Word for 2012!

Posted: December 30, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Energy Medicine DNA | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Millions of people are making their To Do lists, setting goals, saying prayers, and creating inspirations for the coming year. Some time during the year they forget their lists.  When December comes around, they search for last years list and plan for the next year. What was it they were focused upon?

Keeping with the title of my next book, Less is More: Slowing Down in an Over-Stimulating World, I focus upon one word each year. The word for 2011 was Write, and write I did. I just sent my manuscript for 12 Weeks to Self-Healing: Transforming Pain through Energy Medicine to the editor, Pamela Maliniak!

My word for 2012 is Food. One year my word was money, and I brought consciousness to money. I studied about money, read practical books about money, opened an Ameritrade account and played with money, focused on how I spent money, gave money away, cleared any past guilt or fear around money, visualized having more money, and my income increased substantially that year.

 This year I am focusing on Food. When I was age 14 I had a contusion and lost my sense of smell.  I have had only tongue taste most of my life. This lack of taste has made it difficult for me to gravitate toward cooking and to grasp using spices. Without the sense of smell there has been a disconnect between a store full of grocery items and an actual meal on the table. Although I binge on “foodie shows,” I love my Vita-Mix and generally drink a meal daily. I did recently learn how to cook soup!

So this year, 2012, I will focus on Food! The “foodie shows” I watch will shift from being distractions to cooking lessons! I will read cookbooks, make shopping lists, explore new foods, play with spices, and explore this wonderful world of nutrients that nourish and create my body.

Hey, I may even have you over for dinner. If I am on track with my goal, I won’t even ask you to cook!

Join me in choosing a word for 2012! Invite your children to do this with you. It’s a great family activity!

Changing Beliefs in the New Year

Posted: December 20, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Energy Medicine DNA | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

As we think about New Year’s Resolutions, it seems to me in order to end the year with the desires we chart at the beginning of the year, we need to change our beliefs. Valerie Lipstein, a Results Specialist, Certified Coach and Consultant has agreed to share with us about changing Beliefs!

Valerie, there are so many people today who are hoping to make changes in their lives by changing their beliefs. I understand you teach about changing beliefs. What do you teach?

I love this topic and believe it’s one of the biggest stumbling blocks to our success.  Our beliefs are so powerful and they affect around 80% of our behavior and the results we get.   In fact, the Law of Cause and Effect says that our results are reflective of our thinking yet many still believe that their results are the cause of some outside force or circumstance. It is true that many people want to make changes, however without knowing about and learning how to re-program the subconscious mind imprinting it with what they really desire, most people do not change. They become frustrated and look at outside circumstances as the culprit.

You must understand the concepts first and then have strategies and practices to shift outdated, ineffective and destructive paradigms.   Thinking authentically and asking empowering questions are two powerful strategies.  Most people think shallow thoughts and their results in life are reflective of this.

Situations occur all the time. We often label them “good” or “bad.”  We are unhappy when things seem bad yet once we get in harmony with the immutable laws of the universe we realize that situations are really neutral.  It’s our surface mind that attaches the labels which can keep us in our prisons; all the while we only need to push the door open and walk outside.

We look at our beliefs and challenge the dis-empowering ones. We really live in an abundant universe. To know this truth and live from it is very powerful and will create success. It is a practice and takes discipline. There is not a lack of resources on this planet, yet there are millions who live in poverty; all the while abundance exists.  The problem is with distribution, awareness, and perhaps greed.

In The Science of Getting Rich, Wallace Wattles speaks about this being the hardest work we ever can do, “To think what you want to think is to think TRUTH regardless of appearances….To think according to appearances is easy; to think truth regardless of appearances is laborious and requires the expenditure of more power than any other work man is called upon to perform.”

My mentor, Mary Morrissey, says that “we don’t deny the facts; we deny the facts to control us.”  When we allow the outside circumstances to control how we feel and act we are dis-empowered.

Many people do not have a direction for their lives, living by default doing what they have always done yet not really thriving.  It’s like sleep walking through life.  I experienced this for almost a decade until my wake-up call.

I support people to get a crystal clear vision of the life they would love to live and support them to get their results.  Success starts with a strong desire for something.  We look at longings and discontent and start there as these are powerful signals that a person is out of alignment with their true nature. We look at 5 domains: Financial well-being, spirituality, relationships, career/creativity and health/well-being.

What are the most important behaviors to assure that changing one’s beliefs can impact their lives on a daily basis?

  • Foremost, pay attention to what you are paying attention to.  Our subconscious mind reads our attention as our intention.  We will create our results from this mode.
  • Be in a structure of support, it is very difficult to do this work without support.  Mastermind groups, mentoring, being around people of increase awareness
  • Study daily and be a life long learner-successful people are open and receptive to new ideas and are willing to challenge themselves
  • Practice Gratitude-gratitude is at the heart of successful people’s lives.  This is not kindergarten gratitude for things we have or when things are good.  This is gratitude in all situations, which is transforming
  • Have a daily practice to quiet the mind-Intuition can only be accessed when we are open and receptive.

What is the belief you changed that had the biggest impact in your life?

I was living my life by default in 2005 and felt stuck. On the one hand I had been studying spiritual and personal growth principles and had made some advancement. Yet, I did not fully grasp the concept of how powerful our habitual thinking can be.  I was working as a Social Worker at a state agency, making good money with great medical benefits. I looked successful and felt horrible.  I was living for Fridays and dreading Mondays. Being raised in a family where safety and security were valued over passion and creativity, I adopted this belief. My parents were products of the depression. You stay at your job even if you don’t like it because you get that weekly paycheck.  My rationale mind didn’t agree, yet my subconscious mind ruled.  The belief was affecting my whole life, yet I didn’t know it.  All I knew was that I was unhappy and felt STUCK.  I had lost my passion for social work yet I had excuses and rationalizations for staying.

