Are you in the habit of setting an intention for your day?  This is not a to do list, it is the attitude with which you will accomplish your to do list.  Intention is always the start of the creative process, yet it may be completely subconsciously programmed in ways that sabotage our actions from the start.  If we start the day with fear, aggravation, dismay (ie: reading the news, thinking about our problems) we are already at a disadvantage intentionally as our awareness is already looking for conflict, division and contraction. 

If, instead, the day begins with a higher quality intent, and we recall it throughout the day, it can change the whole game.  Like any skill, it takes practice, practice and more practice and we fall down frequently but, so what.  Just get up and go again!   A high-quality intent is one which is more loving, expanding, leading toward connection and bringing caring into community.  Once we set the intent, our faculty of awareness is now looking for ways to help bring it forward.

We are ALWAYS creating from our intentions and adding to the energy of either fear or love in this world.  When fear arises, which is inevitable, rather that push against it or deny it, observe where it is felt in the body.  Soften around it.  Fear is literally trapped energy.  We don’t feel fear when we feel safe. BREATHE, soften, don’t make a story around the fear arising.  If we don’t GIVE the power of how we think and how we feel over to what frightens us, we will not become victims of fear.  The chemistry of fear, downgrades our genetic expression, lowers the immune response and keeps us in the cycle of fight or flight.

Gratitude is one of the most powerful antidotes to the energy of fear.  Dr. Joe Dispenza (You are the Placebo, Becoming Supernatural) repeatedly says that when you change your energy, you change your life.  In study after study, the practice of focusing on gratitude 3 times a day for 10 minutes for as few as four days showed a marked increase in the level of IgA (immunoglobulin A) a classic blood marker for regulation of the immune system, homeostasis and cytokine cells. 

This is only one of many studies over the last 5 years undertaken by UC San Diego in collaboration with Dr. Dispenza.  The studies measure a host of biological markers to determine if meditation results in positive changes in health and healing.  It turns out that there are profound healing effects on chronic disease.  It begins by leading with a loving intention and practicing elevated emotions like gratitude, daily.

https://featheredpipe.com/feathered-pipe-blog/clear-vision-innocence-lynne-minton/

We had a Seinfeld NYE.  Things did not turn out as expected and the sense of humor was not lost on us.  We booked the room almost a year out so that we could view the fireworks display off of the Space Needle in Seattle.  We could view the event from the rooftop of the hotel or else from the room if the weather was inclement.  Simply staying awake until midnight was a victory! We were captured by the anticipation of the dazzling display to come.  The clock struck,  

the fireworks began to burst forth from all sides and from the top of the Needle. The smoke built up, the temperature inversion and deadly still air held the smoke in place, In no less than two minutes into the 19 minute show, visibility had dropped to nearly zero.  No Space Needle, no fireworks to be seen.  Wah wah wah.

Many philosophies give a gentle warning against having expectations about what is to come.  My favorite humorous definition of expectation is ‘premeditated resentment’.  Instead of anticipating an outcome, we are encouraged to take things as they come and simply observe our response.  In so doing, we build awareness of our reactions, judgments and attachments. Of course, as part of a community, we take the appropriate actions to assist in creating a future that we desire but what is the response if things don’t turn out according to our expectations?

Every year gives us plenty of opportunities to react or respond, to grow or stagnate, to observe and change or default to status quo.  I’ve often contemplated why simply sitting and observing the moment is such a powerful agent of inner change.  Anthony DeMello, east Indian, some would say mystic rebel, Catholic priest says, “What you are aware of, you can control.  What you are not aware of, controls you.  Awareness, he says, releases reality to change you and that by simply being aware, all that is false and neurotic within you will drop away.”1

I believe this is one intent of all forms of meditation.  By simply sitting without expectation but with intent to Know Thyself beyond the programming of society, culture, family, religion, the subconsciously controlling mind rises to awareness.  Now we have the power to change the program.

By simply sitting in our own energy field, without agenda or analysis, simply opening the focus to the energy and space around us, will calm the analytical mind and begin to change the quality of how we think and how we feel.  This, in turn will trigger the brain to release its neurochemical magic that will move the body/mind chemistry toward wholeness and health.

The way out is by going in, as we go inward, we expand and as we expand, we include more and more of what used to seem separate from us.  Or we could say that we begin to experience a sense of Oneness. It sounds so simple; it has to be simple so that it is accessible to everyone.  If it isn’t accessible to everyone, it isn’t love, it isn’t oneness.  

We’ll be returning to Zoom Yoga in mid-February.   You can see more details on the zoom class link here. 

Patanjali’s yoga Sutra 34, Book III states in Sanskrit:

Hrdaye cittasamvit

One translation is, “ Perfect concentration on the heart reveals the contents of the mind.”

