassion… … bring your awareness back to sitting… back to your body… Don’t cease the breath practice, continue the breath practice as you bring your awareness back to the body… breathing in Love… breathing out Compassion… I’m aware that I’m sitting… I’m aware of my environment… breathing in Love… breathing out Compassion… … breathing in Love… breathing out Compassion…. I open my eyes… breathing in Love… breathing out Compassion… I start my day…

Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti

www.gaiaminute.com

Tai: profoundly relaxing Anna
in thanks
Tai

Johanna: What fascinates me, is that Kriya Masters who teach these pranayama practices tell us that we were the original gardeners for this heaven-garden called Mother Gaia, and that when we breathe the love breath in the spine (kriya) until it generates heat, we know we have then begun to produce an energy called “prana” or “life force”; the heat of the love-breath in the spine produces FOOD to cause a shinning healthy vibrance that plants can only receive from HUMAN produced love-breath…!!! HHHhhhhhhhhhmmmmmm (sigh) This is really evident when one travels into deep jungle places where the original people are still practicing the original ceremonies and prayer forms (breath words) of their ancestors; the vegetation in these places is profoundly plush, radiant and magnetically shinning; as are the people! Anna, you are a shinning star, so happy to know you! johanna parry cougar

Meenakshi: The focus on breath was very healing. Thank you Anna, for the wonderful meditation.  Johanna, I’m so glad you mentioned the Kriya masters. Ever since I learned that special breath, it’s changed my life. Even just the thought or mindfulness of breathing …for after all, breath is our reminder every moment of our human life on this beautiful planet earth. Thanks again, Anna and Johanna. It’s really refreshing! Like your lotus Tai.

OM: It was lovely, Anna. I also imagined Gaia breathing along with me, and through me, and exchanging breaths with Gaia’s plants, each of us feeding the other. Sacred indeed. Thank you for the deep meditation. Blessings, OM

I am happy to share these lovely meditations and feedback. ~ Kathy

Slow blossoming of the Sacred Lotus

Slow blossoming of the Sacred Lotus guided by Anna

… preparing for today’s Gaia Minute practice, become aware of sitting on the cushion or the seat… you may be lying down. Just bring awareness into the posture, to the body… Run your mind through the whole body… letting go of all tension and all resistance. Starting at the feet, running your mind through the whole body all the way top of the head…

Become aware of the posture. The spine is completely straight like an arrow… the energy moves up and down the spine… the whole body is firm but relaxed. The palms are facing upwards in a receptive mode… palms are facing upwards in a receptive mode… aware of the blessings all about… the whole body is firm but relaxed… all the muscles are soft… bring the awareness to the eyelids gently meeting each other… the eyelids are softly meeting… and behind the eyelids the eyes are soft… all the face muscles are relaxed… the jaw is slightly parted… and the tongue curls naturally in the mouth… bring the awareness to the soft relaxed natural breath… the soft relaxed natural breath… just follow this breath for a little while… be aware of the sweetness of the air you are breathing in… following the relaxed natural breath… which does itself all the time… become aware of the dark friendly space behind the eyes… look deeply into the dark friendly space behind the eyes…

… Before you a lake is opening up… become aware of a beautiful sparkling lake… the waters are still… the surface shines like a mirror… bring all you awareness to visualising this beautiful clear lake… lake of water spread before your eyes… the internal vision… glistening water… sparkling…

… In front of you in the middle of the lake… a lotus blossom… a single lotus blossom… in the middle of the lake… look at the colour of this lotus blossom… see the texture of the closed petals… you begin to see the faintest movement as the outer petals slowly begin to open… notice the outer petals of the lotus blossom slowly opening… and as you watch they stretch out… the petals are beautifully arranged in a sacred circle… open to the light… the next layer begins to slowly open… visualise the next layer of lotus petals opening… keeping the focus on the beautiful lotus… the next layer begins to open… and as you watch layer after layer… the beautiful petals uncurl and open… the sacred lotus in the middle of the lake… and now all the petals are open… and you can see the beautiful centre of the lotus…

… Look closely at the beautiful lotus… which is open to the sun… and as you look you see a little droplet of water… pure water… a little droplet on one of the petals… the droplet moves… rolls down toward the edge of the lotus petal… it gathers on the edge… the droplet drips into the lake below… watch the droplet fall… the droplet lands in the lake and you see the ripples… for the first time in this mirror there is movement… you see the ripples and the lotus reflecting in the lake… become aware of the lotus as your own heart … open to the light… hold this loving image in the mind…

… As you bring your awareness back to sitting on the cushion or chair or lying down… bringing the awareness back to the body… the soft relaxed natural breath… becoming aware of the environment… when you’re ready you can rub your thumbs along the tips of your fingers… wiggle your toes… inhale deeply… sigh out the breath… and open the eyes… ready to start your beautiful day

© 2010 The Gaia Minute Call

Feeling the Aliveness

The Gaia Minute Call Feeling the Aliveness – Guided by Kathy

Good Morning!

