by Miruh on September 6, 2008
You have heard the expression, “Her smile lit up the whole room.” Or “He lit up.” What is this light that lights us up or can light up the environment around us? That is the light of Consciousness expressing itself through us. The nature of Consciousness or the Self is described as Truth, light and absolute bliss. When we are aligned to our true nature, that light which is one of its attributes, illuminates our entire being and can be experienced on a deep cellular level in our bodies. It manifests as clarity in thinking and intuition. This luminosity is a palpable quality that is experienced in the presence of those who have mastered spiritual truths and we use the term, “enlightened,” to describe them. We too can be aware of this light even though we are not constantly established in that state of luminosity.
I used to observe my daughter when she would skip instead of walk. She skipped a lot even as a young teenager. I used to think that she was so joyful that her feet couldn’t stay on the ground. I know someone who is in his middle years and still skips around our house when he thinks no one is watching. What I observed is that as they skip, their whole bodies are lit up, as if every cell is dancing. I mentioned to the older person recently, that he could use his episodes of skipping as spiritual practice. He could focus on the feeling inside, notice the joy bubbling up from within. He can notice the feeling of lightness and to follow that feeling of lightness to the source of light, which can be felt like little explosions of light on the cellular level, and then to expand into that feeling.
You can practice this whenever you are eating pizza, ice cream or doing anything that brings you joy. The joy is not dependent on the pizza; you can access this joy by focusing within, which is a form of meditation. Any activity can become a meditation practice. Right at this moment, as you are reading, you can bring part of your awareness to your breath, which connects to your own presence where luminosity resides. When you practice meditation in a more focused way, you can be aware of the luminosity when your mind becomes quiet.
In Chinese Medicine school one of my teachers used to say about acupuncture point location, “ If you cannot feel it, imagine it.” Here is an exercise in visualization to help you get in touch with your inner light: In a comfortable seated position, allow yourself to relax deeply by taking a few deep breaths. Imagine yourself 
next to a lake and assign the quality of divinity to the water in the lake. See the shimmering light dancing on the water. Imagine that as you breathe in, you are absorbing the light and it fills every cell of your body. Keep doing this until you feel full and complete and bask in the feeling of illumination.
by Miruh on September 5, 2008
In the scriptures of Shaivism and other mystic traditions, it is said that there is only one Consciousness or Mind and that we are all emanations of that one Consciousness. That Consciousness has descended from its expanded state to become the contracted self or mind that we experience as separate beings. Another name for Consciousness is Awareness, which pervades and empowers our bodies, minds and everything in this universe.
When I was a child I had experiences of this state of Awareness. In one experience, I was lying on the trunk of a coconut tree, and as I looked up at the sun breaking through the fronds of the huge branches swaying in the breeze, I was not conscious of me witnessing this. I was ecstasy itself, the sun’s rays, the branches, and the breeze. I was not witnessing the moment or separate from it all. That experience still stays with me and I was reminded of it when I met a great spiritual master for the first time. Being in the presence of a master who has become established in that state of Awareness is compared to a vibrating tuning fork harmonizing every instrument in the vicinity to its vibration. I had the same experience of no mind, no separate existence just blissful beingness. Of course I soon had to extricate myself from this state, as I was not used to it, in order to be “me “ again and to function in the world. That meant coming back down to my usual thinking, judging, and commenting mind.