As a generalization, we probably don’t spend a lot of time concentrating on our hearts unless there is a concern about its health or we happen to be in the throes of new love. To quote Joe Dispenza, “Where we place our attention is where we place our energy”.  Since the heart is literally the driver of our physical life and the seat of our spiritual self, giving it attention can reveal much about our state of mind and the state of our energy.

Feeling and sensing are associated with the heart whereas thought is considered the domain of the head.  Our feeling and emotional states are intimately connected to how we are breathing. Qi gong master Lee Holden observed that anger is associated with resistance to inhaling or taking in another’s perspective.  Angry people tend to sputter and huff a lot.  Sadness, on the other hand is closer to resistance to exhaling.  One may feel choked up, and emote with ragged exhalation or crying.  In either case, even slow deep breathing is the key to restoring emotional balance and energy to the heart.

Love is a felt sense, a state of Being, that is whole.  As we breath slowly and smoothly with attention on the heart, we begin to feel its unique quality of wholeness, its desire for our well-being.  The healthy heart does not oppose or hate or fear anything.  It recognizes that fear and hate are not the opposite of love but are the separation from love.  When we place our attention on the heart and breathe deeply, we clearly see how the mind has created a mistaken identity of duality where insecurity, lack and fear can abide.  By coming back to the heart breath again and again, we move our state of being (mind and heart) from duality to unity.  We overcome our limitations and little by little begin to feel more whole, healthy and joyful.

A simple practice for the next time you are feeling afraid, anxious, nervous.  Recognize where you are and where you would like to be in the moment.  Place one hand over your heart and breathe into it.  Breathe deeply 4-5 seconds in and 4-5 seconds out.  Stay with it for a minimum of 3 minutes.  Feel and sense, don’t try to think about, what is happening.  You may notice the thoughts settling down, the brain and autonomic nervous system switching from stress to ease.   The effects of this simple practice get stronger, swifter and more powerful with repetition.  The insights and fulfillment gained with practice will far outweigh the small effort required to undertake it.   You are literally aligning with love.

Photo by Cathal Mac an Bheatha on Unsplash

BEING    ENERGY    MATTERS

Patanjali Yoga Sutra

• II. 20 The Seer is pure consciousness.  It witnesses Nature without becoming reliant on it.
• II. 24 Ignorance is the cause of false identification of the Seer with the Seen.

“Because of our subconscious programming, the body has become the mind.   As a result, we rely on our known past to create a predictable future with no real change.”

“It is no longer the time to just know, it is time to know how.” (to create real change).
– Quotes paraphrased from Dr. Joe Dispenza

Dear Friends,

Lately I have been immersed in studies of how epigenetics, quantum field theory, and brainwave frequency are validating the practices of pranayama and meditation in their ability to raise our consciousness from a place of survival and separation to a place of unity and creativity.  Dr. Joe Dispenza quoted above, has been a leader in taking thousands of people worldwide out of the ignorance of identification with matter alone (the seen) and teaching them to identify as energy, more specifically, as creative energy (the Seer).

Subjects are taught meditative and breath work while connected to EEGs that are measuring electrical activity in all parts of the brain.  A subject’s mind slows down from Beta frequency (waking active mind state) with the help of breathing techniques and a meditative focus.  The analytical mind becomes quieter.  I was intrigued to hear that scientists referred to the calming of the analytical mind as penetrating a veil.  The yoga sutras say that ” the veil then becomes thin” when we practice pranayama.  In both cases this is the veil between the conscious and the subconscious minds.

With practice, and often after only one session, the mental waves slow to the alpha state where imagination is prominent and eventually to the theta state, where the mind is in a hypnotic or highly suggestible state.  This is where real life change can occur as this is where our subconscious beliefs about our abilities are stored.  Now we are connected to a field of all possibilities, the quantum field.  Here we can make the subconscious conscious, discard the old programs, write and install new ones.

As energy we can affect matter for healing, to evolve and to create.  The results and testimonials of intentional practitioners are revelations of our potential as creators.  We not victims of our environment, not even of our genes as epigenetics tell us. The abundant data show how after as little as one week of practice, novice meditators upgrade their metabolites, upregulate genes associated with health and healing and downgrade genes associated with disease.  The healing miracles we relegated to charlatans and the superpowers we read about in Book Three of the yoga sutras are becoming skills that we can measure and master with dedication and practice.  There are no limits!

Actually, the good news is that there are a few limits.  The frequencies in the field, like radio stations, are tuned to unity, connectedness and Love.  One cannot be in fight or flight, survival mode and enter the unified field. Our stressful lifestyles and agitated minds are what keep us in a perception of separation from the field.