Today we are going to go with somebody and walk you through The Meditation of Feeling the Aliveness

first in Mother Earth and then in your Body, so we’re going to do two different healings.

I am going to go ahead and start with the Earth.

Feel you feet on the floor. Thank you.
Feel the floor on your feet. Good.

Take a deep breath… and take another deep breath… inhale, exhale.

Now, feel the aliveness in the earth. Feel the aliveness in the trees. Feel the aliveness in the ocean. Feel the aliveness in the sky and the sun.

Visualize a flower. Visualize the smell of the flower and the colour, and how it looks. What’s the texture of your flower? Visualize touching it. Thank you.

Feel the aliveness of all the vegetables of all the gardens of Mother Earth. Feel the aliveness of all of the fruits and the nourishment that Mother Earth gives us and exchanges to us daily and freely. Thank you for all of that.

I’m feeling like the awareness of awareness of the heartbeat of Mother Earth, and how we have the personal size that we can reach out and feel all of the organic sensations of Mother Earth…all the tones and the sounds.

Now feel the aliveness in your feet. Thank you. I am going up the Body.

Feel the aliveness in your right leg. Good.
Feel the aliveness in your left leg. All right.
Feel the aliveness in your seat. Feel your seat on the chair and the chair on your seat, and be there very comfortably…breathing
Feel the aliveness of the air given to us from Mother Earth, and the gift we give back to keep things nurtured and alive.
Feel the aliveness in your right palm as you receive the gifts you desire right now from Mother Earth.
Feel the aliveness in your left palm. Thank you.
Feel the aliveness in your arms.
Feel the aliveness and energy in your chest and abdomen area. Thank you.
Feel the aliveness in your back and feel your spine straightening up.
Feel the energy just shooting up from the center of earth through the soil to you.
Feel the aliveness in your face… in your smile… in your beautiful eyes. Breath.
Feel the moisture in your mouth. Feel the sounds around you and the sound directions.
Allow your emotional state to come up as high as you want and higher and higher.
Be your own best friend right now. Feel the rhythm of you.
Feel the rhythm of you sharing with all of your friends and flowing back and forth.
(breathing) Healing all of your endocrine states right now…Thank you.
Feel the colours all around you.
Have the awareness of awareness of Life.
You give to Mother Earth.
Mother Earth gives to you.
It’s an amazing amazing blessing. Namasté

Now I’m going to give a prayer.

May the universe enable all men
to reach an understanding
of their spiritual nature.

May awareness and
understanding of life expand,
so that all may come to know
their own paths and their own ways
of the universe.

And may others also
reach this understanding
which brings Total Freedom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At this time, we think of those
whose liberty is threatened;
of those who have suffered
imprisonment for their beliefs,
of those who are enslaved
or martyred, and for all those
who are brutalized, trapped
or attacked.

We pray that human rights
will be preserved
so that all people may believe
and worship freely,
so that freedom
will once again
be seen in our land.

Freedom from war,
and poverty, and want;
freedom to be;
freedom to do;
and freedom to have.

Freedom to use and
understand man’s potential–
a potential that is God-given
and Godlike.

And freedom to achieve
that understanding
and awareness that is
Total Freedom.

May God let it be so.

Thank you for being a part of this.
Namasté

©2010 Kathy Smith

Yoga

Please post your favorite quote about Yoga. This is an Open Forum from One Light Many Windows ~ Library: Category – Windows of Light – Y for Yoga or place in your browser: http://onelightmanywindows.wordpress.com/2010/12/25/y-windows-of-light/ and http://www.anewgaia.ning.com One Light Many Windows Group

Yoga

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Thank you Sanmugan for this source of Yoga:

O Man! O ignorant man! O arrogant, impertinent man! You have wasted your life-time. Now at least spend your life of retirement usefully in Japa, Kirtan, meditation and selfless service.
– Sri Swami Sivanandahttp://www.sivananda.org/

History of Yoga – What is Yoga?
Today, many people are taking up yoga techniques for physical exercise, and most don’t know the history of yoga. They believe there is nothing wrong with implementing this form of exercise into their daily regiment to promote a more healthy body.

However, the practice of yoga is much more than a system of physical exercise for health. Yoga is an ancient path to spiritual growth, and originates out of India where Induism is practiced. The practice and goal of yoga dates back to the Upanishads, written between 1000-5000 BC.

http://www.allaboutspirituality.org/history-of-yoga.htm

Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres and Ashrams | Om Page ™

www.sivananda.org

International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres. Founded by Swami Vishnudevananda over 50 years ago, we have over 60 yoga centres and ashrams around the world. Our teacher training course now has over 26,000 graduates. We offer yoga vacations, retreats and many other programs.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••