This state of Awareness is always present and we can learn to be aware of it. When we practice meditation it is easier to be aware of this state. When the mind becomes quiet, we can be aware of Awareness. This state is described as the seer, the knower and the witness. At this moment as you are reading this, ask yourself, who or what is behind the function of seeing, reading, and cognizance. That, which empowers this experience, is Awareness itself. One exercise that you can practice to develop the awareness of this state is to be aware of yourself in your interactions. See yourself in the picture. It’s a state of detachment that allows you to not identify with your mind and body as a separate entity but as beingness itself. This is a difficult state to sustain because we are programmed by our ego to keep ourselves separate, so that I am I and you are you. The ego does not let go of this function because if it does, there will be no ego, we will only experience our true nature of oneness with all that is, which is the goal of the spiritual healing journey.
by Miruh on September 4, 2008
Image credit: © edshealthtips
One of the most enjoyable jobs I ever had was when I worked for a non-profit in an administrative position in charge of scheduling people for a 24/7 workday. My boss was Hans a truly authentic person who walked the talk of his spirituality. In our weekly meetings, Hans was the calm in the eye of the storm. And stormy it was sometimes when there weren’t enough people to fill the schedule and tempers of over-worked volunteers were on edge. Hans would sit there in his Buddha-like composure and listen, letting everyone air their discontent. Hans had no miraculous answers to our problems but it sure was healing to feel heard and supported. Those weekly meetings were more like a support group meeting and we always walked out of those meetings feeling rejuvenated and ready to go the extra mile.
Living the lessons of spiritual truths in daily life is true authenticity. When our speech, our actions and our hearts are aligned, we are in touch with inner wisdom and hence the courage to live fully. One of my teachers in reply to a question about fear, said that just as we encounter the place of love when we do our spiritual practices, so also do we encounter the place of fear. Fear is the result of the human condition of pain and suffering, but in looking fear in the face and realizing it is not the truth of who we really are, we can move through our challenges.
Many of us, taught that fear is a sign of weakness and an embarrassment, cover up our fear with a display of bravado. We may try deceiving ourselves in order to avoid pain or use our pain as an excuse to be nasty to others. When we are being deceptive we lose respect for ourselves. We move away from our Truth and feel more and more separate and removed from the experience of our own light. Being the truth of who we are, we live with ease in the presence of pain and suffering, and are open to the joy of living.
by Miruh on September 3, 2008
In the East it is traditional to give something away in charity when your life has been saved. It is customary to make an offering at a temple or give to people in need. In giving away to others you share the blessing that you received.
When I was ten years old, our family’s property was burglarized while we slept peacefully through it all. We lived in a small village and the only public phone was across the street from our home. Someone who happened to be walking in the neighborhood at 2.00am walked three miles to report the burglary at the police station. The police awakened us after they apprehended the thieves. It was a frightening ordeal for me to see the weapons and the tools that were used to break in, accompanied by the vulnerable feeling of being violated.
Soon after that incident, my mother cooked a lavish lunch for the St Vincent de Paul home for the poor. This was no regular soup-kitchen fare. There was 5 spiced chicken, prawn fried rice, beef noodles, and Buddha’s feast vegetables. My mother is a fabulous cook and makes a big production of feeding her guests, a trait I wish I inherited but my older sister got the good teeth and good cook genes. Those people had an amazing feast and were so grateful to my mother. They shared the blessing of my mother’s gratitude for her own life.
I have so much to be grateful for in my life and I am grateful for remembering to be grateful. It is so easy to take for granted the abundance that we have. It is those times when I feel that I don’t have what I want, that I have to make the effort to remember the things that I do have and be grateful. This attitude of gratitude, seeing the glass as half full rather than half empty is the key to the lightness of being. When I focus on what I want with an attitude of scarcity, I tend to have tunnel vision. I feel stressed and closed off. I am not able to seize opportunities that come my way, because I am not looking at the big picture of my life. When I am relaxed and remember all I am grateful for, there seems to be a spaciousness about my perception of life and there is room for allowing Grace to bring the abundance that I am seeking.