Fortunately we have the tools to open our perception, most readily through the gateway of the heart/brain connection.

In 1991 it was discovered that the heart has its’ own neural network of over 40,000 sensory neurites.  It processes information including thought, feelings and memories independently of the cranial brain.  Heart/brain coherence is a field of study that is being applied to heal trauma among other things. The heart “thinks” not as a polarity organ like the brain that thinks in right/wrong, good/bad, happy/sad, etc.  The heart is a unified organ that does not “hear” criticism or dispense judgment.  Slowing down the breath, focusing on the heart and generating a feeling of gratitude, for anything that has happened or that you would like to see happen is a sure -fire way to increase heart/brain coherence. This in turn resets the vagus nerve, increases resiliency as measured by heart rate variability, and enhances whole body immunity.

I have never doubted that gratitude and love were two of the greatest powers to raise consciousness but it is kind of cool that it is now measurable, repeatable scientific fact!

Dear Friends,

A friend sent me a card a while back saying that the picture reminded her of me, more specifically of how she feels when we are together, alive, joyful, flowing, happy!  I am grateful for those thoughts and I must admit, that I do feel this way much of the time.

So many of us experienced these states of being as children.  Joy was not dependent on outer circumstances.  I have seen children in Cambodia playing joyfully who literally had nothing to wear, and only sticks and mud as toys to play with.  Gradually, however, there is a tendency to build up preferences, judgments, and guilt about those judgments in our minds.  They create layers of dross over the natural joy that is ever present.

Joy is a state of BEING not an emotion like happiness or sadness.  Emotions are reactions to thoughts or circumstances that are temporary, although we are free to hold onto them for as long as we like.

BKS Iyengar’s translation in Light on the Yoga Sutra’s of Patanjali Book II. Sutra 41 states that joyful awareness is needed for Self Realization.  I would add that joyful awareness in its full expression IS Self Realization because the Self IS Joyful.   A favorite recent quote that I have taken as a mantra is,

“To lead an effortless life, abandon resistance to what Love requires in the moment.”  

It all comes down to the choice we make in our minds’ moment to moment.   Is it easy? Uh, NO! Is it worth the effort?  Only if we want to truly be the change we want to see in the world.   We have to change OUR minds first.  What is Present in us is Present in Every One.  If we are waiting for THEM to change first, well, good luck with that.  Our judgment may be the very resistance that keeps THEM from changing.  However, when we make the choice for Love, for peace, for joy, others feel it and want to play too.  If you can’t imagine a world like this, may I suggest, in some small way, begin to abandon resistance to the thought of such a world. What Love requires of you will be revealed along with the effortless effort to do it.

FALL CLASS OFFERINGS ON ZOOM

SESSION I : SEPTEMBER 12- OCTOBER 12

~TWO WEEK BREAK~

SESSION II:  OCTOBER 31-NOVEMBER 30 

Monday and Wednesday  10-11:30 AM PST  (9-10:30 AM ALASKA TIME)

Monday is Gentle yoga

Wednesday is Beginner/Advanced beginner with more standing postures and basic inversion options

COST:  $12 drop in,  $10 each for 3 or more classes

Pay on Paypal via [email protected], or mail a check to me at 5961 Everson Goshen Road, Bellingham, WA 98226

I hope to see you on Zoom soon!

Warmly,

Lynne

Spring has a way of lifting spirits.  The reawakening of nature and the extension of daylight revitalizes my mind and heart.  The emerging life all around is a reminder of our connection to all of life and of how precious it is.  It is only the belief that we are not connected that creates the conditions that breed mistrust and conflict that causes much suffering.

I wanted to use this post to remind us of the joy of feeling connection to life.  Recognizing that we are adding to either the joy of connection or the pain of separation by every thought and action we take is a lifelong undertaking of mindfulness and understanding.

One of the joyful sounds that announce spring in the Pacific NW is the awakening of the frogs in the evening.

Listen to the frogs here

This mid-March morning, the woods around our home were alive with an influx of newly arrived migratory birds.  I heard, and then saw, redwing blackbirds, and many robins adding their voices to the new dawn chorus.

Listen to the birds here

Please click here for my next Zoom class offerings.  They will be my last set for awhile.  Then let yoga convert and influencer, Margaret Hoolihan bring a smile to your face with the following clip.

Click here to watch

Lynne in Frog Pose at Frog Pond

A LITTLE MORE ZOOM

There will be three more weeks of Zoom Yoga after which I will be taking an extended break for Spring/Summer projects and travel.

If you are planning to zoom in and are not currently on the Zoom email list (not the same as this mailchimp list) please email me to let me know so that I can send you more information and announcements as they arise.

