When I was going into meditation today, I began one of my most favorite practices of all.  It is the meditational practice of gratitude.

To be able to show gratitude for all of the blessings in your life (even the blessings that you may not be aware of yet) lets the universe know that your heart and soul are open and the universe will begin to respond to the song of your essence.  Miracles will abound you.  Magnificence is yours for the taking as you answer the universe with gratitude.  The universe knows no limit and the universe is showing the way to all of us.  To be able to express gratitude is similar to the practice of clutter clearing my home.  As I release items to be given to others or to be recycled in one form or another I am creating room in my home for the fresh new energy of either new items or clean, clear space.  It feels wonderful no matter how you look at it.

Usually I start by just saying thank you for the day today.  Thank you for having a roof over our heads.  Thank you for putting food on our table.  Thank you for having love in my heart for _________.  Thank you for my health (even though you may have health challenges – if you express gratitude for the areas that are healthy you are welcoming more health.) and vibrance.  You get the idea.

When you are able to express gratitude to the people in your life, you are creating space in their hearts and souls for love.  So the song continues.  Gratitude is part of the language of love in the universe and it  is one of the most powerfully creative forces in the universe.

When you go through your days sans gratitude and without acknowledging all of the miracles that surround you, you are creating a vacuum in your world.  You have less energy.  Depression is usually just a step away.  Your health begins to diminish and your days are a struggle.  People don’t seem to want to be around you because on a soul level they detect your negativity.  It is all about your attitude.  If you need to jumpstart your gratitude attitude, put on some lively music.  Or even just some peaceful music.  If you are in the right surroundings (probably not a good idea to do at work) stand up and let the music move your body.  You can sway, or dip or jump or really move your body.  If it is a song that you really enjoy then sing along.  I think you will be surprised at just how good it makes you feel.  If you feel the song in your heart then offer it up to the universe.  The universe will respond to the nature of your song.

Rev. Dr. Michael Beckwith

Life is all about the choices that we make and how conscious or aware we are when we make those choices.  We have choices when we pick a life partner or not, when we choose to bear off-spring or not, what food we will or will not eat today, where we will or will not go today.  It’s all about choices and for me it’s about doing what’s right – - not just for me but for my family, my home, my environment and my planet.

Earth is a living, breathing entity and so far she has been a beautiful home for many species for millions of years.  So why is it that our species in this day and age is so destructive to Earth and ultimately ourselves?  What sets us apart from the billions or trillions that have travelled on Earth before us?  My belief is that they lived consciously, and with revered gratitude each and every moment that they existed.  What is it going to take to get the attention of the human race of today to start taking care of the hand that feeds us?

And what about us?  What makes us so destructive towards ourselves?  From what I can see, the human race is far more self-destructive today than ever before.  For reasons which elude most of us we are compelled to ingest unhealthy foods, consume mass quantities of alcohol or drugs, surround ourselves with toxic relationships and believe that we are not the captains of our own ships.  What’s up with THAT??

Every day we have an opportunity to create our day and our universe.  Several years ago I used to describe myself as a tumbleweed – I would just blow where ever the winds took me.  Now I see myself as a conscious creator in my universe or my movie of my life.

Did you know that you can make a conscious choice to have an excellent day filled with miracles or you can choose to create a day of misery?  Your brain sends out actual frequencies that can be measured by sophisticated machinery and medical instruments as it sends out this information and your universe will begin to shape itself to respond to the nature of your song that you have created.  When I was a teenager my grandmother shared some of her wisdom with me.  She said quite simply, “What goes around, comes around”.  So if I make up my mind in the morning that I am going to go out and be a conscious member of humanity and be the very best that I can be, then I am going to have an awful lot of power behind me to see that it happens.  But if I have even the tiniest bit of doubt, that will come to fruition as well.  I can’t say, ‘Yeah, but what if… “.  I have to believe with all of my being and know that it is so.  That belief is what will propel me to move in the direction of creation. Believe it and know it.

