817 – Give yourself a hug

How does one give oneself a hug? Cherish yourself and work on your hormones, the big four.

  • Dopamine, which acts on specific areas of the brain to produce feelings of pleasure and satisfaction.
  • Oxytocin stimulates positive social interaction and reduces stress.
  • Serotonin stabilizes one’s mood and regulates sleep patterns and digestion.
  • Endorphins help to relieve pain, reduce stress and work on wellbeing.

What does one do to be content and happy?

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785 – Hygiene and Sanyam

When we think and speak about hygiene, what do we mean? Hygiene is physical, emotional, mental, spiritual and pranic cleansing of the body. This cleansing is possible if we disinfect our thoughts. Our thoughts are the influencers of our health in every aspect. And that is why we must learn the gentle sadhana of Sanyam. Continue reading

772 – Christmas Meditation

And the Grinch stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons… tags… boxes and bags… Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps means a little bit more. – Dr Seuss

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683 – The connection between heart and brain

How many times does one say thank you in the day. Have you considered, my dear ones, that when one says thank you from the heart and not from the mind, how do you feel. Add a smile and you will feel good. It is being authentic and genuine that goes into an acknowledgement. How often do we do it? I am not speaking about affirmations, I am writing about speaking from the heart, where your soul resides and is the home of Ma, the divinity. Continue reading

623 – Translations from Kabir’s couplets

When I started to look for evil, I could not find any. When I started to look inside my heart, I found no one worse than me.

The couplet says that when we find something wrong is being done, we start to point a finger and blame others for it. However, when we seek someone who is bad, we will not find anyone, but when we look in ourselves, we will find the kernel of evil. Continue reading

583 – Accept and respect your body and soul

Guna means virtue and each one of us is blessed with three gunas. They emerge from Prakriti creating the essential aspects of all nature—matter, energy and consciousness. These are tamas (darkness and chaos), rajas (activity and passion) and sattva (beingness and harmony). These gunas are constantly in flux and they are responsible for creating maya (illusion). As human beings we can consciously alter our levels of gunas in our body and mind. Continue reading

507 – The release of prana in powerful words

What happens to us when we say potent words aloud?

Love, our face lights up. We have a warm feeling inside us.
Joy is an expression of delight and jubilation. We smile.
Friendship, when we have affection and respect for someone. We are included.
Compassion being sensitive to others.
Empathy when we relate to others’ problems.
Hate and anger are intense emotions. They result in an adrenalin rush. We frown, look cross and add lines to our face.
Fear triggers another release, when we say that we are afraid, it reduces our level of fear, or it can further exaggerate it. Continue reading

326 – Lakshmi Tantra

Lakshmi Tantra is a very sacred form of practice. In it, we consider Lakshmi as the cosmic mother and her expectation from us is devotion and pursuit of truth. The Lakshmi Tantra is also dedicated to the worship of Vishnu. Continue reading

What is Dream Yoga?

Leela Mata speaks about the why and how of Dream-Yoga. She speaks about the fact that waking and dream states are both relative and therefor illusory. How can you bring waking, dreaming and sleeping states together and in harmony? And how to go beyond all relative states? In this short talk Leela Mata gives you precious insights. Leela Mata is directing Peaceful Valley Ashram Pennsylvania http://www.leelamata.com . She also gives seminars and retreats in Yoga Vidya Ashram Germany http://y-v.de/leela-mata

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