Gentle Yoga:
Monday   10- 11:30  AM  PST  (9-10:30 Alaska time)
March 21, 28 and April 4
Details here

Level I/II Yoga 
Wednesdays  10- 11:30  AM  PST  (9-10:30 Alaska time)
March 23, 30 and April 6
Details here

Cost:   $12 drop in,  $30 for 3 or more classes.   Payment may be by Paypal or check written to me and mailed to 5961 Everson Goshen Rd.  Bellingham, WA 98226

50% of all proceeds will be donated to  World Central Kitchen  #chefs for Ukraine

If you are looking for ways to help support Ukraine please open this link that was sent to me from a friend in Moscow, Idaho.  It came to her directly from a friend in Kiev.

https://supportukrainenow.org/

At the time of this writing I have not opened every tab but felt it best to get this information out to as many people as possible as quickly as possible.   The tab “read info from the source” under media has links to local and national print media in Ukraine.  Here is a link for a crowdsource fundraiser for the ” Kiev Independent” newspaper.

GoFundMe:  https://gofund.me/fc38a86a. 

Reading the articles brings you to the front line horror and humanity taking place now.

Some items in the support link are beyond my scope and I’m not inclined  to join the foreign legion, but perhaps this will spark an idea or inspire you to help in an out of the box way.

And please join me and millions of others in daily mediation for Peace. Mediation alone will not save lives, but it will inspire action from a peaceful place rather than from the chaotic, confused state of mind that drives the actions of desperate despots.  Just because the majority of people on the planet do not YET believe that we are all connected through ONE MIND, doesn’t mean it is not true.  Science and humanity as a whole, are not yet sophisticated enough to pick up on the finer energies of thought that drive us all, but it is making inroads everyday..  As we put our minds on Peace, we strengthen and contribute to its ability to access all seemingly separate minds.

Love and Peace,
Lynne

Here is a copy of an email sent via another local friend from Energy Medicine Yoga for a daily world meditation.  

Like so many people around the world, we cannot just go forward as if everything is the same.  Everything is not the same.

We cannot just get up, brush our teeth, drink our coffee, go about our days, when we know our brothers and sisters in Ukraine are fearing for their lives.

We must do something.

Some of you will donate money, or resources, to help support Ukraine. Others will write letters of protest.  Others will withdraw participation in events that are sponsored by or promoted by Russia.

Remember, the Russian people are also our brothers and sisters.

It is the fearful, despotic dictator who, instead of dealing with his own inner demons, has decided to thrust the world onto the brink of war.

We need to strengthen the field of resolve, peace, and reconciliation, so we do not descend any further into madness.

We are taking a cue from our Mother Ship, The Eden Method, and promoting the work of peaceful prayer with Lynne McTaggart. She is holding global intention groups each day.  She is encouraging people around the world to hold the same intention at the same time for 10 minutes every day: 9 am PST, 12 noon EST, 5 pm UK, 6pm Europe.

‘Our intention is that peace be immediately, completely and permanently restored in the Ukraine with no further loss of life and that the country maintain its sovereignty as an independent, democratic nation.’

May we all rid ourselves of our demons.

May we all find peace within

So we may all find peace everywhere…

In deep, prayerful hope,
Lauren and the entire EMYoga team

I.26-I.28  (paraphrased)   Isvara (the indwelling Spirit, God) is totally free of conflict, the unexcelled seed of knowledge, unconditioned by time.

Dearest Friends,

Lately I’ve been contemplating the distinction between intelligence and knowledge,  perception and vision.  Intelligence relies on perception, is wavering, changing, expanding and contracting.  It utilizes the 5 senses and methods that are measurable in the world of matter.  Knowledge, or knowing, relies on vision which is what we “see” with our eyes closed. It is stable and doesn’t waver with circumstances.

A former student and friend wrote to me recently mentioning how much she appreciated the community that my former yoga studio brought together.   She remarked “…So many wonderful people that shared the space together.  I still yearn for that feeling.”   I believe that feeling is the knowledge of oneness that we open ourselves up to through the silence we share.  After a really good savasana, no words are needed.   Communion, (union with the community) is the most natural outcome, with no seeming effort required.

In that moment, we feel free of conflict, we “know” we are one.  In that moment we are more identified with Spirit than ego in ourselves and we can en ‘Vision” the same in others.  The kicker seems to be to sustain that knowledge in time and space.  We, or speaking for myself, I know that I, have a pile of conditioning to undo.  But I’m up to the task.  I mean really, Savasana every day, how hard can it be? (Surprisingly hard at times!) I hope you’ll join me and that we will commune once again.

Love and Namaste,

Lynne