I have a favorite quote that I would like to share with you.  I have a copy of this on my bathroom mirror that has been laminated.  I read it in the morning and at night when getting ready for bed.  I love to take this into dreamtime with me.  I hope you enjoy it.

“I believe that you are great…  I know that there is something magnificent about you.  Regardless of what has happened to you in your life.  Regardless of how young or how old you think you might be.  The moment you begin to think properly- – this “something” that is within you… this power that is within you… that’s greater than the world, will begin to emerge.  It will take over your life.  It will feed you.  It will guide you, protect you, and it will sustain your very existence if you let it.  Now THAT is what I know for sure.”

Reverend Dr. Michael Beckwith

Quote from the film “The Secret”

So as you begin the rest of your day and the rest of your life, go out and be the magnificent creator that you are meant to be.  I believe that you are great…

The male and female brains have perceptive differences that are complex and widespread.  For example, in the brain centers for language and hearing, women have an advantage of 11% capacity of more neurons than men.  The hippocampus which is the principal hub of memory formation and emotion is also larger in the female brain.  This could point to why women generally express themselves emotionally more readily than men.  It could also explain why women remember an emotionally charged event more clearly than most men.  I know for a fact that my husband and I do not remember the same details from a heated debate of any caliber.  I believe that my emotional recall is far more accurate.

Now take that same brain space in a man.  A man’s brain has two and a half times the space devoted to sexual drive and larger brain centers for action and aggression.  It is not news that a man thinks about sex every 52 seconds during the day and a woman may usually think about sex only once per day.  Why is that?

These basic structural variances could explain perceptive differences.  A man can see a couple talking and imagine it leading to a sexual encounter and a woman sees the same two people talking as just two people talking.

The home of the “fight or flight” center of the brain is the amygdala and the male brain just happens to have a larger processor for these emotions.  Men can be more confrontational while women will tend to lean towards being the peace-makers.  Being a woman I can attest that the stress of conflict will register more deeply in my brain than in my husband’s brain.  It also has a tendency to settle in many areas of my body (which is a whole different category – which I would also like to share with you.  It is called EFT or Emotional Freedom Technique).

Even though we as humans have evolved beautifully over that last several millenia, we are still built to live in the wild.  Our fore-mothers have passed on our deeply wired instincts of being able to respond to stress in the wild, while reacting to physical dangers and life-threatening situations while protecting not only ourselves by our young.  Now place that anciently wired brain in a modern day woman who has to juggle running a household, holding down a job (or even two), caring for the children, and add that many women do not receive the emotional support that they need to cope with all of it.  Something as mundane as cooking dinner or paying the bills can be perceived as life-threatening bringing the woman to tears or worse. No wonder many women are just not “in the mood” after a day of “fight or flight” – - or as I have said in the past, “hunt and gather”.

Women are born with powerful and unique mental aptitudes.  We possess superior verbal agility and we are usually able to connect on a deeper level of friendship than most men.  Scientifically we are almost psychic about being able to hear someone’s tone of voice and read their face and be undeniably accurate.  It isn’t called Woman’s Intuition for naught.  Top that off with the admirable ability to be the Peace Maker.  I am proud to be a member of this gender.

Men have many unique and wonderful attributes as well, but they will be discussed in the future.    I am sure my husband will have a few things to say about that topic!

Your Brain on Yoga

By Timothy McCall, MD

When I was in medical school in the 1980s, we were taught that after a certain stage of childhood development, the architecture of the brain was fixed. Brain cells, or neurons, couldn’t be replaced; at best, we could slow the rate of their loss by cutting down on alcohol and other damaging habits.

But now, due to the growing sophistication of neuroimaging technology like PET scanners and functional MRIs, we understand that brain structure can change over time based on what we do. Recent research shows that even aging brains can add new neurons.

Scientists coined the term neuroplasticity to refer to the brain’s ability to reshape itself, confirming what the yogis have been teaching for millennia—the more you think, say, or do something, the more likely you are to think, say, or do it again. With every activity, neurons forge connections with one another, and the more a behavior is repeated, the stronger those neural links become. As neuroscientists like to say, “Neurons that fire together, wire together.”