The opportunities for practicing gratitude on the spiritual healing journey are endless. Before I eat, I remember to thank those who were involved in getting this food to me. When I move to a new home, I thank my old home for giving me comfort and sanctuary. I am thankful to all my teachers who have taught me everything I know about living well, in all aspects of my life. I am grateful to myself for basking in my soul’s song, who needs American Idol!
by Miruh on September 2, 2008
In one of my meditation experiences I experienced myself as a good-year blimp floating up, up and away and I was filled with incredible laughter as I rolled myself over and over. The Laughing Buddha in Chinese Buddhism represents friendliness, joy, and abundance. In Shaivism, the nature of the Self is described as blissful. These qualities are inherent to our Buddha nature or the Self and are our natural state of being. The spiritual healing journey is about us coming home to our true state of joy and lightheartedness.
When I was a teenager, I read a book by Khalil Gibran, “The Broken Wings.” I basked in the depth of the soulful longing of the main characters and based my newfound spiritual persona on the qualities of sadness and seriousness depicted by the writer. I thought I was a real spiritual person because I thought deeply about life. While my friends were out partying, I was reading my spiritual books and writing in my journal and feeling holier than them in my melancholic mood. Since then, my delusion about how a spiritual person behaves has been broken many times. I have learned that one does not take on a spiritual persona, that as one engages in spiritual practices, joy bubbles up from within.
I once attended a Tibetan Buddhist retreat where we were being initiated into the teachings, which included ceremony and rituals. I was so impressed by our teacher, a very respected high lama as he conducted the ceremony, laughing at himself when he fumbled and then carried on with the solemn ritual, not missing a beat. In my previous post, Lightness of Being, I mentioned how we can create lightheartedness in our daily lives. The mystics tell us that lightheartedness is the fruit of our spiritual practice. When we uncover our true nature, we embody a lasting joy. I have sat with spiritual teachers of different traditions and the atmosphere of joy, laughter and lightness in their presence was common to all of them. They all embodied the qualities of child-like simplicity, spontaneous laughter and great comfort with themselves. Through their contemplation and spiritual practices, they have attained that state which is so well described by the 14th century Tibetan Dzogchen master, Long Chen Pa. He says: Since everything is but an apparition, perfect in being what it is, having nothing to do with good or bad, acceptance or rejection, one may well burst out in laughter….
The teachings of the eastern mystic traditions emphasize the need to find a spiritual practice that you resonate with and to practice it daily. With time this one practice will take us to the experience of our true nature of lightness and joy and that state of being spills over into our daily life. We become more lighthearted and joyful in our interactions and experience a true joy of living.
by Miruh on September 2, 2008
It’s the week after Labor Day and that means the beginning of the school year. I don’t have many fond memories of the first week of school growing up, and when I feel brave enough some day I will tell the story of “The Water Truck”. My daughter on the other hand loved school and I remember when she was in Grade 5, she got up early every morning to meet her friend at her home so they could walk to school together. Her friend’s parents played opera music very loudly that early in the morning and my daughter loved it. She described it as, “ feeling big aliveness.”
That feeling of big aliveness or “Joie de vivre” is the goal of the spiritual healing journey, and many of us have different interpretations of its meaning and have as many varied ways of attaining it. I admire people who have that lightheartedness which is the essence of the experience of the joy of life. I once lived in a house with two other women. Stella was not a morning person while Marge was a happy go lucky type who was always singing. I loved being around Marge in fact I married someone like her. My husband often bursts into song; he always seems to have the perfect line from a song for every circumstance. As we were having lunch today, he was singing me a silly love-song between bites. I remember how Marge’s singing in the morning would drive Stella crazy. Stella would bang the breakfast things around. I stayed out of the kitchen when Stella was in one of her moods. One day Stella couldn’t take it anymore and shouted to Marge, “Do you have to do that here, be so damn cheerful?” It was such an incredible moment, I watched them both crack up with laughter and gave each other a big hug. After that, Marge kept on singing in the morning and her cheerfulness seemed to rub off on Stella.
Sometimes it takes some effort to sustain a lighthearted state when there is so much to worry about. How do you keep it light? My friend Marge and my husband like to sing. I like to laugh at my own foibles, write, draw, and dig in the garden.
