I had hoped to post before my trip to Rosemary Beach, Florida, but I got caught up in getting ready to go away. The vacation was awesome...exactly what I needed...four days of rest and relaxation. I feel rejuvenated in my body, mind and spirit.

As many of you know, the Summer Solstice was this past Saturday, June 21st.
For thousands of years, Yogis, Sages, Rishis and like-minded people have gone through the tradition of performing 108 Sun Salutations on the Fall and Spring Equinox and Winter and Summer Solstice.

The following is from an article written by Shiva Rea explaining the significance of the number 108:

The number’s significance is open to interpretation. But 108 has long been considered a sacred number in Hinduism and yoga. Traditionally, malas, or garlands of prayer beads, come as a string of 108 beads (plus one for the “guru bead,” around which the other 108 beads turn like the planets around the sun). A mala is used for counting as you repeat a mantra—much like the Catholic rosary.

Renowned mathematicians of Vedic culture viewed 108 as a number of the wholeness of existence. This number also connects the Sun, Moon, and Earth: The average distance of the Sun and the Moon to Earth is 108 times their respective diameters. Such phenomena have given rise to many examples of ritual significance.

According to yogic tradition, there are 108 pithas, or sacred sites, throughout India. And there are also 108 Upanishads and 108 marma points, or sacred places of the body.

And, yes, one can offer a yoga mala of 108 Sun Salutations. Please take a moment to visit www.globalmala.org for more information on the power of 108 and joining the “mala around the earth” to be formed by the worldwide yoga community on September 21 and 22 of 2007. - Shiva Rea

The first Global Mala was held last year. This will be an annual event to take place each year on the Fall Equinox. People all around the world participated in this event...it was incredible...all part of the awakening of the Collective Consciousness.

So, on Saturday, while I was at Rosemary Beach, I participated in my own Summer Solstice practice. Whether one is able to perform all 108 Sun Salutations is not what's most important. Any cycle divisible by nine is said to be powerful. So, I meditated for 27 minutes and then performed 27 Sun Salutations. Just 27 Sun Salutations was pretty challenging. I've never gone through the full 108 cycle. I really have only began to recognize the significance of the seasonal changes since beginning my studies with Shiva last July. Prior to then, I was not as tuned into it. But, after going through just 27 on Saturday by myself, it makes sense to me why this ritual is usually performed with a group in order to make it through all 108. I can imagine it would be a bit easier and sustaining to feel the group's energy during the process. There were several instances where I wanted to give up, but I didn't. The practice is for each salutation to be a prayer, typically offering the prayers of the first 9 salutations to oneself, the second 9 to one's family/friends/community, and the next 9 to the planet and global community, and so on, depending on how many cycles one chooses to do.

It was a really powerful experience and I felt purposeful in my efforts. I am glad I chose to honor this tradition and will continue to from now on. It doesn't just have to be Sun Salutations, either. One could also say 108 chants (or 9,18,27), or meditate for 108 minutes, (9,18,27) etc.

One of the things I'm awakening to is the spiritualization of our city. Yes, you can take your spirituality with you anywhere, but it is the community which creates the collective consciousness. Even in the beautiful area of Rosemary Beach, there was a spiritual energy which wasn't present for me in the same way it is here. Dallas is feeling more and more like a spiritual place to me all the time...which is why I was so happy to come back hOMe.

I've talked about this with my friends who also study the Self-Realization Fellowship teachings. Anything can be spiritualized. Yogananda spiritualized the chants and songs he wrote, which is what makes them so effective for meditation. One of my friends shared with me about a spiritualized experience he had in taking a Tango class. Any moment can be connected to the Consciousness, if we allow ourselves to be Conscious enough to connect to it.

I'm not sure if I mentioned it yet, but I will be going to a silent retreat at Yogananada's Ashram in Encinitas, CA next Thursday. I can feel myself already being energetically prepared for this experience. I'll share more in the days ahead, before I leave to go away. Peace and blessings...

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Song lyrics | Jah Live lyrics

I feel blessed. This past weekend was one of the most powerful experiences I've ever had teaching Yoga. I taught a FREE Prana Flow Yoga Class, sponsored by lululemon athletica, at the Lofts at Mockingbird Station in downtown Dallas. There were at least 30 people in attendance for the class, which took place next to the pool on the rooftop deck overlooking the Dallas skyline. (I will post an actual photo of the event once I have one to share...lululemon took some awesome pics!) It was an incredibly inspiring location. We meditated and communed with Cosmic Consciousness, surfed on our Yoga mats, balanced in Airplane Pose holding hands, (with our eyes closed!) around the perimeter of the pool AND experienced the energizing essence of the Infinite Source with a true connection to community. Oh, and the whole class, give or take a couple of songs, was set to some of Bob Marley's greatest tunes...

We recited this mantra silently to ourselve with the word that resontaed most deeply for each of us. Such as:

Come, Father, come.
Come, Peace, come.
Come, Joy, come
Come, Consciousness, come.
Come, Light, come.

And, we gave thanks, as we sat in meditation, silently reciting...Thank You. I felt energetically transformed from the experience. When class completed it felt as though I was seeing the world with new eyes. I am so grateful to all of you who joined me and for offering your Presence and Intention to this blessed experience. I truly felt the Presence with us, not only of the One, but I literally felt the Spirit of Bob Marley with us, as well. I have no doubt his Energy was present there.

So, I will be offering another FREE class on Saturday, June 28th, as well. This will be at another great location in Dallas. Also, I recently sent out the True Yoga Newsletter so if you would like to receive it, please sign up for it online here.