In the Yoga Sutra, Patanjali offers a recipe for success in yoga: steady and enthusiastic practice without interruption over a long period of time. This ideal formula takes advantage of neuroplasticity to rewire the brain. Swami Vivekananda once said, “The only remedy for bad habits is counter habits.” As your yoga practice deepens over time, it becomes a strong new habit that can compete with old patterns.

In yoga, you are systematically awakening your ability to feel what’s happening in your body, heart, and mind. As your awareness becomes more refined, it can guide you in all areas of your life. You begin to observe which foods make you feel best, which work you find most fulfilling, which people bring you joy—and which ones have the opposite effects.

The key is steady practice—whether it’s asana, pranayama, meditation, chanting, visualization, service, or all of the above. Just a little bit every day is enough to steer you step-by-step toward true transformation.

Timothy McCall, MD, is a board-certified specialist in internal medicine and is the author of Yoga as Medicine: The Yogic Prescription for Health and Healing. In addition to his ongoing study of yoga and ayurveda in India, Dr. McCall has studied with Patricia Walden since 1995 and, more recently, with Donald Moyer and Rod Stryker. Visit drmccall.com.

Fall 2009

Yoga+ magazine

Websters ÍI New Riverside University dictionary defines consciousness as:

1. The state of being conscious.  2. The totality of attitudes, opinions, and sensitivities held or thought to be held by an individual or group<moral consciousness>.   3. Psychoanal. The conscious.  4. a. A critical awareness of one’s own situation and identity.  b. Awareness, concern.

So now let’s look at the definition of conscious.

It comes from the latin word conscius, knowing with others.  1. a. Aware of one’s own existence, sensations, and thoughts and of one’s environment < received a hard blow but remained conscious> b. Capable of thought, will, or perception.  2. Subjectively known or felt< conscious regret> 3. Deliberately conceived or done : INTENTIONAL <a conscious rebuke> <made a conscious effort to keep awake> 4. Having or showing self-consciousness: AWARE. –n.  Psychoanal. The component of waking awareness perceptible by an individual at a given instant ; CONSCIOUSNESS.   conscious-ly adv.

So why is a clear definition of consciousness so elusive to our modern day quantum scientists?  Do you think they are privy to some info that we are not yet aware of?  I think so!

There is a fabulous and concise book out by William A. Tiller, Ph. D called Science and Human Transformation: Subtle Energies, Intentionality, and Consciousness.  Professor emeritus from Stanford University, Palo Alto, California.  Dr. Tiller describes consciousness as: Thought by most to be the totality of the impressions, thoughts and feelings of an individual.  Here, it is all the output expressions from the manifested in-dwelling spirit of that individual.

Now that is something that I can sink my teeth in to.  Dr. Tiller’s definition is what gives this blog some direction(s) in which to move.  Thank you Dr. Tiller.

Next post: Brain and mind.

If you have had the chance to view the Stanford research paper here on the blog, then you will also see the oral and graphic presentation that accompanied the paper (if this is not up yet, it will be very soon).  In the graphic presentation there is a photo of a Tibetan monk, who was a member of a group, volunteered by the Dalai Lama to undergo experiments regarding the different phases of brain wave activity that accompanied the monks when in meditation.  This research was a blast to do.  The process of preparing the monks for the experiments was arduous and each experiment involved the placement of 256 electrodes to the head of each monk.  Can you imagine the amount of time it would take to complete this task?

The Tibetan Buddhist monks, as we all know, are incredible.  They are a basic key to understanding how mind works.  What they can do with their minds is nothing less than miraculous.  Hopefully we will have an opportunity to explore this area too.

I am also passionate about yoga and in particular, therapeutic yoga.  The privilege of watching people turn their lives around from a practice as beautiful as yoga is almost beyond words.  It is so simple, yet so complex.  Isn’t the human body amazing?