(Picture from lawn at the SRF Mother Center in L.A. overlooking the downtown skyline. We meditated and chanted on those grounds sitting above the City of Angels.)

My experience at the Self-Realization Fellowship Convocation in Los Angeles this past week was one of the most powerful experiences of my life.

I had no idea what to expect, other than knowing I would be participating in a week-long event of spiritual talks, daily meditations, devotional chanting and fellowship with 4,000 fellow Truth seekers. I am almost speechless in communicating my experience, as there doesn’t seem to be any words to effectively describe how incredible it was…

What I can say, is I left Dallas last Saturday with a tremendous amount of tension and pain, not only in my body (in my neck and shoulders) but also in my heart and mind, healing from the loss of my father 9 months ago, and many other changes, as well. I have felt the healing from this powerful week and I am deeply humbled and grateful for the amazing energy I received from the blessings of Sangha (spiritual friendship) and Spirit. Paramahansa Yogananda truly is a Master, a Guru, and those who seek attunement with him and God, have the gift of healing others just by being in their Presence. And being in their Presence is incredible and uplifting as they are some of the most Divinely beautiful people I have ever seen…they radiate Joy, Light and Peace. There were 4,000 of us meditating and chanting together twice a day, one hour in the morning, and one hour in the evening. Everyday we participated in a healing ceremony, asking for and praying for healing for the bodies, minds and hearts of everyone we know, and praying for healing and peace on our planet. I have never meditated with 4,000 people. I hope everyone of you has the opportunity to experience this at some point in your life. In fact, I hope you have the opportunity to attend an SRF Convocation, I can assure you it will be one of the most powerful and positive experiences of your life. And, the Convocation itself is very affordable. But, a prerequisite to being able to attend is the study of the SRF Meditation Lessons, which can be ordered and sent to you via mail. They are incredible and I’ve been studying them for two years. The meditation lessons teach you the most effective meditation techniques on the planet, which are the techniques for Kriya Yoga, which include the Energization Exercises, the Hong-Sau technique and the Aum technique. This may not make sense to you but if you study the lessons it will. The lessons do, by the way, take a couple of years to complete. The sooner you begin, the better. I first learned these techniques about a year ago, but haven’t been practicing them regularly yet. I am now committed to practicing them consistenly, as this is also a prerequisite to receiving Kriya Yoga. Yogananda suggests practicing the Energization exercises twice daily, in the morning and evening, although a beginner would benefit greatly from a consistent once-daily practice of the exercises. I’ve been wanting to learn them more thoroughly, and because I am a visual learner, I found this DVD of them online. Apparently, Yogananda never missed a day of doing the exercises, or meditating for that matter. There’s a story they tell where they say one of the nuns saw Yogananda doing his exercises out on the lawn in the afternoon. A half hour later they saw him doing them again and they asked him why he was doing them twice. He replied saying he had missed his morning routine, so he did the first set to make up for the morning and the second set was his evening routine. They also say he did them, even on the day he died, which that story is remarkable in and of itself. This website give you a little insight into the miraculous days that followed his death, with no visible signs of decay in his body, even 20 days after he had passed away. But, there is also a story of his last few hours and the speech he gave at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, which I hope you will get to visit yourself and hear one day, as well. I also learned that George Harrison was a devotee of Parmahansa Yogananda. In one of my Yoga classes before attending Convocation, I mentioned that the Beatles had studied Yoga in India, but I didn’t realize George Harrison was a devotee of Yogananda himself. That’s awesome, what a blessing to be attuned to the same Guru as George Harrison…Hare Krishna, Hare Om. Shanti, shanti, shanti. Jai Guru. (I learned Jai Guru means victory to the Guru…Jai Guru!)

So, what else, besides feeling this tremendously positive healing from this amazing and life-changing, strengthening and enhancing experience. (Which I believe we are all feeling the blessing of in our own way, not only because 4,000 people were collectively praying for and meditating for each of us, but because we are all interconnected and as each one of us aligns with the Divine, and realizes that Divine and Higher attunement with Truth/God/Guru, it flows outwardly to each and everyone around us. That’s how important our own transformation is. As Gandhi said, we really must be the change we wish to see in the world, and the true practice, although we are not expected to be perfect, but the true practice is to keep being it, i.e. devoting ourselves to meditation, Higher Consciousness, and to find that better alignment when we realize we have become deluded by the trappings of worldy desires, once again, forgetting our connection to the One who ignites all things into Being, whatever we consider this One to be. The reality is, this Source exists. The great mystic Kabir said…Student tell me what is God? He is the breath inside the breath. This is why Patanjali, the Father of Yoga, said we don’t have to believe in God, but we must honor the breath, become conscious of the breath, for in the breath is the very essence of Consciousness itself. We must surrender our Will to the attunement/alignment with that Higher Consciousness, and to being guided by it each breath of the way. And, we must learn to truly love and honor that Consciousness in each other, meaning we sincerely and completely wish the best, the Absolute Highest, for each and everyone. And, it is the Consciousness/Truth that will set us free, in our ever-deepening devotion to it. Will we succumb to our lower nature at times? The monks say even the most devoted of Yogis will, but each we time we experience pain from our worldly experiences we remember that the ultimate Joy and fulfillment can only be found in our devotion to the One who ignited us into Being. Not even the best relationship in the world with another human being can be a substitute for that relationship with Supreme Consciousness..) I look forwrad to sharing more of the wisdom and inspiration I received from this blessed experience as we journey along.

Something I want to share with you is this ecstatic dance happening next weekend in Dallas on Sunday from 9-12 pm. I will be attending this event and hope you will, too. It’s a 5Rhythms Moving Meditation, which is what ecstatic dance actually is, (moving meditation) and it’s going to be amazing. I can’t think of a better time to let go and flow with everything we’ve been letting go of and releasing in our body, heart and mind. Here’s a little description about the experience, you can learn more here. I hope to see you there!

Grounded in our feet and with an open heart, we release our head to free our mind and step into the deep intuitive field of the rhythm of Chaos.

When you’re feeling joy, tune into your sorrow.
When you’re feeling writer’s block, keep your hand moving on the page.
When you’re feeling rushed, move more slowly.
When you’re paralyzed with fear, crank up the volume and DANCE.” -Gabrielle Roth

“To let myself go
To let myself flow
Is the only way of Being.

There’s no use telling me
There’s no use taking a step back
A step back from me.”

-To Let Myself Go, Ane Brun

Oh, and also, the new Prana Flow Yoga Class I am teaching at Karmany Yoga will begin this Saturday, August 15th. The class will be every Saturday from 9 – 1015 am. I am REALLY looking forward to this Yoga class and practice together. It’s going to be awesome to be able expand into new horizons in our Yoga practice and lives and to feel the blessing of community strengthening us with each breath we breathe along the way. Namaste!