Bob Proctor said, “You can’t get out of a prison unless you know you are in one.”  It took a life changing phone call to snap me out of my prison. My best friend I had known since I was 17 died suddenly, she was only 52.  Susan was living from her passion, however, when she died.  I had a choice; I knew intuitively I had to take it or I would continue to live in my prison. My prison was my thinking.  Once I changed my thinking, realizing that I could create a life I loved and did not have to “settle”, my whole world changed.  Now I do work that I love, making a difference in the world by supporting others to live from their passion.  Most days I wake up and can honestly say, “I really love my life.”  What a gift!  I am so grateful for the opportunity I was given to begin again. 

What services do you have available to assist others in this important practice?

I offer individual and group coaching programs. They include Think & Grow Rich Masterminds, The DreamBuilder™, Working with the Law™ and Into Your Genius™.  Additional services include quarterly seminars and motivational speaking.

You can reach Valerie at

Phone: 509-869-0255

Email: info@inspiredlivingforyou.com

Website: www.inspiredlivingforyou.com

Interview with Swami Samayananda Part 3

Posted: September 3, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Energy Medicine DNA | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

This inteview was conducted at the Yashodhara Ashram in British Columbia, Canada on the beautiful Kootenay Lake.This is part 3 of 3 parts.

(Some sections have been edited for grammar.)

Candess:  When you are talking about that, some of the yogas like the Divine Light Invocation is one of the tools I have been using here and there are so many tools. It has been incredible. What is one of your favorite tools?

Swami Samayananda: For me, one of my favorites is Mantra. I have had a mantra practice since early 1980s. I also do my practice with a harmonium, which I like. There is that whole practice of having an instrument. I tend to be restless by nature so it gives my hands something to do. Also, singing has been a big part of my life. To be able to channel all of that into the mantra and to have a practice like that that doesn’t get old, it just keeps getting deeper and deeper and it feels to me like a dear friend. It is where I go each day and it offers me tremendous support.

Candess:  I love the Satsang. The chanting and the mantra is so beautiful. I have a book coming out in January that is called 12 Weeks to Self-Healing: The Gift of Pain. What way would you say that one of the Yoga practices would be helpful in self-healing?



Swami Samayananda:  Swami Radha wrote a book called The Yoga of Healing.  In it, there are several chapters. Some I remember are working with the Light. It is a small book and at the end of each chapter it has four practices you can do. The first one is on the Light and the Divine Light Invocation is one practice. There is also a section on breath. We know that connection with breath and our own healing and when we get anxious, the breath shortens, shortens, and shortens. That is not healthy for the body. Working with breath is healthy and calming for the body. Also, Hatha Yoga, especially when it I approached from more than the physical. What is my body saying to me as I am going into the pose and doing the pose. Mantra, absolutely for sure. Especially the Hari Om mantra is a healing mantra. Using mantra is healing as well. Relaxation is very healing. Those are a few.

Candess: That is great! One of the reasons I came her is to rest. I had been pushing myself too hard. We had a whole day on learning to rest. I learned so many tools that I would not have known before. It’s been very helpful.

If someone wanted to go on retreat here, what would be the best way for them to find out about the programs?

Swami Samayananda:  The best way would be to go to our website and just take a look at what we offer. There is a whole range from weekend workshops to 3 day retreats, 4 day retreats, 10 day retreats like you are on now, to our 3 month Yoga Development Course. There is just about something for everybody. Our basic retreats really introduce people to the practices we offer here, Swami Radha’s teachings. There are some specific ones, like we have one coming up called the Inner Life of Asanas which is a way of going deeper with the Hatha Yoga practice. We had one this summer not too long ago called Facing Change, Exploring Options, so there are lots of different ways for people to come and be here. People can also come on private retreat and join with us for a couple hours in Karma Yoga so they feel connected in the community. The rest of the times, they can enjoy the prayer rooms. It is beautiful as you said. The trails, the lake, the Temple, the library are all available for people when they are here.

Candess: I went to the Temple the other night and I could just feel Swami Radha there. I thought, this must be her favorite place.

Swami Samayananda: – It is.

Candess:  It was so clear to me. It was so beautiful there.

Swami Samayananda: – She said when she died, that is where she would go.

Candess:  I have another guide that I work with and I was connecting with this guide, but Swami Radha was right there, so I thought OKAY!

Is there anything else that would be helpful for people to know about being a Swami or your life path or being here at the Ashram.

Swami Samayananda: I think one thing that is important for people to know about coming here is it is a time of renewing, learning some practices, some tools as you said to take away. There is no dogma in yoga. There is not doctrine. It is not a religion. I think it is really important. We are an Ashram; it is a spiritual community, so we have people who come who are Buddhist, who are Christian, who practice in the Jewish faith, Muslims, and people who have no particular tradition that they follow but are open to that spiritual dimension and they just want to take a step further. I think that is often a relief.

When people come, we do have imagery around. Imagery and symbolism whether we know it or not is very important to us. We live it anyway and symbols are there simply as a symbol that is reflecting some in ourselves so sometimes for some people, and part because of our Christian Judaic background in the West, images can be a little off-putting; but they are so beautiful and the have so much to say to us if we open them up and take them apart.  I think the biggest thing is it is a beautiful place to be, to heal, to renew, to gain perspective and then take what is meaningful back out; bridge it back out to your life, back home, family, friends, work, whatever. Often people will come back and get a little bit more and take it back, back and forth. That is what I did for years.

Candess:  That is wonderful! It took me probably to day eight until I started feeling myself again, so it was such a wonderful place to renew and relax. Thank you so much.

Swami Samayananda: Namaste

The end. . .