In less than a month, I will be attending another Yoga training with Shiva Rea. Prior to my training, which begins July 6th, I will be spending a few days at Paramahansa Yogananda's Ashram and Hermitage in Encinitas, California. I have never been on a silent meditation retreat before and am really looking forward to this incredible experience. This is where Yogananda lived and wrote his highly-acclaimed book, Autobiography of a Yogi. I feel so blessed to be able to have this opportunity. I have heard that it is one of the most powerful experiences imaginable to get to feel the energy which eminates from his living space.

"You may be surprised at what seclusion with God will do for your mind, body, and soul…. Through the portals of silence the healing sun of wisdom and peace will shine upon you."

— Paramahansa Yogananda

I'll be back to post before I head out of town this weekend for a little relaxation and restoration in beautiful Rosemary Beach, Florida.






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I am really glad it's June. I'm breathing into changes and new beginnings as we unfold into the Summer Season. I've had an awareness of the magnitude of what this growth would be for the past 6 months. I believe this Summer Solstice, more than any other, is bringing about an intensity of awakening as we open up to the longest day of sunlight on June 21. We are in a time of spiritual transformation. I have been witnessing this evolution in my classes over the past year. In particular, the last 6 months has been especially transformational. It's amazing to get to work with all of the different groups of people, in all of the different places I teach, from exhale spa to several Fortune 500 companies. For the first time ever, we actually meditated, in a seated position, at the end of our class at the headquarters for Pizza Hut. If you ever see a Pizza Hut commercial, you can be aware there is a group of evolving Yogis who practice three times a week at the company's headquarters here in Dallas...

I actually do not watch the news. Once and a while I catch snippets of it, but for the most part I do my best to not tune into it. Of course I'm aware of the issues going on in the world. I just choose to be aware through my own senses and resources, rather than buying into the sensational b.s. floating through so many of the airwaves. Of course we're all aware of many of the crises which have happened recently around the globe. I believe these situations have everything to do with the intensity of energetic change we are all experiencing, personally and globally. So, what are we to do in times like these? Well, one, breathe into it and surrender...accept the moment for being what it is. So often when we are faced with challenges, personally or collectively, we tend to immediately make up in our mind that something is wrong. And, therefore, we become reactive to the situation. This reactivity can bring about anything from anger and rage to depression. What if there is nothing 'wrong' with what's happening in the world right now? What if it just is what it is? We wake up to our reality all the time. The environment is a perfect example of this. For so many years, we had no awareness of any damage we were doing. Then, gradually, we woke up and realized how our actions are creating harm. So it is with everything else...it's all waking up to our experience...again...personally and globally. If you want to do anything to feel like you are making a difference in even the slightest (or perhaps, way more powerful than we realize) way, you can begin with saying OM and rippling the sound of the vibration silently, after each OM you say, to all of creation. (as Dharma Mittra would say.) You are not powerless, but immensely powerful. All of us have the potential to be this active. I love this song I play in class. It's called Beauty by Vargo. I just heard these lyrics at the end of it for the first time today.

"The beauty of Nature is very fragile. All of you know that when you come out, breath, and then you look, and then you feel, and then suddenly you realize that you are more than a small piece of meat walking on earth." - Vargo

So, that's one way to say it. Another way is the infamous Marianne Williamson passage I will post at the end of this. (a personal favorite)

I also believe meditation is the way of creating the most postivie environment you can within you and all around you, especially in your immediate surroundings. So, meditate, meditate, meditate. And, three, take action in whatever positive way you can to make whatever difference you can make.

One of my beloved meditation teachers, Roy Williams, talks about the importance of the trilogy: Study, Meditation and Service. He says when you activate all three magic happens. So, one of the areas I get to improve in is service. This will be one of the changes I open up to in this new season. I look forward to working with the homeless community in one way or another. I've known Roy for several years and recently came to find out he was involved in one of the most dynamic changes in the city of Dallas over the past century. In 1988, two African-American activists (Roy Williams and Marvin Crenshaw) filed a federal lawsuit and changed the way Dallas elects its city officials, increasing minority representation, and therefore the face of the city. You can watch a documentary of this on KERA's website-simply scroll to the bottom of the screen. Roy told me that this entire change came about through the power of meditation. Through his meditation he was guided to file this lawsuit and then see it through to success and completion over three years. Every moment of the journey, he said, was guided by the insight of meditation. At one point, he and Crenshaw were offered a million dollars to not go through with the suit. But, Roy said he knew he could not accept it because he was being guided by Spirit to bring about this change. He knew accepting it would only cause breakdown in every way. Roy has been on the spiritual path for over thirty years and it's incredible to experience guided meditation with him. He is most definitely connected and one of the most powerful, yet humble, individuals I know. I feel grateful to get to learn from him.

Just this past Sunday, June 1st, I spent a couple of hours in meditation realizing the importance of going into the stillness to welcome in this month and powerful time of year.

Be still, and know that I am God. - Psalm 46:10

So, if you haven't begun a meditation practice, I highly encourage you to begin...now is the time to fully recognize your oneness with the Light of Consciousness to awaken the positive changes you can within yourself and all around you. I have more to share about one of these positive changes I intend to create through the power of meditation, but will share when the time is right. I am awakening to fulfilling a vision I have had for twenty years. I think it's so interesting we focus on growing into Yoga poses, when our real growth has nothing to do with Yoga poses. The practice of Yoga, and ultimately, meditation, is about awakening positive change within your immediate internal and external environment, and from there, growing into the greatest expansion possible for yourself and the collective community.

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous,
talented and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world.

There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other
people won't feel insecure around you.

We were born to make manifest the glory of
God that is within us.

It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people
permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear,
Our presence automatically liberates others.
—Marianne Williamson

May we awaken to all that we are, our Highest Potential, as we grow into the ever-illuminating Light of Consciousness. OM, Peace, Amen...

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