Winter Feast for the Soul - Day 1

Back to the basics - How to Meditate

To settle the mind you have to settle the body.
Sitting erect but relaxed; one vertebrae on top of the other.
Let go of any expectations of what this meditation should look like.
Have the intention to release any thoughts that may arise.
Anchor the focus to the sensations of breathing to help settle the mind.
Gently allow your body to relax into your breath.
Breath in, breath out; notice the sensation where your attention is focused.
Allow the breath to be what it is, do not try to change the way you breathe.
When your mind wanders, gently return to breath with no judgement.

Forty minutes of silent meditation was quite a unexpected challenge.
My mind created discomfort in my body;and I released by coming back to the focus of my breath.
My mind created self doubt, I was meditating all wrong; and I released by coming back to the focus of my breath.
My mind created distraction, perhaps the computer had gone to sleep and I wouldn't know when the 40 minutes was up; and I released by coming back to the focus of my breath.

In conclusion I am reminded of the importance of silent meditation.

Winter Feast for the Soul

Today is the first day of participating in the "Winter Feast for the Soul".

"The mission of A Winter Feast for the Soul is to support individuals around the world in making a commitment to daily spiritual practice for forty days. A life grounded in daily practice is one that knows inner peace. It is that peace which translates into peace throughout our lives and ultimately to peace and healing for our planet.

We know that it only takes a few committed individuals to change the world. We are here to do that. Please join us this coming winter for

A Winter Feast for the Soul
a 40-day worldwide spiritual practice period for people of all faiths everywhere.
January 15 – February 23, 2010"

I hope that you will have a look at this site and perhaps join in ... it's free!!

http://www.winterfeastforthesoul.com

I will be sharing my experiences as I journey through the 40 days.

Peace to you,

Julia

Haiku - Waka - Tanka

The first adventure I had to express my own voice was when I was a child and we were taught how to write a Haiku. Once I began to write the haiku's I couldn't stop. At the time, my Grandfather was ill with cancer and I was too young to visit him in the hospital. Instead, I put my energy into making little books of Haiku's describing the day. My father would take my books of poems to the hospital for my grandfather. It made me feel as if I might give a bit of sunshine into his day. None of these books survived; nor did my Grandfather. I find it interesting to travel back and see where my passion for writing began. Now, looking back, I see it as where my passion for healing began too.

As we enter into winter and the Holiday season I offer my Waka to you.

Fear not the winter
Barren tree's and sleeping soil
Fear not the coldness
It is time to dwell within
Peaceful pursuits; Gratefulness

Too busy to meditate??

To find time to meditate when things get busy seems to be a challenge; but, this is precisely the time meditation is most important. The first step is to redefine our concept of the time required. Sometimes, when life seems too busy, all that is needed is to consciously breathe out and then in again ... you have to breathe anyway ... just that simple conscious thought with action can ground and centre us. Focusing on breath is always a meditation whether it is one breath or many.

Reiki Meditation In the Park

If you are in Toronto this Saturday, August 22 8:30 AM hopefully you will be able to attend the first public Hands that Heal *Pay-What-You-Can event. Set in the beautiful High Park at The Labyrinth our reiki practitioner, Julia, will lead a group meditation while applying Reiki.
Guided group meditation with Reiki offers a wonderful and deep sense of relaxation. People continue to feel the Reiki being applied even when the practitioner has moved onto another participant. The wonderful gift of Reiki can be brought to many more people through this method.
The ancient symbol of a labyrinth represents a journey to the centre of our core self and back out into the world with a renewed sense of ourselves. Labyrinths have been used throughout ancient cultures for meditation and prayer.

Hope to see you there - don't forget to bring a yoga mat, blanket or towel to sit on.

*Pay- What- You-Can* in Reiki it is believed that there should always be an exchange of energy money, fruit, service, testimonial ... etc.

Palmistry as a Tool for Reiki Healing

The palms of the hand is a beautiful landscape of hills and valleys, rivers and islands; or rather it should be. I was shocked when I saw the palm outstretched in front of me. There were no hills or valleys, it was a completely flat terrain like the skin of a drum. Full of deeply etched crisscrossed lines it was as if she were caught in an electrical storm. I held her hands, took a deep breath and began our conversation. The only distinguishing mark was the Healing Stigmata - so that's where we began. She was a healer and ran her own business that was becoming busier everyday. She spent many hours healing clients and was finding that it was becoming increasingly more draining. She wasn't sure what to do - with each client she was drained of her own life force. I enquired if she did any meditation, to my surprise she said that she spent hours each day in meditation. I had never encountered such a weakened hand on what should have been a vibrant person. As we dove further into her story I found out that on top of sending healing to her clients she was sending out healing to the world. To all the war torn countries, impoverished people, people facing bankruptcy, natural disaster areas and to heal Mother Earth. At this point I realised what was happening to this woman and asked if I could give her some reiki energy. She was taking on all the woes of the world as her personal responsibility to heal. Rather than the healing energy moving through her it was being sent from her. I sent her away with the assignment of meditating without sending any energy out until her hands begin to present hills and valleys.
My analogy of connecting with the life force is this: think of two rooms separated by a door. In one room there is a light source, in the other there is darkness. When you open the door what happens? The light floods into the darkness (not the other way around). There is no such thing as darkness, just an absence of light. Now go be the light!

Guided Group Meditation with Reiki

Last week I held my last case study for Guided Group Meditation with Reiki. I am happy to report that I will now be offering this to people on an ongoing basis.
As some of you may know, Reiki is a spiritually based healing modality that gives the receiver a deep sense of relaxation. What I found in my case work was by applying Reiki while a group had entered into a meditative state gave the same results as when Reiki is given in a private session. People continued to feel the Reiki being applied even when I moved onto another participant. The wonderful gift of Reiki can be brought to many more people through this method and group sessions are far less expensive.